Phoenix Ashes Master

by Anne, Melody

She watched in amazement as a light surrounded her, then stretched out until it was filling the entire car. The demon went flying out the window as the car continued its sideways motion, but none of the passengers inside were moving, including Sadie and Phoenix. “What’s happening?” Phoenix asked as the ground came up to meet the train, the impact smashing the car hard against the earth. Screams filled the night.

  “I don’t know. Why aren’t we tumbling with the train?” Sadie asked as the light continued to flow through her, seeming to act as some sort of protective bubble for everyone close.

  “This is mostly kids, Sadie. The car we’re in is filled with children. Maybe your powers were stirred because you instinctively knew you had to protect them,” Phoenix said as she scanned all of their frightened faces.

  After what seemed an eternity, the car stopped moving with a loud metallic groan, the train lying on its side in the middle of a field. They could hear cries of pain coming from all directions, but in their car, no one was hurt, not even a sound escaping the mouths of the children.

  Sadie pulled her hand away from the cold metal, holding it close to her face, then watched in wonder as the light retreated, seemingly seeping back inside her until it was gone.

  “We have to get off. I don’t know if this thing is going to blow up or not, but we need to get off this train,” Phoenix said as she quickly pulled herself together.

  “What about our parents or Jayden, John and Brian?” Sadie asked as reality began to set in.

  “We’ll find them, Sadie. I have to believe they’re okay. I won’t make it if I think otherwise.”

  “Okay, you’re right. Let’s get the kids out of here,” Sadie said. The back door of the train car was hanging loosely and Phoenix kicked it the rest of the way open for a fast exit. Sadie started handing kids down to Phoenix, and one by one, they began clearing the car.

  They didn’t think about the demons lingering in the dark. They just did this one task. They’d live second by second at this precarious moment in time. They were very aware each breath they took could most likely be their last.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  *** Drake ***

  Drake slowly crept around the back of the house. He could’ve sworn he heard a noise coming from inside, but it could be nothing more than a stray animal. On the other hand, it could be a group of soldiers who wouldn’t hesitate to shoot him between the eyes.

  He might be far from his base in Montana, but that didn’t mean his picture hadn’t been distributed throughout the country. In their eyes he was a deserter, he’d had left them to fight for the enemy that was slowly starting to overtake them.

  Without making a sound, he made his way up the back steps and stood next to the door, carefully listening. After a tense pause he heard a scraping sound as if someone was shuffling across the floor. It was definitely human.

  If a soldier was in there, it was a poor excuse for one, because he didn’t know the first thing about being silent. He listened for several long minutes as the shuffling through the house continued. He didn’t know who was inside, so he needed to be more sure before making an entrance.

  If someone was in the house who needed his help, he would help, but if it was an enemy, he’d have to kill the person. It was his duty to the people who’d suffered long enough. He didn’t enjoy killing, but it was something that had to be done in this new world.

  When a small child’s whimper echoed through the house, and a voice comforted it, Drake had his answer. They were survivors who needed his help.

  He placed his hand on the knob to see if it would turn, and luck was on his side when the latch quickly gave and the door creaked open. The noise inside instantly quieted as the terrified people most likely huddled in some dark corner, praying whoever was at their door would assume the home was empty and go on to the next one.

  “Hello. My name is Drake and I’m not here to harm you. I know you can’t believe that immediately with so few people left in the world to trust, but I assure you I’m one of the good guys. I heard a child inside. I have some food with me. I’m going to set it right here by the door and then go outside and sit down to wait for you to come to me. My girlfriend and her children and I have a house several miles from here, a little ways up the mountain, that we’ve been taking people to. We’re trying to gather together, making it easier for all of us to survive. If you want to join us, all you have to do is come out and talk to me, see if you feel safe or not. If you’d rather stay here, I can leave you with about a week’s supply of food. I’ll let you have a little time to discuss it.”

