by LJ Andrews
The brick house burst with flames from every window. Two stone pots filled with tropical flowers were toppled along the large porch stairs, and kitchen staff, maids, and the man servant who assisted on special occasions ran through the yard, followed closely by dark-haired attackers wielding their frightening blades.
Kale rushed up the stairs but stumbled backward when a burst of flames shattered the large bay window. Atlas was pursuing the terrorized staff and heavily engaged in the intricate swordplay with two of Phoenix’s crew. Talia and Maddox had taught him well. The two opponents jabbed, but Atlas pushed off the ground, his legs kicking over his feet, with his boot catching one of the men under their chin. When Atlas landed, he sliced his blade harshly onto the neck of the other. Sputtering, the man fell face down on the grass, while Atlas thrust the bloody sword through the first’s chest.
Nova whipped her head toward the small garden behind the house. A shrill scream chilled her blood. Kale seemed to have heard it as well and darted after her. Around the corner, Nova stumbled over something in the path. Turning over her shoulder to see what she’d tripped over, she covered her mouth, muffling a startled scream. Miss Hagen, Kale’s tightly wound yet secretly kind housekeeper, lay on her back, her blank eyes staring skyward with a dark, red stain in the center of her chest.
“Miss Hagen,” Nova said, her voice cracking as she reeled from the woman’s cold face.
Kale caught up after just a moment. He skidded to a stop when he saw Miss Hagen’s body. Nova met his eye with frightened sympathy before he quickened his sprint toward the garden once more.
With Atlas at her side by now, Nova followed suit, clutching the Djinn dagger, and coiled pistol in her hands. The garden was surrounded by a small brick wall, and in the center, it had beautiful, tropical plants that had once been so peaceful and serene. Now, Nova watched in horror as a group of Below people surrounded Kale’s family members with Phoenix pinning a wounded Captain Tucker to the ground.
“PHOENIX!” Kale shouted, wrenching his cutlass from his belt and slamming it hard against the sinister captain’s gold sword. Atlas went to his aid, pulling Captain Tucker out of line from the battle, but Nova had her attention taken elsewhere.
Jenna, Kale’s sister, was scooting backward on the ground, holding an ancient-looking flintlock pistol out toward four of Phoenix’s soldiers. Nova’s heart pounded in her chest, threatening to burst through her skin any moment. Jenna’s face was stained with tears, but the look in her eyes was determined, and Nova saw why. Little Theo, Kale’s toddler nephew, was crouched beneath a stone bench, clutching the leg and crying out for his mother.
This crew did not have prejudice against children or their parents. Everyone would die.
“Get back!” Jenna cried.
“Jenna,” Nova heard Captain Tucker call weakly to his daughter. Phoenix had taken on both Kale and Atlas, and if Nova was honest, the ghostly captain was more skilled than them both. Nova bit her bottom lip and rushed toward Jenna and Theo with a fury as if she were her own sister.
“Jenna, take Theo and run!” she cried.
In a fluid motion, she attacked the rear woman, thrusting her dagger deep into her back. The woman coughed, caught by surprise before falling to the stone pathway. The woman’s ragged breath seeped from her body until she went still. By this time, Nova had garnered the attention of the three others. A man with two teeth protruding over his bottom lip held a strange weapon—two knives attached at the handle with a silver chain. He twirled it dangerously, creating a deadly trap around his body. Nova jerked side to side, trying to find an opening to attack, but the circling knives completely guarded him.
Releasing a cry of anger while the billowing power burned in her chest, she rushed toward him. The two others had returned their attention to Jenna, who was running toward the back gate with her son. Nova could not use her dagger against the knives. Without thought, she cocked the coiled pistol and fired.
It was a sickening sight. The super-charged bullet was designed to break through walls and fire through ships, not close-range people. The chained knives crisscrossed over his chest as the buck-toothed man fell backward. The gaping hole had obliterated his chest cavity, and Nova dropped the pistol, frightened by the damage it might cause to someone she loved if she were to miss.
The air was heavy with the smell of smoke, squelching the air in her lungs as she sprinted toward the back of the garden. Jenna was darting toward the forest, Theo screaming and clutching tightly to her neck as the two attackers gained.
