The route they took did not lead them into the city, but Emma saw plenty of what had descended upon mankind.
“Besides world leaders being murdered and the Shediem King’s creepy message, what caused humans to descend into chaos so quickly? I mean, why did stores shut down and whatnot?”
Blaze cleared his throat before speaking.“Do you remember the Shediem attack at your school dance?”
She nodded, knowing he couldn’t directly see her.“Yes.”
“Everyone’s memories came back the same day you returned. Not only that, the Shediem made themselves known. Instead of hunting in the shadows at night they began hunting in plain sight. It sparked terror that turned to chaos in less than fortyeight hours. People were too scared to leave their houses. They still are. It slowly began to happen around the world.”
“The military was deployed but most of them were possessed. It was a bloodbath for a while,” Axel added.
Her heart leapt in her throat. As far as she knew, only Levaroth could restore the memories of everyone involved, and he did so only once she’d left Sheol. Perhaps that move had been purposeful, but she suspected that if he’d been imprisoned from that moment on, it was more likely he’d done it to do the right thing, or he’d been forced to do so.
It didn’t matter now.At least humans had the ability to figure out how they would defend themselves. Once the Giborim and Shediem were done with their slow game of chess and all-out war began, there would be nowhere to hide.
When Blaze’s meaningful look met her eyes in the rearview mirror, she guessed he also had a theory as to who had returned the humans’ memories and why. She looked away, just as another gate rose in front of them. Men in the same black canvas jackets and trousers as Blaze and Axel, holding massive guns, halted their pacing as the vehicle approached.
When the SUV came to a stop, more men with raised rifles crept toward them. Blaze rolled all four windows down, but didn’t speak. Everyone inside sat still. Tense.
The guy leading the armed men walked around, peering inside each window, but Emma couldn’t see any part of him through his helmet and tinted visor. They certainly looked ready for the coming war, though if they were worried Shediem would just drive up to the gates, then perhaps not. Searching the vehicle with guns wouldn’t stop creatures that could make you see whatever they wanted you to see or enthrall you with their voice.
Then when the guy nodded and Blaze rolled up the windows, shutting off the frigid air that had drifted through the car, a thought occurred to her: perhaps it wasn’t Shediem they were defending against.
“Are they Giborim? Is this another compound?” she asked.
The SUV rolled forward when the gates swung open and still the ten or so soldiers followed, looking ready to blow it away at a moment’s notice.
“Some of them are. It’s an ex-military stronghold and airfield, but it belongs to a friend of the family,” Blaze answered as he drove through what looked like the back lot of an abandoned airstrip.
“Some friend,” Emma muttered.
Blaze smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “They can’t be too careful right now.” It was clear he was familiar with where he was going, because Blaze never once seemed unsure. He sped across the lit painted lot to a hangar with a small jet sitting just outside. He parked the SUV inside the covered space and got out.
Heart still pounding, Emma felt that her backside and the seat had melded together permanently.
Once on the plane—and away from all of the guns that had been pointed in their direction—the excitement about flying in an airplane for the first time began to return.
Blaze helped her stow her small carryon bag into the overhead bin before she took a seat in a large beige armchair that didn’t look anything like the seats she’d seen in movies. Sergei followed behind her, looking green and visibly shaking.
“Who is going to fly the plane?” Emma asked Blaze, who took the seat across from her.
He cast a sidelong glance at Axel, who had already fallen asleep in the chair opposite the side of the aircraft that now hummed and vibrated.“Usually Axel or I would fly it, but I know a great pilot that will take over for our trip.”
Emma bit the inside of her cheek, unsure of why she felt nervous.“Why?”
Blaze offered her a small smile.“To be able to sit with you.” Then his eyes drifted to the seat diagonal from her, out of her line of view. She turned, spying Sergei clutching the armrests of his lavish seat as if the entire plane would explode at any moment. “And to make sure Sergei doesn’t try to fight takeoff,” he whispered. With a wink, he rose from his seat and stalked over to Sergei.
“Can I get you a drink?” Blaze offered him.
