Phoenix Incandescent (Endeavor Series Book 1)

by A E M

  “Charlotte, something magical is happening with your pack. I need to find out if it’s dangerous or not.”

  Charlotte pressed her lips together. Was there anything she could say? She couldn’t think of what to say. She didn’t know Evangeline. She liked her, but her loyalty remained with Ebby, even in death.

  Evangeline looked back down at the pack. “Wait, where is your new pack?”

  “Oh, it’s inside this pack. I didn’t see the point in wearing two packs and I’m comfortable with my father’s pack.”

  Evangeline’s face straightened and her voice was crisp and controlled. “Can I see it?”

  “Sure.” Charlotte unzipped her father’s backpack and brought out the top of the new bag.

  Evangeline closed her eyes and ran her hands along the flap. “Charlotte, I really need to know if you put anything in it.”

  “Just a necklace.”

  “I doubt that it’s just a necklace.”

  “Evangeline.” Charlotte placed her hands on her hips. “It’s an heirloom from Ebby, okay? It’s important to me and I wanted to have it near me. I need it close to me, but I didn’t want to lose it on the trip, so I dropped it in the new bag alone so it would be safe and I would know exactly where it was.”

  Evangeline was still and quiet for several minutes before her eyes flashed open. “Not many know this, but every fairy has a guardian. Guardians are magani who are able to switch between set forms. Ebby must have been Audrey’s guardian in human form. Laila is Leander’s guardian, disguised as a fellow fairy.” Evangeline placed her hand on the bag’s flap again. “Ebby is alive, Charlotte. She’s transforming like you did, only slowly. We have to get her out of there. Tonight. We must get back to the campsite. A transformation like this is going to create a magical beacon of energy, and we are out of the shield’s protection.”

  “It’s too late for that.” Lodestar was there before either of them registered the sound of her hooves hitting the ground. “We must find a safe place for that guardian to be born now.” She kneeled. “Get on.”

  Charlotte hesitated. “I don’t want to burn—”

  “Get on!”

  Charlotte got on behind Evangeline and Lodestar tied them to her back with a tiny strand of silver rope. Grisly screeches filled the air. A battle screamed and crashed behind them. Ahead of them the landscape rushed by in a blur.

  Charlotte leaned her back against the rope and sucked her stomach in as much as she could. She hated that she was touching Evangeline, but Lodestar was going so fast, and it was hard not to bump into the elf now and then. She took deep breaths and tried to focus like she did in the tree. Maybe, if she stayed calm, she wouldn’t hurt her. She was wearing the fairy clothes, but she had touched somebody for a long period of time through them. She worried. She hated that she was forced to touch Evangeline. She hated that she was separated from Beau and that once again she was running from a battle. But there was nothing she could do about either situation. A couple of hours later, Lodestar halted in the middle of an old barn. She kneeled and untied the silver string. Charlotte and Evangeline stumbled to different piles of hay and sat down. Lodestar placed her hand on the barn wall and a gold light spread across the walls.

  “What is that?” Charlotte asked.

  “It is a shield of my own making. It will keep us warm and protect us.” She kneeled down in the hay and closed her eyes.

  “The color of her magic is gold.” Evangeline added.

  Charlotte remembered then that magic came in many colors. She thought of her father’s magic, a combination of blue and green. Why had it been a combination? She sighed and filed the question away for another time. She had other worries right now.

  “Did I burn either of you?”

  “You can’t burn the unitaur.” Evangeline opened her eyes. “She’s a type of magani that is made from light, much like you appear to be. As for me, I did feel heat. I will need you to check for burns.” Evangeline stood and took her clothes off. Tiny white flames flecked across her back and legs and her upper arms.

  Charlotte winced and grabbed her vial of burn cream. She looked over at Lodestar. “Maybe you should put this on her. I don’t want to hurt her any more than I already have.”

  “Take care of her.” Lodestar snapped. She didn’t even open her eyes.

  Charlotte rubbed the cream on Evangeline’s back. She wished there was a cream to undo time. She wished that there was a cream for the despair that she was feeling in her gut. “I’m so very sorry,” she sniffled as she rubbed more ointment in. “I never meant to hurt you.”

