Ascent: Book 3 of the Scorched Trilogy

by Lizzy Prince

  The door clanged open and Butch, Mari, Lola, and Theo came tromping into the room, looking like they’d been to battle.

  “Honey, we’re home.” Theo held up the spear as he walked through the door, looking far too pleased with a stupid grin on his tired face.

  Chapter 18

  There was a barrage of hugs and “are you okay’s” from all sides as we congregated at the front entry of the apartment. The multiple conversations at once had my head spinning, and I could only catch snippets of what people were saying. It left me feeling dazed and rattled so that I didn’t know where to focus or who to listen to. Ryan must have been having the same issue because he directed everyone into the living room and shut the front door that was still hanging wide open.

  “Obviously you got the spear.” Munro nodded at Theo.

  Theo was holding the spear like it was a baton, and he was about to start twirling it around. The image terrified me because I could totally see him poking out an eye or cutting someone’s toe off while he was messing around. The spear was only about a foot long, which surprised me. I don’t know why I’d imagined a five-foot-tall staff, but that was just what I’d pictured in my mind. In actuality, it was double sided with a dark patina on the ornately etched metal of the spear while the other side was a wicked-looking dagger. Theo held onto the smooth dark wood that connected the two.

  “Ah, not that I don’t trust you Theo, but please don’t stab yourself with that thing. Or anyone else,” I muttered.

  Lola made a choking noise, and I realized she was laughing. “Too late.”

  “Did you stab someone?” I exhaled wearily.

  Lola surprised me again by answering. “Just himself. He’s fine. But you’d think he’d have learned his lesson by now.”

  “Hey, I’m the one who retrieved it. I’m the one who needs to see it safely in the hands of my cuz here,” Theo practically preened as he grinned at me and winked.

  I wasn’t sure if he took more pleasure in annoying other people or just being an idiot in general. I shook my head at him as I pressed my lips together. I refused to encourage his behavior. Until Theo stared at me with puppy dog eyes that shouldn’t work on anyone, but somehow, he managed to pull them off.

  I finally laughed, unable to keep it in any longer. “Alright, how did you get this bad boy out of fairy lock-up?”

  Theo put an arm around my shoulder and drug me to the couch. “Let me tell you all about it.”

  “Just keep the pointy ends away from me.” I snorted, gesturing to the spear.

  Theo proceeded to tell anyone who would listen, which after a minute boiled down to me and Munro, about how they’d gone to the dolmen at Poulnabrone. Once there, they’d had no idea how to get the spear out.

  “I had the brilliant idea that I should offer up my blood,” Theo bragged loudly, although Mari, Butch and Lola had all been there, so I wasn’t sure who he thought needed to hear. Unless he was specifically trying to impress Ryan or Roark, neither of whom seemed all that interested in how Theo had retrieved the spear. Roark, because he was an ass and Ryan, because he looked lost in his thoughts. I wondered how his visit with his old friend had gone.

  Lola snorted from the kitchen, and Theo pointed at her and shot her a dirty look like she needed to keep her mouth shut. But Lola wasn’t one for following orders. “He tripped on a rock and cut his hand. It was pure dumb luck.”

  “Traitor,” Theo shot back, but there wasn’t any real malice in his tone. Lola just winked at him. I blinked, dumbfounded, because I just had no clue who Lola was. She was so contradictory. I shook it off and focused back on Theo.

  “So, you made this blood sacrifice, and then what happened?” I urged him to continue.

  Theo’s face paled slightly as though this part wasn’t as much of a joke as the rest of it. He was much more serious when he continued. “I was still at Poulnabrone, but it was different. Grayer maybe. And everyone else was gone. Except for some super scary woman with eyes that practically glowed blue.”

  “Mebh,” I whispered, and Theo stared at me.

  “She didn’t tell me her name.”

  I nodded, indicating he should continue.

  “I had to go through a gauntlet with swinging blades and floor tiles that fell out from under my feet.”

