Phoenix Fire

by S. D. Grimm

  I rolled my eyes and turned to face the jock standing with two red disposable cups, and offered one to me.

  “Keep it. I pour my own drinks.”

  “Don’t mind if I do.” He took a sip.

  “In that case.” I held out my hand for his already half-empty drink and he gave it to me.

  “You’re not very trusting, are you?”

  “Does that scare you off?”

  He shook his head. Now that I’d freed up his hand, he extended it. “Patrick.”

  “Ava.”

  “Pretty name, too.”

  I laughed. Wyatt’s old-fashioned flirting had been so much better. Then I mentally shook that thought.

  “Am I coming off too strong?” Patrick seemed really unsure. “I just never know how many compliments are a bad thing on a first date—meeting! Did I say date?” He winced, and even in the firelight it looked like his neck might be getting a bit blotchy.

  In fact, it seemed like my eyesight was adjusting really well in the dark. Weird.

  I let him flirt with me for a while longer. His nervousness was kind of endearing. I knew him from history class, and he said he’d been in another class with me last year. He was pretty easy to talk to, and in the spirit of letting people in, I decided to go into the woods with him. Well-known was the fact that a huge boulder rested at the end of the game trail that ended down by the lake. Maybe I’d make out with him when we got there. Maybe not.

  “So, you think these woods are haunted?” he asked as we walked along with nothing but flashlights and red Solo cups.

  “What?”

  “That’s the whole thing about the property. They say the woods are haunted. Everyone says they don’t believe it, but no one comes in here.”

  If he thought I was going to get scared and cuddle up to him, he was the crazy one.

  Someone screamed. Like, a real scream. Terror registered in that scream. I halted to figure out where in the woods it was coming from and my blood chilled.

  Patrick looked at me. “What was that?”

  I dropped my cup and my hand reached for my belt. I think for a moment I expected a weapon or something. Then I headed toward the sound.

  Patrick stopped in his tracks. “You—you’re going toward it?”

  “What if she needs help?” There was another scream, closer, and someone raced out of the trees. I shined my flashlight and she blocked her eyes, but it was clearly Lisa. Her eyes were huge and she grabbed hold of me. Her fingers clung to my arm so tightly. And she was shaking. My blood pulsed faster through my veins.

  “Holly’s dead!” Tears streaked her mascara.

  “What?” I steadied her. The flashlight revealed specks of blood all over her clothes and her hands. What on earth had happened? Part of me wanted to run, the other part pulled me to…protect? “Are you hurt?”

  “No.” She tugged my sleeve and glanced over her shoulder. “We have to run.”

  I tried to steady her. To breathe. “Tell me what happened.”

  “He’s still back there!” She shook me, hysterical.

  “Lisa, calm down. Who?” I calmed my heartbeat, looked straight into her eyes, and willed her to be able to focus.

  Her grip on my sleeves lessened, but she spoke through sobs. “Cade.”

  My heart stopped.

  “The new guy killed Holly?” Patrick was close to hysteria, too.

  “No! Holly followed us back there. Cade and I were at the rock. Holly was jealous. This monster came from nowhere and attacked.” Her voice came out between squeaks as she tried to breathe. “Cade was fighting it. I left. I left him.” She shook me again.

  “Calm down. I need you to call the police.” I looked at Patrick. “Get her home.” I pried her arms off of me and headed toward the trees on shaky legs.

  “You can’t go in there!” She grabbed my shirt.

  A figure stumbled onto the game path from the woods and hunched over, hands on his knees. My stomach squeezed.

  “Cade?” I marched right up to him. “What are you doing?”

  Blood trickled out of his hairline, and the right side of his leather jacket was shredded. He stumbled forward and tried to stand. “Ava? You have to get out of here.”

  I steadied him and a spike of ice chilled me to the core. “What’s going on?”

  Patrick pointed behind us and stared trembling.

  Lisa screamed. “The monster!”

  I didn’t see anything, but the slight crunching of leaves told me something headed this way from the woods. I spun around, scanning. Shaking. Praying this wasn’t real.

  Cade looked right into my eyes. His grip on my arm told me he was scared, too. “I need you to trust me. Get them out of here.”

