Fieri’s grin is one of satisfaction. “Alright, Brynna. You just let us know how we can help. We will get you to that race and care for Black Sun if you will help us.”
“Thank you.” I trust Fieri. He might come across like a grumpy jerk, but I know there’s more to him. Either way, I feel a lot safer with them here.
One more drop. The last one.Relief fills me, and I finally have hope for better things again.
3: Jorusk
The mud cooling around me is oddly comforting. I am finally done fighting. Some force I can’t decipher moves me upward, and I fear Magmium is rejecting me.
I snag a glimpse of flashes across the now dark sky, veins of green lightning pulse in the glorious darkness.
I blink but can’t focus my eyes. A pinch to my neck pushes the light away and sinks me deep into black sleep.
Awareness creeps in, and I know this life is not done with me yet.
Just let me go. Please.
Haven’t I given enough?
But I know I haven’t. I deserve to die over and over until I have paid for every soul we have lost due to my actions.
Cold liquid swirls over my skin. My wings are numb. I can’t feel them behind me. Hard rubber seals my face and feeds me air tainted with the stale sweetness of hot plastic.
The smoky sky has turned bright green when I take in the world that won’t let me go.
I shift to find out what I’ve broken, and my wings thump against glass. Pain registers in my wing forearms, fingers, and everywhere. My chest is tight and cold, my feet numb. And when I look down, I find I’m not lying or even standing on anything. I’m floating in a cylindrical tank.
Water is my second biggest fear after holding delicate things. Panic sets in as I peer up at the closed lid of my cell. Lights flash rapidly on a console at the base. I try to touch my face, but my arms won’t move.
Come on, Inferno. Get your ass up, drunk bastard! Someone has put us in a terrible prison!
Rapid thumps on the glass make me scan the area until I see a set of familiar green eyes on a big purple prince.
“Jorusk…” Aura’s voice is muffled. “We’re healing you. You were nearly dead when I pulled you out of the mud.”
A human female waves at me from beside him. She has a child strapped to her chest, the same deep violet hue as Aura. She speaks quietly with her mate and shakes her head. He nods like he understands, and it isn’t what he wants to hear, but he can’t do anything about it.
I brace the glass and try to rationalize my situation. But my Inferno is already heating up, wanting back into the fight, wanting freedom. A tank is barely different from a prison cell.
“Jorusk?” someone asks in my ear. “This is Eluni. We worked together on Aura’s ship. I know it’s been three years…”
My Inferno has experienced a lot of freedom lately, and doesn’t hold back even when I hear her name. When it wakes, it panics with me.
“I’m up top with Fieri, opening your chamber. He’s going to pull you out. Deep breaths, okay? I know your kind doesn’t like swimming.”
Light pours in the top of my chamber, and a hoist system reaches in and draws my body out of the water. Fieri’s angry eyes peer up at me as my wings flop around and my monster wrestles to be free of the harness. I can’t stop the snarl or the way I snap my teeth at him. Straps restrain me like Talhuskin body shackles, and I cannot bear the feeling of them again.
I know Fieri won’t hurt me. But I am alive when I should be dead.
I wanted to die so I wouldn’t have to endure this any longer.
“Jorusk, control your demons!” He angrily corrals my chaotic wings as I hang dry. One gets snagged on the harness system and sends a horrid pang through my spine. I roar in agony, and the heat of my breath clouds my mask.
Fieri unclips the respirator and lets me take in ship air again. Then he steps back and leaves me hanging in the air, helpless in the harness. My body swings above a metal deck, two stories up from where the tank’s base sits, and a purple male with electric-green eyes watches, his human female peering up from behind the shield of his body.
I am scaring my friends, but I don’t know how to stop it. I am adrift inside the roiling monster that I let out.
Eluni steps back as I wrestle with the straps. Every movement is painful and pisses off my Inferno more. My body heats. Crags of orange light break through the surface of my red skin until it flows and folds over into the magma that is my Inferno. My soul is charred on the outside as it clashes with the cold universe. But just underneath, I am fury, incarnate.