  “That’s from Indiana Jones,” Roark shouted from out in the kitchen, and I burst out laughing. The fact that Theo could even prompt a response out of Roark was, frankly, astounding.

  “Same difference, dude. It was basically the same thing.” But when Theo looked at me, there was a glimmer of pain that I could tell he didn’t want anyone to see.

  Whatever he’d had to do, it was affecting him more than he wanted to say. I understood. I had no idea if Theo’s experience had been similar to mine or if he’d faced something completely different. It hadn’t been challenging, per se, but it had been hard. Mentally. I’d had to face my fears and look inside of myself, at my own doubts and misgivings. Not exactly a walk in the park.

  “Well, regardless of how it got here, here’s the spear.” He set it on the coffee table before he got up and squeezed my shoulder as he moved into the kitchen by Lola.

  “That just leaves the sword,” Munro said as he looked over at Roark.

  “Do you have it hanging on the wall in your man cave?” Theo wiggled his eyebrows at Roark. Oh boy, he was going to get punched.

  Roark slowly turned his eyes to Theo as he looked at him with sheer boredom. “What’s a man cave?”

  They stared at one another for longer than I would have thought Theo was capable of holding out without laughing. He finally turned away and tried to lean casually on the kitchen island. Once out of Roark’s line of sight, he picked up Roark’s stupid mug and pointed to the mug, then Roark. I pressed my lips together because I was not going to reward such idiotic behavior all around. Seriously, they were both like children.

  “Roark, where’s the sword?” I sighed, squeezing the bridge of my nose as a headache began to throb there.

  With a grunt, Roark disappeared down a hallway, and I could hear the sounds of a door opening and closing. He came back around the corner with the sword swaddled in a faded cloth that probably used to be white but had yellowed over time. I wondered how many times over the years he’d swapped the cloth out. I doubt he brought it out very often. My imagination took over, and I had a sudden vision of Roark prancing around his apartment swinging the sword around. Roark shot me an annoyed look when I snorted, but I quickly schooled my face.

  “Keep captain nimble away from the pointy bits.” Roark smirked as he laid the sword on the coffee table while Theo mumbled something about Roark’s muscles squeezing out all his brains.

  I ignored them both and leaned forward to get a better look. Munro sat down beside me before he leaned forward too, and we both inspected the sword. This was something I had seen before in one of Áine’s memories. The huge broadsword was meticulously maintained as though Roark had taken that part of his responsibility as seriously as just guarding the thing. It was just as I remembered it, with the leather wrapped hilt and the Celtic knot of steal and the rubies that formed the same rune that marked my arm on the pummel.

  It buzzed with the same current of power that the other lia fáil had, and I was both repulsed and drawn to the power. The rubies glinted at me as if trying to catch my attention and remind me that I shared the same mark that showed up in some form on all of the lia fáil. Well, the spear, cauldron, and sword. I had no idea if it was on the stone as well. It wasn’t like I’d had the time to give it that close of an inspection between fighting off murderous witches and talking to ancient ghostly soul-hitchhikers.

  Roark was glaring at me through narrowed eyes as if he was waiting for something. I lifted my brows as I stared back at him. “Yes?” I asked, wondering what the hell was his problem now.

  Roark just shook his head in response. “Nothing, you just look like you want to grab it. Give it a whirl.”

  I got the distinct s
ense that Roark was testing me. I just didn’t know what he was trying to determine. Maybe he wanted to see if I was a power-hungry witch like Hattie or Cailleach. Or maybe he was just being a purposefully evasive jerk. Suddenly feeling tired and homesick and over all of this shit, I took a step back.

  “I need to call Maggie,” I blurted out, feeling like it had been years since I’d last seen and talked to her. Maybe it was the lack of sleep or the wave of longing for my own bed, but I missed my best friend and hearing her snarky voice felt like the most important thing in the world just then.

  Munro looked a little confused by my abrupt declaration, but he got up from the couch and came to stand in front of me. He handed me his phone and bent his knees a little so he could look me in the eye. “Are you okay?” he asked softly, though I was sure Ryan and Roark could still hear him.

