Burning in a Memory

by Constance Sharper

“I guess you don’t,” she bit out.

  He stiffened accordingly.

  “Adam, I wouldn’t have come out here if I was trying to kill you. I would’ve just let the shades get you at the other house. Or, better yet, I would just let them get you now.”

  “And you expect me to give you the chance?”

  “Look, I’m here now so you have to trust me a bit. You’re relying on me to help you, right?”

  He studied her intently. It was the first time he made a show out of not looking away.

  “I’m not relying on you, but you’re a necessary risk,” he said simply, denying her again.

  “Then risk sleep. Take the bed. I’ll take watch for you, whether you appreciate it or not.”

  Finally giving up the bar stool, he switched corners with her. They danced around each other with an awkward, unpracticed rhythm. Now Adelaide sat while Adam hovered by the bedside. When he didn’t hurry to sleep, she asked another question.

  “Did you hear anything on the radio?”

  Adam nodded.

  “There have been fires, trees downed to block roads, and the chaos is all leading to one direction. I charted it out and it’s not far from the place you described. I made a plan for our hike down into the woods and our escape plan,” Adam said without a hint of doubt in his voice. Adelaide noticed for the first time he clenched a worn map in his fist.

  Adam sat down on the bed, shifting again and again when the mattress sucked him down. He dropped the map in frustration and kicked off his boots. His hands went into his hair and he watched her again.

  “Will you be able to sleep?” she finally asked.

  Adam neglected her question and asked his own.

  “You’re not really here to save your cousin, right? That’s not why you came?”

  She heard something raw in his voice. Her gut churned.

  “No,” she admitted quietly.

  Adam sized up Angie’s sleeping figure before continuing, and when he did, his skin flushed.

  “I figured it couldn’t be something as nice or as pleasant as the story I’d told for you. I’m sure its evil. Honestly, I haven’t asked because it’ll make me so angry that I won’t be able to work with you at all.”

  Adam hadn’t said this many words to her in days, and hearing them now, she quickly replayed them in her head.

  “I think of myself as many things, Adam, but not evil,” she said the words, but felt no heart in them. If she wasn’t evil, she asked herself, then what was she? She’d gone through on her attempt to kill Leon, though it failed. What did that make her, even if Leon was half a shade? Her expression faltered. “I’ve made mistakes, and you have a right to be angry with me, but we have to work together,” she amended after a minute.

  “Are you going to tell me the truth, Adelaide? If I ask?”

  She stiffened. Her mouth opened but she failed to construe words. If she told the truth, Adam would never forgive her. He’d barge into battle alone and be killed. She needed to help him, and then he could hate her. Her lack of an answer prompted Adam to turn his back. He killed the nightstand light from where he sat and laid down.

  She couldn’t see his face through the shadows, but she heard him clearly.

  “If you can’t tell me the truth about that, then why would I ever believe that you care about me? Ha.”

  Twenty-seven

  Adelaide flinched as if she’d been stung. Stumbling from the chair, she jammed her hand into her coat pocket and killed her phone’s vibrations. She moved too late because the sound of the ringtone woke the other two up. Adam rose from the bed in a flash. The bright bulbs from outside stayed lit the entire night so the room was illuminated through the cracks in the blinds. Adelaide held up an open palm to calm him as he clearly reoriented to the room.

  “What was that?” Angie asked.

  She gripped her phone tighter.

  “Alarm,” she lied. “I think it’s about time to move.”

  The reminder consumed Adam’s attention and he whispered inaudible words to Angie. The woman hurried to her bags, resurfacing with some of the food they’d packed. Adam slipped into the tiny bathroom. Adelaide stopped squeezing her phone. Scanning the screen, she sized up the missed call to recognize Bradley’s phone number. He’d brazenly texted her after the call. “411? Please,” it read.

  Her heart thundered. Without another second of thought, she flipped the phone and uncovered the battery. She pulled the SIM card and snapped it between her fingers. She snapped the remains again. She manually reset the phone and obliterated the last data on it. Satisfied after a few minutes, she tossed the dead phone onto the counter.

