Archangel's Fire

by L. G. Castillo

  My knees trembled like they were about to give out. I latched on to the door handle to steady myself. “I, uh…think we…I mean, I…” I cleared my throat and took a deep breath to calm my trembling voice. “All I care about right now is getting into the city and finding that book without getting caught so we can break the curse. If Big John trusts Cade, then so should you.”

  The sound of his boots clacked against the floor and went silent. He stood behind me without a word. I stiffened when he placed a hand on my shoulder just like he had in the vision.

  Don’t do it, Lukas. I couldn’t bear the thought of hurting him by pushing him away if he tried to kiss me.

  “Senna, look at me.”

  Slowly, I looked up. He opened his mouth as if to say something, then shook his head as if changing his mind. “I’ll try. Just watch out for him, okay?”

  I let out a breath of relief. Lukas had always watched out for me. He always had my best interest at heart, and I loved him for it. But I wasn’t the one for him. He saw me as someone to take care of. Maybe he was confusing that with whatever attraction he had for me. I wasn’t sure.

  “Thank you. You know, Cade didn’t have to do this. He volunteered. Did you know that?”

  He clenched his jaw and looked over my shoulder, peering outside. “So what?”

  “My point is that he has a good heart. I’m sure if you give it some time, you’ll—what the hell are you doing?” He jerked me away from the door, pushing me behind him.

  “There’s someone out there.”

  Squinting, I looked out the window. A massive cloud of dust filled the sky in the distance.

  “What is that?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, opening door. “Stay inside.”

  Not one to ever listen to Lukas when he gave me orders, I jerked the hood of my robe over my head and stepped outside.

  The dust cloud moved like a thick wall across the desert. As it neared, it grew larger, eating every inch of blue sky.

  Then I heard it.

  There was loud crack followed by a low rumble. The windows shook as thunder filled the air.

  Rain. Thank goodness. We could use it. It would make crossing the desert a lot easier even if we did get wet. I remembered seeing some plastic clothing. Big John called them raincoats. Maybe we should go back inside and get some.

  Milo and Mika roared, kicking their hooves as they tugged on the ropes.

  “Shh, Milo. Mika.” Lukas patted their backs, soothing them.

  I tensed at the sound of his strained voice. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as he walked slowly toward the dark clouds for a better look.

  “What is it?”

  He lifted his hand, silencing me. His face turned white. I’d never seen him so scared. He cursed and whirled around, running back into the building. “Quick! Get your crossbow! We have to go!”

  I stared at the dark cloud, wondering why he was freaking out.

  Over the rumble, I thought I heard Cade’s panicked voice. I couldn’t see him or Big John, only the rolling clouds.

  “Don’t just stand there. Let’s go!” Lukas tossed my satchel and crossbow to me.

  I was about to ask him what was going on when I heard Cade’s voice again. I finally saw him.

  I couldn’t move. It was as if my brain refused to register what I was seeing.

  Cade and Big John’s horses’ legs were a blur as they raced across the desert. Cade laid low against Pepper’s back, his robe flapped wildly behind him. Behind him, a spot of red emerged from the dark cloud.

  Then another.

  And another.

  And another, until the entire horizon was lined in red.

  Silver sparkled like stars in the night as sunlight hit against the hunters’ swords. The windows rattled as dozens of demon horses pounded the ground in unison.

  17

  I stood transfixed by the horror and beauty of what I was seeing. With each strike of the horses’ powerful hooves, a massive cloud of sand whirled up around their legs, making it look like they rode on the clouds. The hunters’ robes waved a brilliant red against the dark backdrop.

  “Move! We have to go now,” Lukas yelled as he held tightly onto Milo’s reins, keeping his frightened horse from running off.

  I could barely hear the rest of Lukas’s words. All I could do was stare at death as it chased after Cade and Big John. Why didn’t they use their wings and fly away? They could easily escape.

  As if sensing my thoughts, Cade lifted his head and looked right at me. I felt that connection again, an electrical current that surged through me. This time, it pushed me away.

