by Megan Linski
Guilt shook my body. How had I not noticed how sick he was getting before? Liam could barely hold himself up. There was no way we were making it to the end of this fire labyrinth with him conscious.
I rushed forward and guided his arm over my shoulder. “We're going back. We'll find another way once Liam's feeling better.”
He'll feel better soon, I told myself with each step I took. Once we make it to the clearing, Esis will heal him. Liam’s temper be damned. I can't keep it a secret any longer.
“Let me”— Jonah coughed through the smoke— “help.”
He reached out for Liam’s other arm, but before he could grab it, a fireball flew down from the sky and whizzed between them. Jonah jumped back next to Imogen and both of their Familiars.
“Let’s get out of here!” I shouted.
My words were drowned out by the wind picking up around us. Air rushed by my face, throwing my ponytail in every direction. The flames died down for a moment in the wind, but quickly came back in full force as soon as the energy pulled back. Flames rose high above our heads, and sweat dripped down my skin. I willed the flames to shrink just long enough that we could make it out of the wildfire and into the clearing up ahead.
I started forward, but Imogen’s scream caught my attention. I whirled around just in time to see a swirl of fire cutting through the space between us. Sassy jumped backward and yipped, letting me know she’d been burned.
Esis gasped and jumped off my shoulder. He leapt through the underbrush, straight for the wall of flames separating us from the rest of the group.
“Esis!” I cried.
He disappeared into the flames, sending my stomach plummeting downward.
“Imogen! Jonah!” I screamed. The flames were so high that I couldn’t see them.
“Go ahead of us!” Imogen called back. I could barely hear her over the angry roar of the fire.
“No!” I yelled. “I’ll get you out!”
“I’ll manage it!” Jonah screamed back. “Save Liam!”
I hesitated, but I didn’t have the luxury of thinking it through. Liam coughed and doubled over, stumbling out of my grasp. He caught himself by landing directly on a flame burning a sapling beneath him. He jerked his hand away, but the damage had already been done. His palm was red and blistered. He stared down at it with a blank expression, like he barely knew what was going on. If I didn’t get him out of here now, the thick smoke was going to kill him. But…
“Esis!” I cried. I held my hand up in front of my face, shielding my eyes from the burn of the flames. I didn’t hear if anyone replied.
My Familiar was gone. I had no idea where he went, or if he was even still alive.
Liam sputtered again and rolled onto his side. I didn’t want to leave everyone else behind, but I had to help Liam. Jonah and Imogen at least had a fighting chance. Liam only had me.
My hands shook as I reached for Liam, to help him to his feet. His arm draped limply around my shoulder while mine wrapped around his waist. He was seriously heavy and was dragging his feet, but I forced myself to hold on to him and put one foot in front of the other.
“Earth, Water, Fire, and Air…” I began singing, knowing that the distraction was the only thing that would get us through the flames. My voice cracked, and tears began to slide down my cheeks. I could barely see the clearing anymore, but every few seconds, it revealed itself through the flickering flames.
Almost there…
“Gifted to us by the breath of a prayer…” I continued.
Sobs broke out in my chest as Liam’s head lolled to the side, resting against mine. “Please, Liam,” I whispered. “Stay with me.”
He coughed again, but it sounded more like wheezing.
The flames ahead of us were dying down, but they weren’t going away completely. Behind us the flames grew higher and higher, licking into the sky like a beacon to the ancestors. The underbrush around us had almost been completely consumed. I didn’t have a choice but to head forward into the smaller flames.
My boots stomped out most of the flames as I dragged Liam forward, but there was a wall of fire beside us that made it increasingly harder to breathe. Liam’s arm was starting to slip from my grasp as sweat coated our skin, drenching us both.
“Not that much farther,” I said, though I had no idea if he was still conscious. “We can do this!”
