by Jessica Gunn
“Sure, Ben,” she said.
And then he was gone, at Fire Circle Headquarters in a teleportante instant.
Rachel’s glare settled on me, setting my skin on fire. But in the very next moment, her gaze softened. “Ben needs rules to keep himself in check.” She frowned, looking at the disaster our living room had become. “Without them, he goes off the deep end. Like right after Riley was born and before Sandra kicked him out. This isn’t good.”
“No,” Nate said. “It isn’t.”
I squeezed the bridge of my nose and took in a deep breath. That pure exhaustion was the only thing keeping Rachel and Shawn from attacking me wasn’t a good sign. And there was no way to know how Jaffrin would react.
There was only one thing I could do: ensure that Shawn and I could at least cooperate long enough to save Lady Azar, if nothing else.
“I’ll be back soon,” I said, then climbed up the stairs.
Shawn’s bedroom door was open, as if he’d been expecting someone to come talk to him about his storming out. There was no way he’d be expecting me, though.
I paused outside of his door, trying not to breathe too loudly or step on any creaky floorboards. I wouldn’t call what we had before the attack on Headquarters “friendship,” so much as an easy understanding. I’d only known him for a few days before I’d ended up in Ether Circle Prison. And after that, most of the time we’d spent together had been focused on the Alzan magik and what our plan would be if we needed to leave the Fire Circle to save Alzan.
I wasn’t sure this shared destiny of ours would be enough to pull us together now.
“I know you’re out there, Krystin,” Shawn called. “You might as well step into the doorway.”
But not inside the room. Fine. All Ben wanted me to do was talk to him, and I didn’t need to be three feet in front of him to do that.
I did as he asked and then leaned against the door frame. “Hi.”
“Ben send you up here?”
Shawn was seated in his desk chair, a laptop open behind him. This was a new addition, since none of our rooms were particularly large enough for furniture besides a bed and dresser. Together with his bed, it took up so much space that I wouldn’t have been able to step into his room even if he’d invited me.
“Yes,” I said. “But I wanted to talk to you anyway.”
He lifted an eyebrow, the one with a scar running through it. The one I’d given him. I wasn’t sure if he’d done that intentionally or not. “There’s nothing to talk about, Krystin. You fell for Kinder’s play, you allowed her to use you as a puppet. And then she exploited your hatred of Jaffrin and the Fire Circle and used you as a weapon. The same damn way they used her. You fell for it.”
Shawn shook his head and balled his hands into fists at his sides. “I know we had a plan. And I know everyone’s lack of confidence in you drove a lot of this, but I believed you, Krystin.”
My breath hitched and I froze. I didn’t so much as move my lips to attempt speaking, because there was nothing I could say. Shawn had trusted me, he’d known what was really happening, and instead of trusting him in return, instead of allowing him to figure things out with Ben and Jaffrin for me, I’d gone and run.
I was a coward, just like he’d said. “Looks like you’re right again, Shawn.”
His gaze met mine, the dark brown of his irises not holding any forgiveness whatsoever. “About what?”
“Everything.” I bit the inside of my cheek as my skin warmed—with anger and fear and guilt. Shame was there too, tearing down all the walls of apathy I’d built up over the past six months. I was a coward, not a hero, and no matter what happened next, nothing would ever, ever change that.
I pulled in a deep, settling breath and then said, “I’m sorry, Shawn. For your eye, too. For all of it. I’ll go tell Ben it’s over.”
Shawn’s eyes narrowed. “What is?”
“This charade. I’m not welcome here and I shouldn’t be. So I’ll tell Ben I’m leaving. If you guys want me to help fight Lady Azar, let me know, and we’ll leave it at that. Or I can turn myself in. Whatever you and Ben want.”
I turned to leave, taking a few steps before Shawn’s bed creaked loudly. The next thing I knew, he was standing where I’d just been in his doorway.
“Don’t go,” he said.
Without so much as looking over my shoulder, I said, “Why not?”
“The prophecy.”
