by Mary Fan
She glanced at Nossiter, who was several yards ahead. To her disappointment, the crystal on the device still glowed blue. No hits yet.
Instead of trying to catch up to her, Aurelia took a perpendicular path through the trees. Her job was to keep any monsters from eating Nossiter while she searched for Storm’s essence, and monsters could come from any direction. The darkness was so dense that there were moments when she felt as if her eyes were closed.
An apprehensive tingle crawled down her back, telling her that something would be coming for her and soon. She didn’t know how she knew; she just did.
She stopped. Something ahead was moving, and it wasn’t the moonlight. She sensed it in the light rustle of the forest floor, the faint stench of sulfur. A supernatural lurked, waiting in ambush just out of sight. Deciding she’d rather flush it out than wait for it to attack, she grabbed the hilts of the double swords strapped to her back, pulled them out of their sheaths, and clanged the blades together. “Metal fire!”
The yellow light of her enchanted blades lit the night. Those twin swords were the most useful things she’d ever come across with their ability to slice through just about anything while remaining light in her hands. And the fact that they caused monsters to fixate on her and not her teammates was an added bonus. Her pulse quickened, and she held the blades above her, waiting for their flame-colored light to draw out the creature.
An unearthly howl rang out from in front of her, accompanied by rapidly approaching footsteps. Bloodwolves. That particular type of monster never traveled solo, which meant there was a pack nearby.
Several pairs of red eyes glowed through the trees, confirming her suspicions. The crunch of claws hitting foliage crackled through the woods. They were coming at her. But she was ready. She was waiting.
Two leaped toward her. Aurelia shot her blades forward, simultaneously stabbing both in midair. Her blades struck them right in the heart, killing them instantly. Her arms dropped from the weight of their bodies, but she kept her grip on her swords. The bloodwolf to her right seemed ready to attack next. She freed her blades and sliced the new attacker across its neck, decapitating it. The sounds of ferocious, animalistic snarls surrounded her, and the thrill of battle rushed through her.
She whirled to the left. Every time she faced the supernatural beasts the Underworld threw at her, a strange kind of elation raced through her blood. She stood inches from death, but she never felt as alive as when she was slicing the heads off creatures that would, if allowed to live, kill any human who crossed their paths.
She whipped both blades out to her sides, and the sharp edges found the necks of two bloodwolves that had been trying to surround her. Hearing the double thuds as they fell, she knew they were dead without looking. The last two must have thought they had her, since they attacked from behind. Aurelia spun the hilts in her hands, reversing her grip. With one blade on either side of her hips, she stabbed backward and felt the tips of her weapons meet their targets.
And then there were none. She lifted her chin triumphantly and stuck her swords back into their places. The blades’ glow faded automatically upon touching the sheaths, leaving her in almost total darkness.
“Firedragon!” Tamerlane ran toward her, the tip of his wand glowing like a small flame.
“Put that out, dummy!” Aurelia stepped over a bloodwolf corpse. “You wanna attract more?”
Tamerlane whispered something, and the light went out. “Sorry.”
Nossiter’s crunching footsteps approached, and the blue light of the essence-detector crystal lit her face. “Everything okay?”
Aurelia wiped the sweat from her forehead. “Just a few bloodwolves. No big deal.”
“Bloodwolves.” Nossiter regarded the dead monsters at her feet. “Glad you consider those things easy. We’ll face a bunch when we storm the Palace.”
“They’re among the guard monsters?” she asked, not entirely surprised. She’d known for a while that the Triumvirate used supernaturals to protect the Palace of Concord, but not what kind.
“Yeah, just confirmed the intel this morning.” Nossiter held up the still-blue crystal. “All right, enough delays. Let’s go.”
