Sticks & Stones

by Merdith Medina

  The boathouse spun in front of my eyes and the smoke was choking me just as surely as the goddess was. Her words repeated in my head. You cannot hurt me when I am in this form…

  I looked down at Lacey’s inert form, the way the tendrils of the goddess’ misted cloak wrapped around her legs and caressed her head.

  The goddess’ fingers tightened and then relaxed, dropping me to the floor. “It is time for you to go to your family, Ophelia. They’re waiting for you.” The goddess’ voice filled my ears and echoed in my head. The fire had almost reached the ceiling, and the heat shimmered all around us.

  I could see them in the fire. My mother, my sister, my aunt. Their arms were open wide, their hair the same color as the flames, the same color as mine. Tears filled my eyes and spilled over my cheeks. It would be so much easier. It would all be so much easier if I could be with them.

  I looked at Lacey again, lying cold and still on the hard concrete. You cannot hurt me in this form… I gasped again as the realization hit me, it all seemed too easy.

  “Come on, really???” I shouted incredulously. It was simple; so simple. Old laws for an old goddess. I stared at Lacey’s body, knowing what I had to do. I could feel her pulse, it was faint, but it was still there.

  As though she could hear my thoughts, the goddess turned on me. “You won’t do it,” she cried. “It’s against Hecate’s laws. You will be punished for the death of an innocent!”

  I smirked and uncurled my fists as my magic surged forward, “If I’m the last of Hecate’s Daughters, that means I make the laws, and you can go fuck yourself.”

  I launched myself forward, landing on the concrete next to Lacey’s body. “I’m sorry, Lace,” I whispered as I laid my hands on her shoulders and unleashed all of my power into her inert body.

  The scream of the goddess shook the boathouse, knocking trawlers and sailboats off their cinderblocks and bringing them crashing to the concrete below. The fire raged and roared as I struggled to my feet, pulling Lacey’s lifeless body with me.

  * * *

  The door of the boathouse was wreathed in flame and there was no way I would be able to get it open without burning the shit out of myself, which meant that I only had one option left. The water.

  The oily surface reflected the red-gold glow of the flames and my eyes burned with the fumes and smoke. The wooden doors were fully ablaze and the flames would reach the water soon enough.

  I walked down the concrete ramp and gritted my teeth as I stepped into the water. The sloped concrete was slippery with algae and I struggled to keep my balance. An echoing crash rippled through the boathouse as some of the ceiling beams came away, opening a hole in the roof.

  Fuck.

  The rush of fresh air fanned the flames, beating them higher and hotter. I pulled Lacey tight against my side and took a deep breath. All I had to do was swim under the boathouse doors and we’d be safe. Or at least, safer. A flaming piece of wood crashed into the water, igniting the oil.

  Shit. Now or never.

  The oily water closed over my head. I squeezed my eyes shut and felt a rush of heat as the flames rippled over the surface of the water. I kicked hard, propelling us forward through the water, hoping that I’d swum far enough. I reached up, feeling the edge of the wooden door above my head, and the heat of the fire through the water that sheltered us.

  Just a little farther.

  My lungs screamed in agony, but I wanted to get as far away from the building as possible. When it collapsed, I didn’t want to be anywhere near it.

  Stars burst behind my eyes and I kicked for the surface, my magic propelling my tired muscles onward.

  My head broke the surface of the black water and I gasped loudly, drawing in the breath that my lungs had been demanding. I coughed and spluttered, weighed down by Lacey’s body.

  I had to get to shore.

  The boat shed was engulfed in flames, and I could hear the timbers inside groaning and snapping. I pulled Lacey towards the shore. A man-made jetty constructed of smooth round stones and concrete blocks. Water streamed from Lacey’s mouth and nose and my heart shuddered to see her looking so pale.

  An explosion bigger than anything I’d ever seen ripped through the boat shed and I covered my face and sheltered Lacey’s body with my own as the wave of heat washed over us.

  I slumped back against the concrete block and drew my knees up to my chest. My heart was pounding in my chest and everything hurt.

  Sure, I’d won... but what had I won?

  24

  Epilogue

  Lacey’s body lay beside me, the light from the inferno in front of us flickered over her body and I fought to keep my tears from falling. It was the smoke, dammit. Smoke in my eyes.

  You are all alone, Propylaia.

  The goddess was right. I was alone. I looked up into the night sky, the full moon shone brightly, illuminating more than the fire ever could. I wiped my face and closed my eyes, tilting my face up to the light of the only goddess that deserved my attention.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m sorry that I haven’t been worthy of your favor. I’m sorry that I haven’t been worthy of... anything...”

