I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and looked at her for a moment. “What’s wrong, Cam?”
She just brushed past and said, “It’s nothing. Let’s find somewhere quickly.”
She didn’t talk the rest of the time. We eventually found an abandoned building that would work for the time being. The ceiling sagged like it was going to fall in on us. Cam didn’t like it, I could tell that much, but she didn’t complain.
I spent the next hours going over the basics of Life Force movement and Earth and how things grew. Earth wasn’t just grass and trees, it was creation. Things like healing spells came from the basic ideas of Earth. Growing something, like grass or skin, repairing what is broken, a tree branch to a bone. Creating something out of nothing was the basics of Cam’s natural element.
She seemed to grasp the concept well, unlike water, and understood that Earth is strong, but also gentle. A flower is gentle, a rock is strong. She could see how to make something. I didn’t tell her Jaysun started like this, growing flowers and laughing and wanting to make something. She didn’t need to be related to that monster.
After three hours of us working and Cinder sleeping, we heard the first scream.
I bolted out the door, Cam on my tail, and Cinder running after us.
The green flames seemed to lick the sky and push the limits on how much higher they could go.
“Bastard!” I shouted before I ran toward the source, not even looking to see if they followed.
It was in the area we were in, maybe three blocks away. I skidded to a stop in front of the building, the heat of the flames stopping me for a moment so I could contemplate my next move.
“This place is gone,” Cam said when she caught up.
“No,” I said, my voice catching in my throat. “There’s people in there. I can feel it. They’re alive. Weak but alive. Get everyone out of the other buildings. There are only a couple in here. Don’t waste time on the flames, water doesn’t work, just get everyone out of here.”
“Casey, don’t be stupid!”
I turned to Cam and said, “I’m not letting these people die because I’m not good enough. If you won’t help, get the fuck out of here! But this is my job. These people aren’t dying because of me. Either help, or leave.”
She didn’t say anything for a while, and I turned to the building again. “Fine!” she said. “I’ll get everyone away from here. Be careful!”
“Take Cinder with you,” I said before running into the wall of green flames.
Heat.
Fire.
It all washed over me, not just the green flames, but my flames as I used them as a shield, a shield that wouldn’t last long. I ran through the building, looking into every room until I found someone. A young boy sat in the corner of his room sobbing and choking on the smoke. I ran up to him and put my arm around him, “Come on, kid. Let’s get you out of here,” I said.
He wouldn’t move, so I picked him up, cradling him in my arms. I held him close to me as I rushed him back to the street. I set him down when we got outside. I saw someone running toward him, and I disappeared into the building again.
I was once again looking for someone, and I found him. Just standing there in the flames, watching me.
“Jaysun!” I howled.
The brunet’s green eyes sparkled in the light of the fire. “So nice to see you outside of your dreams, Casey!” he shouted back. “Now, why don’t you show me some of that all-powerful Life Force! Why don’t you put me in my place? Just you and me. You can end it right now.”
I held out my hand, Life Force building up in it. I was getting ready to unleash an enormous amount of fire onto this monster.
“Come on, Casey! I’m waiting on you!” He held his arms out and lifted his chin up, as if daring me to do it.
It didn’t feel right, but I didn’t care. I released my Life Force that I’d been building up, and I watched the flames wash over his body and disappear.
He sighed and looked back at me, a twisted smirk crossing his face. “Powerful, Casey, but not nearly as powerful as I am. I expected more from you, Casey, I expected a challenge.”
He held his arm out, and I started forming a shield around myself, one I knew wouldn’t work.
Neither of us was finished by the time Cam tackled me to the ground. I heard the whoosh of whatever Jaysun had tried to hit me with go over our heads.
Cam held herself on top of me, waiting for the right moment to jump up, grab my hand, and pull me behind her as we rushed out of there. She kicked down doors and ran upstairs and did just about everything she could to lose Jaysun. She kicked down another door, and it practically crumbled into ash. It led to an empty room. The wall on the far side was almost completely gone; it had large gaping holes that let us see straight down to the ground eight floors below. Had we really climbed eight floors?
We heard Jaysun’s slow footsteps coming down the hall, and Cam looked at me. She grabbed my hand. “God, I hope I know what I’m doing,” she whispered to herself before leaping out of the side of the building, yanking me along with her.
It didn’t even register what was happening to me as we flew through the air. She turned so her back was to the ground and pulled me into her, holding me tightly against her body. She looked over her shoulder and held her hand out, reaching toward the ground.
I watched as a sapling sprouted from the ground and quickly grew into a large oak tree. A branch stretched out from the tree, forming a sort of cradle, and thick springy grass grew like a mattress.
Things were moving in slow motion. Beads of sweat formed on Cam’s forehead, and the wind jostled her short blonde hair around. I saw what appeared to be a small dog, which was really Cinder, moving around on the ground, pacing as we fell.
I looked up to see the necromancer watching us with a bored look. His green eyes met mine, and he winked before disappearing.
And then the movement stopped, and I felt the wind get knocked out of me.
