The Fire Within Series: Books 1 - 3

by Ella M. Lee

  Forty-five. I was halfway up the iron balcony, moving quietly, the handholds digging into my palms annoyingly.

  Sixty. I was hauling myself over the top of the railing quickly.

  I ducked, peering into the window as stealthily as possible. My heart stopped. Nicolas was sprawled on the floor, blood pooling around him. There was a strange boxlike shield around him, in the bright magenta of Meteor Clan’s magic. Thankfully, there was no one else in the room.

  Ninety. I was at the balcony door, crouched beside it, careful to not touch the shield or upset the wards.

  Nicolas, I thought, strongly and clearly. If you can hear this, Daniel and I are on site. The others are nearby. We’re getting you out.

  One hundred. I pulled the pick out of my pocket, positioning it carefully.

  Almost exactly on time, I heard Daniel’s cue, given in his most loud and obnoxious voice. “Hey, are you my new neighbors?”

  There was loud clamoring below. I shoved the pick into the shield, and it died. I swept through the door, closing it behind me quietly. There was muted fighting below. My heart wrenched. I heard a sudden blast—definitely Daniel’s flashy magic. He was being intentionally distracting.

  I flew to Nicolas. To my surprise, he wasn’t unconscious, he was just completely debilitated. He was shackled, partially curled in on himself. He coughed violently, and a smattering of blood hit the floor. He had been stabbed at least twice in the stomach.

  I fell to my knees on the tile in front of him, and his eyes focused, wide and alarmed. I held up a hand. Quiet, I mouthed, echoing the word in my mind. I glanced over my shoulder as another crash shook the house. Good. It meant Daniel hadn’t been beaten yet.

  I pressed my hand to the magenta shield. Its magic bit into mine, and I flinched. This had definitely been set up by a commander, and I wasn’t strong enough to break it myself without a lot of time. Even blood magic wouldn’t help here. Its wards told me that getting rid of it would signal someone below.

  But I had to—it was the only way to help Nicolas. I just hoped Dan could keep them busy.

  Let’s see how good you are, Ryan, I thought, pulling the black marble from my pocket.

  Nicolas’s eyes were squeezed closed in what I thought might be agony. I hurriedly pressed the marble to the shield. It flickered and died, and the marble crumbled to dust in my hand.

  I thought I would faint in relief, trembling.

  Next, I took out the tiny black discs. Wincing, I pulled Nicolas’s wrists out in front of him and pressed one to each shackle, along the seam. They cracked open and fell away. I caught them in my hands before they made any noise. Nicolas sighed. He was still disoriented, still coughing blood.

  Weakly, he brought a hand up to paw the back of his neck. I brushed his hair back, alarmed. There was an odd white sticker on the back of his neck. It was square, and the texture was like medical tape.

  “Nicolas,” I whispered in his ear. “What is this? Should I remove it?”

  He didn’t respond. He didn’t even seem to hear me.

  Fuck.

  Okay. Time to roll the dice. I peeled up one corner and ripped it off as hard as I could. There were tiny spikes on the backside that had pierced his skin. Nicolas groaned in pain.

  “Nicolas,” I whispered again, unsure of what to do.

  He was bleeding, barely conscious, confused. I didn’t think I could get him down the way I came. I would have to wait here for help.

  I had no idea what was the primary drain on him. The shackles, the strange white patch, the stomach wound, even the shielded box. It was impossible to tell what had affected him the most, or if there were other factors at play. I didn’t think it made sense to use Ryan’s reviver; Nicolas wasn’t unconscious, merely disoriented.

  I wasn’t a great healer, but I had basic training. I could stop his bleeding. Probably. Maybe. I swung myself over Nicolas so that I was facing the door and pulled him onto his back. He was shaking, mostly unresponsive. With one hand on his shoulder, I held him still. With my other hand, I clumsily made the complex gestures needed for vein and tissue repair.

  The magic fought me. He had bled out quite a lot, and Water magic needed blood in the body to do proper healing. Slowly, painfully slowly, I got it to work. Millimeter by millimeter, I repaired bits of his abdomen, wondering why it was taking so long, willing myself to go faster.

