Page 115 of Of Flame and Fury

She could still hear Rahn and Cristo arguing, both voices growing frenzied, but she ignored them. Savita’s head craned toward Kel. The phoenix’s neck was circled by a darker, thicker collar than usual. The flames around Savita’s head had pulled back, ever so slightly, though heat still bit into the air, hotter than Kel had ever felt.

Kel didn’t care if she turned to ash. With no leathers, for the first time, Kel reached a hand forward.

As she neared Savita, the heat turned to pain. Searing needles stabbed into her palm, as if peeling back her skin and branding her bones. Grinding her teeth, she pressed forward another step.

Then, the pain shifted to a sharp numbness, the kind of scalding heat that felt like ice. Kel bit down on a whimper. She leaned forward as the heat turned to something more tangible, pressing back against her hand as firmly as any brick wall. She kept moving forward toward Savita. Black stars danced across the room.

Just as the heat turned unbearable, just as she thought it might consume her, Savita closed the remaining distance between them.

Tears carved trails down Kel’s cheeks. Her fingers pressed against the yellow feathers above Sav’s beak. They felt exactly as she thought they would—like velvet sunlight. The heat remained, but the pain ebbed, a shadow beneath the sun. Kel’s skin reddened, but it didn’t burn away. She wondered if the diseased fire in her veins now matched Savita’s.

“I said I’d get you out,” Kel murmured to her firebird. “I keep my promises.”

Savita blinked and pushed against Kel’s hand. The heat soothed her like a balm.

She didn’t know why Sav had let her fall. She didn’t know whatshemeant to the phoenix. But she knew Savita deserved better than Cristo—or even Kel—deciding her fate.

This close, Kel could make out more of Sav’s shape. Ash-black feathers were scattered beneath outstretched wings. The feathers along her wings’ edges were darker, too, as if dipped in ink.

She hadn’t seen her phoenix since her fall in Vohre Forest. Since Sav hadlether fall. But Savita’s heat consumed the pain of thememory. As Kel touched Savita’s feathers for the first time, she felt invincible. Just for a moment, she felt as immortal as Savita herself.

She took a closer look at Sav’s new collar. Though sturdier-looking than her old collar, the edges were soft, uneven. She stared, just for a moment, unsure what she was seeing—until she spotted two red wires poking out of the top of the collar, frayed and melting.

Her breath hitched. Blue sparks flared beneath the collar, almost hidden by Savita’s own fire. Her phoenix wasso closeto a rebirth—Sav’s very heat had begun to melt Cristo’s controls.

Was this normal? Or was it because Cristo’s new collar hadn’t been tested? Kel didn’t know—she’d thought she’d have more time to research rebirths. But the dark veins along Sav’s wings were spreading before Kel’s eyes. Savita barely had minutes before she’d combust.

Coup appeared at Kel’s right, and Savita swiveled toward him. He raised a gloved hand, as if to touch her, though kept a few steps away.

“How are you so close to her?” Coup asked Kel. “I’ve never felt this kind of heat.”

“I don’t know,” Kel whispered.

She glanced over at the others. Rahn was still shouting, trying to reason with the tinted mirror. Cristo spoke back, though Kel couldn’t make out his words as Savita grumbled above her head. The other phoenixes were growing more agitated, wings spreading and necks craning. As if preparing to take flight again.

Kel whipped around. Rahn was still firmly planted at the center of the diamond track. If Cristo resumed the race—if Estra’s life was worth more to him than Rahn’s—none of them would survive much longer.

Kel tried to lure Sav off the painted track.

“Come on,” Kel pleaded when Sav resisted. “For Alchemists’ sake. It’s not a real race. We need to get you out of here.”

“We can’t take her through the door,” Coup whispered in Kel’s ear, daring a step closer, as if Cristo might hear them breathe. “The sancters will take her out in a heartbeat.”

Sweat dripped down Kel’s arms. “We need to dosomething,” she hissed. “Look at the other phoenixes—they’re preparing to get airborne.”

Coup glanced over at the other phoenixes. Some were bending their legs, others ruffling their wings. Ready to begin racing anew.

There were no other doors, no other windows. But they hadn’t come this far just to let the flames devour them.

Kel managed to encourage Sav a few steps from the other phoenixes as she heard Cristo bellow, “Enough, Rahn! I won’t kill my own daughter.”

Hairs pricked along Kel’s neck. Cristo’s voice rose with clear, rabid desperation.

She saw Dira and Bekn exchange looks, Rahn firmly planted between them. Unmoving.

They couldn’t wait in here forever. Even if the race was stopped, Savitawouldrebirth, soon. Kel could feel it in the heat rolling off Savita in erratic waves, like tiny fireworks seeping into the air. Cristo had already half-succeeded.

She and Coup tried to lure Sav further from the other phoenixes with little success. Bekn and Dira shifted toward them, as if to help, and Cristo’s voice rang out again through the overhead speakers.

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