A spark of relief flared in Sergei’s eyes.“Anything with vodka.”
Blaze chuckled, clapping him on the shoulder before striding to the back of the plane. Emma leapt to her feet and followed curiously.
The back of the plane was fixed with cabinets and a sink. A small metal fridge was wedged in the middle, containing a vast assortment of beverages, as did the cabinet in front of Blaze. He was pouring a great deal of clear liquid into a short, crystal glass. The smell was alarmingly strong, but Emma didn’t comment.
Without looking up at her, Blaze spoke.“Coffee? Soda?”
She smiled.“I’ll never say no to coffee.”
He smiled too as he grabbed a mug and placed it under a black nozzle. A sweet yet bitter aroma wafted over to Emma before Blaze handed her the cup, and she breathed in the comforting scent deeply with a satisfied groan.
“You can have as many cups as you like if you do that every time.”
Her smile grew as she sipped the scalding liquid.
Blaze stepped into the aisle and Emma put a hand on his arm, stopping him. She kept her voice low so as not to be overheard by the plane full of supernatural beings. “Is it just me or does Axel look…”
“Sickly?” Blaze suggested.
She nodded.
He glanced at the seat that held his sleeping brother.“Yeah, I’m not sure what’s going on. I know he’s under a lot of stress with the upcoming wedding and all.”
She hummed noncommittally before following Blaze into the aisle. He held out the glass filled with what Emma assumed was straight vodka to Sergei.
His lips twitched in an attempted smile. “Thanks,” he mumbled before taking a sip.
Emma stretched her thawing fingers around the cup and leaned back, staring out the small window.
“I’ll be right back.” Blaze turned then strode away.
She nodded, glancing out the window at the men wandering below, their guns relaxed in their hands. With a sigh she focused back inside the aircraft. Dull chatter from Blaze and another male voice she assumed was from the pilot accompanied the humming engine. Gertie met her gaze from the seat in front and sent her a reassuring smile.
She’d never been to New Orleans. It was one of the few places she and her mother hadn’t lived in, but she was excited to see it.
Just as she allowed herself to feel excitement, the emotion fell flat at the realization that New Orleans would be just another husk of a city filled with terrified people. She wouldn’t get the gumbo-and-beignets experience.
A voice came on over the speaker, interrupting her morose thoughts to announce that everyone needed to be seated with their seatbelts fastened for takeoff.
Emma set her cup on the little round table across from her and buckled her seatbelt. Blaze walked down the aisle a moment later and dropped into his seat.
With a jolt, the plane was moving. Emma couldn’t help but glance over at Sergei, who was audibly panting.
“There’s a sick bag in the seat pocket,” Blaze said over the increasing rumble of the aircraft.
Sergei ignored him as the plane shot forward. It sucked Emma into her seat, a sensation that made her giggle. She felt Blaze’s eyes on her while she watched the ground zoom past. The aircraft nosed up, and the wheels left the ground. Being air
borne made her blood feel electric and she grinned wide, while Sergei sounded like he was having a panic attack.
The plane’s intense shaking soon lessened, and it began to level out. When she glanced at the Spellcaster, his knuckles were white on the armrests.
“Have you not flown before?” Emma asked.
Sergei slowly looked toward her, clearly fearful that the plane would fall out of the sky if he made any sudden movements. He nodded stiffly.“I’ve hated it every time.”
She frowned.“I’m sorry.” She paused for a moment.“Surely you could just use your magic to stop the plane if it started to crash.”
Her attempt at reassurance did not have the desired effect: Sergei gave a harsh bark that was somewhere between a wheeze and a laugh.“No, I’m definitely not powerful enough to do that,” he said through gritted teeth.
The plane jerked slightly. Emma frowned and Sergei took a large gulp of his vodka, draining the last of it though he looked as if his body might reject the alcohol. Blaze sat forward in his seat, forearms resting on his knees.
When Emma glanced at him, he gave her a smile. To Sergei he said,“Just try to relax. We’ll be there soon.”
Even as Blaze spoke, Sergei’s eyelids drooped and his death grip on the seat loosened.