  “Of course you didn’t.” Evangeline pulled her clothes back on. “Now dry your eyes. What’s done is done, and I feel no bad towards you.” She pulled her shirt down and rolled to her side. “Lodestar, what happened back there?”

  “We were attacked by biders.” Lodestar’s eyes flashed open, sharp and critical. She turned her head to Charlotte. “They are magani made by a combination of bat and spider.”

  Charlotte shivered. “Made? Why haven’t I heard of them before?”

  “They are made by dark magic.” Evangeline clarified. “They are quite easy to make, and many can be made at once, which makes them a popular creation during times of war between the dark and the light. You haven’t heard of them because it has been a long time since they have been made.”

  “It’s Halloween.” Lodestar added. “It’s easier to create dark magani on Halloween.”

  Evangeline glanced up at Lodestar. “Does this act mean our world could soon be at war?”

  “Possibly.” Lodestar said. There was no flash in her eyes, only even light. “I need you to reach your people. They should know, and they need to spread the word to the other magani. The Maguard needs to know.” Lodestar lowered the shield and opened the barn door. “We need them to send backup.”

  Evangeline nodded. “I will send word.”

  Lodestar focused her eyes on the sky. “Dark magic means that there is a weaver involved somehow.”

  “A weaver wouldn’t do this.” Charlotte stood. “Father would never train a—”

  “Don’t be naïve.” Lodestar scolded. “You have yet to experience the magical world. There is good and bad in each race of magani. There is good and bad in each individual.”

  Charlotte crossed her arms and paced. Heat surged through her body. She kicked at the straw until she had made a circle on the floor that was only dirt. Lodestar’s words burned her. Why did everybody insist that she didn’t know what was going on? She kicked the dirt again. She couldn’t deny it, though. She didn’t know much of the magani world outside of what she had experienced at the castle.

  The minutes ticked by quietly. Lodestar stared at the sky. Charlotte paced in the barn. Finally, Evangeline ran back into the barn.

  “I’ve sent word.”

  “Good. Now we wait for our team.” Lodestar put the shield back up.

  “I wish I knew what’s going on with the guys.” Charlotte said. “Once again I’ve run from a battle.”

  Lodestar glared at Charlotte. “The dragon is more important than your pride.”

  Evangeline’s eyes lit up. “Of course. Biders love to eat dragon eggs. They are one of the few threats to a dragon, but only for a short time. Once a dragon is older, it can take down a whole group of biders easily. It only makes sense for them to want to kill one dragon that could kill hundreds or thousands of them in a lifetime.”

  Charlotte stared at the backpack. Ebby was a dragon? Ebby in a tutu and bright lipstick? Ebby with a dance in her toes and a song on her lips? She shook her head and reached for her father’s backpack. Inside she found a leathery red egg the size of a basketball covered in the shreds of the backpack Josef had given her two days ago.

  “What happened?” Charlotte pulled the shreds away from the egg.

  “The backpack lost its magic.” Evangeline said.

  “What were you thinking?” Lodestar spit out. She stood and stomped her front right foot. “Honestly, e
verybody knows that if you put an enchanted pack inside of another enchanted pack, at the very least one of the packs will lose its magic. Lucky for you it was the inside pack that lost its magic. This could have been disastrous. And you do it on Halloween of all days. Is there any other dangerous magic you would like to play with today?” She scooped the egg up in her arms and then settled down in the back of the barn. “I need sleep.”

  “All I seem to be good at is destroying or hurting.” Charlotte mumbled and sat down in her circle of dirt.

  “That backpack wasn’t designed to hold that type of magic,” Evangeline sat down near her in a pile of hay. “Your expectations of yourself are too harsh; you haven’t been taught any of this. In fact, there are a lot of magani who don’t know as much about the magical world as they should.”

  “I’ve studied.” Charlotte complained. “I have read books.”

  “But you didn’t know what to pay attention to. You read because you wanted to have magic. You weren’t serious yet, and you didn’t have experience to tie to the knowledge.”

