Page 132 of To Ashes and Dust
Raw power hit me first, sending the hairs on my neck on end, and just as I turned toward the source, fire erupted, a shockwave slamming into Vincent and me, knocking us onto the concrete.
“Fuck,” I grimaced, pushing myself to my knees as an intense ringing flooded my ears. What the hell... I froze at the sight of The Complex, the flames surging and writhing as they engulfed it. My eyes swept across the small lot for Cassie and Barrett as I jumped to my feet. Those flames… the raw blast of power I’d felt before they appeared… I hadn’t felt that terrible power since The Fall of Kingdoms, since the Stoicheion users at the frontlines had erupted in one final attempt to bring down the waves of darklings overwhelming us. They couldn’t have used...
Please, no...
“Gods,” Vincent breathed, the color draining from his face.
A wet gasp reached my ears, and I whipped around. The chain-link fence was caved in, feathers cascading like snow around a body. It wasn’t until she lifted her head, chestnut hair falling around her face, that relief and terror washed over me. “Cassie!”
I shot to my feet and rushed toward her. She tore herself from the fence, a painful sob ripping from her lips as she fell onto her hands and knees and threw up. Air rushed from my lungs at the sight of the mangled wings at her back, the tawny feathers coated in blood. They were massive, hanging at her sides, limp and broken. I couldn’t process where they’d come from, but I couldn’t linger on them as my eyes roamed over her body. Her Elythian leathers were torn and ripped, cuts and scrapes marring her exposed skin.
My knees hit the pavement as she lifted her head, her wide eyes focused on the building engulfed in the flames. “What happened?”
Vincent’s heavy footfalls halted behind me as he froze in place.
I reached out to touch her but hesitated, afraid of where she was hurt. Her left shoulder twitched and quivered under her weight, the exposed skin already black and blue. She muttered something under her breath, not even seeming to know I was there. I scanned the small lot again, refusing to accept who could’ve been responsible for the unnatural fire raging out of control.
“Where’s Barrett?” I asked, praying to Gods I’d long lost faith in.
Tears welled in her eyes as she stared past me at the flames, and a coldness swept over me. No. Gods, no, it couldn’t be true...
“No,” she cried, the agony in her hoarse voice shattering me as she cried it again and again, pushing herself to her feet.
I couldn’t think straight, couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t be... Gods. I clung to the last words we’d exchanged, the irritating comments he’d made that morning over breakfast. My brother... He couldn’t be...
Cassie stumbled away from me, and I pulled myself from the agony to push myself to my feet. Vincent lingered back in his own shock and pain, disbelief painting his face.
“Barrett!” she cried out, stumbling toward the inferno, her left arm hanging limp at her side, the bloodied wings dragging along the concrete behind her. I flinched at the sound of his name, the pain sinking its claws deep into my chest, but I didn’t let it stop me as I ran for her. Her hand stretched out to the flames. What was she trying to do? What was she thinking?
“Cassie! Stop!” I shouted, trying to get through to her.
She’d lost herself, growing dangerously close to the fire. Heat pressed against my skin as I neared her, her curls whipping around her as the fire reached for her in a tendril of destruction, licking at her outstretched hand. I hissed as stray embers burned my skin. I had to get her away from here, get her back. We couldn’t linger any longer than we had.
The fire was too powerful, too all-consuming at this point, and I knew it would reduce the very bricks to ash by the time it was sated. She couldn’t stop this; it would be too much for her body to handle. I wrapped my arms around her waist, careful of her wings. The heat of her skin seared me, and I cursed at the pain of it.
Barrett was... gone. She couldn’t change that. I couldn’t change that. Agony tore through me as I tried to force my mind to accept it—but while he was gone, she was still here. She’d survived; he’d protected her, and I wouldn’t allow her to waste his sacrifice in her grief.
A shattering cry pealed from Cassie’s lips as she fought against me, trying to maintain contact with the inferno raging out of control. The surface of my skin burned, the heat of the fire overwhelming, and sirens sounded in the distance.
“He’s gone, Cas. He’s gone,” I muttered, my voice breaking as my vision blurred.
Her body jerked suddenly, the bond between us shuddering, and my heart lurched, the air punching out of my lungs. Something was wrong. She gasped, body surging, and I froze as the wings began to crumble, the feathers breaking down into dust. It wasn’t the same as a shift; there was no black mist. This was a cutoff of magic, the form no longer able to sustain itself.
“Cassie?”
Her hands recoiled, grabbing hold of her chest, gasping for air as she tried to speak. Her knees gave out, and I caught her, supporting her as I dragged her away from the flames.
“Vincent!” I shouted, and he shook from his daze, running to my side. His skin was pale, his eyes red, but he focused on Cassie.
“What happened?” he asked, looking down at her as I lowered her to the ground. She curled into herself, trying to pull from me.
“I don’t know. Something’s wrong,” I said, looking over her. I couldn’t see any wounds on her chest, any sign of what could be hurting her. Was it another recoil?
“Hear—” Cassie’s words cut short as she panted, her face twisting, the color draining from her skin.
“We need to get her to Johnson.” I flinched as a cry broke from her. “I’m sorry,mea luna. This is going to hurt.”
I slid my arms under her, hating that I had to move her, but I was desperate to get her to the clinic. She cried out as I lifted her, her bruised shoulder pressing against my chest, but it couldn’t be avoided. “Just hold on.”
