Page 40 of Fire Bird

Luther pats him hard on the shoulder. “Sure, I can rustle something up,” he says.

He’s part way down the beach, and the rest of us are gathering around the fire, when a small vibration rumbles beneath our feet.

Another joins it, then another.

I turn and look out at the lake. The color of the water has changed. Before, it was surprisingly blue, but now it has become red like the sky.

No, not red… orange.

Not orange… gold.

I run to the water’s edge. Luther turns and sprints back down the beach. Sam is at my side. Kole and Tanner to my left.

The water begins to bubble. Steam rises from the surface up into the cold still air. Then the golden glow at the lake’s center starts to swirl. It becomes a whirlpool, moving so fast I can barely keep my eyes on it. Gold seeps from the whirlpool to fill the rest of the lake. It laps our toes but does not stain them.

Silence.

The falls have stopped moving.

There is an almighty rumble beneath our feet. The trees around the lake groan and tremble. Then light blasts out of the water. A beacon so bright we’re forced to stagger back, shielding our eyes.

Something hits my chest, hard and flaming hot. When I look down, Nova’s ring is back, hanging around my neck as if throwing it into the water was nothing but make-believe. I turn to the others. All four of them are doing the same thing as me—clutching a wooden ring that magickally found its way back to them.

When I look back at the lake, the beacon of light stretches up into the sky. White, and gold, and orange. Then, suddenly, the light dies and the lake becomes still again. Blinking up at the sky, my vision slowly returns.

Something is up there. “A bird,” I whisper.

A bird with wings that are bigger and brighter than anything I’ve ever seen.

“Not just a bird.” Sam reaches for my hand. “A phoenix.”

24

TANNER

I’m staring at a pair of glowing golden wings—with feathers of fire and an expanse that blots out the sun. Their brightness casts the figure in their midst in shadow but, even so, it does not look like the figure of a bird. To me, it looks like the unmistakable silhouette of a woman.

Our woman.

“Nova,” Kole whispers, stumbling forward and dropping to his knees at the water’s edge.

Sam is gripping Mack’s hand, or Mack is gripping Sam’s. Either way, they hold on to each other and stare as the winged creature moves slowly through the air, a tail of fire looping like a firework behind her.

The wings stretch and the phoenix—because it is undoubtedly a phoenix we’re staring at—soars higher over the falls. Her glow annihilates the sickening red hue which has tainted the sky since that night at The Hollow.

A small snatch of blue appears. White cloud. Yellow sun. Where a moment ago there was silence, the falls now roar back to life. Hope fills my heart. It’s an emotion so strong and so unfamiliar, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I am on the verge of doing both when the phoenix stops moving. Her wings fold inward. Her light flickers, then she falls.

She plummets into the lake and disappears.

For a long second, I am rooted to the spot. Then I hurtle forward, striding into the water.

I take a deep breath and slice through the surface of the lake. I dive, blinking into her murky depths. Ahead, I see a trail of sparks. I follow them and then I see her, floating but not sinking, and still nothing more than a silhouette in the gloom.

When I reach her, I wrap my arms around her and rocket back to the surface. I daren’t look at her. I just loop her arms around my neck, so she’s resting on my back, and swim. She holds on. She is warm, and I can feel her breath on my skin.

She’s breathing.

I feel like my heart is going to stop. I need to see her face but I’m not sure I’m prepared for what it will do to me to see her again.