“What did you do?” Emma whispered incredulously when Sergei’s head slumped to the side.
“I may have given him a light sedative,” he admitted, though his smile never faded.
Emma shook her head with a playful smack to his shoulder.
Blaze shrugged.“Didn’t want the upholstery to be soiled. It’s a relatively new plane.”
She bit down on her lip to keep from laughing, then went back to looking out the window. Gauzy white clouds passed beneath them.
Through the rest of the flight, Blaze typed furiously on a laptop and Emma simply took everything in over several more cups of coffee.
When the pilot announced they were beginning their descent, she marveled at how they’d crossed the country in such a small amount of time.
The plane had just touched down when Emma began to feel her nervousness return. The clouds had obstructed most of her view of the city coming in, but from the small glimpses she caught, she knew this was not meant to be a vacation. What was she even doing thinking of vacations anyway, when her mother, Adrianna, Haddie, and countless other people suffered in Sheol?
Blaze roused Axel, who had slept through the entire flight and still looked like he was in need of several more days of sleep. Emma tried to wake Sergei, but Gertie laid a hand on her arm and offered a smile.
“Let me, dearie.”
Emma nodded, then grabbed her bag and strode up the aisle before descending the steps onto the tarmac. Blaze had grabbed their bags from the cargo hold and loaded them into another black SUV that was nearly identical to the one they’d taken back in Washington, if a tad bit dustier.
A sleepy Sergei, followed by Gertie clutching his arm to keep him from falling, disembarked and climbed into the new vehicle. Blaze climbed into the driver’s seat.
Emma followed, taking the seat directly behind him.“Where are we staying? Surely there aren’t any hotels we can go to?”
“We’re staying with some…friends of mine,” Gertie replied from the back.
“Oh.”So, Spellcasters, she thought. If they were staying with them, then had they already agreed to join their fight?
The drive to their destination was roughly thirty minutes long, though it felt longer, listening to Sergei ask Gertie questions about how old she was when her magic manifested and if she had ever lost control of it. Emma was surprised to learn that Spellcasters usually came into their magic around ten years of age. Yet according to Levaroth, Adrianna was somehow a Spellcaster, and Emma was certain her friend hadn’t been hiding such a monumental secret. Adrianna had seen her power in all its morbid glory. If anything, she would have confided in Emma with something so important.
Her eyes pricked with tears. She wished she could talk to her friend. She wished she could properly talk to anyone, really. The loneliness she’d felt in keeping her powers a secret was nothing compared to the forced silence.
They didn’t drive through New Orleans, and Emma wondered if Blaze thought it unsafe. The vehicle wound down a dirt road that quickly turned to mud. It splashed up the sides of the SUV, which rocked and bounced. More than once, the seatbelt dug into Emma’s torso as the terrain attempted to send her crashing into the ceiling of the car. The vegetation grew thicker, and the path less clear, but Blaze drove without hesitation.
An invisible force hit her, knocking the air from her lungs, and the mark beneath her skin came to life. It pulled and flexed as though trying to rip out of her body. Emma swallowed down a shout, but just as everyone in the car began to notice her reaction to the wards, it stopped. Blaze’s gaze remained fixed on hers in the rearview mirror while the vehicle slowed. She gave a small, reassuring smile that he didn’t return.
When the car stopped, Emma turned to the beautiful house they’d arrive at. It was two stories tall, with a creamy-blue steepled roof and an ornate white wraparound porch. It didn’t look dark or uninviting despite the thick canopy that shadowed the structure. The trim around the circular windows, as well as the railing that wrapped around the house, was covered with a thin layer of moss.
Gertie sucked in a sharp breath as the metal screen door— that was fashioned to resemble a drawbridge—flew open, and two women who bore shocking resemblance to the Spellcaster rushed out, their eyes flaring with violet light.
14
Emma
W here Gertie was plump, with a frizzy mane of grey curls, the other two women were reedier. The woman who looked older, wearing a long, maroon
cardigan and a scowl, stepped forward on the porch until the wooden railing prevented her from going any further. Although, from her expression, Emma supposed that not even a wild, thrashing alligator would prevent the woman from coming closer.
