Relic

by Renee Collins

  Impatient, Connelly stomped forward. “I said, give it to me.”

  Adelaide held the relic out over his open palm.

  But then, like the flick of a match against wood, her eyes snapped up, burning.

  Fast, so fast I almost didn’t see it, her hand jabbed forward, and a flash of flame illuminated the entire room. I winced, turning my face away from the heat. Connelly’s scream echoed over the stone. The smell of smoke and singed flesh choked my lungs. When I opened my eyes, Connelly was lying on the ground. The left side of his body was charred and bleeding, but he was alive. He panted as he stared up at Adelaide.

  I swallowed back the bile that rose in my throat.

  “Please,” Connelly rasped. “Please. Don’t kill me.”

  Adelaide laughed. “Don’t you think that’s what Bobby said as he died in your fires? Don’t you think he wanted to live?”

  “I didn’t kill your cowboy. It was Álvar!”

  “Spare me your lies.” She swung the relic over him like a pendulum. “You’re going to get everything you deserve tonight, Percy. And I’m going to have a good time giving it to you.”

  My heart was pounding. “Adelaide—”

  “Stay out of it, Maggie.”

  “Don’t do this. You don’t really want to kill him. You don’t want blood on your hands.”

  She whirled around to me, her face ablaze. “I do. And I will, so don’t you dare try to stop me.”

  “He’s a bad man,” I said. “He deserves to stand trial for everything he’s done and then rot in prison for the rest of his life. Don’t give him an easy out by killing him.”

  The slightest hint of doubt flickered behind her eyes, and I grasped for it. “Get the keys from him. Let me out of these chains, and we’ll chain him up. We’ll leave him to think about everything he’s done to you.”

  Connelly’s breath rattled heavily. His gaze snapped from Adelaide to me and back.

  “Please, Adelaide,” I said. “Go on and let me out of here.”

  She turned to Connelly, her relic aimed at him like a gun. “The keys.”

  “Right here,” he said shakily. With his unburned arm, he pulled the iron ring from his pocket.

  Adelaide pointed to me. “Get her out right now.”

  He nodded. His body was bloody as a butcher’s block, but he managed to drag himself over to me. I cringed as his shaking, charred hand unlocked the chains at my feet. He tried to stand to get my arms but doubled over in pain. Adelaide kicked him aside, and he balled up with a groan of pain. Not even glancing down at him, she unlatched my hands herself.

  The moment I was freed, I grabbed her in my arms. It was part hug, part restraint, though I hoped she wouldn’t notice the latter.

  “Now let’s get out of here,” I said, holding her close. “Come on. We’ll leave him to rot.”

  Adelaide was staring at Connelly. Her chest rose and fell with tense breaths. I guided her ever so slowly toward the door. We took one step. Then another.

  “He’ll suffer real good in here,” I said, in a soothing whisper. “Real good.”

  We reached the door. “Come on now,” I added.

  Suddenly, Adelaide tore away from my grip. Her eyes flashed. “No.”

  “Adelaide—”

  “No!” she shouted. “He’s going to pay for what he took from me!”

  I reached for her, but she’d already thrust out her hand. With a cry, she sent a beam of white fire shooting right into Connelly’s stomach. His body arched backward, and his scream filled the room.

  I threw my arms around her. “Stop! Please!”

  “Get back,” she roared, shoving me off her.

  I flew backward, slamming into the wall. My vision blurred with pain.

  “You took everything that mattered to me!” Adelaide cried, sending another beam of fire into Connelly. He didn’t move this time or even cry out. The damp straw scattered on the floor now smoldered with flames. Smoke darkened the air, burning my eyes.

  Adelaide raised the Ko Zhin relic with a trembling fist. She was panting heavily. Charges of fire and power surged around her, gathering for a final blaze. I staggered to my feet.

  “Adelaide, don’t! You’ll kill us all!”

  “Time to send you to hell where you belong, Percy Connelly.” She raised her hands over her head.

  I jumped for her. My hands wrapped around hers, around the relic. It felt as if I were pressing my palm against a hearth, but I held on. The night in Landon’s hotel room flashed through my mind, how he’d held me and talked me out of the madness. It was my only chance.

