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  I shake my head, part of me fighting everything she says. “And yet,” I say, flames beginning to stir, “you abandoned us. To the very people I take it you were supposed to protect us from.” I bite back a curse. “For years, Mother. Years.”

  Ash’s expression twists to sadness before returning to granite. “You’re mother didn’t abandon us, Zo. She escaped. And at great cost to her and risk to all of the family.” I refuse to meet my mother’s eyes, not caring what excuse is offered up. “She joined the Steam Union and started extracting some of our numbers to join her.”

  That makes me unwind a little, look around. I don’t know any of the other faces. They must have left when I was small. Aunts, possibly? Cousins I’ve never met? And the men must be Steam Union.

  “You know Liander and Sibyl are using our family for their own agenda.” I glare at my mother, anger surging again, though this time it’s not as all-encompassing and allows me to think, to process. “Why haven’t you acted?”

  Mother hesitates before speaking. “Because I can’t,” she says. “Not yet.”

  A vision, then, guides her. But she can’t know what Liander is really doing. “He has a plan, to harm someone important.” I shift my position, anxiety rising. This might be the chance to act, to save the family and stop Liander before he can act. “Mother, he’s taking power from Gaia.”

  She shivers, hugs herself while the others sway a little. “I know,” she whispers, the words carrying in the sudden silence on a sea-scented breeze. “And he plans to destroy a network of power so huge the repercussions will be felt by even the normals.”

  I gape at her as she just stands there. “And you’re going to just let that happen?”

  Agony and fear burn in her dark eyes as she raises her face to meet my gaze. “I have to.”

  No, this can’t be happening. They have to help. Why else did Ash bring me here?

  Mother turns away from me, chin dropping again, voice steady and calm. “Take her back, now, Ashtoria.”

  “Mother!” I lunge for her. This can’t be right. But Ash stops me, one arm holding me back as my mother walks back toward the cottage door, the others following her with their eyes downcast. Only Baird glares at me while I stare open mouthed as they close the door behind them.

  Ash lets me go, blue eyes unreadable. “I wanted you to know you’re not alone.”

  A burst of temper flares, sparks flying from me as I shove her hard, backing away from her, letting my anger take over. Ash doesn’t move, just watches me as I retreat.

  “I wish you hadn’t.” I seize the fire within me and leap into the flames, the sound of her calling my name, her panicked face an afterimage behind my eyes.

  The fire wants me and I am so tempted. It would be easier and cleaner and I could just let go. But if my deceptive mother and her useless friends won’t help, I must at least try to offer a warning.

  I leap from the flames onto a familiar beach and straight into his arms.

  ***

  Chapter Seventeen

  Piers steps back a half pace, but keeps his grip on me as I tremble out my hurt and anger, looking up into his troubled gray eyes.

  “What happened?” His British accent clips, words tumbling over themselves in his anxiety. Is it over my state or does he have his own dire news to share? “I tried to reach you when you called, but I just couldn’t leave and missed you. I stayed, hoping you’d come back.”

  I gulp down my overload of emotions and the need to cry all over again, my hands rising and crossing over my chest to grip his which are still holding my arms tight. “I was afraid he’d attacked already and you weren’t coming back.”

  His worry turns to serious concern, brows pulling together as Piers pulls me closer. “What are you talking about?”

  “You have to help us.” This time a sob does escape, more tears trickling down my cheeks, my face aching from all the crying I’ve done, the excess of emotion wearing at my strength. “If I tell you everything, will you save us?”

  From ourselves. As powerful as I am, I can’t go into the sanctuary alone. I need him to say yes.

  Piers visibly calms, the tight grip on my arms softening, his face taking on deep kindness, such sincerity as I’ve never seen. For an instant, fear rockets to the surface. Everyone lies to me. Everyone. I’ve just had proof of that. And here I am, willing to trust Piers on the weight of a lifetime of visions that might or might not have been manipulated.