  Another rush of Water magic flooded through the house below me. Ryan, whose power was strong and distinct. Another quick scan showed me Irina had arrived too. Daniel’s magic still whipped through the building. He was alive and well.

  Thank god.

  There was a commotion on the stairs outside the closed door. I stood, drawing a knife, and placed myself in a defensive stance in front of Nicolas. I pulled up a shield, the magic comfortable and flexible now that I’d had so much training from Nicolas.

  The door flew off its hinges, directly at me, clattering off my shielded hands and hitting the floor with a bang.

  Time slowed and then stopped, my heart stopping with it.

  Every molecule of air left my body in an agonizing rush.

  There in the doorway… was my brother.

  My lips formed the syllable of his name without sound.

  Mark.

  He froze. It was undeniably him. His hair was longer and messier. He was less scrawny, his T-shirt tight across broad shoulders. But I was looking into my own azure eyes, seeing my own narrow nose, forgetting in an instant that eight years had passed since I had last looked upon him.

  Since I had last seen his face, cold and dead in a coffin.

  A shield flickered to life around him. Magenta, shimmering like fire.

  Meteor.

  Something else registered within me.

  Meteor commander.

  What the absolute fuck?

  “Fiona,” he said, and my heart raced at the sound of his familiar voice. Strangely, he didn’t seem surprised to see me. “Step aside.”

  I almost listened.

  I almost forgot what I was doing there. That Nicolas was dying at my feet. That my family members were fighting for their lives downstairs. That whoever Mark was now, he was also a Meteor commander.

  The Mark who was my brother had been buried, and I didn’t think he had survived in this man.

  He swiped his hand through the air. I allowed my shield to bloom and shift, and it wavered but held. He narrowed his eyes and tried again, but still it held. I was immensely grateful for Daniel and Nicolas’s lessons.

  But then with three swift motions, like he was conducting a symphony, he dissolved it to nothing. I gasped, unable to pull it back together quickly enough.

  He lifted his hand again. I sprang onto the balls of my feet, ready to dodge, ready to throw myself at him. Instead, I bounced off a shielded barrier of icy-blue magic.

  I whipped my head around. Nicolas was on his knees, one hand stretched in front of him, head bowed, panting.

  Mark’s attack sliced a line clean through Nicolas’s shield. It repaired itself instantly, but I was shaken. Whatever that magic was would have cut me in half.

  Definitely not the Mark I knew.

  Nicolas’s shield wavered while I debated, unsure of what to do. I couldn’t go up against a commander. Neither could Nicolas, not in his current state.

  “Fi! Fi!” yelled Daniel’s harsh, lovely voice.

  “Up here!” I yelled. “Dan!”

  Nicolas’s shield died. He collapsed on the ground behind me. In an instant, Dan was at the top of the stairs behind Mark. His magic crackled around him blindingly. With a blow that would have killed a regular mortal, Dan swept Mark aside. He went crashing through the exterior wall of the house and fell two stories to the concrete driveway below.

  Daniel pelted after him. I ran to the gaping hole in the wall, looking down. It was dark and hard to see. Mark was crossing the open driveway and road and making for the brushy forest on the other side. Two of the other Meteor magicians were following close behin
d, one of them with long red hair streaming out behind her. Mark hesitated, positioned defensively, waiting for his group to get clear of Dan.

  Dan had rolled to his feet and stalled, watching them, studying Mark warily but not pursuing. He was poised, his shield still in place, but no final tricks or traps were forthcoming. Mark turned and fled, and Dan’s eyes caught mine as he sprinted back to the house.

  There was more commotion behind me. Ryan and Irina were coming up the stairs. Irina made for Nicolas, falling to his side, laying him out on his back. She ripped open his shirt, cutting through it with her knife and pulling it off. Ryan went to each window and looked out, but even I could tell the fight was over and the night was back to being still and quiet.

  “The other Meteors?” I asked him.

  “Two are dead,” Ryan replied. “The other two immediately went on the defensive and started to retreat when their commander came up here.”

  “We have to get out of here,” Dan said. He hurtled through the door and to Nicolas’s side. “Irina?”

