by Cate Dean
“No—”
Zach got to his feet and ran toward her. The fire was faster. It swooped in, wrapped around her and lifted her off the ground. He covered his ears as her agonized scream ripped through the air.
*
Annie ran through the doorway, chilled by the scream echoing off the walls. Her ring flashed—and to her shock threw a flare of blue at the elemental.
It shrieked, dropped its captive and shot to the far end of the huge room.
“Zach!”
“Okay.” He raised his head, his face sheet white.
“Stay that way. And stay down.” She moved to the twisted figure, and halted a foot away, one hand over her mouth. Nothing would help Diana now. Annie looked for the elemental, found it hovering near the open roof. “No matter what happens, you stay out of the way. Understand?”
“Annie?”
“Your mom’s still with us, sweetheart.” He let out a shuddering breath, nodded. “Okay—let’s get ourselves out of here in one piece.”
She braced herself and moved toward the elemental.
*
“Zach—” Claire lurched up, reaching for him. Fire shot through her right side. She ignored it, clutching the ground—
“Claire.” Strong, gentle hands caught her, eased her back to cool sheets. Bed, hotel . . . God above, every inch burned. She took in a shallow breath, opened her eyes. Marcus leaned over her, gold-laced green eyes exhausted. “You need to rest.”
“Zach.”
“Annie has gone after him. You taught her well, as did I. Though I will never admit that in her hearing.”
A smile flashed across his face, faded. He looked exhausted, his shoulders slumped, the wild black curls she loved pulled back in a messy tail. She frowned. Marcus was never messy. He made her feel slovenly at times, with his sleek good looks and impeccable dress.
“That bad, is it?” she whispered. He frowned at her. “You look—terrible.”
“And you need to take a look in the mirror, sweet.” When she tried to sit again, he gently pushed her down. It took little effort from him. “The death spell you are fighting will kill you faster, the more you move. I am doing all I can to prevent that, so please do not make it harder for me.”
“Sorry.” He did have a way with words that simply yanked the guilt right out. “Eric?”
“Is fine.” Eric moved into her line of sight, sporting a pair of crutches. “And wishing I could do more.”
“Have Marcus take a break.”
He shook his head. “I am fine, Claire.”
“Please,” she whispered, feeling what little strength she could muster fading. “I need to speak with Eric. Get some air. Give me a few minutes.”
Leaning in, he brushed his lips over hers. “If you up and die while I am gone, I swear to the heavens I will drag you back.”
“Wouldn’t want that.” She forced a smile, held it until he left, clearly not happy. “Eric.”
“I’m here.” He settled in the chair. “What is it?”
“Congratulations, Dad.” His smile could have lit the town. “I wanted to say it now, in case I—”
“Stop.” Eric took her hand, anger and fear coiling in the blue eyes. “Marcus isn’t the only one who will be furious with you.”
“I wish I could promise I’ll be—” A hoarse gasp cut her off, the fire burning deeper, faster. It hurt to breathe now, and a halo of grey surrounded Eric. “Give Annie my love,” she whispered. “And make me a promise.”
“Anything, Claire.”
“May want to—hear it first.”
“The answer is still yes, for me and Annie.”
“Look after Zach.” She closed her eyes, terrified that just speaking stole so much of her strength. “Let him know—I love him.”
“You’ll tell him yourself, damn it.”
“Love you, too, Eric. Stop blaming yourself—for what Natasha did.”
Surprise flared through the fear. “How—”
“Because I blame myself still.” It felt like an elephant was sitting on her chest. She struggled to take in the next breath, her fingers shaking against his. Eric tightened his grip. “Please tell Annie . . . that I am proud. Always have been.”
She closed her eyes. Just keeping them open exhausted her. She knew she was dying, and it didn’t carry the fear, or the panic it once did for her. Maybe having a soul changed that. The chance that she wouldn’t be thrown back into Hell made dying easier to accept. She hated hurting those she would leave behind her, but they had each other, and would be able to take care of—
“Open your eyes—damn it, Claire, don’t you give up, do you hear? Annie’s coming back with that counter spell, so you damn well better hang on until she gets here.”
