Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) (88 page)

Anya trails
of
f as her leafy-green eyes dart to me. It takes
me a second to realize that there are deep, rumblin’ snarls comin’ from me, almost like the sound that a jungle cat makes when it’s wardin’ off other predators from its kill.
I stop
growlin’ abruptly, but
I ca
n
’
t stop myself from askin’, “You’
re
plannin’
on walkin
’ in
to
the same room with Brennus?
”

“All of his men w
ill probably be there, too,” Anya
adds, like it'
s an ov
erlooked detail, before she continues
. “He’ll be intrigued b
y this new twist in his revenge—
possessing the
aspire
of his bitterest enemy wi
ll
thrill him.
It will
at once placate him as it distracts him. That is the key to this plan, if we can distract him for long enough, Russell can sneak in and steal their energy, take away whatever magic they’ve been using to camouflage them
selves
with
in th
at evil
,
little
church
on the
ir
estate.”

Evie manages
to swallow her mouthful of food. “You
know where they are?” she asks
Anya, her eyes wide and waterin’.

“Of course,” she says
with a nod. “I can’t
be sure what kind of magic they’re using to hide
there but it's there
,” she says
.
Anya explains
,
“I sensed them
there while
I was exploring the church
. It was like a shade had been draw
n between two planes of reality—
t
heirs and ours—
but it was thin, like they occupied the same space that I did, just not in the same reality or dimension…does that make sense
to you
?
Am I explaining it well?
” she asks
us.

I see
Red nod
before she says
, “Yeah, it’s l
ike
there’
s a
hazy
veil between us, and if you list
en you can hear them through it—
in their version of the Knight’s Bar.”

“Yes,” she agrees slowly, while her eyes look
dreamy
,
imaginin’
the parallel
world
.

I c
a
n’t keep my m
outh shut any longer, or my cool
.
“So
, let me recap the play, coach
.
I’m supposed to let you
walk into Brennus’ den of torture so that you can distract him for me to come and annihilate them with magic?”
She wrinkles
he
r nose at me, probably ‘cuz I ge
t more and
more agitated when I highlight
the STUPIDEST points of her plan.

“You will not be alone—
” Anya
starts
, but I cut her off.

“Oh, right,” I continue sarcastically, “y
ou’
r
e
comin’, too, aren’t you
, Zee?”

Zephyr gi
ve
s
me a pensive look.

“Not just Zee,”
Anya says
between her teeth.

“What? THE REAPERS
!
” I hiss
, pointin’ at Buns and Brownie angrily.

They both gasp
, offended, while
crossin’ their
arms huffily.

“NO!” Anya
r
etorts
, “I already coordinated a signal with Preben so he can
lead
his team in
.
All you need to do is take out the magic that keeps them hidden. Once you do that, the Powers will have fun tearing them op
en and w
h
ittling
knife handles from
their bones.”

“And what
happens when Brennus touches you
before I can unweave all the ancient magic he’s go
t layered around that place
?
” I glare
at her, pointin’ hea
tedly in the direction I think
Ireland might lie in.
“
I don’t even have the remotest clue ‘bout
that kind of magic. What happens if he runs
his cold
fingers over you
r cheek?
” I ask
, feelin’
so edgy that I may have to smash somethin’ with my fist soon.

“
I’m not afraid of his
thrall anymor
e. You can heal me,” she replies
with amazin’ calm.

“IN THEOR
Y!” I shout
at her.
“I can heal you
in theory
!”

“I prefer
to have
faith
,” she counters
.

“THAT’S ‘CUZ YOU’
R
E
AN ANGEL!” I yell, completely losin’ my head.
“He’s gonna tr
y to snuff you
out like a candle!
”

Anya
stills
for a moment before
deep-seated
anger registers
in her lethal stare.
“I’
m not a candle, Russell, I’m a
f
ire—
a raging, pissed of
f
inferno!
Brennus has threatened something that belongs to me so he
’s
getting retribution—
paid out
tenfold, but
I need your help to do it.”

“Thrones,” I hear
Zephyr say under his breath, shakin’ his head ruefully.

I ru
n my hand through my hair in agitation, tryin’
to calm down.
Then,
I direct
my next question
to Zephyr, “Okay, what’s plan B?”

Before Zephyr can respond, Red says
quietly, “I
’ll
go in alone and offer Brennus something else.”

