Rise of the Phoenix

by Jamie McLachlan

  He leans back and scrutinizes us. “Mr. Hayes will be paying us a visit soon. I hope this plan of yours works, Moira. Where would you prefer to speak with him?”

  “Here in your office is fine.”

  He taps his cigarette over the ashtray. “Then we wait.”

  He continues to smoke, filling the air with the stench of cigarettes, and raps the side of his chair. For the first time, the sound grates on my nerves. Evan shifts and slouches in his seat. I wish I could ask him what he meant earlier, but I don’t dare to question him in front of Keenan. My gaze focuses on the constables sitting out in the main area, visible between the open blinds. I rise and approach the windows, turning the shades down.

  Keenan’s voice cuts through the quietude. “What are you doing?”

  “Creating privacy. We don’t want any of the constables to see us now, do we?”

  As I close the last blind, I catch sight of a gentleman entering the building. My pulse gallops in my chest as the man’s features sharpen into clarity. Dark amber eyes sweep across the station, searching. I snap the shade closed before he sees me, and a rush of excitement pulls my lips upward. Drawing a deep breath, I search within and gather all of my pride. My body swells as satisfaction courses through my veins.

  I swivel around and hurry to my seat. “He’s here. Evan, use your powers on the detective.”

  “What about you?”

  My smile widens. “I have my own way of disguising.”

  He eyes me for a second longer before giving me a quick nod. When his attention shifts away, my body hums as my ego bloats with self-importance. Keenan tenses, his left hand tightening its grip on the chair. The dark cloud, streaked with a yellowish brown, morphs, transforming into the gold of success. His fingers relax, and he settles into his seat.

  A knock sounds on the door, and Keenan presses the end of his cigarette into his ashtray. “Come in.”

  Icarus steps into the office, and his gaze sweeps across the room, assessing Keenan and Evan with brevity before landing on me. He offers us a polite smile. But after knowing him for so long, I can tell when his expressions are genuine. And this one is not. The tilt of his lips reaches too high on his cheeks, forced by the agitation threatening to tighten his mouth into a disapproving line.

  “Good day, Detective.” He touches the tip of his hat. “Congratulations on your success. I’m eternally grateful for what you did. If it weren’t for you, I might be dead, and the Phoenix would still be plaguing our city.”

  The gold halo around Keenan brightens. “I do what I can.”

  Icarus turns his charm on me.

  “I almost didn’t believe the Chief when he contacted me. What made you decide to finally come out of hiding?”

  I let my voice ooze confidence. “I figured there was no reason to hide anymore now that the Phoenix has been caught.”

  “I see.” His gaze darts to Evan before landing back on the detective. “Have I interrupted anything?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Good. Then if you don’t mind, I’d like to speak with Moira alone.”

  “Of course.” Keenan lifts himself off his chair and walks around the desk. “Evan, will you accompany me?”

  Evan rises and brushes my shoulder as he passes by. A blanket of calm washes over me, his only way of wishing me luck. The moment they leave, Icarus closes the door and turns to face me with a thoughtful slant to his brows. I pin my gaze on the ashtray, focusing on the wisp of smoke escaping the dying embers. Each breath steadies my mind until my whole body relaxes against the chair. I keep thoughts of my plan hidden, not even pulling on them to analyze.

  He walks around the desk and fidgets with the papers lying on the surface. “How did you break free?”

  “Believe it or not, but I have friends.” I pause and add force to my next words. “People whom I can trust and count on.”

  “So I’ve noticed.”

  He keeps his gaze fixed downward, and his fingers still fiddle with the documents piled in the corner. I narrow my eyes and continue to goad him.

  “You must miss the days when I only had you. My dependence made it easier for you to get rid of me, didn’t it?”

  He waves his hand in the air, dismissing my comment. “I see you’ve also managed to eliminate Jonathan.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was nowhere near the Legislature building. It was the detective who found Jonathan and shot him before he could succeed in assassinating you. You should thank the detective. He saved your life and solved the case. A brilliant man.”