  Cade’s head turned to look behind him, then back at me again. He yelled something to Big John. Together, they directed their horses away from us and in the opposite direction of the city.

  “Cade!” I screamed, finally able to find my voice when the hunters closed in on them. It suddenly hit me why they weren’t flying. They were using themselves as bait to give Lukas and me enough time to get away.

  “Let’s go, Senna,” Lukas growled.

  I stepped away from Lukas, focusing on Cade. He kept looking back behind him. Big John was falling behind.

  “We can’t leave. We have to help them.”

  A cluster of arrows soared through the air, aiming straight for Big John.

  “Big John!” I rushed forward, calling on every magical power I supposedly had in me to stop the arrows from hitting him. There was nothing.

  Lukas tackled me, placing a strong arm around my waist. He dragged me away, kicking and screaming for Big John as I watched helplessly. Seconds became minutes. I could see every single detail of Big John’s determined face. The beads of sweat on his brow. The dark curls plastered against his forehead as he focused on steering the hunters away from me. Was this the way it was to watch someone you loved about to die?

  As if hearing my scream, Cade looked in my direction. His eyes locked with mine for a second before he pulled back on the reins, slowing down Pepper enough until he was beside Big John. Just as the arrows were about to hit their target, Cade threw himself at Big John, knocking him off his horse. They tumbled onto the sand, the arrows skimming within an inch of Cade’s back.

  “Let go! We have to get them!” My legs kicked the air. Lukas’s arm tightened like a steel band around my waist. With his free hand, he held on to Milo and Mika’s reins.

  “It’s too late. The hunters will kill you. I have to get you out of here.” Taking a hold of Milo’s saddle, he reached for the stirrup. He wasn’t about to let me go. He was making me ride with him.

  “No!” I wasn’t quite sure how I did what happened next. I could never overpower him. His arms were like tree trunks compared to my puny ones. The moment I yelled, the sound seemed to come out of me like a sonic wave. I could actually see it. It rocketed out from me, making him drop his arm and howl in pain.

  As I spun around, another wave shot out of me and slammed into his chest. He flew back from the impact, landing on the ground a few feet away. Lukas blinked at me, stunned.

  “Lukas, I…I…” What did I do?

  Big John’s yells drew me away from the shock of what I’d done. Scowling, he slapped Cade’s shoulder blades and pointed at the sky. It was as if he wanted Cade to leave. Cade shook his head, keeping close to Big John as they ran.

  “Don’t do it, Senna,” Lukas gasped, trying to catch his breath.

  “I’m sorry.” I turned to Mika, ignoring his protests. Mika shook her head vigorously, pulling away from me as if she realized what I was planning to do. Quickly, I calculated the distance. There was no way I could get to them in time.

  Another cluster of arrows zoomed toward Cade and Big John as they stumbled through the sand. Cade ducked his head as an arrow flew by, barely missing him. Another arrow whizzed by Big John. He roared as he stumbled, clutching his thigh. In one swift motion, Cade yanked the arrow out of his leg and placed Big John’s arm over his shoulder. Big John’s face reddened as he limp
ed as fast as he could.

  They weren’t going to make it. I watched in horror as the hunters drew near. Even from this distance, I could see the hunters’ black eyes, hungry for their prey. More arrows soared through the air. A few of them pierced a fuel pump and amber liquid slowly rolled down its side.

  I wasn’t going to let Big John and Cade die. When the hunters found out who they really were, they’d do worse to them than what they did to Annalise. There were other witches. Better witches who actually knew how to use their powers. The Sanctuary needed them more than they needed me.

  “Hide inside, Lukas.”

  “No! Senna!”

  A sudden calm washed over me as I made my way to the hunters. All of my senses heightened. I could hear every move I made—the sand shifting with each step I took as I headed to meet the army; rough sleeves of my robe, brushing against my side as I lifted the crossbow; the clicking of my teeth as I clenched my jaw, taking aim on the lead hunter.

  They can’t die. They can’t die. The thought repeated in my head like a mantra.

