Into the Fire

by Patrick Hester

  “You’re a dick,” Mikey said.

  I snorted.

  “What now?” I asked. My brother had a twinkle in his eye, one I did not like at all. The only other time I’d seen that twinkle, he’d punched a guy in the face and broken his nose. Sure, the dicktard in question had it coming for knocking Pam, my brother’s fiancé at the time, on her ass. He was drunk—the dicktard, not my brother. Didn’t mean I wanted to see Mikey do the same to Mayfair.

  “Now, you and I leave,” Mayfair said. “We’ve work to do.”

  “Just like that?” Mikey spat. “She’s hurt. She needs rest.”

  “Don’t we all?” Mayfair asked. “If I could let her rest, I would. You and I both know she would find a way to get out and come anyway, so why not just let her go under the condition that I will do everything I can to ensure her safe return to the family?”

  “I’m going with him,” I said, not that they were particularly listening to me.

  “Why?” Mikey asked. “What’s so important?”

  “There are bad people out there trying to do bad things with magic, and we’re the only ones who can stop it,” Mayfair said. “Isn’t that enough?”

  “No.”

  Mayfair sighed. “Fine. Would you believe the end of the world?”

  “Mikey,” I said, taking him by the arm again. I smiled to soften the words about to come out of my mouth. “You don’t get a vote here. People are in danger. I have to do something about it. You of all people know what that means.”

  “I’ll come with you,” he said.

  I shook my head. “You can’t. If I’m there, you have to be here.”

  “How can the whole world be in danger?” he asked.

  “Magic,” Mayfair answered.

  “I need you to be here, holding our family together.” I took a painful breath. “I’ve been doing that for the better part of two years.”

  His face screwed up the way I knew it would.

  Before he could say anything, I went on. “Two years of chasing after Simon, running errands with Mom, doctor’s appointments with Pop.”

  “I tried—”

  I put my hand up, stopping him. “I’m not trying to guilt you here, just telling you what it’s been like. In all that time, I haven’t hesitated, haven’t complained, haven’t done anything except what needed to be done. Now I’m telling you—I have to help Mayfair. You have to be here. Hold them together until I can get back.”

  Mikey’s eyes brimmed over. “My little big sister.” He used to say that all the time. At first, I thought it was a dig, but over time, I came to realize he meant I was mature for my age, and I took on the eldest’s role a lot of times, taking care of the family, making sure everyone was okay.

  We hugged until Jack Mayfair cleared his throat. Mikey pulled away first, then walked over to Mayfair. He lowered his voice, but I could still hear the words. “You looked me up? Then you know what I am capable of. If anything happens to her—”

  “I will do everything I can to bring her back unharmed. You have my word, Captain.”

  They shook hands.

  My brother showed me the man I always knew him to be: a great father, husband, son, and brother.

  And when he wanted or needed to be? One scary-ass son of a bitch.

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Getting dressed should not hurt so much.

  In the little bathroom of my room, I took off the hospital gown and winced. A hint of the black and blue Mikey’d mentioned stuck out from a bandage tightly wrapping me from under my arms to my belly button. Tender to the touch. I decided not to poke around.

  Note to self: Don’t let a Golem clock you.

  My clothes had been cleverly hidden beneath my bed. I dressed as quickly as possible, given that every movement seemed to send a new line of pain across my torso. The last to go on? The long black coat and cowboy hat. Mayfair hadn’t mentioned my gun, nor had I the chance to ask him about it—yet. I’d rectify it as soon as we got to Banba.

  Checking myself in the mirror, I nodded. Good as it was gonna get. The circles under my eyes were fairly dark, my skin color paler than I would’ve liked. I didn’t have any makeup to cover any of it up with, so I just stepped out into the room.

  Mayfair was gone, but Mikey stood there.

  “He’ll be right back. Wanted to check on something,” Mikey said.

  “Oh, okay,” I said. Moving by him, I checked to see if I’d forgotten anything in any of the little plastic bags my stuff had been stored in.

  “I have something for you,” Mikey said.

  The sound of Velcro opening made my eyebrows rise.

