by LJ Rivers
“You’re right. I’m focused.” I turned my attention back to the blueprint.
“My best bet,” Charlie said and tapped the map with her fingernail. “The boiler room. It’s the perfect hideout. Sure, it’s supposedly closed off, but who knows, right?”
Standing, I dusted myself off and raised my chin. “Come on, then. Let’s find our third angel.”
Chapter Twenty-One
We stared at the large steel door, closed off with heavy chains. A collection of signs surrounded the front with clear warnings like ‘Danger’ and ‘Do not enter’ written in big letters.
I shared a look with Charlie. “Doesn’t look like anyone has gone through here for a while.”
“They could have entered through the tunnel system, though,” Charlie said, sounding less than confident.
We were both at the end of our ropes, however, and this was our best lead.
“We’re going in, then.” I stepped forward and tugged at the chain. “You want to borrow a bobby pin again?”
Charlie eyed the padlock. “Don’t think that’s gonna work on this lock.” She stepped backwards. “This one is all yours, I think. I may be Charlie, but I’m no McGee, I’m afraid.”
“Come again?”
“Charlie McGee? Firestarter? You haven’t read Stephen King?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. I hadn’t read that particular book. It was obvious what she meant, however, but I had no idea if I could control it. Up until now, my fire power had been unstable at best. It seemed to manifest whenever I got mad or frustrated.
“Ok,” I said. “You should probably move further back.”
Charlie complied in a heartbeat, running several feet away from me to hide behind a statue of who I assumed was St. Patrick.
Satisfied with the distance, I reached into the very core of my power, to my blood. Focus, Ruby! My mum’s voice whispered through my head: Focus on your intention, picture what you want to happen, and it shall. All right, Mum, I’ll try this your way.
I lifted my arms forwards, directing my fingers at the lock, and pictured it breaking. The all too familiar feeling of my blood running hotter sent beads of sweat down my spine as the power simmered, then burned to life. I licked my lips, the taste of salt falling on my tongue. Burn, I thought. The fire rushed through me before it shot from my palms in a cascade of tiny fireballs hammering against the lock. The fireballs broke into bursts of flame, exploding against the steel, melting everything. I kept my hands up, and the fire kept coursing out of me while pearls of perspiration dripped down my skin.
Enough, a male voice whispered somewhere at the back of my mind. Enough now, Princess. Do not let the fire control you. You control it.
What was that? I recognized the voice from before, but at the same time, I didn’t.
The voice was right, however. I fought with all my strength to overpower the fire in me, focusing on what I wanted it to do. It obeyed at last, slinking back inside to the confines of my veins before it stilled entirely.
I dropped to my knees, my breath heavy, but it wasn’t like the last time with Shauna. This was more controlled than that had been. It gave me hope that I would learn to wield this power with more confidence the next time around.
Charlie folded her hands on my shoulders, and I sagged backwards. “Are you ok?”
“I am.”
“You sure did a number on that door,” she chuckled.
My head lifted. The door was completely gone, melted into a puddle of steel that was rapidly turning solid again. It wasn’t just the door, however. Half the wall had burned away as well.
“Good thing no one comes to this part of campus very often,” Charlie said. “Or they would have seen one heck of a show.”
I staggered to my feet, collecting myself. “Well, it’s open.”
“No doubt about it.”
We started forwards and entered the darkness of a long hallway. Fluorescent lights had once been used to light it up, but most of them were broken or covered in cobwebs.
“I can’t see anything,” Charlie muttered.
“Maybe I can help?” I summoned the fire once again, confident this time. It was a small orb of fire, and I held it securely in my hand, using it to light our way through the hallway. I smiled as I sensed my power bowing to my will, and not frantically lashing out without my say so.
“You’re getting good at that.” Charlie wiggled her eyebrows. “The boiler room is close, down those stairs, according to the map.” She angled her head at an adjoining staircase.
Neither of us said a word as we descended into more darkness, guided by the light source in my hand. If someone was there, we didn’t want to alert them to our presence.
