Page 21 of Veiled By Smoke (The Nature Hunters Academy #5)
“Hope is nothing but kindling to those who know how to set the world on fire.”
~Viscious
T inley’s boots squelched on waterlogged asphalt, the acrid bite of smoke stinging her nostrils.
Sirens wailed, echoing off the low clouds, and the scent of burning plastic and scorched wood clung to the damp spring air.
The red-and-blue strobes from the fire trucks painted the world in frantic, pulsing color.
She pressed a sleeve to her mouth, breathing through the thick haze, and tried not to flinch as another window exploded on the eighth floor, glass raining down like lethal confetti.
Beside her, Crey squeezed her hand, his palm rough, grounding. “You okay?”
Tinley nodded, scanning the chaos. “Fine. Better once we see those kids make it out.”
To their left, Riggs and Lark crouched to the side of a battered dumpster, their focus split between the burning building and the currents of air swirling at their feet.
The fog they conjured rolled in heavy off the river, swirling around the soul bonded like a living shield.
It muffled the shouts of firefighters and bystanders, turning the world into a surreal blur of movement and flame.
Somewhere behind them, Rush and Brianna murmured, hands linked, ready to dart wherever they were needed. Lawson stood at Tinley’s other side, jaw tight, eyes reflecting the orange glow. Cara was a step behind, her posture deceptively casual, every muscle ready to spring.
The heat radiating from the building was oppressive, prickling Tinley’s skin even from across the street. She could feel the vibration of distant helicopters in her bones and the grit of soot settling in her hair. Every breath tasted of fear and adrenaline.
The first firefighter stumbled out of the main entrance, a limp, soot-smeared child in his arms. A keening sound rose from the crowd, followed by the frantic bark of orders.
Tinley’s soul vibrated with certainty: That one.
That child is a Mark. She exchanged a look with Crey, who nodded grimly.
They’d follow this one to the hospital, keep watch, make sure the dark elementals didn’t get there first.
Then the air shifted—colder, sharper, prickling along the back of her neck.
A sulfurous scent curled beneath the smoke, familiar and unwelcome.
Shadows twisted between the flames, coalescing into hunched, bone-thin shapes with burning red eyes.
Demons. Three of them, slinking along the alley’s edge, hungry for chaos and the fresh, frightened souls of children.
Riggs hissed a warning, hands lifting. Lark’s fog thickened, swirling tighter as she summoned a raw gust of wind, sending one demon tumbling back in a tangle of limbs and hissing curses.
Rush and Brianna moved like a single force.
She spun a vortex of air that lifted another demon off its feet, while Rush’s power slammed it into the side of a fire truck with a sickening crunch.
Crey’s hand burned in Tinley’s, fire racing across his knuckles. “You take the left?”
She nodded, stepping forward, magic flaring in her veins.
Cara and Lawson closed in beside her, Cara’s flames leaping from her palms, Lawson’s eyes cold and furious.
Together, they drove the last demon into a corner, Tinley’s fire joining theirs in a blaze so hot it turned the demon to ash, the scent of burning sulfur mixing with the sharper tang of her own adrenaline.
Panting, Tinley wiped sweat and soot from her brow. “That’s three down. Any more?”
Lark scanned the shadows. “Not yet. But you know how it goes. They're like cockroaches. Stomp one, two more show up.”
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, a vibration sharp and persistent against her thigh. She fumbled it out, squinting at the screen. Aston’s name flashed. Not a text, a call. That probably meant things were about to get serious.
She swiped to answer, tucking the phone to her ear just as a burst of banter exploded on the other end. The soundscape was a mess: voices overlapping, someone laughing, someone else groaning.
“Aston, you there?” Tinley asked, raising a finger to her free ear to block out the chaos around her.
“We’ve got news, and we need you to—” Aston began, his voice sounding faintly tinny, like he was talking through a tin can with a doctorate.
Rory’s voice cut through, loud enough to make Tinley wince. “I’ve got a sister, bitches!”
Tinley snorted, relief flooding her chest. If Rory was back to shouting, maybe she’d gotten over the whole Kimba-queen bombshell. “You sound chipper, Rory,” she drawled. “That mean you’ve forgiven Kimba for her royal deception?”
“Don’t push it, Tin,” Rory shot back, but there was laughter in her voice.
Gabby’s cackle rang out. “Let the geek speak, Roar. Aston’s hacking skills are legit hot.”
