Playing With Fire (Power of Four Book 2) (33 page)

The mages seated beside the bodies lifted their hands and touched the soft grass. Before Aaron’s eyes, the twenty-five bodies began to slowly sink into the ground.

“Bodies perish,” Neriah read from memory, his deep voice laced with pain. “But the heart is immortal. It goes on living, forever alive in the whispers of the air it once breathed, in the current of the water it once swam, in the core of the fire it used to spread warmth, and in every grain of sand it walked on.”

The bodies continued to sink down until they were gone. Slowly the ground reformed again. Small mounds of freshly dug ground marked each grave. Mages from the gathered circle stepped forward, each carrying a small headstone with the name of the deceased carved into it.

Aaron watched as a teary-eyed Ella carried a white tombstone to Skyler, who was kneeling next to the grave he had buried Armana in. Ella knelt at Skyler’s side and silently handed him the stone. With shaky hands, Skyler took it and gently placed it at the head of the grave. Skyler’s eyes hadn’t dried. His tears fell on the grave as he fixed the stone. Even after it was placed, his fingers lingered on Armana’s name, as if taking their last feel of her. Skyler’s head dropped and his shoulders shook. Ella hugged Skyler from behind and buried her face into his neck as she cried. They stayed like that for a moment or two, lost in their pain, before Ella pulled back and urged Skyler to his feet. Skyler’s pain was visible, raw and brutal on his tear-stained face. He stood but swayed a little. He clutched at Ella’s arm, holding her close, but his eyes were still on Armana’s grave.

Slowly, the crowd thinned. Everyone left, except for Skyler, Ella and Aaron. Wiping a sleeve over his eyes, Aaron approached Armana’s grave and knelt next to it. He placed his hand on the ground. Pale blue forget-me-not flowers grew under his command, at the base of Armana’s tombstone.

Getting to his feet, Aaron looked at Skyler and Ella.

“Skyler,” Aaron started quietly, stepping towards him. “I’m so sorry about Armana–”

Skyler grabbed Aaron by the neck and pulled him close. His eyes were bloodshot, the blue as cold as ice.

“Listen close, Adams,” he growled. “You tell that
brother
of yours the day I find him, that day will be his
last
.” He shoved Aaron back and turned, walking away.

“Skyler?” Ella called. “Skyler! Wait!” She ran after him but Skyler didn’t stop. He didn’t even look back at her.

After a few minutes, the newly set up Gate flashed as Skyler left the City of Salvador.

***

Most of the cottages were left uninhabitable after the fire. There were only a few that had survived the attack. The mages crammed into the available space, taking the beds, sofas and even the floors to get some rest. If they had their Controller and the Hub, they could have easily set up a portal and gone to another city, but their journeys from now on were going to have to be made on foot or on their bikes.

Aaron slipped out of an overstuffed cottage and went for a walk. He needed to clear his head, to get peace from the tranquillity of the glassy pool. But it seemed someone else had the same idea. Aaron paused at the sight of Neriah at the bank of the lake. He turned to go back when Neriah called out to him, “It’s okay, Aaron. You can come.”

“It’s cool,” Aaron replied. “I’ll go.”

“Aaron,” Neriah called. “Please. Come, sit.”

Aaron hesitated, then slowly walked over. He sat under the floating lanterns, next to Neriah. For long minutes, both Aaron and Neriah simply watched the dark water before them in silence. Aaron glanced at him, but Neriah’s expression was unreadable.

Aaron took in a breath. “Are you still mad at me?”

Neriah looked around at him. “For hiding your encounters with Kyran?” Neriah shook his head. “Not any more.”

“Why’s that?” Aaron asked.

“You’re brothers,” Neriah explained. “The instinct to protect blood is perhaps the strongest in us mages.” He faced Aaron with a small, barely there smile. “You may not have known you were brothers, but your heart knew. Your core recognised his. You didn’t raise the alarm when he came to you because you were trying to protect him – it’s probably why you didn’t mention it at all. I can’t be angry with you for that.”

Aaron kept his eyes on Neriah. “Because you did the same,” he stated. “With Hadrian.”

Neriah stiffened. His eyes continued to gaze ahead of him. After a long moment, he answered, “Yes. Because I did the same with Hadrian.” He closed his eyes and pulled in a breath. “I protected him when I shouldn’t have.” He turned his head to look at Aaron. “I think about all the time I wasted, trying to find a cure, when deep down I already knew it was hopeless. I could have done the right thing. I
should
have done the right thing.”

“Meaning you should’ve killed him?” Aaron asked.

Neriah didn’t reply right away. He looked back over at the lake. “I saw what was happening to him,” he said quietly. “I saw the light in him go dark. I could have done something then. I could have saved all of us from this fate. How many lives has Hadrian devastated? How many will he go on to destroy? All of them, all of this death and misery he’s causing, it’s on my head. I had a chance to stop him and I didn’t.”