Nova used the painful burn of the Djinn to force her legs to power more than their capacity. She ran with all her might, using one hand to pull her up and over the hip-high wall. She landed strangely on her ankle, the ball of the joint seeming to roll to the other side of her foot. Clenching her jaw, she saw white spots in the corner of her eyes but still pressed on. In her mind, she prayed to catch up to Jenna, she prayed her ankle would function. With each step she took, the pain seemed to subside, and her legs strengthened as the burn of the darkness spread.
She could smell the sweat from the two enemy soldiers as she came up on their heels. Jumping up, she wrapped her arms around one man’s neck, toppling forward as they both sprawled along the lawn.
Nova quickly scrambled to her feet holding the dagger in front of her chest. Both soldiers faced her, holding tightly to their curved swords: one man, one woman. The woman lunged first, but Nova blocked the strike with the Djinn blade. The woman spun away, moving to the back as the man stepped forward slicing at Nova’s legs, while his companion struck again toward her chest.
Nova flattened on the ground as the two swords crossed where she had been standing. She stayed on the ground but rolled quickly to the man’s feet. Before he could back away, Nova stabbed her blade deep into his upper thigh. He screamed as Nova ripped the dagger from his muscle, twisting it on her way out to force more damage. He fell to his knees, reaching for his blade, but Nova moved too quickly. Kale’s voice filled her mind, but the man was trying to murder her and his sister. There was nothing she could do.
The painful sound erupted from her throat. A cry of remorse, a cry of reluctance as she filled his stomach with her blade. His eyes met hers before the light seeped out and he fell against her body. Nova felt the burning tear roll down her cheek as she pushed his body off her.
“No!” The woman cried out with the pain only a loved one could create.
Nova tried to turn on the defensive, but she moved too late as the angry woman sliced her blade. Nova lifted her arm to protect herself and the pain of the sword defied any burning the Djinn power could create. Her skin sliced so evenly, and she felt the wound open, dripping blood as the woman wound up to strike again.
Nova ducked, but the woman kicked her foot, striking Nova in the mouth. She flew onto her back, the dagger flying out of her hands. Nova groaned, rolling onto her side, as she tried to pull herself away. The woman nudged her with her foot, so she was looking up at her. Standing over her, the woman’s face contorted into an ugly, painful disdain. Her braid was unkempt and her clothes ripped and dirty.
But Nova saw her; for the first time, she truly saw her enemy as she stood inches from death. The woman was just like her. Fighting for her cause, caring about her people. Nova had killed the man who meant something to this woman. What would she do to someone if they harmed Kale? Her father? Even Atlas? The empathy filled her heart with great sadness. Not because she could lose her life, but because they were fighting at all. It seemed so unnecessary for so many to die. The desire to stop Lurlina once and for all built up greater than it ever had before. But she only hoped she would live long enough to see it through.
“You…do…not deserve…to live,” the woman said through clenched teeth.
Lifting her blade high over Nova’s head, she readied to strike. Nova closed her eyes, waiting for the blow. The air grew silent as if nothing mattered anymore, until the blast of a shot echoed across the lawn.
A gurgle and a th
ump snapped Nova’s eyes open. The woman’s lifeless eyes were right next to her on the ground. Forcing herself to sit up, Nova saw Jenna, clutching the old pistol she’d carried. Her hair was tousled and wild, her dress was bloody, and her hands trembled so furiously, but she would not drop the gun.
Nova pulled herself to her feet and stumbled as the power calmed within her. The pain of her tweaked ankle, bleeding arm, and the kick to her mouth made her stomach turn. When she reached Jenna, she saw Theo a few feet back, covering his eyes, sniffling and shaking.
“Jenna,” Nova breathed out as she plopped next to her.
“Nova…I…” she stammered, still holding tightly to the pistol.
“Here, let me take this. Theo needs you,” Nova responded gently, tugging on the gun until Jenna released it.
Her instincts seemed to kick in and she scooped up her son, rocking him back and forth as he wrapped his small arms around her neck again.
“Nova,” Jenna said through a wave of tears. “They just came. I didn’t know how to stop them, they just came!”
