Page 76 of Avelina

“Shit! We need to bring Ward up here!”

“Too late for that too,” Spirit said. “He was just leaving the house when Axel showed up. They grabbed him and are holding him down there.”

My heart dropped into my stomach. “No. This can’t be happening,” I said, my hands coming to my head.

“Too late to pretend we’re not here,” Aaron said. “How many people does he have with him, Spirit?”

“Two holding Ward,” she said. “Four more besides, two at the front door with Axel and two at the back. All giant thugs. Actually, they look sort of like giant überzombies.”

“They might be thralls trapped in a Projection trance,” Aaron said. He appeared as if he might say something else, but we heard a hard banging on the front door.

“Aaron Atticus!” a man shouted. His voice was so piercingly loud that it practically shook the house. “I know you’re in there. Come out or I will burn this house to the ground. Bring the girl with you. You have one minute.”

“Axel,” Aaron hissed, a look of pure hatred on his face.

It’s unnerving to experience the beginning of an event knowing that you’re about to go through something horrific. It’s a bit like driving yourself in for surgery with the knowledge that they won’t be using anesthesia. My mind spun, trying to come up with some kind of solution. Could we overpower two überzombies and run out the back? Should we come out shooting? Both of those things could have disastrous consequences for Ward, not to mention the fact that Axel’s thralls were probably victims, just like us.

“A shield,” Aaron said. “We’ll go out the escape hatch with a shield around us and surprise them from the side. That will steal their positional advantage and give us time to negotiate. Come on.” Aaron got up and headed for the small door to the secret hallway and unlatched it, swinging it open.

I kept my pack on in case we needed to make a break for it and followed him through the door. Though it irked me to follow commands, Aaron knew the house layout and the enemy better than I did. He was calm, whereas I was a panicky mess, and he had all the weapons.

Wait, why does he have all the weapons?

Aaron didn’t give me a chance to question him further. He ducked through the small doorway and into a dark, narrow hallway. I followed him, turning down the hallway to the right. We came to a panel, which Aaron unlatched and removed, placing it to the side. A rope attached to a metal brace jutted out above the panel’s frame.

Aaron stuck his head out to look around, then threw the rope down. He held his hand out to me. I stared at it for a second, hesitating, then scooched in close to him without taking his hand. I didn’t want to connect if I could help it. He grimaced, then wrapped his arm under my pack and around my waist.

“Start pulling up the shield,” he said. “I’ll lower us down.” I nodded, avoiding his eyes. He leaned out of the panel into the open air, taking me with him. Enormous raindrops slapped my face as I placed my hand on my chest, sending Protection into my own heart. The colorful lights swirled around us like fireflies, interacting with the raindrops and making hissing sounds. I couldn’t open the shield wide enough to encompass both of our bodies without pushing the rope outside of the shield, but I held a small sphere ready to expand outward.

Aaron’s hand slipped a little on the wet rope and he hugged me to him tightly. It felt good, and I wanted to hug him back, but I reminded myself that we were breaking up. That thought swept me out of my terror and into a desperate anguish.

I had hoped that time with me would give him confidence and security, but it hadn’t worked. Sure, he now knew that Ward was gay; though, I still wasn’t sure if he fully understood what that meant, but that didn’t change the fact that he had attempted to control me and limit the people with whom I interacted. He had intended to isolate me.

Maybe it wasn’t his fault, I thought. I am sneaky and manipulative, it’s true, and his Evocation fragment makes emotional regulation challenging and—

Stop making excuses for him, Spirit snapped, her voice echoing through my head like a bullet. I winced, then spotted her on the ground below, waiting for us to finish our descent. He’s a grown man. I feel bad for him, too, but it’s not your job to fix him. Either he’s giving you what you need or he isn’t, and you deserve to get what you need. If you can’t be with me, then at least hold him accountable. You’re allowed to have friends, Lina. Now stop thinking about this crap and concentrate.

I stared down at Spirit as we descended, surprised. You were never just a friend to me, Spirit, I thought to her. You’ve always been more like a—

If you put “sister” in that blank, I’m going straight over the death bridge.

Soulmate.

We stared at each other as Aaron and I landed on the ground. There was nothing more to say. We loved each other, but we had missed our chance, and now I had a job to do. I broke eye contact first, swallowing my emotions. They wouldn’t do me any good now.

The shield solidified into a transparent barrier with the colored lights flickering within the barrier itself. Aqua, green, blood-red, and magenta were there as before, but with two more colors added. A bright vermilion flame appeared, a result of mixing reservoirs with Aaron, and now, a new fragment that took the form of swirling, molten gold.

Hello, my pretty. Where did you come from?

I heard a tapping noise and looked up to see rain hitting the top of the curved shield and sliding down the side.

Aaron took my hand so we could both be inside the shield, pulling me into a deep Connection link. The uninvited closeness was uncomfortable, but my attention was pulled away from that fact by another bang, bang, bang on the front door.

“Aaron Atticus! Last chance! I’m going to burn this place down and then kill your dog. Painfully.” I cringed, recalling that “dog” was what they called gay people here.

Hurry, Aaron thought. We jogged together toward the front of the house. There was something about the way Axel spoke that made me believe he would not only kill Ward but enjoy it. I hadn’t even seen this man yet and I had already reconsidered whether I could murder him. I wondered idly whether I could use Conjuration to rip his soul right out of his body.

Maybe eventually, Spirit thought to me, but I doubt you’re strong enough yet, and I don’t think you could absorb his reservoir if you did that. His spirit would depart and take his reservoir with it.

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