Heartache (The Twenty-Sided Sorceress Book 5) (15 page)

Then the fire died, as though it had never been. I let go of all of my spells and knelt, hands and knees on the floor, gasping in cold, smoky air. The floor was freezing, rimed with frost and no more flames licked at the building.

Voices roused me from my exhausted slump. Shouting from outside.

I made myself stand and walk toward the street. The entry was mostly crushed, the building half collapsed, but I clambered over fallen beams and charred wall. Firemen stood around, some pointing, many talking at once, as I strode out of the building toward Alek.

“Jade.” Rachel rushed at me, grabbing a blanket from a surprised fireman and throwing it around me.

I winced as the cloth hit my injured arm. The numbness was wearing off and it felt like my flesh was still on fire.

Alek reached us a moment later, his glare driving back the two men trying to approach. People were yelling a lot of things, but compared to the roar of the fire, it was almost eerily quiet.

I looked back at my building. The blaze was completely out. Smoke still hung above the building, but nothing seemed to burn or smolder within. Score one for me, I guess.

I wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep for a thousand years, but I pulled the blanket around myself and tried on a smile for Alek’s sake.

“I’m okay,” I lied. My shop was gone. The picture that Ji-hoon had drawn for me, the last remnant of the people I’d lost, was gone as well. It was the only thing I’d truly prized, the one possession I’d carried through the decades. I’d just performed a crazy amount of magic, further weakening myself. And I’d done it in front of a hundred people, some of whom were definitely normals. Added to my aching arm, it all summed up to very not okay.

“Let’s get you to the truck before anyone starts asking what happened,” Alek said. He pushed my clothes into Rachel’s arms and swept me up like a child.

I was almost used to him carrying me at this point. It was sort of our thing. I perform big magic, Alek sweeps me off my feet when I’m too tired to stay on them. I was supposed to protest, but I was too fucking tired.

Nobody tried to stop us. Awe and disbelief painted the faces around us as Alek strode back to the truck.

Detective Hattie Wise and Agent Salazar waited by the truck, unhappy looks on their faces.

“You are causing a lot of trouble,” Hattie said.

“I didn’t start the damn fire,” I said as Alek growled at her to get out of his way.

“This is getting national media attention,” Salazar said. His lips were pressed into a tight line and his forehead creased with worry marks. They both looked like they’d aged a decade since I’d seen them.

“That’s your problem,” I said. “Remember? You can’t stop a sorcerer. So get out of my way. Unless you want to arrest me for putting out a fire.”

Hattie nodded slowly. Salazar looked like he wanted to protest, but she laid a hand on his arm and pulled him back.

Alek set me down on the bench seat. Rachel laid my clothes in my lap.

“Get the wolves out,” I told her. “Get away from here. This might get worse.” I could only hope that Samir would come for us in the woods and stop fucking up my town. My shop was gone. There was nothing left for him here.

“Good luck, Jade,” she said, her dark eyes solemn. “And thank you.”

I didn’t know what she was thanking me for. Maybe putting out the fire. It was hard to tell and I was too tired to care. I clutched the blanket around myself and passed out even as Alek started the engine.

The bird hits the glazed windowpane with a sickening thud. Tess runs out the door, ignoring the call of her grandmother to stop, to leave it be.

The bird is dead. Its neck is twisted and Tess cries. Something strange and cold unfurls within her, swirling through her mind. She begs God to let the bird live again, to turn it away from the window.

The world swirls around her. The cabin looks as though it is no thicker than her paper dolls, an image she could push over with the shove of one of her tiny hands.

“NO!” Gran’s voice cuts through the chill and the world stops its slow spin.

“Heal him,” Tess says, pushing out her lower lip. “I wanted to fix it. To stop the bird from hitting the window.”

“You cannot do this, honey-child. Ever. God wills what happens and what does not.” Gran takes the bird from Tess’s hands. “We’ll give him a proper burial.”

Later, sitting at the hearth and watching Gran spin in the waning light, Tess gets the courage to ask.

“What was happening? I felt all cold, and the world started to spin and spin.”

“It’s your gift. Like your mama before you. You have a feel for time, for the way the world and stars and all the heavens move.” Gran sighs and stills the drop spindle, setting it in her lap.

Tess stays quiet. Gran never talks about Tess’s mama. Not ever.

“She had the sight, which has passed you by, I pray to Jesus. Your mama saw the devil coming and she tried to change the future. Look at me, child. No one can change the future. Only God can stand up to the devil. But my baby tried.”

Gran’s eyes left Tess’s face and focused on something Tess couldn’t see, a distance she sensed but did not understand.

“She gave her life to you,” Gran said after a long, long silence that left Tess fidgeting and wondering if her Gran had fallen asleep with her eyes open. “Like Jesus dying for us, she tried to give her life to you, to die for your sins.”

“I’m a good girl,” Tess said, distressed. She said her prayers every night. She walked all the way to church twice a week, and she always asked God to forgive her when she had bad thoughts about the mean Camberly boys.

“You are,” Gran agreed. “But you must never turn back time. Your mama tried it, the night she died. I can’t say for sure if she managed, but I’ve never known a woman able to survive what she did. A baby, neither.”

“How did she die?” Tess whispered. She had an idea, a vague memory that was impossible. A beautiful woman with long brown hair leaning over her, whispering in a language Tess did not understand. Telling her to eat, to remember, to live.

Telling her to fight the devil.

“She gave her life for yours,” Gran said. Her grey braids bobbed as she shook her head. “That’s enough woolgathering. Go wash your hands and say your prayers.”