“I don’t agree,” Aaron said. “Hadrian is responsible for what he does, not you. You tried helping him. You tried to find a cure. What’s happening isn’t your fault.” Aaron paused, studying Neriah. “If you could do it over, would you kill him?”

Neriah didn’t reply. He looked conflicted, his head dropped, eyes full of pain and guilt.

“I don’t think you would,” Aaron said. “You would always try to save your friend.”

Neriah lifted his head, his eyes staring out into the darkness. “That’s my error,” he said. “I keep seeing my friend, when I should see a demon.”

“Becoming a vamage doesn’t erase the part of you that was a mage,” Aaron said. “How can anyone expect you to forget the mage who was your friend?”

“He was more than that,” Neriah said. “I cared for him like a brother. I loved him like he was my own blood.”

“Do you hate him now?” Aaron asked.

Neriah didn’t speak for almost a full minute. “Hate is a word that’s greatly misused,” he said. “It gets called on for everything, when really the word needed is dislike.” His voice dipped low. “Hatred is a strong, crippling emotion. It destroys you from the inside, because the fact is you can’t truly hate someone you never once loved.” He turned to Aaron. “It’s the abuse of the love we once had that gives us the ability to hate.”

Aaron dropped his gaze to the ground. They sat in silence as the wind picked up, driving the chill into Aaron’s body.

“What are we going to do?” Aaron asked quietly. “Hadrian has the Hub. He can now wipe out entire zones at a time.” He raised his eyes to Neriah. “He could build a Q-Zone around us and kill us where we stand.”

Neriah’s jaw clenched. “Hadrian’s done enough.” The words came out with great strain, like he was struggling to speak past his rage. He looked at Aaron with dark violet eyes. “Now, it’s my turn.”

31

Laying Traps

The plan was fairly straightforward. Neriah was going to take his Hunters and storm Hadrian’s zone to take back the Hub. It sounded simple enough, but Aaron knew it was going to be anything but.

The Hunters all crowded in the street around Neriah, who had mapped out a copy of the realm on the ground with sticks.

“Zone K is Hadrian’s securest zone,” Neriah said. “No matter which corner we try to get in from, we’re going to have to go through his other zones first.” He sat back, crouching on the ground, brow creased. “That’s where he’s holding the Hub,” he said. “At least, that’s what he wants us to think.”

“What do you mean?” Ella asked.

Neriah didn’t answer right away. He was staring at his makeshift map with narrowed eyes. He reached out and touched one of their neighbouring zones.

“He’s holding the Hub here,” he said. “In Zone J.”

Every eye turned to him.

“That’s the closest one to us,” Ella said. “It’s literally the next zone.”

“I know,” Neriah said. “That’s why Hadrian would put the Hub there.”

“I’m sorry,” Ryan said, shaking his head. “No disrespect to you, Neriah, but this doesn’t make any sense. Why would Hadrian steal the Hub and then put it in the zone right next to us?”

“Because he’s Hadrian,” Neriah replied. “He would find it deeply amusing if we fought tooth and nail to get past his defences, only to find the Hub isn’t there, but was under our noses the entire time.” He looked at the map again and slowly nodded. “He would put the Hub in Zone J.”

Aaron couldn’t help it. He knew what he was going to say would upset many, but he had to voice his reservations.

“Are you sure Zone J is even one of Hadrian’s zones?”

Neriah looked up at him with a frown. The Hunters, as expected, looked to Aaron as if he were mad.

“What do you mean?” Neriah asked.

“It might not be Hadrian’s zone,” Aaron said. “According to Kyran, Hadrian only actually has nine zones.”

Neriah’s narrowed eyes widened. The Hunters around him grew restless, shifting to look at Aaron.

“So who has the other ten?” Zhi-Jiya asked with a furrowed brow. “Evil, element-abusing fairies?”

“Demons,” Aaron replied. “Kyran said demons have ten zones. They’ve found a way past Gates and are taking over the zones.”

Murmurs of outrage rippled through the crowd. Aaron ignored them, his eyes on Neriah. The leader of the mages was staring back at Aaron, his eyes a dark purple.

“And you believe him?” Neriah asked.

“The Lycans that attacked us had found their way in without dropping the Gate,” Aaron reminded. “Maybe what Kyran said isn’t all that far-fetched.”

Neriah was quiet for almost a minute. “What else did he tell you?”

“That you lied about him,” Aaron replied. “That the attacks Scott reported as the work of the Scorcher was really Raoul and his Lycans. Kyran was here, in Salvador, at the time of the attacks. So how could he be responsible?”

