Page 144 of Our Radiant Embers

“Gale.” His voice took on an urgent edge. “Sent a tracking link—that’s it. Moving towards central London, it seems.”

Fuck. So this was happening.

I’d always marvelled at stories of animals that sensed an incoming tsunami, that got agitated hours before a volcano erupted. Now I understood what drove them—a twisting sense of doom that almost brought me to my knees, every nerve ending on high alert. Fragments of nightmares swam in my blood.

“St Paul’s.” I sensed the next roll of thunder before it hit, and I knew they were heading for the cathedral just like I knew that the magic coursing through the city was stretched to the brink.

“Let’s go,” Adam said. “My car.”

Jack jumped up, thrumming.

“No.” I needed to drag the words up from the bottom of my feet. “Just Adam and me. Not sure what’s going on, and we can’t protect you all.”

Jack opened his mouth to protest only for my mum to cut him off. “Liam is right. We can’t all go charging in there. It would hinder more than help.”

“Take Lila,” Dad said, waving a hand in the general direction of the drone outside. “She can track you and get help if needed.”

“What about the Aqua Reclaimer?” Jack asked.

I shook my head. This wasn’t that kind of fight—it was the very fabric of London’s magic that was starting to unravel. I had no idea how to stop it, but we’d figure it out. We had to.

“Laurie.” Adam’s voice had regained a trace of authority. “Find Archer Summers and tell her everything we know.”

“I’ll drive you,” Jack said quickly, and this time, I didn’t stop him. Laurie could use the company.

“Let’s go.” I nodded at Adam, the floor briefly swaying under my feet. Lightning flashed outside the window and trembled through my mind.

Stop. Breathe. Focus.

Adam’s fingers clasped my wrist and provided me with a safe anchor even as we started moving. Rain, so much rain. Whipping around us, drenched in seconds, water in my eyes and rushing in my ears. Adam, a bright spot in my mind.

Passenger seat. Slam of a door, then Adam slid behind the wheel. Lila. I summoned her with a snap of my fingers, felt her swoop into the car and hover above the backseat. Adam started driving.

Blurred city lights streaking behind my lids. Rain coming down even harder now, and I held on to the edge of my seat, mind spiralling out, so much life around us.

“Liam.”

Adam. Adam. I turned to him, blinded by his light. Too much. I reached for his elbow and found bare skin, warmth flooding me. I hadn’t realised I’d been freezing before, shaking, teeth chattering.

“Focus on me,” Adam said and I did—my world suddenly drenched in orange that combined with tendrils of gentle blue that wrapped me up. Breathe.

“I’m okay.” I tasted metal on my tongue.

One of Adam’s hands clenched around my knee and I drew another breath, exhaled, inhaled. How long had we been driving? Could be five minutes, could be a decade. Everything hurt. Ice in my veins, Adam’s touch the only sun in my sky. My centre of gravity lay somewhere ahead, calling to me, and we were getting closer, closer.

The car shuddered to a stop.

It was a jerk behind my navel and I opened my eyes—when had I closed them? St Paul’s Cathedral towered against the thunderstorm sky, lightning shining bright on its limestone facade. Beautiful and terrible. Much like Adam when he’d turned those buildings to ashes and dust, so much raw power. I blinked against the strobe lights in my eyes, felt like I was drunk on thin air.

“I lost Gale’s signal.” Panic coated Adam’s voice and I reached for him, found his hand and fitted my fingers into the gaps between his. The rush of blood in my ears drained like the outgoing tide.

“I’ll find him.”

“How?”

I closed my eyes and listened—not to the storm and the rain, but to the magnetic pull of earth and fire, water and air. A siren’s call. Dance with us.

That’s why I’m here.

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