Demigods Duet
Part One
PHOENYX
RISING
Kolleen Fraser
BOOKS BY
KOLLEEN FRASER
Titan Elite
Crazy
Copyright © 2015 by Kolleen Fraser Author
Cover © 2017 Kolleen Fraser
All rights reserved.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without written permission except for use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination.
Any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Prologue
Father is angry with me again. I don’t know what I did this time. He doesn’t seem to need a reason these days. The very idea that I am alive and a constant burden to his existence is the beginning and end of every tantrum he throws. His beatings are getting worse; one day he will kill me.
“Your very existence could kill us all, you stupid girl. I should have killed you myself the second your pyro kinesis began. There is no place in this house or in our lives for someone like you.”
“I promise I won’t ever show anyone. Please, Father, let me go outside,” pleading with him, but knowing it’s useless. I’m tempting the tiger by even speaking to him. He hates me; that much has been drilled into my head over the last sixteen years.
Sure enough, his backhand slamming into my cheek is my only answer. It’s a mild beating compared to what he has given me in the past and what he gives my older brother, Marcus, on almost a daily basis.
We are Demigods, or at least that’s what we are called. We have special powers, all of us. Father lives a lie; he is a Demigod but hides his abilities. He can compel anyone into doing whatever he commands. I know this first hand. A shudder runs through me; at the things, he has made me do. I want to go to my room and hide away until the pain in my cheek subsides, but my bedroom is in the basement, and I am not allowed to go down there when Father is working with Marcus. He calls it working, but what he is really doing is torturing—killing him slowly every day.
Marcus has the same powers as my father, but he refuses to use them. He told me he never wants to be the monster our father has become; if he could live his life without ever using them, he would die happy. If only he could win this battle, but in my experience, Father wins, always. No one speaks to him in this house unless he asks a direct question, even Mother. She is so broken after a lifetime under Father’s reign. I love my mother, what’s left of her. In her mind, I imagine she is still alive, but on the outside, she has been dead for years. Pretending she is stuck in a fantasy world where she is happy and free is the only way I can rationalize how she can be lost in her own mind.
Father was screaming at her earlier, telling her she was better off to kill herself because she is useless. Living in this house for one day without her presence breaks my heart. Wandering through the house, I look for her. She is usually in her bedroom staring out the window, but when I open her door, she isn’t there. A faint whimper can be heard through the bathroom door. Carefully opening it, I peek in and find her lying in the tub, sobbing quietly. My heart breaks for her; she isn’t as strong as I am. She doesn’t ever try to stand up to father; maybe she did once, but the fight in her is gone. I wonder if I will become her one day, a hollow shell living in a nightmare.
“Hi, Mom,” approaching her, but stop dead in my tracks. The water isn’t right. The room is dim, but I can see the water tainted with her blood. I fall to my knees at her side and gently touch her peaceful face. “Mom?”
Her eyes roll open like she just woke up. She lifts a bloody hand and presses it to my cheek. “My sweet Phee, I’m sorry. It’s better this way, easier for you to leave,” is all she says before her head rolls to the side.
I sit there and stare into her lifeless eyes for a few seconds until my body starts to shake. Clutching at her hand, I press it into my cheek, willing her back to life.
“No. Please don’t leave me…Mom.”
I shake her and pull at her arms, trying desperately to get her out of the bloody water, but she won’t budge. There are ugly cuts digging into both of her forearms. Frantically pressing the wounds, I try to stop the life from draining out of her, but it is futile. There is no blood left to stop; she is gone.
Falling away from her corpse, I curl into a ball, crying and rocking, “What do I do now?” I cry out. She left me here, she left me with him. He will kill me too now; I just know it. Without her here, what will happen to me?
Anger sears its way through my small body. I’m so tired of being hated, of being hidden away like I should be ashamed of myself. I stand and scream at her, for leaving me here, for giving up, I scream until my voice cracks. Looking around the room at all the beautiful things my father’s money has bought; none of it was enough for him, none of it saved my mother, or me.