The Hunters shifted in quiet fury, glaring at Aaron. Their hands were curled into fists, eyes narrowed and jaws clenched. Aaron held his ground. He knew calling the leader of the mages a liar in front of his loyal Hunters wasn’t going to go down well. But he had to say it. He had to ask how Kyran could be blamed for crimes he clearly hadn’t committed.

Neriah didn’t move. He held Aaron’s stare for a long minute, and then nodded.

“He has a point,” he said quietly. “Maybe we were wrong about those attacks. Maybe some of them were in fact Raoul and the Lycans. I admit I don’t know Kyran well enough to judge if he was the one responsible.” His eyes grew fierce. “But I know Hadrian. And I know all nineteen zones belong to him. I know because he took them from me.”

Aaron didn’t fight back. Kyran had said the demons took the zones from Neriah, not Hadrian. Was Kyran lying? Or was Neriah blindly blaming Hadrian for something he didn’t do? Like the mages did with Kyran?

Ryan took in a breath and stepped forward. “When do we leave for Zone J?” he asked.

Neriah took a moment before slowly straightening up. He looked around at his Hunters. “The day after tomorrow,” he said. “I’m told by the Empaths that they hope Scott will have regained consciousness by then.” He scanned the crowd. “Let’s get our Controller his Hub back in time for him to wake up.”

***

Two days later, the Hunters prepared to storm Zone J and take back their Hub. They gathered in the street, weapons of all kinds in hands and strapped on torsos, arms and legs. It was the largest crowd of Hunters Aaron had ever witnessed. He saw plenty of faces he recognised, including the red-haired Bella. She gave him a small nod in greeting but stayed next to her bike.

Despite the large numbers, the usual excitement for a hunt was missing. There was no boisterous laughter from the Hunters, no cheering from the watching mages, no positive energy in the air.

Aaron stood next to Ella in silence, waiting for everyone to assemble. Ella’s bike stood to the side, ready for her to mount and take off with Aaron. Across the road, Ryan waited with his bike. Kate stood next to him but her eyes were glued to Aaron, watching him, silently pleading with him to change his mind. Aaron kept his eyes firmly away from hers. If it wasn’t such an important mission, one that needed every Hunter, Aaron was certain his mum would’ve argued with Neriah until he agreed to leave Aaron behind.

Aaron spotted Neriah walking through the crowd, heading towards him. Peeking out from behind Neriah’s shoulder was the hilt of a sword. Aaron didn’t even have to see the rest of it to figure out it was the Blade of Afton.

Neriah walked up to Aaron but his eyes were on his niece. “Any sign of him?” he asked.

Ella’s expression clouded with pain. She shook her head. “No,” she replied quietly. “He hasn’t come back since the funeral. I don’t know where Skyler is.”

Neriah didn’t say anything, but Aaron could see sorrow in his expression. He nodded before scanning the crowd. “Another few minutes, then we must leave.”

Neriah walked away. Aaron watched him go, his eyes on the magnificent sword slung on Neriah’s back. Like the Blades of Adams and Avira, the Blade of Afton too had engravings along the gleaming silver. Neriah passed by Mary, who was standing to the side. Next to her were Sam and Rose. Aaron hadn’t spoken much to either of them in the past few days, but he could see the worry in their eyes as they stared at him. Finally, Rose broke and ran towards him. Aaron moved too, making his way through the crowd to get closer.

Rose threw her arms around him, clinging to his neck.

“Please don’t go,” she whispered. “Don’t go, Aaron. You’ll get hurt.”

Aaron pulled her away. “I need to do this,” he said. “I have to help get the Hub back.”

Rose’s eyes were already welling with tears. She looked downright terrified. “You’re going into
Hadrian’s
zone,” she stressed. “It’s too dangerous.”

Aaron smiled. “Are you channelling my mum?” he asked. “She said the same thing, word for word.”

Rose held on to his hands. “Listen to her,” she pleaded. “I’ve got a bad feeling, Aaron. I don’t want you to go.”

Aaron gave her hands a tight squeeze. “I’m going to say to you what I told her – I’m not sitting this one out. I’m fighting against Hadrian. I’m getting the Hub back.”

Rose dropped her head and Aaron moved in to hug her again. He looked over her shoulder at Sam. It was clearly taking all he had to stay where he was and not come running like Rose. Aaron gave him a small smile and moved back. He left Rose and went back to Ella, who was getting ready to mount her bike. The Gate flashed and opened under Neriah’s command.

***

The roar of the bikes filled the air as Neriah led the way, speeding through the forest on his liquid-blue Ducati Panigale motorbike. Aaron was seated behind Ella, holding on as she raced after her uncle, the rest of the Hunters behind them.

They went further than Aaron had ever been before. Usually, Scott had a portal ready and waiting in the middle of the forest to take them wherever they wanted to go. Now they had no choice but to travel the whole way across the zone to get to the next one.