Tess knelt by her bed. She closed her eyes and tried to remember the beautiful woman.

Words tumbled from her lips, but they weren’t her usual prayers.

“Lucifer has golden eyes. The man comes, mama. The devil is coming to burn and burn us all. The devil is going to end the world. Lucifer will wake the dragon.”

I awoke with strange words and memories on my lips, shaking myself out of Tess’s memory, or her dreams. It was hard to tell them apart. Tess stayed silent in my mind, her ghost weeping softly at the edge of my consciousness. She was terrified.

I didn’t blame her. I was in the barn, up in the loft. Alek’s warm body was pressed against my back. Light filtered in through the bullet holes. It was still daylight.

“Hey,” I said, not sure if he was awake.

He was. “You want water or clothes first?” he asked.

“Water,” I said. My mouth tasted of ash and blood.

My left arm was still pink and raw, but healing. I splashed water over it after taking a deep drink. Minimal pain, just the sting, no worse than a papercut but less annoying. My fingers flexed fine. I’d live.

“What happened in the fire?” Alek said as he handed me my clothing.

“Some kind of magical snake thing. Like a Salamander without legs, I guess. Lava snake? Who knows. The important thing is that it tried to eat me and I kicked its ass.”

I was filthy, covered in ash and soot. I wondered if the hose still worked but was too tired to climb down and find out. It was probably frozen sold anyway. All I’d do would be to make myself wet, dirty, and cold. So I sucked it up and pulled on my clothing. At least it was dry, warm, and less dirty than my skin.

My hair was unraveling from its braid. I did what I could with it, twisting it into a thick knot at the base of my neck. I was halfway tempted to tell Alek to chop it all off, but it could be saved with a hot shower and conditioner. A few hours with a brush and a lot of patience wouldn’t have hurt, either. I had none of the above, but I still had my vanity. I loved my hair. It was staying, itchy and annoying though it was at the moment.

“Where are Ezee and Levi?” I asked, looking around. “How long was I out?”

“A couple of hours. They are getting supplies. It’ll be dark soon. We’re going to stay here for the night and head to the grove at first light.”

“Do the others know? If we don’t come back, they might come looking for us.” I knew that Harper would. She was stubborn that way. Given Ezee and Yosemite’s relationship, there was a good chance he’d go with her. Then we’d be all split up again, ripe for picking off. I didn’t like that idea at all.

“Yes. Ezee called Harper. Cell phones are magical, aren’t they?” Alek smiled gently at me.

I felt my jeans pocket. My phone was missing. “Don’t suppose you know where mine is?” I asked.

“Dead somewhere along the way,” Alek said. “That’s my guess. It wasn’t on you or in the clothes you handed me.”

“Damn. Not again.” My life was hell on phones. And clothing, for that matter. At least this time I’d saved my shirt, and Harper’s jacket.

Alek raised his head, listening, his body tense. He relaxed quickly as the sound of a car crunching on ice and gravel reached my less sensitive ears.

“Twins?” I asked, though his posture already told me he recognized the vehicle.

I wrapped my hand around my talisman just in case. It had survived the fire just fine, but I kind of figured it would. The D20 was as much a part of me as Wolf.

Shit. As Wolf had been. I sucked in a deep breath to quell my grief. For a moment I’d forgotten.

“Hey,” Levi called out.

“Up here,” Alek called down to him.

They had backpacks full of granola bars, jerky, and dried fruit. We ate a quick meal, nobody talking much for a while as the sun faded away. I hated winter. It got dark so early and it felt like the sun took its sweet time rising, too, like it was too cold to get up and it just hung around considering not making the effort.

“Town didn’t burn, I heard,” Ezee said after a while. “Thanks to a crazy naked woman.”

I gave them the cliff-notes version.

“Shit, lady.” Levi grinned at me, his teeth white in the growing gloom, his face in shadow, only his piercings catching the light and glinting silver.

“I know I can’t talk Harper out of her revenge,” I said, burrowing into one of the sleeping bags and leaning back against Alek. “But you two should take Rose and Junebug and get the hell out of here. This is my fight.”

“Fuck that,” they said in unison.

“Samir came here, burned our town, killed our friends, and is trying to destroy the rest of our friends. We aren’t abandoning you,” Levi said.

“I’d be insulted you are even asking us to, but I know your heart is in the right place. Stupid, but in the right place.” Ezee pulled a blanket around his shoulders and moved a mound of hay to help pillow his head.

“I don’t know if I can win,” I murmured. I barely said the words aloud, but my friends had preternatural hearing, so it didn’t matter.

Alek’s arms tightened around me and he nuzzled my ear.

“You are the strongest person I’ve ever met,” he said. “And you are not alone.”

“Damn straight,” Levi said.

“Correct, but never straight,” Ezee added. I heard the smile in his voice even as the light faded too much for me to make out his features. It was an old joke among us.

“I feel like we’re always behind. I can’t pin Samir down. I don’t even know what his real game is, what he really wants. He could have killed me by now.” At least, I was pretty sure he could have. Maybe Wolf had been more of a deterrent than I thought, but it seemed like Samir was up to more than just toying with me. That, or I truly didn’t comprehend the depths of his evil. Little from column A, little from column B?

“It’s obvious what game he’s playing,” Levi said with a snort. “
Human Occupied Landfill
, live action version.”

“What?” I said. I hadn’t thought about that obscure game in a long time. I’d had a copy in the game store, but mostly as a novelty item.