  But he’s not a stranger. I know Piers, I’ve felt his heart, felt my own, in the foresight I’ve lived and the times we’ve spent together. I know he’s a good person, that his concern is real. And I have to trust someone.

  “Just tell me,” he says, lips descending to brush over my forehead, the faint scent of peppermint following the hot stroke of air as he speaks. “We’ll figure it out together.”

  It takes little time to blurt my herky-jerky way through my story, though it feels like forever. He holds silent as I speak, though I can tell from the way his brow twitches, his lips moving a fraction, he has questions. Of course he does. I’m only giving him part of what he needs to know. But I fear we have no time for answers or a full disclosure of the history of my people, the pressure of the fire growing as each second passes. A vision is about to become manifest.

  But which one?

  Piers kisses me when I’m through, his skin cold compared to mine as the flames lick around the two of us. He gasps in a breath, but doesn’t pull away, his sorcery smothering the fire before it can harm him. I sigh into his mouth, my sorcery connecting with his.

  “I know the sorcerers you speak of,” he says. “We’ve been seeking Liander Belaisle for a long time.” Who does he mean by ‘we’? It doesn’t matter, though I’m certain Syd is among that number. “If you can show me where he’s hiding, we can end this once and for all.”

  I nod quickly, hope a reality again. What do I need with Ash and my traitor mother? The tiny group of fearful ones who huddle together and don’t act? Piers’s determination is infectious, and I find myself smiling, eager.

  He half turns, one hand releasing me, extending, as a black tunnel forms. I only have a moment to register the shock on his face and to realize he didn’t create the tunnel.

  And then we’re surrounded by darkness deeper than any night, tunnels opening all around, black-robed men appearing to ring us in. Piers pulls me against him, one arm around me, his sorcery flowering out beneath him, but I know as he must, we’re no match for so many. My gaze flashes over Kayden’s snarl of jealousy as he stares at me in Piers’s arms before I lock eyes with Liander.

  “Hello, my boy.” He smiles with nothing but contempt up at Piers. “I’ve been looking for you.”

  I can’t let them take Piers. But the moment I reach for the flame, I’m smothered by a dozen back cloaks of power, my magic crushed under the gathered sorcerers while Piers’s magic is devoured and he’s driven to his knees.

  He manages to look up, gray eyes full of pain, but he’s smiling at Liander as the smaller man bends over him.

  “Syd will be so happy to see you,” Piers says.

  Liander’s smirk turns to fury, one hand lashing out across the younger man’s face. Piers rocks sideways, spitting blood. But I see the fear in Liander, the way his eyes dart around the circle, hear the anxious note under his words as he speaks. “Take him.” He kicks at Piers while Kayden and two others hurry forward, jerking Piers upright by his arms, their power smothering him. Liander turns on me, black drifting over his eyes. “As for you,” he points a finger at me, “your grandmother won’t be able to protect you this time.”

  I feel their hands on me before I know I’m surrounded, but it doesn’t stop me from fighting. Again and again the fire tries to rise, the sorcerers cursing as flames lick them, only to be devoured again. I just need a little more time, but then we’re in the tunnel and I’m falling into darkness.

  They dump me onto the hard stone floor at Sibyl’s feet, Liander appearing beside me a moment
later. I look up into my grandmother’s cold eyes and feel true hate for the first time in my life. Does she know my mother is alive? She must. And I will never forgive her for that.

  “Your precious little brat was talking with the Steam Union.” Liander’s power jerks me to my feet, pushes me toward Sibyl. She catches me, her flames burning away his grip, but hers is no more gentle. It’s only then I spot Rena peeking around her shoulder, glaring at me like I’m the enemy.

  She has no idea what’s really going on here, though I know just enough as it is, to put myself in harm’s way.

  “You foolish, foolish child.” Sibyl’s hand lashes out, the slap so loud my ears ring from it, my cheek on fire where her skin impacted mine. I stumble in her grip from the force of the blow, less staggered by the fact she’s struck me than the fact my whole world is crumbling at the edges and I can’t stop it. “How could you betray your own family like this?”