Liam, sounding personally offended and at least half a city block away, grumbled, “Can we not compliment the nerd while I’m standing right here?”
“Jealous, Babe?” Gabby teased, and Tinley could practically hear her wiggling her eyebrows.
Aston,, ever the patient one, cleared his throat.
“As I was saying, I hacked into the DHS system, trying to cross-reference kids with deceased parents in the last decade. But do you have any idea how many states don’t update their records?
It’s like trying to search through a pile of matchsticks for a toothpick.
So I switched tactics. I wrote a program to scan court filings for any child placed in state care after a house fire eleven years ago, then filtered by age and missing sibling reports.
Much faster. I’m running it through every county with a fire in the last twelve years. Preliminary results are promising?—”
Rory groaned. “Aston, get to the important part! Did you find her or not?”
Gabby, sighing in a way that was definitely not subtle, said, “Let the man monologue, Rory. It’s sexy.”
“Still right here, Gabs,” Liam deadpanned.
Gabby shrugged. “But you don’t have to be right here. Aston’s tech jargon bores you to tears. You could go out and do some more training with the dragons. Just try not to get your clothes burned off this time.”
“Not leaving you here to drool over geek boy, and he wouldn’t have been able to singe off my clothes if you and Shelly hadn’t gotten distracted by Ra taking his damn shirt off,” Liam added, and Tinley grinned at the growl she could hear in his words. “As if you hadn’t seen a shirtless man before.”
Ra’s deep voice rolled over the line, dry as dust. “Just bring your woman with you, problem solved.”
“And what about the shirt problem?” Liam bit out.
There was no inflection in Ra’s voice when he answered, “Work out more, and your mate will look at you.”
“That’s it. I’m killing the last pharoah,” Liam’s voice practically bellowed through the phone.
A pause, then Tara’s voice, sweet but stern: “Elias, be nice. And stop calling everyone bloody wankers. How about you help keep Liam from attempting to kill Ra, which we all know would just end up with him getting his ass kicked?”
“That’s what they are, Love,” Elias answered in that thick, British accent. “Bunch of bloody wankers, unable to focus for five minutes. Oy, Liam quit trying to drown Ra. He's going to quit going easy on you one of these days, and you’re going to get the shite beat out of you.”
Shelly’s voice poked in. “Sorry about the crazy. They’re getting restless. How are you guys holding up out there? Need anything?”
Tinley glanced at the burning building, at the children being carried out one by one, at Crey’s grim face. “We’re good. Busy. Lots of fire, and not enough hands. Demons tried to sneak by, but we sent them packing.”
“Let us know if you need a dragon airlift,” Ra offered, deadpan.
Rush piped up from the background, “A dragon Uber would be nice about now. The traffic’s murder.”
Brianna snorted. “If you can get the dragons to fit in the hospital parking lot, without them crushing any cars or being noticed, I’ll buy the first round of drinks.”
Lark’s voice rang out, muffled but amused, “Priorities, Bri. First we save the kids, then we drink.”
Aston was still speaking, oblivious to the chaos, his tone growing more animated.
“I’m narrowing it down. I’ve got three viable leads, all girls about eleven years old, all missing siblings after fires.
One girl is named Auri. Rory’s sister’s name was Aurora, but if she was adopted, her name could have been changed, and they might have tried to keep it close to her original name.
I’m thinking she is the strongest possibility.
Her file is sealed, but I’m working on cracking the encryption. Should have more details soon.”
“Why is her file sealed?” Tinley asked.
“That’s what I asked,” Rory agreed. “I’m worried it means that maybe the dark side has found her, and they are trying to cover her up or fly her under the radar.”
Tinley felt the hair on the back of her neck rise.
That name, Aurora, it felt familiar. She looked over at Crey who was watching her closely.
“I’m sure we’ve come across at least one Aurora in our time,” she told him.
“But, I’m getting a feeling, in my gut that we’ve come across this Aurora at some point. ”
“It’s possible,” he agreed. “We can finish up here and then go back through all the Marks we’ve brought in in the past, and the ones that we didn’t get to first.”
On the other end, Rory’s voice came through, though she must have been talking to Aston. “What about there? No, that file.”
“Good eye, Sweets,” Aston told her. “Deeper encryption means hiding something important. I’ll just write in some hacking software in the background to attempt to get in the back door.”
Gabby, undeterred, whispered, “Still hot, by the way.”
“GABBY!” Liam yelped.