Warring of Fire

by Holly Hook

  I left the room and allowed Sofia's world to shatter, and for she and Sven to put the pieces back together.

  * * * * *

  Mr. Macher suggested that we all try to get sleep now that most the Slayers were getting disposed of. The Boers still didn't return. They were out there, making sure that no one in town ever discovered the carnage that had taken place so close to the Water Company. Horror returned as I thought about the horrible details. They'd stay with me for the rest of my life, even if a savage part of me felt glad that those Slayers had suffered a terrible death.

  I retreated to my room as my parents shuffled around below.

  They were no longer trying to stop me. Dad's glares had turned to looks of understanding. Even Mom was sending me a resigned expression each time I walked past. I hated that they both looked as if they had just finished a funeral. In a way for them, it was one. I wasn't that girl trapped on the farm anymore.

  Sven joined me. We lay together on my bed, my face nuzzled into his shoulder.

  “I think Sofia is coming around,” he said. “I talked to the dragons. Even they think we can untie her in the morning.”

  “That's good,” I said. Outside, men spoke to each other as they settled in for the night. I hated that they were out in the open, but at least they'd all gotten a good meal. The Machers had done a lot of work bringing blankets for them and making sure they had places to crash under the olive trees. Ted had thanked them profusely, sinking to his knees. These guys must have had terrible conditions in the Slayer world if they were excited about having actual blankets to lie on.

  “You're almost free, Felicia,” he said. “Just one more thing, and then you're free.”

  “And so are you,” I said.

  “What about Adler?” he asked. “So long as she's out there and unchanged, I could still become a Slayer again.”

  “We don't know where she is,” I said. “If she'd escaped, we might have seen her by now. She doesn't want you near me.”

  “But we both saw her in the cave. She couldn't come near you. Her vow still holds.”

  “True. She's hurt me in more ways than one,” I said. “By erasing your memory she hurt us both.”

  Tension gathered in my gut. So long as Adler lived, Sven would pose some level of threat. I loved him, but we couldn't hang on each other all the time. Soon, one of us would need time to breathe.

  “What do you want to do when all of this is over?” Sven asked.

  “Well, you want to act,” I said.

  “I do,” he said. “But I want you to come with me. But until we're sure that Adler isn't a threat anymore, we must put that on hold. I'll stay here with you until we know more.”

  “I don't know what could have happened to her.” Anger filled me for a moment, but not at Sven. Adler and Mr. Olsen were the last two chains holding us down. Until they were both gone, we would remain stuck.

  Sven could never forgive himself. He didn't speak of his guilt, but it was still there in every breath.

  Tomorrow, we would know our fates for sure.

  Chapter Sixteen

  It was Sofia who knocked on the door the next morning and ordered us up.

  “Really?” Sven asked.

  “Yes. Really,” she said. “If we want to get revenge on Father, then we need to act before he has time to recruit more Slayers.”

  “Recruit?” I asked Sven once out of bed.

  “I don't know how big the Society is,” Sven said. “The ones who met here were the ones who live on this continent most of the time, or were in the area because Father told them about the hoard here. It's possible that most of the Society gravitated here when they heard about Olivia, which means it's also possible the leader has no one left. Or he might have to call and have more Society members fly in to back him up.” Sven stood off the bed, cheeks flushing with rage. “Because he's a coward.”

  “Even he can't guard a huge stash of treasure alone,” I said.

  “My father—and I hate calling him that—isn't a stupid man,” Sven said. “He's a coward, but he's not stupid. He owns a sword that might have...that might have...”

  “Killed my mother,” I said.

  “I don't know if this is true, but he once said that once a sword kills a dragon and tastes the creature's blood, its power to kill another grows. That might have been him trying to make himself look stronger, but I can't be sure.”

  “Let's assume the worst,” I said, thinking of the chill the sword gave me when Mr. Olsen pointed it in my direction. “He took one of the moving vans and is no doubt headed for the treasure. I'm worried about what he might have done to the police and firefighters of this town.”

  “We need to check,” Sven said.

  We went downstairs to everyone trying to make breakfast. Dirk and Ellie worked side by side, making rows of sausage. I was hungry, even after the big meal from McDonald's last night. After wolfing down food, Sven and I left for town once Mr. Macher mentioned that we'd leave for the Sierras in two hours' time. It turned out that the Boers had disposed of the Slayers' bodies, because they had showed up for breakfast and were helping to feed Ted's men.

  Sven and I took off after that. The school bus rumbled away from the end of my driveway before we got to the end of it. Despite the war under everyone's noses, town life was going on as usual. No one seemed to know dragons and Slayers had duked it out last night just outside of the town limits or that there was a big open pit leading to billions of dollars worth of treasure. Life was moving on without me. I was neither free nor a part of Olivia anymore. It was a strange, alien feeling.

  It was even more clear that things were too normal once we got into downtown. Hand in hand, Sven and I walked up and down the sidewalk to see shops opening as usual. Another school bus passed, full of people heading to the high school and the junior high. Bus 19. The bus that picked up people on the east side of town. Traffic flowed towards the Water Company as workers headed to their shift.