“Do my—” Her breath gave out before she could finish. She fought to take in another, and started to panic when her lungs refused to obey.
“Claire.” Eric’s hand cradled her cheek. She could feel the pressure of his fingers, feel them tremble against her skin. “Claire, sweetheart. Open your eyes. Please, open your eyes—Annie will never forgive me—”
“Claire!” Marcus, smelling of musk, sand and wind, reminding her of the desert he came from. She wanted to breathe it in, to take that scent, and the sound of his voice with her. “No, Claire. Don’t you give up on me. Claire . . .”
As she fell, his voice surrounded her, cradled her, made the journey to death one of joy rather than sorrow.
Take care, Marcus. I love you. I will always love you—from now until the end of forever.
*
“Stay down!” Annie shouted at Zach as the elemental swiped at her again. This time it came too close, leaving the skin on her wrist red and raw. She didn’t have time to watch him, since she was too busy keeping herself between him and the elemental, keeping it from leaving the confines of the blocking spell she reinforced with her own, and trying to vanquish it. Sweet God above—how was she supposed to vanquish it? “Zach!”
“Yeah?” She smiled at the impatient tone. Claire tried so hard to give him the life a normal teenager would have. It seemed to be working.
“Any idea how to banish a fire elemental?”
“Are you kidding me? Is that what it is?” He sounded—fascinated. “I don’t know—throw water on it?”
“Not a bad idea, if I had any—”
“Look out!”
She hit the ground, rolling as the elemental dove at her. It was bolder with its moves, more confident. By instinct, Annie took Zach’s suggestion and created a sphere of water. When she threw it the elemental screeched, dodging the ball of liquid.
“God.” Using her power like this was draining her, too fast. Claire and Marcus both warned her about using it in battle, how fast it would tap out. And all she did was piss the thing off.
Zach crawled over to her, ignoring her order to stay back. “Are you okay?” One hand touched her wrist, and her exhaustion eased. She blinked, put the questions aside for after the death battle.
“I’ve been better.” She wiped at the sweat burning her eyes, watched the elemental as it beat against her spell. Every time it hit the barrier she flinched, her hold on the spell more frayed. “I can’t keep it in here much longer . . .” Her voice faded as she thought of a way out—or rather, a way in. Pushing to her feet, she ran over to the pedestal. “I need to send it home.”
For the first time since she stepped inside the castle, she had hope.
“Zach.” He knelt on the ground, staring up at the elemental with a look of—recognition. Please, God, not now. Don’t let him remember now. “Get over here. I need your help.” She really needed him out of the way—out of the castle, but that wasn’t going to happen. They were as trapped in here as the elemental. “Zach.”
She spoke quietly this time, and his head snapped around. Those blue eyes that always looked curious, surprised, delighted with the world around him were vacant as they stared at her. And that scared her more than being burned alive.
“Oh
, sweet God—” The breakthrough Claire expected, and waited for with dread, looked like it was about to explode. “Zach!”
Both he and the elemental jerked at her shout. The boy she knew came back, blinking at her. “Annie . . . what was I . . .” He closed his hand over the amethyst and looked up at the elemental again. It shrieked the second he laid eyes on it. “What the—”
The elemental dive bombed him.
Annie shot across the room, digging in past the pain of holding up the blocking spell to create another water ball. This time she hit it dead on. Screaming like the devil was on its heels, it recoiled, smoke pouring from the point of contact.
“Come on.” She yanked Zach to his feet and all but threw him toward the pedestal. “I need the amethyst, Zach.”
He clutched it, shaking his head. “It’s my only connection to Mom—”
“And it’s our only way out of this in one piece. We don’t get out, she doesn’t get the counter spell.” Nodding, he slowly pulled it off. Annie tried not to jerk it out of his hand, and wrapped the long chain around her fingers. Her attack only gave them so much breathing room. “Thank you, sweetheart.”
