Chapter 49
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Ahard floor scrapes against my cheek. Voices fill my ears, the sound deafening and chaotic. Fear. The owners of the voices are scared. I feel it. I try to breathe, but there is no clear air to inhale. All that is left is smoke. I cough. What is going on?
“Was that her?”
The other voices go silent, making one stand out, the only voice I do not want to hear right now. Others cough, the sound of heavy feet moving towards me becomes louder. I feel like I’m drunk, everything’s spinning and I can’t get my vision clear.
Someone turns me around so I lay on my back. The thought didn’t even occur to me. “Mai? Are you alright?”
A hand touches my cheek and tucks some of my hair behind my ear. I weakly push the hand away, coughing once more to clear the itch in my throat. “Go…away…” Someone shrieks as the crackling of fire intensifies.
“Dear moons, Ari, leave her alone. Or do you want to turn us into chickens on a spit?”
Ami is here too? I try to think of what happened and what we’re doing here, but my brain has been replaced with cotton buds and trying to connect my thoughts — or think for that matter — hurts immensely.
I believe Ami pushes her brother away, and although I’m not sure if I want to see her either, I prefer her over her twin right now. The smoke that swirls around us makes it hard to see anything, but she holds my hand, her touch cool as usual.
“What’s going on?”
She needs a moment before she can answer, as if she’s out of breath.
“The Myrvael attacked us, they came out of nowhere and brought us to this wooden cabin. The doors and windows are locked, we can’t break the glass or splinter the wood and our magic is somehow muted.
” She has to stop talking due to a severe coughing fit.
“Are you okay, though? You were out quite long, much longer than any of us.”
It’s the second time she speaks about ‘us’, meaning there are others here as well, besides the twins and me. I try to look around, but even my eyes can’t filter out the smoke. “Who else is here? Is someone hurt?”
Ami knows I won’t let this go until I know the answer. “My brother, Siri and Neo, Enver, Zale and Arlo.” No Conláed. It’s good he’s not here, but I’m certain he would’ve saved us instantly. “We’re all fine, nobody was cut. We’re just depleted of our magic and feel like we’re being boiled alive.”
For the first time I actually understand what she means. The heat bothers me as well. When I catch the flicker of green, I understand why. The Myrvael can create fire as well.
“You’re magic seems to work though,” Ami remarks and I give her a confused look. “The flames outside seemed to rise when you heard my brother's voice.”
Huh, how odd. But it might be a good thing.
“There’s no fire inside?”
Some of the smoke clears up so I can see her as she shakes her head. “No, the flames seem to be only burning the outside of the cabin. But I’m not sure how long it will last. At one point, the fire will come inside, the fact that it hasn’t yet proves that they’re toying with us.”
“Do you know where we are or why we are here?”
“I have never seen a cabin on the domain of the Academy, so I can only assume we’re far away. And I have no clue, some of us were even inside of our rooms when the lights went out.”
Shit. No one will hear us or find us. They don’t know we need to be saved. The others mumble around me, their voices overshadowed by the roaring fire outside. Someone’s crying, maybe Siri? I move to stand, Ami supports me, my legs a little shaky.
“Can you feel the flames, Mai?” She asks carefully. I close my eyes, pushing the panic and fear down and try to reach for the fire.
Nothing.
Only the wild beat of my heart in my chest.
I move a little closer and try again, but I don’t even feel the faintest spark.
I try again.
And again.
And again.
I keep pushing, but the more I try, the tenser I become. My shoulders slump in defeat. “I’m sorry, I…I can’t.”
She grabs my face with both hands and moves hers until she’s inches away from mine. “Hey, don’t worry babes, no one can access their powers. We will figure this out, together.”
I step away from her and search my way towards the front door, nearly smacking my head into a wall, and try to push the handle down. Nothing happens. “Damn it.”
“At least you got to hold it. Our hands were instantly burned and our healing’s off too.”
So there are some injuries, they might be minor, but burns are no joke. I walk around the room for I don’t know how long, banging on the door, punching against the windows, tapping the wood searching for a weak spot.
I kick my feet against the door out of pure frustration. “It’s impossible that there’s no way out. We have to try something, Ami —” I turn around, but she’s not there. “Ami?” I find her sitting on the floor, head resting on her knees. “Ami, are you okay?”
It takes a couple of seconds before she answers. “I might have lied earlier.” Her breaths sound so labored. “I think we’ve inhaled too much of the smoke. It’s not regular smoke either,” one breath, two. “It’s full of poison. I don’t understand how you’re still walking around.”
Meaning they are all down. It’s been a while since I’ve heard the others. I need to get us out of here. Right now. I look through the window, searching for the Myrvael, but no one’s there. We’re utterly alone and if even our enemy has abandoned us, I’m certain they hold no fear of us escaping.
Then they haven’t met me.
I press my hands against the wooden walls, willing — no, demanding the fire to obey me, to retreat and extinguish completely.
The only thing that happens is the crackling of embers, as if the fire mocks my efforts.
Yet, I keep pushing until my body starts to shake and I’m covered in sweat, exhaustion begging me to rest. But I can’t give up, not now.
In the time that has passed, the flames have started their slow descent from the ceiling, it’s a miracle the whole inside isn’t scorched yet.
I look away, only to see a pair of once so vibrant green eyes watching me, full of pain.
And even though his secrets have been revealed, my heart aches for him, because losing him…
No. I will not go there.
I turn back to the wall and raise my palms once more, begging my powers to come to me. The green flames lash out to me instead and the burn that follows even hurts me.
“Mai…please,” Ami whispers, her voice barely a whisper. “Be careful.” And when I look at her, seeing her normally so vivid blue eyes gone dull and glassy, something snaps inside of me.
I cannot let it end like this. I won’t let my friends die. Their heartbeats beat next to my own heart, it’s the only way I know they are still alive. But we don’t have much time left. I don’t have much time, some of the beats grow fewer within minutes.
I drop to my knees and try to inhale deeply, coughing violently as the toxic smoke seeps into my lungs. I push the air back out.
Help me, please.
I block out everything, digging deeper than I ever did before, push past the exhaustion, past the suffocating fear, past every emotion I feel. I search for the fire within me, not the fire that is trying to consume us.
I am with you.
That familiar voice whispers and with it, my fire ignites.
A rush of heat surges through my veins, my body arching as flames explode from within me.
A roar echoes in my ears as I create a tornado of fire around me, scorching everything in its path. Walls groan, wood splinters, some parts of it hit my cheek, or at least try to, but my fire burns it all away.
Until there is nothing left but darkness.