“I know,” Nova said, wrapping her arms around Jenna. “You’re safe now.”
Jenna sobbed on her shoulder, sandwiching Theo between them. She shook her head and pulled back. “No, we…won’t be,” she sobbed. “Albert…they killed him…they killed my husband!”
Chapter 10
Battle of Phoenix
Booming from large guns in the town center made Nova instinctively duck to avoid any flying shrapnel. Jenna was stiff and clutched Theo desperately against her chest. She was falling into a state of shock; Nova had to move her, and soon.
“Jenna,” she said, clasping her shoulders. Her heart was torn into a hundred pieces for her friend. Her family was under attack, her husband was gone, her home destroyed, and they were still surrounded by danger. “Jenna, come we have to get you and Theo safe before we can get off this island. There are still dangers around us.”
Jenna’s eyes were distant, but she slowly nodded, rubbing her hand methodically up and down Theo’s small back.
“Okay, stay by me, the woods aren’t safe.”
Two pistol blasts echoed from up the lawn in the Tucker’s garden. Atlas’s voice sent shivers down her spine as he shouted Kale’s name.
“Kale,” Nova breathed out quietly before turning on Jenna with a newfound determination. “Jenna, you must hurry with me. Take refuge behind the woodshed in the back of the house. It still stands, and the fighting is in the front. Keep Theo quiet and stay low. I must go, but do not move, Jenna. Please, promise me. You will stay there until I come for you. Do you understand?”
Jenna’s blank eyes bore into Nova. “Jenna, do you understand?” she repeated fiercely.
“I understand,” Jenna said, her face darkening with grief and pain. “I’ll wait for you. Help my father and brother, Nova.”
“Go,” Nova commanded. “Stay low.”
Jenna sprinted toward the back of the burning house, keeping her hand firmly on the back of Theo’s head as she stumbled slightly on the hem of her dress. Confident she was out of sight, Nova gripped her dagger. Her ankle still throbbed and her arm was warm with blood, but clenching her jaw, she darted toward the upper garden.
It was terrifying as if the battle from town had converged onto the Tucker household. The garden was in shreds. Plants with bullet holes in the thick leaves, dirt and roots tossed around the flagstone pathways. The garden benches had corners crumbled, while others were destroyed. But it was the number of people battling against all those she cared for.
Briggs had found the garden and blasted a triple-barreled blunderbuss pistol, the likes of which she’d never seen. It was a weapon much like her coiled pistol and had Mr. Kobb’s touch written all over the craftsmanship. Briggs’s attacker fell hard to the ground as if slammed by some invisible force, a gaping hole in the center of his chest.
“Father!” Nova cried, using the furious, immediate burning power in her hand to throw the dagger at least the span of half the garden. Varick was pulling himself from the ground just as a burly woman dressed in a tight purple tunic was about to jab a strange device wrapped around her knuckles, with spikes protruding from each ring over her finger.
Nova’s dagger struck true, with the guidance of the Djinn power. The woman gasped and fell on top of Varick, the jeweled hilt lodged in her upper back. Nova ran to him, dodging a spray of lead balls flying in front of her face.
“Father,” she said wrapping her arms around his neck.
Varick held her tightly as if he intended to break her in half. “I couldn’t find you,” he said, his voice cracking slightly.
“I’m fine,” she said softly. “I had to help Kale’s sister.” Nova’s head jerked back, her eyes spanning the yard. “Where’s Kale?”
Varick’s face fell, and he nodded toward the other side of the burning house. “He ran after Phoenix, that Atlas followed him along with Maddox and Talia. I haven’t seen them.”
“I’ll be back.”
“Nova, no!” Varick shouted, but she was already out the garden gate and rushing past the crackling house.
The heat of the fire burned her cheeks and grew hotter with each step. Her curls beat against her neck, and her ankle throbbed as she searched for Phoenix. As she rounded the corner, her search was over. Phoenix, with several of his crew, was overtaking her friends.
Atlas was pushing back against a particularly vehement woman from the ground. She could see his sleeve was soaked in blood. Maddox and Talia worked as a team to take on two others. Talia, using Maddox’s hands as a step, flipped her legs over her head, slicing her curved sword against one’s chest. Maddox, as she flew through the air, threw a small knife to take out the other one.
