She took a step back in surprise at the visceral reaction of her body. Suddenly uneasy, she moved to place the sword back in its casing but the vibration started again, more insistent this time. A heavy sense of foreboding replaced the heat in her chest and she swallowed, stepping away from the car with the sword still in her hand.
All of her senses were on high alert as she stepped over the low wall. The grass beneath her feet was unnaturally green and luscious. Flowers dotted the fields around the castle in a spectrum of colours she’d never seen before, or at least not since she was a child following her mother around the garden. Power ran across her skin like static electricity and increased as she moved forward with careful steps.
What is this place?
It didn’t take her long to reach the large stones that formed the boundary wall of the ruins. A gust of wind ruffled her hair, and she could’ve sworn it brought with it the echoes of a soft lament.
An unseen force urged her forward and into the castle. With a blink, she found herself surrounded on all sides by the thick stone walls, what remained of them anyway. The sword vibrated in her hand once more and she raised it, testing the weight.
Though she’d never held this particular sword before, it felt like the most natural thing in the world to let the blade move through the pattern of movements her father had taught her many years before. The air shimmered and she stared, hypnotised by the iridescent trail it left.
She was so entranced by the sight that everything else around her faded until a familiar voice called from behind her.
“What’re you doing here?”
Startled by the sound of Lily’s voice, Phoenix snapped out of her daze and turned, only to freeze in shock. It was Lily’s voice she heard, but it wasn’t Lily standing before her. Instead, the person standing before her was a mirror image of herself. A living, breathing doppelganger.
“What the –” Her mouth opened and closed in confusion as she blinked to clear the illusion. It didn’t disappear.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” the doppelganger said with Lily’s voice. “She’ll be coming any minute.”
Phoenix clasped the sword in front of her and frowned as her brain tried to make sense of what it was seeing. The more she concentrated, the more she could catch a faint trace of Lily’s signature, but the image was all wrong.
What the hell is going on?
She was just about to demand answers when the not-quite-Lily rushed towards her, her head swivelling from left to right as if searching for something.
“Lily, why do you look like me?” She took a step back but forced her voice to stay calm to avoid making the young girl more agitated.
“I was going to make it right. You have to believe me.”
Desperate hands grasped at Phoenix’s sword-free arm and her own wide, green eyes stared pleadingly at her. Alarm bells rang in the deep recesses of her mind, but she couldn’t focus past the strange image, or Lily’s frantic ramblings, to think straight.
“Lily, calm down. Just tell me what’s going on.”
“Please, Phoenix, you need to leave. I was wrong. I know that now. I’m sorry. She promised to help me get Annabelle back.” Lily’s voice broke in a strangled sob. “I just wanted to believe her so badly. But I’m going to fix it. I promise.”
A sense of dread wrapped around Phoenix, freezing her to the spot. The hairs on the back of her neck stood to attention and her hands grew clammy.
Lily abruptly halted her profuse apologising, and her eyes widened into a mask of fear as she stared over Phoenix’s left shoulder.
Not one to ignore a warning, Phoenix ducked just in time to miss the blade that sliced through the air where her neck had been less than a second previous. She brought her sword up the meet the follow-through strike and found herself looking into expressionless golden eyes.
The woman wasn’t much taller than her, and her body was lean with muscle and a lethal air. Her energy screamed power but had an almost intangible quality that made it hard to identify; just like the first Mist.
“Shit,” Phoenix whispered as the woman became a shadow dispersing into the air.
Breath held, she turned in a slow circle, waiting for the attack she knew to be inevitable.
It came from the left, but not in the form of the Mist herself. Rather, one of the large stones seemed to free itself from the jagged structure to fly at her head.
She only just managed to side-step in time and found herself moving straight into the trajectory of an oddly shaped dagger held by the Mist. The blade sliced through her upper arm and pain blazed in its wake.
Too late to avoid the damage, she continued turning until she was pressed in tight against the Mist. Close enough to make another blade strike difficult, and close enough to look death in the eyes.
She placed her hand against the Mist’s chest and called the sun to her. It came more swiftly than ever before and burst from her in a flash of light, but the air beneath her hand was empty. Behind her, Lily screamed, and she turned just in time to see the young witch throw herself in front of the blade that was plunging for her back.
It was all Phoenix could do to yank her backwards, sending them both tumbling to the ground.
The coppery tang of blood filled the air, and Lily’s body shimmered beneath her until she was no longer looking at a mirror image of herself but at the true version of Lily. A slight twitch from Lily was enough to assure her the witch was alive. She rolled to her back with the sword still miraculously clutched in her grasp and held it up in a vain attempt to stave off another attack.
But the Mist was gone.
The wind whipped into a frenzy and the sky overhead darkened with oppressive grey clouds. Lightning split the sky, filling the centre of the castle in an eerie white light.
Lily let out a pained groan and rolled to a sitting position beside her. A red stain coated one side of her blue jumper and she clutched her ribs, wincing with each inhale.
“Leave,” she pleaded.
“Too late for that,” responded a disembodied voice on the wind.
Phoenix jumped to her feet. She turned in a slow circle, sword at the ready, as she stood guard over Lily. Suddenly, sounds berated her from all angles: wordless cries, her name, a language she didn’t recognise.