  “This isn’t you, Adelaide,” I cried. “You’re not a murderer.”

  “Let go!”

  I pulled her hands closer, hugging them to me, though they felt like hot coals on my skin. The flames grew around us. Heat melted against our faces.

  “You’re a good person,” I cried. “A loving, kind person. This relic is making you think evil things, but it isn’t you. It isn’t you!”

  There were tears in Adelaide’s eyes. “Stop!”

  “Think about Bobby. He loved you so much. He wanted to marry you, to start a life with you. He died loving you, Adelaide.”

  She shook her head fiercely, the tears now streaming down her face. Her hands were shaking. I took the risk of prying her fingers open. She sobbed, but she released the relic into my palm. I flung it into the flames fast as I could.

  “No,” she moaned. “No! He has to pay.”

  “He’s dead,” I said, holding her in my arms. “He’s dead, Adelaide.”

  She shook with sobs. The fire around us raged, and I guided her to the door. Right before we left, she looked back. The orange of fire reflected in her flooded eyes, along with a pang of horror at what she’d just done.

  “It’s over,” I said softly.

  Her face dropped down. Keeping one arm around her, I pulled the prison door shut, leaving the evil of Percy Connelly behind it.

  Chapter Thirty-five

  As we ran up the spiral stone stairs to the main level of the Hacienda, we were greeted with more fire. My breath caught in my chest. So Adelaide had been telling the truth.

  People ran in all directions, servants carrying armfuls of expensive curtains and the good china. Guards shouted out to one another, trying to make some semblance of order. Haciendellas lifted their elaborate skirts to run at full speed. Dense black columns of smoke twisted and spread over the ceiling. And everywhere fire trembled in thick fans of light and heat.

  Adelaide’s face was ashen as she ran beside me. “I did this.”

  “It wasn’t you.” I squeezed her hand.

  She said nothing.

  I hated seeing the raw guilt and horror in her eyes, but I had a bigger problem on my hands. Ella was somewhere in that fire and chaos. I ran down the burning hallways, pulling Adelaide along, and tried my best to keep the panic that shook inside me from exploding.

  Then a familiar face rounded the corner—the long, pointed face of Señora Duarte. Only she was alone. When she saw me, her eyes widened, and she spun around to make a run for it. I lunged, grabbing her arms, and slammed her against the wall.

  “Let go of me!” she cried. “I have done nothing!”

  “Calm down.”

  “I have done nothing wrong!”

  I held her firm and looked into her eyes. “I only want to find my sister.”

  Señora Duarte shook her head, her eyes squeezed shut. I gripped her shoulders. “Where is she? I know you know.”

  She was trembling but remained silent. I shook her once, hard, startling her eyes open. “You will tell me where she is,” I said.

  She was silent for a breathless moment, and then her body melted in my arms. Sorrow splashed over her face. “I could not stop him. He took her, and I could not stop him.”

  Ice rushed through my veins. “Who took her? Álvar?”

  Señora Duarte nodded, sniffling woefully. “He took her with him to the mountains. To the battle. I begged him n
ot to. I told him it was far too dangerous for one so young. But he did not listen. Why would he do such a thing?”

  I didn’t answer her, but I knew. If Álvar couldn’t have my Legacy to use for his dark purposes, he would use Ella’s instead. The thought of my poor sister, scared and confused and witnessing the horrors of battle filled me with a rage I had never known before. That rage coursed through me with a power stronger than any relic could offer. Stronger even than the evil bones of the Ko Zhin. All at once, any fear or danger we might face seemed inconsequential. I was going to get my sister, and I was going to do it right now.

  Getting horses proved easy enough thanks to the chaos that gripped the Hacienda. It was a free-for-all anyway, so two women taking a horse hardly drew any attention. Adelaide followed me without question; she was still too stunned by the things she’d done while possessed by the Ko Zhin. As we rode together toward the mountains, I tried to explain everything I’d heard at the Apache camp, but she seemed so shaken by the day’s events that she only nodded, and I wondered if she’d even heard me.

