Ignited (33 page)

“Edith, is he becoming mortal?”

She hesitated a moment and then nodded with some regret. “He does not care.” Her elegant shrug said that she still worried. “We keep our guard up to slow it, but eventually that won’t matter. We knew it would happen, and he is content.”

“What about you? Do his powers change you?” Really I wanted to know if she was becoming immortal. The question had hovered over my head like an ax since my proximity to the Protectors had begun to change me. What could come of a relationship where one person would never age?

Edith reached over and almost touched my hand before she pulled back, seeming to think better of the gesture. “We are not immortal. We grow old like every other human.”

I closed my eyes, grateful for that at least. Gabe would become mortal, but we would age together.

Then Edith added, “But, Remy, you are no longer like us.”

My eyes flew open, and I stared at her in confusion.

She sighed, the sound of it heavy with regret. “Last night, the way you healed your man, that is a gift that few of us have. It only happens when one of us takes the life force of a Healer. Your friend,
non
?”

I nodded, my heart thudding with dread as I tried to decipher what she was telling me. “It was an accident. She died while I was trying to save her.” I swiped a hand over eyes that felt as dry and gritty as a desert. Maybe I’d finally run out of tears, because this latest revelation threatened to break me but I didn’t cry. “If I’m not a Healer or a Protector, then what am I?”

She shrugged. “You are none of those things and all of them. My dear, you are a Phoenix.”

“But you just said that I’m not like you . . .” I said in confusion.

“We are not Phoenix.”

Her short answer frustrated me, and it must have shown on my face.

Brita snorted. “Stop speaking in riddles, Edith, and give the girl a damned answer. Can’t you see you’re making it worse?”

Edith glared at Brita before she continued. “We are born a balance of Healer and Protector. When we bond with a Protector, the balance is thrown off. Our powers increase because of what we take from them. But you . . . you have taken from another—a Healer. You must find balance again.”

Her words made no sense to me. How could you balance what you couldn’t control?

“Does this mean I’ll become immortal?” I asked, fear dropping my voice low.

Edith shook her head. “I wish I could help you, but I’ve never met a Phoenix.”

“Ah, Remy! I have been looking for you.”

Seamus had entered the room, cutting my interrogation short. I rose to meet him, and his grave look warned me that more storms were ahead. Lucy, Lottie, Gabe, and Asher followed him into the room with Sean bringing up the rear, and I could see that he’d gathered them, either to give us the bad news at once or in hopes that the others would temper my reaction to whatever he had to say. Seamus avoided my gaze when he spoke again, and I guessed it was the latter.

“I am sorry about your father, but you understand we can’t possibly go forward with our plans to retrieve him now after last night. In truth, we think it best if we leave London immediately.”

His words didn’t surprise me exactly. I’d had some time to think through things in the shower this morning, and I’d guessed this might be his tactic. Still, I asked, “Why?”

He met my gaze with conviction. “These women must be protected. The O’Malleys are sworn to watch over them. Watch over you, if you would allow it. One man’s life is not more important than that.”

Once, I might have wished for someone to save me and keep me safe. But these last months had tested me, and now things had reversed. Others depended on me, and I wouldn’t let them down.

I speared Seamus with a direct look. “It is to me when that man is my father.” I let my gaze encompass the rest of the people in the room. Edith, Brita, and Ursula watched me with varying degrees of curiosity. “We were given these powers for a reason. I will not hide or cower from men like my grandfather. Please help me.”

Sean wore a tiny smile as he wrapped an arm around Edith’s waist. Gabe, Asher, Lottie, and Lucy surrounded me in a half moon at my back, each of them offering silent support. That said a lot about how far we’d come together. Gabe’s fingers twined with mine, and I felt that surge of love grounding me again. He smiled to encourage me, and I squeezed his fingers.

My attention returned to Seamus, and the grim look on his face somehow calmed me further. He’d kept the O’Malleys and these women hidden for years because they had the potential to become Phoenix. I respected him for that, but there was a difference between regrouping in the trenches and hiding in them like a coward.

“It would be senseless to fight them,” he insisted. “You must see that. Tell her,” he said to Gabe and the others.