The wind grew in force until it became a visible barrier around her and Lily. Shadows appeared and disappeared, making it impossible to concentrate on a single point. The dizzying sight made her head spin and the world tilted at an odd angle.
A vibration through the hilt of the sword and into her hand shocked her back into focus. Somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind, she heard her father’s voice whisper, “Trust your instinct.” Words spoken long ago, in another lifetime.
With a deep breath, she let the tension ease from her body and closed her eyes. She fought past all the noise and distraction and tried to centre herself.
Inhale. Exhale.
She raised the sword and sliced through the swirling vortex that surrounded them. There was no resistance, but when she opened her eyes again, the wind was gone, and just as suddenly as it had changed, the sky overhead was cloudless once more.
Atop the northern wall of the castle, the Mist – Maj, Darius had called her – stood watching her. There was a curious look on her face as she eyed the sword in Phoenix’s hand. Something had shifted in the woman’s demeanour. It was almost as if her determined stance now held a hint of reluctance.
“Why are you doing this?” Phoenix called, not really expecting the other woman to answer.
For a moment Maj was silent, but then her weary voice carried on the wind. “I have no choice.”
Her physical form dissolved to mist once more, and Phoenix braced herself.
The blows came from every angle, invisible but no less painful for their lack of substance. It was all she could do to remain standing. All attempts to block the unseen attacks proved fruitless.
Beside her, Lily stumbled to her feet, hissing in a b
reath as she attempted to straighten. She pushed the young girl behind her, using herself as a shield as she closed her eyes again. Focus on the energy, she reminded herself, and raised the sword before her.
Her next slice met with resistance and a grunt. Then something slammed into the side of her and sent her spinning. She opened her eyes and spun just in time to see the odd-shaped dagger plunging for her chest.
Lily whispered a word Phoenix didn’t understand, and time fractured.
The next thing she knew, the witch was standing in front of her, and as she watched, the dagger plunged through Lily’s chest. Her body arched back and a scream of agony tore free from her throat.
Phoenix clutched her in disbelief, taking the weight of her body as it crumpled. She fell to her knees and wrapped her arms tightly around the young girl.
“No, no, no,” she demanded, shaking her head as she willed Lily to live with everything she had.
Rage, and pain, and fear, and grief welled up inside her until it felt like she might explode. She squeezed her eyes shut and pushed it all down, but it was too much; she couldn’t contain it. The scream ripped from her as all the pain she was feeling combined into the burst of power that exploded from her chest.
Everything went white and her ears rang. It was a few moments before Lily’s soft, gasping breaths brought her back to her senses. She opened her eyes, almost expecting to see a large crater surrounding them, but the castle grounds were just as they had been. Minus the Mist.
Lily’s body started to shake in her arms and when she looked down, her stomach dropped. The other girl’s face was deathly white, and clammy sweat glistened on her forehead. Her body felt so cold. A soft lament drifted on the wind, and panic seized Phoenix.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. We’ll get you help,” she said, even as her eyes were drawn to the growing pool of blood surrounding the dagger in Lily’s chest.
“I … I’m sorry … I was … I was going to make it right.” Lily clutched her hand with surprising strength and gave her a sad smile. “I can be with her now.”
The soft lament turned to a keening wail and grew stronger, filling every cell of Phoenix’s body. Her grief merged with it, until it was all encompassing, and as Lily’s eyes closed for the final time, a single tear broke free.
Ethan tapped his foot and mentally willed Nate to drive faster. The flash of light in the distance only meant one thing, and every second it took them to reach Phoenix’s side was a second too long.
He’d stubbornly refused to follow her when she stalked out of the house in a huff. She was being completely unreasonable, and truth be told, his whole body felt battered and exhausted as it fought the remnants of poison in his system. He couldn’t face yet another fight with her.
Once the anger had worn off, reality filtered back in and he’d started to get antsy at the thought of her out there alone. By that stage, he’d had no way of knowing where she’d gone, and he couldn’t find Lily to do a locator spell. Abi had stubbornly refused to help him too, at least until he made her realise the danger Phoenix could be in.
Now, as he saw the castle looming in the horizon, his instincts screamed at him, calling him an idiot of the highest proportions. Adrenaline pushed back the fatigue that still weighed heavy on his body and mind, and he gripped the car’s door handle, ready to leap from the moving vehicle as soon as they were close enough.
Seconds later, the car screeched to a halt and he was running, vaguely aware of slamming doors behind him.
He passed the car Phoenix had taken and leapt the low wall. There were no sounds of fighting. There was only an eerie silence broken by the crunch of soft green grass under his feet as he ran.
Please don’t let me be too late.
The jagged edge of the castle wall blocked his view, and it was only when he reached the boundary that he saw them. Phoenix knelt in the grass with a body draped across her lap and sword on the ground by her side. He slowed to a halt as his brain tried to make sense of the scene before him. Was it the Mist? A tourist?
His senses stayed on high alert, fuelled further by the potent energy that enveloped him. Tentatively, he stepped through what had once been a doorway. A soft wind blew in from the coast and it was then he noticed the blonde hair, ruffled by the breeze even as the body lay still. His heart froze.