I sighed. “You can’t even trust me to be in the same room as you. How do you expect us to somehow work through whatever barriers are keeping that magik locked within us? We have two weeks, Shawn. It’s not enough time. Besides, Kinder broke your stone from the Powers.”
Shawn winced. “She did, but—”
“But nothing,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s over. And now you’ll never have to worry about whether or not you can trust me ever again.”
Shawn took a step closer. “I do trust you. Still. That’s the problem, Krystin.”
This time, I did glance back at him. “What?”
“My magik is volatile enough on its own,” he admitted, his gaze falling. “I hate using it. I hate feeling the twist of demonic power inside of me. But when I’m with you, when you’re on this team, I don’t have a choice. And the fact that you’ve not only willingly worked with demons, but also accepted dark magik from Giyano multiple times, it’s too much temptation. Too much pain. It scares me to think of what this Alzan magik might bring us, or what our roles might be. Since we’re both equally as Evil as we are Good.”
My mouth ran dry, my throat closed. I hadn’t realized that was how Shawn viewed things. And I definitely didn’t know what to say back to him about it. “We have to trust that the Powers had a plan. They wouldn’t leave a cianza like the one at Alzan unprotected if it really can destroy all planes of existence.”
“So?” Shawn asked, his eyes pleading with me for something. Reason? Logic? I didn’t have either one.
“Our magik is Good, Shawn,” I said. “Otherwise, the Powers would have chosen two true demons to fight for them. That’s all I know.” And all I believed anymore.
Chapter 8
Ben
I didn’t waste time with teleporting into the lobby at Fire Circle Headquarters. Jaffrin needed to see me and it had to be now. And given Giyano’s attack and the Shadow Crest soldiers that had attacked Krystin almost twenty-four hours ago, I didn’t feel like waiting to be allowed near Jaffrin’s office.
It was still late at night, but light trailed down the hallway from his open door. Good. I wasn’t sure what I’d have done if he hadn’t still been here. Called him in, maybe? Or I might have just sat in his office all night, relieved to be alone.
Alone. Maybe that’s what I’d really wanted to be because the closer I got to Jaffrin’s office, the faster my heart beat. He wouldn’t be happy about Krystin being back, or that I hadn’t arrested her myself.
“Ben.”
I jumped, reaching out to the nearest wall. Dacher, Jaffrin’s second-in-command, stood in the doorway to his office.
“My apologies,” he said, a small smile on his face. “I thought you saw me.”
I pushed off the wall. “No.”
His smile faded. “I only wanted to see how you were doing. I know things haven’t been easy lately.”
He knows. He must know. “You’re right. It’s been hard knowing Lady Azar has had Riley for six months. He’s spent more of his life with her than me or his mother.” There’s also the whole “Krystin being back” thing.
Dacher frowned, his entire expression changing to the mentor I’d known so well during my training period. “We will get him back, Ben.”
“So we keep saying.” Except that every time we got closer or each time we finally had him in our grasp, Lady Azar kidnapped him again. “He’s not a pawn to take or leave.”
Dacher nodded. “I know. What brings you to Headquarters so late?”
I gestured down the hall toward Jaffrin’s office. “
I need to speak with him. It’s urgent.”
Dacher glanced down the hall, worry etching lines around his eyes. “Now might not be a great time. What is it? I can tell him myself.”
My gut twisted and I hesitated. For the first time in nine months, I remembered why Krystin had run away from us. From here. Because she and Shawn didn’t trust the Fire Circle anymore. She hadn’t trusted Jaffrin. But Dacher was his second-in-command. Was Dacher a part of that “no trust” list, too?
I shook my head. Idiot. Dacher practically trained me to be a Hunter himself. If there was anyone I could trust here, it was him. Except this wasn’t the kind of news to be delivered by someone else.
“It’s okay,” I finally said. “I can wait if he’s late.”
Dacher’s lips pressed together. He nodded and gestured down the hall. “See if he’s there. If not, you can wait here in my office for when he returns.”
“Sure thing, sir.”