  “Would you like something to eat?” Angie asked, offering a white food pack and bottle of water.

  “Thanks,” she accepted the gift and shoveled down the contents. The potent salt dried her mouth and she drank the entire bottle to wash it down. The others eventually did the same. Time inside felt fleeting and, in minutes, they returned the key to the front desk and hopped into the car. Adam took the wheel this time.

  “Front seat,” he snapped at her. She hadn’t killed him in his sleep, so she figured he could at least let her sit in the back. Instead of picking a fight though, she agreed. She could see better from there anyway. He took off down the road without needing direction.

  “How did you find this place?” Angie asked from the back. Her fingers danced over the black backpacks for each of them rhythmically, like she’d forget something. She’d thinned the bags out to basic essentials—rations, first aid, and small hunting blades. They’d be extremely useful if they ever got the chance to use them.

  “Research. It was an old abandoned place, thought haunted, yet paid for every month. Right about where Adelaide said.”

  Angie nodded while her meticulous inspection continued in silence. Adam pulled off to the side barely twenty miles up the road, killing the headlights. The tires screeched when they moved over the rock base, onto the roadside. The trees parted a bit and he maneuvered slowly over the roots. Adelaide gripped the leather armrest and steeled her stomach. The car crawled until Adam deemed fit to kill the engine. He pulled the keys and turned to them both.

  “It’s about a mile walk from here. Keep quiet and don’t use magic unless you absolutely must. We don’t want to give them any hint of our arrival until we have to.”

  Adelaide nodded. She already had that part down.

  “Can I ask what we are actually going to do when we arrive? They might not feel me, but even without using your magic, they will feel you two.”

  Some shades were more skilled at feeling passive auras than others. She’d bet the Hawthorns had that skill. In fact, Adelaide wondered how close they could get to the house before they picked up their auras out of the woodwork without having to be extra perceptive.

  “We have to size the place up first. Our main goal is finding my brother because he’s the only one who can actually blast his way out of the place, but he can’t do that unless we free him. If we can, we can win.”

  Adelaide cringed. That hardly made up a plan. The wheels in her mind spun but she wasn’t coming up with any better ideas. They didn’t know how many Hawthorns they were up against or where Leon was located. They had to play it by ear.

  “Take your packs and let’s get this over with,” Angie said.

  Without another word, the three slipped out of the car, taking particular care to quietly shut the doors. Adelaide accepted the pack from Angie, finding it lighter than expected for its size. She adjusted the straps until it moved with her body. Eyes on her boots next, she tucked in her jeans and anything that would snag loose branches in their path.

  Adam took point into the woods and they followed. Once they left the roadside, the tree canopy took away the remaining moonlight. Adelaide nailed the first root only ten feet in and struggled not to curse. Adam’s hand suddenly seized her. Grip tight, he waited until she found her balance before releasing her.

  “I should have figured you weren�
�t a hiker,” he hissed quietly but she heard no venom in it. This was the first time Adam touched her since her cover had been blown in the hospital. It was a step forward.

  For the next half mile, she made an effort to lift her knees higher as she walked. Their feet made a surprising amount of noise between the clicks of heels and snaps of twigs, but it also gave them the ability to follow each other seamlessly. Only occasionally would a flash of blue signal Adam’s phone and his digital map. He’d scan it, kill the screen then veer them in a slightly different direction. Adelaide could never appreciate technology enough at this moment.

  Adam suddenly slowed and his arm extended like a gate to stop them both. Adelaide’s heart skipped a beat—they had arrived. A few steps forward revealed a road that had been broken by roots, weeds, and time. To the right, it eventually disappeared into the earth. To the left it led to the Hawthorns’ manor. Adam led them a few extra steps uphill until the faded red roof of the manor was visible.

