by Jessica Gunn
My blood went ice cold. “Fire?”
No. Not Giyano, not again. Not after everything.
She nodded. “Yes. It was the strangest, scariest thing I’ve ever experienced. Ben, you need to tell me what’s happened to my baby boy.”
I rubbed my jaw, my hands shaking with anger. With guilt. My fingers curled and uncurled into fists. “I’m going to kill him.”
Sandra’s eyes widened. “Kill?” Her tears fell harder now and she pressed a hand to her mouth. “What are you talking about?”
You have to tell her.
I’d kept her in the dark on purpose. This was supposed to be easy: send Sandra and Riley to Canada to keep them safe. Kill Lady Azar and every member of Shadow Crest. Save Alzan thanks to Krystin and Shawn. Take Riley and Sandra home.
But of course the world hated that plan. It hated me.
She had to know. She deserved to after this. But I had no reason to hope she’d believe me. Especially when she’d thrown me out of the house the first time.
“Sandra,” I said, leveling her with a glance, “I want to tell you what’s really going on. And I will. But you have to have an open mind. You need to listen this time, to believe me.”
Her brow only twisted more, confusion reigning. “This time?”
“Do you remember right after Riley was taken as a baby, I came home and told you a man had said a demon had taken him? That he’d help me find him?”
She stared at me, mouth agape. “Vaguely.”
How much was too much information? What would make her believe the truth?
“Demons are responsible this time, too,” I said. “After Riley was taken, I joined an organization that fights those demons. And I know how crazy that sounds, believe me. I didn’t think it was real either. But I knew magik was.”
Sandra shook her head in quick motions. “No. This is insane.”
“I asked you about the color of their eyes because unless the demons show their magik, their eye color is the only indication. Although it sounds like the demon who attacked you this morning showed you his magik.”
“There wasn’t any magic, Ben,” she said. “It was a fire. A fire had started somehow and the man caught on fire and that’s how I got burned.”
I smiled sadly. “He was controlling it, Sandra. He started the fire because he willed it to his hands. The demon’s name is Giyano. He’s known for having fire magik.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You know the name of my son’s kidnapper?”
I held her gaze even as my guts roiled, twisting around themselves. “He’s the same demon that stole Riley right from his stroller three years ago. The one I sent you to Canada to escape. The demon who is tormenting my fellow demon-hunting friends.”
Slowly, Sandra’s eyes lowered, as if she actually believed me. Maybe she was just humoring me instead. “Ben, this is crazy.”
“It’s not, I promise,” I said. “I can prove it to you right now if you want.”
She looked up at me. “About the demons?”
“All of it. Every part of this started with me.”
“You? How?”
I shifted in my seat as memories of the dark abyss I’d been stuck in for three months surfaced in my mind. “Do you remember when I was struck by lightning out on Grandpa’s lake?”
Sandra’s eyes wrinkled. “Yes. That was horrible.”
“Yeah. More happened that night than me being struck by lightning, though. I, uh… I gained the ability to control lightning itself.” Before she could question it, I lifted my open palm and willed tiny lightning sparks to crackle around my fingers. Not a full-blown ball of lightning, just a few showers of sparks to get the point across.
Sandra’s eyes widened, her mouth falling open as she sat up in her hospital bed. “Ben!”
“I gained magik. And because of me, because of how Rachel and I went about investigating this magik, I drew the attention of some pretty bad demons. And then they kidnapped Riley because of his magik.”
She looked at me for a few empty seconds before reaching for her “call nurse” button.
I grabbed her hand, lightning gone, and leveled her with a look. “You said you’d have an open mind about this.”
“This is crazy,” she snapped. “My son does not have some ridiculous ability or power or whatever superhero thing is going on here. He’s just a kid!”
“Who has a power so rare that no one has seen it for centuries. Only one other person alive has the Power, and unless she shows up and decides to save Riley from Shadow Crest on a whim, it’s me alone against all of them.” I shook my head. “But I’ll save him. I promise you that.”
