Foresight Page 11

  “That is our future!” Sibyl’s words drag me from the foretelling. “A life of slavery and waste.”

  I know better than to trust her, though there is real fear in the old woman’s eyes. Ash doesn’t give Sibyl a chance to keep talking.

  “That is your future.” Ash’s brows are tight together, though she’s still smiling. “Yours.” I see it again, outside it this time, as Ash exposes the truth to me, her fire simmering with anger. She’s right. It’s not me at all. I see Sibyl’s face clearly from this side of the vision. “And I believe you’ll have earned it.” Ash’s arm tightens around me. “We’re going now,” she says. “And we’re not coming back. Sibyl.” She’s suddenly serious, almost threatening. “If you come after us, I’ll burn you in your own flames.”

  Sibyl just stares, sullen, broken. I pull Ash back as I reach for my power.

  “She’s taken my fire.” I hurry to Sibyl’s side, disgust spinning with growing hate as I search her dress and find my lighter in her pocket. Eyes locked on hers, I flip open the cap and turn the wheel. The instant the fire comes to life, I feel my magic return, flooding me with joyful, leaping flames.

  I back away, Ash taking my hand and leading me to the door. We leave the wilting woman there on the floor, my aunt sealing it shut behind us. Her fire licks over the edges, sorcery molding to the seams.

  “It won’t hold her for long,” Ash says, now in a hurry, hand on my elbow. “Once she pulls herself together, they’ll be on us for sure.”

  I don’t ask why we didn’t just kill her, then, though I want to, savagery rising with the flames returned to me. “Where are we going?” We need to rescue Gaia, to break the control Liander has over her. But when I think suddenly of Piers, I gasp so loud Ash jumps. “They have him!” And, though guilt rides me, I feel the need to put him first.

  Forgive me, my Goddess. He’s a mere mortal and I love him.

  Ash grins at me, jerking me around a corner and into shadowed nook. Her lighter is already out as we step inside.

  “The handsome young sorcerer is a friend of yours, I take it?” She winks. “Feel up to a rescue?”

  ***

  Chapter Nineteen

  My feet are heavy under me, dragging me down as Ash pulls me along behind her. Our short trip through the fire took us deeper under the earth, further beneath the sanctuary than I’ve ever been before. I had thought I’d explored most of it, only to discover just how wrong I’ve been.

  I feel the presence of my family above me, their flames burning bright, though faintly through all the heavy rock. It’s dark here, the air chill, rough walls slick with moisture and air scented with the tang of mildew. Ash seems to know her way around, at least. I’m guessing I’m not the only Helios to have explored this ancient place. And yet, this part of the sanctuary feels different, almost threatening. Partly because when I reach outward with my magic all I encounter is quiet, oppressive darkness.

  I run into Ash as she comes to an abrupt halt, turning her head toward me to scowl at my clumsiness. I feel like a small child chastised for misbehaving and feel an instinctual pulling in, as though I can retreat into my own body and hide behind her. She pauses a moment at a T-intersection in the corridor, faint light coming from the left, more darkness to the right. My fingers twitch with the need to grasp the hem of her leather jacket and hold on, the haunted-house atmosphere raising the hairs on the backs of my arms.

  Ash makes a soft, frustrated sound. “This way,” she whispers, just as a large shape detaches from the depths of the right corridor and pounces on us.

  At least, it feels that way, but it’s only Rupe’s shadow that descends across ours, his physical form skittering to a halt in front of my aunt. I have a fearful thought perhaps she isn’t my aunt after all, even as she hisses at the damaged sorcerer.

  “Away with you, pest,” she says in a voice barely above a whisper.

  He cackles in the darkness, right hand shifting into a malformed werewolf paw, two claws missing and the last digit twisted at an abnormal angle before it reverts to a human hand again.

  “Go that way,” he says. “If you want to get caught.” His eyes turn to me, the faint light catching the moist corners, making me shiver.

  Ash doesn’t move, but she doesn’t chase him off, either. “What do you know about it, freak?”

  He snaps his teeth at her, spins away, circling her with hunched shoulders as he comes to my side. Ash follows him with her gaze, but makes no move to chase him off so I allow him to approach me, though the temptation to hide behind her is stronger still.