  Drake took some food from his backpack and set it on the floor inside the doorway before he secured the door and stepped off the porch. He scanned the yard and then tensed.

  He should be focusing on the house, making sure some deranged husband wasn’t coming up behind him to leave a knife or a bullet in his back, but his gaze was drawn to the west. A half-mile from where he was, he could see a set of tracks, and he felt a familiar vibration in the ground as if a train was actually moving on them.

  There was no possible way a train was operating. He hadn’t seen one since the war had begun. He didn’t even know if the tracks were still usable, let alone if the trains could operate. As he took several steps in the direction of the tracks, he heard the unmistakable sound of a locomotive.

  He had to be imagining things. Distantly, he heard the sound of the door opening behind him. He felt no threat and didn’t bother turning. His only focus was on the scene unfolding in front of him. It was coming closer, the unmistakable sight of a large engine light on the front of a train, its bright rays lighting up the area.

  He didn’t know what to think. Were enemy soldiers traveling the rails now or was this a band of survivors? He didn’t think he’d get the chance to find out, because he certainly couldn’t stop a moving train.

  Just as it neared the neighborhood, there was a deafening screech as the engine jumped the tracks and started flying sideways, pulling the cars behind it off of the tracks.

  Terrified screams filled the night as the fast moving train slammed into the ground and then continued to slide, moving quickly through the wet grass. When it finally came to a stop, Drake waited to see if the engine was going to catch fire, but nothing happened. Cries of pain echoed along the narrow streets of the small town.

  Without further hesitation Drake ran to see if he could help. He reached the train in minutes and spotted a young woman standing at one of the doors, handing down children to another small female. He made a beeline for them.

  “I’m Drake. I saw the crash. How can I help?” he offered, not wanting to scare the woman. She looked at him with suspicion, then seemed to find he wasn’t a threat, because she turned back to the other girl standing in the open doorway.

  “You can help me get these kids down. I don’t know if this train is going to explode or not, but we have to get them out of here. It’s not safe. Plus, I need to find my parents and my boyfriend.”

  Drake grabbed the next child who was handed down, and they cleared the car quickly. Then the woman jumped down.

  “Thanks. I’m Phoenix and this is my friend, Sadie. We have about a thousand people on board, and I’m sure there are a lot of injuries, so we need to get to them as quickly as we can.”

  “See that house over there? Take the children there. I was doing a search of the town, looking for survivors, and it’s the only home I found with occupants. I haven’t had a chance to speak with them yet, but they weren’t hostile,” Drake said before he took off to help a woman who was dangling from a window, her blood sliding down the thick glass.

  Drake turned back and was relieved to see the girls were doing as he said. There was now an incredibly petite woman standing on the porch with a small boy clinging to her leg. He couldn’t see any details — it was too dark, but she seemed to be nodding her head in approval, and then the kids were going up on the porch and walking inside.

  “Go ahea
d and let yourself drop. I promise I’ll catch you,” Drake said to the dangling woman who let go without any further encouragement. He became so busy helping the survivors off the train, he didn’t know how much time passed. Soon, daylight lit the horizon.

  There was blood everywhere as people staggered from the wreckage, some with no injuries, while others looked as if they wouldn’t last long. When he finally managed to get inside the cars, he realized how few had actually survived. There were piles of bodies lying in awkward positions, obviously flung into the sides of the cars as the train crashed. Blood stained the walls, windows and floorboards, making it difficult to maneuver.

  Drake had to fight nausea as he worked through the early morning, glad to find several men who were unhurt and were more than grateful to have his help. Once they knew all of the survivors were off the train, they circled around, trying to decide what to do with the dead.

  It was decided that the best way to dispose of the remains was by fire, so the rest of the day was spent gathering the dead and making a huge pile of their bodies. The surviving women, children, and injured joined Phoenix and Sadie in the house close to them. They didn’t need to witness what would happen when the fire began.