Catching the reflection of her body in the mirror I grit my teeth, this can’t be real, I need to wake up. Picking up a glass shell ornament off the counter, I throw it into the mirror. Glass shards fly everywhere but it’s not enough, I refuse to stop until everything perfect is destroyed, until this house mirrors how I feel inside; broken and empty.
With my anger always comes the fire; inside me there is a limitless inferno of power that I let loose; burning everything in my wake. If my mother dies today, so does this house of lies. I will banish every hurtful word said to me within these walls as I tear through this hate-filled house, on my way to the basement door.
By the time I’m standing before it, the air has grown thick with smoke, an alarm rings somewhere in the distance. Try to calm my breathing, and make the ever-present flames dissipate. Hearing Marcus’ screams through the door sets my heartbeat galloping again. No one will hurt Marcus or me again. Bursting through the door I run down the stairs and what I see will haunt me for the rest of my life.
My sweet brother is on his knees bent over our father’s lifeless body. He finally did it; he used his powers and killed him. A strangled gasp escapes my lips. His eyes meet mine, and I see the power my father had in his eyes. Marcus is just like Father now. I fall to my knees, “What have you done?” my desperate scream rips from me as my whole world crumbles into dust.
Chapter One
I'm running, running through the night. I can't see his face, but I can feel my brother’s strong hand gripping mine, pulling me through the pitch-black night. Tears stream down my face. They're dead; they are both dead. We will never get away with this. They will find us and kill us. I squeeze his hand tighter, my only lifeline. He is all I have left in the world; I won't let them take him away too. A whimper escapes my lungs as I gasp for a breath. I can't run anymore; my legs are ready to give out. Inside, I'm screaming with pain from running, but I won't breathe a word. We are running for our lives. We can't stop, not ever.
A shudder of fear runs through my body. I'm so scared. Locking away my fear, I try to focus on my feet running and our hands locked together, but mine are covered in crusted, drying blood, her blood. I squeeze my eyes shut against the image of her lifeless body. I can't hold on anymore. A sob cracks free. Stumbling, I fall hard to my knees.
“She's dead,” I whisper, curling into myself, finally giving in to the wave of despair that is pulling me under. She's dead, my mother is dead.
“What will happen to us now?” I ask, but Marcus ignores me, pulling me to my feet, as he keeps running, dragging me behind him.
We break through the trees into
a clearing, our breaths heaving clouds into the cold night. In the distance, there sits an old worn-out barn. The full moon lights up the field with a silvery glow. My brother kneels in front of me, so he can see my eyes. Taking my face in his cold hands, he brushes his thumbs over my cheeks, trying to take away the pain with the tears. I don't think I will ever stop crying again. I don't understand how I am still breathing when my mother is dead. She was everything to me.
Fresh tears stream down my cold cheeks. “What are we going to do, Marcus? They will find us. We will never get away,” I plead, staring into his stormy grey eyes that have only ever looked at me in kindness. They look terrified and sad now.
“I'm so sorry, Phee. This is the only way for you to be safe,” he apologizes while running his thumbs over my temples. I don't understand what he means, and then it hits me. He is going to compel me like Father.
“Please, Marcus... No!” I croak, clutching his coat in my fists. I have seen my father use his powers on lots of unsuspecting people; Marcus swore he'd never do that to me. I start shaking my head, pleading with him, but my pleas are useless against his power. I was never strong enough to fight against Father either, never fast enough to get away. I couldn't save her. I can't even save myself.
His words come smooth and soft, caressing and kind. “Forget it all, Phee. Forget Mom and Dad, our home, the life you've led, even me. You must forget everything that has happened before this day, this moment. Forget it all. Wipe the slate clean.” His strong voice penetrates to my bones. My head nods absently. He has a nice voice. My eyes fill with tears. Forget it all. Wipe the slate clean.