My knees wobbled beneath me. I could barely hold Liam up. I thought I might collapse right there for the wildfire to consume us. At least it’d be a quick death…
And then, just like that, we broke through the flames. Cool air rushed around us, and I inhaled a deep breath. I dragged Liam farther away from the flaming trees until the heat was barely a tingle across my skin. When I glanced back I saw that the flames were no longer advancing on us. They stopped abruptly at the edge of what looked like an invisible wall, as if the Elders were keeping them contained for a purpose. Above us, dark clouds swirled, as though a thunderstorm was rolling in to make the last task even worse.
I dropped to my knees and gently laid Liam down on the earth beside me. His eyes were closed, and his face expressionless. His arm flopped to the ground when it slid off my neck.
“Liam! Liam!” I pressed my hands to the sides of his face, smacking him lightly in hopes of startling him awake. “Open your eyes! Please, ancestors! Liam!”
Tears streamed down my face and fell onto his shirt. I inhaled a deep breath to steady my trembling fingers, then dipped my head down to his. I intended to give him mouth-to-mouth to breathe some clean air into his lungs, but before my lips connected with his a noise bubbled up from his throat.
I pulled back and stared down at him. “Liam?”
He cleared his throat and forced his eyes open. It looked like he was trying to lift bricks with his eyelids. “I’m fine, pawee.”
I sniffled. “You’re not fine. Not in the slightest.”
“Leave me,” he said in a dry, scratchy tone.
“No.” I shook my head.
Liam coughed so hard that it took him a good ten seconds to get over it. When he could finally speak again, he asked, “Where’s Esis?”
Concern knotted in my gut. “He— he went after Sassy.”
“Go,” Liam begged. His eyes finally opened enough that he met my gaze. “Believe me, you don’t want to lose him. You don’t want to live like this.” It sounded like it took all his strength to tell me that.
“I can’t just leave you!” I protested, wiping my runny nose.
“You have to, pawee,” he insisted. “I’m dead weight… literally.”
“Don’t say that,” I sobbed. “You—”
Liam reached out to me. His rough fingers ran over the skin on the back of my hand. His bottom lip trembled, and his eyes glistened as he gazed up at me. “I was never going to make it back alive, Sophia. We all knew it from the start. I got you all this far, but you’re going to have to get everyone else to the end.”
“Liam, please…” Tears flowed from my eyes like a river.
“Stop acting like you have a choice, Sophia,” he said softly. “You can’t save me.”
“I could have. I still can.” My head dipped so low in guilt that I rested the side of my face on him.
The rise and fall of his chest was so comforting. I couldn’t let him go. I knew it was selfish, but I would miss him too much. He was the first thing at Orenda Academy that made it feel like home. I’d never truly thought we wouldn’t make it to the finish line together.
Liam raised his hand and laid it on my head, brushing away my flyaway hairs. “Sophia, please go. The team needs you. Esis needs you. There isn’t time.”
I lifted my head and blinked away the tears. He was right. I didn’t have the luxury of lying to myself, of convincing myself he would make it. It was a miracle he’d made it this far. It tore my insides into a million tiny little pieces that could never be put back together, but I had no choice.
Liam’s heavy eyelids fell shut. “It’s okay, Sophi
e. I’ve had my extra time. I’m ready to go.”
“Liam,” I squeaked in a small voice.
“What, pawee?” he asked in a labored tone.
“I— I—” I couldn’t bring myself to tell him how I felt about him. I would never be able to leave his side if I did.
Instead, I brushed the hair out of his face and bent to press my lips to his forehead. “Please tell Nashoma about me.”
He sighed heavily. “I will,” he whispered.
That was the last thing either of us said before I rose to my feet and raced back into the flaming forest.
The smoke was thicker than ever. I coughed uncontrollably and squinted my eyes. I could hardly see anything as I walked back through the flames.
“Esis!” I shrieked. “Imogen! Jonah!”
No answer.
A terrifying thought occurred. What if the rest of my teammates were gone? What if I was the only one left?
