by Tricia Barr
This man was the super villain of her world, the man who had, for all intents and purposes, killed Lily right in front of her, and in so doing tried to kill Phoenyx. She hated him, and right now, it was clear that he had no idea who she was.
With his hostility and hatred of her forgotten, he actually looked like a nice person. If she didn’t know who he was, she could imagine him being someone’s loving grandfather. But the image of him dragging a knife across Lily’s throat was permanently etched into her memory, and she would not be fooled by his kind face.
Phoenyx pulled herself out of her paralysis and played her role. “I’ve been sick for a few days and just got back,” she said, using her best mock British accent. “I think I must have missed something. Where is everyone?”
Vincent smiled at her and put his hand on her shoulder in a friendly paternal gesture. Her instinct was to jump away, damned if she’d let him touch her, but such a reaction would raise suspicion. “I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been ill, but you’ve returned just in time! Everyone has gone to Stonehenge to witness a once-in-a-lifetime ritual. As a young member, you have not yet been privy to all the secrets of the order, but today you will get to see something truly remarkable—the reason this order formed in the first place. Come, come, you don’t want to miss it.”
He was ushering her toward the stairs, but her feet had turned into jello as her brain processed his words. The ritual was going to happen right now! They had already missed intercepting Sam!
Phoenyx turned around and grabbed Vincent’s arm. She flooded her will into him and commanded, “You have to stop the ritual.”
His amicable expression turned into a full blown indulgent grin. “For you, my dear, anything. But I can’t stop it. Everyone has already gathered. I am running late as it is, I will be lucky to get there before it starts.”
“No! There must be a way you can stop it. Call someone, tell them to cancel it.” Her grip on his arm tightened as she compelled him as hard as she could.
“Yes, of course,” Vincent said eagerly, taking his phone out of his pocket and dialing a number.
She could faintly hear the voice of the answering machine as the call went straight to voicemail. Vincent tried several other numbers with the same outcome.
Looking truly remorseful, Vincent said, “I’m sorry, my dear, but it appears that everyone has turned off their phones for the ceremony. I expected as much, but I really hoped I could help you.”
Her urgency turned into flash-boiling anger. She dug her nails into the skin of his arm, her hatred of him making her see red. “You wanna help me? Go drive off a cliff!” She released him, and he ran, all but tumbling down the stairs in his rush to obey her command.
Phoenyx stood there for a moment, flexing her fists in an attempt to rein in her anger. She didn’t have time to explode right now. She needed to calm down and focus, and the five of them needed to get to Stonehenge as soon as possible.
Exhaling her panic-fueled irritation, she skipped down the stairs and raced out of the lodge and across the street. Her friends were already halfway across the street, hailing another taxi. Phoenyx could see the cautious, dubious looks on a few of their faces when they glanced at her, but no one said anything about Vincent.
With her rage cooling, she was able to admit to herself that sending Vincent to his death may not have been the most moral thing to do, but she felt no guilt over it. He had gotten off easy back in Prague. He was no innocent. She knew that she had made herself a promise not to take another life, but, in her eyes, she still hadn’t broken that promise. She hadn’t directly killed Vincent; she had merely given him the choice whether or not to do it himself, granted the choice was rigged with an incentive in one direction. What happened to him from here was not her concern.
The taxi stopped to let them in, and they rushed inside.
“Take us to Stonehenge,” Ayanna instructed the driver.
“Stonehenge?” the driver asked. “Are you kidding? That’s a two-hour drive!”
“We’ll pay you double,” Ayanna urged.
“Ooo, you got it! But you won’t get to see much,” the driver said, shifting into drive and pulling into the road. “The site’s been closed to tourists for some archaeological something or other.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Phoenyx said. “Just go!”
“And step on it,” Ayanna urged.
“Alright, alright, don’t getcher knickers in a knot,” the driver said. He sped up the car just a little bit, but he was still going only a kilometer over the speed limit.