Chapter Two
I’m running through the darkness.
A boy has a hold of my hand. He is pulling me into a dark barn, dragging me behind him. Cold and scared, I pull my hand from his and stop running; I need to get away from this stranger.
“Who are you? Where are you taking me? I ...I can't remember...” I gasp, “Why can't I remember my own name!” I shriek as my heart beats rapidly in my chest. My hands start trembling.
“How did I get here?” My chest is heaving with the panic attack building. Fire instantly erupts over both my palms. I scream shaking my hands, brushing my flame covered hands on my pants, trying to put them out. I keep shaking them and blowing on them, but the flames stay. Then it occurs to me, it doesn't burn. I hold my flaming hand out and watch as the golden flames dance over my skin. Mesmerizing.
“What's happening to me?” I meet his stormy grey eyes in shock.
With an impatient sigh, the boy explains, “Your name is Phoenyx Ember. Calm down, breathe.”
I calm down instantly, taking deep breaths. The flames disappear as quickly as they came. I stare in disbelief at my hands. “How did you do that?” I ask.
He takes my hands in his, getting me to look at him. He touches his finger to his lips then points to his ear; I can hear voices outside the barn. My eyes go wide with fear.
He leans into my ear and whispers, “Please stay quiet.” He pulls me behind a stack of hay bales and sits me down. “Stay here; stay hidden,” he whispers as he stands to leave me.
“But my hands were on fire!” I whisper. I don't understand; for all I know, that is my family out there looking for me. He holds me tight and covers my mouth with his hand.
I hear the voices outside yelling, getting closer. I don't understand anything, but I feel like he is trying to protect me. His hand is covering my mouth as he talks into my ear over my shoulder. The men are right outside the barn doors. “You will be safe if you stay hidden. If they catch you, do everything in your power to escape. Do you understand what I am telling you? What you need to do, Phee?”
I nod. “Everything in my power,” I repeat.
He kisses my forehead whispering, “Find a happy life, sweet girl. I will miss you.” I can see tears welling up in his stormy grey eyes before he disappears in a flash of light.
“Wait!” I whisper into the darkness, but he is already gone. I sit there alone in the darkness, my heart beating like a drum in my ears.
The doors to the barn burst open. Lightning flashes throughout the darkness, blinding me. I hear scream in the darkness. Terror covers every inch of my small, shaking body. The harmless flames erupt over my hands again; setting the bales of hay in front of me afire. I don't know what to do. I start to panic. I need to get out of here but I don’t know where to go.
When I stand up to run for the door, two heavy hands clamp down on my shoulders. I'm thrown to the ground with such force that the air is knocked out of my lungs. Gasping for breath; I choke as dirt billows in and out of my mouth. I can’t breathe. A boot presses into the middle of my back. Trying to see what’s happening in the darkness around me, I see the boy lying in the dirt a few feet from me. I try to reach out for him, but the boot digs in deeper, “Stay down,” he says, as a whimper escapes me. My face is being crushed into the dirt floor; I can feel rocks cutting into my cheek.
The man belonging to the boot on my spine grabs my hair, pulling my head back so far it feels like my neck will snap. He looks at my now bloody face. “It's a girl. Did he say anything about a girl?” he calls out to the others.
“No, just the boy. He said leave her for the trackers; she won't get far,” a voice calls back from somewhere I can't see.
I try to crane my head to look where the voice is coming from. I see two men dragging the boy’s limp body out of the barn into the night. The sight of his lifeless form ignites the animal in me. Screaming and thrashing under the man’s boot, I try to get free but I am just too small, too weak. I can't save him. I can't even save myself.
With his fist still gripping my hair, he removes his boot, dragging me to my feet. I thrash again, scratching at the exposed skin on his hands, trying to get out of his grip. My scalp feels like my hair is being ripped out. His hand comes out of nowhere; slamming into the side of my face with such force my eye feels like it is going to explode. My body flies back, hitting the ground. Before I have gotten my bearings again he has already stalked over to where I fell. His large hand grabs me by my throat; he rears his fist up for another assault. I won’t survive another attack like that; he will kill me if I don’t do something.
