by L. A. Boruff
Another sound makes me flinch.
"So foolish and prideful. I wonder if you’ll be so cocky when I take your hand."
His words fall like stones in the silent room.
"No," Will says.
"That wasn’t a question. It was an order. Drag him out into the courtyard. Let him choose which hand he wishes to lose. Then bring it to me and be rid of him."
"Yes, Your Highness," a man says.
"I’m not going to let you do this!" Will shouts.
"You don’t have a choice."
There’s the sound of struggling. "You think I’m alone?"
The king laughs. "Well, your friends are busy with a little fire of our creation, and your human will be dead before nightfall."
Will shouts, swearing louder and louder, and then there’s the sound of a door slamming, and silence.
I stand where I am, trembling. I need to get to Will, fast.
Or he’s going to lose more than this fight.
Chapter Fourteen
Hank
Sitting in the driver’s seat, waiting for Sugar, my mind races. I should’ve known Will was in trouble. He’s my closest friend. I’d thought he was being Will or having fun with the new neighbor.
I’m such a fucking idiot. What’s wrong with me today?
Maybe if I’d looked for him earlier. Maybe if I’d taken the witches more seriously—
I cut off those treacherous thoughts. There was a part of me that hoped with him being a fire mage, he was almost untouchable by the witches. Yes, they’d rough him up. But leave him in a burning building?
The thought of it makes me sick.
I honk the horn, my impatience growing. What the hell is taking her so long? I itch to drive away. But Sugar has a way with fires. If we’re going to save them, I want her at my side.
Dark thoughts begin to turn in my mind. It wasn’t like I was a stranger to the world of the witches. I should’ve known better.
My Gramps worked for the King. The former King—the good one. As head treasurer of the Blackwood Coven, he oversaw all the finances for the kingdom. It was a lucrative position with great influence. My family were the bean-counters for the royal family, and the Kingdom, for something like two hundred years.
And then, when my father was nearly done with his extensive training to take over and let my grandfather retire, the King died.
Long live the King.
Sugar sucks me right out of my thoughts as she opens the door to the truck and jumps in. "Let's go," she shouts, waving her arm in a circular motion.
She shouldn't be excited to go fight a fire, she should be apprehensive, concerned. Upset that there's been a fire.
If I didn't worry that Will and Callie might be in the fire, I'd have the same attitude as Sugar.
Fighting fires is exhilarating. It's the biggest adrenaline rush I've ever felt, and Will and I have done some crazy things in our lives. But this time is different. If I screw up, we aren’t just going to burn some buildings.
I’m going to lose my best friend.
I switch on the sirens and pull out of the station. It had taken me three minutes to get my gear on and the truck ready to leave. Sugar slowed us up by a minute. She'd been in the shower when James called.
On a perfect day, with everyone here, it takes us a little over a minute to get ready and out the door, and we can get to most parts of the city in less than three. Going out to the county is more, of course.
Today, with Sugar in the shower and me grabbing what the other guys usually do, it took us three.
At five minutes, we pulled up in front of the brick building in the middle of Main Street. Flames roared out the windows, licking up the front.
James was nowhere to be seen, but his clothes and phone laid on the curb in a pile. He'd stripped and gone in, looking for Will.
Will would be fine in a roaring inferno, as long as we got to him before things started to collapse. Callie wouldn't.
"Why's there a pile of clothes on the sidewalk?" Sugar asks as I pull near the hydrant and turn off the engine.
I shrug as I pull off the headset that allows us to communicate over the sound of the engines, then jump out of the rig. Sugar brings a hose around as I unscrew the front of the hydrant with the spanner wrench. I open the hydrant slowly to let water flow to expel any random trash that's been caught in the line. Sure enough, some paper and some sort of wire brush comes floating out. When nothing else comes out, I turn the water off, and Sugar attaches the hose, hand tightening it. As she does that, I open the side.
