Ash and Ember: Book 2 of the Scorched Trilogy

by Lizzy Prince

  Munro was growing restless beside me, having been quietly sitting and taking in all of the rapid-fire conversation like he was an outsider just observing.

  “Mari, we really should continue discussing what needs to happen next.” He glanced at Theo as if unsure if this was something we should discuss with him present.

  “What do you need us to do?” she asked, and Theo looked intrigued but didn’t say anything to distract from the conversation that he’d interrupted and side-tracked with his earlier entrance.

  “Can you come to Dubuque with us? We’ve got some other friends there with us too, and I think it would be best if we have strength in numbers,” Munro responded.

  I could feel Theo looking around the room at everyone, trying to interpret the situation that no one was offering to explain. Mari froze for a moment as if unsure what to do, but then the look shifted to one of determination.

  “Yeah, we can come. I just need to make some arrangements with the store. Theo’s on winter break, so he should be good there.”

  “Yeah, winter break!” Theo thrust his hand up in the air in a little pump like he was getting psyched for a party, then he abruptly dropped it and squinted at me. “Where’s Dubuque? Please say somewhere tropical. Please say somewhere tropical.” He scrunched his eyes up tight and crossed his fingers like he was making a wish.

  “Sorry dude. It’s in Iowa and it was two degrees when we left this morning.”

  “Ah well, sometimes life is disappointing. I’ll get over it. Besides I just got you in the mix cuz,” he said as he ruffled my hair like I was a four-year-old. It was as endearing as it was annoying, and I laughed as I slapped his hand away. Next to me, Munro muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like oh for Christ’s sake.

  Chapter 5

  Mari managed to get things organized with startling efficiency. She and Theo were packed and ready to go within two hours. She was competent like a drill sergeant, creating a list and ticking things off as she dashed around the house locking things up and sending Theo off to the neighbors with a gallon of milk and some eggs that she said she didn’t want to go to waste.

  We were back at LaGuardia soon after, and Mari and Theo were able to get tickets without an issue. By the time we were on the plane, Mari had arranged for Munro to change seats with her so she could sit next to me, which left Munro and Theo in different rows in the back of the plane. It was probably for the best that Mari and Theo hadn’t been able to get two tickets next to one another. I had a feeling Munro wouldn’t have been too thrilled with sitting next to Theo for the next two and a half hours, if his exasperated looks told me anything. I couldn’t figure out if Theo was annoying him or if it was something else. I sensed the distinct vibe of jealousy coming from Munro, but that seemed ridiculous on all fronts.

  We'd barely buckled in and stuffed our bags beneath our seats when Mari turned toward me. I was expecting a flurry of words since everything had been so frenzied so far, but she just looked at me with a mixture of happiness and sorrow rippling over her face. Her smile was hopeful but also sad as she reached out her hand to grab mine and give it a squeeze as she had in her kitchen.

  “I am so happy to be here with you, Annie.”

  I squeezed her fingers, probably crushing them with my tight grip, but I couldn’t seem to let go. Mari only smiled and then laughed.

  “Tell me everything about you.”

  I gave Mari the dime store version of my life with her interrupting every other minute to ask questions and share stories about things she and my mom did when they were growing up. My cheeks started to hurt from smiling so much, and I felt a sense of comfort I hadn’t had in a long time sitting there talking with Mari.

  I had just about as many questions for her as she had for me. “How old is Theo?”

  “He’s twenty. He’s at NYU. Finding himself,” she said with air quotes as she snorted, and I laughed because Theo seemed pretty sure of himself. I wasn’t so sure he needed to figure out who he was. But my smile faded because that meant my mom had known about Theo, had known her sister had a son and I had a cousin and never shared that with me.

  “I wish my mom would have told me about you both.” My voice came out whispered and throaty, the pain I always tried to hide, clear in the tremor that vibrated my voice.

  “I know, Annie. Me too. Well, I wish I would have known more about you. I wish I could have watched you grow up.” She paused for a moment before continuing, “She never knew about Theo, which breaks my heart.”