“Ancestors, no!” I cried aloud. “Please, please, please…”
In front of me, four figures swooped down from the sky. I took a step back, startled. I didn’t recognize the Familiars at first… not until they shifted, their coloring washing across the landscape like a watercolor painting. Two men and two woman stood in front of me, gazing at me with proud looks upon their faces. It was like the fire didn’t bother them one bit. Why would it? They were only spirits… my ancestors.
I remembered them from the night Liam took me up to the mountain to meet them. It was the same four: the warrior in a headdress, the guy in a cowboy hat, the redhead in a ballgown, and the woman with long black hair.
They’d been watching over me, and they’d come to answer my prayers.
I cleared my throat. “Please, ancestors. I’ve lost my Familiar. I need to get to him.”
None of them spoke. They simply turned in unison and pointed to my right.
“Thank you!” I exclaimed. I wished I could stay around and get to know them more, but now, there wasn’t time.
They each offered a sweet smile and took a bow. I bowed back. When I lifted my head, they were gone.
Without hesitation, I sprinted in the direction they’d pointed. I ran maybe thirty yards before my eyes fell upon a small white figure moving through the trees. Relief and panic swept through me all at once.
Esis scurried around on the surface of a large rock. Flames engulfed the earth on all sides of him. He glanced upward, as if calculating whether or not he could reach the branches above him, but those too were on fire. Fear glistened in his big blue eyes, and he let out a tiny scream of horror. He was searching for a way out that he was never going to find.
“Esis!” I screamed across the space between us.
His ears perked up at the sound of my voice, and his eyes scanned the forest until they landed on me. He stood on his toes and reached his tiny little arms upward for me.
“I’m coming!” I called.
I concentrated on the flames between us, forcing them to die down. My concentration broke when a tree branch snapped from behind me and slammed to the ground. It landed with a thundering thump. The crackling sound of burning trees surrounded us. I was completely out of time. If I waited for my power to control this fire any longer, we’d both be pinned beneath falling branches.
So I did the only thing I could. I raced into the flames.
I managed to keep the ones around me lower than my hips, but they licked up from the ground and seared the skin on my legs. My pants caught fire just as I reached the rock and lifted myself up onto it. I immediately grabbed Esis and wrapped him in my arms.
But I barely had a second to enjoy the relief flooding through me. The fire covering my pants burned my skin. I knew I was Koigni and could hold fire in the palm of my hand, but facing someone else’s Fire was unbearable. If it was normal fire, I’d be fine, but this was magical, powerful. Pain radiated up my leg as I tried to smother it by clapping my hands against my pant leg. The slapping motion made it even worse.
What was I doing? I couldn’t fight a Koigni’s power with this stop, drop, and roll shit. As Esis snuggled into my shoulder I held my hand just above the flames scalding my skin. I pulled against their power, fighting to kill the flames.
To my relief, they disappeared before my eyes, and all the Fire in the immediate area died down, leaving nothing but blackened trees and ashes. There was a huge hole in my pants, and my skin was blistered, but I was still conscious. I could still find the others.
Esis hopped down from my shoulder and onto the rock, then placed his tiny little hands on my leg. Of course! Why didn’t I think of that to begin with? The burning pain crawling up my leg eased. Right in front of my eyes, the blisters shrank, and the red burns faded until there was nothing left but smooth, untouched skin.
I scooped Esis up in my arms and hugged him close. “Thank you! I’m so glad you’re okay.”
Esis chippered and glanced around nervously.
“Right.” I rose to my feet, glancing around our rock in search of an exit. Truth be told, one way wasn’t any better than the other. “Which way did the rest of them go, buddy?”
Esis’ eyes widened at the question. He lifted a hand to point one way, but hesitated and pointed in another before pulling his hand back and shaking his head.
He doesn’t know.
Unease swept through me. Imogen and Jonah could be anywhere… they could be dead. I had three-hundred-and-sixty degrees of burning forest to search through. I’d never find them. The best I could hope for was that Jonah had been able to get them out.
Esis jumped out of my arms and looked around. His little nose twitched as he rose up on his hind legs and his ears perked up. He gave a long, lonely call, but nobody answered.