  Expecting him to be holding cash out of an ancient wallet, I turned and found him holding a bundle in his hands.

  He took a step forward and pressed it into my hands. “Take it.”

  I stared down at the gun my brother had just handed me—a snub-nosed .38 in an ankle holster. Stunned, I met his eye.

  “Pop gave it to me,” he said.

  The gun didn’t feel heavy at all until he said that.

  “He told me he’d never fired it himself,” Mikey continued. “But having it on him gave him a little peace of mind. A few years back—more than a few, actually—he gave it to me. Said we surround ourselves with people, friends, partners, family, and lovers. But they have their own lives; sometimes they leave or even die. In the end, the only person you can count on is you. This gun was plan B, ya know? If anyone ever got him alone, unarmed him, he always had a plan B strapped to his ankle.”

  A couple of wet drops fell onto the gun.

  Mikey was crying, eyes bright. “I don’t pretend to understand any of this, but I believe it, and that’s enough. Knowing this is strapped to your ankle, that you have a plan B, will give me peace of mind. It’ll be like Pop and I, are there to back you up. Take it. Please.”

  Pop’s gun. How could I say no? Without hesitation, I slipped the ankle holster on and covered it with my jeans. You couldn’t even tell it was there.

  “This is for you too,” he said, handing me a bottle of pills. “For the pain. Nurse dropped it off when I told her you were checking out. Just enough for a couple of days. You’ll have to get a checkup from a doctor if you want more.”

  Grinning, I took the bottle and hugged my brother.

  Mayfair returned a moment later, saying, “Time to go. You ready?”

  “I am,” I said.

  Time to save the world.

  * * *

  The sun had set by the time we walked through the doors at Banba. To my surprise, a crowd waited for us. Ronan stood there, looking marvelous. Gone were the ill-fitting clothes, replaced by a skintight gray shirt and matching pants. Both had the appearance of homemade to my eye, with laces up the sides. A gray cloak with tanned, worn leather boots and a pair of swords across his back rounded out the outfit. Kylie, wearing a long-sleeved black shirt, baggy black pants, and combat boots, didn’t project calm as much as “ready to hurl.” She held a heavy cinched bag in her hands.

  The real surprise came in the form of Jennifer Pena being in the mix. I barely saw her bright yellow sweater and pumpkin-covered miniskirt before she tackled me in a hug. Stars flashed across the room. Breath left my body.

  Not falling down and curling into a ball where I stood became my only goal in life.

  “Careful,” Mayfair warned. “She has a couple of cracked ribs.”

  “Oh my God!” Jenni pushed back, blushing. “I’m sorry, I was just—”

  “Me too,” I wheezed. We grinned at each other. “So this is the ragtag team of heroes who’re going to save the world?”

  “Something like that,” Mayfair said. “Jenni? Bring Sam up to date. Is there coffee?”

  “There’s coffee,” Kylie said, bouncing off to the kitchen.

  “Water too?” I called after her.

  She waved, disappearing into the kitchen.

  I whistled at the office area. All the desks had been pushed together to form one giant table. On the
surface rested a map of Colorado. No, as I got closer, I could see the map encompassed areas of Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, too—all the states surrounding Colorado. A circle cut a path through those states, with Colorado smack-dab in the middle. Another smaller circle sat inside the first. Blue dots at points along the outer circle, red dots along the inner circle.

  “What is this?”

  “A pattern,” Jenni said. Standing over the map, she began pointing to cities along the path of the circle. “The red dots represent the bodies Jack found. The blue dots are the homes of Wizards within his territory. This star,” she pointed. “Is Nevil’s house.”

  “It’s not a part of either circle,” I commented.

  “No,” she said. “It’s not. But you can see all the others are.” I nodded. She pointed to a chess piece, a Rook, at the center of the inner circle. “This is dead center inside both circles.” I reached over and picked it up.

  “Red Rocks?” I asked. “Don’t tell me someone is going to have a concert.”

  “Not a concert,” Mayfair said. “A ritual. All the red dots are the sites where the rituals took place. Connect them, and you get a circle. Red Rocks is at the heart of the circle, so it makes sense it will be the site of the last ritual.”

