Page 111 of Ember and Ash

They exchange a look that tells me they didn’t know, but Silas dismisses my concern for both of them. “He’s powerful, Ember. Whatever he is or isn’t doing, Micah can handle himself.”

“Jeremy is powerful, too. That’s the problem.”

“You underestimate Micah,” Silas argues. “He’s faster, stronger, and better than any of us can imagine being. He’s an ancient Crystal Seer. You’ve never seen him in action.”

“I did,” I say. “When he saved me and we almost died. Jeremy bound his powers.”

“That’s impossible,” Gabriella says dismissively. “Demons can’t bind a Crystal Seer’s powers.”

“And yet, he did. Not only did I witness it, Micah told me it happened, and he said he’s been working on a way to prevent it.”

“Why didn’t he tell us that?” Gabriella asks, looking dumbfounded and concerned.

“I don’t know,” I say. “Maybe he worried you wouldn’t stay behind with me if you knew. I’ll know if he’s in trouble, but we have to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice and fight for our lives and his. That means I have to have perfect control. We all need to believe that I’m strong enough to fight off the serpent if I leave this place. And we have to hope like hell that at my full power, Jeremy can’t bind my powers.”

“What do you mean by you’ll know if Micah is in trouble?” Silas asks.

“We’re linked in some way. I don’t know how.”

Gabriella’s gaze rockets to Silas. “I told you.”

My brows dip. “You told him what?”

Gabriella hesitates and then confesses. “I knew there was something unique between you two, but I’ve never been around two Crystal Seers at once. I thought it was that. Maybe it is?”

I have the strange pinch of disappointment at this suggestion, as if what I share with Micah is somehow diminished, but I shake it off. I focus on protecting him right now. “I only know we’re connected. And I know Micah can’t fight Jeremy without us, without me, and the best place for me to prepare for this, for us to prepare for what’s before us, is the Underbelly. I cannot allow myself the luxury of fear when I go after Jeremy. I need to be confident, and we need to be a well-oiled machine. That takes practice and time we may not have.”

They share another look before they both straighten with determination. “I’m in,” Silas declares. “Let’s go make the Underbelly our bitch.”

“Me too,” Gabriella says.

Magic has memory, I’ve discovered, as I knew exactly how to return to the Underbelly without Micah, and when I hold my hands out to Silas and Gabriella and we’re all connected, I rift us there.

Over the course of the next seven days, the three of us spend every night in the Underbelly, and the list of demons I face, defeat, and check off a training kill list is long and plentiful. We develop a plan to work together that’s all about precision. In one scenario, Silas lures the demons out. Gabriella then shoots water at them that I turn to fire. The demons die. In others, we engage in combat, practicing knife skills and even the talent of throwing stars, learning how each of us moves and how we think. When it’s said and done, we end every session at the cove, where, for some reason, I can feel Micah the strongest. Some nights I even sleep here, just to know he’s alive and well.

On this particular night, Silas heads to the lighthouse ahead of us, in need of a bottle of soto for a wicked arm wound, leaving me and Gabriella on our own at the cove. It’s a bright night, stars twinkling, their beauty rivaling the diamonds in the cove, the moon glowing bright white.

“Do you feel him?” Gabriella asks, sitting with me on the edge of the embankment, our feet in the warm water, a red sunshine breaking over the horizon. Last night was the seventh night, the blood-red sunset followed by pitch dark, and for just a moment, I hadn’t been able to feel Micah. It had been terrifying.

I wonder if he felt the same, if he knew why he lost me, if only for a minute.

I shake myself back to the moment, to the question and answer. “I feel him. He’s okay. I keep thinking that maybe Jeremy knows why he’s there. That he plans to kill him before I come out of hiding. Maybe he’s hiding until I show myself.”

“Maybe. It makes sense. Can you tell Micah to come home?”

“No. I can only talk to him when he’s in the same world with me.”

“That’s how the inked magic works, too, but you two don’t have an inked spell, right?”

“No. Just this path to each other. Do you know that when Micah rescued me, Jeremy kept pushing into my head, and Micah was able to push him out?”

A puzzled look flickers across her face. “And yet, his powers were bound?”

“Yes. I guess it’s the Crystal Seer link you mentioned.”

“I don’t know if that’s real. I was speculating.”

“Either way, I think he needs me with him. I’m worried.”