by Ashley Meira
I shook my head. There’d be plenty of time for self-deprecation after Seraphine was defeated. Adam was right. Of course he was. But I knew his words had come from — I swallowed — love. If they hadn’t, I’d have broken his nose. As it was, I appreciated the tough love I’d apparently needed.
Though I did still want to punch him just a little.
“Remember when we used to not trek up mountains to kill god-like creatures?” Fiona asked, her arms wrapped tightly around herself.
“Next time, I’ll ask if they can conduct their evil plans in the Bahamas.” My sentence sounded less like words and more like a stream of chattering teeth. How the hell had she managed to speak without a hitch?
The cold seeped into my very bones, comparable only to the chill I’d felt in my soul at the thought of Nicholas. My fingers were so stiff they couldn’t even dig into my arms as I hugged myself tightly. My knees felt more and more like glass with every step I took, and I thought my eyes were about to shrivel up inside their sockets. How did people live like this?
Adam wrapped an arm around me. I leaned into him so quickly we nearly toppled off the path. Thankfully, no one commented. In this weather, I didn’t care who he was, one smart remark from Damien and I was shoving him off this mountain.
Unlike Adam, who was a literal firebird, Damien favored more tempestuous elements. Lightning had been prominent amongst the scent of his magic when we first met, a sharp, underlying edge to the soft scent of jasmine. He was also a dragon shifter, though I had no idea what kind. Still, I imagined him to be more at home in this weather than Adam, who tolerated it but would rather be elsewhere.
His scowl made it hard to tell. He had it directed toward Diana, so she could be the reason behind his sour mood — or maybe it was the icy fingers of the storm gripping his body. Maybe both, considering how willing I was to toss him down the mountain at any second. I wonder if we’d get along one day?
Diana looked fine, much like how I must have seemed when I still had my gift. Her ponytail whipped around wildly behind her as shards of ice scraped at her cheek. She didn’t even blink at the harsh winds or pounding rain that had drenched us all.
None of us spoke, which was par for the course. Except for Fiona, who could fill the silence better than anyone I knew. Her eyes were distant as we continued walking, though she stumbled less than I did. I wanted to go over and ask her what she was thinking, but Adam’s side was much too warm to leave. With my chattering teeth, I probably wouldn’t be able to force out the words, anyway.
Still, her silence cemented the “last night on Earth” feel that surrounded us, and I found myself yearning for her usual chatterbox disposition.
I was sure Mount Ashitaka was a beautiful place to visit any other time, but right now it was a mess of snow, rain, and rocks that were placed exactly where I planned on walking. I’d be lucky to make it out of here with only a sprained ankle.
Calling the visibility shit would be too kind, but it ranked low on my list of concerns. More than once, Adam had to force me forward because I’d stopped, positive one of my toes had fallen off. My teeth were being ground to dust as I forced myself to hold my tongue. Diana said the storm would be clearer the closer we got to Seraphine.
Wait, had she said ‘would’ or ‘should’? Damn it, now I wanted to ask if we were there yet even more.
I don’t know how much longer I held it in before cracking, but it felt like hours. “Are we—”
“Shh.” Damien stepped forward — and saved himself a brutal murder by saying, “Magic. Geez, a lot of magic.”
Adam nodded. “We’re getting there, but it’s not very close.”
Huh. Who’d have thought I’d ever prefer Damien’s words to his? “ETA?”
Damien shrugged. “Depends on how long we spend standing here. Let’s go.”
The grip Adam had on me tightened. I guess he realized he was about to be an only child. His lips were probably as cold as mine, but they felt like fire against my skin when he pressed a kiss to my cheek. “We’re almost there. Just a little longer.”
I wanted to shoot him a petulant look and rebuff his concern, but I was pretty sure I looked like the world’s grumpiest ice sculpture, so I just squeezed him tighter and started walking.
Chapter Eighteen
The silence came too quickly.
