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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

FRANKIE

The sky was dark and filled with clouds so I couldn’t see where we were headed until we dove for the ground. As the oval-shaped structure with flashing neon lights and little waving spotlights came closer and closer into view, I still didn’t know where we were but I knew damn well what we were headed for. That was a stadium quickly approaching, and by the looks of it, there was a concert going hard below. But between us and the human concert crowd were dozens of Unseelies darting left and right, only visible when the lights of the concert reflected on their silver armor.

Goddess, please get them out of there safely. PLEASE.

Storm clouds rolled in thick and nasty-looking. Lightning flashed with violent roars of thunder on its tail. Blue light flashed in front of me as Willow held her hands out, her fingers flexing. I looked up and my heart stopped. A massive tornado half the size of the stadium was barreling right for it. Willow flicked her wrist and the tornado moved to follow. That tornado wasn’t real, but my Goddess it looked it. Savannah’s wand sparkled over Willow’s shoulder a split-second before emergency sirens screamed through the night.

" TORNADO WARNING. SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY, ” Tenn’s voice rumbled through our minds.

The music below cut off instantly. Brilliant. The Unseelies weren’t the only ones who could learn and adapt on the fly. Hopefully the humans were already moving to safety. Or as safe as they could get with the Unseelies. Tyce landed in the center of the grass in the middle of the stadium, crushing the chairs into dust and rubble. Humans screamed and scrambled in every direction. All of them kept glancing in the same direction—right at Willow’s massive tornado, just barely visible above the METLIFE STADIUM sign up at the top of the wall.

Dace swooped down beside Tyce, but instead of landing, he flipped upside down and dropped my Coven-mates onto the ground while he spit fire into the Unseelies charging for them. Tyce roared and I felt the rumble beneath my legs. I couldn’t get off his back fast enough. It felt like trying to run in a dream. My gaze bounced left and right, up and down. Shadows slid in all around us, but it was hard to tell which were from the Unseelies and which were from Thiago’s magic being flicked around.

“ Emergency alert! Tornado warning! Seek shelter immediately!” Tenn shouted into our minds again.

I slid off Tyce’s back and my feet hit cement, sending bolts of pain through my legs, but I couldn’t let that slow me down. My sais were in my hands and at the ready before I took another step. Everything was chaos and panic. I’d been at concerts in stadiums like this. There had to be seventy thousand people trapped within these walls, and it felt like I could hear each and every one of them screaming. Tyce and Dace shot back up, shooting streams of fire in every direction, yet they weren’t hitting any Unseelie. Are they missing or just trying to keep a lid on this mess?

“Savannah!” Tenn leapt out from between two piles of tossed-aside metal chairs. He pointed at something behind me. “BIGGER EXITS!”

Two Unseelie emerged from behind the sound booth and dove for Tenn with curved daggers. My breath caught in my throat, stealing the scream I tried to make to warn him. He hadn’t seen them yet, hadn’t registered their presence. That was not like him at all. At the last second, Kessler dove between his son and our enemy. Tenn finally caught on but it all happened in horrifying slow motion. He swung Michael’s sword but it was a second too late. Kessler’s body slid in behind Tenn’s and took the hit. The Unseelies’ daggers pierced through his back.

The strangled cry that came out of Tenn would haunt me.

It happened too fast. I’d only made it a foot away from where Tyce had dropped us, yet they’d pounced on Tenn immediately. No one else had had time to move. I started for them when my magic billowed from my rune bracelet. I slid to a stop just as a glowing pink arrow flashed to my right. History taught me not to doubt these runes, so I pushed off the ground and ran in the direction of my arrow. When I looked up in search of my target, I spotted Savannah up ahead flicking her wand. The halls that led into the concession areas were packed tighter than sardines, but Savannah’s magic had the walls moving to expand the opening.

A few Unseelie flew right for her, but Emersyn was there. She threw her arms up to make a wall of flame. My runes pulsed and warmed against my skin, the arrows flashing like a strobe light. I dug my heels into the ground as I ran. I was fast, I’d always been fast, but I’d never needed speed more than I did in this moment.

One of the Unseelie twirled his hand and summoned two little dragons made out of smoke and shadow, then shot them right at Savannah and Emersyn. I shouted and threw my magic out ahead of me as I dove, but their screams told me I was too late. Smoke drifted over my body, then darkness claimed me.

“FRANKIE!”

I opened my eyes and looked around before darkness caught me again.

“FRANKIE!”

