Flare of Villainy: The Imdalind Series, Book 10

by Ethington, Rebecca

  “You love her, too.” It wasn’t a question, and it wasn’t full of any of the sass that I would usually get from him. Just honesty. Just understanding.

  I nodded. “Her magic sparked against mine in the hospital in Prague. But I was with Risha… and then Míra killed Risha. It’s complicated.” The last words were more of a snarl. Complicated was probably an understatement for how Míra made me feel. Frustrated. Worried. Angry. Passionate in every way. It made for a firestorm of emotions.

  “But I do care about her,” I said after a minute, everything calming at the admission.

  “Your raging need to go save her is suddenly making sense.” Thom tilted the bag of candy to me and I took more than a few. Candy was about as rare as everything else in this world. Both Míra and Wyn would probably be upset we were eating it all.

  “I just need her to be safe.” Just saying it seemed to ignite something inside of me.

  “So love it is then. It’s how you know. You want to keep them safe. Even if it means going to get them candy at four in the morning and risking their wrath when you eat it all so you can help your brother.” Thom gave me a grin, dreads swinging as he titled the bag into his mouth and promptly emptied it. “You’ve got it bad, bro. And seeing as she literally risked her life to save you, so does she.”

  He stood, tossing the bag into the garbage can that was empty for probably the first time I’d been in here.

  “Doesn’t change the fact that she is, in fact, younger than me.” I said the same thing I had been telling myself for years, but after reading her letter it seemed like a flimsy excuse. No, it was a flimsy excuse.

  “Spoken like a mortal. Get over yourself Ryland. She’s right. In fifty years it won’t even matter. Your magic has found its match, and I’ve seen you two together enough to know you have too. Now, if you excuse me, I need to go rub my empress's feet and beg for forgiveness.” Thom clapped me on the shoulder, grinning broadly as he winked and strutted his way out of the room, looking like a conquering hero, with one sock. The look was even more dramatic thanks to his swinging dreads.

  I just stared at him for a while, the paper still clutched in my hand as I laid back on her bed, and my eyes finally drifted closed.

  “I’m coming, Míra.”

  8

  Joclyn

  “Do you really think you will be able to find a way out of this?” The woman’s voice echoed over the stone walls, the sweet acidity of her laugh toxic as I lifted my head, staring right at the same blonde woman that I had seen in the tent.

  The one who had been talking about Ilyan.

  Now, she stood feet away from me, twisting a scalpel with a blood stained blade between her fingers.

  A noise echoed from behind me, the sounds muffled and panicked as the woman approached. Her smile spread with each step.

  I tried to see where the noise was coming from, to see what that nasty woman with the scalpel was smiling at. But I couldn’t, my focus was locked on the woman.

  A woman who approached me, except it wasn’t me she was approaching. And I wasn’t there.

  It wasn’t a dream either, no matter how clear it was. The clear images could only mean one thing. This was a sight and what I was seeing was happening right then.

  The muffled sounds of a voice echoed in my ears again, the woman only steps away as she lifted the blade, letting it catch the dim light of the room.

  There was only a single bulb hung far overhead, but it was enough to illuminate the horrors of this place. Blood streaked walls, dented metal tables covered in rusty medical tools, a cracked mirror. It truly was something out of a horror movie.

  I didn’t want to be there, and I certainly didn’t want to see what came next, not that I had a choice.

  “You are mine, and I can’t wait to play.” The muffled voice turned into a scream as the scalpel lowered to a scarred arm, and the light overhead began to flicker.

  Pain raced over everything, electricity sparking as the world went in and out of focus and whoever she was torturing was reflected back at me through the mirror.

  “Ilyan!” I sat straight up in bed, springs creaking as steps echoed down the hall on the other side of the door I had magicked out of existence.

  Great.