One moment we were trudging through the rain, trying to ignore the water filling our boots. The next, we all stopped, wondering if we’d gone deaf. My chattering teeth broke that illusion, and it wasn’t long before the others began making noises of their own for reassurance.
The air carried a heaviness to it, ozone mixed with grim anticipation. It was a familiar feeling to me, one that came before a big storm would hit. Usually, I’d have been more than happy. Stormy weather meant a night in with hot drinks and good movies. Today, it felt like the world was ending.
Adam looked to Diana, who met his gaze with a resolute nod. We were close.
Snow still covered the ground on this part of the mountain, which I noted wasn’t near the summit. From what I could see through the fog, the top of Mount Ashitaka was still a few miles away. However, I had no idea how close we truly were to Seraphine.
Despite the snow, the area seemed warmer than the base of the mountain. Perhaps it was just my body reacting to the lack of hellish rain and hail. Either way, I wasn’t looking a gift horse in the mouth for giving me some feeling back in my fingers. I was sure a fight — even if I could only handle the charybdis — would warm me up, but only if I was able to actually hold a weapon and run.
“Give me a sec,” Fiona said, her cheeks a violent red. “Feels like my knees are about to snap.”
“Of course they do,” Damien said, stopping despite the irritation in his voice. “Your clothes are soaked.”
She glared at him before wiping the frost from her long eyelashes. “Think it’ll get any warmer? The magic is close, but I’m not sure by how much.”
I winced, both at her words and the ache in my own knees as I tried to bend them. The magic was so intense even Fiona could sense it. Sure, I’d noticed the change in atmosphere, but Seraphine’s magic had gone unnoticed. I couldn’t even remember what her magic smelled like.
“Not far,” Diana said, casting me a wary look. Was she reading my mind again? Could she? “Fifteen minutes if we keep a brisk pace.”
“And the weather?” Fiona pressed, barely concealing her annoyance.
“It will be drier now that we are within her sphere, though I would expect light rain. I cannot speak to how much warmer it might be.”
Fiona worried her lip as she pondered Diana’s words. Finally, she shook her head. “Fuck it. I’m changing. Even if my new clothes get wet, it’ll be better than running into battle wearing this.”
She waved a hand down her drenched clothing. I gave her a sympathetic nod. Her dark jeans looked like dark ink stained against her legs more than a pair of pants, and even her thick coat — which covered at least three more layers of clothing — appeared to have merged with her skin. She looked like a drowned rat, and I was exactly the same.
“I’m changing, too,” I said, somewhat amused that my sister and I had both brought along a change of clothes for this very purpose.
Diana nodded and walked toward a copse of trees. “Here, then. Quickly.”
I eyed her white leather combat suit with a raised brow. The elements hadn’t even scratched the surface of it. I wondered if it was made of dragon hide, which was highly resistant to magic — and pretty much everything else.
“You’re changing?” I asked.
“No.” She rolled her eyes and conjured a large flame in the palm of her hand. “I’m making sure you two don’t die of hypothermia while changing. Unless you want one of them to do it?”
Fiona and I didn’t spare either Pierce brother a glance before shaking our heads and following after her.
“Wait.” Fiona stopped. “Why the fuck haven’t you conjured that thing until now? I’ve
been freezing my ass off! And who knows how Sophia is feeling — she’s never been exposed to these kind of conditions.”
Diana flinched, avoiding my eyes. “There’s a high risk Seraphine would have recognized my magic.”
“Wouldn’t that be more likely now that we’re closer?” I asked.
“The weather won’t hinder you as much here. If she’d sensed us and sent charybdis before we reached this pocket of calm, you would have been helpless to fight back.”
I flexed my fingers. Even now, it was difficult to form a grip. “Fair enough. But what about your magic? Or you two?”
Damien raised a brow as I turned to regard him and Adam. “She could sense our magic, too. It’s pretty powerful, you know.”