  This close now, she stayed on high alert. Her ability to sense auras wasn’t always great so she relied on the noise nearby instead. The natural sounds of the forest surrounded them, wind rushed through the branches and hidden insects chirped loudly. Then the screaming sounded out. Distinctive and shrill, it couldn’t have been anything but a cry of terror. Adam’s hands came out and he seized both her and Angie. Holding tight, he carefully inched them forward a step at a time. The screaming continued as they maneuvered to a better vantage point. There was a gap in the forest but that also meant a better likelihood of being seen. They separated far enough to press against individual trees.

  The mansion now waited below them, its grand marble columns visible. In front of its entrance was a substantial lawn cut away from the forest. It hadn’t been manicured in years and the marble was falling apart piece by piece. Adelaide squinted. There were figures in the lawn and the screaming woman was among them. Angie voiced it first.

  “Oh no. It’s Preeti,” she whispered.

  They cringed, but Adam was the most affected. He waved them forward and dared to go another ten feet. Adelaide reluctantly followed, her head spinning. They pressed their luck by the second and Preeti’s cries put them on edge. By the time they reached their new vantage point though, Preeti had stopped. Her body keeled over in the front lawn. Two figures surrounded her with shade neck markings visible even from as far as they stood.

  Adelaide itched to look away. She had no interest in seeing Preeti on the ground or what the shades might do to her next. But with nowhere else to go, or look, she felt transfixed on the scene. Preeti looked so still. Her skin held no visible color but the blue reflection of moonlight. Adelaide couldn’t sense an aura at all. A stolen glance of Angie and Adam confirmed her fears. Angie appeared one step away from vomiting, Adam’s eyes momentarily shut.

  But then Preeti budged. When she did, her aura flailed and the explosion from it was massive. A blast of energy erupted through the forest. Adelaide frantically gripped at the bark of the nearest tree, but it was too late. The blast tore up nearby trees and the trembling threw Angie from her feet. The woman landed loudly. Adam dove to her side to pick her up from the ground, but the shades had heard them.

  “Run!” Adelaide snapped.

  They had seconds to flee before they were ambushed and those seconds now meant life or death. By the time she glanced back at the lawn, the shades had gone. Preeti collapsed alone in the weeds.

  “Get over here!” Adam commanded.

  Adelaide obeyed in a hurry. The three started to run but the thunderous sounds of footsteps followed. The closer the shades got, the more Adelaide could feel them. Two were coming from the North.

  Adam slid to a stop.

  “Angie!” he called prompting the woman to rapidly rub her hands together. Her aura flickered and fire exploded from her palms, red licks catching onto the span of the surrounding trees. Adam jumped in to help until the fire turned into an inferno. The heat cranked up and Adelaide backpedaled away from the flames. The earth trembled, knocking her back off her feet. She cursed violently when she crashed down into branches. The smoke exploded and obscured the forest. Blinking constantly to clear her vision, she tried to find the others.

  Adam screamed for Angie over the sound of the inferno. Adelaide swore again. Her head spun and she saw the lawn. Preeti hadn’t moved, might not even be alive, but if she was, she was going to be burned to death in short order.

  If more Hawthorns were nearby, they had yet to come from the manor. It made no sense though. If they didn’t stop the flames, their home would be destroyed. Surely they couldn’t be that unconcerned. Or maybe they needed all of their manpower to keep Leon down.

  Her hope of seeing Adam in the chaos finally died. Feet eager to move, she raced down the lawn and to the only familiar face. She reached the bottom quickly but slowed once there. She might not have had an aura but she was now in plain sight. When she saw no shades, she raced to Preeti’s side.

  The woman’s appearance on ground level was almost unrecognizable. A ball of blood and dirt, Adelaide wouldn’t have even taken her for living. Adelaide hit her knees and ripped at the ropes that bound her as a shade emerged. He strode out of the woods like the raging fire didn’t concern him in the least. Adelaide didn’t give him the chance to speak. She tapped her aura and grabbed for the flames. It wasn’t hard to spread them considering the current state of the disaster. The shade was too difficult to touch but she set the lawn between them ablaze. His face disappeared behind the wall of fire and the smoke that encompassed the air.