  He winced and leaned forward. I touched his chest to catch him. I was about to ask if it was another migraine, but my hand felt something warm and wet beneath his unzipped jacket. I pulled the shredded section aside and gasped.

  So did Patrick. “Dude. You’re bleeding.”

  Blood seeped through his shirt, wet and shiny, and very, very real.

  Lisa started sobbing. “It got him. He’s going to die, too.”

  Cade held out his hand, as if begging Lisa and Patrick to focus. “There’s a maniac in the woods. Everyone needs to get out of here.”

  Patrick’s eyes opened wide. “This is a prank, right?” His voice held a slight tremor.

  I motioned to Cade’s growing bloodstain and my chest tightened. “This is not a prank, Patrick. Please listen to my brother? Get everyone out of h-here.” My voice started to break.

  “Okay.” He pushed Lisa back up the trail toward the house, but she balked, sobbing about Holly’s body. Getting her to comply was not going to be easy.

  I draped Cade’s arm over my shoulder and pressed my hand against the wound to stop the bleeding, and he breathed in through his teeth. “Can you walk?”

  He handed me a knife. “Ava, did you—”

  Lisa screamed and a strange-looking creature jumped out of the bushes. A man? Not quite. As my eyes adjusted, I could tell very clearly that it wasn’t a man. Its muscles bulged, hair seemed to cover its entire body, and its limbs were long, grotesque, almost contorted. It turned and sniffed the wind, revealing an elongated snout. Almost lupine. And I held in a scream. It burned in my chest like a fire that wanted to come out, but I knew instinctively that I had to remain quiet. Calm. Still.

  I trembled. Clutched the knife tighter.

  Cade stood next to me, another knife in hand. “It’s silver. Slit its throat or stab its heart. Anything to get the poison in its bloodstream fast. If we work together, we can get him. Remember: no fast movements.”

  Remember? Why would he use that word? Also, how was I so calm right now? It wasn’t like I’d ever done this before. Right? But even as I thought it, I knew I had. Just like I knew in my gut how to kill this thing. It hissed through serrated teeth from a grotesque, elongated snout. I bit back another scream.

  Lisa ran.

  No!

  Its head swiveled in her direction. Like a bolt, it tore off after her. I raced toward it, trying to head it off, but it was faster than me. A long, clawed arm reached forward. Nails grabbed Lisa’s skin as she screamed. And it ripped out her neck.

  I stopped running, covered my mouth with a trembling hand, and my knees turned to water.

  Patrick screamed and wouldn’t stop.

  The beast turned toward him.

  Holy crap. He’d die too! I had to do something.

  With all my speed, I raced in front of him and stood between Patrick and the monster. “Don’t move,” I whispered.

  The beast leaned forward, bloody saliva dripping from its jaws.

  Patrick screamed. He scrambled out of there. Why would no one listen? The monster tracked Patrick’s movements, muscles quivering. I knew it would chase him. Cade swore and darted the other way—faster than Patrick—to get the monster to chase him instead. My heart jumped into my throat. I raced after it, and right now, at thi
s moment, I knew what to do. Without thinking, I threw the knife. It sunk into the creature’s back, between its shoulder blades. Slowly, it faced me. Golden eyes narrowing. Saliva dripping from sharp fangs. And it let out the most ear-shattering cry I’d ever heard.

  It stepped toward me. Stalking. Willing me to run so it could chase.

  I got that feeling I used to get when I was a kid. Right after I turned off the bedroom light but still had to make it to my bed. I could still picture my room exactly how it was, but now everything was bathed in darkness. During this moment, the monsters under my bed became a possibility. Things that existed in the dark. Alive like Schrodinger’s cat. And I had to get off the floor before they could reach me and pull me under my bed.

  A strange sniffing noise seemed to echo on the wind. Then it broke apart from the breeze like a dissonance with nature.

  Golden eyes gleamed in the moonlight, and I realized I’d dropped my flashlight a long time ago. But I could still see. And this thing was going in for the kill.

  I didn’t have a weapon.

  My heart hammered.

  If I moved, it would move. And it was a lot faster than me.

  In a blink, it lunged for me.