Fiona scoffed. “Like you can’t control it—”
“Plus,” he said firmly, “we’re saving our strength for Seraphine. You remember, the thing we’re here to kill? The charybdis are her thugs. That’s what you’re here for: to keep us from getting overwhelmed. Don’t tell me this is the first time you mercenaries have been hired for this sort of thing?”
It wasn’t, nor was this the rudest a customer had ever been. But it stung hearing those words from a last minute replacement. I didn’t discount Damien’s abilities, but he hadn’t been there when this all started.
“Fiona and I have been here since the beginning,” I growled, stalking toward him. “We saw Gadot and Seraphine get summoned. We were there when Gadot was killed. We were there — not sitting in some fancy office picking out next year’s exhibits.” I shoved my face toward his until our noses were nearly touching. “Sure, we may not be as powerful as you, but we were there and we did are damn best every time. So, show some fucking respect.”
I’d spent years avoiding situations like these, but the past few months have been one suicide trip after the next. After that, mouthing off to one of the most powerful men in the magical world was par for the course.
If I wasn’t already frozen to the core, Damien’s pale blue eyes would have turned me into an icicle. Even his outrage was cold, sleek like an icy knife. My hair stood on end as the electricity gathered around us, and I reached for my sword in preparation for an attack. Sure, it wouldn’t do much to deflect a thunderbolt, but it was better than nothing.
Before anything more could happen, we were wrenched back with enough force to make us both stumble.
“Enough.” Adam’s voice was hard. “Both of you.”
Damien smacked Adam’s hand off his shoulder. “She—”
“Doesn’t deserve to be spoken to like that.” He turned to me. “Go change.”
Words pressed against my teeth, but I kept them in and made my way toward Diana.
“You two aren’t changing?” Fiona asked, eyeing them — and me — warily.
“Does it look like we need to?” Damien spat, his cheeks turning red.
My temper wouldn’t let me look at him, but Adam was still within limits. There was a huge wet patch on his left side from where my body had pressed against his, but the rest of his clothing looked like he’d been caught in a shower rather than the mini hurricane we’d trekked through. What the hell? Was this some kind of rich person immunity bullshit?
Fiona huffed. “What the hell? Is this some kind of rich person immunity bullshit?”
I turned to her with wide eyes. If I wasn’t still fuming over Damien, I’d have shot her a smile. “Dude, I was just thinking that.”
“I know, right?” She grinned at me before turning back to the boys with an expectant glare. “Did you two know some spell that could’ve kept us looking like drowned rats?”
“First of all,” Adam said, “your glamour is still in place, so you don’t look like a drowned anything.”
“From the neck up, maybe,” she grumbled.
“Second of all….” He rubbed the back of his neck. “This is part of Taylor Bishop’s Winter Wizards line.”
Fiona’s gasped. “He released his winter line before Stella did? She must be fuming!”
“Doesn’t she make women’s clothing?” I asked. “Why does it—”
“She was branching out!” Fiona reached for the men’s coats. “It’s not glamoured to fully resist this kind of weather but still…. This must have cost a pretty penny. Is he planning on making a Winter Witches line?” She turned and reached for me instead. “Do you think we could commission him? I mean, sure, it’d be pricey— Oh, we could wait for Stella’s line. Adam, do you know when—”
“Can we get this over with?” Diana’s sharp tone cut through Fiona’s rambling. “Your wardrobe can wait until this is over.”
Fiona had the decency to look embarrassed as we scurried over to the copse of trees. The sudden heat of Diana’s flame made me jump, but I was soon huddled around it like it was made of diamonds. She had to order me to undress before I started moving. Even then, I never took my eyes off the flame.
I’d always had a visual representation of my Fire in my mind. Whatever it truly looked like was a mystery, but I pictured a small fire, calm and steady, that would rise to a wall of flames when incensed — or into a dancing comet when pleased. I wonder if Diana pictured such things.
I wonder if I’d ever be able to again.
Peeling my soaked jeans off felt like jumping into an icy lake, but removing my thermal underwear felt even worse. I scrambled for my fresh pair, every muscle tense until I had a layer of clothing back on my body. Dressing was routine, even in the cold, and I tried to dedicate some brainpower into searching for my Fire.