Phoenyx scoffed in frustration, then slapped her hand on the driver’s shoulder. “Drive there as fast as you can, like your life depends on it,” she compelled.
The driver accelerated, the engine audibly revving into a higher speed as they zoomed down the road, and everyone in the back seat gripped whatever they could get their hands on.
“That’s more like it,” Sebastian said.
Too late, Phoenyx saw a police car at the front of the perpendicular traffic of the intersection as they ran a red light, and its siren sounded, the vehicle cutting into the turning lane to pursue them.
Sebastian peaked out the rear window, saying, “Skylar…”
“On it,” Skylar said, and the front tires of the police car popped with a bang, forcing the car to slam on its brakes.
“Good job,” Sebastian said, reaching around Phoenyx and Lily to pat Skylar’s shoulder. “Once we get out of the city, we won’t have to worry too much about cops.”
“Good, because we can’t stop,” Ayanna said. “We’re a couple hours from Stonehenge, but at this speed, hopefully we can cut that in half.”
“I just hope we’re not too late,” Lily said.
Me too, Phoenyx thought. Me too.
STONEHENGE CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE.
That’s what the sign said that the taxi ran over as it bounced the curb and came to a stop on the sidewalk in front of Stonehenge. Phoenyx and her friends scurried out of the car to see that the stone circles were surrounded by concentric rings of hooded people, their hands clasped and their chanting stretching across the grassy field to reach Phoenyx’s ears.
Phoenyx climbed onto the hood of the car so she could see over the heads of the crowd and the glare of the setting sun, and she spotted Sam in the middle of them, standing just outside the innermost stone circle. He was reciting words that Phoenyx couldn’t hear over the chanting of the crowd. He was casting the spell!
“Come on, we have to stop them,” she shouted, jettisoning off the car and hopping over the fence.
Her friends followed her lead, landing in the grass and sprinting across the field toward the gathering. Like crashing into a brick wall, Phoenyx smacked into an unseen force and propelled backwards, gasping for the air that the impact had stolen. Sebastian and Ayanna also slammed into the force field, but Lily and Skylar, who had been lagging just a few feet behind, managed to stop in time. They helped the other three get back to their feet.
“Grrrraaaaah!” Phoenyx growled, slamming her open palms angrily against the invisible wall. “I should have known he’d put up another barrier.”
“We have to get in there! We have to stop them!” Ayanna yelled, true panic shrinking her pupils and frizzing her hair.
“Skylar, can your telekinesis get through?” Sebastian asked. “Can you yank Sam out of the bubble he created?”
Phoenyx looked to Skylar, whose face was already pursed in concentration. He grunted several times, as if physically exerting himself. “Ahh, I can’t get in! His barrier is blocking everything out. I can’t even read any of their thoughts.”
Lily approached the invisible wall and placed her hands on it, then called out as loud as she could, “Sam, you don’t know what you’re doing! These people are lying to you. Let us help you. Please, don’t do this! You’re making the biggest mistake of your life!”
Nothing changed. No one in the gathered circles turned around to acknowledge them. No one paused their chan
ting for even a second to listen. If Sam heard her, he gave no sign, his focus unwavering, if the strength of the barrier was any indication.
“Sam, please!” Lily yelled one last time.
“It’s no use, Lily,” Sebastian said, gently pulling her away from the barrier. “He’s not going to listen to us. We have to fight back. Maybe if we use all of our powers at once, we can break the barrier.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Skylar said.
“We have to try,” Phoenyx said.
“Okay,” Lily said, sounding defeated.
As the Bound Ones concentrated, the ground began to shake. The wind picked up, rushing hard and fast around the invisible dome surrounding the assembly, causing Phoenyx’s short orange hair to whip at her face. All around them, tiny drops of water rose like backwards rain from the ground around them, collecting into a large ball. When Phoenyx looked up, she could see that the dark purple clouds overhead were churning. This peaceful overcast evening turned into a scene out of The Wizard of Oz as the clouds tunneled downward, poising above the dome like a snake ready to strike. And at their feet, roots sprouted out of the ground, extending and thickening and braiding around each other, looking like some earthen kraken was stretching its tentacles in search of something to snatch.