  I darted back, but tripped. In the second it took me to hit the ground, the monster was over me.

  Cade raced up behind it and grabbed the creature’s arm. Yanked, forcing the animal’s arm behind its back. It wiggled free and turned on Cade. He kicked at its knee so hard, I heard a terrible crack. It screamed, its leg looking deformed, but that didn’t stop it. It snapped at Cade’s face, and he slashed his knife across the creature’s throat with speed that rivaled that monster’s. And it fell, clutching its neck, blood spurting out from between its long, bony fingers.

  The form dissipated, turning into something more like a wolf. And limping, it ran away from us. Gone like a laugh in the wind.

  I picked myself off the ground and caught Cade as he started to fall over. “You just saved my life.”

  He smiled. “Does this mean you hate me less?”

  I released all the tension and adrenaline building inside of me with a laugh. Cade joined me but pressed his hand against his side. “We should go after it.” He handed me back the knife I’d thrown at the creature.

  I took it. “You’re not going anywhere like that.”

  “I’ll be fine soon. Just give me a minute.” He pulled up his shirt; the wound seemed to be turning black.

  My heart squeezed. “What…what’s happening to you? You need a doctor. Now.”

  He grabbed my arm as I groped for my cell phone. “No.” His voice came out strangled. “So you don’t remember everything?”

  I stared at Cade, pulse pounding. “Remember? What am I supposed to remember?”

  “You called me your brother.”

  I breathed out, my chest tightening. I had. And I’d believed it. “Do you…remember me?”

  “Yeah.” He groaned and fell forward.

  “Cade, you need an ambulance.”

  “I’ll heal eventually, just find Nick.”

  Nick. My heart stalled. I’d heard that name in my memories, too. I supposedly had a brother named Nick.

  Breath left my lungs, and I wanted to sink to my knees. Cade grabbed the phone from my hand with bloody fingers. Sirens wailed in the distance. Patrick must have called the cops.

  I turned my attention back to Cade, my mouth suddenly dry. “What do you mean, heal?” Was he like me? Was I like him?

  “Nick has all the antidotes in his stupid vest.” Then his head lolled against my arm.

  “Cade?” I tapped his cheek. “Cade!” I screamed.

  More snapping in the brush made me clutch his knife tight and turn. I eased Cade’s head to the ground and stood, scanning the trees. Quivering. A guy carrying a freaking bow and arrows stepped onto the path. He lowered his weapon and put out his hands as if to calm me down.

  Then he dropped to his knees next to Cade and ripped his bloody shirt apart. He looked up at me. “He’s not healing at all? It bit him.” He looked up at me, eyes wide. “How long ago?”

  “I-I don’t know.” I stared at my hands. Bloody. Shaking. Hands. The guy poured some clear liquid onto Cade’s wound. In a few moments, Cade’s breathing evened and the wound started to slowly close.

  Holy crap. I stepped away from him. “H-how did you—”

  “Ava?” He glanced at me and I knew those eyes. Gray-green eyes. Like mine. Like Cade’s. Familiar eyes. That voice. Tears threatened. I did not want to believe any of this. It could not be real. Should not be real.

  Tiny pinpricks seemed to skitter over my skin. “H-how do you know me?”

  He nodded toward the bloody knife in my hand. “You remembered how to take care of the monster?”

  I took another step away. “I might have.”

  The guy moved toward me.

  I held up Cade’s knife. “Get away from me.”

  He put up his hands in surrender. “It’s me, Nick.”

  My heart stopped. I didn’t want any of this. “That supposed to mean something?”

  I looked down at Cade.

  A different Cade flashed in my head—a different memory.

  Bloody Cade.

  Dying Cade.

  “Cade! Don’t you die, Cade. Caderyn, I’ll never forgive you if you leave me,” I’d said.

  I shook the memory and stared at Nick. A wave of nausea caused me to stumble backward a step.

  Memory again. Someone chuckled in the memory and someone tugged my hair, braiding it. “You’re pulling, Nick.”

  “Well hold still.”

  “Why do I have to have braids anyway?”

  “You get two because you’re too young to kiss boys.”