My father’s words echoed in my mind as I slid my eyes shut. If everything I’d heard was true, it must still be inside me somewhere. Severely drained from passing its strength to Charlotte, maybe, but still there, recovering its lost magic.
My eyes snapped open, fingers frozen on the button of my dry jacket. Would absorbing magic make it come back faster? It wasn’t possible, was it? I couldn’t absorb magic without my Fireborn powers, could I? But if I couldn’t reach my Fire because it was too weak….
“Ow! Fuck!” I wrenched my hand back from Diana’s fire, glaring at it like it had attacked me. “Son of a bitch, that hurts!”
“Why did you touch it?!” Diana’s eyes were as wide as I’d seen them, panic spread across her face. I’d have found it precious — and hilarious — if my hand wasn’t burning.
“What the hell?” Fiona frowned and scooped up some snow before dropping it over my hand. “I know you’re cold but….”
“Testing.” I sighed, feeling for a reaction from my Fire. I could have sworn I felt something stirring beneath my pounding heartbeat, but it could have just been my underlying fight or flight instinct triggered by panic. Completely normal and nothing to do with being Fireborn. “If I could absorb it.”
“Could you?”
I tried ignoring the hope in Fiona’s voice. “No idea.”
I certainly didn’t feel anything — apart from the pain of being burned. But even through my frustration, I clung to hope. Magic replenished on its own over time. Though who knew how long it’d take for me to recover from such a loss — if I even could. I’d hoped absorbing some magic would help, but it wasn’t worth going through that pain again. Then again, if it could help me fight Seraphine….
“Is everything okay?” Adam called.
Diana’s flame vanished and she left the cover of trees. “Yes. They’re done.”
I looked myself over, making sure I’d put everything on correctly. My boots needed lacing, but other than that I looked fine. My knees didn’t ache when I bent them, and my fingers were decidedly more pliable than they had been a few minutes ago.
Which is why I frowned when Fiona dumped more snow on them. “I liked these boots.”
“They’re fine,” she said. “Your hand could be permanently burned.”
I shook the snow off to reveal bright red skin. “It’s fine. Barely a flesh wound.”
Fiona didn’t look convinced. It occurred to me that she would know a lot more about burns
that I would, but instead of lecturing me she just shrugged. “You should still have Adam check it out.”
Urgh. That’d be an embarrassing moment. I flexed my hands, pleased to find there was only a slight sting. It could wait. “I will when this is over.”
“Fiiine,” she droned. “Just don’t come looking to me for skin grafts.”
I rolled my eyes and pushed her forward. “Just walk, Sinclair.”
Chapter Nineteen
Diana hadn’t been far off. It took us about twenty minutes to reach our destination.
Since I couldn’t sense magic, I followed along behind the others. Our journey took us toward a path that led downwards and opened up into a valley.
We hid behind the trees and surveyed the area. Could mountains even have valleys this far up? I had no idea, but it didn’t make me feel any more comfortable about being here. Even if this valley had always been part of Mount Ashitaka, it looked like it belonged in a another world.
The path we’d been taking sloped down another twenty feet or so into the valley, where the ground evened out into pale gray stone. Snow covered the ground, but unlike the path we’d taken, it was little more than a thin coating — nothing that would impede our movement.
High mountain walls towered overhead, isolating this place from the rest of the mountain. There appeared to be craters littering the ground, each filled to the brim with crystal clear water. The majority of them were near the mountain walls, but a few were spread across our potential battlefield.
Shadows covered the far side of the valley thanks to the walls, so I wasn’t sure how much of the field I was missing. Maybe forty or fifty feet? In this situation, any amount was too high. I didn’t want surprises when it came to Seraphine.
But if she was here, it was in the shadowed parts, because there was no sign of her anywhere else in the valley.
“Is this natural?” Fiona whispered, her green eyes scanning the valley as I did. “Or did Seraphine create this?”