Page 15 of Emergence of Fire
“Ms. Banks. What’s wrong? What’s happening?” Gale crosses the room and stands next to me putting his hand on my shoulder. I look up at him and he takes the phone gently out of my hand. I stare up at him in shock but I let him take the phone.
“Ms. Banks. It’s Gale. Can you tell us what’s happening?” How does he know her? When did this happen? There is obviously a lot we haven’t spoken about but I can hear her relief at the sound of his voice.
“Oh, thank goodness. You boys made it to her.” A loud boom sounds somewhere in the distance and I can hear her shriek. “Cordelia, there were strange men outside your apartment door this afternoon. They were Dragons.” She pauses, Torin and Adrian all gather around the phone. My aunt paces, lost in thought as we continue to hear Ms. Banks shuffling in the background. “I watched them break in and when they realized you were not there, they destroyed everything. I’m not one to hide so I went to confront them and they asked me if I knew where you were and I told them I don’t know. I’m not in the business of knowing my neighbor’s whereabouts I told the leader. I told them to leave or I would call the police and quickly ran and closed the door of my apartment and locked myself in,” she says as another boom sounds through the phone.
“Ms. Banks. Are they trying to get into your apartment?” Adrian asks her, his face is furious as we listen to her move around, as if she’s trying to hide. My heart is in my throat and I feel like I’m going to be sick. If something happens to her because of me, I don’t know what I will do with myself.
“They know what I am!” She shouts as the booms get louder. We can hear crashing and it sounds like she dropped her phone.
“Ms. Banks!” I scream as I snatch the phone from Gale. “Ms. Banks!” I yell again as the sound of running can be heard over the speakerphone. I can hear more crashes then suddenly a loud roar has my ears ringing. Is that an animal? What’s happening?
“What’s happening, Ms. Banks? Please, pick the phone back up. I need you to talk to me.” My aunt grabs my hands. I can barely stand I’m so afraid.
“She’s just an old lady. Why would they hurt her?” I say through my tears as I look at Adrian, Gale, and Torin. I can hear more roars and fighting as we stand there helplessly waiting for her to come back. Gale begins to pace, his teeth bared, his eyes are shifting and glow bright green. His chest heaves as he tries to calm himself. I look at them all through my blurred vision, they are all barely holding it together. Another loud roar is heard in the background, but it’s cut short and we are left with silence. I look around at everyone and I am met with concerned somber eyes. “Ms. Banks.” My voice sounds foreign to my ears, a sob stuck in my throat and disbelief on my face. That can’t be it, can it? She will come back to the phone and tell me everything is ok. “Ms. Banks, please.” I plead to my phone like it can make it all better. My legs threaten to give out as grief overtakes me but I push it down and go with anger instead.
“We need to go and get her. She needs me,” I say to them. Gale runs his hands through his hair and clutches his curls as he shakes his head. “Beautiful, she’s—”, he’s cut off by the sound of shuffling and I’m clinging to my phone desperately, waiting to hear her voice.
“Hello, Cordelia.” Aunt Twyla eyes go wide in alarm as she takes a sharp intake of breath next to me, squeezing my hand hard. My blood runs cold in recognition of the voice on the line. Thaddeus. Three growls reverberate through the kitchen, loud and strong. The man on the phone just laughs.
“I see your mates have found you. I’m not surprised, really. I always knew in the back of my mind that you were alive. Your mother outsmarted me in the end. I didn’t anticipate the Druids but no matter. They will all pay in the end. I will make sure of it.” Thaddeus menacingly bites out. “So, I can either hunt you to the ends of the Earth or Realms, it’s your choice or you can come back to Arcadia willingly,” he says. I can feel my Dragon stir and she begins to claw at my insides. I grab my chest and double over in pain. I can feel the fire building up inside of me. Torin grabs me before I fall, I hang limp beside him, clutched in one arm. Adrian takes the phone out of my hand.
“She won’t be going anywhere,” Adrian says to Thaddeus, his voice full of venom. My breath comes in short bursts and scales begin to burst through my skin. Torin picks me up and cradles me in his arms. I’m so hot and the pain is blinding. My skin feels like it’s being flayed open.
“Oh, that’s a shame, Adrian. I thought by now you of all people would know what happens to those who don’t comply. Should I pay Panlongia a visit?” Thaddeus all but taunts.
“You motherfucker, I will kill you!” Adrian screams. “You will never touch my people again. You will die, you traitorous son of a bitch.”
“I’m shaking in my boots!” Thaddeus laughs. “By the way, I do apologize about your neighbor. What a surprise really, I’ve never come across a Lioness before. I thought about keeping her as a pet but the old girl had to be put down instead. Vicious little beast.” I scream in Torin’s arms as my grief takes hold. Between the pain of partially shifting and loss of Ms. Banks I allow myself to sob, the pain washes over me completely. I feel like I’m about to lose consciousness, it hurts so bad. Torin holds me tighter, rocking me gently, but not even he can console me now.