  Pointed canines flash as he smiles at me, huge and gaping. “You want your boyfriend.” He drags out the word in sing-song cynicism.

  I nod, not bothering to argue Piers isn’t my boyfriend.

  Rupe wriggles like a puppy waiting to be petted. “I can show you, you know.” His face contorts, from pain to ecstasy and back again so fast I wonder what’s going on in his twisted head. “For a price.”

  Ash sighs, snaps her fingers in his face. He jerks away from her, one bare foot flaring into a giant wolf’s paw, intact for once, save for the bald, weeping patches of skin that bubble ichor. I stare at it in horror as my aunt speaks.

  “Why should we trust you?” She’s absolutely correct. Rupe has been Liander’s creature for as long as I’ve known him, even before he returned this damaged, broken thing before us. And yet, he showed me where to hide from the sorcerer, allowed me to eavesdrop with him on Liander and his plans. I hold up one hand to Ash and take a tentative step toward Rupe.

  “Your price,” I say, voice crackling a little, throat dry. “What is it?”

  He hums a soft whine under his breath, dreadful paw returning to human shape. “Burn it out.” His hands claw the air before me. “Burn out the wolf and I will help you.”

  I stare at him with pity and disgust fighting a pitched battle in my head. “I can’t do that,” I say. But Rupe is nodding over and over, panting as his snout extends and retracts.

  “You can,” he growls. “Burn it and I’ll show you where he is.”

  Ash steps in before I can respond. “Take us to him first,” she says, her own fire stirring, the air heating around her, driving Rupe back with a soft whine. “Then we’ll see what we can do.”

  He bounces on his toes a few times, muttering to himself. I fear we’re losing him and, pity winning, I reach out and touch his shoulder. He flinches from contact, but focuses on me with his upper lip arched in one corner, eyes narrowed.

  “I promise,” I say while Ash sighs heavily. “If you show me where Piers is, I’ll do anything I can to help you.” I glance at my aunt. “One more condition.” Rupe waits, as does Ash. “You have to help us free him.”

  Rupe gnashes his teeth before turning away from me and, for a moment, I’m worried it’s over and I was too late with my offer. But Rupe pauses on the lip of the dark entry to the right corridor and waves for us to follow.

  Ash catches my arm, stopping me from going after him. “We can’t trust him, Zo.”

  “I know,” I say. “But he’s helped me in the past. And I have to believe he’ll do anything for his freedom.”

  She nods slowly, lets me go while Rupe pants and shakes his fists at us to hurry. “Fine,” she says, taking the lead. “But one sign of betrayal and I’m putting his sorry ass out of his misery.”

  Somehow, I think he’d be grateful.

  It takes a bit to get used to the darkness again after having the dim light at our disposal. I wish I could light a flame, but Ash seems confident enough and I hear Rupe shuffling ahead of us. My eyes finally adjust, heart pounding in my chest, and for the second time I run into the back of my aunt when she comes to a halt.

  This time she doesn’t react with anger, ignoring me completely in favor of something on the wall. I lean in around her shoulder and find Rupe hunched over, fingers rattling metal. When the small door opens, it’s silent despite my worry it might creak, and I’m following Ash and the damaged sorcerer into a
small room.

  It’s dark here, too, but only for a moment. Rupe crosses to the far wall, fingers reaching for a wooden slat. He slides it silently open, pressing his finger to his lips as though we need reminding to be silent. Two small holes shine light through and onto the back wall, bored through the stone and into the next room.

  Ash leans in quickly, spending far too long in my opinion. I’m antsy, eager to see what’s on the other side. But as she leans back, grim expression on her face, I catch the thin sound of a man screaming and I’m suddenly not so sure I want to look.

  When I finally do, it’s with clammy palms and an uneasy stomach threatening to do me in. I barely blink as I stare into the next room and gasp in shock and horror.

  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but torture wasn’t on the list. It’s possible I’m simply naïve, or didn’t consider Piers’s worth to Liander. But as I stare through those peep holes at the bleeding, suffering form of the man I’ve loved in visions for most of my life, I receive an education in cruelty and evil.

