Page 54 of Of Flame and Fate

Lightning crashes, shaking the earth. Shayna whirls around, her jaw falling open. “Was that you?” she asks.

“No, I—”

Another bolt of lightning illuminates the dark night, landing mere yards from where Destiny waits and rattling the earth.

Destiny screams in torment. She grips Tye’s arm, her body convulsing in violent waves as dark fluid pours from her eyes.

“Oh, my God,” I gasp.

Emme and Bren scramble to her side. I turn around to look at Johnny just in time to watch his eyes roll into the back of his head and his body collide against the ground.

Chapter Twelve

I open and close my right hand, my nervousness and fear agitating Sparky. She’s ready to release the full gamut of her power. And if it was up to her, she would have already blown the helicopter we’re in straight to hell.

But not before smacking us for being stupid enough to climb in.

My lips press tight as I shake out my hand. This rusty old copter is the last place my lightning and fire need to make an appearance. I need to think happy thoughts if we’re going to survive, like lambs prancing along a daisy-covered field or some shit.

I rub my arm when she jerks again. Evidently Sparky wants to roast the lambs over a spit and jab me in the eyes with the damn daisies for even suggesting it.

The loud, non-stop thrum of the engine does nothing to settle me, neither does the disjointed beat of the propellers.

“We’re going to die, aren’t we?”

“No, Taran,” Gemini replies.

“Would you tell me if we were?”’

“Yes,” he says.

“Even if it was a brutal kind of death? With like, shattering bones and flying organs?”

He doesn’t even blink. “Of course.”

My face falls into my hands. Well, my man’s honest. I’ll give him that.

I take a breath, and then another, trying to settle my nerves, and maybe settle Sparky, too. She’s twitching like a dog wagging its tail, standing by the door demanding out. Except dogs, to my knowledge, don’t have the power to shoot flames when they pee.

I drop my hands. “How much longer?” I ask.

Bren leans forward from where he sits across from us, his forearms falling to rest against his knees. He rubs his hands together, his light blue irises giving away the alertness behind his stare regardless of the exhaustion ringing dark circles around the orbits. Having torn through his clothing when hechanged, all he’s wearing are sweatpants. Aside from his moppy brown waves and scraggly beard, his skin is entirely exposed, not that he seems to mind. “Ten minutes later than the last time you asked, kid,” he answers.

“You can’t be serious,” I say, convinced time is somehow going backwards.

Gemini’s large hand cups over mine. He and Bren have been so intent on watching Johnny, they’ve barely acknowledge me or Emme. “I know I may be asking the impossible,” he begins. “But try and relax.”

My stomach leaps into my throat when the helicopter jerks unexpectedly. This isn’t the smooth ride we expected, the nice, modern,saferide Tye was to effortlessly provide back to Tahoe. Oh, no. When lightning struck, the world literally moved, and Destiny tried to die,again, we thought it best to keep her and Johnny far away from each other.

Johnny groans from his position on the stretcher. I think the thick leather belts pinning him in place are hurting him, neither Gemini nor Bren used much care when strapping him in. But they didn’t head my warning or Emme’s. To them, Johnny is the enemy. The jury has delivered the verdict and the judges are toying with the idea of gnawing his arms off.

“We have to keep him secure,” Gemini insisted. “I don’t know what he’s capable of and I don’t want to find out midair.”

I’ll give him that one, but seeing Johnny like this is hard. Short of the creepy leather mask, the poor guy looks like a scrawny stand-in for Hannibal Lector inSilence of the Lambs. Then again Hannibal did end up peeling that poor sap’s face off so who am I to complain?

I push the hair from my eyes, wishing this night would end.

Johnny fainted in Destiny’s presence. I was sure he keeled over and died. Hell, Destiny came damn close. Shayna and I performed CPR while Emme attempted to heal her. Emme insisted there was nothing to heal, that her body was shutting down. It wasn’t until Gemini threw Johnny over his shoulder and put some distance between him and Destiny that Emme managed to restart her heart.

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