  My jaw locks. I want to scream at her, to tell her what I know, but I hold my tongue. It’s not going to make a bit of difference. I see her guilt, the subtle gleam of it in the back of her eyes, the way she wriggles against her own choices. She’s fully aware and has been controlling and manipulating me and the rest of the family for a long time.

  What visions have I missed because she’s been holding me back?

  “Kill her.” Liander’s spit travels almost the full distance between us, a sparkling drop arching from his lips.

  Would my own grandmother really comply with such an order? For a moment, I fear she’s lost to me, that he owns her completely. But the moment her shoulders stiffen and her jaw clenches, I know she might be duplicitous in his schemes, but she’s not completely gone.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” she snaps. Liander’s face turns deep red, a vein popping up in his forehead. But Sibyl speaks again before he can rupture something. “Zoe is my responsibility,” she says, “and like it or not, we need her. She is the strongest of the Helios Oracles.” His lips gape, protest almost visible as she turns to me. “However,” she says, glaring down at me, hands fishing in my pocket, retrieving my lighter which she palms, “that power and your mind are clearly clouded by outside influence.” I feel the flames in her mind press down on mine, her sorcery biting deep. I flinch from her touch, the scent of dying smoke passing through my nostrils as my fire sighs and retreats.

  I start to shake, looking down at my hands, feeling inside myself for the flames so familiar. Nothing. Not even a coal remains, the life of it snuffed out. I look up into her eyes, trembling and teary-eyed as the magic that makes me who I am dies.

  “It’s not permanent.” She touches my hair as though to reassure me, though it’s the same hand that struck me only a moment ago, her other still clamped painfully around my arm. “I can reverse the effects if and when I choose.” My knees want to buckle, to carry me to the floor, but I stay upright if only because of my grandmother’s grip on my arm. I hear Rena’s snigger, catch her wicked smile she covers with her chubby hands, but it doesn’t matter. I hang there from Sibyl’s strong hand as she arches an eyebrow at Liander. “Will that satisfy you for now?”

  He glares at her a moment. “Keep an eye on her,” he says. “I have other work to do.”

  I watch him leave, though only part of me is present. Everything has gone dull and gray, fuzzy at the periphery. The fire that lights my life is gone and I have no idea how to get it back.

  ***

  Chapter Eighteen

  The moment Liander and his sorcerers leave, closing the door behind them, Sibyl releases her grip on me. I stagger to one side, away from her, hands rising to clasp my cheeks, an almost physical need to hold myself together pressing the palms and fingers tight against my own skin.

  I shall start screaming at any moment and I’ll never be able to stop.

  “You had to act out now, of all times.” Sibyl paces in front of me, anger cold and sharp. I can’t speak, not yet, but I’m growing accustomed to this empty feeling, enough my own temper can rise. It’s so wrong not to feel the fire join my anger, but that only makes my rage heat up worse.

  “He’s using us.” I don’t recognize my own voice. I sound like an animal, a creature, not a girl. “He’s draining power directly from Gaia.” She spins on me, scowling. “But you knew that, didn’t you, Grandmother?”

  Rena suddenly looks less sure of herself while Sibyl snaps her fingers in my cousin’s face.

  “Out,” she barks. Rena looks like she’s going to protest, but one peek at my grandmother’s face and she runs for the door. As soon as she’s gone, Sibyl spins on me with a hiss.

  “You’re lying,” she says, intensity in her eyes almost as animal as mine.

  “I’m not.” I still have access to my sorcery, but it’s weak and thin. The fire feeds it, normally. Without sustenance, it’s simply darkness looking for food. I let it go looking, skimming over my grandmother, under the floor, dragging her with me to the chamber below. To the main chapel and the altar.

  Sibyl tries to pull away, but I can’t allow her to retreat, not now. I touch the thread that is Liander and force my grandmother to feel it, too.

  There is no shock in her, not really, telling me everything I need to know.

  “You let him do this.” I sag, releasing her. “Grandmother, how could you?”