  The confusion must have shown on my face because I couldn’t seem to do the math on that timing. I knew my mom had disappeared before I was born, but I didn’t realize it had been over two years before I’d been born.

  “Theo’s technically my stepson. His dad and I were married when he was three, we’d been together since before he was two. His mom ran out on his dad right after Theo was born.”

  “What about Theo’s dad?”

  Mari bit her lip as if to keep it from trembling, and I instantly regretted asking.

  “He died a few years back. He had cancer, and it was quick and invasive and awful,” she said with a little shrug as if it could brush the weight she was bearing off her shoulders.

  “I’m sorry.”

  She gave me a gentle smile. “Don’t be. He was a wonderful man and father. Theo’s a lot like him.”

  “Sarcastic and witty.”

  “Oh man, his dad was such a shit sometimes.” Mari laughed. “Theo comes by it naturally. Anyway, he’s mine in all the ways that count.”

  The flight attendant interrupted our conversation to offer us drinks and pretzels. I was grateful for the break from sharing old, painful pieces of our lives. But any relief I had disappeared when Mari pulled herself straighter as if she were now ready to get down to business.

  “So, Annie, tell me what’s going on with your powers.”

  I fiddled with my package of pretzels until a little tear formed, and I pulled out a piece and started breaking it apart into small chunks.

  “I’m not sure. To tell you the truth, I don’t know much about all of this. Munro has been teaching me things, but it’s all brand new. He basically had to start with kindergarten level magic, and I’m pretty sure he wants to hold me back a grade.”

  Mari’s eyes narrowed slightly as her lips curled up. “Hmm.”

  “Hmm, what?” I asked, knowing she thought there was something going on between me and Munro. And maybe there was, or had been, or would be. It was all such a mess in my head whenever I tried to think about things with Munro, and I certainly wasn’t ready to delve into this with Mari, even if she was stepping into the matriarchal role in my life.

  “Anyway,” I continued. “Hattie did some kind of spell on Munro and forced him to hurt me.” Mari’s eyes darted over my face and any visible skin I had showing as if searching for physical evidence of that pain. I plowed on before she could ask me for details about it.

  “She figured out what my weak spot was. Knowing Munro wasn’t in control of his actions and how much he was going to be hurting once he was, well, it sort of set me off. That’s when I collapsed the building. Everything went boom, except I was able to shield myself and Munro. After that Hattie disappeared and my magic went on the fritz.”

  “So, you can’t access your magic at all?”

  “No, everything just went dark.” I felt exposed saying that, as though I was admitting I was weak.

  “Ryan and Munro couldn’t feel it either?” she asked.

  I shook my head in response. I knew the reason we’d gone to find Mari was to help me figure out what was going on with my defective magic, but I was already tired of talking about it. The constant puzzle of my hidden magic made me feel like I was malfunctioning somehow, and who wants to talk about their fears and dissect them ad nauseam?

  “Do you have magic then too?”

  Mari looked wistful. “I do. I’m mainly good at growing and mixing things. Which is how I ended up with
my store.”

  “You sell magical stuff in there? Um… potions?” I said, cringing as I said the word. It sounded so odd to talk about these things in the real world when it still felt like a fantasy.

  She snorted out a little laugh. “I wouldn’t exactly call them potions, but I do encourage my garden to grow strong and healthy. The mixing part doesn’t necessarily require magic, it’s just good instincts and a lot of study about how different herbs and flowers work together to accomplish the desired end goal. Whether it’s better sleep or softer skin.”

  “Are you an earth user then?” Recalling how Munro had described the affinity that witches had with one element. Usually. Everyone except me at least.

  “I am. Our family were healers, using the things they grew to help others. Is that what your affinity is as well?” She looked at me curiously, not suspecting there would be anything different with me than with rest of the family.

  “Yes.” She nodded as if this was to be expected. “But, I have the ability to use the other elements as well.”