Sandra dropped her hand away from the “call nurse” button and she stared at me, face blank. “You’re serious about this. Everything you said is true.”
“Yes. Look, you trusted me once. Loved me, even. We dated for almost eight years, Sandra. And yes, I’ve lied to you in the past. Mostly to cover up all this demon-fighting shit. But this, our son’s life, I’d never lie to you about. And I’m so sorry that you got caught up in this. That Canada wasn’t safe enough. That I wasn’t there.” Tears tumbled down my face, but I didn’t bother wiping them away. Nothing would make any of this pain stop until Riley was in my arms again. “I just wanted to be there.”
I held my face in my hands as my shoulders shook. The tears didn’t stop flowing. Minutes passed by that felt like hours. And then, all of a sudden, a warm hand rested on my shoulder. I looked up and found Sandra staring at me.
“You find him,” she said. “You bring him back to me.”
“I will. I promise you. I just don’t know when, or how, or where to begin looking.”
I shouldn’t have said those things. A brave front was the best answer. But I was so tired of lying to Sandra, so tired of promising things to people I couldn’t fulfill.
I was just tired.
Sandra’s eyes hardened. “You will find him. And when this is all over, you will leave him with me. Where he’s safe.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that in her care, Riley was the most vulnerable he’d ever be.
Chapter 14
KRYSTIN
The last half of my whiskey bottle had called to me all day, but I’d successfully ignored it. Sort of. Ben had been gone almost all morning, while the team and I sat in the living room with the Ether Head Circle twins, praying they hadn’t already told Chairman Otto about Ben’s son being missing. But I’d kept an eye on them the entire time. No phones. No computer. So unless they were telepathic, I doubted they’d told anyone yet.
My eyes narrowed as I watched them watch the television. They seemed innocuous, sitting there like normal people. But something was off about them, and it wasn’t their connection to the Ether Head Circle. Were they really witches and just good at hiding their auras? Maybe. I’d hidden mine plenty of times.
The front door slammed open and Ben charged through, stopping only to swing the door shut again. Rachel rose from where she sat on the couch and met her cousin halfway into the living room.
“What happened?” she asked, her face a mask of worry. “Talk to me.”
Ben’s eyes were wild, scanning the room for something and coming up apparently short because his glare cut to Rachel. “They took him. Shadow Crest found Riley and took him straight from Sandra’s arms.”
“Is she okay?” Rachel asked.
He shook his head. “No. They attacked her. She’s got a bunch of cuts and bruises and a burned arm. Second degree. She’ll be at the hospital until her aunt’s allowed to take her home. But honestly, she’s probably safer in public.” Ben scrubbed his face with the palms of his hands. “It wouldn’t be the first time Shadow Crest’s sent demons to the hospital to intimidate her.”
Rachel’s face fell. “Ben…”
“No. I’ve already thought about bringing her here, but I doubt Jaffrin will green-light it.” His glare moved from Rachel to Alexander and Iris, who’d stood and were watching the exchange. “I’m s
ure you two would report it, anyway.”
“Your son is missing?” Iris asked, one eyebrow lifted.
“Yes. Are you happy now?” Ben shot back.
Alexander exchanged a look with his sister, then turned back to Ben. “We were right to think Riley’s protection wasn’t enough.”
Ben’s fists curled. Lightning crackled around them. “Then why the fuck didn’t you do something?” he roared. “You all sit there in your fucking bunker watching the world burn to the ground. The Ether Head Circle knew about Riley, about the Power, and still you let him be guarded by Hunters who weren’t powerful enough? If you knew, why didn’t you act? Why didn’t you do your goddamn jobs?”
Ben’s body went rigid, except for his chest, which heaved with every breath he took. Then he turned and launched a ball of lightning at the one wall of ours that didn’t have a neighbor on the other side. The lightning struck, exploding brick and drywall. Enough to make a loud noise but not enough to damage the actual building. He’d controlled it that much, at least.
“I’m so tired of your games,” he hissed at the twins. “Either do your fucking jobs or leave my house right now.”
