Page 103 of What did you do?

My mouth opened as I watched the athletic-looking man from my neighboring cell conjure flames. He kneeled before the animals and bowed his head, holding his arms out wide. Blue-tinged fire shot out from his body, covering every part of the ground in front of him.

Sweat beaded and rolled from my temple as the intense heat blew against my face and arms.

Edin put her arm out, pushing me as far back against the cell bars as the two of us could go.

The flames continued to grow, the blue tips licking the ceiling above.

“Sid, that’s enough,” Edin said cautiously.

The figure covered in flames didn’t move as the riot of fire began to spread closer and closer to us.

“Sidney!” Edin shouted, stepping in front of me.

The fire continued to rage, the tall flames pushing through the cell’s bars and crawling into the cavernous hallway, leaving only a small circle around us free from the blaze.

My old way of thinking tried to enter my mind, telling me I could close off the air supply to the flames or lessen the conflagration, but I pushed it out and away.

That me was dead in every way, and hopefully I would be too by the end of this.

“You motherfucker.” Edin grit her teeth as she moved toward the fire and Sid.

I didn’t care enough about either of them to do anything.

Edin wiped the back of her hands on the sides of her dirty beige shirt and stretched out her arms, opening her palms one in front of the other next to her mouth as if she were about to blow a kiss to Sid.

White speckles flew from her palms and over the flames in icy gusts.

My skin chilled instantly, sending a shiver through my body from my sweat that froze.

She moved, now directing the swirling snow not onto the fire that crept around us but instead at Sid.

Feeling the blast, Sid whipped around with wide eyes. The flames halted immediately, leaving only a few to dance across his hands and arms. He brushed the last few from his shoulders, shooting a sheepish look in Edin’s direction.

Only a handful of small flames remained on the floor, flickering across the piles of ash where the large creatures had lain only moments before.

Stepping aside with an exaggerated bow, Sid cleared the way. Edin’s chest rose before sending out a huge icy breath of wind and sleet across the cell, causing all of our hair to whip back while it took the piles of ash and flames off the ledge, into the crisp mountain air.

The pair smiled at one another, then they both turned to look at me. Their faces seemed full of life with a glow that wasn’t there before. Sid had a hint of pink deepening his warm skin, while Edin’s dark cheeks were now dusted with a frosty blush.

“So you’re definitely not human,” I said in awe. “What are you?”

Sid looked at Edin with a boyish smirk, turning his large brown eyes to me. “Lightmires,” he said just before he dropped his smile completely.

Lightmires… Why was that word so familiar? I couldn’t seem to place it.

“You’ve probably heard us referred to as the Fallen fae.”

26

PRESENT DAY

Caly

“You’re Fallen fae? Why are you helping me?” I asked wearily. “How can you use your powers inside the prison? I thought they were neutralized by the mountain?”

My legs pressed against the bars that separated my cell from Sid’s.

After the fire, the pair had returned to their cells, easily stepping around the last bar at the ledge like they weren’t dangling over the tallest mountain in Seelie.

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