  Her eyes widened and confusion shone through as she looked at me. “Do you mean you’re able to work with a second element?”

  “Not exactly.” I cleared my throat like I had a nervous tick. “I can control them all.”

  “All of them?!” She practically shouted the words and heads spun in our direction to see what caused the outburst. Jeez, people, it’s not like we were in church. She lowered her voice and repeated the question. “You can access all of the elements?”

  “I can, but I don’t have much control. To tell you the truth, I don’t really know what I’m doing at all when it comes to magic.”

  Mari hmpfed and looked annoyed. “We’ll start fixing that as soon as we get settled. Maybe it’s a bit unexpected, but I’m not surprised you’re extraordinary and can access the four elements. Awesomeness runs in the blood you know,” she said with a wink, and I almost hated to share the rest with her, because she was only just tolerating what I’d already told her.

  Pulling off my sweatshirt and stuffing it down in the seat next to me, I reached up and turned off the little nozzle that was blowing stale, recirculated plane air into my face. I squirmed as if trying to resettle myself when it was really my nerves that were getting the better of me.

  “It’s not just the four elements,” I spoke, and confusion blanketed her eyes as I pulled back my sleeve to show her the black mark that sat just below the crook of my elbow. “I’ve used soul magic before as well.”

  Mari sat back in her seat her mouth hanging open in shock, and I wondered if it was really that big of a revelation. Since all of this magic stuff was so new to me, I had no idea if her reaction meant she was scared of me, in awe, or if this was just a run-of-the-mill conversation between witches.

  “Can I ask you something?” A new thought had been tickling at the back of my mind and irritating me for some time. “Hattie made it seem like she wanted to peacefully take my magic if I would just give it up.”

  Mari waited for me to continue, her uncertainty of the direction of my question evident on her face.

  “My mom’s death was not peaceful.” I swallowed the memory down, pushing the emotion back behind my mental walls and fortifying it with some emotional mortar. “She ate her heart,” I finally sputtered out.

  Mari’s nostrils flared as she sucked in a deep breath and bit her lip. I could see that it was trembling slightly, and I hated that I’d put that image in her head and hurt her with my words. Her shoulders shook as she breathed deeply and there was pain in her eyes when she looked at me.

  “You can give your magic up, but you have to be a willing participant. There’s a spell which would allow for her to take your magic without killing you. I’ve heard it’s painful, like having part of your soul ripped from you, and after there is a hollow where the magic should be. I’ve met people who have let someone else take their magic and they’re not…” she paused thinking about how to explain it, “right. There is something fundamental missing from them.” She shrugged as if that was the best way she could think of to explain it.

  The thought rocketed through me. I’d never really considered giving up my magic to begin with, but to do so and become something that was only half, a lesser version of myself, made me shiver.

  “My guess is that your mom wouldn’t have given up her magic for a number of reasons. I’m sure she didn’t want Hattie to have any more power than she already had, but also because it is an essential part of a witch. To be without it...” Mari trailed off again and gave her own little shiver, and I saw how disturbed the idea was making her.

  Needing to cleanse the thought of what she’d described, I asked about her childhood with my mother. It was all Mari needed to launch into dozens of sweet and funny stories that she shared until the plane landed. We waited for Theo and Munro just off to the side of the gate since they were seated behind us on the plane.

  As soon as Munro spotted me his eyes searched my face and fleetingly scanned my body as if making sure I didn’t come to some kind of harm on the flight. I gave him a small but weary smile because I was too tired to maintain the distance and strain between us. Not right now. In the span of one day, I’d gained an aunt and a cousin in my life. I’d heard stories about my mother and her life before me, a life I’d never known existed. For a minute, I was able to put away my constant worry about what to do with Hattie and feel joy that something good was happening in my life.