  I had fallen asleep in the Tȍuha, drifted off while swimming in the waves with Ilyan, something which wasn’t out of the ordinary for me. Waking up screaming from dreams of sight was new, however. Seeing as I had shielded this room’s existence from the world, it was no surprise people were running through the halls outside it in a panic.

  St. Vitus Cathedral and all the outbuildings had been a construction zone for months. It was still worth the risk to come here, if only to sleep in the room Ilyan and I had shared and drift to sleep in his arms inside the Tȍuha. But it looked like my welcome had officially run out.

  Wiping the sweat from my brow, I grabbed my phone and slipped into the bathroom, determined to steal a quick shower before Ry and I headed to Kiev.

  One look at my phone, however, and those plans had to change.

  I had slept through the alarm I set.

  It was almost seven a.m. and I had five missed calls. Three from Ryland, Two from Wyn, and one text message that said: ‘We are saving your husband. Get your ass down here.’

  My heart skipped a beat at that. Ilyan. I was going to see Ilyan today.

  Although, after that dream I was starting to worry about what shape he would be in.

  I had fallen asleep in the Tȍuha, meaning that whatever connection I had with Ilyan was still there, that very well could have been him in that room with that… that…

  “Bitch.” I spat before brushing my teeth with a new found fury. “I’m going to stab her with a scalpel and see how she likes it.”

  I spat the rest of the toothpaste out, quickly pulling my hair up as yet another text message came in.

  ‘Ryland is going to go without you if you are not here soon.’

  ‘Go spank a fish, I’ll be right there.’ I stared at the message. Spank a fish? That was not what I meant to send, but a lucky combination of sleepy typing and autocorrect may have worked in my favor.

  I sent it anyway.

  Her reply was instantaneous. ‘Spank a fish?’

  Okay, that time I laughed. I laughed like I hadn’t in years, and it felt good. Really good. Even with the horrifying images that had woken me up, I was on cloud nine. We knew where Ilyan was, and today I was going to get him.

  Teeth brushed, I pulled the old earthen mug off the back of the toilet, covering it with my hand to refill it with the honey scented Black Water. Normally, it was just food, but today I needed to see.

  The rescue mission today was either going to work, or it wasn’t, and any insight I could get that didn’t involve scalpels and flashing lights was wanted.

  “Please let him be okay,” I mumbled before I took a drink, letting the water fill me and ignite my magic. The warm water flooded through every inch of me, my head spinning as the Drak magic ignited and pulled me right into sight.

  Everything went black before lights began to flash in a light and dark strobe, speeding up as the pulse of a heart turned erratic. The thunderous beat faded as the lights did, leaving us looking at the massive army Ryland and I had found in a clearing, the huddled masses drilled and fought around a cluster of tents, all of them ready for battle. They marched past my sight as it began to fade to the hospital, the large cement building set in the middle of the city. I moved through the halls, the same flashing lights returning before everything went black and the sight left.

  There was nothing new here. Which should be a good thing. Hopefully we were on the right track.

  I took another drink of the Black Water, turning toward the room where the shouts from the hallway had grown. I didn’t wait around to see if they were going to break down the wall, though.

  This place was sacred to me, and I knew it was only a matter of time before they found it. It would figure that they would find it today.
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  Running my hands over the old dresser, I took one last look at the room before I stepped forward and into a Stutter.

  The world compressed around me, pressing so hard that I swear I could feel my soul. I didn’t dare breathe for fear my lungs would explode as I stepped into the void between worlds and the swirling ribbons of color and time that surrounded me.

  Flashes of my life, of a hundred lives, weaved around me in a dance, everything moving so fast that I was sure even if I reached out to grab one of the beautiful ribbons it would just slip between my fingers.

  In the time it took me to take one step, however, it was gone. The room in Prague was gone and I was back in the caves of Imdalind, standing in the center of the main entrance hall and in front of three of the best people I knew.

  “I will have you know, I spanked a fish, Jos!” Wyn called to me as she rushed over, Thom and Ryland right on her heels. She was possibly the only one out of the three that looked even half awake. Thom looked like he had been hit by a truck, and Ryland looked like he had been run over by one a few times.