He glanced back at me, unsure. In the pit of my stomach, I knew.
Esis was looking for Liam.
“He’s gone, Esis,” I said. I forced the words past the lump in my throat. “I had to leave him behind.”
Esis’ blue eyes swam. He couldn’t speak, but I knew what he was saying. But you love him.
I forced back a sob. “It doesn’t matter. He’s already dead. He told me to go. He’s not going to make it. He was never going to.”
Esis stared at me like what I said was a lie. I tried wiping my face, but the tears kept on coming. I didn’t want to live a life without Liam. It was impossible to think about. Everything I knew about being an Elementai, about this world, he taught me.
Everything I wanted, he was.
I put my head in my hands and cried. “I don’t know what to do.” I didn’t know what direction my friends were in, or how I could help them if I did find them. I’d left the man I loved to suffer a painful death. I wasn’t an Elementai. I was just a stupid girl from Utah. I didn’t feel like I could do anything.
I heard the sound of chimes on the wind, and a low drum accompanied by a slight breeze. I looked up. My ancestors had returned. They gathered around Esis and me in a circle. Three of them— the warrior, the cowboy, and the woman with black hair— started to dance, twirling and circling to the beat of the drum.
The red-headed woman in the ballgown approached me slowly and reached out.
My hand was shaking, but I allowed her to touch me. I couldn’t feel her skin against mine, but I could see it. The red-haired woman took my hand and smiled at me gently. She didn’t speak, but when she squeezed my hand, powerful emotion flooded through me. It was small and warm, spreading throughout my body slowly and making me feel happy and safe all over. It was love, and the love my ancestors gave me swept away any doubts or insecurities I had about not being good enough to finish this tournament, not being good enough to be an Elementai… not being good enough to save Liam. That kind of love stopped my tears and made everything seem like it was right again.
It was the same thing I felt every time I thought of Liam.
In that moment, I knew what I had to do. Liam Mitoh might be ready to leave me, but I sure as hell wasn’t ready to leave him. I was going to save his li
fe, then we’d go and find Imogen and Jonah together.
Even if I failed, I was going to be there with him as he died. So he wouldn’t be alone— and so I could finally tell him what I felt for him was real.
“Thank you,” I whispered to the red-haired woman. She smiled at me again, then slowly vanished as the breeze swept by.
My ancestors gradually faded away, their colors bleeding into the wind. But I knew they weren’t truly gone. Though I could no longer see them, I knew that they’d always be by my side to guide me.
Esis chittered at my feet. He tilted his head to the side and looked up.
“How good is your healing ability, Esis?” I asked.
He gazed up at me with those big blue eyes and shrugged.
“Well, we’re about to find out. We’re going back for Liam.”
This was the last way I wanted to die.
I lay flat on my back on the ground and looked up at the sky. It took all my energy just to breathe, and every breath got harder. The pain had mostly gone away, and my body had gone numb. Though parts of me were burned, I could feel myself growing cold as each breath grew more and more shallow. For a second I thought my heartbeat had stopped, until I realized just the sound was growing fainter in my ears, beating lighter against my chest.
To make things worse, it’d started raining. And it wasn’t a little drizzle, either. The rain was coming down so hard and in such big droplets that it made it hard to move my limbs. The wind was whipping against my face, and the fires raging in the distance still filled the air with smoke, so it was even harder for me to breathe. Dark clouds gathered above, and lightning crackled throughout the sky while thunder shook the earth. I was absolutely soaked in a matter of seconds. The dirt quickly became thick mud underneath me, and my clothes absorbed the mess. I tried to make the rain stop, but my element was like the rest of my body. It just wasn’t working.
Have you ever felt yourself actively dying? It’s like, the worst thing ever. You can feel your organs shutting down and everything getting weaker. The smallest task takes a tremendous amount of effort. It’s like your entire body’s giving up, but at the same time, you’ve never wanted to live more than in that very moment. Your intention is to cling to life, but the vessel you’re riding in says no.