The Fire Within Series: Books 1 - 3

by Ella M. Lee

  No response, though I could hear breathing and crashes and static. I waited a moment.

  “Teng! Time?” I asked.

  “Uhhh, two or three minutes,” he said.

  “Fuck,” I said.

  Keisha’s portal was forming up. We had Farhad. Sylvio was here now, and he could take care of Farhad better than I could. Ideally, he was a better fighter with better experience for going back below, but I was good enough. I needed Sylvio on the boat to get Keisha, Teng, and Farhad home safely if things didn’t go well for the rest of us.

  “Sylvio, I’m going after them!” I yelled, barely giving him a moment to register the words.

  I flew down the steps, hauling a shield up around me for light and protection. Below me, I saw the brilliant icy glow of Nicolas’s shield. He had Daniel in his arms—Dan was covered in blood, unconscious and looking dead. With one hand, Nicolas was throwing back blasts of Water magic over his shoulder. He was limping. I gasped at the sight, thinking my heart might stop.

  “Two minutes!” I yelled. “Go!”

  “One more behind us!” he yelled back.

  His eyes were fierce and blazing. He hesitated.

  “Go!” I yelled again, waving him off, charging past him.

  I called up some of my transmuted fire, sending it down in a wave. It missed Nicolas’s attacker. I tried again. Another miss. He was gaining on us. I backed up the stairs, still sending fire toward him. It wasn’t working. I spared a glance at Nicolas, far ahead of me up the stairs.

  Thank god, I thought. I prayed that Daniel was still alive—there hadn’t been a moment to ask.

  That glance cost me. Smoke magicians could move quicker than practically anyone else. My attacker was on me suddenly, landing a kick square to my chest. I staggered, still trying to climb, sending punches blindly back toward him.

  He grabbed me, trying to get his arms around mine, and I dragged him with me. I could see light ahead, but each step toward it was a trial.

  I had one goal: make it to the surface. I knew how little time was left on the clock.

  “Fiona, get up here now!” Nicolas shouted into my earpiece. He must have reached the top of the stairs.

  “I’m trying!” I yelled back, spinning to block several of my attacker’s blows.

  There was a sudden thunk, thunk, thunk noise.

  Oh shit, I thought, as the stairs below us rolled and merged back into ocean water.

  I landed several kicks, the last of which sent my attacker sprawling. I ran up the stairs, but I still wasn’t close enough to the surface.

  The thunking noises were louder now, and I gasped a single quick breath as the path beneath my feet evaporated and icy ocean water poured over me.

  I was tossed like a rag doll.

  I opened my eyes but couldn’t see anything, not even which way was up. Salt water burned my eyes and froze me to the bone. I called up a shield, but it was no use. Water magic wouldn’t keep water itself out, as it was its own nature, and I didn’t know the type of advanced shielding that could negate elemental interference.

  You’d think being part of Water Clan would prevent me from drowning in water, but I was still human, and I still needed the same things humans needed—like food, and blood, and air.

  And there was no air here.

  If I were Teng, perhaps I could have used the water to my advantage, had it guide me or bring me air. But I was mere weeks in the clan, and I hadn’t been focused on raw elemental control. I panicked.

  I tried to get oriented correctly, but I couldn’t. I had no idea how far the surface was, or in what direction. Nothing made any sense. There were too few seconds left, and they were ticking by dangerously fast.

  Nicolas! Nicolas! I yelled in my mind, but for all I knew, I was out of his range.

  I wasn’t a strong swimmer, having grown up in the Midwest, where the most dangerous body of water nearby was just my town’s swimming pool. I hadn’t had a lot of opportunities to get better.

  A stream of bubbles issued from my mouth as I fought against my instincts to breathe, and I followed them, trying to claw my way in that direction.

  The ocean was having none of it, though. It was still agitated by Teng’s magic, and the current clawed back lethally. More seconds went by without me being able to see or hear anything. My brain was begging for air, my lungs throbbing. I still hadn’t broken the surface. I had no idea if I was even close.

  Without warning, my body overpowered my brain automatically, and I took a deep breath full of water, my lungs on fire.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck, I thought, my brain slowing. At least the others made it.