  Sometime during the rescue, coherence flooded through Preeti. She straightened up and stood free of her bindings. Adelaide grabbed her elbow, eager to run out of ground zero with her, but the woman had another idea. Before Adelaide moved a single step, Preeti struck her from behind. The blow landed sharply on her head; Adelaide saw stars. She staggered and hit the ground before Preeti raced away alone.

  Adelaide coughed and did a double take. Her skull ached from the blow and her eyes burned from the smoke. She managed to stand but her escape route was now gone. The fire ate toward the house and she backpedaled, slamming into something hard. She tapped her aura and whirled, but his hands were already on her.

  “Hi Adam,” she chirped breathlessly.

  He hoisted her up. Taking off, he pulled them both forward even as she struggled to find her footing. They maneuvered by the side of the house quickly—it was the one place left untouched.

  “You’re stupid. Fire’s everywhere…”

  “You’re stupid! You shouldn’t have separated from us,” he retorted and clung to her tighter.

  “Preeti?” she asked when she remembered, even though the throbbing in her head should have been enough proof.

  “Up there,” he pointed toward the left. She spotted the tail end of the two women snaking into the woods against the pattern of the burn. Adam mirrored their movements on the other side of fallen trees that virtually barricaded them in the manor’s lawn. He slowed when they reached the tree line and Adelaide broke free. Instincts told her they weren’t alone.

  Adam fell into a crouch.

  “Can you fight?” he hedged.

  She doubted it but she stood with him anyway. The shades appeared in the woods before them. More crawled from the house behind them. In short time, they were surrounded.

  “Can you run?” he asked in a whisper.

  She momentary made eye contact with him before reluctantly nodding. Adam signaled the race when he shot the first shade. She dashed for the opposite side of the woods, farthest from the visible shades. He thundered in behind her but halfway to their destination, she slid to a halt. Adelaide saw the shade standing in their way.

  “Mistel,” she acknowledged bleakly.

  “Why do you always have to make things difficult for yourself, Adelaide?”

  “Move or I will…”

  She tapped her aura but found it lacking. The blow to her head made it difficult to concentrate but she realized
that Adam didn’t fight now either. He stood behind her but Mistel ignored him completely.

  “No, you won’t. You’re going to come with me,” Mistel held out her hand as if it was a perfectly normal moment. Adelaide shook her head and backed into Adam.

  “Don’t separate. Don’t move,” he whispered. The shades surfaced behind Mistel and their last exit was bust. Preeti and Angie were already gone.

  “You’re still mine,” Mistel said.

  And in this moment, she was right.

  Twenty-eight

  They pushed her to the ledge until she wobbled. Adelaide clawed madly at the shades that held her above the dark pit, but they broke her grip. With a sharp jab from behind, she plummeted. Her scream was short lived. The shocking impact silenced her but for a pained gasp. Her vision momentarily turned blurry but she could still see the blinding light from the world above. A shadow appeared on the ledge, distorting the light, and, through her dizziness, she remembered to move. Adelaide crawled to her knees and rushed to the side. She met a dirty brick wall about three feet from her original position and pressed against it. Adam came crashing down too, landing on his shoulder and cursing darkly.

  The sounds of dragging metal echoed down their new prison as a grate covered the light of the top. They were left in darkness.

  Adelaide raced her fingers along the wall to chart the place. Her fingertips scraped over deformations of brick and mud as she carefully walked along the wall. She recognized the tiny perimeter gave them barely six feet in total. There was never a break in the wall and she felt no exits. The pit extended about fifteen to twenty feet above their head, she figured, from the time it took her to fall down. The ground felt like hard dirt but she knew that clawing downward was not an option. At least it was empty besides her and Adam.

  “What is this?” Adelaide gasped. The dank place reeked of mold and decay with no air circulation.

  “A dungeon, a pit, a hole in the ground. What’s it look like?” he said shortly, seeming too preoccupied to be sarcastic. Adam stood and did the same circuit she had. After maneuvering by her, he picked a wall and jumped. She heard him claw madly at the brick, but the deformations in the rock were too shallow to get a grip on. He sprung up and down a few more times.