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FIFTY-ONE

H ot fragments of glass glistened around them like sprites.

The broken window cut a jagged river through the air and sliced thin cuts into Kel’s arms. Kel gripped clumps of thicker feathers through the pain, relieved that Savita didn’t seem to bear any deep cuts.

The two phoenixes who had broken through first flailed in the air, confusion and rage clear in their cries.

Ruptured glass rained to the ground, an electric, tinkling sound filling Kel’s ears.

Kel drank in the new room, so much darker than the diamond hall. Three figures cowered on the ground, as far from the shattered window panel as possible. Kel spotted Cristo limping out of the adjoining room, blood trailing after him as he vanished into another layer of his labyrinth.

He must have been injured by the shattered glass. But Kel didn’t care where he’d gone. She squeezed Coup’s hands around her waist and he squeezed back. Relief shuddered down her spine as she glanced upward—spotting a skylight. Moonlight guided their path.

Kel directed Savita toward the glass panel. With two other blazing phoenixes also in the small room, the standard glass had already half-melted by the time they reached it. There was no hesitation, no doubt in Savita’s movements as she soared toward the ceiling.

Into the night sky.

As they crashed through the window, Kel refused to look back. She guided Savita into the clouds with numb fingers, staring straight ahead. She wouldn’t say goodbye.

Kel would see them again. All of them.

Coup’s hands tightened around Kel’s waist, his chest pressed tightly to her back to keep her steady.

They had no buckles to secure their legs or saddle pommel to grip onto, but Savita’s feathers were sturdy enough for Kel to bunch them for grip.

Kel sent Sav a silent plea, hoping that her heat wasn’t as painful for Coup as it had been during his last race.

The firebird rose higher and higher into the dark sky, until they floated above the facilities. Above Vohre and Cendor.

Almost automatically, Kel guided Savita south, toward Fieror, though the farm would be the first place Cristo would look for them.

Vohre Forest , Kel thought sluggishly. We can hide out with the Fume until it’s safe.

Kel guided Sav through the stars and to the right, where—

“Look out!” Coup bellowed.

Savita screamed, almost loud enough to bury the sound of a sancter at their backs.

The phoenix jerked to the left as lightning flew past Kel’s hip. Kel almost lost her grip on Sav’s feathers, burning beneath her white knuckles. Sav zigzagged through the clear sky as more electricity shot past.

Kel’s anger climbed until it matched Savita’s raging inferno.

Leaning into Coup’s steady grip, she twisted around and squinted through the darkness, just as more lightning soared past her.

Nestled between a pair of great red-and-copper wings sat Cristo.