  They have him stretched out on a wooden slab, his hands over his head, bound like his feet with heavy leather straps. Two winches clack softly on either end, pulling him taut between them. They’ve stripped away his dress shirt, leaving his long, lean torso exposed, muscles straining against his bonds. Piers pants in heavy gasps as Liander stands over him, a metal rod heated to red hot at the tip, balanced in one gloved hand.

  “How many are here with you?” The rod descends slowly, and only then do I see the row of marks along Piers’s right side. His breathing speeds up, body twisting, trying to escape the torture, but he doesn’t say a word. Not until the metal touches his flesh.

  His scream drives me back, away from the peepholes, both hands slapping over my mouth to keep myself from answering Piers’s shriek with my own. My stomach boils, tries to overflow, but I swallow it down and hold myself rigid, immobile, while the wave of nausea and overwhelm passes.

  Ash grabs my arm and jerks me back toward the door, Rupe trailing along behind us. It’s not until the three of us stand in the corridor, the door closed again, that she grasps the sorcerer by the front of his shirt and slams him physically into the wall so hard the thud of contact and the whoosh of his outward breath makes me worry she might have done some permanent damage.

  I reach for her to stop her, but she’s in Rupe’s face.

  “Tell us what Liander is up to.” She shakes Rupe while he squirms to escape her. I remember him as a tall, strong young man, back before he left us. But the wolf in him has affected change, and not for the better. He’s skinny, and no match for her, it seems.

  “I don’t know.” He turns his head away, sulky look on his face.

  “You mean you won’t tell me.” Ash pulls him back and shoves him into the stone again. Rupe protests with a snarl, but no amount of wriggling wins his freedom. “It doesn’t matter now.” She lets him go, wiping her hands on her leather pants. “I should just get you out of here, Zo. But I can’t let that boy die.”

  Considering I’m not leaving without him, Ash has made the right decision.

  I turn to Rupe, offering my hand—

  —you’re in the dark, outside it, looking in. And she’s there, in the distance, standing in the back yard of a tall, white house, looking at you in confusion. You have to reach her, but it’s too late, the darkness is coming for her, it has her surrounded, is devouring her while the hundred souls who look to her scream her name and fall into the abyss—

  —flames erupt, a field of fire, stakes towering into the night, bodies burning, she’s burning, screaming while her rainbow magic rises to the stars—

  I cough out a breath I’ve been holding for too long and draw a long, shaking pull of air. Rupe stares at me, eyes huge, hands trembling while I fight to recover from the vision. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before, so immediate I’m trembling all over, fear overpowering as I turn to Ash.

  Rupe scrambles off and I let him, though Ash curses after him. She takes one look at me and her anger dissolves into fear of her own.

  “We have to save her.” I clutch at my aunt’s hands as she supports me. “The darkness is coming for her and she has no idea.”

  ***

  Chapter Twenty

  We barely make it two steps when I'm taken by the flames again—

  —a woman bends over Gaia, the rainbow shielding around the Goddess gone, the woman's face turning toward you, smiling at you, beckoning you—

  I miss a step and bang my nose on Ash's shoulder. She spins and catches me while I gasp for air.

  “Gaia.” Ash's eyes tighten, her lips thinning as I shudder from the power of the vision. “She's in trouble.”

  My aunt doesn't seem as concerned as she should be, tsking softly as she seems to weigh our options. I shove her gently, enough to get her attention.

  “We have to save her.” The urge to protect Piers first fades as the vision repeats itself. Whoever the woman was, I’ve seen her before. And the source of the vision is happening now, right now, at this moment. While Syd's fate is imminent, Piers’s just as intense, I'm certain they both have more time than Gaia.

  Ash shoves me back, but softly, almost kindly. “Go then,” she says. “I'll take care of the boy. If you think it's necessary.”

  I gape at her. “She's our Goddess.”

  My aunt shakes her head, but doesn't respond. She simply turns and leaves me there in the dark, rapidly lost to my sight. I almost go after her, a terrible fear growing in my soul, one last blow, one final lie I don't know if I can face. But I can't let any further harm come to Gaia.