I woke with a gasp but again darkness dragged me back down. NO! I screamed but my mouth wouldn’t move. Except this time, I could still hear the screams and explosions all around me. The ground trembled. Metal clashed against metal.

“ POUR IT, MEI-LING!” Savannah shouted.

Liquid splashed onto my face. My eyes flew open. Savannah and Mei-Ling were leaning over me with wide, panicked eyes. Mei-Ling patted me down like she was checking for injuries.

“What happened?” I heard myself ask.

“You saved our lives,” Savannah said through clenched teeth while she hugged her hands to her chest. Blood dripped down her gray shirt.

“You keep falling asleep. That smoke dragon must be doing this to you.” Mei-Ling grimaced and tucked her neon-orange hair behind her ears. There was purple blood splattered on her hands. “Savannah had me splash a little graveyard dirt juice on you. Sorry.”

“Don’t tell me. Thanks. And thank you.” I sat up just as my brain did the math. I grabbed my best friend’s arm and shook her. “Wait, Mei-Ling, what are you doing here? ”

She sat up straight and pushed her shoulders back. “You’re short-staffed and I’m a fighter. Get over it.”

“Dammit. No. We’ll talk about this later—Savannah!” I felt the blood drain from my face when I realized how badly she was hurt. “Your hands!”

The palms of her hands and fingers were bloodied and raw. There was just no other word other than raw. “ I know ,” she whispered.

If she was going to say more, she wouldn’t have gotten the chance. Screams ripped through the night all around us. I glanced around but it was mayhem. People scrambled for cover. Somehow we’d been thrown off the main path of the Unseelies.

Yet there was a specific head of golden hair I didn’t see. “Emersyn? Where is she?”

Savannah turned sheet-white. “What do you mean?”

“She was right behind you! That’s why I tackled you both?—”

“ Where is she?” Savannah screamed and leapt to her feet.

Mei-Ling helped me to mine. “EMERSYN!”

The metal seats ripped off the ground, then flew over a few rows. Dozens of chairs stacked on top of each other to make a little mountain of metal. It was something I’d see in an X-Men movie with Magneto— SHIT. EMERSYN!

“ Oh no, ” Savannah whispered at the same time, coming to the same conclusion.

“ Emersyn . . . ” I hated how my voice trembled.

The three of us raced over to the mountain of chairs. I knew there was a battle going on around us, but I had to get eyes on Emersyn. I had to check on her. I’d heard the others talking about how easily Em slipped into her own darkness, we could not let her be consumed by her own fire. Tenn shouted behind me. My gaze snapped toward it automatically just as he shot into the sky chasing after something. Lily threw her hands up and shot sunlight into the night sky. The Unseelies were fleeing. Again. That made no sense. We’d only just gotten here. They’d barely fought us.

“EM!” Savannah screamed, pulling my attention back.

Em’s answering shriek was almost animalistic. Her voice sounded like gravel and lava. Savannah looked like a feral dog circling the chair mountain to find a way inside. Her hands were clutching to her chest, and I was praying that wasn’t bone I’d just seen as she darted in front of me. Mei-Ling climbed on top of the flipped-over table from inside the sound booth and pushed up on her tiptoes like she thought height would give her a better view of Em inside. But inside that mountain of crumbled metal chairs was an inferno of the Empress’s making. There was no Emersyn in there. Just a literal ball of fire standing over five feet tall.

“Emersyn, come back to us,” Savannah spoke softly, like Em was a spooked feral cat. “It’s okay. They left. You’re safe. Just drop your fire.”

“This thing is gonna blow,” Mei-Ling mumbled and climbed back off the table.

“That thing is her soul. We gotta get in there.” Savannah kicked at one of the chairs. “Miss Ma’am, we comin’ in.”

I glanced over my shoulder and found the Unseelies were still gone. They hadn’t circled back. Tenn was up in the sky with his white wings flapping in the breeze. I licked my lips, then yelled, “GUYS! OVER HERE! NOW! HURRY!”

Savannah was mumbling words that were definitely not English, but my thoughts were too sluggish to translate the ancient language. It was like my mind picked when it wanted to remember the language. Mei-Ling had a hold of Savannah’s hoodie and kept yanking her backwards whenever one of Em’s flames flicked out at her.

“GUYS!” I yelled again without taking my eyes off the inferno. “HELP!”

“Savannah?” Cooper rushed to her side and reached for her, then recoiled, his whole face falling. “What happened to your hands?—”

“Forget my hands right now! We gotta get her out?—”

“Who out of where?—”

“EMERSYN!” Savannah, Mei-Ling, and I shouted at the same time.

