by Kimbra Swain
I knew that I had all the typical powers of a Phoenix, but there was no one here to tell me how to rise or what to expect. Levi had tried to find out as much information about the Phoenix as he could in his books, but very little in the way of specifics had been recorded over the years. We did know that the previous Phoenix before my father, his father had died giving his power to Dylan. Therefore, when the day came, I’d pass my power to my child in death. Having a child wasn’t even on my radar. I could barely function in a normal relationship much less contemplate having a child.
“You are not a fake, Winnie. And I hope we never have to test the theory of your ability to rise,” Nick said.
“I just wish there was some way to know,” I admitted.
“I wish I could tell you,” he said.
The coffee pot stopped brewing, and I decided the conversation we were having was over.
“Coffee?” I asked.
“Sure,” he replied. I made us each a cup, then sat down at my desk. “What did she want?”
“Ren,” I said.
“Damn it. It’s bad enough that we are tracking these traffickers but having to dodge Reyna and her sanctimonious horde is a pain in the ass.”
“Who was the woman last night?” I dared to ask.
“Her name is Lyra, and she’s a wolf. That’s all you need to know,” he said.
“Lyra is a pretty name,” I said.
He took a sip of his coffee. “Yes, it is.”
“Will I get to meet her?” I asked, pushing my luck.
“Doubt it. I don’t think she will be back.” I heard a mix of regret and disdain in his response.
“Oh.” I decided to let it go, because something about her pained him. I could see it in his eyes when he said her name.
“Kyrie stay with you last night?” he asked.
“No. He was gone before you came home. But have you ever heard of talking cats that weren’t shifters?”
He looked up from his phone. “Sure. Cat Sith, Cath Palag, Kilkenny cats. Why?”
“I had two cats in my apartment last night that let themselves in and wouldn’t leave. And they talked. And they drank wine,” I said.
Nick looked at me like I was delusional, but he shook it off. Anything could happen in our world. “What did they want?”
“They said if I helped them, then they would help me.”
“With what?”
“I dunno. I let them stay in out of the rain, then they left early this morning.”
Nick picked up his phone and pushed a few buttons. I watched as he scrolled. “Here. Maybe this. A Matagot is a good luck cat that if it is well-fed will bless its owner with wealth. Did they leave you a gold coin?”
“Not that I realized.” Gold coins would be handy to be able to bribe the powers that be here for information. They didn’t respond very well to regular money, as we had found out.
“Maybe they will bring you some information or something. Don’t piss them off.”
“One of them asked if you were single.”
Nick spit coffee across his phone. I laughed as he wiped it clean. “I’m not into cats.”
“She would settle for Mark, I think.”
“He’s not into cats either.”
“Dogs.”
“I prefer them, yes, but I’m equal opportunity,” he said.
“Except cats.”
“Yes, except cats.”
“What about pussies?” Kyrie asked as he walked into the office. I groaned, and he winked at me.
“Those I like,” Nick said, then fist-bumped Kyrie.
“Immature boys,” I grumbled.
“You love it!” Kyrie said, leaning over to kiss me on the cheek.
I wiped it off with the back of my hand and gagged. We had a good laugh to start our day until Rory and Soraya arrived. They were both in an incredibly great mood which had the rest of us puzzled.
After a few minutes of friendly banter, I dragged Soraya into the back room.
“Why is Mr. Not Chipper so Chippery?” I asked.
“Well, I didn’t sleep on the couch,” she said.
I spun her around away from the door. “Oh, my goddess! Did you sleep with him?”
“No, but we had a good time,” she said. “I think we should go back to the burlesque show again.”
We giggled like two little girls who had just seen their first naughty pic. “You have to tell me everything!”
“I shouldn’t kiss and tell.”
“I am your best friend, and that man is smiling like I’ve never seen in my whole life.”
Her face darkened. “He says we can’t tell anyone that we’ve been together for several months.”
I sank down in the metal chair beside the cot. “Several months? And he’s just now smiling?”
“I granted him a wish,” she said.
