Images of fire flashed across my vision, stealing the scene of the island away from me. Again and again, flashes of growing flames, so hot they burned blue in places. I shook my head, willing the sight to become clear, but it was like someone else was in control of my eyes.
Smoke burned my lungs, a strange whistle ringing in my ears, my skin scorching hot. Hands came into view as the angle changed, showing thin shadow marks across tawny olive skin, the fingers pressed firmly against the marble floors. And then, as if a final blessing, Nova looked up.
I was calling to my shadows before I consciously thought of where I’d go. The grass changed to stone, the path surrounded by harsh, black smoke. Before me, the Ether Cathedral burned. Screams came from somewhere behind me, but all I saw were the open doors, left ajar as if in the midst of escape.
But it wasn’t Nova who ran. I knew because I could see her through the rising smoke, her body kneeling at the altar.
“Little Void?” I screamed, pushing myself to stand, running before I was fully upright. She didn’t turn, didn’t so much asflinch. “Nova!” Again I received no response. When I neared the last ten feet, I watched in horror as she collapsed. “I’m coming, baby! Hold on! Please, hold on!”
Fire raged all around me, the entrance forcing smoke into my nose and mouth. I coughed, pumping my arms, trying to call to my shadows but struggling with the storm in my mind.
“Nova!”
A great boom sounded from above me, the ground shaking. Another crack, and then the glass ceiling shattered. It rained down on me, my magic refusing to work when I attempted to shield myself with a ward. My leathers split, my body taking hit after blazing hit, brutal cuts leaving me bloody. I screamed in desperation, leaping over a pew to avoid the bulk of the now melting shards.
Nova was still on her side, face not visible from my angle. I jumped over another wooden bench. Then another. Another fire caught, and I was forced to run the opposite way of her, a bone-deep scream tearing my throat to shreds as I ran faster.
Moving too quickly to stop, I slammed into the wall, using the momentum to push myself back in her direction. I took the outer aisle all the way to the front, turning and leaping over a fluttering set of flames. On the balcony, the organ caught fire, statues and murals melting around me.
A wall collapsed to my left, more screams echoing off the sky from outside. I felt like I was suffocating, every breath more painful than the last. The flames grew too dark to see through as I neared where I knew she was. All around me the sounds of the flames grew louder, mingling with the sound of more glass breaking and the building beginning to collapse.
We’re going to die in here.
Right as the doom-soaked thought came to me, I tripped over something, my hand and knees hitting the ground hard. I nearlygave up, feeling my body begin to refuse to move. I slid my hand forward, and there she was.
My Nova.
My fingers gripped her boot, my knees slowly sliding. I could have cried if it wasn’t so stars-damned hot. I dragged her towards me, panic coating my tongue as her face came into view. She still wore her mask. Ripping it off, I hastily checked her pulse, struggling to see much through the smoke that coagulated around us.
A faint, slow rhythm. Alive.
She’s alive!
I pulled her into my chest, her body limp. Desperate beyond explanation, I called to my shadows, begging them to take us home.
But nothing happened.
I tried again, feeling the dark tendrils wrap around us, but again, they seemed to flutter out. My head was growing heavy, body swaying. I was going to pass out. I was going to faint and we’d both fucking die here.
And maybe that was best. Maybe then I’d at least go with her in my arms.
“Not today, Azazel Altair. Take our catalyst home,”came the ominous, reverberating voices of the stars.
Abruptly, my body collapsed, my head landing not on glass and ash, but on the cold wooden floors of my cottage. I turned my head, seeing Nova’s unconscious body beside me. Reaching for her, I gripped one of her scorched curls, the newly clean air igniting my throat.
“Az! Fucking stars above!” Cal was on me in seconds, his hands moving to my clothes and tugging on them.
I screamed, the sound like crackling flames.My skin. You’re ripping off my skin.The words didn’t leave my mind, my lipsunmoving. Cal continued to pull, Zura kneeling on the ground by Nova and doing the same.
Stop. Please.
“Stop!”
Was that me? I could barely make out the voice. My ears were too full of wind and flames.
A cold hand touched my jaw, moving my head and forcing me to face the ceiling. And there was Desi. She looked terrified, her dark eyes wide and tattooed cheeks damp with tears.
“If you remove their clothes you’ll tear off their skin. We have to be careful but quick. Az, I’m going to help you, okay? I’m going to help you both.” I wanted to thank her, but my lips still wouldn’t move. If they could, the first thing I would say would behelp Nova first.“Everyone listen to my every instruction! I’m going to need all of you. First, let’s get him to sleep.”
