Chapter 21 #2
But as the others followed Zia’s gaze, their attention became fixed on Ben and me emerging from the ruins of the vehicle.
Ben could barely stay upright in the air, his eyelids fluttering with exhaustion, and I couldn’t support the two of us for much longer.
Slowly, inch by inch, our joint flight was sinking toward the ground.
“Benny!”
At the sound of Lee’s voice, Ben gave a choked sob and suddenly had the strength to fly without my aid, pulling away from me. Immense relief flooded Lee’s expression as the fairy landed in his outstretched hands, and he hugged Ben to his chest fiercely.
I flitted to Jon, practically collapsing onto his shoulder as I hugged his neck. He kept a hold on the gun, but his breath shuddered as he tilted his head toward me with a gentle nudge of affection.
“Mi vida,” he whispered with a note of pleading. “You’re okay?” I didn’t miss the waver in his deep voice, how he was barely holding himself together, the same as me.
“Yes.” One of my weakest lies to date. “You?”
“Oh, you know me. Never better.” But the simple action of shifting his weight made him curse in pain. Again, he favored his right arm like he was bending the left as little as possible.
“Roll up your sleeve,” I demanded.
To my shock, Jon didn’t protest a second.
He shifted the gun to one hand, still glaring at Rhett, while he peeled up the battered white sleeve of his tux shirt.
As I took to the air to see, I gasped in horror.
His left arm was visibly swollen, the skin raised and red, the way it might be around a very aggravated broken bone.
He was stronger than he would ever give himself credit for.
Choking back tears in my voice, I chanted the spell that would mend the bone. Cerulean light flowed from my palms—and stars, I couldn’t remember the last time a healing spell felt so good to cast after that short stint in the iron-lined case.
Jon sagged in relief, swaying on his feet like the sensation coursed through him more poignantly than usual. I swallowed back my fearful questions of how long he’d been suffering through a fractured arm. We were together again. Everything else could wait.
Feeling eyes burrow into me, I turned to find Cliff was watching me. His lips were parted like he wasn’t sure whether to speak or keep his mouth shut altogether. Although Delilah had been convinced to stand down, a part of me still wanted to shred him with ice for what he’d put me through.
“Are you okay?” Cliff finally rasped.
The very sound of his voice, so gentle, familiar, mine again, nearly brought me to tears.
“Fine,” I said, utterly wooden.
“I had to get him to trust me.” Pain flickered through his words. “He’d never have shared that much information if I turned him away.” He threw a murderous glare at Rhett. “If I’d known this fucker was still in the picture, I…”
Despite the weapon trained on him, Rhett leered at Cliff.
“I already knew you were a traitor to your kind, but to your family? If you had the decency to fucking die by now, he could have accomplished so much more. Instead, he’s been distracted by his little prodigal son fantasy—” He choked off in a pained shout as Cliff’s boot connected with his ribs, throwing him onto his side.
“Enough!” A rough voice cut through the air.
I held my breath as my father finally stepped out of the vehicle. The others looked at him with alarm and suspicion, and I couldn’t bring myself to say a word in his defense. He seemed unshaken nonetheless.
“The fuck do you want?” Cliff snapped. “Don’t say you had a sudden change of heart—that’s bullshit.”
Father gestured behind us, ignoring the barbed remark. “The fire is spreading,” he said urgently. “It’s only a matter of time before it touches the fuel. We need to get clear, now.”
“Can you put it out?” Lee asked Delilah doubtfully.
She gave a weary shake of her head. “It’s spread too far.”
“Rowan!” Zia took her protector’s wrist, looking more frightened than ever as she regarded the fire.
“Can you keep the flames at bay long enough for everyone to get out of range?” He grimaced, looking like he would much rather fly off with her, far away from any of us.
Zia’s voice dropped entreatingly. “They saved us.”
As though annoyed by that indisputable fact, Rowan groaned. “I’ll meet you in the trees. Go.”
With that, he flew off to take command of the fire nearest the spreading pool of gasoline. A section of flames turned purple under the control of his magic, and though it slowed considerably, it was only a matter of time before the fire met the fuel.
We set our attention on a patch of woods untouched by the fire, and just as I was worrying over whether we would be taking Rhett prisoner, he straightened and looked into the vehicle. Life seemed to surge back into him, brimming with fury.
“Eros. What the hell did you do to him, you freaks?” he snarled, staggering to stand.
“Stay down!” Jon barked. He lifted his weapon, but there was no need to discharge it—Rhett wasn’t running toward us. He charged back into the flaming vehicle for Eros instead.
Cliff looked on for a second. His shoulders tensed as though he was fighting the instinct to follow. That was his father, after all. But then he turned to the rest of us, a hard set to his jaw.
“Let’s get moving,” he said.
I took to the air, following the others as Jon and Delilah went to move the vehicles out of range. We regrouped under the cover of the trees, far away enough from the fire that the bite of winter was prickling my skin. Sirens echoed in the distance, accompanied by the whirr of a helicopter.
“We’ll need to get clear of this area,” Father said, his eyes darting back toward me.
Taking notice of his keen attention on me, Jon stepped between us. “And who the hell are you?”
Father looked away, struggling to articulate the impossible. In the brief quiet, I examined his face and the scar that dominated the lower right side of it. An old burn. It must have been painful.
“He’s my father,” I said at last. “Or a very convincing likeness, at least.”
“What?” Cliff blurted. He looked my father up and down, then turned to me. “Sylv, you’re sure?”
“I’m real,” Father said earnestly, again speaking to me alone like no one else mattered.
When he took a measured step closer, Jon didn’t budge from his shielding stance.
Still, Father’s eyes never left me. “I’ve waited a decade to see you again.
To know you’re alright…” He wiped his eyes and gathered himself.
“Your mother and sister will be elated to know you're—well, alright seems an overstatement. But you're alive.”
Mother. Hazel.