Page 36 of Hellfire

Talon’s fingers whitened around his spear, his patience thinning. “You have nothing to worry about. Gable’s place is warded inside and out. I checked for our safety. They can’t get inside.”

Soldier mode. Safety assessments. Surveillance. He thought like a warrior, the fear of danger beaten out of him. None of it reassured me.

I backed away from the iron gates. “They can get us at his door.”

“Are you gonna argue and make excuses or are we gonna visit Gable?” Talon’s eyes flared dark gold. “We need to fix you and find out what the sixth symbol is.”

He was not in the mood for my shit after a long day interviewing staff members and Guildlings caught with dark magick items in their rooms.

Decisions used to come so easily for me. Now I couldn’t decide what to have for breakfast or what to wear. If I could stomach food. Apples seemed to be the only thing that didn’t turn my stomach or lurch back up my throat.

Shadows swallowed Machattie Park opposite Gable’s shop. Specters might be lurking in the murk, ready to pounce, and take me again.

Luna let go of me and stepped up to him, putting a hand on his arm to silence him. “Don’t. This is hard for him.” Her gaze lifted to me. “I was scared to leave the Academy after the nursing home reunion with my grandfather, and Blaze comforted me.”

The reminder of my lost powers sent me into a tailspin of a different kind, and I rubbed my forehead with the back of my hand.

Talon let out a long breath, his knuckles stroking her cheek, eyes paling to a buttery gold, and she clutched his wrist, running her palm along it.

“I’m sorry, brother.” His voice came out softer. “Today was shitty. Kymbal’s family wrangled a political favor and had his record cleared despite the ledger records and camera footage proving his corruption. The higher-ups declared he’s free to continue working here.”

Cole lifted a rock to feed his new gargoyle, and it pecked at his fingers. “Fuck. That guy’s like a cat with nine lives.”

The guy was a thorn in my side I could never remove.

“Tell me he’s not reappointed to the headmaster position?” Irritated, I retrieved a rock from my coat pocket and tossed it.

Headstone launched off my shoulders to hunt it, swooping low as it bounced off the pavement into the grass, where he landed and pecked it with his beak, crushing it and gobbling it.

“No. Thank the angels!” Talon barked out. “The entire Tollen squad would have gone on strike.”

A relief to know Kymbal’s power ebbed, just like his days within this facility were numbered once we got him on something solid that his family couldn’t use their pedigree to redeem him.

Talon ate up the space between us, setting a heavy palm on my shoulder again. “I need to nail him on something he can’t weasel out of. Gable’s associate gave me evidence, but I’m slow to comb through it.”

That meant tying Kymbal to the role of the Academy’s second traitor, and to do that, we had to seek evidence further afield, where I wouldn’t be useful to the cause when I was like this.

“I’ll do what I can.” I stabbed at my hair. “For now, I’ll take this next step.”

Come to us,the darkness urged as I stared down the driveway.

No. I wouldn’t let this own me any more than it did.

“Thank you, brother.” Talon’s hand shook my shoulder, gently shaking Headstone, whose claws hardened but didn’t hurt through my clothing.

He stepped back and jerked his head, signaling for me to make the first move. My lungs locked as I forced one foot over the gate line, then the other. Anxiety scaled, scratching at my skull, my throat, and chest. I sucked in short breaths, unable to get enough air in.

Luna came back to me, taking my hand. “That’s it. One more step.”

I forced my shaking legs to move.

“Good,” Cole echoed, linking our fingers.

“You gonna skip too?” Talon teased him.

“Absolutely.” Cole grinned back.

Luna let out a short laugh that spurred my legs to wobble forward. “Just a few more.” She nodded at Talon, and he started to write the sign to open a portal. “A little further. That's it.”

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