The twins hadn’t budged even an inch. Not a single flinch. They were probably relaying this whole conversation mentally somehow to Chairman Otto and his fellow Command.
“Ben,” Rachel said, reaching out for him, but Nate pulled her back.
“No,” Ben seethed. “This is over. We’ll find Riley on our own and the Ether Head Circle will stay the hell out of our business.”
I stepped toward him, a hand raised in the air. “You need to calm down before they—”
Ben whipped around to me, more lightning in his hand. “And you. You were with Giyano this morning, weren’t you?”
I froze. He’d figured it out. “Ben—”
“Did you know he stole Riley right before that? While you were chatting away with your new friend”—he spat the word—“Shadow Crest was imprisoning my son. Again.”
My brow furrowed, but I held my ground. I could handle Ben in a fight, new, uncontrollable magik or not. “Giyano didn’t do that. He’s not working for them—he never was.”
“Are you kidding me?” he shouted. “Why are you so blind when it comes to that bastard? Can’t you see he’s jerking the entire team around?”
“Maybe we should all walk away and continue this later,” Shawn said as he stood between Ben and me. He had a hand around the crystal hanging from his throat. Another one.
Idiot. If he yo-yoed with his magik, turning it off and on again, he’d lose it forever.
“Get out of the way, Shawn,” Ben growled.
Okay. I lifted my hand and squeezed, hoping to force Ben to calm down if nothing else worked. Nothing happened, except for Ben’s face turning bright red. Oh, fuck. No more telekinesis. I’d forgotten.
“Are you trying to use your magik on me?” Ben demanded.
“No, she’s not,” Nate said. “Are you, Krystin?”
I bit my lip, my gaze darting all over the room. “Using it on you and defending myself from you are two different things.”
From the corner of my eye, I watched as Alexander grabbed Iris by the arm and pulled her backward into the kitchen.
Of course. Why help stop a fight that could go public when you could watch it instead and report the result to your superiors?
“Ben, stop,” Rachel pleaded. “Shawn’s right. We need to calm down and look at this objectively. Giyano saved Riley back in Lady Azar’s lair.”
Ben’s eyes narrowed, though they remained on me. “Clearly, he wants Riley’s magik for himself.”
“I can assure you that is the farthest thing from the truth,” I said to him. “Giyano’s done nothing but protect Riley and keep him out of—”
Lightning flew at my face. Instinct had me swiping the air at the same time a crystal was shattered on the floor across the room. A faintly glowing white block redirected the lightning at the wall behind my head. I ducked anyway, realizing too late the lightning was gone.
Ben charged at me before I’d fully stood, knocking into me at full tackling force. We tumbled to the hardwood floor of our living room, but I hooked my leg around him and got back up.
“Stop,” I told him. “This isn’t worth it.”
“Sandra identified Giyano by his magik and that scar on the side of his face,” he spat. “You admitted to being with him. He’s kidnapped Riley before and he’s done it again. If you have any information about where he is, you need to tell me right now or I’ll bring you back to Ether Circle Prison myself.”
My heart stopped. “You wouldn’t.”
“Yes.” His eyes hardened, eyebrows lifting in want of an answer.
I laughed nervously, backing up a step. How had this gone so wrong so fast? “He was hurt. I went to him this morning to ask about Zanka and how to kill him. But I found Giyano nearly dead.”
“And did you finish the job as you were ordered to do?” Ben’s words were said with a venom so thick, it had me reaching for my knife. I didn’t want to hurt him with my magik, but I would not go down without a fight. Not from an attack by a teammate.
I breathed in shallowly, watching not just Ben, but my other teammates and the twins. Their stricken faces. Their expectant gazes. If I lied, they’d find out. But if I told the truth…
Giyano would never hurt Riley. Ashbel aside, Giyano knew what Riley could do in Lady Azar’s hands. He knew what fate awaited Alzan and all the planes if Lady Azar destroyed the cianza at the city’s center.
Giyano didn’t do this. I knew it in my gut. But from where Ben and the others stood, I knew I looked as guilty as Giyano did.