  Her hands were on Nicolas, her face pained. “Something is very wrong. He’s dying, and I don’t know why.”

  I brought my eyes to Ryan’s, incredulous. I had never seen him so pale and alarmed before. He also dropped to Nicolas’s side. I was the only one still standing, and I had no idea how I was managing it.

  “Daniel,” Ryan said, tilting his head skyward, “shatter the rest. We need our full strength.”

  I had no idea what that meant, but Daniel apparently understood. Two seconds later, every Meteor shield and ward in the entire house shattered to nothing at once. I gasped. I didn’t know Daniel could do that, that he had that sort of power within him.

  Irina addressed me for the first time that night. “What was his condition when you found him?”

  “There was a shielded box around him. Meteor magic. Almost like a container or prison. I shattered it with Ryan’s black marble. After that, I removed the shackles with the discs. He also had…” I stopped, looking around. I pointed. “That thing, that patch, attached to the back of his neck. I ripped it off. I half healed the stomach wound but was interrupted by Mark.”

  Daniel’s gaze went to mine, surprised.

  “That commander,” he said. “His eyes…”

  I turned away from him, looking down at Nicolas. He was shaking badly. Irina was still running her hands over him, probing, trying to understand. Ryan examined the patch, one eye on my exchange with Daniel.

  “I thought your brother was dead,” Daniel said. The words were oddly accusatory.

  I bristled. “Yeah. Me too. I buried him, after all.”

  “Brother?” Ryan said, looking first to me and then out the window in the direction Mark had fled.

  “Fiona’s brother, Mark,” Daniel said. “Who supposedly died eight years ago, murdered by Meteor.”

  “Or not,” I said, shaking my head.

  I wanted to cry. For Nicolas. For Daniel. For Mark. No time. I took a deep breath instead.

  “This is a sedative of some kind,” Ryan said, still examining the patch. “Probably to keep him complacent.”

  “What do we do, Irina?” I asked.

  “Shhh…” she said, holding up a hand. “I’m almost there.”

  I watched her. Her spellwork was too technical and complex for me to understand. It was healing magic that was about fifty levels above mine. Ryan went to Irina, sitting behind her with his hands on her arms, whispering in her ear. She murmured in response.

  Daniel waited patiently, watching, listening to their hushed exchange. He took out his phone and typed furiously on it. I peered over his shoulder, my own hands shaking too badly to undo the zipper on my hoodie to bring out my phone.

  Daniel: Site is secure. Two Meteors dead, three fleeing west, including the commander. We are all safe. Nicolas has been recovered but is in critical condition. Cam and Syl, we’re moving to you as soon as we stabilize him.

  Cameron: Understood. We are holding.

  “Irina,” Ryan said, speaking more loudly than before. His tone held a warning.

  “I know, but it’s the only thing that might work,” she said harshly.

  “Fiona.” Ryan’s voice made me jump. “Put your hands on Nicolas. Talk to him in his mind. See if you can get him to respond. We’re about to try something very dangerous.”

  Chapter 22

  My heart was hammering in my chest. I kneeled by Nicolas’s head, Daniel to my right, watching me worriedly. I put one hand on Nicolas’s neck and ran the other through his hair. His skin was cool yet slicked with sweat.

  Nicolas? I thought. Hang on. You’re going to be okay.

  He was barely conscious, trembling, but I wasn’t getting anything from him in reply. It was like he didn’t know we were here.

  I tried to form encouraging words in my head. Nicolas, please be okay. You’re scaring Daniel, and me, and all of us. We all need you. Just hold on. Please. You’ll be fine.

  Nothing in reply.

  “Okay,” I heard Ryan say softly to Irina. “Go.”

  Ryan placed one hand on Nicolas’s chest, palm down, and then raised it slowly from the center of Nicolas’s chest. Out of his body rose something shimmering and icy, a lovely orb full of vibrancy and life. It hovered above his skin, just under Ryan’s hand.

  Nicolas’s heart stopped.

  His chest fell and didn’t rise again.

  His trembling stopped.

  Bile rose in my throat. My eyes cut to Ryan. He held his other hand up, his gaze intense. I waited, my own heart feeling like it was sputtering to a stop.