  The wind whistled against my ears as a sudden wind gusted over the desert.

  They can’t die.

  Sand slapped against my face, stinging my cheeks as the wind whirled it around. Tumbleweeds danced wildly, hitting against the glass windows of the building and the gas station.

  They can’t die.

  Something shoved at my back. Mika neighed and pushed me again, waking me from my trance. Every inch of my body felt like it was being beaten from the inside out, as if something was trapped inside of me.

  That was when I saw the monster crawling up from beneath the sand.

  My heart raced as I watched a monstrous vortex swirl around, sucking in the sand. It grew wider and taller with each heartbeat. Slowly churning and grinding into the earth, it fed off the desert sand as it grew, its height touching the sky. The demon horses screamed as the whirling wall roared toward them.

  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Was I doing that?

  The demon horses kicked their hooves in the air as the rotating wall danced, daring the hunters to cross. It wasn’t going to let them through.

  “Lukas, let’s get them. Hurry!” Jumping onto Mika, I directed her to Cade and Big John. I gazed at the dancing vortex nervously, not knowing how long it was going to last.

  “Are you doing that?” Lukas yelled over the roaring wind.

  “I think so.” Deep inside, I knew it was me. A burning sensation was running up and down my arms, and I could still feel that strange pressure pounding from within. The problem was I didn’t know how I did it or how to stop it.

  “Duck!” Lukas cried as he passed, shooting his crossbow over me. The purple-tipped arrow sailed through the air, aimed at a lone hunter who’d managed to ride around the vortex. The hunter cried out, falling to the ground when it pierced his chest.

  “I got you, Big John,” he said when we reached them.

  “You should’ve taken Senna away from here, Lukas,” Big John wheezed.

  “I tried,” Lukas said.

  “There’s no way I’m leaving you,” I said at the same time.

  “I never thought I’d ever say this,” Cade said as he helped Big John onto Milo, “but Tovahiel was right about you. You’re powerful.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. I have no clue how I’m doing it,” I said. “Big John, are you okay?”

  “Yes, we need to hurry,” Big John grunted as he got onto Milo. “The storm is dying down.”

  I looked back. The vortex was slowing, the wall getting thinner.

  “Give me your crossbow.” Cade jumped on Mika, taking the bow from me. “Let’s go.”

  “To where?” I yelled over the wind as we rode away from the only hiding place. There was nothing but open desert.

  “To the city,” Cade said.

  “It’s too far. We are at least two days out,” Lukas said. “The horses won’t make it.”

  The howling wind suddenly stopped. I glanced back with dread. Demon horses leapt over the wall of sand as the monster shrank, crawling back into the ground. They were coming.

  I slowed Mika and turned her around.

  “Senna,” Lukas yelled after me. “Don’t be stupid.”

  Cade leaned forward and whispered calmly in my ear. “What are you doing?”

  “I don’t know.” And that was the truth. My mother’s power was within me somewhere. I had to bring it back.

  I stopped Mika and gazed at the approaching hunters, hoping if I concentrated hard enough I could bring the monster to life again.

  “You don’t… Take the reins away from her, Cade,” Lukas snapped.

  Cade rested his hand over mine. He held it for a moment, then gave it a gentle squeeze. “You can do this. Remember, you’re Diana’s daughter.”

  A rush of electricity ran through me at the sound of his words. Strands of light filled my vision. Lines of blue, green, yellow, and red danced and wove around each other. I could see each strand of light in spite of the relentless sun. A chorus of whispers filled my head in a language I’d never heard, yet I understood every single word.

  Listening to the instructions, I reached out my hand, moving it from right to left as if sweeping the sun’s rays and directed them to the windows at the gas station.

  The light bounced off the glass and angled down on the tumbleweeds whirling on the ground. A spark flew off one of weeds, followed by another, until there was a half dozen rolling balls of fire dancing around the leaking fuel pump.

  Cade cursed, waking me from my daze. In one swift motion, he snatched the reins out of my hands, whipping them hard against Mika’s back as he turned her around.