  I wasn’t prepared for the scene I found near the red-rock cliffs that stood at the base of the Alkali range.

  Fire. Smoke. Towers of blackness billowed to the heavens, blocking out the sun. Everywhere men blasted guns and shot arrows. In the chaos of battle, I could hardly tell who stood on what side. Hacienda, Apache, townsfolk—they all blurred together in the smoke and noise. The only thing that punctured the mayhem was the stark brightness of the blood splashed over rocks and sand and sagebrush.

  A flash of red light lit the smoky fog in the distance—relic magic. I could see signs of it everywhere. To my far left, a man fell to his knees, gripping his head and thrashing about, his mind filled with some dark illusion. Ahead, a floating bowie knife held by an invisible attacker slashed at an Apache warrior. And all around me, the fireballs of dragon claw rifles soared like comets, exploding against trees or the cliff face or a ground of men.

  Adelaide and I had to get out of there. Fast. I scanned every direction, searching for Yahn, searching for Álvar. Part of me knew it was pointless. The battle stretched over a huge expanse of land. They could be anywhere.

  An earsplitting blast of sound tore through the air. A flash of light, bright as the sun, and then fire. I whirled around. From somewhere high on the cliff, I caught sight of a column of fire that seemed to come from the Devil himself. When the flames hit the earth below, they ricocheted up in a fifteen-foot wall, and steaming hot wind from the impact blasted over the land. Men scattered in all directions away from the massive blaze. Those who didn’t get killed instantly, that is. As I watched, a cold, fierce terror gripped my heart, and I knew. That fire came from the Ko Zhin. And Álvar Castilla.

  I grabbed Adelaide’s hand and started to pull her toward our horse. The flames had spooked the animal into the safe shadow of a cluster of shrub trees. We ran up to her, but as I came closer, I noticed the reins tied to one of the branches. My feet slammed to a stop. I certainly hadn’t tied her there. Frowning, I turned to look around and spotted two strange men. They walked side by side, heading directly toward us in a way that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. When I spun back the other way, I saw another man coming out from behind the Joshua trees.

  Three men, neither Hacienda nor Apache, with ragged clothes and unkempt beards. Probably just angry, out-of-work members of the mob, relishing the chance to legally spill blood. They spread out a little, trying to surround us as they closed in.

  “Stay away,” I called, pulling Adelaide close to my side. “I’ll shoot you if you get any closer.”

  “Easy, girlie. We just want to have a chat.”

  “I’m warning you. Stay back.”

  But they kept moving closer. Adelaide breathed hard at my side. I squeezed her hand. “Get ready to run,” I said under my breath.

  One of the men pulled a rusted knife from his inner coat pocket. “You girlies better play nice, or we’ll have to cut you up real bad.”

  “Hand us over your relics,” another demanded. “We know you got ’em.”

  “Don’t hurt us,” I said. “We’ll give you everything.” Mind racing, I bent to the ground. “Here, take it!”

  I flung two fistfuls of dirt in the face of the closest attacker. The man whipped back, smashing his fists into his eyes with a roar.

  I grabbed Adelaide’s hand. “Run!”

  We tore off, tripping over rocks and cactus and scrub brush to get away. A dark stabbing in my heart told me we couldn’t possibly outrun all three of them, but I pushed forward anyway, hoping for another group of fighters to get in the way, another blast of fire from above—anything to give us a chance to escape.

  The men shouted behind us, closing in. I screamed for help, but it was a bad situation any way you looked at it. With the chaos of battle all around us, no one would be able to stop those men if we were attacked. Likely no one would even notice.

  And then, through the smoke and heat and noise of the battle came a horrible and haunting sound, like a ghostly scream. Beside me, Adelaide dropped like a rock. She tumbled to the ground, rolling twice.

  “Adelaide!”

  I spun around to get her, but she was lying on the dirt, shaking, an expression of horror twisting her face. She stared at something no one else could see, paralyzed with fear. I’d read about such symptoms: a terror that froze a person’s body, made them lost in a nightmare until they died from not eating or drinking.

  Banshee relic.

  This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not to Adelaide. I wouldn’t believe it.

  “Adelaide!” I said, shaking her hard. “Get up!”