“Tell the queen I love a good hunt. See you boys sooner than you think,” Thaddeus says as the phone goes dead.
“We need to go now!” Aunt Twyla shouts. I pass out to the sound of people running.
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
GALE
She didn’t deserve to die. I listened to the phone call hoping for Cordelia’s sake that Ms. Banks managed to save herself, I knew it was a slim chance, but I hoped. With each moment of silence, I watch Cordelia crumble, and it enraged me to see her hurting. She will blame herself for this, even if it was Thaddeus with the blood on his hands. We were wrong about this entire situation it seems; we should have been more wary about Thaddeus catching wind of her. We should have known that he hadn’t given up his search for her after all these years. We thought she was dead but someone like Thaddeus would always be looking over his shoulder for her. Especially without proof of her death.
We just found her ourselves! We’ve missed something. It’s only been three days and he’s amassed a small army to search for her. How else has he been able to move so quickly? How did he know where to look? Unless someone is watching us from the shadows. I don’t pay attention to Thaddeus as he threatens Adrian, I focus my attention on my mate clutching at Torin’s chest as grief and physical pain threaten to take her under. I feel fucking helpless, we need to get her out of here so she can transition properly. She shouldn’t be in this much pain.
I rub at my chest from the dull ache I can feel through our bond, and I know the others can feel it too. The sound of Cordelia’s phone crashing against the wall shifts my focus back to Adrian. His eyes look feral, his chest is heaving, fists are clenched at his sides. He is struggling with worry for our mate, and the consequences it would cause for his people. With the help of our bond, I am able to pick up on his emotions. Fear, worry, and anxiety swamp him. He looks to Torin, then back at me silently, needing our reassurance. I get it. He has lost so much. I know he is thinking about Thaddeus’s threats, but it was just to goad him. I send comfort and hope through our bond, anything to calm the rage building inside of him. We need to focus on the most important person in the room. Our Queen. Our Mate. Now, that he knows we are with her, it puts all our regions in danger. He can’t go after the entire Realm. He doesn’t have that much power.
Twyla shouts, “We need to go now!” Causing us all to focus and get out of our heads.
“He knows where we are.” Adrian says through his teeth, still trying to calm himself. I walk over to Torin and see that Cordelia has passed out from the pain.
“Yes, but he doesn’t know I have my magic back. I’ve prepared for this moment since my magic returned. I just hope I have enough power in me to get us there. Meet me in the back of the house in five minutes.” She walks over to Torin and touches Cordelia’s face tenderly. “She’s strong. She will get through this. You’re going to help her get through this.” She looks up at Torin, then back at Gale and me. “Go, grab Cordelia’s bag from her room. Check her closet, it’s a duffle bag.” Adrian runs out of the room his heavy footfalls pound up the stairs. Twyla follows behind him and disappears around the corner. Torin adjusts Cordelia in his arms and walks toward the backdoor.
“I’ll meet you outside.” I say to him as I leave the kitchen and return to the front room we were in earlier. I go over to the wall where I was standing only an hour ago. I grab a picture of Cordelia, she looks like she’s about ten years old, and is dressed as a witch wearing a pointy hat, green and black tights, and a black lace dress. A smiling Twyla stands next to her dressed identically as they face the photographer. I can only assume it was a photo taken from a Halloween many years ago but I feel drawn to it. We don’t have these types of celebrations in Arcadia. She looks so carefree and excited I can’t help myself. I take the small picture out of the frame and fold it, placing it in my back pocket. A part of me wishes that Cordelia’s departure from this Realm could have been on her own terms. When all of this is said and done, I hope that we can give her the chance to come back for a proper goodbye.
“Gale, we need to move now!” I hear Adrian yell my name from somewhere in the house. I jog back the way I came, straight through the kitchen and out the back door where they all await me.
“What were you doing?” Adrian asks. I roll my eyes at the look of annoyance on his face.
“I went to grab something for Cordelia.” I say to him. He raises his eyebrows but doesn’t push me to explain. Good. I didn’t plan on expounding on my intentions anyway. I begin to walk toward them when an almightyboomcomes out of nowhere, assaulting our ears and the ground starts to shake at the same time from the force of the blast. The sound was like a bomb was dropped, leveling all the trees around us. I look at the nearby forest, when I see no movement, I go on high alert. This is not mother nature at work—this is something else. There is an electrical smell to the air mixed with earthy undertones. Adrian and I both start to stalk the perimeter of the garden looking for someone to come out and attack us but there is nothing there. I hate how we can’t shift in order to protect our mate. The urge is strong, with all the magic pouring off Cordelia in waves, but because our bond is weak, we are unable to change forms. It’s frustrating how vulnerable we are here in our human forms.
“How the fuck is it possible that someone has managed to get here so fast?” Torin asks as he walks with Twyla further down the back garden toward the edge of the forest. Another cracking sound hits our ears, the ground wobbles like jelly. From the direction of the sound, it’s coming from the front of the house.