Everything in your power.
I will die here if I don't fight back with everything in my power. I may be small, but there is power in me. I press my palms against the hand at my throat, focusing on the blaze that was there moments ago. It works; flames flicker over my hands, covering his, charring his flesh. He screams and I am dropped instantly. Scrambling back out of his reach, inching myself toward the door, toward the boy. Once outside, I rush to his side. Reaching for his hand, as pain erupts in the back of my head, my eyes rapidly lose focus.
I lay bleeding and broken in the dirt, unable to move, barely breathing. Squeezing this strange boy’s hand as hard as I can, I will him to open his eyes, to find some way to save us from these men. A ragged sob bursts out of me.
“Wake UP!”
The last ounce of hope leaks out of my eyes and runs down my cheeks. Suddenly, his eyes flutter open and immediately lock onto mine. “I'm so sorry,” is all he croaks out before the men start to pull us apart. I try to hold on to him but they are so strong and I’m so tired. I try, but I'm just not strong enough. I lose my grip and am thrown to the ground back inside the barn, left bleeding as they take him, walking away into the night.
Lying in the dirty crying, feeling helpless. What am I going to do? I have nowhere to go, I remember nothing of my life, but I feel this empty hollowness in me growing. I curl my hands into tight fists in the dirt, imbedding the debris under my fingernails.
With my last ounce of strength, I draw power into myself as a primal scream rips through my throat. All my desperation and fear, everything I have and all that I am rushes through my body into the ground. Flames cover every inch of my small frame. An inferno shoots ten feet up, out in all directions, and in an instant, everything is ash and smoke around me. Feeling my power drain
ing, I collapse in exhaustion.
When I wake up alone in the center of a smoldering crater of ash; my body is weak, broken and bruised. I try to draw in a breath, but it feels like a knife has been shoved down my throat. It hurts so badly. Glancing down at the glowing embers surrounding me; I can't imagine these hands, my hands, could do this much damage. What am I?
There is only ash and smoke as far as I can see. The barn is gone, the forest, the men, everything, gone. What have I done? I turn in a slow circle, taking in the hell I created. I scream out across the smoky abyss until my throat bleeds. I am alone. Tears flood my eyes in a steady stream down my soot-covered cheeks. I scream desperately into the dark night, praying for someone to save me, but knowing the only savior I had in this world is gone.
There is no telling how long I lay bleeding in the dirt and filth before they come for me. More hands try to grab at me, talking slowly with comforting lies I will never believe. Everything will not be okay; nothing will ever be okay again.
I will fight them all. My small frame burns with wildfire. The flames comforting and warm to me causes the hands fall away with screams of pain. I curl myself into a ball, rocking and crying and whispering over and over “Everything in my power.” But they don't run away; they just stand back watching, and waiting. They can see I am exhausting my abilities. Unable to hold on any longer, my whole body starts to shake, my cries dissolve into a whimper, and the flames flicker out. I fall backward onto the cold ground, staring up at the infinite blue sky as I slip into oblivion.
Chapter Three
When I wake up, my head feels heavy with the pain radiating from the back of my head, my face. Attempting to open my eyes causes the knife of pain to dig a little deeper. Covering my eyes from the glaring lights proves impossible with these straps wrapped around my wrists holding me in place. Squinting, I see four walls. I am in a cell, on a bed. Oh, this day just keeps getting better. Using all my strength on the restraints, which does absolutely nothing, except accelerating the panic attack building in me, I can feel the now familiar tingle of the flames that now live under my skin. Maybe, if I focus on my arms I can melt the straps off. I try to control my breathing, closing my eyes.
Phoenyx Rising (Demigods Duet Book 1) Page 1