  Phoenix huddled in the house with the kids while the surviving men took care of the rest of the passengers. She didn’t know what had happened to Jayden or John or Cassidy. She hadn’t seen her parents, or Sadie’s. Anxiety was clawing at her throat.

  By the time they got all the survivors off of the train, there were fewer than a hundred of them. A few days ago, their camp had over fifteen hundred people, and now they were down to fewer than a hundred. How could it have all gone so wrong?

  Sadie was curled up in the corner, silently crying because she hadn’t seen a sign of Brian or her parents. Neither of them could look at the dead bodies they pulled from the train. Most of them were so mangled they were unrecognizable. If either of their parents were among the dead, they didn’t want to see them like that. Where had Jayden, John, and Cassidy gone? They couldn’t be killed by a train wreck, but normally they’d be right there with the girls, helping the survivors. What if Vyco had them? They might as well just give up at that point, as it would all be over. They couldn’t beat Vyco without magical assistance — it was impossible.

  “I can’t stay in here anymore, Phoenix. I’m sorry. I have to do something, help them. Maybe our parents and Brian were thrown from the train. I’m going to ask the guys to search with me.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Phoenix said.

  “No. You have to stay with the kids. Plus, one of us has to be here when Jayden comes back. We both know he won’t leave you long.”

  Phoenix hoped that was the case. She knew he wouldn’t willingly leave her, but what if the decision was out of his hands? She nodded and watched Sadie walk out the door. As Phoenix stepped out onto the porch, watching the search crew take off down the tracks, she felt completely alone. Her parents were out there somewhere, her brother, Jayden. She didn’t even have Sadie with her now.

  With weariness weighing heavily on her shoulders, she slumped into the old rocking chair that was sitting on the front porch overlooking a huge tree growing in the wide yard. She pushed the last few days’ events from her mind as she forced herself to relax. The situation was beyond her control and she refused to freak out until she knew for sure she’d forever lost those she loved.

  She knew they couldn’t be lost. If any of them were dead, she’d feel it to her very soul. She’d be ripping apart. She didn’t believe she was the chosen one, but she did believe she had magic inside of her. She would know if something was terribly wrong. She’d feel it.

  Or maybe it was nothing more than wishful thinking. She wasn’t sure of anything at this point.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  *** Phoenix ***

  The tension began ebbing as Phoenix Light sat in a rocking chair and tried focusing on nothing other than the warm wind blowing across the deck. It had been a long day, a seemingly even longer night, and she enjoyed the quiet. The brewing storm rose in front of her as wind picked up speed and began blowing the low-hanging tree branches toward the ground.

  She wasn’t worried — not about the tempest, at least. She’d watched many storms in the years since the war had started, always enjoying the fury of Mother Nature. No matter what man threw at them, Mother Nature could always do more — and often did.

  Without warning, something shifted. Unsure what it was, a subtle change had her trembling in her seat. The frenzy of the wind was no longer soothing, the rejuvenation of the warm night air now lost. She froze in fear as the bamboo screen attached to the porch’s eave fluctuated, casting shadows in the bright moonlight.

  “Hello?” she called, trying to sound more courageous than she felt about the sense of an unknown presence. Maybe she was misinterpreting the storm — a natural side effect from another stressful day in a slew of them.

  A limb snapped, raising goosebumps on her flesh. What was wrong with her? She didn’t fear the night; she certainly didn’t fear Mother Nature inflicting her wrath.

  A presence.

  Something . . . or someone . . . was out there. Please don’t let it be Vyco or one of his many followers . . .

  “What’s the matter, Phoenix? Are you afraid?” whispered an eerie voice, barely audible above the howling wind.

  Squeezing her eyes tightly closed, Phoenix almost believed she’d imagined the voice.

  Gazing intently at the bamboo screen, she strained to see what, if anything, was behind it. Her heart thundered when the screen suddenly ripped free and soared through the air. The woven fabric floated downward, hovering about six feet above the ground for several seconds before blowing away with forced energy. Soon, the small barrier of protection was out of her vision and she felt exposed and vulnerable to the unseen eye she knew was upon her.