  The rings underneath his eyes were so dark that they nearly matched the black of his curly hair.

  “What happened to you?” I probably sounded more accusatory than I should have, but he looked like hell. “You sure you are up for this?”

  “What?” Ryland mumbled, his brain taking more than a second to catch up. “No! Yes! I’m fine. I’m ready. I just… I slept in too.”

  There was something else there, especially with how Thom was smiling, his dreads swinging as he rocked on his toes.

  “Do I want to know?”

  “No!” Ryland yelled, the same second that Wyn and Thom both grinned and said “Yes!” Ryland instantly turned on Thom.

  “You told her?”

  Poor guy looked like a jungle cat waiting to strike. I might have been scared of the look he was giving them, but he wasn’t looking at me, and Wyn actually looked scared for her life. That was rare enough that I was just going to sit back and enjoy the show. I took a drink from my mug.

  “He tells me everything.” Wyn leaned in, her eyes blazing as she faced him. I was fairly certain the temperature of the hall increased five degrees.

  “Well, he shouldn’t have told you this!” Ryland spat, sparks drifting from his fingers as fire raged from hers.

  What the hell? Talk about going from zero to a hundred. We were all cranky this morning.

  “Can we please not tear down the hall?” I asked, fully aware I was groaning. Sleep deprived Ryland was not someone you wanted to double-cross, and I was starting to realize that pregnant Wyn was just as bad. If she kept this up she was going to have to let more than me and Thom in on her secret.

  “I was going to burn it down, not tear it down,” Wyn said playfully, even though she and Ryland were still glaring at each other.

  “Whatever. It’s too early for this, you can tell me whatever nonsense you are fighting over later. Besides, we have bigger things to be doing.” That got everyone’s attention. They all turned to me, eyes as bright and hopeful as the bubble that had lived in my chest for the last twelve hours.

  “Like spank a fish?” Thom asked with a yawn. No one even reacted.

  I finished my water, handing Wyn my mug, who took it without question, even if Thom was looking at it with murderous intent.

  “Tell you what, Thom. You can spank a fish with Ilyan when we bring him home,” I said, holding out my hand to Ryland who sneered at it for a second before he took it.

  Thom may have been afraid of Black Water, but Ryland was terrified of a Stutter.

  “Sounds like the weirdest welcome home celebration I’ve ever been to. I’m in.” I never thought I would see Thom so happy about a fish spanking party. But then again, I was grinning just as big and I was the one who had suggested it.

  “Be quick. Be safe. We’ll hold down the fort,” Wyn said, and I gave her a nod before my magic swelled and pulled us right into the Stutter.

  Everything was electrified with where we were going, my mind buzzing as I thought of that hospital and the hill that Ryland had pointed out on the map to me before.

  I barely even looked at the quick moving ribbons, the flashes of color slowing into something that I could have sworn was an image.

  An image of Ovailia on a train. The same one I had seen in my sight. I turned to look, but before I could everything sped back up, the images turning to ribbons of color before the world rematerialized before us.

  Ryland was already on his knees, vomiting out the contents of his stomach. I stood on top of a building, the wind whipping my hair around my face as I stared down at the hospital.

  The same hospital I had seen in my sight.

  Surrounded by the army that I hadn’t.

  The Kyō were already here.

  9

  Wyn

  I always hated when Joclyn left me and Thom in charge.

  It didn’t happen often, but when it did things always seemed to go awry. People would get into weird gambling rings, the kids would use their magic in ways they weren’t supposed to, and something would inevitably blow up.

  It didn’t matter that either Thom or I were probably behind all of it, that was just another sign that we really weren’t meant to lead. Especially a group as big as this.

  Chosen from all over the globe had been streaming into Imdalind, led by the Skȓíteks that used to call this place home. It wasn’t until the fifth group had arrived from the US that I realized just how much of the caves I hadn’t been able to clear out. We were officially busting out of the seams.