All of this just because of the Alzanian magik inside of me.
I looked to Shawn, hopeful he’d somehow read my thoughts. He held my stare without giving any indication of help or for me to stand down.
My eyes fell. Closed. Maybe Kinder was right.
I gripped the handle of my knife, ready to pull it from its sheath. “No, I didn’t kill him.”
Ben roared, lightning crackling around his entire body. I drew the knife and fell into a defensive stance. Ben lunged for me even as an orange ether flame enveloped his body and pulled him to the ground.
“Don’t!” I shouted at Shawn. “If he wants to attack me, let him.” My fingers grew warm, fire sprouting around my hands. The air around my Fire Circle knife started to wave like a mirage.
Ben fought against Shawn’s Ember witch magik, repeatedly striking the ether shield with his lightning and trying to get off the ground. Nate ran to my side and Rachel to Ben’s. The Ether Head Circle twins remained standing stone-still in the doorway to the kitchen, letting this all unfold.
“Leave,” Nate said, a hand held at the ready in case Ben managed to break through Shawn’s hold. “Get out of here until he cools down.”
“You expect Ben to just ‘cool off’?” I asked, not taking my eyes off of Ben. “He won’t. Not now. He’s insane when his family’s involved.”
“And when someone he trusts betrays him,” Rachel said, loud enough to be heard over the crackling of Ben’s lightning.
“For the love of god, people,” I said. “I’m not working with or for Giyano!”
“Then why did you go to him?” Nate asked.
I glared at the twins. “Because no one else took the threat of Zanka seriously. It was Zanka who attacked Sandra and Riley. Giyano said Zanka knew where they were.”
“What?” Ben boomed, his lightning smacking against Shawn’s shield with great abandon now. Shawn winced with each strike, his body tensing. He wouldn’t be able to hold Ben for much longer. “You knew?”
Fucking hell. “I was going to tell you Giyano was attacked by Zanka. Zanka’s working for Lady Azar, trying to impress her by doing whatever he can to get back into her favor. And that includes fulfilling all the missions Giyano failed at.”
“Like kidnapping Riley for her to use on All Hallows’ Eve,” Rachel said, her words
small. “Oh, god. That’s eight months to build up his use of the Power.”
“You knew Riley was in danger and you didn’t tell me,” Ben hissed.
“I was trying to.”
“Trying isn’t good enough.”
He was right. I should have left Giyano there right away, bleeding to death on his couch, and run back to Ben. But I didn’t. I had to go all noble and save Giyano’s life instead. Maybe at the price of Riley’s.
“Ben, I’m sorry—”
Ben broke through Shawn’s shield at that very moment, sending a massive strike of lightning my way. I threw up my hands, fire at the ready, and thought of anything hot enough to dissolve Ben’s attack. The sun. I thought of the sun, just like Giyano had taught me.
When Ben’s strike hit, the fire in my hands grounded it, dissolving the lightning into nothing. But my fire didn’t stop. The flames trailed upward with the motion, sliding across the space between Ben and me. His eyes went wide and, so quickly I almost missed it, he drew his Fire Circle knife and lunged for me again.
We traded blows, none of them hitting. I narrowly avoided being swiped by his blade with every one of his swings. Rachel gasped but backed away, Nate with her. Only Shawn jumped in, trying to separate us. I swung behind Ben, aiming to knock him out, but he turned too and—
Lightning struck out but didn’t hit me. I stood there, stunned, as Shawn jumped in front of me and took the brunt of the strike at the same time as he landed a punch to Ben’s jaw.
I stumbled away, giving myself space from Ben.
“Shawn!” Rachel shouted.
Ben looked down, stopping his attacks. “Oh, no.” He fell to his knees beside Shawn.
I did the same, checking for a pulse. It was hard to find with Ben looking, too, but— “He’s alive.” I fell back onto my haunches and looked up at the ceiling. “What are we doing?” Ben had almost killed both of us. The only real chance his son had of not being turned into a human power vessel.