  “Okay, let’s say I buy this,” I said. “What are the blue dots—the Wizard homes—about? How does that fit?”

  “I’ve spent the last two days trying to find Nevil,” Mayfair replied. “When I couldn’t find him, I started reaching out to other Wizards, people who are under my charge. These dots are the ones who weren’t home.”

  “Worse,” Jenni added, “there was evidence of a fight at each one, as if they’d been taken by force.”

  “So you think they were kidnapped? Could someone do that to a Wizard?” I asked.

  “Anyone can be overwhelmed,” Ronan said. “Especially if taken by surprise.”

  “All right,” I said. “Let’s assume you’re right, and they were taken. Why? Doesn’t whoever is behind this already have everything they need? What does—” I did some quick counting of the dots. “—twelve more Wizards bring to the pot?”

  “Thirteen,” Mayfair said. He pointed to the star.

  “Nevil?” I asked.

  “Nevil,” he said. “If he’s not behind this—and I don’t know that he is—he would be the thirteenth Wizard. Why take them? I don’t know. We still don’t have some key information.”

  “The books we found give us a lot of high-level concepts, but not the nitty-gritty of the ritual,” Jenni said. “There are several books missing. They could’ve been the ones Nevil had hidden in his house.”

  I stared at the map. Two circles, one inside the other, with Red Rocks at the center. They had done a lot of work on this, and it did make sense. Except it made too much sense. That distrustful part of my brain whispered it was too easy. Everything had just fallen into place: the murders, the books, Nevil being taken, now these other Wizards gone, too?

  “I don’t like it,” I said. “Too easy.”

  “Sure, looks easy now,” Jenni said. “We’ve done all the work! This was a pain, Sam. Believe me.”

  Kylie returned with coffee.

  I took the water first, using it to wash down two pills from the bottle Mikey had provided. Considering the pain, I took one more.

  “Why Red Rocks?” I asked after a minute. “Why not Stonehenge or The Parthenon or something? Maybe an Aztec pyramid. What’s so special about Red Rocks?”

  “These places you mention,” answered Ronan, “Are very old, true. They are not ancient. These rituals always want ancient places. The red stones are older even than I.”

  Nods all around the room.

  “Then why here?” I asked. “There were rituals performed all over the world, right? Were there other patterns? Other circles?”

  “No,” Mayfair said. “Outside of this circle, the deaths appear to have been chosen at random. No pattern.”

  “It was meant to be here,” Ronan said.

  I knocked back the rest of my water before accepting a mug of coffee.

  Here’s hoping the pain pills don’t mess with my head. “What’s the plan?”

  * * *

  “What can you do? Can you manage Fire again?” Mayfair asked.

  Excellent question. The answer being, I have absolutely no idea. Where’s my gun?

  Turns out Ronan had picked it up at Father Rosario’s house. A quick side trip to my apartment, and I was locked, loaded, and carrying spare clips in my coat. If I couldn’t manage any magic, I would at least be able to defend myself.

  The weight of it felt good on my hip, as if a piece of me had been missing and was now returned. Jenni hugged me before we left, much gentler this time, and whispered some words meant to calm my nerves. She wasn’t coming with us. Ronan and Kylie were, the former carrying those two swords, the latter holding her black bag like a shield.

  “Tricks,” she answered, when I asked her what was inside. “Everything I can manage.”

  According to the plan, the ritual would most likely begin around midnight, so we had a couple of hours but thought it best to go early and scout things out.

  “Time to bamf,” Jenni announced. “I want everyone to come home safe.”

  The rest of us held hands. I took as deep a breath as I could manage, dreading the next part. The Grateful Dead trip sucked us down the rabbit hole, and I fell, wind rushing through me, sound roaring all around. There wasn’t time to truly freak out before my feet hit solid ground again.

  The cold hit me, forcing me to pull my long coat close in around me. Known for an amphitheater, Red Rocks was actually a National Park filled with trails, caves, and wildlife. It also happens to be absolutely gorgeous at night. I gaped up at the stars, so crisp, so clear, and so bright when the lights at the theater were off.

