by Ellie Margot
Riette nodded. Her powers were on fire inside of her.
Trinity grabbed her arm, they shared a look, and Trinity closed her eyes to seep some of her power out of herself and into Riette.
Riette’s head was knocked back by the force of it, but she gritted her teeth and took it in.
The connection lasted seconds, but when she opened her eyes, she caught Cassian’s gaze, and there was a look of fear on his face.
She knew she looked dangerous because she felt that way, like her powers had stitched together all the broken pieces of her soul into something more powerful than the pieces had been apart.
“Let’s go,” she said in a voice that was hardly her own.
They got to the top of the structure, and several guards flanked them almost instantly.
Riette barely had time to consider the new surroundings she was in. She noticed there was nothing keeping one from falling off the edge. She didn’t look down, like Samantha had ordered, because she didn’t want to get distracted and she didn’t want to feel the impact of the fist heading quickly toward her face.
She ducked the attempt and swung a counter hook before stepping back. Her heels touched the edge of the landing, and she braced herself to call her powers to the surface.
Riette closed her eyes.
“Now, Riette!” Cassian screamed.
She opened her eyes just in time to push flames on the guard who was a breath away from sending her to her death below.
Flames erupted over his body, searing the exposed skin and charring the clothes that covered the rest of him. He screamed with his arms flailing in the air as he pushed his way toward her still.
She sidestepped his hold and watched as his scorched body plummeted far beneath them. She didn’t listen for the sound of his body connecting with the solid ground because there was other carnage to take in as they all fought the guards that noticed their presence.
Mekhi called the storms forward, sweat forming on his brow as he did it. The rain came in drops and drops. They were heavy, and Riette was soaked through in minutes.
The ground became slick with it. There was earth on the structure as well, so mud came quickly.
Samantha fought beside Damian. They had what looked like a choreographed dance of death as they ripped a guard into pieces and threw what was left of him over the edge.
The wind whipped around them, taking another guard over the edge, even as he worked to throw power back at the group. Riette looked at the outstretched hands of Cassian. He was poised as if he had physically pushed the man over, instead of his power dragging the guard. He looked steadfast in his stance but shaken in the tremor Riette could see in his hands.
Mekhi and Corin worked together. She looked like she was about to be taken away by a guard, but she had used herself as bait and led another guard to his death.
They stood shaken as a large guard headed toward them. Blood had mixed with the mud and the rain that was pooling at their feet. He was larger than the rest though, and right behind them, Riette could see others coming.
“We can’t fight them all,” said Samantha. “There’s too many of them.”
“It’s too late to back down,” said Riette.
“He’ll be here before we get through this talk,” said Mekhi. “What are we going to do?”
“Trade,” said Samantha.
“I’m not letting you give one of us up,” Riette said, stepping between Samantha and Trinity. She already knew where this was headed.
“Not one of us,” said Samantha. “The monkey. Give up the monkey. It will buy us some time. We can get your boy and get out of here. It’s our only shot.”
“Barry?” Riette asked, confusion distorting her features. “How the fuck do you know about him?”
Samantha cut her a look. “Seriously? You sleep like the dead. Your toys don’t. And you talk to your bag when you think no one is looking.” She looked at the others. “We all know about them.”
“What?” asked Riette incredulously. She had gone through so much to keep Bark and Barry safe and secret. She had had them on her back until it broke with the effort, more so recently than when they were smaller, and they knew?
Riette looked at each of them. “You all know?”
They nodded. She looked at Cassian last. He hadn’t given a reaction. “Cassian?”
He did a slow nod. His eyes danced between the guard, who was even closer now, and Riette.
“Besides, the amount of bathroom trips you took alone—” started Samantha.
“Okay, I get it.” Riette turned, loosed her bag from her shoulders, and released Bark and Barry on the ground.
They both looked up at her with large eyes, Barry especially. He hopped with excitement. The rain splashed them, and Barry seemed to want to dance with it. He hummed with energy.
Riette turned toward the others. “I can’t do it. I won’t.”
But she didn’t have time to get their reaction. As soon as Barry saw the guard approaching, he ran over to him, unable to be stopped by Riette’s outreaching hand.
She watched in horror as he got to the guard, hundreds of times his size, and she waited for what she knew was inevitable. She was going to watch Barry be crushed in front of her.
Barry jumped on the man. He climbed his body with such speed that all Riette could discern was a blue tuft of fur moving upward faster than her eyes could make out.
The only time Barry paused in his ascent was when he reached the neck of the man. His many teeth moved quicker than his body had, and before Riette could cry out, the man’s throat was ripped out. Gone.
Barry looked back with a smile across his little face. Blood mixed with the rain as it matted his fur. He looked so happy.
Mekhi was the only one to speak. “Ho, lee, and shit.”
Chapter 24
The other guard left standing took off quickly, back to the dark entrance Riette could barely see from where she was.
“He’s going to bring more,” Corin muttered.