They rode for what felt like hours. Eventually Aaron saw the trees thinning ahead. They came out of the forest onto a stretch of dry, sand-covered ground. The bright sunlight blinded all of them until their eyes adjusted from the dark woods they had left behind. Neriah slowed to a stop, halting the Hunters behind him.

For a moment, Neriah did nothing but scan his surroundings. There didn’t appear to be anything there but sun and sand. Neriah revved his bike and turned, heading to his left. He took off and the Hunters followed in pursuit. Their bikes kicked up flurries of sand and dirt, which meant they couldn’t follow directly behind each other. They spread out. Ella kicked her bike up a gear and raced to Neriah’s right. They kept going until they saw a dark shape ahead of them. Aaron tried to make out what it was, but the sand was stinging his eyes.

It turned out it was nothing more than large rocks – a cluster of them, some boulders as tall as Aaron. Neriah came to a stop and dismounted his bike. Ella and the others followed his example. Aaron’s legs had become stiff after sitting on the bike for so long. He stretched them as discretely as he could. Stepping past Ella, Aaron peered at what lay beyond the rocks: a steep hill leading the way down to more dry, sand-covered ground. Loose rocks sat on the surface. He pulled back to find his mum by his side.

“The path ahead is uneven. We should go on foot from here,” Neriah instructed. “Stay ready. You don’t know what we might find.”

Guns clicked in response. Aaron saw the pistol in his mum’s hand but refrained from taking out his own…yet. Neriah made his way past the rocks and down the hill. The other mages followed after him, carefully picking their way down the sharp slope. Aaron barely managed to get to the bottom without slipping and rolling the entire way.

The Hunters walked in tense silence, following Neriah, weapons clutched in hands. Aaron looked around, but he couldn’t see any signs of a Gateway, or even a Gate. All that met his eye was more barren land. Then it occurred to him – they were going to one of Hadrian’s zones. Everyone knew that Hadrian didn’t use Gates. That’s why elemental energy leaked out into the human realm through the tears and caused so much destruction, which the humans mistook as brutal acts of nature.

It was only Kyran who had argued that the nine zones they had were all Gated, that he himself had put them up.

Just as the thought came to Aaron, he spotted a glow in the far distance. As they moved closer, Aaron realised what it was. A Gate. A towering mass of glittering light. There was no Gateway to this Gate. It was just sitting there in the open, like the Gates that protected the Blades of Aric.

The Hunters shared looks, staring wide-eyed at the Gate, surprised at its presence. Ella turned to Neriah, looking as if she was about to start demanding explanations. Neriah didn’t say a word, and continued walking towards the Gate. They finally reached it. Neriah stepped closer, examining the glowing white tower.

“Neriah?” Ryan called. “What’s going on? How can one of our Gates be out here?”

“It’s not one of ours,” Neriah replied. “It’s almost an exact replica, though.” He stared at the Gate before a small smile came to him. “Looks like Hadrian taught Kyran well.”

Aaron felt his mum tense beside him, but she didn’t say anything.

“Kyran?” Ella asked. “He set this up?”

“He’s the only one who could,” Neriah replied.

“How are we getting in?” Zhi-Jiya asked.

Neriah turned to look at her. “It’s a Gate,” he said. “It won’t be warded against mages.” He faced the towering door again. “Not unless Hadrian wants to lock out his so-called son too.”

He reached out and touched the shiny surface. He didn’t have to say his name. With a flash, the Gate slid open. Aaron saw more of the dry, sand-covered land waiting for them beyond the Gate.

Neriah was about to lead the way in when Ella cried, “Neriah, wait!” She hurried to his side, her eyes wide and filled with unease. “This doesn’t feel right,” she said. “The Hub being kept here, right next door? Having a Gate that will let us through? It’s too easy.” She shook her head. “This feels like a trap.”

“Smart girl,” a voice said.

Everyone turned, their guns raised and aimed. Daniel Machado appeared before them from a swirl of mist. He smirked at Neriah, his glittery blue eyes alight with mirth. In the space of a heartbeat, large clouds fell to the ground, surrounding the Hunters. Countless vamages appeared out of the fog, guns clutched in hands and vicious, gleeful smiles on their faces.

“A trap is exactly what this is,” Machado said.

The vamages moved in, tightening their circle. They motioned for the Hunters to walk through the open Gate. The Hunters didn’t move. Neriah was watching Machado. The right-hand vamage of Hadrian waved a hand and stepped aside.

“Please,” he said. “Do come in.”

Aaron knew Neriah had seen how many vamages had appeared and surrounded them. They were outnumbered. Resisting would only get them killed that much faster. But as he watched, his heart going a thousand miles a minute, he was certain Neriah was going to fight back. To his surprise, Neriah walked in, head held high.