Now it was Phoenyx’s turn. Calling up what rage she had left that hadn’t been squelched by her fear, she ignited her palms. Working as one mind, all the elements coalesced. The miniature tornado coiled downward to join the thick root braid that arched upward, the two snaking around each other. The water ball unraveled into a ribbon of water and wrapped itself around the cloud-root tendril, and Phoenyx put her wrists together, her palms flared outward, and shot out a stream of fire to ignite the whole thing.
The elemental hammer slammed down onto the dome barrier. The impact sent a visible ripple over the dome, enough to disturb it but not to break it. The elemental bombard withdrew upward, and then slammed down again with twice as much force. The strike created tiny cracks in the dome, looking like veins of light sparking outward at the top.
“One more time!” Phoenyx called out. “I think we can do it!”
They pulled the hammer back once more, preparing to come down with everything they had, but a shockwave detonated from the bottom of the dome, sending all five of them flying backward. The blast disrupted their concentration, and the elemental knot disbanded.
Ayanna was at Phoenyx’s side in a heartbeat, pulling her arm to lift up her onto her feet. But as Phoenyx attempted to stand, the ground shook, and one look at Lily made it clear that she was not the culprit behind the quake.
“No,” Ayanna croaked, dropping Phoenyx’s arm as she looked to the center of the stone circles in horror.
Phoenyx followed Ayanna’s terror-stricken stare, seeing the ground push up out of itself and open like a rocky mouth ready to devour. But rather than taking anyone into it, the mouth released something instead. Looking like a giant earthy tongue, a round wicker cage rose from the ground at the ends of several vines and roots. The vines rescinded, unfurling from their spherical shape and withdrawing back into the earth.
As the vines slithered backward into the open ground, they dropped a body onto the grass. The body was a petrifying sight, a blackened skeleton with a thin layer of skin resembling jerky clinging to the bones.
Somewhere in the background of Phoenyx’s mind, she heard the sound of Lily puking, but the image before her had her too captivated to look away, even as her own bile threatened to come up. This creature was living death. No sustenance to keep it alive, yet magically unable to die. The suffering of the poor thing was more than she could bear.
The deep, agonized sound of Ayanna’s wailing finally yanked Phoenyx’s attention from the living corpse. Ayanna was hunched over, her arms tightly hugging her abdomen as if to fill the pit of despair that resided there, and her face was a flood of tears from her wide eyes, whose penance it was to stare at the remnant of the man she once loved. The soul-crushing guilt Ayanna expressed was tangible in her cry. They had done this to Joran. And now he was freed.
Phoenyx looked back to the animated skeleton, a sinking feeling gripping her heart.
The body crawled on the ground, long spidery fingers tearing at the grass to pull itself forward. The head wrenched upward, the mouth opening unnaturally wide to dryly gasp for dear life.
Two of the women from the gathering rushed forward, one wrapping his shoulders in a black robe like theirs, and one kneeling down before him to offer him food and water. The boney arms rose upward, reaching out for help. The misery of this being was enough to break anyone’s heart, and it was all Phoenyx could do to not run to his aid herself.
The women pulled the creature’s arms, trying to help him to his feet as his spindly digits clawed at them. The scene turned nightmarish in an instant. The creature’s right hand reached one of the women’s necks and yanked her down toward him. The woman’s body arched backward, her arms and legs flailing out painfully as her neck stretched impossibly upward, and Phoenyx could almost see the soul being sucked out of her body.
Then the body went limp and the living skeleton released her and let her fall to the ground. The blackness fell like ashes from his skin as the flesh thickened, tissue filling out between the skin and bones.
The crowd repealed in horror and disgust, half of them running away and disappearing into the hills. But it was too late for the other woman who had foolishly come to facilitate this monster. Before she could flee, he had his hand around her throat and delivered her to the same fate as her friend, discarding her soulless body when he was done. As the magic from his soul theft went to work, he looked much less like a crisped demon escaped from the underworld and more like the man they had entombed so many thousands of years ago.