I give the front a bit more of a tug with the spanner wrench while she runs toward the building with the hose.
Then I sprint to the truck. Since there's only two of us, I have to grab the smaller hose and attach it to the side of the hydrant, so that I can also direct a stream of water from the only hydrant in the vicinity.
"Ready when you are!" Sugar has her hose pointed at the building, at the closest safe range.
"Coming!" Quickly screwing on the smaller hose, I tighten it, then hold the end firmly facing away from both me and Sugar.
"Water coming!" I shout at the top of my lungs, then turn the wrench on top of the hydrant as far as it will go.
My hose fills, and water sprays forcefully out of the end. It's a smaller hose, so not as difficult to control as the bigger one Sugar aims at the burning building.
I run forward, getting a bit closer than Sugar. The building is far too engulfed for either of us to enter it. Sugar is calm, almost happy as she sprays the building, but Sugar doesn't know James is in there. If she did, I’d see that other side of Sugar. The scary one that takes over when she knows someone is in danger. Instead, she’s riding the rescue high we all sometimes chase. Not that we’d want anyone to have their property burn, and especially not anyone to be hurt, but there’s a high that comes with fighting a fire.
Funneling magic to the water, I direct it into the best places to fight the flames. If Will was here, he could control the fire and make it stop growing. He's not able to shrink one this big, but he could keep it stagnant so we could manage it with water.
The fact that he’s not tells me he’s too hurt to do it. Or maybe not conscious.
My magic gives the water direction and purpose. Every drop falls to the source of the flames, moving where it will be the most useful to extinguish the inferno.
It doesn't take long for the fire to slow, my help with the water making our efforts the most effective.
James still hadn't reappeared, but he'd sounded sure they were inside. The fairly large building would take a few minutes to search.
So why isn’t he out?
Damn it. Now I had two friends and one beautiful woman to worry about.
Movement out of the corner of my eye makes me jerk my head to the side. After fighting this thing for several minutes without anyone appearing, I'm beginning to think something fishy is going on.
When I see who is walking toward me, I know something is fishy. Unfortunately, I'm funneling a considerable amount of magic into the water by now. So much that I'm sure Sugar has noticed the precision of the streams of water coming from her hose and mine. I don't have any left to combat the woman headed our way, not that I'd win. She's too powerful by far.
The old woman is probably the most powerful witch alive, besides the King. And if it came down to raw power, inherent power, she’s probably more powerful than her son.
"Hello, Your Majesty," I call over the sound of the water. Sugar gives me a sharp yet confused look over her shoulder. "I'm sorry I can't bow at the moment."
I keep her in the corner of my eye. Phoebe Kranton, mother to the King of the Kingdom of Witches. The Queen Dowager. What in the hell is she doing here?
"I don't acknowledge that title," she says flatly. Pointing at the building, she squints her eyes, and the fire, much smaller than it had been when we arrived, goes out.
Completely.
Sugar's jaw drops. "What in the ever-loving hell?
"
"Things are happening." The Queen Dowager's words float across the air like an omen as I jog over to the hydrant to turn the water off.
"How is the fire out?" Sugar walks up to Her Majesty, and I freeze in the act of unhooking the hoses.
The Dowager’s eyes narrow on Sugar. She murmurs something under her breath, too quiet for me to hear it, but Sugar sure does.
Sugar's face pales, and her eyes widen. "Yes, ma'am," she stammers.
I have to do something. I can't leave Sugar to the mercies of the baddest witch alive. She’s a human.
"Your Majesty," I call out. "What are you doing here?"
Sugar looks between us, then scurries to me. "I'm going to go look for survivors and assess the structural damage," she says. Watching Her Majesty out of the corner of her eyes, she runs into the building. If Will and Callie are in there, James will find them and Sugar will find James.
Naked.
That'll be weird.
"Can I help you with anything?" I try to speak to the Queen Dowager again, keeping my tone the perfect pitch of respect.