  “We aren’t going to have to climb the stairs, are we?” I asked. The theater had these stairs … I hated them. They went on for ever and ever. Bored Coloradans ran up and down them in the summer. For fun and exercise. Coloradans are crazy.

  “No,” Mayfair said.

  “I should get going,” Ronan announced. Pulling his hood up, he disappeared into the darkness—all part of the plan. Ronan goes out, tracks down the bad guys, returns to tell us. Mayfair didn’t want to use magic to find them in case they might sense it and turn the tables on us.

  “I didn’t think it would be this cold,” Kylie commented.

  “You’ll warm up when we have to hike up these trails,” Mayfair said. He carried his favorite creepy skull walking stick.

  I checked my gun for only the twelfth time, making sure I could draw it easily.

  “Should’ve worn my vest,” I said.

  Mayfair chuckled. “A bulletproof vest wouldn’t help much against a Wizard.”

  “What if they have guns?” I asked.

  “They won’t,” he said.

  “Now what?” Kylie asked.

  Crouching, Mayfair stared after Ronan. “Now, we wait.”

  * * *

  Two hours later, Ronan trotted back in. He carried one of those swords unsheathed, and he was grinning brightly.

  Mayfair stood up from the spot he’d claimed to crouch in.

  Kylie and I slid off the rock we were using as a lounge chair.

  “You found them?” Mayfair asked.

  “Oh, yes,” Ronan said, holding his sword up for inspection. Blood dripped from the blade.

  “Dammit! If you gave us away—”

  “Calm yourself, Jack,” Ronan said. “They had scouts and lookouts positioned on the outer edge. I had to cut us a path. No one will know they are gone if we move quickly.”

  “Fine. I still wish you’d stuck to the plan.” Mayfair turned to us. “Ready?”

  “No,” Kylie and I said together. We grinned at each other.

  “We have to cut through the bush here.” Ronan pointed back the way he came. “Then meet a man-made trail that tak
es us up and around the hill. From there, we find a narrow deer trail allowing us to come up on them unseen.”

  “How many?” I asked.

  “A few dozen Werewolves, perhaps twenty Vampires—”

  “What?” Mayfair said, stopping him.

  Ronan’s expression turned grim. “I counted fifty Werewolves before I gave up and moved closer. Twenty Vampires stand in a stone circle where thirteen men have been crucified. They are still alive but in bad shape.”

  “Thirteen?” Mayfair whispered.

  “The Wizards,” I said.

  “That is what I believe,” Ronan agreed. He turned to Mayfair. “At the heart of the circle, beaten and tortured as the rest, is the only one I recognized.”

  “Nevil,” Mayfair said.

  Chapter Thirty-four

  We hiked up the deer path, which turned out to be steeper than it looked, from the nice sidewalk Ronan called a ‘man-made trail’. The incline made it difficult but not impossible. Cresting the hill, Ronan motioned for us to stay low. Walking while crouched, we turned right, winding our way through the bushes and rocks.

  The pain in my chest dulled thanks to the pain pills. Still, I struggled to keep up.

  Kylie didn’t sound much better in front of me. Given we were trying to sneak through the bushes in the dead of night, Mayfair decided to try a little magic, creating a shield to muffle sound. I saw the way he wove Air around us, but I didn’t entirely understand it.

  Soon we were climbing again. I could feel the burn in my lungs and my legs. Whatever cold I felt when we first arrived had been replaced with a sheen of sweat soaking through my clothes. I promised myself that if I made it through this, I would go back to the gym. The past few months, I’d been sliding into bad habits, and I paid for those bad habits now. All the pains in my body mixed together into a dull buzzing in my brain.

  Above me, Ronan held his hand out. We stopped, Kylie and I using the opportunity to catch our breath. Ronan made a “stay here” motion, then disappeared.

  A shape moved along the top of the hill. Closer and closer, it started to become more defined. Soon I could make out wide shoulders and a head moving back and forth, as if trying to find something. We crouched lower to the ground, waiting.