My friends didn’t say a word, and Seamus cursed.

“I’m sorry,” I told him in a softer voice. “I get that you went into hiding to save what was left of the O’Malleys and to protect women like us.” I gestured from me to Edith, Brita, and Ursula. “But there comes a point when you have to take a stand. Last night, they attacked my family, and they killed another person we cared about. We will not walk away from that. I hope you’ll join us, and God knows we could use the help. But if you can’t get on board, well, then . . . get out of our way. We
are
going to get my father back, and we’re going to show Franc and the Morrisseys and anyone else who’s watching that we’ll fight back if they try to destroy us.”

Lucy found my free hand and gripped it. Asher had his arm around Lottie’s shoulder, and she touched Gabe’s arm. His fingers pressed mine again. We were all connected somehow, the five of us. My found family stood together as a united front, willing to climb deeper into hell if it meant putting an end to the fear and agony of these last months. And we would do it together, watching each other’s backs the whole way.

Silence stretched on as if Seamus hoped the ticking of the seconds would change our minds. When a full minute had gone by, I turned on my heel, and our group moved as one toward the door.

“Wait!” Seamus shouted. I paused and glanced back over my shoulder to find him studying me with grudging respect. “Have it your way then. I cannot speak for all of my men, but you have my aid if you wish it.”

“And mine.” Sean stepped forward, his smile wider and almost proud.

One by one, Brita, Edith, and Ursula volunteered, too. A lump formed in my throat that these people I didn’t know would fight alongside us.

Seamus’s blue eyes blazed at me with challenge. “You have us, but I still say we cannot go forward with our original plan. I don’t suppose you have a Plan B.”

I shared a quick glance with Gabe, and he gave me an encouraging nod. “As a matter of fact, we do.”

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY
-
EIGHT

“H
ello.” My grandfather answered his phone on the third ring.

I took a deep breath. “Hello, Franc.”

“Remy? This is a happy surprise,” he said.

He didn’t sound warm or jovial like he had the last time I’d called, but his calm voice gave nothing away about his true feelings. My heart fluttered in a little shock of fear, and sweat broke out on my forehead. A cowardly part of me had hoped that I would get a recording, but it was too late for that now. The only way forward was through it. I pictured Laura and Erin, both of them gone because of my grandfather’s ambition. That was enough to refortify my waning courage.

“Is it a surprise?” I asked, my voice caustic with bitter sadness. “I would have thought this is what you wanted.”

“What exactly is
this
?” he asked. “The last time you called you had an ulterior motive.”

There,
I thought. He sounded angry, the edge of it cutting through his calm manner. Anger clouded things, and that was a good thing for our side. “
This
is me giving up,” I said.

I heard him breathing over the line and nothing else for several long seconds. “Why now?” he finally asked.

“I’m tired, Franc. Tired of running and watching the people I care about die. Last night with Erin . . .” My voice broke, and the grief was real, clogging my throat and making it ache with the pressure of what I held back. “I can’t watch another person die for me. I’m through fighting you.”

“What do you want?” he asked. He tried to hide excitement behind skepticism, but I could hear it anyway.

“I’ll give myself up on two conditions. You let my father go, and you don’t bother my friends or family again.”

“I can’t promise that,” he said immediately.

My palms had grown damp with sweat, and I rubbed them on my jeans. Franc thought he had all the power and would push me as far as I would let him. I had to make him believe that I wouldn’t bend on this. I imagined Gabe calling me Remington the Fierce, and that’s who I was when I said, “Then we have nothing to discuss. Good luck finding me the next time.”

I waited, pretending I would hang it up. A few seconds later, Franc called my name. “What?” I asked.

“I’ll see what I can do. The Morrisseys may not agree to this.”

My grandfather’s voice sounded sincere, but I didn’t believe him. “Not good enough. If I’m going to turn myself over to you, then I want guarantees. You bring my father, and I’ll bring my sister. I’ll go home with you, and you let my father go with Lucy.”

“You’re more powerful than I am. You don’t honestly believe that I’m going to come alone?” he asked.