I shook my head, but it wasn’t working. My brain was slow and fuzzy, like I hadn’t slept in a week, and I was barely keeping myself awake. And I wasn’t sure I was staying awake because I kept missing halves of sentences, yet I was still upright. I blinked and Cooper was helping Savannah try to get through the chairs to Emersyn. Then all of a sudden, the entire group was surrounding us. Everyone was yelling.

“ Smoke dragons ? —”

“Frankie tackled ? —”

“Emersyn—”

“Fire ball ? —”

I scrubbed my face with my hands. When I dropped them, I found the others had backed away a little bit.

Easton was the only one between me and Em’s tower of metal and fire. He held his hands up. “I have to put this on us so just hang on. I’ll get it back off.”

He flicked his wrists and the metal chairs flew off their tower and shot right for us—my eyes rolled. NO. I shook my head and looked down to find armor covering my entire body—then darkness claimed me. Something squeezed my shoulders. I gasped and flinched, but it was only Mei-Ling. I sighed and leaned into her, ignoring the worried look in her eyes because I didn’t know what was wrong with me, and more importantly, there was a raging ball of fire in front of us.

Emersyn was inside of it.

Or maybe was the fire.

Hunter and Cooper started forward, but Bentley yanked them backwards. “No. Stay back.”

“Bentley—”

“Stay back, Dad.” Bentley crept close to the inferno. As he moved, his arms turned that black and burned look with veins that looked like rivers of lava running up and down. When he got right up to it, he crouched down and softly said, “ Emma? ”

It could have been my imagination, but it seemed like the brightness of the fire faded a little though the fire ball itself was still raging strong. Hunter and Cooper took a step forward, but Bentley held one hand up to stop them, without even glancing in their direction. His father and brother froze, just holding each other’s arms.

“Emma, I’m coming in.” Bentley reached through the fire. The flames crawled up his arm, making lightning bolts of the same color spread across his entire body and shining through his shirt. Half of his arm was buried within the flames. “Emerysn, it's safe now. Let it go.”

The flame grew bigger, swallowing all of Bentley inside of it—then instantly went out.

The fire was gone.

In its place sat Emersyn with her knees pulled up to her face, rocking back and forth with her arms wrapped around her legs. She was a little ball, just like the fire had been. Bentley was still rocking that charred look of his, but otherwise he seemed uninjured from the fire. He rubbed Emersyn’s back as he sat there crouched next to her. He must’ve said something to her that I couldn’t hear because her head lifted off her legs—everyone choked on gasps and cries.

Emersyn’s face was as raw as Savannah’s hands. Her eyes were closed, but I wondered if she could open them. There was so much blood. It looked like the skin around her eyes was completely . . . gone. My stomach turned. My whole body cringed at the pain she had to be feeling. Tears of literal fire ran down her cheeks as she shook.

Hunter and Cooper took a step forward, but Bentley shook his head.

“I’ve got you, Emma. I’m going to pick you up now, okay?” Bentley waited for her to nod, then he scooped her up. “Nobody touch us?—”

“Tyce, get them back to Headquarters and come back for us,” Tim ordered. Then he frowned and looked around. “Haven? Haven, can you lend a hand? Where are you . . .? Who is that? Who’s hurt?”

The others jumped and spun around, but I already knew. It had happened so fast when we arrived. I shouldn’t have been surprised the others had missed it. I heard their cries and curses. Heard their footsteps rushing away from me. I slowly turned, not wanting to see what I’d already seen, and yet my heart still sank.

Kessler’s big body was lying there in a puddle of his own blood. Unmoving. His eyes were closed. His soulmate Mona was on her knees at his side, her hands pushing into his wounds as she applied pressure. Tears streamed down her face. Her jeans were soaking up his blood. Tenn was crouched with Kessler’s head in his lap. His magic billowed around his fingers as they dug into Kessler’s shirt.

A strangled cry left Hunter’s mouth. He pushed through the group and raced over to his brother. “Kessler?—”

Tenn’s gaze snapped up, his face sickly pale and green. “He took the hit for me. That should’ve been me. ”

“Uncle Kessler . . .” Cooper leaned into Hunter’s side, his face scrunched. Then he glanced over to where Bentley stood like a statue just holding a still trembling Emersyn. “Emersyn . . . we have to get them home?—”

“ Emersyn? What happened to Em—” Tenn’s eyes widened. He actually flinched when he saw her face. He licked his lips. “What?—”

“Can you fly me onto Tyce’s back?” Bentley nodded his head in the charcoal-colored dragon’s direction. “I need to fly alone with her. I’ll explain later.”