The smell of iron crawled up my nose as I planted my feet on the next level. The room in front of us was immense. Four large boilers accompanied several tubes and tanks, alongside machines which I had no idea what they were.
My foot hit something soft, making me stumble forward. I caught myself with my palms, the light evaporating from my hand. Turning back, Charlie had brought her phone out and turned the flashlight on, pointing it between us towards what had made me fall. I backed up on my elbows, and fear clutched at my chest.
Someone—a girl—was lying on the floor at Charlie’s feet. I caught a glimpse of the golden hair first. Jen! Please, no! I had to find out, so I crawled closer, clutching onto every bit of hope I had before I realized who it was. It wasn’t Jen. My relief was short-lived as I recognized the person before me
Diane’s open blue eyes stared at me, but there was no sign of life left in them. Her perfect skin had acquired a bluish tint, and parts of her perfect hair had been torn from her scalp, leaving open flesh wounds. She was dead.
The light stirred and I forced myself to look beyond Diane’s body and approach my friend. Charlie was shaking, her fear rolling off her.
“We have to move,” I whispered.
Charlie sniffled. “I know.”
We stepped back over Diane’s body to move further into the room. The place made the hairs on my arms stand on end, and the previous warmth I felt turned to ice-cold shivers. A large steel table stood in the middle of the room and I almost gagged. A heap of blood bags was piled on one end, while medical equipment, tubes, a microscope, syringes, vials and equipment I had never seen before were scattered around the wide table. On the other end stood a machine I did recognize, however, as I had seen a similar one at Mum’s clinic. A blood centrifuge.
A tug at my arm caught my attention, making me shift my eyes to a ledge up ahead. Someone had been hooked to heavy chains hanging from the roof. Tubes were attached to their bodies with blood bags slowly filling next to them. My fear turned to anger, and my fire sparked up again. Not yet, I demanded, making the fire seethe in my veins until I needed it.
I took Charlie’s hand, my eyes adjusting to the dark room.
“I don’t think anyone else is here,” Charlie managed, her voice breaking.
We found a ladder and climbed to the awning above. Two girls were hanging by their arms, their blood trickling into the tubes.
“Corinne,” Charlie whispered, pointing at the nearest girl.
I placed two shaking fingers to her jugular. No pulse. Instinctively, I drew on my healing ability. It was so different from fire. They both came from my blood, but my healing power was soothing, filling me with calm energy and strength. It sifted through me as though gliding on the water before rays of what looked like sunlight radiated from my hands. I placed them over Corinne’s heart, willing her to live.
It’s too late, Princess. The voice was back again.
“No,” I replied. “It can’t be.”
“Ru, she’s gone,” Charlie said, yanking my arm. “Someone else needs your help. Someone alive.”
That got my attention. I kept the magic rays in my hands as I looked at the next girl.
Jen!
“She’s barely breathing.” Charlie was sobbing again. “Help her.”
Barely, I could work with.
I moved my hands over Jen’s body, drawing on the warmth of my healing power. It crashed through me like waves. I couldn’t let Jen die, not like Susan. Not like Dad. The energy pulsated wildly through my veins as I pulled the pain from Jen’s wounds. It drifted away from her, blending with the scorching light beneath my palms as crimson specks in the otherwise golden hues, patching up the cuts and bruises as I went.
Jen’s eyes shot open, and Charlie pulled the needle out from her arm before I sealed that wound as well.
“You’re ok,” Charlie exclaimed, a bit too loud.
“How do we get you down from there?” I asked, eyeing the chains. I couldn’t throw fire at them as I might kill her by doing so. We needed a key.
Jen smiled. “I’ll handle that. Thank you for healing me, Ruby. I knew you would save me.” She winked, then her hands morphed. White fur spurted from her skin as her limbs changed shape into those of a wolf’s. Then she slid her feet—or whatever those were—out of the restraints.