I’d known this would be a sticking point and was prepared to counter. “So bring Xavier and Mark, but that’s it. Think about it, Franc. If you bring the Morrisseys, what’s to stop them from keeping me for themselves?”

There was another pause as he considered his options, but my grandfather knew I was right. The rumor was that Franc had promised to give me to the Morrisseys in exchange for their help, but I’d guessed all along that he intended to double-cross them. He hated them, and my grandfather had no compunction about betraying the people he loved let alone those he loathed.

Eventually, Franc caved. “Fine. Shall we come to you?”

“No,” I said. “We meet in public.”

“It sounds like you don’t trust me, granddaughter.” He sounded amused by that, and bile sloshed in my stomach.

I struggled to tamp my emotions down.
Stay on plan, girl.
“Let’s meet in the Reading Room at the British Museum. Tonight at six.”

“Okay,” he agreed. He waited one, two beats and then added in a dangerous voice, “But Remy, I have a condition of my own.”

I closed my eyes and waited.

“You won’t fight me anymore.” His whisper slid over me, promising and threatening at the same time. “You will do everything that is asked of you. If I give you to a Protector, you will give him what he wants. Do you understand?”

He would let them use me over and over again. The horror of what I imagined was there in my voice. “You’re a monster, Franc. My mother would be sick if she knew what you’d become.”

“Your mother was weak,” he snapped in a rage. “You will do what I ask, or I will kill your father. I’m tired of these games.”

“Okay,” I said, sounding beaten. “You have my word. As long as my father is there, I’ll do whatever you tell me.”

“Good. It’s not going to be so bad, granddaughter. You’ll be helping us win the war.”

A war that existed only in his mind. “Good-bye, Franc.”

“No. Not good-bye. I’ll be seeing you, Remy.”

He hung up, and I struggled to control my emotions. His soul had twisted into something that was hardly human anymore. What would my grandmother think of what he’d become in her name?

“Remy?” Asher asked from the seat beside me.

My stomach knotted and heaved.

“Stop the car!” I shouted.

Sean abruptly pulled over on the bridge, ignoring the horns sounding behind him. I jumped out, running to the ledge that kept foot traffic from falling into the water below. I gripped the stone with my free hand, feeling the weather-smoothed edge of it beneath my fingers as I bent over to stare at the water below. I thought I would be sick, but nothing came out when I heaved. When I could breathe normally, I pulled back my arm and pitched the phone as far as I could into the river below. Then I climbed back into the car, and Sean pulled away from the curb as if nothing had happened. Except I’d had the phone on speaker, and Seamus, Sean, and Asher had all heard how willing my grandfather was to use me.

“You okay?” Asher asked.

I nodded. Sean had driven us around the city while I spoke to my grandfather. It had been part of the plan to get rid of the phone since we expected Franc to trace the call, but Asher knew our stop had been about more than that. I fought back a fresh wave of tears. The car fell silent again.

We passed the Wobbly Bridge, and I wished I could toss my pain away as easily as I had the phone. I knew what my grandfather was and it still hurt that he could plan to use me so callously. I sniffed, and a handkerchief suddenly appeared in front of me.

Sean held it out behind his head, and I met his eyes in the rearview mirror. “Well and now, I have to say that your grandfather is an arsehole,” he announced.

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Sean. Do you have no tact?” Seamus said.

I laughed and took the handkerchief. “No, he’s right. Franc is an arsehole.”

In the front passenger seat, Seamus twisted around to ask, “Do you really think he’ll leave the Morriseys behind?”

“Yes,” I said. “They don’t fit with his plans, but he’s not coming alone. Mark and Xavier will be the least of our worries.”

Seamus nodded. “We’ll be ready for that.”

He turned around, and Asher said under his breath, “Are you sure this plan is going to work?”

Gabe had looked surprised when I’d asked if Asher could accompany me on this ride, but he’d agreed without asking any questions. He trusted me, and that was enough for him. Asher had seemed surprised, too, but explanations would come soon enough.

To answer his question, I whispered, “Well, it’s better than the plan Gabe and I had when we rescued you, and we made it out of that okay, didn’t we?”