“No need.” He flicked his wrist and carefully sat the two siblings on Tyce’s spine. “Be careful. Come back for us.”

Tyce nodded his head, then shot into the sky and disappeared into the night sky.

Tenn glanced around and his face fell. “MetLife Stadium? Where the hell is this ?”

“New Jersey, not far from Manhattan,” Tim answered grimly. “I’ll handle getting all the humans settled. Dace, you good?”

The ivory dragon nodded his head. Those blue eyes were sharp and watching everything.

Tim nodded and gestured toward Dace. “Go ahead, Haven. Take your father, Mona, Cooper, Hunter, Savannah, and Frankie with you on Dace.”

“Uncle Tim?—”

“Now, Haven. Please.”

Tenn nodded. Climbing onto a dragon was a lot easier when Tenn just flew us up. I’d barely wrapped my hands around Dace’s spike when we took off. I glanced over my shoulder to see just who and how many we’d left behind and spotted Tim, Easton, Lily, Warner, Jackson, Willow, Royce, Thiago, and Mei-Ling.

I hated the feeling Mei-Ling had just set herself up for a future I wouldn’t want to see, but it was her choice. I couldn’t be a hypocrite. I knew damn well that if the roles were reversed, I would’ve been strapped with weapons and riding into battle like Eowyn and Merri in Lord of the Rings.

Dace dropped below some clouds, and I almost cried in relief. Tyce was flying toward us without any riders. He snorted to his twin, then took a sharp nose-dive down to the ground. He’s going to get them out of there. It’s okay. They’ll make it home.

My eyes rolled—I gasped awake, my whole body jumping. A big hand landed on my shoulder, pinning me in place. Golden magic swirled in my peripheral vision. Hunter. I took a deep breath and let it out. Dace lowered slowly. When I looked over his wing, I spotted Coven Headquarters in Eden coming into focus.

Bentley stood there waiting, orange crescents in place of his eyes’ golden color. “Em’s with Myrtle!” he shouted before we’d even touched ground.

“Tenn, get him down there!” Hunter’s voice was panicked. “Tenn, hurry?—”

“Dace, land. Quickly. Please,” Tenn ordered.

Dace nose-dived the last little bit, yet we still landed smoothly. The second we stopped moving, Kessler’s big body lifted off the dragon and floated down toward the ground. Mona, Hunter, and Cooper leapt off Dace’s back without waiting for Tenn’s assistance. Tenn looked gutted about his father. He just kept staring at him blankly, his face a mask of horror.

Hunter was downright panicked. My eyes rolled again so I shook myself, but I must have fallen asleep for a moment because I barely caught sight of Hunter, Cooper, and Bentley carrying Kessler into the house with Mona hot on their heels.

Cooper stopped at the front door and looked back to me with panicked eyes.

“Cooper, go with your uncle,” Savannah snapped. “They’re just my hands. I’m fine. Quit it. Go.”

He cursed and then spun on his toes and sprinted inside.

Savannah collapsed against Dace’s spike, exhaling really hard. “Okay, it hurts like a motherfucker, but he don’ need to know that right now. Got it?”

“You got it, Darkling.” Tenn nodded, a ghost of a smirk on his face. “I’m going to fly you down so just chill. You too, Franks.”

I nodded as my body was lifted up and off Dace’s back and onto the ground.

Savannah held her chin high, her hands to her chest. “I’m fine. I’m just gonna walk my happy ass down to the infirmary and wait my turn, ‘kay?”

Tenn and I stepped aside for her, neither of us saying a thing.

Tenn cleared his throat but didn’t take his eyes off the front door. “Dace, please go make sure they’re good. Escort them home.”

Dace flew off without hesitation, probably equally as worried about his twin as we were our Coven-mates.

As the silence fell around me and Tenn, my stomach filled with knots. Words Everest had spoken to me in that dream echoed around my mind. “They’re up to something, Tenn.”

He hung his head and nodded, his hands on his hips. “Yeah, I know. But what? ”

“It’s going to be painfully obvious in hindsight, isn’t it?”

“Historically speaking, yes.” His mismatched eyes met mine. “But let’s get you inside. We need Tegan, and I say that as her Coven-mate, not her soulmate.”

I stopped in front of him. “Don’t you dare beat yourself up. He’s your father. He’d rather die than lose you. But also, he knew just like Esther did why he had to take that hit for you.”

His face scrunched up in pain.

“We may need Tegan, but we’re already dead if we lose you.”