I moved along to Jaffrin’s door, hating that last look of concern on Dacher’s face. Why hadn’t he wanted me to see Jaffrin right now? It not like I wanted to tell him about Krystin. Or walk these halls again. Every time I did it was like we were walking in on Headquarters being destroyed. All I saw were flames that weren’t there and I heard screams of pain that’d long since died out with their owners.
No. I hadn’t wanted to do this. And I definitely could have taken the easy way out and just told Dacher.
So maybe that was a test. Yeah, that’s it. A test. Because somehow, despite the utter shit-show nine months ago, I was still—somehow—in the running as a candidate for Leader of the Fire Circle one day.
I knocked on Jaffrin’s open door to pull myself out of a spiral of thoughts that I didn’t have time for. “Hello?”
Jaffrin was bent over something behind his desk and shot up. “Ben.” His shirt wasn’t tucked in, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His disheveled look revealed his prosthetic hand, magikally induced somehow to operate like some of the newer, high-end, robot-like ones.
“Do you have a minute?” This conversation would absolutely last longer than that, but I wanted to make sure he really wasn’t in the middle of something.
Jaffrin’s gaze settled on me for a long moment, as if he were trying to think things through but his brain had stopped. Then he shook his head and offered me a small smile. “Sure. Quickly, though.” He gestured to the chair opposite his desk. “Actually, I’m glad you’re here. I need to send you on a mission after we talk.”
My brow furrowed. “Mission?” I showed up here and he happened to have a job for me? Oddly coincidental.
He nodded as he, too, sat in at his desk. His fingers drummed on the oak. “Yes, but let’s talk first. What’s on your mind?”
I’d never seen Jaffrin this out of it. “Are you sure this is a good time?”
“Yes, Ben. Please. What happened?”
I watched him for a long moment. “Look, Dacher caught me in the hallway. He said you were busy. I can come back later.” I stood and went to leave, but Jaffrin jumped up too.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Krystin’s back.” The words tumbled out of my mouth, unable to be stopped. Jaffrin’s erratic mood had thrown me off so much, I’d lost all sense of how I was going to lay this out and try to defend her. “She showed up yesterday morning.”
Jaffrin’s eyes widened, his jaw setting hard. “And?”
And? That’s all he had to say about it? This can’t be good. “And we let her stay.”
Jaffrin’s jaw slid left, then slowly right. “Ben.”
I lifted a hand. “Hear me out.”
“No,” he said as he reached for his phone.
I lunged, swiping his prosthetic hand away from it. “Listen, Jaffrin.”
His eyes cut to me, a glare so cold it sent a terrifying chill down my spine. “Get your hands off of me, Ben. Don’t forget your ranking.”
“Sir,” I said, unmoving. “Don’t call it in. She’s innocent.”
Jaffrin smacked my hand away and held up his own. “Don’t you dare tell me what’s real and what’s not, Ben. Or did you forget I was here that night too? I’m letting the Ether Head Circle deal with it from start to finish. I’m not saving her this time.”
“They’ll kill her. Or imprison her. We don’t have time for that bullshit.” I leveled him with a look, daring to actually stare him down for the first time in my Hunter career. This was a bad call. Jaffrin had made plenty of them before, but this was the worst. “Lady Azar is marching on Alzan in less than two weeks—on the last night of Autumn Fire. If you want to save the city, if you have any interest in seeing that damn prophecy play out, then you need to let us deal with Krystin. You need to trust me to handle it.”
“Because you handled it so well six months ago,” he said coolly.
I bit my tongue, curling my fists. I’d already crossed the line and everything I wanted to say now would be moving that line even farther down the no-zone. “You get Krystin or you get to save Alzan and Riley. It’s your damn choice, Jaffrin—sir. I know it’s my fault shit got so far out of hand. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not immune to my oftentimes ridiculous stupidity. So you either let me have this second chance to deal with my teammate, or you call in the Ether Head Circle and leave Alzan, leave my son, to their whim.”
I roughly shoved the chair back in place; I’d knocked it out of the way when I’d lunged for his desk phone. Then I turned around and marched toward the door.