In desperate hunger, he now devoured the food he’d been brought like an animal, taking little time to chew. Phoenyx half expected him to start cannibalizing the two dead women next. He then lifted the jug of water and chugged it down like a frat boy under a beer bong.
Now, full from his first meal in several millennia, Joran rose to his feet, a smugly maniacal look on his face as he looked around at all his frightened and dubious followers. He approached Sam, who was still standing in the same spot, rooted by fear and regret. Everyone held their breath as they expected the Shade King to take his soul next.
“Thank you for freeing me, young witch,” Joran said, extending his hand.
Sam looked at it hesitantly, afraid to accept it lest he get the life drained from him too. Then, perhaps thinking it wiser not to insult this dark monarch by refusing, he finally decided to shake his hand.
“Now then, where are you?” Joran called out, his voice booming across the field. “I can sense your presence.” He looked all around the crowd, searching, until his eyes landed on Phoenyx past the heads of the assembly between them. “Ah, there you are.” His lips coiled upward into a wicked smile, and panic struck Phoenyx like a bolt of lightning.
He came toward the five of them, the cowering crowd parting for him like the Red Sea. He was heading straight for Phoenyx, but his eyes were looking past her. Phoenyx turned around to see Ayanna’s shaken, miserable frame huddled up on the ground behind her. Ayanna was his target. Phoenyx had no idea if the dagger’s magic would keep their souls safe from Joran, but she would be damned if she was going to let him try to take Ayanna’s life.
Phoenyx stood en guard in front of Ayanna, her legs spread in a fighting stance.
“Stay away from her, Joran,” she hissed at him warningly, igniting her hands.
He kept coming, unthreatened, that wicked smile chilling Phoenyx to her core. Now he was mere yards away. Phoenyx put up her hands and shot a ray of flames at him, willing the flames to engulf him and cause maximum damage.
The flames swirled around him, swallowing his entire body, and she was certain he would be reduced to ashes. Due to his immortality, it would not kill him, but it would weaken him enough for them to bury him again.
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But to her horror, the fire didn’t burn him at all. He stopped, glancing in curiosity at the flames that danced along his arms. “How very interesting,” he said.
Why isn’t he burning? What’s going on?
He narrowed his eyes mockingly at Phoenyx, and the flames extinguished, not a hair on his body even remotely singed.
“No,” Phoenyx mouthed, too stunned and mortified for sound to come out.
With one wave of his hand, he threw a ball of fire at her, the force of it knocking her hard on her butt. How did he do that!? While she struggled to stand back up, Skylar dashed in front of her protectively.
Joran laughed degradingly. “I think you’re right, boy. Because I can hear your thoughts, too.”
What? Phoenyx questioned internally. Joran was reading Skylar’s mind? But how could that be possible? Joran had never had that ability before.
Skylar telekinetically lifted Joran off his feet, binding his wrists and ankles outward as he had when they first entombed him. “Lily, quick!” he shouted. “Bury him again!”
“Not this time!” Joran sneered. He closed his eyes and flexed the muscles of his arms and legs, and suddenly he was free of Skylar’s psychic bounds. He rested his arms comfortably at his sides, still floating in the air, this time at his own volition. He had the power of Air, and he had just used Fire on Phoenyx. Did his long imprisonment give him their powers?
“No,” Skylar answered her unspoken question, his eyes still trained on Joran. “His power of Soul has increased tenfold. He’s tapping into our powers through our souls, just by being near us.”
Phoenyx gasped, coming to terms with the consequences of this fact. “That means…”
“That means you can’t trap me again,” Joran said, descending and softly landing on his bare feet only inches away from her.
He was too close to her, and fear was blurring her mind. Her Fire was powerless against him, and so was her compulsion. If he could tap into any of their powers, how could she stand a chance?