Phoenix raised her head and turned dull, shocked eyes towards him. A single tear glistened in the fading light of the sun.
His mind struggled to fit the puzzle together, trying valiantly to protect him by offering alternative interpretations. But he knew.
He fell to his knees in the clearing and howled.
***
Time became inconsequential and Phoenix had no idea how long had passed before the others arrived. She was dimly aware of Ethan’s howl of anguish, shortly followed by Abi’s gentle sobs and Nate’s repeated denials, but she couldn’t take her eyes off Lily.
The young girl’s face seemed so peaceful now that the lines of tension were finally gone. The flush of colour had left her lips, but there was a softness to them that made it almost seem as if she was smiling, something Phoenix had never seen her do in the short time she’d known her.
But the peaceful image was all wrong. Death shouldn’t have been a release for Lily. At eighteen years of age, she should have been full of life and willing to fight with every ounce of her being, not giving it up so readily.
A heavy weariness filled Phoenix and when Nate’s haunted eyes appeared in front of her, she let him take Lily. Strong arms wrapped around her and lifted her from ground. Voices spoke incoherent words, and moments later she was placed gently in the passenger seat of a car. Whose, she had no idea. It didn’t matter.
The world blurred past and she let the numbness protect her. But at the back of her mind, a niggling memory was trying to push through to her consciousness.
The box.
She bolted forward only to be jerked back by the seatbelt. The car swerved as beside her in the driver’s seat, Abi jumped at her sudden movement. It was only then that Phoenix looked around the small confines of the car and realised she was alone with her friend.
“Where’s Ethan? I need to tell him about the box.”
Abi’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion and she indicated backwards with her head as she righted the car. “He’s behind us with Nate and …”
Phoenix deflated in the seat as her gut twisted with the remembered sense of foreboding. The dream. The cries for help. Had it been Lily? She should have done more to save her. Somehow they needed to make sure Lily passed. She needed to be with her sister. The thought caused a fierce burn in the back of Phoenix’s throat and she closed her eyes. So much pain. So much death.
Eventually, they reached the house, followed moments later by the others. Nate carried Lily inside, her body cradled close to his chest as if he wanted to keep her warm. Before she could speak to him, Ethan disappeared into the house behind them, his face haggard and drawn. Abi placed a hand on her shoulder and she jumped.
“Come on. I’ll make you tea. It’ll help.”
Phoenix followed obediently, not sure anything could help at that moment. She sat in silence as Abi fussed about the kitchen with determined focus, and accepted the steaming cup liberally laced with sugar.
It didn’t ease the crushing pain in her chest, but by the time she was finished, she at least felt capable of forming a coherent sentence again. She gave Abi a grateful smile. The smile she got in return didn’t reach her friend’s blue eyes, and she noted the black circles and bloodshot lines that replaced their usual sparkle. Phoenix added yet another tick to her guilt list before pushing the thought aside; it would help no one.
With a resigned sigh, she stood. “I should go find Ethan and tell him about the box for the Ritual.”
Abi gave her a strange look. “He needs you, Phoenix. No matter what he says, don’t let him push you away.”
Her steps faltered, the words striking a chord in some deep hidden part of herself. Aft
er a moment, she nodded, then turned and headed downstairs to find him.
The door to one of the bedrooms was cracked open, and through the narrow gap she could see him sitting on the bed with his head bowed. She knocked tentatively, unsure of her welcome, but when no response came, she slipped into the room anyway.
Ethan didn’t look up or acknowledge her, though he had to be aware of her presence. He just stared at his hands, looking utterly lost. The need to comfort him overwhelmed her.
“I was wrong about Shade. I’m so sorry,” she admitted softly.
He nodded but didn’t raise his eyes.
She hesitated, Abi’s words replaying in her head. When, after a minute, he didn’t order her to leave, she moved further into the room and sat down on the bed beside him. She could still smell the salty sea air lingering on his skin and an aching sense of loss filled her.
When Ethan finally raised his brown eyes to hers, they were full of anguish, mirroring that ache. “It’s my fault.”
She grabbed his hand and shook her head vehemently. “You didn’t cause this.”
“I didn’t stop it either.”
“We will.”
“What if we don’t?”
She shrugged. “Then I guess we’ll all end up dead and it won’t matter.”
His jaw dropped and he gawked at her in disbelief. Then suddenly, they both burst out laughing. The kind of hysterical laughter that came when your only other option was to cry. When the laughter finally subsided, she leaned her head on his shoulder. He put an arm around her and pulled her close with a squeeze. His body was warm against hers, solid, and for that moment, the fear faded.
“I think your pep talk needs work.”
He pulled away to lift something from the bed behind them. His eyes darkened as he turned back with a white box in his hands. “I think you should see this.”
She frowned in confusion, looking from him to the box. The first thing she noticed was the photograph, and her heart spasmed as she recognised Lily’s smiling face. Before she could say anything, Ethan lifted the lid and revealed the box’s contents.
2 Minutes to Midnight: Urban Fantasy Midnight Trilogy Book 2 Page 14