I rolled off of Cam and tried to breathe again. I looked at her. She was breathing harder than I was and gripping the green, spongy grass tightly. “Holy shit,” she mumbled to herself. “I did it. Ow.”
She was right. It hurt, but it was a lot better than hitting the ground. We were alive, and there was a dull ache, but that was nothing. The real amazing thing was this tree. She did this while we were falling and being chased by a necromancer. I couldn’t even think about anything when that was happening, but she did all of this.
“Cam. I think you’ve got some hidden potential in there,” I said as I sat up, groaning in pain. Cam took most of it; she had hit the tree first.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” I said.
I looked over the edge of the tree to see what appeared to be the entire population of this part of town walking toward us. A woman reached out and touched it hesitantly and looked up at me, peeking over the edge of the branches. She cracked me a large grin and laughed. “A tree!” I heard her exclaim. And then everyone else started to reach out and touch it.
“Yeah. You have some talent,” I said before flopping back onto the grass.
Chapter 22
CAM AND I were sitting on the ground, our backs pressed against the tree. Cinder had run off to get Regan and the rest. We stayed here because we knew that we should look here for any clues about Jaysun’s whereabouts first, and it didn’t make sense to go back and forth.
The fire had gone out by now, but the streets were still crowded with people. Most of them stared at Cam and me strangely.
We just sat there, waiting for the others to show up, when a little boy ran up to us and I heard a woman say, “Stephen, no!”
But he didn’t stop. He ran right up to me and looked down at me. He was about seven, with dark brown eyes, and his arms had strips of T-shirts being used as bandages. I could see Cam giving them a sad look.
“Mommy says you saved me.” Was this the boy?
I nodded at him. “I did. You were in the buildi
ng, and I didn’t want you to get hurt, but it looks like you did.”
He looked down at his arms and frowned. “Mommy says she doesn’t know what to do about them. I got burned by the fire, she says, but we don’t have the money to go to a doctor. How did the tree grow?”
I looked over at Cam and said, “She did it. She can make things grow.”
“Like a mage?”
“Exactly like a mage.”
“Are you a mage too?”
“I am.”
“The bad man is a mage.”
“He’s a bad mage, though.”
“You’re good mages?”
“We are. We want to get rid of the bad guy.”
“What else can you do?”
I shrugged. “A lot of things.”
He looked over his shoulder at what I assumed to be his mom. “Can you help Mommy?”
“That depends. What’s wrong with Mommy?”
“She hurt her head when the fire started. Something fell on her.” He ran to his mom and took her by the hand, pulled her over to us, and stopped. “See?” She had a large bruise forming on her head, and blood ran from it. “She also stays in bed a lot. She’s sick all the time and has headaches, but she won’t tell me why. Can you fix it? You’re the good guys, you have to fix it,” he said, his eyes watering. “Mommy used to talk to Daddy at night, but he left for forever. They used to talk when they think I couldn’t hear. They would talk about the doctors, but Mommy wouldn’t go to one because of me. She said she wanted money for me, but I want her to get better. She says she wants me to do things with my life, but I want her to be okay again. You have to fix it.” He had tears starting to fall from his cheeks.
Cam stood up and smiled. “I can help your mom. Don’t you worry one little bit.”
I wanted to tell her not to promise things, but I didn’t. I just let her reach out to the woman.
“What’s wrong, ma’am?”
She looked at Cam’s hand warily. “I have cancer. There’s nothing you can do about it. The doctor said only expensive treatments can help, and Stephen needs a good education. I can’t afford the treatments.”
“That’s the only way if I wasn’t a mage, ma’am. I can help you. Trust me.”
The woman hesitated, but eventually she looked at her boy, then back to Cam, and nodded slowly.
It took twenty minutes, and Cam was getting tired. I could see it. She wasn’t used to this new technique in Life Force control, and it was taking its toll on her, but she was working. And she was stronger now that the break in her pathway had been fixed.
Finally she backed away and said, “I’d double-check with your doctor, but you should be cancer free now, and your boy can have a good education.” She squatted down and ran her hands over his bandaged arms and smiled. “And you won’t have any scars. You can take these off now and go show Mommy for me.” That was easy for her. She’d been cleaning up scrapes and cuts for who knows how long now. Then she looked at me and held her hand out. “Come on, if we’re going to be waiting, we might as well help some of these people.”
And so we did: cuts, burns, broken arms, and fingers, all sorts of things.
And then Cinder barked loudly, and the people cleared a path for him.
Liam had a sniper rifle attached to his back, Regan had her pistol out, and Ston looked ready for a fight. “Where is the bastard?” Regan snarled.
“Gone,” I said, walking over to her. “He’s gone now.”
The little boy Stephen grabbed my hand and said, “I have to tell you a secret.” He waved his hand for me to come closer, so I got down on my knees so we were the same height, and he whispered, “The bad man said that someone you know isn’t who you think they are. He said you trust too easily and that it will hurt you in the end.” He pulled away, leaving a cold feeling in my gut. “Please be careful, miss,” he said before running off.
“What was that?” Regan asked, looking down at me.
