Page 32 of Embers

Page List


Font:  

Mack stands by the window and takes his piece of paper from his pocket. “Okay. We can catch Sam up later. Long story short, Annalise can’t do much to help us. Something’s going on at the Bureau. She thinks they’ve been infiltrated by H.E.L. She said she’d do her best to get her agents off our back, but aside from that, all she could do was give us the name of the seer who first accessed The Phoenix Prophecy. She said perhaps this witch will be able to help Nova understand her power and what we have to do to defeat Ragnor.”

Amazed at his succinct explanation, I look at the others. Luther, Tanner, and Kole are all nodding. “You have the name of the original seer?” Kole asks, moving purposefully toward Mack. “That’s invaluable. If we can speak to the witch—” He stops when he notices the strange expression on Mack’s face.

Without saying any more, Mack hands Kole the piece of paper.

Kole’s eyes graze the words. His jaw tenses. His face darkens. “This is the name you were given?”

Mack puts a brotherly hand on Kole’s shoulder. “Annalise said the seer was from the Foresight Commune.” He taps the paper. “She said this is the name of the seer who was sent The Phoenix Prophecy.”

“Do you know who this is?” Kole’s voice is like gravel.

“I believe,” says Mack gently, “it’s your mother.”

There’s a moment of quivering silence in which no one speaks. Luther breaks ranks first. “Your mother?” He moves to Kole’s elbow and stares at Annalise’s handwriting.

“Unless there’s another Thessaly Trajan living in the Foresight Commune,” Kole says, his fist tightening around his mother’s name.

“Shit,” breathes Tanner, sliding me from his lap so he can stand next to Kole.

If a million questions were burning in my head when Mack told me, a million more must be racing through Kole’s. He steps away from us. Pulling his hair loose from its tie, as if it might help him think straight, he says, “She never told me. Never even mentioned it.”

“Perhaps she didn’t know it involved you,” Tanner offers.

Kole scoffs at that. “Of course, she knew. She had to have known.”

“You haven’t seen her for a long time, Kole. Things changed for you in the last five years. Maybe—”

“I see her every year.” Kole’s eyes snap toward Tanner’s.

Something passes between them. Tanner looks confused. “Every year? I thought…?”

Kole’s lips tighten. “I didn’t tell you because…” He shakes his head. It makes his hair move in waves over his shoulders. “That doesn’t matter now. What matters is you’re saying we have to visit my mother?” He’s looking at Mack.

“I think so,” Mack says. “We can’t do anymore to get the Bureau off our back, but we do need to know more about Nova’s power. How to harness it. How she’s supposed to win this fight. Your mother might be able to help.”

Placing a gentle hand on Kole’s elbow, I tell him, “Kole, if it’s going to be too hard, we don’t have to go.”

Kole stares down at me. I can’t read his expression. Looking at the others, he barks, “We’ll leave tomorrow at sundown. There’s a sleeper cargo train that passes through the Fore Valley. It’s how I get to the Commune unseen.”

I don’t ask him why he has to travel unseen when he’s visiting his family, just nod. Tanner is about to say something else when Mack raises his hand.

“Quiet,” he says. “Do you hear that?”

We all stop talking.

Mack’s eyes flash amber. “It sounded like a wolf.”

18

TANNER

Nova is the first to bolt for the door, Mack’s jacket falling from her shoulder as she runs. Luther pulls her out of the way and speeds past her. Down the steps, into the trees. He’s always been the fastest among us and disappears leaving a trail of sparks on the ground beneath him.

Kole and I up front, Mack keeping pace with Nova, we follow Luther’s path.

When we find Luther, he’s standing just inside the mask, staring out at two wolves. The smaller, darker one is pinned to the ground. A larger one, with scars in its fur, has its jaw around the black one’s neck.

When I notice the flash of white on the black one’s foot, I realize who Sam has trapped.


Tags: Cara Clare Fantasy