Aurelia bit back the urge to point out that Nossiter had no business rushing onto the scene. She’d already ganked all the monsters, and even if she’d arrived in time for the fight, she would only have gotten in her way. Her role in the Rising involved organizational skills and smarts, and she wasn’t much of a fighter. Aurelia didn’t hold that against her—she was old, after all—but still, it made her worry. What if the bloodwolves had gone after Nossiter, and she couldn’t reach her in time to stop them? The same went for any of the Risers—Tamerlane, Calhoun, and all the others. When they finally stormed the Palace of Concord, they’d be up against an army of supernaturals, and she had the sickening feeling that not all of them would make it out alive. Fast as she was, even she couldn’t take down all the beasts by herself, and most of the people who’d be fighting by her side wouldn’t be trained fighters, but ordinary people. Like Flynn.
Worry seeped into her chest. Flynn’s lack of combat skills plus his idiotic tendency to run toward danger were a recipe for death. He’d be on the front lines of the Palace invasion, since his being Untouchable was the Rising’s best chance at getting through the Triumvirate’s enchantments. But once he opened the gate, a bloodwolf could rip his throat out as easily as it could anyone else’s.
She tried to shake the mental image from her head. The thought of him dying made a part of her scream. There would undoubtedly be casualties in the battle for freedom, but Flynn wouldn’t be among them. Not if there was anything she could do about it. Though the amount of time she’d spent with the guy could be measured in minutes, she found that he was one of the few people she actually liked.
It was a weird feeling. She didn’t have much to go on in terms of why. Maybe it was something about his noble stupidity. There weren’t enough good guys in the world, and while Flynn was a total idiot, at least he counted as one. Her usual instinct was to dislike a person until they proved themselves worthy, whoever they were. It wasn’t anything personal, just a cautious instinct that came with the territory when you’d been taught all your life that danger lurked everywhere. Even nice, friendly Tamerlane had taken a month to earn a spot on her good side. The last person she’d taken to right away had been Connor Salvator, which had been the last thing she’d expected upon meeting the Gold Triumvir’s son. But she’d sensed something good about him, and it was the same with Flynn.
A new set of worries enveloped her mind, taking her back to the fight with the Defiants. She tried to shake them away. Walking around a haunted forest in the dead of night was dangerous business, and she needed to focus. But try as she might, she couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d seen during the battle.
Her heart jittered, demanding that she do something. What if she and her team couldn’t find Storm tonight? How long would she have to wait for an answer?
She had one other way to find out, a secret she’d carried for ages. Her fingers itched to reach into the pouch hanging off her belt, the one she always kept on her hips even though she hoped never to use it. But if ever there was an emergency, this was it. If she was to have any chance at discovering the truth, she had to do it outside the Citadel’s perimeter. People would question her if she left outside of a mission, and she couldn’t wait for the next one. She had to go now or she’d lose her chance.
Though she didn’t want to leave Nossiter and Tamerlane, she wouldn’t need long, and her current state of distraction wasn’t helping them anyway.
“Tamerlane!” she hissed.
“What is it?” Tamerlane held up his wand, as if anticipating trouble.
“Chill, there’s no monster around.” Aurelia hesitated. “I need to do something, so can you cover for me if Nossiter asks where I’ve gone? Tell her I’m tracking a monst
er.”
Confusion crossed Tamerlane’s face. “Where are you going?”
“It’s personal.”
“And you have to do it now?”
“Yeah. I couldn’t care less what Nossiter thinks, but I don’t want Calhoun to think I’m a flake.”
“Which is kind of funny, since you’re flaking.” Tamerlane tapped his wand against his palm. “What are you doing?”
“I told you, it’s personal, something I have to deal with alone. Are you gonna help me or not?”
“No.” Tamerlane crossed his arms. “I’m not letting you run off by yourself in these haunted woods, especially since you won’t even tell me why.”
Aurelia rolled her eyes. “I can take care of myself. And I won’t be far. I’ll know if any monsters try to come after you. This will only take a few minutes.”
“It’s not about the monsters. I’m worried about you. You’ve been acting strangely since the Defiants’ attack.”