  Literally anything. Fuck my lives.

  I guess I’d have to shape everything up if I was the last Daughter.

  “Ophelia!” Eli’s shout echoed over the water and I opened my eyes. Holy shit, he’d actually survived.

  “Here!” I tried to shout, but my voice was weaker than I thought. Damn that smoke. I reached out and laid my hand on Lacey’s shoulder. The water had been cold, and we’d been under for a long time. I didn’t mean to hit her with as much magic as I had.

  “I’m so sorry, Lacey. You deserved better. I really was coming to your Halloween party... I even brought wine.” I pushed a lock of wet hair away from her cold cheek. I smiled sadly and wiped at her face with my fingertips. “You were a decent drinking buddy, and you could made a killer latte.” I took a deep breath. This sucked. “I’m going to miss you.”

  “Ophelia, why are you wet? What the hell happened? Were you in that building?” Eli was standing at the top of the jetty looking down at us.

  At me.

  “It’s a long story,” I said quietly, looking at Lacey’s body.

  Eli made his way down the jumble of stones and concrete to where I was waiting. He was covered in blood, but I could smell that none of it his own. Small mercies.

  “What the fuck happened to you?” I asked, still not entirely sure that I could trust him.

  “Power struggle. Bishop wanted me to find out what was going on behind the scenes, so I went undercover.” Eli shrugged and opened his arms. I raised an eyebrow and eyed his blood-crusted shirt.

  “Undercover Asshole, maybe. You can’t explain that away. You killed people... innocents! Is Bishop willing to overlook that?” I wasn’t really mad at him anymore, but I couldn’t just let him believe that he was in the clear just yet. Tonight had been more fucked up than anything I’d ever experienced, but I still couldn’t bring myself to run into his arms like some fragile flower.

  “Bishop and I have an understanding. Everything’s cool, okay?” He seemed contrite, and I wondered what had gone on while I’d been trying not to get scorched by an ancient deity.

  “Fine. Look, I’m freezing, and I’ve got... a lot to deal with.” I looked down at Lacey’s body. “Can you help me out?”

  Eli nodded and picked up Lacey’s body, cradling it gently in his arms. “Let’s go,” he said. I took a deep breath and followed him up the rocks, ignoring the way my body screamed every time I moved.

  The path Eli had chosen led us back to the boat shed complex. The outbuildings were severely damaged, and bodies of the fallen Laudan littered the ground. I recognized a few of them.

  Blood Outlaws.

  Black pools of their supernatural blood had sunk into the concrete, and I swallowed thickly. There was no avoiding what had happened here tonight. Bishop stood under one of the floodlights, wipin
g his hands on a handkerchief. He tucked it back into his blazer pocket as we approached.

  Eli looked at me carefully, and then laid Lacey’s body on the ground. “She’s alive, you know,” he said quietly.

  I fell to my knees beside her, my heart pounding in my throat.

  “Alive?” I laid my hand on her forehead. “Lacey?”

  “Do you want her back?” It was Bishop who had spoken. I looked up at him with tears streaming down my face. I didn’t have to say anything. He let out a gusty sigh. “You know she’s seen too much. This isn’t something you can take away with a mind wipe. This goes deep. She’s been tainted.” He paused and looked at me carefully.

  “Tainted?”

  “If she goes to the hospital, none of us will be safe. She’s been exposed to things she doesn’t understand,” Bishop’s voice trailed away and I knew that I had to make a choice. Let her die, or... or she would expose us all. I couldn’t risk that, and neither could they.

  “Do it,” I said.

  “Are you sure?” Eli could never resist adding his two pennies. I hate pennies.

  “I said, do it.”

  Bishop didn’t say anything; he slid his arm underneath Lacey’s shoulders, lifting her closer to him. Her head lolled back, exposing her neck. Bishop opened his mouth, impossibly wide, his fangs gleaming in the eerie halogen light. I turned my face away as he bent his head towards her neck. I couldn’t watch.

  The boat shed burned unchecked, the flames roaring out of control as the wind fanned them higher and hotter.

  Eli crouched beside me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder just as another explosion shuddered through the building. The doors I’d swum under not long ago flew into the water. I flinched against him, shielding my face from the blast of heat from the explosion.

  “Time to go home?” He asked gently. I turned a tear-streaked face to him and nodded.

  “Yeah, it’s definitely time to go home.”

  I was sitting on my fire escape as the sun set over the city. A glass of wine sat untouched beside me, and Suki was curled in my lap. It had been two days since all of that bullshit at the boat shed, and I wasn’t sure if anything would ever be back to normal... ever.