I shook my head. “Nothing,” I muttered. I looked around me, trying to see who he could be talking about. Jaysun had never lied. He had done horrible things, but he never lied. Not even about Clerstan. Not about anything. I didn’t expect him to start now. This was a way for him to instill fear in me, but it wasn’t a lie. I believed him, but I didn’t know who it could be that betrayed me.
She holstered her gun and held her hand out to me. “Well, I guess if he’s not here, we better get to work trying to find him.”
I didn’t grab her hand; I stood up on my own and looked around. Ston, Liam, Cam, and Regan were looking at me oddly. “What’s wrong?” Liam asked.
“Nothing,” I said again. “Come on, Regan’s right, we better find this guy.” I turned and walked into the burned building.
Everything was black, and it crumbled away like ash. There weren’t any clues left. Everything had been burned away, and there wasn’t anything to be found. But we looked. Cinder was the only one I wanted to walk with, and while we looked, we talked more.
He could be lying, Cinder warned.
No. He doesn’t need to lie. There’s no point to it. He’ll tell me the truth because he wants to. He has no reason to lie to me.
I suppose that’s true.
I don’t know who it could be. It could even be Regan for all I know.
It won’t help to worry about it like this. You just need to be on your guard.
Against everyone?
Yes.
I share a room with Regan.
We’ll keep an eye on her the most, then.
I don’t like this.
You’re not supposed to. I hate it too, Cinder said.
I turned a corner and stopped dead in my tracks.
There, in the middle of this burned building, was a man in a janitor’s uniform with a broom, sweeping ash under a blackened rug.
He looked up at me and smiled. “Afternoon, miss.”
“Do you work for Jaysun?” I asked accusingly.
“No idea who you’re talking about, miss.”
I didn’t believe him, but I nodded. “Have you seen a man with brown hair and green eyes here?”
“Not here, miss. But I work at a hotel on Saturdays. There’s a man who looks like that in the penthouse suite.”
I nodded. This was Jaysun telling me where he lived. Daring me to find him, finish what we started. “Thank you, sir.”
And then I heard explosions.
I ran outside the nearest exit and looked around. Cam, Regan, Ston, Liam, and I had all come out in different places due to the holes in the walls caused by Jaysun. I opened my mouth to say something, but dropped to the ground when I heard an explosion that sounded like it came from right next to us. There was a deafening crash, and I looked up, my head aching from the sound. It looked like part of a building had fallen, separating me from everyone else. I wondered if anyone else got separated from each other.
Even if they did, Jaysun’s message was clear.
Me and him, the final battle. Kill him or be killed.
This was it.
I had to kill him, or I had to let him win.
I was out of time. I didn’t get to wait around anymore.
Flames erupted from half of the buildings in the city, and I just stood there, watching the green fingers touch the clouds.
There were earsplitting screams, and people rushed around me, running in all directions, just trying to get away from here.
And then I saw something else I recognized. Gray, lifeless, limping, awkward bodies.
His army of the dead was limping toward us.
I touched Cinder’s back and said, “This is the part where all hell breaks loose. This is the part where we kill that son of a bitch. God, I hope you’re ready, Cinder, because I’m not.”
Those who have great roles in how the world is shaped for an eternity are never ready, but they do it anyways. The Old Ones chose us for this, Casey. This is where we make our stand.
I felt my lips turn up into the smallest smile. “This is wh
ere we change the world. For better or for worse, we are the shapers of a new world.”
Cinder grew tense as the dead came closer.
“I guess we should get started.”
Chapter 23
FIRES WERE everywhere, and I could feel Life Force draining from me. Not even I had enough power to set fire to at least fifty of those damn things and then go around wasting my energy on trying to put those fires out.
I ran to another building that had caught fire. I could feel a pulsing Life Force in there. Someone was alive, and just like everyone else, their life was in my hands, and I didn’t plan on losing another one.
She was unconscious when I found her, just lying on the floor. Early teens maybe, but she was small.
I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder—what my father would call a sack of potatoes before he sent me to the Temple. I raced outside and set her down on the street. I healed some of the obvious wounds and the head wound that had knocked her unconscious. I was gone when she woke up; I didn’t have any time to waste.
I heard shots go off in the distance, loud ones.
Could be Liam’s rifle, I thought.
Can’t hurt to check it out.
If it’s Liam, he might need some help.
Get on, it’ll be quicker. I reached up to Cinder’s back and threaded my fingers through his dark fur with the dark red streaks. He knelt down slightly, and I swung myself onto his back and gripped his fur, not tightly, but just enough to know he was there. I felt my stomach turn when he stood back up to his full height, his muscles moving beneath me. When had he gotten so big? So strong? When had I missed that time with him? I leaned forward as he started walking, slowly building up into a full-speed run. He was fast. I never knew. When had everything changed this much?
Buildings were a blur as we passed them, and eventually Cinder skidded to a stop when he heard another shot.
It was very close, which meant Liam was nearby. But I couldn’t see him.
Cinder kept padding forward, moving slowly now. Rooftops? His voice was quiet, as if he was trying to whisper, like someone would hear him.
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