“How?” I mumbled. “Why didn’t you do that before.”
“I couldn’t before. Your healing allowed me to do it now. I’ll tell you later because we need to run before they get back.”
“They?” Charlie asked.
“Yes. Now, let’s get the hell out of Dodge.”
I cast a last glance at Corinne’s dead body, wishing with all my heart that we had got here sooner, then hurried down the ladder after the others. We sprinted back to the entrance.
It was closed.
“Can’t let you leave, ladies,” someone said.
I knew that voice.
We spun back on our heels as a light came on by the table to reveal Rahul’s face, grinning at us in the glare from the dim light. A door I hadn’t seen in the dark was open somewhere at the far end of the room.
“You!” I couldn’t believe it.
“Don’t look so surprised,” he said, picking up a syringe full of blood in his hand. “You’re not leaving me, Jen.” He blew a kiss at her. She snarled back, long fangs growing out from under her upper lip before my very eyes. She was half human, half wolf at this point. “Now, now, ease down, pup. You’re valuable, but your friend, she’s more valuable than any Mag we’ve come across.”
What? Why would he say that? I stepped backwards until the closed door hugged my back. How was it he thought I was some kind of extra-valuable Magical? I was as common as they came. A half-blood.
“You know,” Rahul said. “I thought it was strange that I couldn’t find the syringe after losing it during my struggle with Ilyana. As luck would have it, however, I watched you find it. Jen was running around like a fucking bloodhound, way too easy to spot. You, however.” He bored his eyes into me again. “You left a drop of blood on a thorn in the rose bush. You really should be more careful with your blood. It’s so deliciously rare.”
“What is he talking about, Ru?” Charlie asked, her arms clutched around mine.
I shook my head. Parts of what he was saying about Jen being an obvious Shifter made sense. I saw that too, in hindsight, and I should have seen it then. The part about my rare blood, on the other hand, was nothing short of ludicrous. “Let us go,” I said. “There’s three of us, and one of you.”
“True.” Rahul shrugged. “But I’m the one with a syringe full of human blood, not to mention this.” He lifted his arm in the air, a gun locked in his grip. “You have magic, sure. Even so, you’re not immune to bullets.” He gestured at me with the gun to come closer.
I did. What was I supposed to do with him pointing a gun at our faces? The power inside me was stirring with anticipation, waiting for me to make a decision. Still, it wasn’t as easy as that. This room was a fire hazard if I ever saw one. One ill-placed fireball and I could set the entire boiler room ablaze. Not to mention the adjacent lecture hall above it that we’d seen on the map.
“Stop,” Rahul called. “That’s close enough.” He directed the gun at my heart as he eased his way towards me. “No sudden moves or I’ll shoot to kill.”
He raised the syringe, his eyes fixated on the pulsating veins in my arm. Whatever human blood was supposed to do to me, I wasn’t going to let him inject me with it. While I was frantically grasping at solutions, the sudden howl of a wolf echoed through the room.
“Duck,” Charlie yelled.
I did, and a rush of wind tore at my hair as a large white wolf soared over my head, pinning Rahul to the ground and sending the gun skidding across the floor. The wolf sank its teeth into Rahul’s arm as he grabbed for the gun again. Loud growls and snarls ensued as the beast tore into him, blood spraying across the white fur, spilling out on the floor.
“That is enough,” a man commanded.
The wolf turned low, and I looked back as well.
Greg Barrows was standing behind Charlie, moving her along with him against the wall. The edge of a knife glinted by Charlie’s throat.
“I’m taking this girl with me, and you’ll stay where you are or I will slit her throat so deep, it will be impossible to heal her.”
“Greg,” I hissed, “let her go, and maybe we’ll be kind enough to spare your life.”
His handsome features contorted into an image of pure evil. His brows deepened over his callous eyes, and his mouth curled into a vicious grin.
“I’ve killed before,” he snarled. “Don’t think I won’t do it again.”
“You mean at the Academy?” I shot back.