  I reached over my shoulder and peeked through the blackout curtains and into my apartment. The lump of blankets in the middle of my bed was Lacey. She hadn’t moved since Eli had brought her in.

  ‘She might wake up, she might not...’ he’d said.

  ‘What do you mean?’ I’d shouted, ‘Bishop said he’d bring her back!’ It was irrational of me to shout at him like that, but I didn’t know what else to do.

  Eli left her with me, she might wake up, and if she did, she would be a Laudan... just like them. If she didn’t... then I’d have to deal with whatever shell the goddess had left behind.

  Suki purred in my lap and I rubbed that special spot in front of her ears. I looked down at her and smiled, this would always be the same. I knew I could count on that. “You and me, kid,” I murmured. No matter what Nyx had said, I knew that I’d never be alone as long as I had this furry little demon in my life.

  “Fee?”

  Oh shit. She was awake.

  I plucked Suki off my lap and gave her a quick kiss on the top of the head before setting her down on the window ledge. “I’ll be right back,” I whispered. Suki yawned and stretched before sitting down obediently.

  I slipped through the window and closed it with a flick of my fingers. A similar motion lit some candles I’d placed in strategic places around the room. Eli had warned me that Lacey’s eyes would be sensitive after the change. Candlelight was best. The candles sputtered to life and I smiled. Magic could be very handy when it was used properly. Since that night, I’d resolved to use my magic more often, even for little things... use it or lose it, right?

  “Lacey?”

  I heard a groan from the bed as my friend moved under the blankets. She was my friend. I knew it now. Gross.

  “Lacey... come on, it’s time to get up now.” The lump on the bed groaned again and I peeled the blankets away to reveal Lacey’s familiarly pale face. She turned her gaze on me and I tried not to flinch as her moonshined eyes met mine.

  It had worked. She was Laudan now.

  Hoo boy.

  “Hey... morning,” I said, smiling gently as Lacey sat up. She rubbed her head the same way she had after the last time she had spent the night on my couch. I wished that I could have told her that this hangover was my fault... but this time her hangover was an ancient blood hangover...

  Not my fault.

  Well, maybe a little.

  “How are you feeling?” I didn’t know what to expect, Lacey hadn’t been herself for weeks, maybe even months... and now she was something else entirely. There wasn’t a manual for this shit.

  “A little rough... What happened, Fee?” Lacey’s voice was soft, confused... and I didn’t know how to explain anything to her. Literally nothing.

  “What do you remember?” I asked her.

  “Little things... Rachel. The rose garden in the park...” She paused, looking around the apartment. “Why am I here? Did something happen?”

  I shook my head, “No... I mean, shit’s a little... well. Things are a little different. Lacey, do you remember anything weird happening in the last few weeks? Anything at all?”

  Lacey looked down at her hands, her brow furrowed in deep thought. After a long moment, she looked up at me, her eyes full of concern and half-remembered thoughts. “I... I was trying out something I’d found online. A spell... I think it was an invo... invitation?”

  Invocation. Of course it was.

  “Whatever it was, I did it, and then I felt super gross, I threw up, and then felt a little wonky for a few days... After that everything felt a little weird. I started having bad dreams. Blackouts...” Lacey’s voice trailed away and then she was back to her old bubbly self... the Lacey I remembered.

  “Oh! Oh, my God, Fee! I’m so sorry that my Halloween party didn’t go the way it should have. It should have been so super fun. I want some coffee, and I’m starving…” Lacey stretched and yawned, her fangs glinting in the candlelight. I took a deep breath and crossed my arms.

  “Lace, I’ve got some bad news for you…”

  Ophelia’s story continues in Moonlight Burns - Book 2 in the Daughters of Hecate series.

  Moonlight Burns

  MOONLIGHT BURNS - BOOK 3 OF THE DAUGHTERS OF HECATE SERIES.

  My name is Maia Hickson, and fire seems to follow me everywhere I go. It took my parents, it took my foster home (good riddance), and now I was on my own again. No big deal, I like it better that way anyway. Nothing important ever seems to happen to me, but after twenty years on hiatus, my favourite punk band is finally releasing a new album. They’re not touring and I’ve got just enough cash to get me to New York. Seems like fate, right?

  * * *

  With her best friend trying to come to terms with being a newly minted vampire, and her boss pressuring her to take a management position at the coffee shop, not to mention the approach of her boyfriend’s new album release party, Ophelia Turner has enough on her plate right now… and she definitely doesn’t have time to deal with anything else, but she might not have a choice.