  That was my last thought before the world dissolved into nothing.

  Chapter 10

  As it turned out, I wasn’t dead.

  If I had thought my lungs were on fire before, that was nothing to how they felt now, like they were turning themselves inside out within me.

  I felt Nicolas’s strong fist pounding my chest, his magic pressing into me with force. I was choking—there was no space for air in me with all the water still there. I tried to inhale, but my lungs felt like imploding. I was freezing and suffocating and panicking and dying. Coughs and spasms wracked my body.

  Anything would be better than this pain.

  Strong arms were around me, hauling me up into a sitting position. Sylvio? I coughed, vomiting water again and again, trying to clear my lungs. Every tiny movement was like fire burning through me. Sylvio and Nicolas were talking, their tones urgent, but I couldn’t understand them. I clawed at my throat, but Nicolas pulled my hands away, holding them in a viselike grip.

  “Breathe, Fiona,” Nicolas said, his tone commanding. “You’re all right. Deep, slow breaths. Open your eyes for me, lamb.”

  I opened them a crack; anything more was impossible. I could barely make out Nicolas’s blurred shape in front of me, but his voice centered me. One of his hands pressed against my chest again, and I felt a torrent of his magic healing me, quelling me, giving me a moment of calm in which I could breathe. I took the deep breaths he asked for—sorely needed gasping breaths that shot through me with pain again—and shuddered.

  Someone called Nicolas’s name urgently, and the outline of him disappeared from in front of me. I reached my hands up to clear my eyes, my whole body numb and shaking, still gasping.

  “Easy, Fiona,” Sylvio said from behind me, still holding my shoulders so I could cough out more water. I could only barely take in air, each breath an assault on my body. My vision was blurring in and out of focus.

  “Daniel,” I rasped, but the word hardly sounded like anything other than a garbled mess. “Farhad.”

  I tried to struggle to my knees, but I could barely move, my motions like wading through quicksand. Sylvio held me firmly.

  “Alive,” he said. “We’re all alive. We got everyone back through the portal. We’re safe. We’re home.”

  The room was finally coming into focus, the same place we had left only an hour before.

  My relieved sigh turned into a barrage of wheezing that burned through me and wracked my body. I clutched my hands to my chest, the pain nearly suffocating me. My back was pressed against Sylvio’s warm body, and his hands ran soothingly up and down my arms. I couldn’t believe we made it out of there.

  I looked around, blinking. The Hong Kong sun was very bright in my eyes. My gaze fell first on Teng, who was sprawled on the floor, unconscious.

  “Teng,” I rasped.

  “He’s fine,” Sylvio said. “He’ll wake up once his magic balances itself out.”

  Nicolas was kneeling in front of Farhad, who was shaking violently, his eyes distant. He was covered in blood and bruises but didn’t seem to be terribly injured. Nicolas was talking in low tones, his hands on Farhad’s wrists. From what I could tell, he was doing complex spellwork to remove the shackles—carefully overloading them with magic—but his gaze was elsewhere. I followed it, my heart sputtering and then stopping.

  Daniel was stret
ched out on the floor, blood pooling around him, his form limp and his eyes closed.

  “Dan!” I lurched forward, but Sylvio held me tight.

  “Don’t interrupt,” he said. “Irina is the best healer in the clan. He’ll pull through.”

  Working over him, moving quickly and speaking to Keisha tersely, was Irina. I had never seen her before. I knew her only by description: tall, thin, dyed platinum-blonde hair, sharp jaw, long limbs. Right now, she was incredibly focused, and I was grateful that Nicolas’s true healer was here to help. Keisha was following every word she said, carefully laying magic as Irina directed.

  Please be okay, I thought, and my shortness of breath had nothing to do with having nearly drowned minutes before.

  I watched them, frozen, still soaking wet and shivering in Sylvio’s grasp. Daniel was so pale, deathly white. I thought I would die if he died.

  My best friend here.

  Please be okay, please be okay, I thought again, the words like a tragic, frantic refrain.

  Chandra appeared at the door, hauling a stack of blankets and water bottles with her.