  And the fire department was untouched. Next to it, the receptionist worked inside the police station, sipping on a McDonald's coffee. Two police cars sat in the lot. The authorities had returned.

  “This is typical Monday morning around here,” I said.

  “I'll take your word for it,” Sven said.

  “But we had a war.”

  A loud muffler approached, and I recognized the Zombie, Tasha's old Corolla that refused to die. The rust bucket rolled up and stopped. Tasha waved at me, hesitant. I waved back. She was watching us stand there, hand in hand.

  “Hey,” she said, rolling the passenger window down with a hand crank. “I wanted to say I was sorry for everything before heading off to school. I know we're not friends anymore—”

  “Tasha, look,” I said. Compared to everything else, her gossiping about me and lending no support had become trivial. The shock was that she was apologizing. Sven tightened his grasp on my hand as if trying to warn me about something. “It's not a big deal anymore.”

  “Where have you been?” she asked. “You haven't been showing up to school and I haven't seen you all weekend. We were supposed to go to the mall and try to mend things, remember?”

  “You said nothing about that,” I said.

  Tasha wore a look of pure confusion. “You texted me about it yesterday.”

  “I didn't.”

  “And again this morning. And then you stood me up.”

  “Come on,” Sven said, lowering his voice.

  “I've got to go,” I said. Tasha had returned to her old self, trying to accuse me of things I'd never done. I wondered what she needed me to help with or if she was just looking at having me buy lunch. It was how she rolled. She sure missed those things after I'd cut ties with her. “Have a good day, Tasha.”

  “Wait. You were supposed to meet me at the front doors,” she insisted.

  But Sven and I walked away and didn't look back.

  “She'll never change,” I said.

  “Maybe she will once she realizes that there'
s more to friendship than using those you call your friends,” Sven said. “You told me about her. She wouldn't even give you a ride to school when she has a car that works.”

  “You're right,” I said. “She'll figure that out on her own.”

  I hated leaving her behind. But if Sofia could change—if I could change—then Tasha might have a chance someday. I checked the police station again to see that since the Slayers had left, they were back in business. We checked the Water Company next. Word must have spread to all the workers about the fire already because Sven and I watched them park in the lot and ignore the burned husk of a house as they scrambled inside to start their shifts. Two dozen men and women went inside, not giving the damage a second glance as they vanished into the front doors of the Water Company. A real repair crew from out of town worked behind the facility, making sure the new power lines were up and running. Loud drilling and pounding sounds followed. The Company itself hummed with activity.

  “You'd think that in a small town, people would gawk at that,” I said, eyeing the Manager's House.

  “Well, it doesn't look too damaged,” Sven said. “I can't see it.”

  “But the roof is collapsed inward,” I said. “Unless Adler did something so that people can't see how bad it is?”

  Sven's jaw dropped. “She might have. You'd be able to see what it looks like, but non-dragons can't. That means Adler came around here after the fire and used her mind magic. She was brave, coming out here right after the fire department put out the flames.”

  “Maybe she's trying to hide the war from everyone,” I said. "It's possible she's still alive but keeping her distance." I eyed the tall weeds. We were less than a mile from the war zone. "We've got to go."

  "I agree."

  We hurried back to my house after that. Maybe this meant Adler was still alive and was better at sneaking around than I gave her credit for. She might have escaped from the Slayers after she held them off, allowing the rest of us to get out of the underground. While that gave me relief on some level, it also made me fear for Sven. Her staying alive might be the reason this whole town wasn't on alert and why no one had found the now-flooded hole leading to the hoard.

  Sven kept his tight grip on my hand. We couldn't separate now. I would tell the den everything, including how Adler had gone over their heads and tried to eat Sven. It was time to stop holding things back.

  By the time we were back at my parents' property, Ted's men were all enjoying the sausages someone must have bought from the butcher early that morning. Food smells permeated the lawn as guys ate on blankets. Two of them had discovered the garden hose and were rinsing themselves and their dirty overalls off. Ted waved to us. Sven and I charged into the house, leaving them on the lawn.

  Everyone had gathered in the kitchen. Dirk had printed out a map to that site in the Sierras. People were ready to move. Even my parents eyed it. Mom glanced at me as I entered the kitchen, but there was something new in her eye. Hope. Was she wishing I'd have a better future?

  “Adler might still be alive,” I said, stopping.

  Everyone looked at me. The Boers snapped their gazes up. Steve did, too. His expression was unreadable.

  “How do you know?” Ed asked.

  We told her what we'd seen. Or what Sven hadn't seen.

  “It's possible the Society has covered things up with the fire department,” Ed said. “They've been doing that for years. And if Adler were alive, she would have rejoined us by now. Perhaps she used her mind magic on the Manager's House before she got caught.”

  “Not with Felicia here,” Sven said. “Adler can't come near her anymore. There's a reason she kept a distance between us in the cave.” He looked at me. Did I want to tell them?

  I took a breath. “Adler made a vow to my mother to prevent anyone who's hurt me from coming close,” I said. I told them about the night she tried to kill Sven in the gravel quarry, and how I'd dressed in Sven's armor to make her think I was him for a moment. “She tried to bite me and realized too late who I was. Then she flew off because she'd hurt me by mistake.”