  She doesn’t answer, or look at me. Neither of us moves for a long moment, not until the door opens and my aunt Ash walks through.

  I’m shocked to see her, surprised enough it shakes me loose of the last of my despair over the absence of my power. Ash takes one look at me and scowls, stalking straight to Sibyl who tries to collect herself in time. Too late, she rocks back from Ash and the blow the younger Oracle delivers. My grandmother might have slapped me, but Ash isn’t so careful, the punch strong enough to send Sibyl to the floor.

  Instinct and training drive me forward, to my knees where I cradle my grandmother’s head on my lap. She’s stunned, suddenly sad, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes as Ash crouches next to her, shaking out her fist.

  “You stupid old bitch,” she says.

  Sibyl’s face hardens, her body stiffening as she struggles into a sitting position. Her power lashes out at Ash, who easily holds her back. Fire erupts between them, my aunt’s calm demeanor level and flat while Sibyl hisses and writhes. When my grandmother collapses back again, I catch her, Ash shaking her head, lips twisted in contempt.

  “Try that again,” she snarls. “You’re nothing without all of us and you know it.”

  My grandmother’s hands flutter in her lap. “I’ve done my best for this family.”

  “You’ve lived like a parasite from this family,” Ash says. “How old are you now, Grandmother? Four hundred? Five?” My aunt might as well have punched me, too. What is she talking about? “You just can’t live with the fact we’re outgrowing you in power. So you sold our souls to sorcerers to make sure you would never lose control.” She snorts, stands, stares down at Sibyl like the woman in my arms is an insect she’d like to crush under her boot. “How’s that working out for you, then?”

  I don’t know what I expected, the reaction I waited for, but the thin wail rising from Sibyl’s chest wasn’t it. I stare down at her with growing unease as her face crumples and she sobs once.

  “I tried my best!” She’s not convincing either Ash or me, and probably not herself. “I’ve led this family with honor and fortitude. Given up everything to ensure our survival.” She jabs a shaking finger at Ash. “You should be grateful!”

  Ash laughs in her face, a cold and horrible sound. “Grateful.” Her eyes meet mine. “What about you, Zo? Feeling particularly grateful right now?”

  I shake my head, pushing back away from Sibyl, letting her fall to the floor. I stand, circle toward my aunt, while my grandmother—or whoever she truly is to me—struggles to rise, her robes tripping her up.

  “Behold,” Ash says, arms crossing over her chest, “the mighty Sibyl, last of the Delphic Oracles. So power hungry an
d desperate she stole the magic of the Helios family who came after her to sustain her life and lead us far after her expiry date.”

  Sibyl manages to make it to her feet at last, gray hair coming loose from its perfect coil, a dark stain on the front of her white dress. “None of you would exist without me.” She spits the words at us, a venomous old snake without the courage to strike.

  Ash’s magic crushes hers, drives her to her knees again. “I used to fear you.” There is wonder in my aunt’s voice. “We all did. Except Leyea.”

  “Do not speak her name in my presence.” Sibyl’s words don’t hold the crackle they normally do.

  “I only wish I’d believed her long before now. Had paid attention when she first came to me, told me what you were.” Ash’s arm drapes over my shoulders. “Did Zoe tell you?” She grins down at me. “They finally got to see each other again.”

  Sibyl wails one more time, groaning as she falls forward, forehead to the floor. “You will bring the end to us all.”

  “So you seem to think,” Ash says. “Your precious vision of old, the one you claim keeps you in power. To prevent the destruction of the Helios Oracles.” My aunt pauses, thoughtful. “Maybe it’s time we were done, have you thought of that?”

  Sibyl reaches out for me, eyes wild. “Don’t listen to her, child. She is deceitful and wicked. She will encourage the last days of our family.”

  What does that mean? Fire singes me, flares in my mind, and though I have no control or magic of my own, a vision forms—

  —You are chained, enslaved, thin and starving, your power spluttering as the laughing group of witches prod you and demand you show them their future, as though you are some parlor game to be played—