  “Irina?” she called, but Irina waved her off, holding up two fingers. Give me two minutes, the gesture said.

  Chandra nodded and went to Nicolas and Farhad first, having a short and soft conversation with them. Farhad looked shell-shocked, but the shackles were off, and he was speaking.

  She then went to Teng, wrapping a blanket around him carefully and lifting his head gently to place another underneath it. His eyes flicked open, and they exchanged a couple of words in low tones.

  She came to me after, kneeling at my side. She handed Sylvio a blanket, and he wrapped it around me, then she handed me a bottle of water.

  “You okay?” Chandra asked, touching my arms.

  Although our relationship was still a tentative truce at best, that seemed not to matter in the face of this emergency.

  I couldn’t speak. I gave a shaky thumbs-up, shivering, my eyes locked on Daniel’s still form. I was crying, tears mingling with the ocean water on my skin.

  “Drink this,” she said, opening the bottle in my hand. “I know it seems counterintuitive, but you need the fresh water.”

  She then went to Irina’s side, asking a low question while Irina ran her hands an inch above Daniel’s abdomen in complex gestures. He had a wound that had practically split him open. Irina pointed to several places, and Chandra poured water over them. She then poured water over his face, washing the blood off, examining him carefully.

  We all watched the three of them work over Daniel for several tense minutes, silent and grim. Chandra cradled Daniel’s head in her lap. Finally, finally, I saw his eyes open a crack. He blinked several times. Chandra’s face lit up, relieved.

  “Lie still,” she said. “You’re in pretty bad shape, but you’ll be okay.”

  I thought my heart would explode out of my chest in relief. I looked to Nicolas, who caught my glance and nodded once. His expression was dark and unfathomable.

  Chandra caught my eye next, beckoning to me with one hand. Sylvio released me, and I pulled myself forward, staggering to my knees. I crawled the ten feet between Sylvio and Chandra, avoiding Keisha, who was working as seriously as I had ever seen her, deep in concentration.

  “Can I?” I whispered, gesturing to Chandra’s position.

  She knew how much Daniel loved me. She held his head carefully while I took her place, resting my hands lightly on his shoulders. His skin was like ice.

  He opened his eyes again—they were duller than usual, dark and heavy. He smiled at me faintly, his breathing ragged and strained. He was still covered in blood and obviously in pain. Irina and Keisha were working over the deadly looking gash across his torso.

  Don’t faint, I told myself, my heart nearly beating out of my chest. You’ve seen injuries like this before. Be strong for him.

  “Hey, you,” I murmured.

  I brushed his sweat-slicked hair out of his face. He smiled again, his lips forming the first syllable of my name wordlessly.

  “Shh...” I said, my throat raw as I continued stroking his hair. “Don’t speak. Everything is okay. I’m here for you. We’re all here for you. Focus on my voice. Focus on my touch. Keep breathing, darling. Irina is here to take care of you. We all love you so much, Dan.”

  Nicolas came up behind me, putting one arm around me and one hand on Daniel’s shoulder. Nicolas, to my surprise, was also soaking wet and shivering. I’d never seen him so distressed before. To anyone else in the room, he may have seemed as composed as usual, but I knew exactly how tense he was. I could feel his shakiness with his body so close to mine.

  You pulled me out? I guessed.

  I did. His voice was gentle in my mind. You weren’t breathing. I thought… I thought you and Dan were both dead.

  No such luck, I thought, sparing him a tight smile. I only feel like I’m dead right now.

  I watched Irina make a rapid series of pinching gestures over Daniel’s wound, and suddenly it was gone, only a faint red line of swelling where it had been. She sighed.

  “He lost a lot of blood,” Irina said to Nicolas, “but we fixed the broken ribs and the laceration. He’ll be okay. He’s stable now. He needs more healing to finish up, but first we need to get him fluids, and get him warm and dry. His body is in hypovolemic shock.”

  “Do you hear that, Dan?” Nicolas said. “You’ll live to bother me for many more days to come.”

  Daniel’s eyes were closed, but he smiled weakly. I took his hand in mine and squeezed. He looked about as worse for the wear as possible, but Irina’s words echoed in my mind.