Anger engulfs
me again at the tho
ught of Red goin’ in there at all
. “Naw!”

“What e
lse would he want?” Zephyr asks
her in a low tone.

“I could offer to heal him…
” she says
, palin’
more, “to take away the stain of the Gancanagh.”

“YES!” Anya says
excitedly. “Whe
n
we go in together, you could offer him that! It will take him by surprise! Then, Russell can steal his energy
and the Powers can come in and…”

“
You
can’t do that,
Red! You
can’t take his sickness—you
could lose you
r soul!
You’
re
NOT goin’
in there!” I reiterate
tersely
, feelin’ like she
’s
deliberately ignorin’ me.

“It’s
a good plan,” Red says
next to me.
Her face i
s
drawn
with dark circles under her eyes.

With m
y frown deepenin’
,
I retort
,
“It’
s only a good plan to you ‘cuz it gives your
aspi
re
a chance, but it just might get
mine
killed
!”

“It gives us all a chance,” R
ed replies
with a sorry-
look
. “Brennus will use Reed to hunt us. He’s an assassin
, Russell. We can’t run from Reed
if Brennus turns him into a Gancanagh. He knows us. He’ll slaughter the Reaper
s
without even thinking twice and when he catches you and me…” she t
r
ails
off, lookin’ green and sick. “He’ll turn us into monsters.”

“Maybe you
r dad could—” I begin
.

“HE WON’T HELP!” Red screams
at me, losin’ it. “He’ll search for Reed, but it’ll be too late and then all he will do is protect me. Not you, not Zee, or Buns and Brownie. Just me.
And as for Anya, she’s practically an outlaw now.
”

“She’
s right,” Anya agrees
. “You all are expendable
and I will be punished
.
Our only chance is to kill the Gancanagh before they kill us.
”

Brownie
’s
voice i
s calm when she as
ks
, “What do we do?”

Anya’s eyebrow arch
es
when she replies
, “You get to distract the Seraphim.”

“Sweetie, I have just
the shoes for that,” Buns says
with an evil grin.

“I don’
t like your plan
,” I say
softly, decidin’ that changin’ my tone might help get their attention.

“What don’t you
like about the plan?” Anya asks
me with a sigh.

“With so much to hate, wh
ere should I begin?” I counter
. “Could the fact that you
’
r
e
gonna get up close a
nd
personal with Brennus
, a fact that would make most grown
men cry, have anythin’ to do with
it?”

“He is—” Anya says, but I talk
over her.

“What makes you think that h
e won’t just crack you
open like a bottle of Merlot
the se
cond you
enter with Red?” I ask
in a cold tone.

Anya
shudder
s
at the visual I present
before sayin’
, “He won’t
. He wants revenge. He’
ll wait to do it when he has you for an audience
.”

“
How do you k
now that?”
I ask her.

“
I’
m a Throne. Vengeance
is what I do. I understand it.”

“
What makes you thin
k it will be any different if I’
m there?
Do you think that magic is a game of rock, paper,
scissors?” I ask
, shiftin’
to my next point
.

“No, but—” she sputters
.

“Do you want
to know a secret?” my
que
stion co
me
s
out louder than a whisper. “I don’t even know what’s gonna happen half the time when I unleas
h a spell
. Sometimes
I feel like my mind has been fractured and insanity is bleedin’ into reality. Just talkin’ ‘bout magic makes me feel like I’m caught in some cr
appy on
line chat room with shut-in
s who call themselves
‘Wick-tastrophy’ and ‘Fro-dope
.
’
”

Anya glanc
es
from me to Red.
“I don’t kn
ow—
what is an on
line chat room?
” she
asks
, lookin’ like a
little
lost lamb.

R
ed says
defensively
,
“
Really
,
Russ
ell?
”

“Fine
, Red
,” I say
between my teeth
, liftin’ my finger to jab it at Anya
. “Maybe
you
should explain
the weakness of her plan.
Tell her
I don’t know what’s gonna happen when I try to do magic.
Explain that y
ou
could be trapped in the
re, waitin’ for help from me to
save
y
’
all
from Brennus’ greedy maw, only to find out that
I let y
ou
down
again—
like I’ve been lettin’ her
down this entire time
…and I don’t even know why
it’s torturin’ me
‘cuz
sh
e’s practically a stranger
.
”