Page 37 of Bound By Destiny

That’s when I spot a dash of orange among the shrubs and grasses. My heart soars.Sriracha.

A violent gust nearly blows us both off our feet, but the Peryton and I trudge towards the cowering ball of fur. My pulse calms down somewhat when the red panda is safe in my arms.

The three of us are on our way back to the barn when all of a sudden, something sombre and imposing drops from the skies. The Peryton bucks in panic, rising on his hind legs. His reins almost slip out of my hands. The effort of holding him back makes me lose my balance.

My eyes take several moments to adjust to the vision before me.

My heart stills.

Am I dreaming?

Destiny stands above me, fierce and beautiful as an avenging angel with her iridescent wings and her wild black tresses. In the background, the swirling dark column continues its deadly journey, destroying everything along the way.

“You’ve got to listen to me, okay Dane?” She shouts over the raging storm. “Tornadoes are formed with both a cold, rainy downdraft and a warm updraft. Scientists are still studying exactly how they form, but the idea is that the variation of temperature creates instability, which–”

“What the Hell are you doing here?!” I roar, rage surging through my veins as I realize that the woman before me isn’t a hallucination. Never in a thousand years could my mind conjure such a complicated speech. “Go to the basement! Now!”

To my utmost frustration, she huffs and drones on: “Basically what I’m trying to say is that maybe, to stop a tornado from forming, or perhaps even to slow it down, the cold downdraft would need to be heated until it’s no longer cold. So–”

I jump to my feet and grab her arm not too gently. Basic, primitive fear coils around my heart. As if the entire ranch being in danger doesn’t terrify me, now mymateis on the path of a tornado growing bigger and closer by the minute.

“This isn’t the time for a physics lesson!” I snarl as I manhandle her towards safety, simultaneously juggling a quivering red panda and a spooked Peryton. “I don’t know what harebrained notion makes you think you should be here, but for my own peace of mind at least, you have tomove!”

She digs her heels into the grass. I stare at her consternation. Where has my rational, fretful Destiny gone? What kind of monster have I created?

“Dane,” she hisses through clenched teeth. “Do you even hear what I’m telling you?! We can’t stop a tornado, but it may be possible to weaken it by altering the cool downdraft. ” Perplexed, I stop tugging at her for a moment. “We’re phoenixes, Dane,” she explains to me as if I were a willful five year old – and not a particularly bright one. “As beings gifted with both the power to fly as well as produce fire, it seems to me like we may just be able to make a difference.”

I haven’t even begun to make sense of her words when I’m already shaking my head. “No! This isn’t the time to be testing your theories!” I bark, though my vehemence stems more from panic than true anger.She wants to do something dangerous. I don’t know where this is going, but she’s going to put herself in harm’s way.“Come inside!”

“Let me go!” She cries, pulling away so hard I fear her arm may pop out of its socket. “Hurry! It’s going to be too late!”

The chaos picks up. The funnel cloud advances relentlessly. It looks evil. Black dirt flies up from the ground surrounding us and begins to revolve, as if a herd of invisible horses were stampeding in a circle. A tree I’ve always admired, strong and hardy at a good hundred feet tall, is abruptly uprooted at the border of our property. The deafening rumble becomes unbearable, as if our ears were glued to the tracks of a ferocious freight train.

“Destiny!” I beg raggedly, though she probably can’t hear me. “Please!”

I almost succeed in dragging her inside, but a sharp piece of wood hits my hand. It leaves a cut, nothing deep but enough for my grip to weaken for a fraction of a second. The next thing I know, Destiny is gone.

I shove the animals through the door where Luciana and Warwick can bring them to the basement, and dash back outside. Squinting, I pick out the flash of her iridescent wings in the apocalyptic sky.

Horror seizes me, squeezes my chest so tight I can hardly breathe. It was only a little over a month ago that Destiny stood on top of the Santa Catalina Mountains, too terrified to fly even in one of the most windless places in the U.S.A. Now she’s hovering near an actual twister, black tendrils snaking in and out like tentacles.

Without a moment to lose, I shoot into the air. I try to fly towards Destiny, but I quickly understand reaching her is a lot harder than I thought. The winds are so strong my movements are impeded. I use all my strength to propel myself forward, but one of the bones in my wings snaps from the effort.

Dread settles in my stomach as a terrible realization dawns upon me: I won’t be able to make it. I can’t save her. She’s too far away.

Powerless, I watch Destiny plunge down, towards the black wedge at the bottom of the tornado. Even from a distance, I can see her wings bending backwards, her limbs twisting at weird angles like a disarticulated puppet. It’s the most blood-curling spectacle I’ve ever watched. Then, in the blink of an eye, a great blaze swallows up Destiny’s limp form.She’s breaking everywhere,I understand with grim lucidity. The ball of fire she’s become is sucked into the maw of the monster.

Despair explodes throughout me. The god-awful moaning is so loud now, my ears keep popping. All I can do is wait anxiously for Destiny to resurface so I can gather her in my arms and never let go.I failed.Not only was I unable to protect my mate, I also hurt her in ways that can’t be seen.

The rational part of me knows Destiny will heal from this. But even if it tears me apart that she’s enduring unfathomable pain in the heart of the vortex, I know her recovery will only be physical.

What of the wounds I gave her beneath the flesh? Rejecting her. Leaving her behind. Keeping her in the dark about our bond when we’re meant to be together. No magical fire can heal that.

The wall of clouds is seconds away from hitting the scattering of buildings that form our ranch. Through the holes in the roof, I can tell we weren’t able to get all the animals in the basement in time. Though most are phoenixes, even a short stint in the eye of a tornado would cause serious trauma to them. I don’t even want to think of the few animals we keep that aren’t immortal.

I’m glad to see that Warwick and Luciana are gone though. They probably sought shelter for themselves. Luciana is a psychic, but that doesn’t mean she can re-emerge from her ashes like us.

Yet when the tornado finally reaches our home… it doesn’t pack half the punch it did moments ago. The thick winds dwindle, scatter until I spot a brilliant flash of orange.

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