Page 11 of Phoenix Academy: Madness

Chapter 5

I hitthe water like a bag of bricks. Pain, immeasurable pain shoots through my body. The water envelops me, gravity yanking me down below the surface.

My instincts are all that keeps me from being dragged to the bottom. I kick immediately, trying to get towards the surface. My head is light, lungs bursting as I desperately hold my breath despite all the pain.

By the time my head crests the water I feel dizzy and out of it. Ribs flaring in pain with every breath, I gulp down desperate lungfuls of air. Behind me, the waterfall hits the surface of the river, currents trying to drag me down again.

I can see the boat in the distance, its rowers settled in the middle seat, the Heretic looking out from the prow. Somewhere in the belly of the boat is my little sister's body. So despite the pain I'm in and how weak and tired I feel, I force myself to swim in the boat's direction, pulling my pack off my back and floating it beside me.

My rifle will be wet, the ammo quite possibly useless. I don't even know how to use my new magic. And my mother is gone forever.

I have no idea how I'll face off with the Heretic on my own, but there's no other choice. I'll do it alone because I have to.

Distantly, I can feel the trio of predators still on my trail. They're looking for a way down the cliff towards the water. Something about my magic has made them far more dogged than an average wild animal. That jump off the cliff bought me a few minutes at the most.

So I swim towards shore, eyes on the boat, hoping I'll be able to take it out from afar. My ribs ache as I drag myself out onto the dirt. In the distance, the Heretic and his followers notice me, and he barks orders to them. I sling my damp pack over my shoulder, tip water out of my rifle, and pray that the rounds I took from the cabin are sealed enough to work. It'll take everything I've got—and a good deal of this new blue magic of mine—to get Lizzy's body back.

I try not to think beyond that. There's nothing and no one left for me. All my family is gone. Excepthim.

As I pull an ammo box out of my pack, one of the Heretic's followers dives out of the boat and cuts a path towards the shore. No doubt he's coming to take care of me—though I wonder, now that I've risen from the pyre, if he'll try to kill me again or capture me. It doesn't matter; either way, I'm going to take him down.

Checking the ammo, I'm pleased to find that each round is sealed. I tap as much water as possible out of the barrel of the rifle and load two rounds into it. Then I reach inward for my magic in case the rifle doesn't discharge correctly. My blue flames are so new, but they come to my palms with ease, instinctive and instantaneous.

"Ariana." The follower knows my name; despite the machete in his hand, he gives me a warm smile, which only serves to creep me out. "He is so glad to see you're alive and well. The ceremony worked! How wonderful."

"Yeah, bleeding me dry and throwing me on a funeral pyre was great." I bare my teeth at the man and throw my palm out, but the blue flame just slips to the ground and sears through a tuft of grass. "I want my sister back."

"Your sister is going to a better place," he says, referring to the ceremony that will take her spirit and use it to increase the Heretic's powers. "You can come too. He misses you."

I'm about to respond when the man slides his thumb across the screen of his phone and a quiet song starts to play. It catches me off guard; now hardly seems like the time for music. Within a moment, though, the song is all I can hear.

It whispers to me of happier times: a house in a rural area, Lizzy's laughter, Mom teaching me how to set snares to catch wild rabbits, and hope for a life of peace. A keen, terrible longing fills me, but the song tells me that it'll all be alright.

I'm not in the woods anymore. My sister isn't dead anymore, and neither is our mom. All I have to do is let go of the tension inside me and everything will be okay.

"That's it," an unfamiliar voice says, sounding pleased. "Now just come with me..."

A hand slips through mine, tugging me along gently. I don't know where I'm going or with whom, but I can't find a reason to resist. My mind is floating along in a gentle drift of clouds, without a worry in the world.

In fact, since I'm so fine, I drop my rifle on the ground. I don't remember why I was carrying it, but I don't need it anymore. The larder is full of meat, and Mom will handle anything that needs handling.

"The boat will anchor over here and pick you up." Hands steer me towards the shore of a river. "Just sit tight."

I murmur my agreement, lost in the song, barely aware where I am.

Then I hear it: the low growl of a wild wolf. A brief, discordant note rings through me. It's not fearofthe wolf that I feel, though, but his sudden anger. It's as if the growls in the wolf's chest are rumbling through my bones, setting my teeth on edge. I try to pull away from the soothing lull of the song to turn and face the wolf, but it has me in its claws, and I don't know how to resist.

The wolf's growl grows louder. I feel his presence nearby. With his hands resting on my shoulders, the man who guided me here seems unaware of the wolf, but I can feel him in my bones.

And then. He leaps from his hiding place, all fangs and claws. There's a scream and a shout. The music stops all at once as whatever was playing it is broken. I stumble back, shaking away the lull of the song.

The Heretic's follower who lulled me to the riverbank is on the ground, no longer screaming, blood pooling all around him. A familiar giant wolf is standing on his chest, muzzle stained red.

I stare at the wolf in horror. When it raises its head towards me, its eyes are impossibly blue, and I can feel its anger. It was defending me.

"Thanks," I say weakly, unsure what's going on. "I don't know what's going on, but please don't eat me."

Making a snorting sound, the wolf steps off the man's body and presses his muzzle to the ground, scenting for something.

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