  “Enough with the games, Moira. I know it was you.” He lowers into Keenan’s seat and rests his hands on the arms of the chair. “Care to tell me what happened?”

  “I would prefer not to.”

  As soon as the words leave me, he dives into my mind. Exactly as I had planned. The wall I had built many days ago remains half erect around my landscape. A large hole marks the spot where he had barged his way in, small bricks littering the ground around the gap. He steps through the pathetic obstacle and walks across the grass toward the multitude of staircases. The dark clouds above him roll across the sky, gathering into a blanket of precipitation. Thunder booms, and a line of light shoots overhead. He ignores the sound and continues to intrude upon my layout.

  I grip the arms of my chair and summon a wave of annoyance. “You can’t enter my mind whenever you want.”

  “Stop me.”

  A grin dances on my lips. My pleasure.

  I fall into my landscape, appearing before him with the stairs to the deeper parts of my mind behind me. He halts and narrows his eyes. The hem of my skirt sweeps the grass as I step forward. Not too close, but enough to entice him. He approaches, and his gaze lowers with each step. Along with his rapt attention, his desire bleeds into my mind. I squirm as an itch spreads beneath my clothes. The sky darkens to a deep blue, and the clouds disperse to welcome the twinkling stars. Behind him, the moon shines and softens the gold hues in his hair. In the wake of my irritation, my thoughts threaten to stray toward Evan. I subdue the emotion and force my mind to focus on Icarus.

  He lifts a brow. “And how exactly do you plan to stop me?”

  “Who says I want to?” Pressing my shoulders back, I tilt my head. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know. I went to the Legislature building to kill you for betraying me once again. I would have succeeded had you been there.”

  “I doubt that.”

  He fixes his gaze on my face and steps around me, circling to my back.

  I straighten my spine and continue. “But when I entered your office, I found Jonathan instead. He tried to kill me, so I fought back. When the detective interfered, Jonathan entered his mind and persuaded him to shoot me. Luckily, I was able to convince the detective otherwise.”

  “So he was the one who killed Jonathan.”

  “No, Constable Jamieson entered the room and shot Jonathan.” I twist around to face him. “He told me something before he died. He said you purposely put me in jail to keep me safe from him. The man was under the impression you cared for me. I tried to inform him that what he said was false, but he wouldn’t believe me.”

  Icarus stops, positioning himself exactly where I want him.

  “Where does that leave us? A truce? We agree to not expose or kill one another?”

  “If only I could trust your word, Icarus.”

  His expression hardens. “Moira—”

  He breaks off, and his gaze darts to the side, as if listening for a sound. I’ve been so focused on us that I had failed to notice when Evan had entered the office. Any minute now, he’ll step into Icarus’s mind—if he hasn’t already. My mind scrambles for ways to buy Evan more time. Words will no longer hold Icarus’s attention. My gaze flicks to the stairs behind him. Before the thought has time to form in my head, I push off the ground with my feet and charge toward him. As soon as I reach him, I raise my hands and shove him backwards. My mouth twists into a wide grin as surprise takes
over his features.

  But my glee is ripped away when he grabs my wrist and yanks me close to his chest. Panic seizes me as I stumble forward and fall with him over the edge. The air whips past us, wrenching my breath from my lungs. I try to push away from him, but the momentum of our descent only presses us closer together. The stairs shift, sliding away from us and clearing our way.

  He speaks into my ear, a fleeting whisper caught by the wind. “What have you done?”

  His back crashes into the pool below. My chest expands as I fill my lungs with air. Ice cold liquid saturates my clothes and wraps around my limbs. Tiny bubbles form a path from my nose and rise to the surface where they pop and release. A muffled sound, ancient and foreign, pounds against my ears. His arms tighten around my waist, a dead weight wrenching me away from consciousness and into the deep recess of my mind where no one has ever gone.

  Not even me.