“Clever girl.” Greg nodded with an approving sneer. “I’m not with them anymore, though.”
“I thought no one left the Academy?”
Greg was halfway across the room with Charlie by now. “I guess they found my methods to be too—experimental, even for their standards. But I’m still an asset to them, so they have given me some wiggle room.” His lips folded away from his teeth.
I locked eyes with Charlie as they moved into the glow of the table lamp. Tears streamed down her cheeks. There was no way I would let him kill her, but I wasn’t about to let him escape either.
You have the power, Princess, the voice in my head called out to me. You are stronger than you think.
A wild force of power exploded in my veins, and my skin lit up as the flames licked across my body, filling the room with glowing light.
Greg pressed the knife at Charlie’s throat as my arm shot out. A nearly invisible force latched onto his hand, forcing him to drop the knife, before wrapping around his throat. Charlie fell to her knees as Greg lost his grip on her. He wheezed, choking underneath my strength. I wanted him dead.
Jen’s wolf form moved in my peripheral vision, rushing over to Charlie, who climbed onto the wolf before they dashed out the back door.
“Please,” Greg croaked.
“You don’t deserve to live,” I said, the sound of my voice booming as if it was coming from someone else. I tightened my grip on the magic at my disposal.
Go on, the voice whispered. It’s all within your grasp, Princess.
“What?” I replied. “What is?”
I shook my head from the fog in my mind and stared at Greg’s face. He was gasping for every bit of air he could find. This wasn’t me.
“No,” I shouted. “I’m not doing it.” I loosened my grip on him, the flames circling me as I hurried over to Greg to grab his arm. He was unconscious.
“Jen,” I yelled.
Seconds later, the white wolf returned.
“Get him out of here. Now! Charlie too. And get as far away as possible.”
The wolf tilted its head at me, its large blue eyes looking at me with an unsaid question.
“Yes. We’re saving him. But I’m about to blow. I can’t stop it. Now, run!”
The wolf bit down on Greg’s leg and tossed him over her back before darting off again at an impressive speed.
I curled up in a ball of ever-growing flames. My stomach twisted, my chest expanding with trying to hold my breath to stop the energy from consuming me. Pressing my eye
s shut, I wrapped my arms around myself in an effort to stop the fire from exploding.
Let go, Princess, the voice called. Let go now, or it will implode.
“At least I won’t blow anything up,” I said back with my thoughts.
It will kill you, child. Let go now!
Somewhere inside, I knew the voice was telling the truth, and I couldn’t hold on much longer. I exhaled sharply and allowed the flames to pull my arms wide, lifting me from the ground to hover in the air. Then I let go. The magical energy blasted out from my body in every direction, a blaze of fire roaring through the room, licking up the walls and across the roof. The flames coiled around me in a storm of fire, swallowing everything in its path. With a snap, the last bit of energy broke free from my skin and I crashed back down with a heavy thud.
Chapter Twenty-Two
My heart beat in a slow rhythm, the ground beneath me soft and wet. I rolled to my back and opened my eyes as a tendril of shadow wafted past to disappear into thin air. I sat, staring out at Willow Lake. What in Avalon’s Deepest Valleys had just happened?
“Ru?” Jen called.
She came running towards me with bare feet, Charlie’s jacket folded around her body, and Charlie sprinting close behind her.
I slapped myself to see if I was dreaming. It hurt, so maybe I wasn’t. How had I not died, though?
The girls threw themselves at me, embracing me tightly.
“I thought you were dead.” Charlie was crying. Happy tears this time.
“Nope. Very much alive, it seems.” I looked down, my cheeks blossoming with shame. “And very much naked.”
Jen laughed. “I know that feeling.”
“Here.” Charlie offered me her jumper, leaving her with a t-shirt and a pair of jeans.
The jumper was a tad too short, but it covered enough. “Thank heavens you like baggy clothes,” I said. Standing warily, everything came rushing back. “Where’s Greg?”