  Which was why I had snuck off to my room about an hour ago after finding room in one of the caves for the fifty people who had just shown up, leaving Etma in charge for ‘just a few minutes’.

  I needed to breathe. And I needed to settle my stomach. It was getting harder and harder to hide this pregnancy.

  I hadn’t been anywhere near this sick with Rosaline.

  My stomach twisted again and I rolled over, scowling at the hard crackers that were supposed to settle my stomach and had instead made it worse.

  I had no sooner turned over when the door flew open, a cloud of black smoke billowing in like a monster ready to devour everything in its path. Screaming, I sat straight up, magic already rushing through the bed and the stone as I searched for whoever was attacking us. Whatever bastard thought they could get past me was going to find themselves burned to a crisp.

  A body rushed in through the black and I jumped to my feet, hands out as I faced blue eyes amongst the pool of black, coils of hair down his back.

  Thom.

  “What happened, are we under attack?” I snapped, hands still out as fire sparked from each of my fingertips. I probably looked like a human candelabra amidst the black smoke that had sucked all the light from the room.

  “Nope. Everything is fine.” Thom shook his head and closed the door, leaving us trapped with the smoke.

  “Fine, then what the hell are you doing?” I kept my hands up, still warning him of the trouble he had walked into.

  Never disturb a pregnant lady when she is getting some much needed rest.

  “Running.” Thom rushed away from the door, some of the smoke finally falling away so I could see him properly. Not that he looked much different now when not surrounded by the swirls of black smoke. He was smothered, head to toe, in ash.

  “Running? Do I need to ask from whom?”

  “Kids. I might have made them think I was the ghost of Edmund, come to kill them all.” He was clearly trying to disguise a laugh as he danced beside the door, cracking the door to peer out as the sound of dozens of tiny feet ran through the hall, a few voices filtering through.

  “You guys go that way. We can cut him off.”

  “How do you cut him off? He’s a ghost?”

  “Why are we hunting a ghost?”

  And then they were gone, leaving Thom grinning as he closed the door, then sliding down it to the floor as he laughed.


  “You do realize that you essentially turned a whole bunch of children, with magic, into ghost hunters, right?” I asked, sitting down on the foot of the bed and grabbing another one of the crackers. My stomach turned just from having it in my hand. This was not going to end well.

  Maybe I should just go camp out in the bathroom again.

  “That’s what’s so great about it. It’ll keep them busy.” Thom jumped to his feet, stripping off his shirt and revealing the olive skin beneath. He was so covered in black soot that he almost looked like a floating torso.

  “And you’ll be able to tease them whenever you feel like it?” I asked, knowing him too well. “Well, we both can,” he said with a smile. “I know you won’t turn down an opportunity to terrorize little children. Plus, it would be super fun if we could make the ghost of Edmund breathe fire.”

  I laughed, he knew me too well too.

  “Alright. I’m in. Although, at the rate I am going I will be breathing puke not fire.” My stomach spun again and Thom's face fell.

  “Still bad?” I nodded in answer and I laid back on the bed.

  “I’m a badass assassin, Thom. And I just want to assassinate a toilet.” Damn it! Just thinking of the toilet was bringing all of that swirling nausea back into existence.

  “You do know you can’t assassinate a toilet, right,” Thom said, crawling over the bed to lay beside me. He left a wide black strip of whatever he had covered himself with behind, staining the red sheet black.

  If it didn’t look so cool, and if I didn’t feel ready to add vomit to the contemporary art, I might have cared.

  “Do you want to watch me assassinate a toilet? Because I will, just to prove you wrong.”

  “Nah.” Thom wrapped his hand around mine as we both laid there, that mischievous grin of his coming back. “I’ll just tell the kids that’s where the ghost is. They’ll do it for you.”

  “But then how will I vomit my guts up while I grow your tiny uterus demon?”