Page 72 of Fire Bird

“Tanner, please, what’s happening?” I grab his hands, but they’re stiff and do not move.

Luther and Mack try to heave him to his feet, but Tanner releases a huge, bellowing roar. His head snaps back so he’s staring at the sky. His mouth opens, and a beam of bright blue light soars from somewhere deep inside him.

“No, no, no.” I stand up, staring at Mack. “Sam and Rev will think it’s time. Everyone in town…” I spin around. The Split is heaving. It looks like its sides might buckle with the weight of what’s coming from below it.

I suck air down into my lungs and try to breathe. It’s not working. Tanner was supposed to bring back the witches who died at The Hollow. They were supposed to fight with us. I was so sure. It all made sense; our connection to Ava and her men, our history, our bond…

I search for Kole. He and Snow are fighting back as many creatures as they can. Snow wails as one clamps its jaws down on his shoulder. Then from the other side of The Split, I hear the Hellhounds. They charge toward us, but before they can leap over to our side, one of them turns on the others.

Nico…

There is a flurry of snarling, howling, and teeth. Sounds that send ice-cold fear to my soul, filling my ears. I slam my hands over them. My heat flickers and starts to fade. I try to pull my magick to the surface, but I feel him coming. I feel his heavy footsteps, and his breath on my neck even though he is still deep inside the house. Dread washes through me, scraping my insides raw. Johnny’s face fills my head. I see him staring down at me. I feel his mark on my skin. I feel my flesh burning and hear it sizzle as the red-hot poker scars me forever.

Except… it wasn’t forever.

My eyes spring open. I latch onto Kole. The first time we met, I saw him through the rain. As if it knows, the sky rumbles and the clouds open. Water drops divine honey-like clarity onto my skin. With each raindrop, I see more clearly what needs to be done.

I see what he is doing. He is trying to break me.

He will not win.

With a roar, Mack sends a cyclone of air ripping across the grounds, sweeping demons up into it, then slamming their broken bodies into the outer wall of the mansion.

Luther opens his arms and splays out his fingers. He is staring at The Hollow. Wolves appear on the steps. Some race toward the fight, some away from it. Luther hems them in. Walls of fire, as high as the mansion itself, spring from the ground, licking the sky.

Behind us, the trees sway as if they might pull themselves free from the earth and walk beside us. Kole heaves one from the ground and sends it hurtling toward The Split. It rolls in, taking a huddle of demons with it.

I plant my hands on Tanner’s face.

I press my fingers to his skull and use every morsel of power inside me to find his magick with my own. I close my eyes. I see my bright orange light reaching out, swirling around his. When I open my eyes again, fire surrounds us. It circles up into the sky and down into the ground.

Tanner’s eyes clear. He meets mine and nods at me. Then we chant together. At the final word, a blast of energy hits me. I bend double and press my palms to the ground.

With a scream that makes me feel like I’m going to explode from the inside out, I feel their magick surging through me. The women who died here. The women who were wronged, and accused, and torn from their loved ones. The women who burned because of the evil that ravaged men’s hearts. Not his evil but an evil all the same.

Their pain, their strength, and their love bleeds into my fingertips and rushes through my veins. I clamber to my feet, pulling Tanner up with me. Our hands are shaking. Blue and orange light swirls around our fingers. My entire body starts to convulse. The magnitude of the force I’m holding inside me brings another scream from my lips. Tanner nods at me. I keep his gaze but turn to face the fountain that lies broken behind us.

At the same time, we turn our eyes on the crumbled concrete, and extend our hands. Our light rushes toward it. It gathers up the pieces of the fountain and carries them up into the air. Then it crushes them to dust.

When the dust falls, it settles on the ground like glittering hot snow.

Tanner reaches for me. We hold each other up, legs quaking. Then the dust turns to something else; a fine blue mist that shimmers in the air in front of us. A shape appears in the mist, like the indentation of a person hiding behind a thin, willowy curtain.

I step forward, leaving Tanner, and reach out my hand.

There she is… her name parts my lips with such force I’m almost brought back to my knees. “Ava…”

45

RAGNOR

“My darling, listen to me.” I try to stop my voice rising in volume, but she is making it very hard. “You must listen. Many things have changed since you were last here.”

Elena frowns at me. Her beautiful face crumples and she shakes her head. “Since I was last where? Ragnor, please, I don’t understand. I keep telling you, I don’t understand. I want Sam. I want the baby. I want to go home.”

I sigh and grip the mantlepiece. We’ve been going round in circles for hours, day, weeks. The King wants her to be turned. He doesn’t care into what; she just cannot be human when we leave this place.

At first, I objected, but then I thought about it and realized he is right. She deserves to be strong. She deserves to live a long life unhindered by human concerns. She deserves to be at my side when The King takes his place.