“Wait,” Jaffrin commanded.
Tongue pressed between my molars, I turned back to him. “What?”
“I need you to go to northern New Hampshire. Right now.”
I threw up my hands. “Why?”
“Recon.” He reached for a manila folder on his desk and threw it at me. I caught it and glanced at its contents. “Something’s happening near that demon nest you had a recon mission at months ago. Tatiana Viynar’s old lair. I need you to go back there and watch the bounty hunters’ movements. See what they’re trading.”
I looked up at him with wild eyes. “Are you kidding me? It’s witches they’re trading, Jaffrin. You know that and so do I.”
“Go,” he commanded. “Report back in the morning.”
I shook my head and tossed the folder back down on his desk. “Nine months ago you forbade my team from going back to Tatiana Viynar’s hideout. Nine months ago, you made me promise to never go near any Landshaft operation every again. Which order am I supposed to follow, Jaffrin?”
“The one that keeps you in charge of your team and Krystin safe,” he said, tone even. “Report back in the morning.”
As in, do this or I’ll blow the lid on everything happening at your house. “Fine. But two weeks, Jaffrin,” I said. “We’ve got two weeks until Riley’s turned into a magik funnel and used by Lady Azar.”
We had two weeks until all planes of existence blew up.
Jaffrin’s hard stare followed me out the door. And for the first time in over three years, since he’d first asked me to be a Hunter, I realized that Jaffrin truly didn’t give a fuck about what happened to Riley.
Being farther north didn’t help with the hot summer air. Even at night. I picked my way through clusters of trees and bushes, following the path we’d taken months ago. When Jaffrin had said he’d wanted me to go back to this demon nest solo, I’d nearly run. Even now, every step closer to Tatiana Viynar’s old hideout made my fingers shake.
Tatiana, a Landshaft bounty hunter known for her work trafficking Ember witches into the Trade before Autumn Fire, might be gone, but I had no mixed feelings about whether her nest would still be occupied. It would be. We’d only killed her, not revealed the nest. The other demons inside just didn’t know we knew where the nest was. And until tonight, Jaffrin had forbidden my team, or anyone really, to go back there thanks to the nest having ties to Landshaft, a massive demon city.
Now, I crept up on it alone.
I crested the hill from where Kry
stin and I had originally watched Tatiana Viynar bring in her latest round of witches. That’d been nine months ago, right before we’d found out Shawn himself was an Ember witch. Looking back, his desire to jump in, disregarding orders, to save those witches made sense.
I wasn’t sure what I’d do now.
Lying down on the grass, I pulled out a small set of binoculars from my pack and looked down over the house in the center of the clearing below me. Same small barn house, same empty-looking exterior. Except for one light on the bottom floor, which was so bright, it cut through the night and into the woods.
Shadows passed by the open window at intermittent intervals, though even with the aid of binoculars, I couldn’t make out any details of the people inside. Great.
I shifted my elbows and kicked a few branches out of the way of my feet. It’d be a long night of nothing at this rate. But even as I relaxed, I tried to keep one ear listening for sounds in the forest behind me. It was times like these I wished I was an earth-elemental magik user. To be able to place my palm against the dirt and sense others walking toward me, that’d be a helpful gift right about now.
The night ticked by, hour by hour, and still only shadows walked about the demon nest. Like I’d figured: Tatiana might have been gone, but her followers, her soldiers, weren’t.
A teleportante appeared in front of the house, a group of demons blinking into existence from elsewhere. The pair held between them a smaller figure, all three dressed in dark-colored robes.
Wait a minute…
I adjusted the binoculars’ focus and zoomed in as far as I could on that smaller figure walking between the two lumbering demons. It was a child. Light from the window on the first floor bounced off the figures, a golden reflection coming from all three of them. A circular golden reflection.
Shadow Crest. I’d have to get closer to be sure, but given that this place once belonged to bounty hunter Tatiana Viynar, and that Lady Azar ran Landshaft and the bounty hunter groups, it sure seemed like one big coincidence.
