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Phoenix's Refrain

Iwould have pointed out that Indira didn’t look old enough to have a nineteen-year-old daughter, but after all, an hour ago her sister Gertrude had looked like a woman of seventy. Who knew how old the eight sisters really were. All I knew was they were immortal.

Gin had grown pale. Wide-eyed, she gaped at Indira, the woman who claimed to be her mother. Tessa had her arm around Gin, squeezing her in support.

“Explain,” I said to Indira.

“I already told you what you need to know. There’s no time. More planes are coming.” She glanced out the window, and she did look worried.

“Explain,” I said again.

Indira looked at her sisters in exasperation.

“The Angel of Chaos is very stubborn,” Gertrude told her.

“And wily,” Inali added.

“Fine,” Indira sighed. “The people in those planes were hired by the Guardians. Their mission is to kill me and Gin.”

“You’re a phoenix too? Like Gin?” I asked her.

“Yes. And while it’s almost impossible to kill us, it isn’t entirely impossible. There are methods. The Guardians are aware of these methods.”

I didn’t ask what those methods involved. There were a lot of people here in this room, and I didn’t want anyone to overhear anything that might help them kill my sister.

“So the Guardians sent the ninjas to kill Gin in Purgatory?” I asked.

“Yes,” Indira confirmed.

“Both outside our house and at the Bazaar?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I was there,” Indira said. “I intended to speak to Gin. The Guardians wanted to prevent that from happening,”

“Why?”

“Because I know the secret of how to reach the Guardians, of how to expose their Sanctuaries to this realm. And I was going to share this secret with Gin.”

“Because she is your daughter?” I asked.

“Because she and I are the only phoenixes I know of who possess enough power to help you do this,” she told me.

“Do what? How can a phoenix help us break into the Guardians’ Sanctuary?”

I heard the rumble of plane engines outside.

“More have come to finish the job that these mercenaries failed to carry out.” Indira waved her hand to indicate the dead ninjas strewn across the floor. She watched the progress of the planes now close enough to be visible through the windows. “In exchange for your protection of me and my sisters, I will tell you everything you need to know to reach the Guardians’ Sanctuary.”

“Agreed,” I said.

Stash and the other godly soldiers moved onto the outdoor deck, along with Alec and his forces. They bombarded the incoming planes with magic until they knocked all of them out of the sky.

Well, almost all of them. One of the planes crashed into the airship with a thunderous boom that didn’t sound at all good for the structural integrity of this thing.