“Raya! You aren’t supposed to do that.” Soraya was a Jinn, and her people had very strict rules about granting wishes or using their magic.
“No, I can do it sometimes. Just not all the time.”
That wasn’t what her grandfather, Luther Harris had told me. Luther ran the diner in Shady Grove, and he was an Ifrit, a cursed Jinn. “I just thought it was really restrictive.”
“Winnie, you can’t tell anyone. His mother is trying to find him a good fairy mate, and the Jinn aren’t fairies.”
“Ella is a very nice woman. I seriously don’t see her looking down on you!”
“You say that, but you know how Ruby acts. She didn’t get that from Astor.”
“Mom said that Ella had a wild streak when she was younger, but I don’t think she’s ever been rude.”
“Well, I think she sees me as Rory’s wild streak. When he comes back after being at home, he’s always in a foul mood. You will like him better the longer he stays here. He’s under a lot of pressure,” Raya said, defending him.
I knew about pressure. Even though I was an adopted child of the Winter Queen, I was still expected to appear at formal events and play nice with my mother’s court. Not all of them were as wholesome as my mother. They didn’t have the benefit of growing up in the human world as she had. It made her much more personable than the rest of the Winter nobles.
Voices joined the guys in the other room, and I knew Echo and Malphas had returned. I wanted to know how Ren was doing.
“Are you okay? If he does anything to hurt you, I will turn him into a flaming ball of ginger,” I said.
“Sounds Thai,” she said.
“Chinese?” I asked.
“Maybe.” I hugged her for one last assurance of my support, and we walked back into the room to find Echo and Malphas talking about Shady Grove.
“You should have seen those idiots. I swear they are patrolling the trailer park like they are the FaeBusters or something,” Malphas said.
“Cletus and Tater?” I asked.
The town doofuses used to live in the trailer with me before my mom died. They had good hearts and were the last remaining humans in Shady Grove. They preferred things made out of duct tape and weapons made of PVC pipe. Specifically, potato guns.
“Yeah, Grace told them that there was a threat from some of the Wild Fae to cross through the veil. Cletus and Tater got all wound up,” Nick added.
“You knew about this threat?” I asked.
“Nothing your mom and Levi can’t handle,” Nick said.
“They have plenty of support,” Kyrie reinforced. “Plus, we are going to the jazz club tonight. I think Miss Hamlet has some explaining to do.”
“I’m going this time,” Nick said.
“What about us?” Malphas asked.
“I need you guys to hang out around Savoy Palace. See if you can make contact with any of the small fairies she has working for her. I doubt they will talk if they are under contract or fairynapped, but maybe we will get lucky,” Nick instructed.
Echo moved his hands wildly. I giggled, because I knew exactly what he was saying, and also knew that Malphas wouldn�
��t translate it directly.
Malphas sighed. “He says that we should be at Ely House to watch over the gang.”
Echo locked his eyes on me, giving me permission to translate. “He said that he’s tired of babysitting and he wants to hear the siren sing. Is she a siren? Like a real siren?”
Light flickered in Echo’s eyes, and he nodded.
“Yes, she’s a siren, and because of that, Malphas and Echo will go with you guys to Ely House. Keep focused on our purpose here. From what Levi’s contacts told me, there has been a long running feud between Miss Hamlet and Miss O’Lear. We will not participate in that fight. We are here to save enslaved fairies. We are here to get to the bottom of the trafficking. Clear?” Nick instructed. For some reason, today he looked like he’d lost all of his light. I’d corner him later and figure it out, but I suspected it had to do with a she-wolf named Lyra.
“Clear, Boss,” Kyrie said in his usual bubbly tone.
“Good,” Nick said.
Kyrie pulled me down after I threw a fire ball just before a bolt of lightning took off my head.
“Just stay down,” he hissed.
“We are pinned in. We have to fight our way out,” I yelled back over the sounds of tables being blown to bits and the patrons of the Ely House screaming in terror.
We had walked into a trap. A big fat one. But as far as I was concerned, she hadn’t sung yet.