Mekhi made a sound that showed he agreed.
“So that means we have to work quickly,” said Riette. “We’re not trying to bring the place down.”
“No, we’re trying to break out the crown-jewel criminal of the place,” said Samantha. Guy gave her a look. She rolled her eyes. “I’m not saying we can’t do it.”
“Yeah, it’d be a little late for that kind of talk now,” said Mekhi. He looked at his hands and saw the blood on them.
Riette thought the irony of that would have been more significant, but she had to focus on what was about to happen. Not make sense of the impossibilities they’d had to get through just to get to this moment.
“Quickest way in?” she asked. She recognized her tone, just like she had once before. She could practically hear her mother’s voice as it left her. She sounded like the embodiment of her, but she couldn’t afford to think too much about that either. Not now.
Samantha looked around. “It would be where that guy went in, but we can’t risk opening the door and seeing the other guards waiting for us.” She looked back at the rest. “Left. We’ll head that way, hit the other door, bust in, save the man beast, and blow this shit.”
“Man beast?” Trinity mouthed to Riette.
Riette rolled her eyes as a response. “Let’s go.”
Samantha led, with Damian to the dark mage’s left, but Riette followed on her other side. The rain was still coming. Weather was easier to call than it was to stop, but it had slowed at the very least. Riette was thankful for that. She felt like she was actually in the clouds where the rain came from. Taking a quick glance above herself, she was hard pressed to dispel that thought.
Her bag was lighter though. Bark walked confidently behind her, and Barry was on a blood high—or something—as disturbing as that thought was to Riette.
She couldn’t believe that everyone had known about them this entire time. Part of her wanted to touch the small of her back where there was a low, thrumming pain most
days from carting them around.
Not that she wouldn’t have done it for them all over again, but would it have made her life easier to have everything out in the open? Her back made her say yes.
They made it to another entrance quickly.
Riette checked on each person, looking at them briefly to make sure they were all accounted for still and entering in one piece.
Samantha put her hand out in front of herself as an invite to Riette to step forward first. “Take the lead.”
“I don’t know what he looks like.”
“You’ll know him when you see him,” Samantha said, nodding stiffly.
They walked into the darkness.
There were lights, but they gave off a blue sheen that muted their effectiveness. Cages were over the lights as well, and they were so high that Riette wondered how many times they had been crafted into weapons before to take such precautions.
The holding cells were several stories high. They were cages. To call them anything else would be a lie, and the creatures, as they weren’t all mages, seemed to thrum with energy and rage against the bars when Riette dared to make eye contact.
The catcalls started immediately. The threats came right after.
They mixed together in a horrible song that Riette feared she’d never be able to free from her head. Weaker parts of her wanted to put her hands over her ears and to scream to block out the noise they were making and the horrible clanking of them throwing themselves at the bars to get to them.
But she didn’t. She wouldn’t. Weakness couldn’t be shown when she was this close to getting the piece of the puzzle that could bring her grandmother’s words to life. She wouldn’t lose focus now.
Riette could still feel the power pushing its way around her insides. Her tattoo still burned. The magic that had always been in her and the magic from Trinity that met with it recognized the situation she was in.
Guards were one thing. They were doing their job, their duty, and they died. She would never fully be able to feel okay about that, but these people—and in some cases, these things—were far more dangerous.
She knew that.
Not everyone was raging against the cages, though. There were several mages Riette could see that were sitting back and looking at her with eyes that didn’t miss anything.
She wondered how their magic didn’t help them in here. Were there spells at work around them? There had to be.
Riette kept walking next to Samantha. Damian became the shadow for both of them. Some of the walkways were slick with rain that seeped its way in. There was muck on the floor as well, making her footsteps leave a wet trail behind her every step.
She looked down to make sure that Bark and Barry were okay. Bark looked like he was ready for anything and nodded when she met his gaze. It was a little hard for him to look up, though, because Barry had made his place on Bark’s shoulders. He grinned at Riette, and she smiled back until she noticed the little bits of things she could not think of in his teeth.
Samantha looked up at her. “You look like you’re about to shit yourself.”
Riette flinched as a hand reached out to her from one of the cells. She dodged it, but the owner of the hand screamed obscenities at her. Some of the things he said sounded like words by a madman in one of her nightmares, so she refused to look at him and, instead, focused ahead.
“You don’t look so hot yourself,” said Riette. There wasn’t any malice in her tone though.
“Well, I have the pleasure of knowing who we’re facing.”
Riette stole a glance at her as they charged ahead. There was a large structure at the end of the walkway. It was a cell isolated from the others. The light didn’t cast itself inside, so she couldn’t see who was in it, but Samantha was heading there with purpose. She knew it must belong to Zeke.
Samantha looked at her quickly before retuning her gaze in front of them. “Zekariah isn’t your average mage,” she said.
“He’s the most powerful, right? That’s why we’re here.”