  Tears were streaming down Daniel’s devastated face, and I was very afraid. I took his hand, and he crushed it in his own, shaking. I had never seen him like this before—completely shattered.

  Nicolas, I thought, the word a voiceless sob. Nicolas, don’t you dare die. Don’t die and leave me here.

  There were tears in my eyes. My sight was shaky and blurred. I didn’t think I could draw breath. My body wasn’t working anymore, seeing Nicolas still and lifeless.

  With her free hand, Irina made several twisting motions above Nicolas’s body, moving up and down in a complex set of sweeping gestures. I watched in astonishment as wisps of black smoky magic were drawn out of Nicolas, floating above him. Agonizingly slowly, they formed up into twisting ropes, bit by bit.

  “Gather that quickly,” Irina whispered to Daniel. “Don’t touch it.”

  Daniel let go of my hand. With a twist of his fingers, he spun the threads together into a ball, collecting it between his palms. The ball was suspended there, not touching his skin. He stared at it balefully.

  Irina rapidly drew her hands back. I watched as Ryan’s palm came down hard and fast on the tiny ball of radiance floating above Nicolas’s chest, slamming it back into his body. Irina’s hands were back on Nicolas in a flash, pressed over his heart.

  “Beat,” she murmured. “Beat. Beat. Beat. Beat.”

  You heard her, Nicolas, I thought. I want to hear your heartbeat. Please.

  We all waited. One second passed, then two, then five.

  A heartbeat.

  Another.

  With a shudder that shook his whole body, Nicolas took a breath.

  Irina’s magic flooded over him in a rush, calming him. I watched as she used it to steady his breathing and heart rate, to raise his blood pressure, to raise his body temperature. Her eyes were closed as she struggled to regulate him. I couldn’t believe how amazing she was, how much fine control she had.

  Nicolas? I thought.

  No response. But he was breathing, his heart was beating, and Irina was finishing the healing I had started earlier.

  I could breathe, could let myself draw on the tiniest bit of hope that he would be okay, that he wouldn’t be gone from my life.

  I knew my feelings then.

  I looked to Ryan. He was studying Nicolas with a worried expression.

  “Irina?” he asked.

  “The poison is gone
. Physically, I think he’s okay,” she said, still in concentration as she performed the healing.

  “Fiona, your recovery kit,” Ryan said, beckoning.

  I handed it to him. He took out the tiny thumbtack and pressed it into Nicolas’s wrist. Nothing happened. Ryan’s eyes narrowed, his lips quirking into a frown.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “He’s too deep. We need to pull him back,” Ryan said.

  “How?”

  “I wish I knew,” Ryan said.

  “What was that light?” I asked. “That thing you drew from him and then pushed back in?”

  “His sanctum,” Ryan said. “Commanders can’t live without their sanctum. We needed to stop his heart and still his magic so that Irina could pinpoint the poison and draw it out. The least bad of all the terrible options was to remove his sanctum temporarily.

  “Unfortunately, that seemed to trigger a withdrawal of his consciousness. We need to pull him back out. Nicolas has protective strategies that he doesn’t tell anyone, and I’m pretty sure his sanctum is in self-defense mode now.”

  Ryan looked to Daniel, who was building a tiny shielded containment box around the black ball of smoke. “Dan, you’ve rebuilt your own sanctum. Do you have any advice?”

  Daniel glanced up for no more than two seconds. “I have no idea,” he said, his voice hoarse. “What I did was nothing like this. I was wide open and needed containing. I don’t even know how to lock myself inside my sanctum.”

  I studied Nicolas’s still and impassive face, feeling desperate.

  “His sanctum,” I whispered. “He’s stuck in that…” I stopped. I shouldn’t speak of his sanctum to others, but I didn’t know what to do right now. “It’s definitely not good if he’s stuck in that… that… that place.”

  Could he die there? Could he freeze? Could he starve? I had no idea how any of this worked. I had never thought to ask as a non-commander myself.

  Ryan’s eyes went incredibly wide. “You’ve seen his sanctum?”

  “Yeah. He took me there once,” I said, unsure of why Ryan was so excited. I paused. “You haven’t seen it?”