“Yeah, and I won’t be myself again until I do this thing. Help me out here, okay?”
For a few seconds, Tamerlane didn’t respond. “Fine,” he said finally. “But you have to promise you’ll tell me what’s going on later.”
Since “later” could mean anything—ten years from now, for all he knew—she said, “Okay.”
She dashed into the darkness. The sooner she did what she needed, the sooner she could get back to her mission. Though a loud part of her lectured her for leaving the team, something she cared about deeply hung in the balance, something she couldn’t talk about to anyone. She alone knew the significance of what she’d seen, and she had to know what was going on. If she didn’t find out tonight, the agitation would scratch at her heart for who knew how long, tormenting her until she unearthed the truth—the truth no one would understand and that she could never reveal to anyone.
Chapter 12
Remedial Monster Fighting
Flynn looked out the window of the Citadel’s library, wishing he could have gone with the other Risers on their mission to find Storm. It seemed the universe was trying to balance out the excitement and chaos of the past few days of breaking the law and discovering his destiny by making the last two as boring as possible. He understood why he had to remain hidden, but that didn’t make it any easier.
Outside, a boxy black vehicle emerged from the trees, speeding across the field on its large wheels. Two others followed close behind, along with a handful of motorbikes. The others were finally back.
Eager to find out how the mission had gone, Flynn rushed out of the library. He’d just reached the ground floor when the Citadel’s door flew open.
Calhoun strode through. One glimpse of his scowling face told Flynn that they hadn’t succeeded. “We were so close!” he yelled. “How the devil did Storm get away again?”
Flynn stopped by the banister. I guess things didn’t go as planned.
“Calhoun, please.” Williams entered the building, followed by a number of other Risers. “We did our best.”
Calhoun glanced around at the Risers’ sullen faces and sighed. “I know. Forgive me. None of this is your fault. I’ll figure something out.”
Disappointment weighed on Flynn, and he wished he could have somehow helped the mission succeed. If only he weren’t so new and inexperienced… Hoping Calhoun could give him some direction other than “stay hidden,” he started to approach but stopped when he realized Calhoun and Williams were still talking.
“You can’t keep yelling at them like that,” Williams said. “Morale’s low as it is.”
“Twenty years, Williams.” Calhoun’s voice was a fierce whisper. “It’s been twenty years since we started this movement, and I don’t know how much longer we can limp on like this. The one thing we need to end the Triumvirate’s reign was within our reach, and it slipped through our fingers. If you hadn’t screwed up, Storm wouldn’t have the Orb in the first place!”
Williams’s expression darkened. “How dare you? How was I to know what he was planning?”
“You protected his insider.” Calhoun glowered. “If you’d told Everett what you knew, then we would at least know where the Orb was.”
Flynn widened his eyes. Williams knew who Storm’s insider was. Why hadn’t he stopped that person? With the nation teetering on the brink of revolution, what possible reason could there be for refusing to act?
The air shook with the roar of a motorbike engine. Flynn spun toward the door, which still sat open. Outside, Aurelia jumped off a black bike, which she had parked in the field. Her ponytail was in disarray with several pieces falling out and flowing down her neck. Tamerlane, who had been behind her, followed as she marched up the Citadel’s steps.
“Come on, Firedragon.” Tamerlane ran to catch up to Aurelia. “You said you’d tell me.”
Aurelia ignored him. She caught Flynn’s eye and waved. “Hey, Nighty! You actually stayed where you were told! I was half expecting to hear that you’d gone after Storm yourself.”
Flynn walked toward her. “Believe me, I considered it.”
“Firedragon—” Tamerlane began but broke off. He looked as though he wanted to say something more then glanced at Flynn and closed his mouth.
What’s going on with them? Flynn wondered. “So… what happened?”
“We found Storm’s trail.” Tamerlane pulled his orange wand from his pocket and fiddled with it. “But it vanished after a few miles.”