  The light streaming from the moon’s reflection made visibility easy, but in a less-than- comforting way. In the blink of an eye, the storm clouds shifted and the wind howled — then she was blanketed in pure blackness, and her arms were pinned against the chair. She struggled to rise on her paralyzed legs. She wanted to go inside — needed to be in the safety of the house.

  No matter how hard she pushed, she couldn’t stand. Frantically, her movements became more urgent as dampness broke out on her brow, and chills ran down her spine.

  “It’s your fear holding you down. You can, and will, rise,” she told herself, pushing for all she was worth.

  Nothing.

  She wasn’t going anywhere.

  “Troubles, Phoenix?” a voice asked — closer than before.

  With a growing dread, she knew that voice. She should, as it often came to her in her nightmares. Its pleasantness was only deceit — she’d learned that long ago. The demon behind that voice wanted nothing less than her soul.

  “I’m not afraid of you, Vyco. You can stop your games and come out of the dark!” Phoenix challenged.

  The slight wobble in her voice betrayed her words. She was afraid — terrified, in fact. After everything she’d already been through, she was fragile, an easy target for the leader of the dark world who was so much closer than any mortal realized.

  Making her situation more catastrophic, John, Cassidy, and Jayden were gone. It was just her — and a roomful of innocent children. Why couldn’t Jayden feel her fear and come back to her?

  “Our time has come, Phoenix. It’s just you and me now — how it has always been meant to be,” Vyco said as he materialized, walking from the mist that covered the cold, hard ground; a light appearing out of the darkness, marking his entrance.

  He was dressed as black as the night, his eyes glowing red, shooting sparks as anticipation stared back at her through their evil depths. This could be her end. Was she ready? She’d always known her life was temporary, but to face death now, was scarier than she’d thought it would be. Vyco was so evil. To die at his hands risked her ve
ry soul.

  “Take my hand and you’ll be saved,” Vyco offered, suddenly only two feet away from her, his hand within reach of her own.

  Desire filled her — a desire to do as he asked, to take his hand and let it all be over. She looked behind him and watched as the moon reappeared, and the clouds siphoned down, creating a perfect funnel.

  “Save yourself, Phoenix. Aren’t you tired of this war? Don’t you want it to be over? Jayden’s gone — he won’t return. Take my hand, child — and you’ll be free.”

  Phoenix looked into his eyes as she listened to the rumble of the tornado hitting the ground. She knew what he was saying. Taking his hand meant she’d live. Refuse him again and the twister would consume her, along with all of the children on the other side of the wall.

  The house couldn’t offer them protection.

  It was the end of the road with nowhere to hide. Nothing left to fight for. She reached out her hand . . . her decision made. What came next . . . wasn’t at all what she’d thought it would be.

  “Stop, Phoenix! What are you doing? You can’t listen to him. You’re the savior of this world. If you don’t want to do that, if you only want to be free — come with me. I’ll take you away from here.”

  Phoenix’s eyes shifted behind Vyco where Devon floated off the ground, his stunning countenance lighting the yard brighter than the moonlight.

  “Devon, I’m so tired of fighting. Everyone’s gone — they left me. My mom and dad. Jayden. John. Sadie. Gone. They’re all gone,” Phoenix sobbed as fear and anguish consumed her.

  “Then let me take you away,” Devon offered, floating toward her.

  “Stand back!” Vyco thundered as the wind picked up speed and the funnel in the sky dropped down, ripping up the ground as it made a path toward them.

  “Phoenix, come with me before it’s too late,” Devon begged. Vyco snarled as he lifted his arm, aiming it toward Devon, who moved just in time.

  “Phoenix, end this. Come with me,” Vyco demanded, his attention turning back toward her, his tone soothing, as if he were doing nothing more than trying to help an old friend.