Kyrie cast a haze of dust and sparkling lights around us as we dived across the aisle to where Rory protected Soraya behind a large circular booth. He threw balls of blinding light at our attackers.
When we arrived, we were greeted by one of Miss Hamlet’s men who escorted us to a large banking booth with full view of the stage. Only Rory who sat on the far end could see the door we’d entered. The room was hazy and dark. The smell of spices filled the air.
A server wearing a 1920s style flapper dress took our drink order. We weren’t completely hemmed in because the large booth surrounded two small tables with a gap in the middle. Nick sat closest to the door.
As magic and snarls floated around the room, I couldn’t even remember what happened before Kyrie threw me to the floor and upturned our tables to hide behind. We didn’t even get to hear the siren sing before all hell broke loose.
I kept looking from our hiding place to see who we were up against. I couldn’t see the glowing circle magic of the Sanhedrin, so I had to guess that these were the traffickers that we had been hunting. Only they found us first. It wasn’t like we were hiding, but we had been here a few months. Not once had they gone on the offensive. But here we were, in the middle of a mire of shit.
“There has to be a way out through the stage,” Rory yelled.
“Malphas is looking for a way out,” Nick said. He had a pistol but hadn’t fired it. We didn’t intend on bringing human weapons into the fight as long as our enemy wasn’t using them. Magic didn’t leave traces of evidence, except for destruction. Guns would leave casings, bullets, and gun powder.
“Rory, can you tell what or who we are up against?” I asked.
“You can see them as well as I can,” he snapped back. The truth was, I couldn’t. I could see some fairies, but there were some that were powerful enough to hide their aura from me. I’d been made a fairy and phoenix. It didn’t come natural to me, and although, my body had adapted, I didn’t have the same talents as a natural born fairy like Aydan and Killian. Which always made me feel a little left out. I’d told Levi about my feelings. He had been a made fairy too, but he was half when he was born. A changeling. I didn’t even have that advantage. When I tried to look again, Kyrie jerked me back. I spun around on him with my fist raised.
“If you don’t stop, I am going to bust your face,” I said.
“But it’s so pretty, why would you want to do that?” he asked.
I grit my teeth and growled at him. “Infuriating,” I muttered. “What do you suggest, pretty boy?”
“See. You admit it’s pretty,” he smirked. I raised my fist again. “I say we hold our ground until Malphas comes back with a way out.”
Across the room, two Summer fairies huddled behind a kiosk that was for the waitresses to place orders.
“Kyrie, can you hide them?” I asked. He blew across the top of his hand, and sparkling dust and cloud formed, then floated across the room to block the fairies who were caught in the crossfire. “Thank you.”
Malphas landed next to Nick while squawking. Nick looked back at us, and I pointed to the huddled fairies. He nodded then spoke quietly to Malphas. Echo had gone with him but didn’t return. I assumed he was watching the way out or scouting ahead.
Nick turned to us. “We have to jump on the stage, run across to the other side. Follow Malphas and he will lead you out. Rory and I will grab the two caught in the crossfire.” We nodded our understanding. “Rory, we are going to need a big distraction. Give it all you’ve got. Starboy, get a cloud of dust up for you and the girls.”
“Women,” I corrected.
“Really?” he said, pursing his lips.
“Respect is respect,” I said with a grin.
“I won’t say it, but you know what I’m thinking.” He was thinking that I was just like my mother. Smart ass women were a dime a dozen in the South. Although, my mother was technically Winter, she took her Southern identity seriously.
Kyrie whipped up a cloud of stars, and I held Soraya’s hand. “Stay close to me,” he instructed. I saluted him just to be smart.
“Ready?” Rory asked.
“Yes. Go!” Nick gave the order, then burst into a ball of fur, dashing across the magical battleground, drawing fire while Rory threw a large bright ball of light at our attackers. I wanted to throw fire, but Kyrie grabbed my arm and jerked me toward the stage.
It was only about two feet off the ground, so Soraya and I jumped together. She stumbled, but I helped her up. Kyrie grabbed us both and shoved us toward Malphas who hovered just beyond the stage curtain.
