You’re trying to tell me something, I said. But I’m too human to understand.
The phoenix sent me a feeling of gentle amusement, then another image. Ben and I in the grove during that magical moment when our electromagnetic signatures had resonated together and created that soft golden light. The phoenix had been watching, I realized. It had seen what we were to each other and had understood that some bonds transcended mere survival.
Love makes you stronger, the phoenix seemed to say. Partnership transforms both.
I leaned against the phoenix’s warm side, careful of its contaminated feathers. “We’re going to fix this,” I said aloud. “We’ll get Ben back, destroy that artificial portal, and complete your rebirth the right way. No matter what.”
The phoenix didn’t respond with images this time, just a gentle pressure of consciousness against mine that still managed to convey trust and faith, along with the belief that I would find a way because that’s what guardians did.
I hoped it was right.
At twelve-thirty, I woke from a fitful doze to find Rebecca Morse checking her equipment. The cabin was darker now; the phoenix had dimmed its fire to conserve energy. I could feel its exhaustion more clearly than before. It had hours left, maybe less, thanks to the way the corruption was accelerating.
“Time to move,” Rebecca said.
I stood and assessed my physical state as I rose from the couch. My headache had dwindled to a dull throb, my hands were steady, and my nose wasn’t bleeding. My power reserves had climbed to maybe sixty percent — much better than expected, although still far from full strength.
It would be enough for the rescue.
I hoped.
The phoenix watched me prepare with eyes that were too intelligent, too understanding. It knew the risks I was taking and realized I might not survive the night. Even though it must have been worried, it sent one final image — Ben and me together after the rescue, his electromagnetic signature anchoring mine during the final cleansing.
All I could do was pray it was right.
“I’ll come back with Ben,” I said. “And then we’ll finish this the right way.”
The phoenix trilled softly, not quite agreement, but acknowledgment. It would wait and trust that I knew what I was doing.
Even though we both knew I was making this up as I went.
Rebecca and I headed outside and got into her black Suburban. Maybe there was a main road somewhere around her safe house, but I never saw it, because she drove us through back roads and fire trails with the SUV’s headlights off, navigating by GPS and memory. The night was overcast, no moon visible. Good for infiltrating a secret government base, not so great for my already strained nerves.
“You remember the plan?” Rebecca asked as we approached the drop-off point.
No point in being flowery. “Disable emergency alerts at two. Hold for six minutes. Meet you at the extraction point.” I checked the watch she’d given me. 1:47 a.m., thirteen minutes until the operation began. “You’re sure your contact is reliable?”
“He’s risking everything to help us. In my book, that makes him reliable.” She pulled the Suburban off the faint trail we’d been following and into a small break in the forest, barely big enough to squeeze the oversized vehicle into. “But if something goes wrong — ”
“It won’t.”
“If it does,” she continued, ignoring my interruption, “get out. Don’t try to be a hero. Ben would want you to survive.”
I didn’t bother to answer her. We both knew I wasn’t going to abandon Ben, no matter what went wrong. But Rebecca Morse clearly needed to believe I’d make the smart tactical choice if necessary.
She handed me a radio, one she’d told me earlier was encrypted so that Rosenthal’s people wouldn’t be able to hear what we were saying even if they managed to intercept our transmissions. “Channel three if you need help. I’ll be monitoring.”
“Got it.” I paused and gave her an encouraging smile. “Thank you.”
I slipped out of the vehicle before she could respond and moved from tree to tree to conceal my presence. The facility was about half a mile away; I could sense its electromagnetic signature even from this distance, a concentration of power and technology that stood out against the forest’s natural bioelectric patterns. My target was the emergency alert junction box on the facility’s eastern edge. According to Rebecca’s contact, relatively unguarded…and critical to the whole operation’s success.
I moved through the darkness with all the stealth I could muster. I’d never had to infiltrate a government base before, but years of hiking around Silver Hollow had taught me to move silently through the forest.
The closer I got to the facility, the more my electromagnetic senses painted a detailed picture of what I was up against. Guards on patrol, following predictable routes. Security cameras sweeping the perimeter in overlapping arcs.
And the junction box was exactly where Morse’s contact had said it would be.
Below everything, deep underground, I could feel the artificial portal. Its swirling, corrupted energy felt wrong against my senses, like an infection in the natural electromagnetic field. Shadow-tainted and unstable, and yet somehow functional despite that.