“His magic is different than other mages use. It’s the First Magic.” Samantha let out a breath. “He’s next level compared to any of my kind. Like a god.” She looked ahead and let the rest of the air expel through her teeth. She was nervous.
Riette had never seen her nervous, so it took her a while to pinpoint what she was seeing in her, but Samantha looked shaken.
“He’s everything,” said Samantha.
“Then why is he here?” Riette asked.
Samantha gave her a look like she couldn’t believe her question. “For one, because he knows how good he is. But mainly? It’s for all of the shit he’s fucked up.”
Riette opened her mouth to ask, but Samantha cut her off. “He’s not a good person, okay? Or at least, he wasn’t when they locked him up in here. He’s done shit you wouldn’t believe. Most mages believe he’s dead. If they knew he was alive, they’d hunt him down and destroy him.”
Riette considered her words and then spoke. “Maybe he’s not broken inside.” The words were soft, and she almost felt like she was saying it to herself.
She knew it didn’t make sense for her to be so interested in someone she hadn’t met, but when she’d learned about him, something inside of her woke up. It paid attention, and she didn’t know if that was a mistake she couldn’t help but make or if he was part of her future in some way she couldn’t yet understand.
“Fuck me,” said Samantha, rolling her eyes. “Really? Hots for a criminal, and you all call me cliché?” She stole a look behind her to see the rest, but no one else spoke.
“Shut up,” Riette hissed. She looked over her shoulder, too, to make sure no one had heard. “That’s not it.”
“You’re practically see through,” said Samantha with a laugh. The calls from around them grew louder at the noise. “You’ve been around a hot guy your whole life and never, ever, not even once fucked him, and now you’re setting your sights on the pinnacle?” She let out another choking kind of laugh. “I’d respect you if I didn’t feel bad for you.” She gave her a look that Riette could only categorize as pity. “Honey, he picks up girls like monkeys pick fleas.”
Chapter 25
“We’ve got company,” Samantha stated. It was drawn out and in a lower register than Riette was used to coming from her. Riette checked her face to see what emotions she could find there. Riette had expected excitement. The little she knew about Samantha had shown her that this was where her heart was. It was where she shined. Her examination must have seemed like hesitation to Samantha, though.
Samantha elbowed Riette’s side as if Riette hadn’t been able to see the four men who now stood in front of their destination cell. Riette shook off any loose feelings and prepared herself for another battle.
The yelling and stomping feet from the cells around them grew to a feverish pitch. The air crackled with energy as the Elves of the group, Trinity excluded, rallied their strengths.
The wind began to crackle with it. The storms brewing outside were more thunderous.
Flames appeared on Riette’s hands at her call. She saw fear on several of the faces, and it brought a smile to her own, despite herself, despite her knowing how wrong smiling at their fear made her.
Damian charged forward from behind them, and while it looked like two of them were starting a spell, they were on the floor and broken quickly after Damian reached them. He crashed the two of them together like dolls while one of the other guards looked on.
The largest guard stayed close to the darkened cage. He was the most formidable guard they had seen thus far, but he had a singular focus: keeping them away from Zekariah. His stance and the snarl that turned his lips spoke to that purpose.
Samantha moved forward, and Cassian joined her, surprising Riette to almost a standstill. She watched as the two worked together in sync, killing the third guard easily.
Cassian had grabbed him, and Samantha had taken a knife from her side and jabbed it into his stomach before sinki
ng it in and twisting it four turns more than Riette thought was necessary. The pair shared a look after, and Riette felt like she was watching two strangers, mercenaries in arms, not the man she had grown up with and their sadistic guide.
Riette walked closer to the cage, but the guard was still standing in front of it. He cracked his knuckles at Riette, but she paid him no mind. She wanted to see what she could make of the dark figure at the back of the cell.
He looked like he was made of shadow.
She stared, daring to get closer to the cage, as close as she could without the large guard trying to kill her. The others moved behind her.
Riette thought the shape was beginning to stir, but there was still so much darkness keeping her from seeing clearly.
The large hulking guard that had been lurking over the entrance of the cage moved forward quickly.
She knew he had been watching her as intently as she had been trying to see Zekariah inside of the cage, but the speed with which he moved surprised her.
He grabbed her shoulder, clamped down, and tried to use his size to ensnare her.
She turned quickly to look at the others, only to see that more guards had joined the fold. She wasn’t surprised by their presence but by her lack of awareness in noticing them arriving.
Riette put her focus back on the guard who still gripped her shoulder. She could feel the flames at her hands and the heat behind her eyes. The air crackled around her. The noise in her mind all but went away.
Some part of her noticed movement in the cage, but most of her energy was spent on wrenching the man’s grip from her shoulder and dragging him to the floor at her feet.
“What the fuck are you?” he growled. Defiance showed in his eyes as he bared his teeth at her.
Flames jumped from her palms even as they held him down. He screamed through gritted teeth. He fought against her hold, but the burning of his flesh distracted him. He writhed and yelled and cursed her as she gripped him harder.