  “Go, Mika!” he yelled, whipping her again.

  Before I could snap at him for treating Mika so roughly, he shoved me down, burying my face into her thick mane. There was a ripping sound followed by a loud snap. Large shadowed wings appeared on the ground, making Mika look like the mythical unicorn Lily loved to read about.

  An explosion ripped through the air, making the ground shake. Mika let out a cry and ran harder.

  A chorus of inhuman high-pitched screams pierced my ears. I should’ve kept my head down. I shouldn’t have looked back.

  The sky behind us was an orange glow. A dark mass of black and red rolled across the desert, mowing down the hunters and silencing their horses’ screams one by one.

  And it was headed right for us.

  “Keep down!” Cade cried, pressing himself hard against me. His wings enveloped me in a tight cocoon just as a wall of fire roared over us.

  18

  Their silence was killing me.

  We’d ridden most of the day with no one saying a word. They were still in shock. I know I was. After we found Pepper and Big John’s horse nibbling on a couple of desert bushes, I had forced myself to keep looking to the horizon and not at Cade’s singed wings or the twist of his handsome face with every step. I knew he would heal quickly, but it was hard to see him in such pain.

  Big John seemed to be okay. Though I couldn’t be sure because of the way he kept his robe over his injured leg.

  Still, hours passed without a peep from anyone. The only thing Cade said when he’d gotten off Mika to ride Pepper was, “Good job.”

  Good job? I had no clue how I did what I did. Lukas and Big John were just as surprised as I was. They kept glancing at me with disbelief. Big John even seemed a little scared, which was crazy. My head was all messed up. I just wished they would say something, anything.

  Following Big John’s map, we directed the horses to what he said was once called a rest area, a place where people who were traveling in their cars would stop to take a break.

  When we approached the structure, I barked a laugh, breaking the still air. Was this where people got out of their comfortable cars to rest? The rest area consisted of eight piles of red rocks holding up a wooden roof and a few tables underneath.

  Lukas gave me an annoyed look before getting off Milo.
>
  What was with him? If I didn’t know any better, I could swear he was giving me the cold shoulder.

  I couldn’t stand the silence. After I slid off Mika, I tied her to one of the stone pillars. “Will someone please explain to me what happened back there?”

  “What’s there to explain?” Lukas said as tossed his pack onto one of the tables. “You used your magic and killed the hunters.”

  “But how? That explosion was huge.”

  Lukas shrugged as he busied himself by spreading more of the purple paste on his arrows.

  “It was the gasoline,” Big John said as Cade helped off his horse. “It’s highly flammable. When you started the fire, it caught on the gas and caused the explosion.”

  “Oh.”

  “You sound disappointed,” Lukas said.

  “I do?” I had to admit that even though I’d been a bit shocked by what happened, it’d been cool to think that my tiny hands could create the huge mushroom that reached the sky.

  “Killing an entire army of hunters wasn’t enough for you?” Lukas flashed his eyes up at me.

  He was furious. At me!

  “It’s not that. It’s just I don’t know what I’m capable of or if I can control it,” I said. “And why are you mad?”

  “Because of what you just said. You don’t know what you’re doing. You could’ve gotten killed.”

  “The hunters were going to kill Cade and Big John! I wasn’t going to leave them there to die, especially if I had the power to help them.”

  “So now you’re this powerful witch who can save angels, are you?”

  “Stop being an ass! You know what I meant. And yeah, I’m a witch. That’s why we are doing all this. It’s my job to save the Sanctuary, so excuse me if I’m trying to figure out what magic I do have.”

  “Damn it, Senna!” Lukas slammed his crossbow on the table. “It’s my job to make sure you come out of this alive.”

  “Lukas is right,” Big John’s soft voice interrupted. He clenched his jaw as he limped to me.

  “Sit down,” I said, rushing to him. He couldn’t possibly still be in pain. Angels were supposed to heal fast. Even now, Cade’s wings were looking much better. “Let me look at your leg.”