Page 2 of Phoenix Academy: Madness

"Good. Now I'm going to let go of your hand, and I want you to try sensing her on your own."

"I can't! I'm not strong like you."

"You can," I told her firmly, slipping my hand away from her. "I believe in you."

I watched her bite her lower lip and try to do what I'd just done. Our mother studied us from up ahead on the trail, her grip on her rifle relaxed, staring off into the distance with her eyes unfocused. I knew she was tired; we both were, after so many nights spent sleeping in motel rooms or under the stars, making every dollar stretch, hot-wiring cars and ditching them every few hundred miles. But we did it all to keep Lizzy safe, and one day hopefully we wouldn't have to anymore.

"I can feel her," Lizzy whispered, voice pitched low with awe. "She's moving closer towards us. I think she got our scent on the wind. Someone must have fed her once, because she's not afraid of people."

"Good." Pride burst in my chest for my baby sister. "Focus in on her. Let go of everything else, and see if you can tell me more about her."

She nodded eagerly, face screwed up in concentration. "I can tell she's curious. But timid. Something has gotten her attention... there's something else in the clearing..."

Her voice trailed off, brows drawn together. I waited for her to say something, but her mouth was twitching, something off all of a sudden. I gripped my rifle tight as I felt the air shift around me.

"Ari." My mom's voice was sharp; she walked towards us on quiet feet. "What's she doing? I don't like the way she's drifted off."

"She was just with the deer." I snapped my fingers in front of Lizzy's face, but she didn't even twitch, lost as she was. "I'll get her back."

Grabbing my sister's hand, I let my senses wander, our magic joining together again. This time, though, when I reached for the doe I went cold all over.

She was dead.

Someone shot her in the head.

And I figured out quickly why Lizzy was in such an off state. There was a hole in the fabric of the natural world, a blankness where life should've been.

It was a black force that pulled energy towards it and left nothing but death and darkness in its wake.

The Heretic.

He'd found us yet again.

I opened my eyes to find my mother's gaze on me, face panicked. Jerking Lizzy out of her trance, I slapped my hand over her mouth to keep her from crying out.

Our mother mouthed the word, "Run."

Like the rabbits we'd skinned just the day before, we fled through the trees, prey running from a ruthless predator.

We knew that we wouldn't survive him.

But still we ran, death at our heels.

* * *

We fled through the woods for hours, Mom turning the wind to sweep our scent away, Lizzy sending the undergrowth across our footprints to hide them from trackers, while I charmed the birds from the trees and sent them at our pursuers' heads to distract them.

Somehow, the Heretic had followers.

We'd noticed them sometime in Lizzy's childhood, when things started to get harder and he found us more and more. First it was just a few crazed loners like him, loosely organized, but soon he'd gathered an entire congregation to him. They were with him in the woods, tracking us, flanking our path in an attempt to cut all escape routes off.

I could feel Lizzy flagging, and knew that she wouldn't be able to walk, much less run or jog, for much longer. She was too big for me and Mom to carry her on our backs as we once did when she was little. And though we had dozens of spells at our fingers, none of them were powerful enough to turn away the Heretic and his flock.

Mom stopped for a moment, her hand up to signal us to stop as well, head tilted back. She scented the air like a hunting dog. Behind me, Lizzy stumbled, and I doubled back to help her up.

"Do you need me to take some of the weight in your pack?"

"No," she said, sullen and flushed with heat. "I can do this."

---