Chapter 12: Up in Flames

EVE

I kicked through the burning door and forced my way into the fiery library.

Flames engulfed the intricate wood fixtures and countless books that Kimbringe had collected over hundreds of years. They were nothing but kindling now.

I focused my mind to clear away the thick black smoke, but my sorcery would only go so far here.

I detected a supernatural aspect to these flames.

This wasn’t your average case of arson.

~CRACK!~

A large wooden support beam broke from the ceiling and started falling straight for my head.

I whipped out my scythe and slashed the beam in half. This place was completely falling apart, and I needed to grab Kimbringe before it came down on both of us.

I bounded up what was left of the stairs and found Kimbringe passed out against the window. There was blood in his matted hair from some kind of blunt trauma. It looked like he had tried to escape, but someone had hit him over the back of the head.

I grabbed his body and dragged him aside, just as a flaming bookshelf came crashing down.

Kimbringe stirred in my arms.

“Eve…is that you?”

“Someone has to save your ass,” I said, hoisting him up against the only wall that hadn’t caught fire yet.

The devastating fire reflected in his glasses. His eyes filled with despair behind the frames.

“All that knowledge…lost forever,” he said, his hand shaking as he clutched one of his last books.

Bookcases were falling like dominos, creating bonfires all over the room.

I wanted to bring out my wings and fly us out of here, but they were too big; they’d catch on fire instantly.

We were trapped in a corner and the blaze was closing in.

But I wasn’t out of tricks yet.

“Hold on to me,” I said to Kimbringe as I raised my hands and pressed them against the wall. It burned at my touch as I focused all of my energy against it.

The wall began melting away like molten lava. Kimbringe’s jaw slackened in shock.

“I may have learned some fire magic back in the day,” I said, smirking. “Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.”

When I had an opening, I picked up Kimbringe and launched myself outside, opening my wings when I was clear.

We glided safely to the ground a short distance away. I helped Kimbringe on to his wobbly feet.

The Deity leaned against me as he watched a millennium’s worth of work go up in flames.

***

I made Kimbringe comfortable at the pack house as Raphael poured him a stiff drink.

I wasn’t expecting to host a displaced Deity tonight, but stranger things had happened.

At least now I’d be able to get some answers.

“Did you see the arsonist?” I asked, sitting across from Kimbringe.

“Yes, it was a young male of the magical persuasion,” he said, sipping his scotch.

I knew I had sensed something magical about that fire. “What kind of magic are we talking about?”

“I believe he was a pyromancer,” Kimbringe replied. “And due to the Haze imbalance, quite a powerful one.”

“He must be the one who threatened Snow,” I said, clenching my fists. “He has some sort of vendetta against hybrids.”

“Yes, well, he doesn’t seem too fond of Deities either,” Kimbringe said, pushing up his glasses.

“Maybe he just hates what he doesn’t understand in general,” Raphael said as he sat next to me.

“There aren’t many hybrids in Lumen. It will be easy for him to hunt us down,” I said somberly.

“Then we hunt him first,” Raphael growled.

Kimbringe gave me a serious look. “We do have a way of doing that.”

My heart started pounding in my chest and anger welled up inside me. “Don’t. Don’t even fucking suggest it.”

“Eve, she could lead us right to—”

I jumped to my feet and got in Kimbringe’s face. “Snow will NOT be used as tool! Do you understand me? This isn’t negotiable!”

I looked at Raphael to back me up, but he remained silent.

~So, that’s how it is…~

I stormed out of the room. I didn’t give a fuck if all of Lumen burned to the ground. My daughter was ~not~ going to be used as some sort of GPS for Hazed monsters.

REYNA

~Okay, Blaire, let’s find out who you really are.~

I crept into Dad’s study in the dead of night after making sure he was asleep. Blaire was snoring next to him with her face mask on.

You’d think that with all her plastic surgery, she would have fixed that deviated septum.

Part of me felt like I was being paranoid, but something about Blaire just didn’t sit right with me.

Scratch that…~everything~ about Blaire didn’t sit right with me.

I rummaged through the garbage, pulling out discarded bank statements and receipts.

Blaire had really been swiping that credit card left and right. Granted, so far all her purchases had been pretty practical, like furnishing the house, but I was sure I’d find something outrageous with a little digging.

~$4.95 on stationery.~

~$67.30 on organic groceries.~

~$29.99 on a stainless-steel kettle.~

~$13.75 on ultra-ribbed, pre-lubed condoms...~

I shuddered, throwing the receipts aside.

~Gross, gross, gross!~

This was a dead end. What I really needed to do was look into Blaire’s past. Not the facade she was putting on in the present.

I logged onto Dad’s computer and found the website that he’d used to book his singles cruise. He was still signed into his dating profile.

~It feels SO wrong to be looking at this.~

Other than coming off a bit desperate, there was nothing out of the ordinary in my dad’s profile, but the cruise website on the other hand…

~Moonlight Magic Cruises: Find the Woman of Your Dreams!~

This ~reeked~ of a scam.

There were dead links all over the website.

The testimonials seemed fake as hell.

And the cruise company had no results when I typed it into a search engine.

This whole thing was shady as fuck. Did my dad even ~go~ on a cruise?

Come to think of it, he didn’t take a single photo. Dad was always obnoxiously documenting every moment of our family vacations.

I heard footsteps coming down the stairs and I immediately exited out of the window and opened up a website about carnival games.

Blaire appeared in the doorway, looking at me curiously. “Reyna, what are you doing up so late?”

I fake yawned. “I’m on the carnival planning committee. We’re meeting in the morning and there’s just ~so~ much work to be done.”

“Well, I’m just grabbing some water. Don’t forget to get your beauty rest,” she said, seemingly oblivious to my true intent.

~You might fool everyone else, Blaire, but I’m not so easily fooled.~

~I know you’re not who you say you are.~

EVE

I walked the path from the pack house into the city. I was furious, and I needed to clear my head.

I still couldn’t believe that Kimbringe was pushing using Snow as some kind of secret weapon.

She was just a little girl. She should never have been involved in any of this in the first place.

My past was far from spotless. In fact, it was downright dirty. But everything I’d done, I had done to give Snow a better life.

And I’d continue to make sure that she had the best life—free of anyone else’s burdens. Gifted or not, Snow didn’t owe anything to anyone.

And neither did I.

I leaped into the treetops of the forest and began jumping through the leafy branches. Both my mind and my heart were racing.

I already felt guilty enough about putting Reyna in the middle of all this…and guilt wasn’t something I felt often.

But when it came to someone as innocent and precious as my daughter Snow…

I just couldn’t reconcile what Kimbringe was asking me to do.

I stopped jumping and leaned against the trunk of a tree to catch my breath. A gust of wind blew a powdery white substance through the air.

~Speaking of snow…~

~But it can’t be. It’s spring.~

I caught some of the powder in my hand and it disintegrated into dust.

It wasn’t snow…

It was ash.

I quickly climbed above the treetops to get a better view of the city.

Lumen glowed orange and red in the distance. But it wasn’t a sunset…

The city was on fire!

That guilty sensation, the one that I rarely feel…it came washing over me like a wave.

The pyromancer was loose in Lumen, leaving a trail of ruin in his wake.

If he wasn’t stopped, he’d probably raze the city.

If Snow used her powers, she could probably locate him…

But was I willing to let her take that risk?

Or would I continue to stand back and watch Lumen burn?