Page 25

Daemon fire sings around us, a living, hungry thing. For the past hour, we’ve fought our way through the town, spraying the extinguisher on everything in our path. Homes and businesses are either up in flames or already burned to the ground.

In high school, Phina’s fire took the west side of the town. Now, it seems like it’s East Silverville’s chance to face the flames.

Now, we move past the high school football field, where somehow the sprinklers still continue to run even with the choked oxygen and the electrical fires breaking out all over town.

Most people are out of electricity. Those who haven’t evacuated yet are screaming, the sounds echoing through the night and turning into a consistent, haunting background track.

As we move through the lawns to the left of the high school buildings, I duck under a falling branch, my lungs starting to burn from the smoke despite my resistance to the fire and the mask over my face. Felix is somewhere to my right, and Soren and Kalen to my left.

There’s a wide, empty lawn between the buildings, but the trees that butt up on the edge of the school are in line to go up next. It was Lachlan’s idea that we come to this side of town, work our way backward, and try to cut them off.

Only for us to find independent bouts of daemon fire, like the one climbing up the pine tree near the high school’s greenhouse.

“That tree is coming down!” Lachlan hollers just before we hear the creaking, angry sound of a tree giving into the fire and starting to fall, the fibers inside it giving way one by one, then all at once.

When I spin around, I catch the massive, deep green pine tilting toward Soren, who’s too focused on the flames licking up the side of the high school building to notice.

A great, ancient groaning meshes with the whoosh of the tree moving through the air, sounding like the earth itself is crying out at the loss of old growth.

Silver ash floats through the air, clogging up the air, putting a mystical sheen on the pitch-black smoke hanging around us. It’s a visibility nightmare, and I fight through it, trying to get eyes on Soren, who I suddenly can’t see.

“Sor!” I call, but there’s no answer from him. Lachlan calls again, but I can barely make it out. It feels like the tree falls for ages, time acting strangely, when I finally catch sight of my best friend again.

He’s still facing the wrong way, still somehow oblivious to the tree that’s heading straight toward him. Kalen calls for him, too, but he must be too far away. From this distance, I can see the panic on my brother’s face.

I start to run, but my gear is heavy, and I realize with a sinking, heavy feeling that I’m not going to reach him in time. I scream, the sound trapped behind my mask, desperately trying to get him to hear me.

Then, something impossible happens.

The tree pauses in mid-air, just long enough for Soren to turn around and jump back.

I can’t see it, but I know what it is. Pure, raw magic wrapping around it like giant invisible hands, suspending it mid-fall.

Then, when Soren is out of the way, the tree thunders the remaining three feet, crashing to the ground with a much quieter thud , some of the needles shaking off into the air and onto the ground.

“What the fuck?” Soren says, and we turn together to see the source of the save just as Kalen reaches us, breathing hard from the run in all his gear.

“Phina!” Her name comes out of my mouth in a mixture of gratitude and fury.

She emerges from the tree line between a cluster of aspens, her blond hair wild, soot streaking over her face and along her clothes, the simple white sweatshirt now dirty and stained, her leggings ripped over her left knee.

Feelings war inside me. I’m thankful that she saved Soren’s life. I’m pissed that she’s here, that she’s putting herself in danger. “What the hell are you—”

“Nora is missing,” she says, stalking forward and not letting me finish my sentence.

“ What ?” Soren calls as the fires grow closer. The high-pitched, roaring frequency makes it impossible to hear anything.

Phina holds her hand up, turning her fingers slightly, and the noise around us clears out. The air becomes breathable again, just like that, all the ash and smoke expanding into a bubble around us.

“Nora is missing !” she snaps, turning to me, her voice breaking. She looks like she’s walked through hell, and now she’s asking me to come with her on her way back.

Soren begins to cough, and Kalen thumps him on the back like that might help.

“What the… hell,” Soren blurts, shaking his head and bending over, putting his hands on his knees. “How are you doing that?” he asks Phina.

“Nora is missing?” I repeat, the words taking a moment to fully process through my head. What does that mean? “From the fire?”

“No,” Phina says, not looking strained at all by the effort of keeping us in this bubble. Across the field, I watch Lachlan and Felix pause, clearly looking for Soren and me. Apparently, they can’t see the little sphere we’re in. “I think she was taken , Xeran.”

Those words snap something within me, the wolf inside me going wild at the thought that anyone would dare to lay a hand on that girl. My daughter or not, she was in my house. On my turf.

“She was supposed to be packing,” Phina says, tears streaming down her face and cutting clean lines through the soot.

“I went to check on her. She wasn’t there.

The window was open, but I don’t think she would leave on her own.

I’m not sure how she would even get down from that high, but there was this smell—”

“Kind of minty,” I say, eyes locked on hers. “And gasoline?”

“Yes,” she says, her eyes widening. “You know where she is?”

“Declan took her,” Kalen says, his eyes swinging to me. “That minty smell is Farris, and the gasoline, I think it has to do with—”

“Phina,” I say, my mind already racing with a plan, “can you make this bubble bigger?”

Phina nods, and as though her power is limitless, she twists her hand again, expanding the ring until Lachlan and Felix find themselves inside it.

“What the fuck?” Lachlan says while Felix jumps back, holding his hands up like he might go toe-to-toe with the clean air. They’re both covered in soot and looking out of place in the suddenly smoke-free environment.

“Change of plans!” I shout to them through the quiet, empty space. “We need to look for Nora!”

“Who is Nora?” Felix asks, and Lachlan punches him in the arm.

“You two, head to Declan’s place,” I say, already backing up and walking in the opposite direction, heading for the edge of Phina’s little dome. “Text me every ten minutes with an update. If I don’t hear from you, I’m assuming you need backup.”

For a moment, I wonder if they’re going to listen to me. It’s not like I’m the leader of this pack—I’m only the leader of this firefighting squad. And if we’re not fighting fires, then what reason would they have to adhere to my orders?

But they don’t push back. Not even for a second. With nothing more than a nod and an affirmative, the two of them turn away.

“You go back to my place—” I start, but Phina cuts me off as we move together, heading toward the high school parking lot.

“No,” Phina says, her voice and face stormy. “I’m looking for my kid.”

Soren raises his eyebrows, glancing between us. I bite my tongue, knowing I’d fight back against that order, too. But I hate having her out here, hate knowing that something could happen to her.

“Fine,” I growl, “but stay close to me.”

“ Xeran ,” Kalen says, cutting me off. “You need to listen to me. I know where she is.”

I stop, staring at him, questions piling up in my head. But there’s only one that really matters. “Well, where is she?”

“At the ridge,” he says, swinging his arm in the direction of the ridge that makes up half this town’s name. “Declan was involved with the fires, X, and it—”

But all I’ve heard is that Declan has Nora, and I can’t stand around talking anymore. “Come on.” I push past him, knowing he’s frustrated, but I can’t stay still. “Tell me on the way.”