She glanced over, and saw the elemental in the far end of the room. It looked like it was—growing.
“Annie—”
“I see it. Do me the greatest favor, Zach, and make your way to that far corner. No matter what happens, you stay there this time.”
“But—”
“Go.” She turned around, trusting he would do what she said. Her breath caught when she saw the size of the thing coming at her. Throwing water on it only gave it the power to regenerate. “God help me,” she whispered.
Standing in front of the pedestal, blocking it as best she could, she closed her hand over the amethyst, and scrambled for a binding spell, any binding spell. She had nothing to use except the box behind her. No candles, no ribbon, no poppet. She was screwed.
“Come on—something simple—I just need—”
The elemental rushed her.
With a cry she spun—and tripped over the length of velvet hanging off the pedestal. Everything toppled, landing right on top of her.
The velvet tangling around her muffled Zach’s shout. She opened her mouth to yell at him, stilled as she felt the heat wrap her. Tendrils poked under the velvet, scorching as they brushed over her jacket, over bare skin. She bit her lip, hard enough to draw blood, waited for the velvet to turn to ash before it came for her.
Instead she heard a war cry, and something sharp smacked her ribs. The heat disappeared, replaced by a frantic pair of hands.
“Annie—hurry, Annie, it’s coming back.”
She fought her way out of the velvet trap. Saw it hover just over them, pulsing, malevolent, enraged.
“Get behind me,” she whispered, grabbing Zach’s wrist. “I’m going to send it to—”
It swooped down on them.
“NO!” Zach raised both hands. And it stopped, trembling, just beyond his outstretched palms. His tattoo glowed against the pale skin of his wrist, the flaming sword and wings blue and brilliant. “Get out, Annie—I don’t know how I’m holding it back.”
She rolled free and kept going, up to her knees. Her heart stuttered when she realized there was nothing she could do, no way she could pull him free before it engulfed him. The amethyst in her hand was useless to her, and she couldn’t get close enough to Zach for him to take it. Not without—
“Annie, please.” Pain edged his voice.
Frantic, she searched her brain for a spell. Her ring flared, sparks dancing across her hand—but it was no match for what threatened to devour Zach.
Her gaze skated around the room, as frantic as her mind, and skipped back over a small object, almost hidden under the velvet.
The box.
Not thinking, not daring to hope, she lunged forward and yanked it out of the velvet. With a shout she pushed off the floor and threw it at the elemental.
Impact shredded the huge column. The box fell and bounced across the ground, smoking.
Annie threw herself forward and wrapped both arms around Zach’s waist, yanking him out from under the fallout. His scream bounced off the walls. She’d never forget the agonized sound of it.
Lowering him to the ground, she found the source of his torture. A long tendril twined around his left leg like a fiery snake.
“Damn you—” Not thinking, she swept her left hand across the tendril. Her ring burst into life, shocking her. A cascade of blue sparks surrounded the tendril, eating at it until it collapsed around Zach’s leg in a shower of ashes. The rest of the elemental shot straight up, pounding against the magical barrier. It made her head spin. Bracing her hands on the ground, she leaned over him. “Zach—oh, God, please—Zach.”
“Here,” he whispered.
Annie pressed her forehead to his for a second, so relieved she couldn’t talk. Tears burned her already smoke stung eyes. “What were you thinking?”
“That Mom would kill me if I let you get hurt.”
“Oh, Zach.” He closed his eyes, his face grey under the sweat soaked hair. “Don’t you die on me. I’ll never be able to face her if I don’t bring you back.”
“Okay.”
She let out a shaky laugh. There wasn’t time to do anything for him, but she remembered Claire’s trick with the amethyst, the night she helped him fall. Closing his limp fingers over the pendant, she kissed his cheek. “Just hold on to this, rest for a minute. I have some business to finish.”