  15

  A whisper, a long breath weighed with familiar syllables, fills my ears and forms a word. Ownership and identity mould into the sound, creating a recognizable name. My name. The voice leads me to a blinding light that scorches straight through my skull. I squeeze my eyes shut and cringe, curling in upon myself. Here, everything is exposed. Here, I am alone. Raw and forsaken. Here, in the deepest parts of my subconscious, I am stripped bare to the bones of my existence, to the fundamental drives motivating every single living being. No masks, not the one I wear for society nor the one I display for those I love.

  Only me.

  I wait for the rage to take hold, for the lava to spill across the blinding white and turn everything red. A shiver skitters across my skin in anticipation of the pain, yet only air touches me. Where’s the burn? The searing sting of what I’ve become? My lashes flutter against my cheeks as I attempt to open my eyes. Where’s the hateful girl dressed in crimson who thinks I’m weak and broken? Pale light explodes in my vision. A scream rips from my throat as beams shoot out from my body. My naked form transforms into a luminescent shell of a woman. But instead of agony, my nerves sing with adrenaline, electrified by an upsurge of determination.

  Survive.

  My name echoes around me, louder than before.

  I recognize the voice now. Evan.

  A silhouette with golden eyes and a familiar smile shimmers before me. I tremble as cold replaces warmth. My skin dulls to a faint glow, revealing tiny droplets decorating my body. Everything falls into place. Memories rush into me as two waves rise at my sides and collide. The image in front of me fades, blotted out by the darkness of the water now surrounding me. I open my eyes, ignoring the sting, and peer into Icarus’s face. He stares at me, unseeing and with his mouth parted. I pry his grip apart, kick off the ground, and swim upwards. My clothes threaten to weigh me down, and the surface lies so far away. But I refuse to give up.

  Pushing harder, I force my muscles to the brink of exertion. After several laboured minutes, I finally break the surface. I sputter water from my mouth and gasp in desperate breaths. A hand appears in front of me. My gaze travels up the length of arm to examine the face. Evan’s kind features stare back.

  Awe and frustration intermingle in his tone. “You’re crazy.”

  “I can live with that.”

  I latch onto his hand and let him help me out of the water. He heaves, fisting my skirt with his other hand, and pulls me onto the base of the staircase. Water trickles down my skin and drips onto the ground as I collapse at his feet. A shudder grips me as I rest my head onto the stone floor. I don’t want to return to my subconscious ever again. The cold, stark nakedness of my unconscious mind lingers in my bones, making me feel more animal than human. I roll onto my back, panting for air, and look up at him.

  His brows narrow in attentive examination. “Are you alright?”

  “Yes, I think so.”

  “Good.” He glances at the walls around us and turns his face up to the sky. “Shall we leave? Your landscape isn’t exactly inviting, and we do have people waiting for us.”

  I blink, disorientated, and wipe the water from my lashes. “Who’s waiting for us?”

  “Mostly the detective, in his office.” His brows narrow with concern. “You do remember what happened, right?”

  The memory of Icarus forces a groan from my lips.

  “Yes, I remember.” I push myself up to my feet and wipe the wet strands that cling to my face. “Come on, let’s leave.”

  When I retreat and open my eyes, Evan’s face greets me. My gaze darts around, noticing the ceiling in particular. I lift onto my elbows, and a wave of dizziness leaves me momentarily motionless. A thick haze wraps around my head, as if I had been asleep for days. The sensation weighs me down, and every muscle protests in unison. I pause to assess my mind. Though everything remains in place, I feel different. Only a little. A tiny speck of black on a piece of paper that I, for some reason, notice.

  Evan’s face appears in my vision. “How do you feel?”

  “I feel perfectly fine.” The room tilts, contradicting my lie. “Why am I on the floor?”

  “You collapsed shortly after I entered Icarus’s mind.”

  I twist my neck, searching for Icarus.

  My gaze wanders over the empty chair behind Keenan’s desk. “Where is he?”

  “The detective and a few constables moved him to the hospital. He fell unconscious at the same time as you.” He narrows his brows and gives me a curious look. “What did you do to him?”

  “Me?”

  “Well, he’s not in the hospital because of me.”

  A web of confusion whirls around me.

  “You didn’t succeed in locking him in a dream?”