  “You sound like my father.”

  “It’s something I’ve heard your father say to his students.” Evangeline whispered. “Sleep now. The egg is not ready to hatch, and we need sleep.”

  Charlotte woke to a scratching sound. A lantern lit up a small space in the barn. The egg shifted back and forth in the hay in front of Lodestar, who remained on her stomach in the hay. She tickled the egg. “There, there, little one. It is safe to come out now. You are amongst friends.”

  Evangeline sat by a small basket of dead birds. “Food for the baby,” she said with a smile.

  Charlotte wrinkled her nose. “Shouldn’t she drink milk?”

  “Can you imagine?” Evangeline laughed. “We would bring her a goat and she would kill it for its meat.”

  “Come feel the egg.” Lodestar said. “Very few have the privilege of witnessing a dragon birth.”

  “Will I burn it? Will I hurt her?”

  “No, she is like Lodestar.” Evangeline said. “You will not burn her.”

  “I don’t understand.” Charlotte said.

  “It’s a lengthy talk for another day.” Lodestar said. “Someday I will show you my library and we will talk of many things.”

  Charlotte sat in front of the egg and placed her hand on top of it. The shell was soft and rough. Tiny cracks of pulsing light spread across the shell.

  Evangeline put her hand on the egg near Charlotte’s hand. “It is almost time.”

  Charlotte pulled her hand back in her lap. “How are your burns?”

  “Better.”

  A hiss sliced through the air. The largest crack widened and a small amount of fluid dripped out and spotted underneath and on the sides of the egg. Charlotte covered her mouth with her hand, but she couldn’t escape the smell of blood and sulfur. Tiny claws ripped through the clear inner membrane and pulled at the sides of the shell. The dragon called Ebby crawled out. She spread out her wings and shook them a few times before pulling them back to her body. She was red and leathery with violet eyes that instantly locked with Charlotte’s eyes.

  I’m so hungry.

  Charlotte grabbed the basket of birds and dumped them in front of Ebby.

  Thank you, Charlotte.

  Charlotte placed her hand above Ebby’s head. Ebby stretched her long neck out and rubbed against her palm. “You are welcome.” Charlotte answered finally.

  Next time try answering me in your head.

  Answering in her head? Was she imagining all of this? How would she know if it worked?

  Just do what you are doing right now, only direct it at me.

  Like this?

  Yes. Now, you may want to look elsewhere.

  Ebby dove for the birds. Charlotte looked away. The sounds of tiny bones breaking filled her ears and then she was crying. And laughing. It was her Ebby! Ebby was alive, but different.

  Ebby, Are you my guardian?

  Ebby looked up at her from the pile of bones and meat and blood.

  So you know. No. For once I am not directly tied to another being. I feel so free.

  “She’s not a guardian anymore.” Charlotte said. Her heart dropped. Did that mean that her mother was dead?

  Ebby? Why are you not a guardian?

  Your parents released me.

  Charlotte rubbed Ebby’s back. Ebby stretched and coughed and flapped her wings.

  “She will need more food.” Evangeline said. “And we will need to eat, as well.”

  “Food will wait. The men are here.” Lodestar scooped Ebby up and placed her on a stack of hay bales with the rest of the birds she hadn’t eaten yet. “Eat, little dragon, and rest. We will feed you more soon.” She stroked Ebby’s back.

  The barn door slammed open as soon as Lodestar dropped the shield. Zorach stumbled in with Alcott and Beau slung over and tied to his back. Faunus stumbled in after him.

  “Were you followed?” Lodestar demanded.

  “No.” Zorach swayed. Evangeline cut the rope and she and Faunus lowered Alcott and Beau off his back. Zorach stumbled forward and collapsed.

  “Why are you all soaked?” Charlotte asked.

  “We had to wash the venom off.” Faunus panted.

  Charlotte kissed Beau’s forehead. He didn’t stir. Neither did Alcott. “What’s wrong with them?”

  “It’s the venom. Some of it got in their bloodstreams.” Evangeline said.