  “Who would want to kiss her?” Another boy entered. He had gray-green eyes like mine. Younger than the last memory, but still Cade.

  I faced Nick. He was just a kid. Twelve maybe. “How do I look?”

  “Beautiful, sister.” He smiled.

  His smile sent a pang into my heart, almost as if I deeply missed his smile. Little girl me threw my arms around him and hugged him close. And my heart warmed. It felt so amazingly full. Like nothing I’d ever experienced in this lifetime. I felt loved.

  The emotion knocked me out of the memory and to this very surreal reality.

  “Are you okay?” Nick held out a hand for me, and the look of concern in his eyes made me look away. I didn’t want him to see my tears. I covered my face and hid.

  “Ava?”

  “I’m fine. My head hurts.”

  “Y-your head?” The way the words came out surrounded by so much air made me snap my gaze to meet his. His eyes were so wide. “How bad?”

  I glanced at the still-sleeping Cade and recalled his migraines.

  “Are your memories giving you headaches?” He spoke slowly.

  “No. I didn’t mean that. I’m confused.”

  His shoulders visibly relaxed and he expelled a breath. “Confusion I can deal with.”

  I swallowed as my throat started to tighten and ache. “How do you know me?”

  His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Because I’m your brother.”

  The word sent a chill through me. Brother. Family. I wanted to cry, but I sucked it in and straightened my spine. Brother? And where had he been? Fire filled my gut. “Really? And how long have you known? Because I’ve been sitting in a variety of foster homes thinking I had no one. And now I’m supposed to just accept that I have a couple of brothers?”

  “Whoa. No, I just found out recently. I remembered, like you’re remembering. I’ve been tracking you down.”

  I tried to infuse as much venom as possible, but inside of me, the bars around the cage in which I’d placed my hope started to flex. “And this is how you decide to break it to me?”

  “Normally, I wait for you to remember.”

  “Normally?” I didn’t even know how to begin to understand that. I staggered back another step and dropped the knife. “Normal
ly? As in—”

  “As in you’ve been born before. Aren’t you starting to remember your past cycles?”

  “I’m sorry, cycles?”

  “You’re a Phoenix, Ava. After Phoenixes die, they are reborn in a different place in time.”

  “Like reincarnated.”

  “No. You’re still you. No different body or anything. Just…you’re here again.”

  Relief fought with sanity in my brain. “I’m supposed to buy this?”

  “Give it time. You’ll remember.”

  I looked down at Cade, still knocked out. “Does he? Is he even okay?”

  “He’ll be all right as soon as he comes to. It takes him a while to heal sometimes.”

  I backed away from Nick. Part of me didn’t want to leave Cade. But then Nick picked up his crossbow and aimed it at the trees, away from me.

  He looked over his shoulder at me. “She’s looking for you. She can’t know you’re here.”

  Blood rushed through my body twice as fast and twice as hot. “Sh-she?”

  Nick’s eyes met mine, wide and wild. “Run, Ava. And don’t look back. No matter what.”

  He didn’t need to tell me again. Right now those trees were the only thing keeping Schrodinger’s second monster from becoming a reality. So I ran like my life depended on it. Because I had a feeling that the box had been irreversibly opened.

  Chapter Twenty

  Nick

  The rustling in the trees had told me another monster lurked close. Cade still hadn’t come to, but the bite on his side was healing.

  I picked up my crossbow, silver-tipped arrow already loaded, and stepped in between Cade and the trees. “Come out. I dare you.”

  Branches snapped to the left, and I pivoted to face it as it clawed its way into the clearing. My heart revved and my breathing quickened as the beast towered above me. I knew it. Well, I knew what it was. The lupine-like stretch of its face resembled a werewolf, but this beast didn’t have a lithe, lanky body made for sneaking after prey. This creature was massive. Its muscular chest that rivaled King Kong’s and red eyes—characteristic of vampires—told me what it was. A mutt of sorts. Gwen’s creation.

  I’d been right to tell Ava to run. Gwen couldn’t know I’d already found her.

  I needed as much time as possible. And Gwen would wait until she was at full strength before she came hunting. But she’d sent her creations to scout us out. To get rid of me and Cade. To take Ava.