  I nodded, feeling foolish, but determined. “Yeah. I just… I want to wish her and Sara a Merry Christmas.”

  Munro smoothed a hand up my arm, then brushed a thumb over my cheek. “Okay. Take as long as you need.”

  I smiled, knowing that an international call probably cost an arm and a leg. I pulled out a stool that was tucked under the counter and dialed Maggie’s number by heart. Her number might have been the only one I had memorized in my entire phone.

  My heart immediately felt better when she answered before the first unfinished ring. “Hello! Annie?!”

  “Hey, Mags. Merry Christmas!”

  “Aren’t you supposed to say Happy Christmas over there?”

  I shook my head, but the smile on my face made me feel lighter than I had in days. “Is Sara there too? Can I say Happy Christmas to her too?”

  Sara replied back, “Merry Christmas, Annie. We miss you. Oh, and you’re on speaker phone.” Several more “Merry Christmas’s” were shouted while one of them sang the words like they were an opera star in the background.

  “Hi, Grammy and Pops!” I replied, knowing I was hearing Maggie’s grandparents. They were just as goofy and lovable as my best friend and had treated me like family since the first time Maggie had introduced me.

  I heard some shuffling, and then Maggie’s voice came back sounding crisper and clearer.

  “Alright, you’re off speaker, and I’m going upstairs to talk without an audience.”

  After a few moments, Maggie breathlessly rambled off a bunch of questions. “How are you? Are you okay? Did you find Hattie? When are you coming home?”

  “I’ve missed you, Mags.” I sighed, and the line was quiet.

  “I’ve missed you too, Annie. Are you alright? You don’t sound alright.” Worry crept into Maggie’s voice, and I could imagine her pacing the upstairs guest room at her grandparents' house.

  “I’m okay. Just tired. I think we’ve figured out what we need to do here, but it’s all a bit of a guessing game.” I didn’t have the energy to tell Maggie about what had happened to Hattie and how we were now chasing down a five-thousand-year-old witch that had been buried up until a few days ago. I’d give her the full story when we got home. For now, I just needed to hear her give me a pep talk or give me shit. Anything that was a slice of normal.

  “You can do it. Do the right thing. Be the ball. Break a leg. Winners never quit. There’s no I in team.”

  I was outright laughing at her by the time she finished with her platitudes. “What are you doing?”

  I imagined her shrugging with a cheeky smile. “Giving you encouragement. I have no idea what the right thing would be to say in this situation, so I’m just throwing everything I’ve got at you.”

  “Ah, got it. Thanks.” I was smiling into the phone.

  I could hear snippets of conversation in the room behind me, but I blocked them out as I focused on Maggie. A wave of homesickness hit me as I longed for Christmas Netflix marathons and my own bed. I loved being with Munro, and this country was gorgeous. I just never would have imagined this would be how my first trip to Ireland would have come about.

  “But seriously, Annie, you’re staying safe right?”

  I thought back to gassing Cailleach and setting her on fire and grunted. “Yeah. Mostly. I’ll be safe though. We are going to take care of all of this and get back home as soon as we can.”

  “You’d better, or I’ll have to kick someone’s ass. And I think we both know it won’t be pretty.”

  “Whose ass would you kick?” I played along.

  “Probably a random stranger who wouldn’t deserve it. Then they’d be all angry and do something awful and you know, the whole butterfly effect. You don’t want that on your conscience, so just get back soon.”

  “Why did I ever let you watch that movie.” I groaned.

  “You know it touched you deeply,” she stated defensively.

  “I didn’t even see the whole thing. I fell asleep.”

  Maggie and I were both laughing then, and I hated to hang up, but I was sure this call had probably already cost way too much.

  “I’ve got to go, but I love you, Mags. Give your mom a hug from me. Merry Christmas.”

  “Happy Christmas, Annie.”