“Annie.” He looked up at her. Pain shredded his whisper. “Counter spell—in the knife. Handle. Don’t hate me.”
“Not going to happen.”
“Diana has the knife.”
“Let me rethink that.” A smile touched his mouth, and his eyes drifted closed. “Thanks, honey.”
She brushed hair off his cheek. He was already unconscious, the slight rise and fall of his chest the only proof that he was still alive. She spotted the blood staining his skin, under the torn sweater. And swore at the long ugly wound just under his left ribcage.
Fury burned away the fear, the uncertainty. Her ring hummed, and she pressed her left hand to her stomach. Tears stung her eyes.
Blinking them clear, she reached in, layered as much power as she could afford over the protection spell. More than she could afford. “Hang on, baby. We’re almost there.”
She flinched as the elemental battered harder at the block, determined to be free. Blue fire sparked out of her ring, and it felt—impatient. Startled, she glanced down at it. What it did to the part of the elemental that went after Zach shocked her. But as much as it enhanced what she had, she knew she didn’t have to power to take on the source.
So she was going to cheat, and hope to hell it worked. She whispered the first quick binding that came into her mind as she backed toward the box, never letting the elemental out of her sight.
“For the greater good of all and with harm to none,
This spell is bound, and will not to be undone.
By the power of three times three,
As I will, so mote it be.”
It fell flat. But it got the elemental’s attention.
“Damn it—”
She repeated it, feeling even less successful, started in on the third time—and let out a cry when she lost her balance and fell backward. The tangled and burned length of velvet wrapped itself around her feet. With a shriek that sounded like triumph, the elemental circled her. She could have sworn it was gloating.
And while it was doing that gloating, she took advantage, crawling toward the box. It looked bent, but it was still in one piece. She could work with that.
She reached for the box—and her ring flared in warning just before heat licked her back.
“No—” Annie lurched sideways, slamming into the wall. Pushing hair out of her eyes, she recoiled as the elemental hovered in front of her, feet away. “Now you’re just toying with me. You’re going to regret that.”
Goin
g with gut instinct she inched the ring off her finger, hoping Eric would forgive her. She aimed for the center of the fiery column and flung it. Not waiting for the outcome, she crabbed across the ground, shouting the third repetition of the spell over the hideous shrieking as she grabbed up the box. She finished the last line and swung the box around.
This time she felt the spell click. Pain roared up her arms. She ignored it and held on.
Blue fire wrapped around the elemental like a rope, dragging it toward the box. Annie pushed up to her knees, her muscles screaming at the growing weight of the box. The elemental struggled. Tendrils lashed out, scorching her arms. One whipped across her left cheek, the pain shocking the breath out of her. She still held on.
Scraping together every last ounce of power, she tightened the shimmering blue rope. The elemental shrank away from it, compressing into itself as it struggled to keep itself free.
Her head felt like it was about to explode. Her arms shook so badly she was afraid she’d drop the box. The sleeves of her jacket were gone. Most of the skin on her arms had long, nasty burn marks, only making it harder to keep her grip. She pushed past the exhaustion, and the blue coils tightened, until they all but smothered the thin column of flame.
The elemental let out a final, ear shattering shriek before the blue fire dragged it into the box. The lid snapped shut, a blue glow surrounding it for one endless second. It brushed her fingers, and faded, leaving her empty, stripped bare.
With a sobbing breath she let the box slip out of her hands. She wanted to collapse, but she had one more thing to do before she got herself and Zach out of here.
“Annie!”
The shout had her fighting to stand, ready to do battle again. Warm hands closed over her shoulders, eased her back down. “It’s all right, Annie. You did it. You won.” She lifted her head, met Michelle’s eyes. “Oh, look at you. That elemental didn’t give up easily.”
“Zach,” Annie whispered. It hurt to talk, to think. She didn’t want to try moving yet, but she did. She’d left Zach alone, hurt. “I need to—”