  Munro was more introspective than I’d ever seen him as we drove home. I was worried that he’d form a permanent groove between his brows from frowning so much. I wanted to touch my fingers to the skin there and smooth out the worry, but I couldn’t because I didn’t know if I had the right. I’d been framing all of Hattie’s actions by how they impacted me, but these last few days had to have been tough on Munro. He’d been violated, his free will stolen from him, and we’d been rehashing what he and his mother had done on a loop over the past few days. And now I was waffling about whether I could touch him or not. Whether I should touch him. All I knew for certain was that I was a mess.

  Chapter 6

  Maggie was waiting at Munro’s house when we got back to town. After Munro dropped the bomb about my long-lost family, I’d told Maggie as many details as I could, which admittedly wasn’t much. I’d texted when we landed, and she’d insisted on being at Munro’s to meet my other family. She had insisted that as my heterosexual life-partner, it was her right.

  Our motley crew filed in through the door and the weariness of traveling all day started setting in. I felt wrinkled and greasy and all I really wanted was to change my clothes and wash my face. But I had a feeling the night was just getting started.

  Ryan and Mari embraced like old friends then proceeded to introduce everyone in the room to each other, Mari introduced Theo and Ryan introduced Butch and Lola as friends from down south. Maggie waited patiently for me to introduce her to Mari, practically bouncing on the tips of her toes out of sheer excitement.

  “Mari, this is my best friend Maggie. She and her mom took me in after,” I stumbled over the words. Speaking about my parents’ death tasted like ash in my mouth. Instead, I went for the more benign, “after the fire.”

  Mari smiled warmly at Maggie which gave Maggie the sign she needed that a hug would be appreciated. She burst forward and threw her arms around Mari, who looked momentarily shocked. Her shock quickly melted into to happiness, and she gave Maggie a tight squeeze before she quietly said, “I’m so glad Annie has someone in her life to take care of her.”

  Maggie beamed at me, so pleased that I had family I hadn’t known about when Theo pushed at my shoulder. Even though Mari introduced him to the room, she’d just said his name, and didn’t mention that he was her son, or rather her complicated new-era blended-family son.

  “Ahem,” he said as he pushed at my shoulder again.

  I shot him a vaguely apologetic look and turned to Maggie. “Maggie, this is my cousin, Theo.”


  Maggie looked at me with a dramatic and completely fake wounded look on her face. “Annabelle Mildred Leticia Quinn. How did you forget to mention you had a cousin too?!” She threw the words around causally scolding me, and I could only roll my eyes in response.

  Theo looked at me with his eyebrow quirked. “Is that your real name?”

  “Oh my God. No. That’s just Maggie being ridiculous.”

  Theo turned a stunning smile on Maggie before giving her a little nod as if approving of her very being. “I think I’m going to like you,” he said, and Maggie waved him off.

  “Of course you will. Welcome to the family,” she said as if this sort of thing happened around here every day.

  I knocked my shoulder against hers, and she smiled at me, full of happiness and hope. It made me feel like there was a possibility that everything could work out for the best. Sure, things had been a giant mess so far, but in the end, I had family I’d never known about. Silver linings.

  After the introductions were finished and everyone calmed down, we worked out a plan for the next day. Mari took a look at my exhausted face and slumped shoulders and told me to go home. Mari and Theo were going to stay with Ryan and Munro since the old Victorian mansion was huge and had more than enough guest rooms to accommodate them along with Butch and Lola.

  Mari pulled me into a hug and squeezed me so tightly that there would probably be bruises on my arms tomorrow, but I didn’t mind. I held onto her with just as much strength before we finally let go.

  “We’ll see you in the morning, and we’ll figure out how to get your magic back,” she said a gentle smile on her face.

  “Okay. See you in the morning,” I whispered, and I was sure my hesitancy to leave was clear for everyone to see. But I was exhausted. My legs felt like there were weights attached that I was forced to drag along with each step. My bed was calling my name.

  Maggie and I headed out to her car, and for the first time all day I felt like I could take a deep breath. As we got in the car and waited for it to defrost enough for Maggie to see out the windshield, she turned to me with an astonished look on her face.