  Silence fell over the room. I felt as if a mountain had come off my shoulders. A sense I'd betrayed Adler after she'd been a family friend for so many years swept over me. Mom and Dad looked at each other, and I could read devastation in Mom's eyes. “Marianne wouldn't do something like that,” Mom said.

  “Well, she did,” I told them. “Some people pretend to be your friends when they're not. It wouldn't be right to not tell you that. I don't know what her problem is.”

  “She's been through a lot,” Steve said. “She watched Wiglaf kill your birth parents. Your father first, and then your mother.”

  “But hurting me is why she can't come here,” I said.

  Steve shook his head. Ed and Ellie looked at each other.

  “We'll have to go on without her,” Steve straightened, taking his hand off the printed map. “She disregarded our laws to deal with Sven fairly, who has been nothing but helpful to us so far. Even his sister over here isn't that bad.” He patted Sofia on the head, which earned a glare from her.

  “We might need to cast her out,” Ed said. “She's always been full of herself.”

  Everyone hung their heads. I'd brought an ugly truth to the den.

  One more still lingered.

  One more, and then I was free.

  Dirk picked up the printed maps. “Well, are we going in two cars?”

  “I'm not going without weapons,” Sofia said. “I bet the shed is still standing at the Manager's House. We can raid that before we go any further. My weapons got left down in that pit that's now flooded according to everyone here.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Mrs. Macher asked Dirk.

  “Sofia's okay now,” Dirk said, looking at her from the corner of his eye. “Everyone here is okay. If you're not with us, then you're with the Society leader, and we all know how he is.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  It took over two cars to move everybody. Ted and his men all wanted to go with us and help after the treatment we'd given them, even if it wasn't five stars.

  “Can you drive?” I asked Ted.

  “No,” he said. “Not me. The Slayers always done that.”

  “Then we will,” I said. "you'll have to ride in the moving vans if we can get them."

  “But the moving trucks are still at the pit,” Mrs. Boer said. “We can take them. The Slayers had keys in their pockets as well as money.”

  Dirk and his parents went with Sofia, driving to the Manager's House in their vehicle. Everything turned into a swarm of activity as the Boers brought back two of the moving vans, which was enough to fit all of Ted's men.

  And better yet, we could fit treasure in the trucks if we found it.

  Sofia returned and Dirk announced that they'd grabbed armor for a lot of Ted's guys. None of them knew how to fire crossbows so Sofia gave them a quick lesson. Ted fired a couple at one of the olive trees. He smiled. There wasn't enough armor for everyone, so Ted chose which men would get armor and weapons. We didn't know how they ran security around the mountain.

  “This whole thing feels like a video game in reverse,” Dirk said, setting up the GPS device in the SUV. "We're supposed to be the bad guys."

  "I don't think that's true," I said, leaning against the vehicle. "Look at what we've done so far." My words felt superficial when my thoughts turned back to Sven's cousin. Jens hadn't committed the atrocities that the Society had. He had never joined.

  The thought ate at me.

  After packing sandwiches, we all climbed into our vehicles. Ted's guys filled the two moving vans while the Boers drove them, since they'd had experience with big vehicles, having come from a farm. The rest of us packed into the SUV. I looked back to see my parents standing on the porch. They weren't coming with us.

  And my eyes filled with tears as Sven sat beside me.

  "What's wrong?" he asked. "Oh. Your parents."

  "They know I could die," I said.r />
  "Your parents also know what you are and what you can do," Sven said. "They've changed in the past couple of weeks, haven't they?"

  Mom leaned on Dad. She was taking it worse than him. I knew this was terrifying for the two. "But your father is the last Slayer around here, isn't he?" I asked.

  "Well, I think so. If there were more in the Society, he would have summoned them to deal with the Olivia hoard," Sven said. "I've been thinking about it."

  Dirk, Ellie, and Sofia sat ahead of us while Steve joined us in the back row. Ed was riding with one of the Boers. It was best for us to split up just in case something went wrong. At least Adler wasn't coming along. I wondered if her fear of getting found out had gotten to her. She'd know I would have told the others what she'd done or maybe her mind powers allowed her to sense she wasn't welcome in the den anymore.

  But I still checked for the purple dragon as we drove and left the olive farm behind, perhaps for the last time.

  * * * * *

  The Sierras, despite being only two hours from the farm, were still new. I eyed the mountains as Mr. Macher drove us closer to the range. I'd spent my whole life with these mountains barely out of my sight and I couldn't stop staring at them as they got bigger on the horizon. Sven kept his arm around my waist as we discussed what security measures might be inside that gigantic vault. There might even be information on other vaults. As we talked, Sven and Sofia concluded that their father wouldn't have wanted all the treasure hidden in one place, but he would have security set up just as he had his office. We'd have to use caution when we got there.

  The expressway wasn't very busy. The moving trucks kept up with us as we drove in a small line. I spotted nothing on the horizon flying towards us. Adler wasn't giving pursuit, and we'd checked the vehicles for hidden GPS devices before taking off. Sven and I had learned that lesson and were determined to receive it only once.

  "The mountains are beautiful," I said.