But her breath caught in her throat from fear as she saw Kale. Phoenix’s leathery face was turned up in a ferocious grin as Kale desperately battled, though it was clear he was losing his pacing from fatigue. It wouldn’t be long before Phoenix overpowered him. As if sensing her presence, Captain Phoenix looked up, meeting her eye, his chapped lips pulled into a devilish smile.
Kale lunged hard, thrusting his cutlass toward Phoenix’s chest. The captain easily deflected, wrapping his thick arm around Kale’s neck in one fluid motion.
“Is this what ye want, girl?” He shouted. “Ye fancy the lad? T’would be a shame to see him die for ye. What will ye do? Ye can end this if ye’ll come with me to the temple. This city burns as a warning to ye for ignoring the Great Djinn too long. Will his life be a consequence of yer bullheadedness?”
“Nova,” Kale said through gasping breaths. “Don’t listen. It’s a ploy!”
“Shut up lad, or I may just squeeze a little too tight,” Phoenix chuckled, pulling against Kale’s neck harder, forcing a raspy cough from his throat.
“Let him go!” Nova cried.
Her skin was on fire with a heat greater than that of the bonfire swallowing the Tuckers’ house behind her. Her strength had never felt greater—she was unstoppable. She knew if Phoenix did anything to hurt Kale, any control she had would unhinge and she was certain the island of Silva would be destroyed in her fury.
Phoenix laughed. “Why don’t ye do what be asked of ye and I will release him.”
“You are losing control,” Maddox shouted to her side. Nova turned and faced him, glaring at him with such disdain his eyes widened as he watched her features transform as the darkness spread throughout her cells. “Do not unleash untrained power. You have not reached the level of control the same as Hadwin. Why risk your life for him?”
“If you do not stop speaking,” she seethed. “I will finish you off next!”
“Let her go, Mad,” Talia called, as she helped Atlas from the ground.
“Yes, let her go,” Phoenix taunted. “Let us see what this wee lass can do against the power of the Great Djinn.”
“Nova,” Kale’s hoarse voice said. “No.”
“Last chance. Release him,” Nova said through her teeth.
Eve
rything surrounding her sharpened. Her mind was in complete focus. Nothing would get past her. The fire’s dying crackles echoed in her ears at the same moment a chirping insect welcomed the night despite the bloodshed. She saw each individual blade of grass and the small light from the twinkling stars glowing onto the island’s surface.
Phoenix didn’t look human. His eyes were black, his hair stringy like dried corn husks. His face was gray and pallid, nearly reminding her of the brothers. Now that she had the wretched captain in her focus, it was clear he was nothing to her. He was a snake, and it was time to cut off the head.
“Take heart, lad,” Phoenix said, leaning against Kale’s cheek. “It looks like the wench has a place in her heart for ye. I think she be preparin’—ˮ
Nova didn’t allow him to finish. Releasing the emotion, the painful darkness, in one furious cry, her body throbbed as the energy blasted from her core to the surrounding land. The ground rumbled and quaked as if the grass was made of thunderous waves from the great lakes throughout the kingdom. The burned skeleton of the Tucker home crumbled in one final heap of charred boards and brick. The palm trees and tall, thin bamboo bent against a sudden wind burst until it seemed as if their trunks would give in and snap.
Nova cried out the anger toward Phoenix. The frustration at Kale for chasing after the captain, mixed with her fear of losing him. The years she’d lost with her father and the pain she’d endured trying to find him. She cried out for losing Gold-tooth Taylor, one of her truest friends. She mourned for her mother—was she already lost to her? A thin crevice split through the flagstone garden, but Nova took no notice.
Finally, greater than anything else, she spewed her hatred for Lurlina. She was the root of it all, she was the reason everyone she loved was at risk of losing their lives. Lurlina was the reason behind everything.
As the final burst exploded the invisible barrier of energy, Phoenix flew back, releasing Kale’s neck. Every stone in the garden wall behind them crumbled and cracked until there was nothing but a chalky mess of rubble.