  But she didn’t move. The three no-accounts tramped up, grinning cruelly.

  “Don’t touch her!” I screamed, falling over her trembling body.

  “Take it easy, girlie. You play your cards right, and we won’t have to use the banshee on you as well.”

  I swung my arm through the air. “Get away! Get back!”

  One of the men swooped up behind me, jerking me to my feet. He pinned my arms behind me and, in the same action, brought the blade of a knife against my throat. The edge pressed into my skin, slicing the first few layers. “Didn’t we say to calm down?”

  His rank breath turned my stomach. I tried to look away, but the knife pushed harder on my throat, forcing me to stay still.

  The apparent leader of the group pointed a dirty finger in my face. “Now you listen. We know you got relics. Two women wouldn’t be prancin’ around in battle without ’em. So pass ’em over.”

  “We don’t have anything,” I said, my voice choked. “I swear it.”

  “You’re a bad liar,” the knife wielder whispered into my ears, slicing the blade against my skin. It felt like a red-hot brander. Blood slid silently down my neck.

  The third man crouched by Adelaide. “Want me to search this one?”

  The leader opened his mouth to respond, but his body suddenly went rigid. His eyes bulged, and a strange, choking gasp escaped his lips. And the lean shaft of an arrow protruded from his throat.

  Eyes filled with shock, the leader gripped the arrow and tried to pull, but it was deeply embedded in his flesh. He drew his hand away; it dripped with bright red blood. A strange, sad look passed across his face, like a man suddenly woken to a terrible truth. He fell to his knees, gasping in a strained way. And then, all at once, he was facedown in the dirt.

  We all stared at his body, motionless, speechless. I thought a rogue arrow must have hit him, but then I heard a horse whinny. Every other sound evaporated from my ears. The smoke ahead seemed to part. I watched in amazement as a painted stallion galloped toward us, with Yahnuiyo strong in the saddle.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Yahn fired two more arrows as he rode up, but they landed intentionally to the side of either man. Warning shots. Another horse followed a ways behind him. I recognized that rider as well. Sheriff Leander.

  Yahn came up in front of the roughnecks, and
his horse reared on its hind legs with a furious and terrifying whinny. Yahn drew back his arrow with cool intensity.

  “Let them go, or I put the next shots into your brains.”

  Both men complied immediately. They ran off faster than I’d ever seen men run. Yahn jumped down from his horse, as did Sheriff Leander, going right to Adelaide’s crumpled body.

  Yahn came toward me, and I ran to close in the distance. We came together in a fierce, colliding embrace. I pressed my face to him, squeezing my eyes shut with intense relief. No words needed to be spoken. The warmth of the Legacy coursed through both of us, and the moment couldn’t have felt more right.

  I might have stayed there forever if awareness hadn’t shot through me. “Adelaide,” I said, my eyes snapping open.

  Yahn and I both ran to her side. Sheriff Leander held her in his arms, patting her face gently, but she didn’t rouse. She still gazed up at unseen terrors. The only movement came from slight twitches and a general trembling.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Sheriff Leander asked.

  “Banshee relic,” I said, my voice tight.

  He swore under his breath. Yahn’s brow lowered. “Such evil.”

  I nodded grimly. “We need to get her treatment fast.”

  Sheriff Leander passed Adelaide carefully into Yahn’s arms. “Take her to Moon John quick as you can. But be careful. This fire’s spread to Burning Mesa, and all hell’s broken loose over there.”

  Only then did I process what an unexpected team they made, Yahn and the sheriff. “You’re not…trying to hang him anymore?” I asked the sheriff.

  He shook his head. “We know Álvar Castilla is responsible. At least my rangers and I know it. Last night, I got a two A.M. visit from Emerson Bolger. Turns out he’s had his suspicions of Señor Castilla for some time. Well, for the past week, he’s been coaxing information out of Mr. Connelly at The Desert Rose, pretending that it was in regard to a mining operation. When Bolger finally offered Connelly a high-ranking position in his new company once he took over in Burning Mesa, Connelly betrayed Castilla, told Bolger everything. And Bolger promptly reported it all to me.”