  My mood was both lighter and heavier somehow when I clicked end on the call. I missed Maggie and Sara, but as I looked up and saw Munro, I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

  I stood up and put my back to the kitchen counter, watching the weary group as they sat around the living room. Mari was fussing over Theo, who kept pushing her hand away. Although the quirk on his lips made me think he secretly enjoyed it. Lola was sitting next to him, leaning forward and talking quietly with Butch, who reached out a calming hand and placed it on Mari’s shoulder. Like he’d given her a sedative, she stilled and sighed, looking up at him with a grateful smile. He returned it, and then gave his full attention back to Lola.

  In the kitchen behind me, Ryan and Munro were speaking with Roark. Something Munro said made them both laugh, and I smiled as Munro reached out and shoved Roark’s massive arm with a move that declared their ease with one another. It hit me just then, what we had created. This odd little make-shift family. None of us were necessarily meant to be together. But we’d turned into each other’s people. Theo wasn’t Mari’s biological son, but you could tell she loved him more than life itself. Lola and Butch, I didn’t know their full story, but from what Butch had told me, he had raised Lola when their parents had abandoned them both. Munro and Ryan were just another example of finding family in the people who were there for you when you needed them. The same as Maggie and Sara had always been for me.

  Family wasn’t about the genetic lottery that dictated to whom and where you were born. That couldn’t be helped. And really, was it a child’s fault that they were born into a complete shit situation? No. Family was about the people who were there for you when you needed them most. The people who supported and loved you no matter what. As I thought about our situation with Cailleach, I realized how she hadn’t been family for Áine. Not at the end, and not in the ways that truly counted. She hadn’t understood that making space in your heart for others didn’t mean that someone else got knocked aside. The heart, at least the figurative heart that loved, was like a limitless balloon, growing and expanding to make room for all of the important people in your life.

  Cailleach had been so terrified of losing her sister to Connall that she hadn’t even acknowledged the possibility that Áine could love them both. That they could be a bigger, better family. But the people in the room around me, they all understood. They all knew what it was like to pick up the pieces from someone else’s mess and figure out a way to open up their hearts again.

  Something clicked in my head at that moment, and I must have made a noise because Munro’s head snapped around and he searched my face. “Alright?”

  “I think I just figured something out,” I whispered as goosebumps erupted all over my body.

  He rounded the island and stopped at my side, leaning on the counter next to me. His gaze was thoughtful, but he must have seen something in my eyes beca
use wonder bloomed there. “You know what to do?”

  I looked back out over the room. At the friendship and love that existed in the small space and released a relieved breath. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure I do.”

  “We need to figure out how to call Cailleach to us,” I said to the room. Mari always seemed to have an idea about different spells to use, and I figured she might have something in mind. What I didn’t expect was Roark to speak up. “I know how to get her to us.”

  Every head in the room swiveled to look at him.

  “How?” Munro and Lola asked at the same time.

  “There is a spell that calls blood to blood.”

  My lids lowered as I tried to work out his meaning, but I didn’t understand. “You mean like family? Are you thinking that my blood will somehow call her?”

  Roark’s jaw was gritted as though what he was about to say was physically paining him. It was pretty clear he really didn’t want to share this with us. “No. I mean blood magic.”

  Ryan stared at Roark like he had two heads. His look was going to burn a hole into Roark’s forehead it was so intense. Butch made a noise of understanding on the couch, and Lola hummed. Mari looked stunned, and Munro grunted next to me but at least I could count on Theo understanding as much as me. Which was to say that neither of us knew much of anything.

  “Okay, I’m just going to say it, I don’t get it.” I grumbled, annoyed.

  “Thank you!” Theo said, throwing his hands up in the air.

  Munro’s hand fell to the small of my back. The gentle caress of his fingers momentarily distracted me as Roark looked about ready to explode. I got the sense that he didn’t share much of his personal life very often.

  “Cailleach has my blood in her. And I have hers in me. We can use it to summon her.” The implications of what that could possibly mean spun around in my head. Sure, they’d both been around a few millennia ago, but I knew next to nothing about him, except that he knew Munro and Ryan and that he’d popped up in Áine’s memories. There was no reason for me to have known that he knew Cailleach, although how had this not come up before now?