  He’ll be okay.

  We had somehow come out of that tight operation with everyone, despite the lack of planning and time. It was a testament to Nicolas and the strength of his group that it had gone so well despite emergency after emergency. I didn’t know many commanders who would risk everything to rescue a group member so deep in enemy territory.

  “Daniel, let me see your gorgeous eyes again,” I said.

  His eyes flickered open and found mine.

  “Beautiful,” I said, suppressing my coughing. “Keep breathing. Focus on that, my darling.”

  Nicolas squeezed my shoulder. I turned my head to look at him.

  What happened to your magic? I asked.

  Nicolas’s magic was normally sweeping and expansive, glimmering with beauty and depth. Right now, it was in shambles, dark and murky and barely there.

  Seeking out that tunnel, destroying Smoke’s barriers, triaging Dan, fighting the ocean to find you, breaking those shackles… I’m drained, he said. I’m not an infinite well of power.

  I was trembling again, studying Nicolas’s dazed expression. I’m sorry, I said.

  He shook his head. Never say that. I would gladly give everything I have for you, for all of you.

  Sylvio and Nicolas moved Daniel carefully to Nicolas’s apartment, where Irina and Chandra could continue to take care of him.

  Despite my own body being wracked with pain, I saw Teng—who could walk, thankfully—and Keisha back to their apartments. Teng I left in Cameron’s care, exhausted and shaky but otherwise unscathed.

  Keisha was also unscathed, but between the two portals and the healing she had done for Daniel, she was completely spent. I waited at her place while she showered, still wet and wrapped in a blanket myself. I made sure she was in bed with a mug of tea, half asleep, before I left.

  I thought the short trip up to my own apartment would kill me. I leaned against the smooth walls of the elevator, panting, throat still on fire, barely making it through my own door.

  As I removed my wet clothes, my eyes fell on Daniel’s watch, still strapped to my wrist from when he’d given it to me earlier. I examined it carefully. The leather was soaked, but the watch seemed to be dry and working. I had always admired Daniel’s impressive watch, which had been a gift from Nicolas. I set it aside very carefully.

  I sat down on the floor of the s
hower, letting the hot water pour over me. I cried, the stress of the morning finally manifesting itself into something tangible.

  I had nearly died no more than an hour ago. I gasped, shaking at the idea that my final resting place may have been the bottom of an Australian cove. Clan members had met worse fates than that. Hell, I had almost met worse fates than that.

  But no, I hadn’t died. We had pulled it off. I shouldn’t cry, but it seemed like the only thing my body wanted to do.

  I shuddered. It felt like I would never be warm again, like I would never be able to breathe without pain again. Eventually, I hauled myself to my knees. I washed off the blood and salt water. I breathed in the delicious scent of my shampoo, which was now the reassuring scent of my home. Eventually, I stood without crumbling, without falling, without crying.

  I dressed, still shaking from the cold and the shock of drowning, pulling on the warmest hoodie I owned, along with leg warmers and fuzzy slippers. I grabbed Dan’s watch on my way out. It took all my remaining energy to walk the hundred feet to Nicolas’s apartment. There was no shield in place on his door, and his apartment was a flurry of activity.

  Ryan was there, on the phone with someone, talking rapidly in Cantonese. Farhad was seated across from him at the dining room table, wrapped in a blanket. He was nursing a steaming mug of tea, looking upset but stable enough.

  Irina and Chandra were still with Daniel in the bedroom, and I could hear them conferring in low tones. Nicolas was seated on the couch, typing furiously on his laptop, one eye on Ryan. He looked more tired than I had ever seen him. His attention went to me, concerned. I gave him a half-hearted wave, walking past him to the bedroom door.

  Daniel was unconscious, an intravenous line hooked into his arm, pumping him full of fluids. Chandra held his hand. Irina was still doing minor spellwork over him, completely focused and zoned out to everything else in Nicolas’s busy apartment.

  “How is he?” I asked Chandra, barely getting the words out before coughing.

  “Healing,” she said. “He’ll sleep for a little while. The blood loss does that. But he’ll be fine, brand new.”