We dashed behind the stage, jumping over ropes and cables. Large wooden crates lined the back wall, then just beyond it to our right, I saw a red exit sign.
“There!” Kyrie said. We sprinted toward the sign as Malphas swooped around the crates. We entered a long hallway with stars on the doors. There were six in all. The first one on the right had Miss Hamlet’s name in golden glitter splashed across it. At the end of the hall, a large metal door to the outside sat below another hovering raven.
Running down the hall, I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure we weren’t followed. I also hoped to catch sight of Nick and Rory following us.
“Hey!” a voice like Nick’s yelled at us. I turned to see a man who raised a gun toward us. He fired, and I lunged toward Kyrie who was behind me. I knocked him to the ground. We hit the concrete floor hard, and I screamed as pain ripped through my shoulder.
Looking up, I saw Nick’s wolf take the man down by his gun hand. He fired again, but it hit the ceiling. The gruesome sounds of a man being mauled assaulted our ears. His screams died out, as Kyrie helped me up. I grabbed my shoulder as the pain ripped through me again. The warm squish of blood mashed on the inside of my hand.
“What did you do?” Kyrie yelled at me. “Let me see!” He tugged at my hand.
“No, stop. It hurts,” I replied.
“Keep running!” Rory said, rounding the corner with the two fairies.
I tried to walk, but I felt woozy. I teetered back and forth as Kyrie tried to brace me. He reached down to pick me up. “Don’t you dare pick me up!” I protested.
Struggling down the hallway, we made it to the door and into a dark, wet alley. Cold rain poured down on us. We continued to follow Malphas down the alley to the street opposite to the front of Ely House.
Nick shifted back to human and glamoured himself some clothes. I’d never told him that I could see through his glamour. Not that I was looking.
“Let me see,” he said, as I leaned against the wall. He pulled back the edge of my shi
rt to reveal a wound about the size of a penny in my left shoulder. My knees buckled, and I sank to the ground. “Rory, take those fairies to the car. I don’t want to move her.”
I took a rattled breath, looking into Kyrie’s worried eyes. Soraya squeezed my hand.
“Stay with me,” Kyrie said.
“Guess we will test that whole phoenix thing out,” I muttered. I felt the blood bubble up my throat, and I saw the look on Nick’s face. “She won’t kill you.”
“Aye! She will!” Nick said. “I don’t know how this works, Winnie, but you are the phoenix. You will rise, and we will be right here waiting on you. Whatever happens, we are here.”
I nodded. My body felt like it was floating. I licked my lips. “Better here in the alley than where anyone can see me,” I said.
Nick scooped me up and ran back toward the door we’d exited. He sat me down between two dumpsters. I was going to die with the trash. He handed his gun to Kyrie who shook his head. Soraya grabbed it instead. “If anything comes out of that door, shoot it. Do you hear me?”
Soraya nodded. Kyrie knelt down before me. I saw the tears in his eyes. “Not for me, Winnie. You aren’t here to save me. Why did you do this?” He leaned forward touching my forehead with his.
“Winnie, can you talk to her?” Nick asked.
“I’ve got nothing left,” I said. Nick pulled out a phone and dialed. If they were in Winter, he wouldn’t be able to reach them. My mother and Uncle Levi. He snarled, then dialed again. I felt Winter magic move around me, and my little brother, Killian appeared behind Kyrie.
“No!” he screamed. Kyrie moved, allowing him to sit next to me.
“Hey, buddy,” I said with a cough.
He placed his hand over my wound and began to sing. I died listening to his angelic voice fill the alley as he tried to heal me.
I didn’t know what to expect as fear gripped my heart to force it to beat again, but no fear or jolt would bring me back. Killian’s voice sounded like a far-off echo. Then it died out giving way to silence. Looking around me, the pitch black swallowed me whole. No sound. No movement. No breath. I was nothing and in nothing.
I tried to sink to my knees in despair, but without realizing it, I was already on my knees. I called out into the darkness, but even my voice had no sound. My tears fell, but they had nowhere to fall to.