“Gertrude,” the woman drawled in a thick Southern accent. “Constance,” Gertie said from behind Emma.
The strength in Gertie’s voice surprised her, considering she
wanted to recoil from the woman’s hard stare. Behind Constance, the other woman—who looked like an identical but slightly thinner version of Gertie—rushed forward, looking on the verge of tears.
“Gwyndoline.” Gertie’s voice was a whisper.
Gwyndoline dipped her head in acknowledgement.“Sister.” Emma’s lips parted in surprise, though she quickly snapped
them closed again when a large mosquito flew too near her face. She’d already assumed Gertie and the woman called Gwyndoline were related, but were both women her sisters? Emma had never heard Gertie mention siblings.
Blaze stood perfectly still, save for the twitch of his fingers. Like he wanted to reach for a blade, if only to hold it in his palm. “They knew we were coming, right?” Emma asked out of the corner of her mouth.
“Yes, we knew,” Constance snapped.
Emma’s eyes widened. From the twenty or so feet that separated them, it didn’t seem likely they would be able to hear her. Yet they had.
“Constance, be nice to our guests,” Gwyndoline scolded in an accent nearly as thick as the older woman’s.
Constance nodded once toward Sergei. “Who’s the other Spellcaster? What coven does he belong to?”
Sergei stepped forward and raised his palm. A silvery light emanated from it, and a small, white wolf appeared in the air in front of him. Emma watched in awe as the majestic animal loped through the air—as though it was walking on the ground—and stood taller than twelve inches. The last time she’d seen Ugo, he’d been disguised as a ferret.
The two women raised their palms unflinchingly. A rustcolored fox emerged from the orange glow of Gwyndoline’s palm while only pale yellow light spiraled from Constance. Sergei’s wolf trotted faster to the fox and briefly, Emma thought the two creatures would fight.
She didn’t realize
she’d grasped Blaze’s arm until he leaned down and whispered, “Spellcasters have familiars. When they meet new Spellcasters, it’s customary for their familiars, which are their protectors, to assess their master’s magic. If there is a threat, it is eliminated.”
Without stopping, the two small familiars leapt into the air. They spun around each other, the light flaring when Constance’s magic joined the tangle. Emma waited for either creature to lash out, but slowly their twirling dance ended.
When the fox sat back, seemingly satisfied, it cocked its head curiously before leaning forward and rubbing its head against Ugo’s side. The wolf dipped its head, resting it on the fox. Constance’s yellow light simply vanished, and Emma felt her heart squeeze painfully.
Where was her familiar?
The wolf turned and padded back to Sergei’s open hand, vanishing without warning. Emma’s eyes were still wide and her hand still gripped Blaze’s forearm.
Not for the first time, she wondered if Adrianna had a familiar, and if so, what it was. Emma desperately wanted to speak to her friend, and the worry for her safety crept back in like a heavy weight in her chest.
“Well you best come in,” Constance said, though her features suggested she’d rather let an entire zoo traipse through her house than allow them in. Her hawklike stare remained fixed on Blaze as they approached, and all the way up the porch steps. Then she spun and stormed into the house, letting the screen door slam behind her.
Gwyndoline glanced around apologetically as she pulled the door open. Gertie went in first, then Sergei and Blaze.
Axel stood behind Emma silently. He clearly knew all about the exchange between Spellcasters. She flashed him a small smile, but his gaze was over her shoulder, already assessing the inside of the house.
In the first room, Emma’s stomach dropped as a sharp reality hit her. From the dark storm cloud that hovered over Constance, Emma had expected the house to look dark and brooding too. Instead, everything was bright and cheerful—decorated for Christmas.
A tall, full evergreen tree reached up to the high ceiling, its coniferous foliage brushing the top. From top to bottom classic warm white lights shone, highlighting the multicolored ornaments.
The Throne of Broken Bones (Weapon of Fire and Ash Book 3) Page 12