Page 28 of Ignited Spirits
It’s still weird to think of Anya and Gran as the same person. I’m not ready to deal with all of it yet, so I’m going to keep calling her Anya.
“Not the whole town,” Rhys says, trying to be helpful.
“Just most of it!” Aiden tacks on joyfully, apparently finding the humor in this situation. “Especially your classmates. Boy, are they mad that a magicless nobody was able to kill the head of the council.”
“They still haven’t figured out that I have spirit magic? Really?” I ask incredulously.
How else would I have been able to kill Doyle, other than with magic? The people of Hawthorne Grove aren’t the sharpest lightbulbs in the crayon box.
Rhys shakes his head, a small smile breaking through his exhaustion and defeat. “No. They think you had help from Dad and from someone else.”
I scoff. “I’m genuinely offended at this point. They want to execute me but don’t think I have the power to kill Doyle on my own?”
How does that even make sense?
My guess is that the council figured out I have spirit magic. They want me captured, but they don’t want people too afraid of me and my magic to go after me. So, they make the whole town believe I’m still powerless, hoping someone gets lucky and can capture me.
Not that they’d ever attempt to bring me in themselves. Those old men are allergic to work of any sort and prefer to have their underlings do it for them.
“The audacity of them, am I right?” Aiden holds his hand up for a high five. I just stare at him until he rolls his eyes and lowers his hand.
“Have you made any progress on breaking Dad out?” I ask Rhys because he’s the strategist out of the two of them. He’s awesome at making plans, keeping organized, and all the other administrative stuff Aiden and I suck at.
Rhys gapes at me. “No, because we weren’t trying to break him out. Where the fuck did you get that crazy idea?”
I glance worriedly at my mom when she doesn’t even try to chastise Rhys for his language. This whole thing with Dad and the council is taking its toll on her too.
I run a hand through my hair. “I came up with it all by myself.”
“You’re not breaking him out, Izzy.” Rhys crosses his arms and stares me down, daring me to argue with him.
Unfortunately for him, I’m always up for arguing with people.
“So you say. Have you made any progress with freeing him, then?” I really hope the answer is yes because I so don’t want to have to stage a jailbreak right now. No one has ever broken out of the council’s prison before, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.
“No,” Rhys reluctantly admits.
“Then I am absolutely breaking him out. I’m not letting Dad get executed for something he didn’t even do. If they want to execute someone, then they can try to go after me. I wish them luck because they’re going to fucking need it.”
The council can mess with me all they want, but the moment they touch someone I care about, all bets are off.
“Izzy…” Rhys trails off, and I can see his resolve weakening.
“You know as well as I do what happens to council prisoners, Rhys. I amnotletting Dad meet that same fate.” I clench my hands into fists at my side, anger at the council temporarily taking the place of the worry and hopelessness that’s been trying to creep in.
Rhys pinches the bridge of his nose in exasperation, either with me or with the whole situation. “Where’s Dad going to go once you break him out? He’ll be a fugitive for the rest of his life. Is that really what you want?”
Rhys raises some good points, but anything is better than sitting back and letting something happen to my dad.
“At least he’ll have a life. And I don’t know. We can take him and Mom toInfernus, I guess. The council will have a hell of a time finding him there.”
As powerful as the council thinks they are, they don’t stand a chance againstcurae.
Once Mom and Dad are safe, we have to do something about the council. Even without Doyle, they’re still a huge problem that’s going to make stopping Lua even harder. And Lua might still be getting magic from the council, so we need to cut off her supply before she can get even stronger.
Wiping her hands on her apron, my mom braces her arms on the countertop. “I don’t want to live in another realm forever, Izzy. I like my life here.”
“I know. And you won’t have to live there forever. I’ll take care of the council, and you’ll be able to go back to your life. Plus, I know your grandma and grandpas will be super excited to meet you. At your next book club, you can brag to everyone that you met Hades. There are lots of positives to my plan, Mom.”