“Yeah, it sucked.” Aurelia tugged the hair tie out of her messy ponytail, letting her hair tumble onto her shoulders. “At least we scared him off. Hopefully, he won’t try anything soon.”
“He probably won’t,” Tamerlane said. “Flynn broke his wand. Should keep him in hiding for a while.”
“How come?” Flynn asked. “Can’t he just get another?”
“You don’t just get another wand.” Tamerlane gave him an incredulous look. “I keep forgetting how little they let Norms know about magic.”
Flynn huffed. “Enlighten me, then.”
“Wands aren’t just ‘magic sticks,’ as Firedragon calls them.” Tamerlane elbowed Aurelia, who made a face. “They focus and channel your powers—turn your intentions into results. The higher a wand’s quality, the more attuned it is to your magic.”
Aurelia groaned. “Skip to the end, professor. We’ve got stuff to do.”
Tamerlane shot her an annoyed look. “Fine. Long story short, every Enchanter—well, every adult Enchanter—builds their own wand in ways specific to them. You can mold them however you like, and advanced Enchanters will even carve them with runes. Based on the fragments we found, Storm had an especially powerful and elaborate one, created to channel the powers of the Underworld. It will take him weeks, if not months, to create another like it.”
“Glad I broke the thing.” Flynn glanced at the orange stick Tamerlane held. “So you built that?”
“I sure did.” Tamerlane gave the wand a twirl. “It’s a simple one, though. If I’d stayed at university, I might have learned to make a better one by now.”
“How’s it specific to you?”
“The most obvious way is the color. Wands can be made of anything, but when the Enchanter imbues it with magic, it settles on a shade that reflects any particularly strong powers or personality traits. Most are golden brown, which is neutral. Storm’s was black, representing dark magic. If you remember Principal Everett’s, it was deep blue for ambition. And Williams’s is burgundy for integrity.” He held up his wand. “As for orange? That’s for curiosity.”
“Neat.” Flynn found all the details about wands, a previously forbidden topic, fascinating. He would have asked more questions, but Aurelia let out a loud, exaggerated yawn.
“All right, that’s enough wand talk.” She cocked her head at him. “You’ve been hanging around being useless long enough. Time to put you to work.”
> Flynn grimaced. “Hey, if it were up to me—”
“I’m just playing.” She angled her mouth teasingly. “It’s not your fault we ditched you. But I’m back, and I volunteered to teach you the basics of monster-fighting, so you’re all mine now.”
Flynn found the news simultaneously exciting and discomforting. On the one hand, she was the Firedragon, whose unbelievable talents he’d witnessed firsthand. He should have been honored to have such a great fighter teach him. On the other hand, she was also the taunting girl who seemed to enjoy pushing his buttons. “Thanks? Why’d you do that?”
“Because it’ll get me out of guard duty. And because you’re the idiot who goes running into danger when you don’t know what you’re doing. Next time, good luck might not cut it. I’m gonna teach you how to stay alive.”
Tamerlane lifted his brows. “Go easy. Flynn’s a newbie, remember?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Aurelia bolted toward the staircase, clipping Flynn’s shoulder. “C’mon! To the tower!”
Flynn followed her up, leaving Tamerlane in the main hall. He’d never considered himself a slow runner until he’d met her, but it took all his energy just to keep up.
“It’s a good thing you’ve only dealt with spirits and the undead.” Aurelia didn’t even sound out of breath as she scurried up the steps. “Lots of monsters don’t need magic to be dangerous. Like fangbeasts. Even if it can’t clone itself, it can still rip your throat out. I’m the only person on the planet who can take one and live.”
“That was amazing.” Flynn tried to sound normal, even though his lungs protested running and talking at the same time. “How did you do that?”
“I’m fast. No one in the world is as fast as me.” With those last words, Aurelia’s tone took a dark turn. The way she spoke made it seem like there was something more, but that she didn’t want to talk about it, and he wondered whether it was because she’d been conditioned since childhood to be a killer.