  “I can prepare something for that.” Faunus said. “Can we manage a pot of water?”

  “I’ll do whatever I can to help you.” Evangeline hurried to her backpack.

  “Faunus, did you kill them all?” Lodestar asked. She kneeled next to Zorach, wiping the sweat from his body.

  “No, we did not get them all.” His shoulders slumped. “We no longer have surprise on our side.”

  “Do the biders talk?” Charlotte asked.

  “Their master can read their memories. He will only receive pictures of what they saw, but that’s enough. They will be watching now.” He spread out piles of hay next to the fire. “I’ll strip down Alcott. You get Beau. We need to get them dry and under blankets. We lost the tents, but we did bring the bags.”

  Faunus prepared a tea that they spoon fed the unconscious men. Evangeline hunted. Charlotte learned of more sights and smells that made her stomach turn. Ebby ate and slept. There were no jokes and teasing at supper that night.

  “How long will they be like this?” Charlotte asked.

  “It’s going to take several hours to sweat out the poison.” Faunus answered. “But it’s best we hunker down here for a day or two anyway. We need to rest and we have to make sure our dragon is old enough for battle.”

  “Battle? She’s a baby!” Charlotte laid her hand on Ebby, who was curled up in her lap in a ball of warm scales and pleasant rumbles.

  Evangeline laughed. “She will kill those Biders like flies, and they will run from her like flies.”

  Ebby looked up at Charlotte.

  She is right, you know. I will be a valuable addition to your team. Biders, amongst other evil creatures, are only a threat to Dragons right before and right after the time of hatching.

  I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that a Dragon would be dangerous very early in life.

  If we weren’t deadly early, our species would have never survived.

  “I’m done talking battles.” Faunus stretched his arms out. He laid his jacket out on a pile of hay and stacked his weapons beside it. “Goodnight.” His snores tumbled out not long after.

  “I’ll take first watch.” Lodestar said. “You two sleep.”

  Charlotte lay down in her circle of dirt with Ebby curled up against her stomach.

  18

  The Girl Who Ran Off

  Her Energy

  Charlotte ran through the library doors.

  “Papa!” She laughed and ran through her father’s robes.

  “Come here, you.” He lifted her up in his arms and kissed her face.r />
  “You are interrupting my class.”

  “You sound funny.” She laughed. “And you forgot to shave!”

  He sat her down by the boy with a solemn face.

  “Hush now and listen to my story about the buffalo who lost his coat.”

  Charlotte sat straight up. Her skin itched and burned and screamed in pain. The room spun. She panted and fell on her hands and knees. There were words trying to form in her head, but she couldn’t place them together. Was somebody trying to talk to her? Was she trying to talk to somebody? She looked down at her hands. Sparks flew from her fingernails to the dirt and fizzled out. She blinked. Her heart beat against her ribs and her lungs grasped for air. Something was wrong. What was it? What was she supposed to do? She closed her eyes. She wanted to run. She pulled out her workout clothes out of her bag and struggled into them and her running shoes.

  She stood. Her legs were unsteady. She stumbled to the barn door and pushed it open. Outside the air was cold. The moon hung in the sky. On the horizon was tiniest beginning of a new sunrise. She took off into the fields surrounding the barn and leaped over the fences. When the trees came, she zigzagged between them. She stumbled many times through the dark, but each time she rose and began again.

  She ran toward the brightness in the sky that peeked above the horizon and slowly stretched out into the morning sky, pushing the darkness up and away. She found an old road. Her legs steadied. Her heart and lungs did, too. The pain and confusion eased as the minutes ticked by and the heat rose off her skin.

  The sun rose higher. Clouds covered the sky. Rain fell in a cold drizzle. Charlotte stopped and stood under a tree, drenched and shivering. The heat was gone now, but where was she? She closed her eyes and stomped her foot in the mud. Ebby was too little to leave, half of the team was unconscious, and nobody had any idea where she was. There was only one thing she could do. She turned around and headed back in the direction she had come from. At least she could follow the road back, but at what point should she leave the road?