The elderly woman rolls her eyes and points at me. I freeze. That powerful finger could do me a world of hurt.
"Boy, call me Phoebe. I'm not the Queen anymore. My son saw to that."
No way I could call her Phoebe. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but I don't think I can do that."
"Then call me Ms. Kranton."
"Okay," I whisper. "Why are you here? Nobody has seen you for years." I thought she had possibly died, but with the way the King is, there was no telling.
"I told you. Things are happening. I still keep an eye on the magic in the world. The balance is crucial, and it's tipped in the wrong direction right now. I sometimes walk around town, getting a feel of the world. It helps me balance."
Her words wash over me, power in the cadence and timbre of her voice. Power like this is nearly unheard of. Even a small paragraph of words from her mouth is enough to make me tremble.
"I don't know," I say weakly.
She chuckles. "I know you don't. I'm going back to my walk but mark my words. Things are happening."
She walks past me, humming. "Mmmm. Things."
I stand immobile, jaw unhinged, as she moves away and slowly disappears. She's masked herself so that she can walk without anyone seeing.
It's a very difficult spell. I'm not sure I could do it alone.
Shaking out of my stupor, I realize I've been standing outside while Sugar and James search for our friends. I jog toward the building, worried about Will and James and Callie all over again. Why haven't they come out?
Shouldering the door further open, I'm glad I'm wearing my fire gear. I could cast a spell to help shield me from the heat, but it would drain my energy, and it's already fairly zapped from pushing the water so hard.
"Hello?" I call into the blackened room, seeing no evidence of anyone at all.
Maybe we jumped the gun on all of it. This was probably an insurance scam and had nothing to do with magic.
The main room of the flower shop is ruined. Although I know there are more rooms in the back. I'd only ever been inside once, so I knew there were rooms where the flowers were washed and arranged, and also rooms upstairs. I didn’t have a clue what those were used for.
Walking carefully to the back, I pull at the door. It's warped from the heat and water. The fire didn't do much more than blacken it, but it's hard to move.
How is it closed? If Sugar and James are in here, they had to go through this door. The stairs are back here.
I finally squeeze through, wincing at the heat coming off the walls, and gasp when I stumble through into the hallway behind.
It's untouched. The fire didn't burn in this part of the building.
At all.
"Hello?" I call. Maybe I should keep my mouth shut. There's no telling what I've walked into. But I have to find Sugar and James.
Sugar pokes her head out of one of the rooms. "Are you seeing this shit?"
I nod, looking around. "Where's James?"
"I'm in here," he calls.
Sugar points to a different room. "He won't come out."
"I need my clothes."
Snorting, I push my way out into the burned room, then out to the front and snatch James's clothes from the concrete.
There's no longer anyone on Main Street.
I back warily into the building, the emptiness outside setting off all of my alarm bells.
Hurrying through the door—which closed again—I step into the unburned rear of the building and tap on the door James is hiding behind. I glance at Sugar and realize she's holding in laughter as hard as she can.
He reaches one arm out and snags his clothes.
Sugar's efforts to hold in her hilarity fail, and she bursts out, peals of laughter echoing off the walls. "I've never seen him move like that. His pale, white butt disappearing through that door is a sight I won't forget for a long time."
James opens the door and glares at Sugar.
"Well?" I ask.
"They aren't in here."
"What the hell made you think they were?" I ask.
Even though I’m a little annoyed, I’m mostly relieved. At least now I know that Callie and Will are safe. Maybe they really are just off somewhere fucking. Ugh
James’ soot-covered face goes blank. "I... I have no idea. I can't think why I was so convinced they were inside, burning alive."
"But Will is a fire mage." I know that. Why was I so freaked out? Because James got me so freaked out! "He should’ve been fine."
James shrugs. "It’s like..." His face falls. "I was spelled." His fists clench. "Damn it."