  He shakes his head. “I was in the process of doing so, and I think it would’ve worked. But then, it was like he wasn’t there.”

  My brows furrow as I scramble to comprehend the meaning behind his words. How could Icarus possibly disappear from his own mind? An impossible and inconceivable idea. The uncertainty rotating within increases the pressure pounding against my skull. Evan must be mistaken. Icarus is in a dream. He’s locked and won’t ever bother me again. It’s the only explanation. Hope burns bright, but the flash of light fails to erase my doubts.

  “I don’t know what happened.” I grab his arm. “But our plan worked. Icarus is incapable of carrying out his plans, and he can’t hurt me anymore. That’s all that matters.”

  He takes hold of my hands and helps me up to my feet. The vertigo returns with a stronger force. My body teeters, and I latch onto him with all of my strength. I close my eyes and lean into him, grateful for his support. The dizzying sensation worsens the moment darkness descends around me. My eyes flare open to find him eyeing me with a troubled brow. His mouth parts, but the office door opens and interrupts him.

  Keenan appears and assesses me with a sweep of his eyes. “How are you feeling?”

  “I feel well enough.”

  My words fail to comfort him and force a crease between his brows.

  “You’re clinging onto Evan as if you might faint.”

  Releasing Evan, I stand on my own.

  “No, I’m not. Evan was only being kind.” I glance at Evan and add, “Thank you. I can walk from here.”

  Evan covers his snicker with a cough. “Of course, you can. My apologies.”

  “Very well, Moira.” Keenan closes his office door and sits behind his desk. “Now we have that out of the way, you can tell me what happened.”

  I sit in the chair across from him. “Everything went exactly as we planned. Icarus bought into my distraction, allowing Evan to access his mind and lock him in a dream. He can’t wake up until a dream weaver unravels the dream. It’s over. The Phoenix is caught. Jonathan is dead. The case is closed. Now we can all move on with our lives.”

  A reddish haze outlines his silhouette, and his eyes harden with irritation. I don’t blame him, considering I’m having difficulties believing it myself. But with everything that has happened, I refuse to allow the doubts to plague m
y mind.

  “Have you forgotten about Daniel?”

  My body stills as aggravation pricks my skin. Just when I thought it was over. An image of Daniel flashes in my mind, stirring my anger. The man is vile and a nuisance. But out of the three of them—Icarus, Jonathan, and Daniel—I feel safer knowing Daniel roams the streets, not the other two. He lacks their focus and strength, and has always been a pawn, not a king.

  I clench my jaw and force confidence into my words. “No, but Daniel is harmless. You don’t have to worry about him.”

  “Harmless?” Keenan’s face twists into annoyance. “He’s responsible for Constable Evans’s death and Rachel’s subsequent execution. The man can’t be permitted to walk freely around the city.”

  “I’m aware of that. He’s most likely hiding somewhere in Mr. Hayes’s or Jonathan’s estate. Have several blockers search the premises, and then you’ll find him and can execute him.”

  Evan flinches beside me, a subtle shift of his shoulders that manages to catch my eye. I think back on my words and realize my error. I’ve hated Daniel from the day we met all of those years ago. He used my body at the Pleasure House, spying on me for Icarus. I had to relive the memory of how he had persuaded Rachel to kill her lover. Then I had watched her die for Daniel’s crimes. So I have no issue with mentioning his death so casually. But Evan doesn’t know Daniel, not like I do. To him, I must seem callous.

  Keenan sits back and rests his chin on his hand. “I’ll inform the Chief so he can set that up for tomorrow. I want you there with us when we do the search. For now, I’ll drive you back to the townhouse so you can rest.”

  “Wait.” I straighten my spine and look him in the eyes. “Before you get rid of me, I want to see Mr. Hayes.”

  His eyes narrow. “Why?”

  “Because I want to see him. I need to see him, to confirm he won’t wake up.”

  “You told me it worked.”

  “It did.” I pause and bite my lip. “I need the reassurance. Please, Keenan.”

  “Alright, I’ll drive you.” His gaze shifts to Evan. “I’ll bring you back to the Dream House, as well.”