  My lighter is in my pocket and I reach for it, flipping open the top, looking down into the flame I strike. It dances and sways, beckoning me inward, though I am now afraid of what it means. I close my eyes and tumble into the fire, focused on the altar and my Goddess.

  I'm there before I can blink away the wisp of smoke created by the single flame, feet touching down on stone as I stare at the scene before me.

  I was right—this vision wasn't so much a premonition as a warning of what is happening right now, in this moment. The woman straightens from where she leans over Gaia, a soft smile on her face. I sense no guile in her, or deceit, but I've been lied to so long, by so many people, I call the flames anyway, just in case.

  It's so strange to see Gaia's face laid bare, unprotected by the rainbow shielding. Her eyes remain closed, though, her hands folded yet over her breast. I look up from careful examination to ensure my Goddess is all right and into the strange woman's face.

  It takes me a moment to realize she looks familiar, and why that is. Even as my gaze flickers to Gaia and back to the woman again, I feel my jaw drop and my heart skip a beat before pounding back into painful life.

  “Zoe Helios.” She knows my name, her soft, kind voice carrying to me in the quiet of the chapel. The fire dies in me, goes quiet, listening to her as she speaks. “I want to thank you for helping me find my sister.” She beckons to me, holding out one hand. “Come closer,” she says. “I want you to see what you've done.”

  She doesn't seem angry or feel antagonistic, but I hesitate, awe and wonder slowing my steps though I obey her without thought. “You.” I breathe in, breathe out as I approach, mind skipping. “You're Gaia's sister.” How can this be? A living Goddess, standing before me, another sleeping at her feet, and I'm about to take her hand.

  Her skin is smooth, soft, warm. It feels human, which makes me shudder from her touch, though she won't let me go, pulling me toward her. I stand, shaking and lost, looking down at my Goddess while her sister tucks me against her side and kisses my temple. Her long, blonde braid brushes my bare arm, hangs to my feet, the scent of her like coffee and warm cookies on a Sunday afternoon.

  “My Goddess,” I whisper.

  The woman frowns, shakes her head. “I'm afraid not,” she says. “Far from it, in fact.” She sighs, releases me, and sinks to her knees beside Gaia. I almost fall as my body folds downwar
d, joining her on the stone. “I'm just a woman,” she says, touching Gaia's face with one hand. “Well, not quite.” Good humor twinkles in her eyes as she meets mine. “But a Goddess? Not me.”

  “But...” I stammer, my brain stuttering over the truth, believing her as the last of my life's lies falls apart around me. “Gaia.”

  The woman nods. “She is like me,” she says. “No more a Goddess than you are, Zoe.” She sighs. “My name is Iepa. We are maji. And I've been looking for my sister for a very long time.”

  “NO!” We’re not alone. I had no idea Sibyl was here, though from the disheveled look of her she’s only just arrived. She stares at Iepa with huge, frightened eyes. “What have you done?”

  The maji woman’s kind expression turns cold. “I could ask you the same question.” Her hand rises, her power pinning Sibyl, dragging her down to force her to sit on one of the benches, ropes of rainbow light holding her tight. Sibyl squirms a moment, face twisting from anger to loathing to despair.

  I ignore her, trusting Iepa to keep her contained, as I’ve trusted no one else in my life. I have no idea what she's talking about, but I know in my heart she's telling me the truth. Iepa holds my hand, keeps her grip on me as she gazes with sadness down on Gaia. I reach out slowly, touch the soft, pale skin of the woman I believed to be my Goddess as her sister speaks.

  “She's been missing for centuries,” Iepa says. “But no one else would help me look for her, and the Universe is so vast.” She squeezes my hand, sits back to wipe a tear from her cheek with her free hand. “I searched everywhere for her, feared her dead. It wasn't until I felt her through you only last night I realized she was being shielded from discovery.”

  I'm numb and cold, but that doesn't stop me from speaking. “Liander Belaisle,” I say. “And the Brotherhood.” That's what Piers called them, isn't it?

  Iepa nods. “Indeed,” she says.