And James knows damn well that Will is fully capable of getting Callie outside unharmed. I know it too. It’s all the weird stuff lately that’s setting me on edge. He’s got to be right. The spell is all that would explain it.
"A fire mage?" Sugar's voice behind me makes me flinch.
Oh, fuck. I'm normally so careful, but I'm so disconcerted by James's behavior and the Queen—Ms. Kranton's behavior, that my tongue slipped.
I turn toward Sugar, trying to think of a twist that I can put on my words to make it sound like I meant anything else.
My mind gives me nothing but static.
"You guys are witches?" Sugar asks, hands on her hips.
James sighs and steps forward. "You don't understand."
Sugar rolls her eyes. "Do you think I didn't know? I've been waiting to see how long it would take you to slip up. You did pretty good. I've been working with you guys for ages, and you're just now slipping up."
"You knew?" This day is too much. Will and Callie might not have been in this blaze, but I’m still worried about them. This fire is weird. There's still nobody around in town. The Queen-freaking-Dowager stopped by and helped us, and now Sugar is saying she's wise to the paranormal world. "What the hell is going on around here?"
"I'd like to know," James mutters. "But Will and Callie are still missing, and now I'm even more worried."
I waved my arms around. "Can anyone explain why this part of the building is unburned? And why Sugar knows about witches?" I shoot her a glare.
"The upstairs is unburned, too," James says.
"It can't be. I saw the flames up there." I shake my head. "Why would someone set a spell to burn the front, but no other part?"
"They could've messed up. Meant to burn the whole thing but worded it wrong," Sugar says.
I look at her with my mouth open and hands out. "Who are you?"
She flinches. "It's not who. It's what. My kind are rare, and hunted."
There are a few creatures and shifters left in the world whose bodies and blood create powerful magic.
"I pass as human, and a carefully cast charm helps witches keep from sensing me."
James steps forward, breathing deep. "I can't get anything but human from you."
Sugar nods. "Good. Now, what's going on with Will? And now that we're coming clean, I'll tell you
, there's something extra about Callie. I can't tell what, but she's got a charm or hex or something of her own that hides her true nature."
"Callie is paranormal?" James asks in shock. "No way."
"I don't think she knows."
I think back to everything we found in her bedroom. The golems, her blog. "She doesn't."
"If someone went to all this trouble to distract and divert us here, then they've got Will, and maybe Callie."
My heart sinks. I hadn't wanted to think this could be a possibility. "They're at the castle."
James closes his eyes and sucks in a deep breath. "Let's go."
Sugar throws her hands up. "Guys, I'm sorry, but I can't go anywhere near that castle." Her eyes are wide and fearful. "In the paranormal realm, I can't hide. My charm is powerful here, but very weak there."
James grabs her hand. "It’s okay. We have to pass the station on our way. We'll drop you off."
The three of us run for the truck, and James hops in the driver's seat. Sugar gets in the back without any argument. She must be pretty freaked. She always argues for shotgun.
Lights and sirens on, we head toward the station, and as soon as we’re a block away from the dance studio, people appear on Main Street again. Something about that building is powerfully cursed. "Did you notice the people out in town?"
"It must be a part of the fire spell," James says in my headset.
He pulls to a stop in front of the station. "We'll be back soon," I tell Sugar before she takes off her headset.
"I'm sorry I can't go," she whispers, then removes her headset and hops out. I watch her in the mirror as we pull away. Her face is forlorn.
Before James pulls away from the curb, a woman appears from the yard between the firehouse and Callie’s house. "Stop." I point her out to James.
He jumps out of the driver’s seat and bows his head. "Can we help you, Majesty?"
She purses her lips at him. "Are you going to the castle?"
James nods.
The Dowager Queen tuts. "Help me up into the truck. I’m going."
James looks back and forth between the truck and her. "Um, okay." He helps her climb in Sugar’s abandoned seat, then quickly gets into the driver’s seat.