Falling Ashes (40 page)

Camryn called after me, but I ignored her and stormed towards the forest. The molten lava slid from my eyes and down my cheeks as I reached the tree line, where Fae stood. She could tell at once that something was wrong as she rushed to my side, her eyes wide.

‘What’s the matter with you?’ she asked, grabbing my shoulders. Immediately, she relinquished her hold on me, gasping in pain. Looking at her hands I saw they were bright red.

‘You burnt me!’ she gasped.

‘I’m sorry,’ I said thickly. Usually my temperature did not run so high when around Fae, as her Power of suppression was enough to dampen it. Now, however, my Power dominated Fae’s. Not only that, but my Power was dominating my emotions, too.

I walked straight to Hawthorne, throwing my leg over his back and hoisting myself up.

‘Nothing,’ I said, my voice breaking.

‘What did she do to you?’ Fae demanded. ‘Want me to go and have a word with her?’

‘No,’ I said, wiping away the tears. The lava fell onto my dress, but did not burn a hole through it. My father had been right; it was fireproof.

‘Then what is it?’ Fae pressed, looking up at me. ‘Did she say no to borrowing the Pegasi?’

‘No,’ I replied through gritted teeth. ‘I didn’t ask.’

‘Then what happened?’

I raised my hand to the locket around my neck and yanked it, snapping the chain. I thrust the jewellery at Fae.

‘Take this. I don’t want to see it again,’ I said to her.

Fae took the necklace, her eyes wide. ‘What’s gotten into you? You love this thing. You’re always touching it-’

‘I don’t want it anymore.’

Fae looked down at the ruby encrusted locket, before staring at me. ‘But your boyfriend gave this to you. You said it was his mother’s-’

‘He lied,’ I said, balling my fists around tufts of Hawthorne’s fur. ‘Now let’s get back to the others.’

Fae was confused, and a little scared. Regardless, she stuffed the locket into her pack before climbing onto Shadow’s back. She asked no more questions about my short visit with Camryn, and together, we took off into the sky, leaving Frost Arch behind us for good.

~

When we liaised with the rest of the group, who had travelled a good distance in the half day Fae and I had been away, I was shocked to find our group had increased to include another three people. Terry explained to me that they were friends of his from a small town on the outskirts of Scyre. I wasn’t sure why, but I trusted his judgement, and accepted the new followers without question. Perhaps it was because I felt as though I had lost a fragment of my heart after learning about Jack’s betrayal. I was numb.

Terry informed me of the new recruits' Powers, and I couldn’t help but feel as though they would come in useful.

The youngest, a boy of seventeen, had the ability to divide atoms. I didn’t really understand it, but he explained that he could unravel the building blocks of anything, living or otherwise, until it was reduced to dust. This frightened me a little bit, especially when he demonstrated his Power by reducing an entire oak tree into nothing more than a pile of dust.

The boy’s mother, a muscular woman with a wide nose, had a similar power. She could change her own physical state, by transforming into water, gas, or making her skin as hard as steel.

Her husband, a ferret-like man, with thinning hair and a pointy nose, had the Power to multiply objects, such as food, and even water. This would solve our food problem.

Still, despite these new recruits, I was miserable.

The necklace had belonged to Madeline – not his mother like he had said. He’d stolen it from her chambers after her death as a keepsake. I’d been so foolish. As if Jack’s family could have afforded such a fine piece of jewellery in the first place. They’d been commoners.

Then Jack had presented it to me, as a token of his affection for Madeline, a woman I didn’t even realise he knew. Jack had probably been a smitten child, fascinated by the lady. Had my resemblance to her been the reason Jack had spoken to me in the first place, that day in town when I’d stumbled into Seth Swaggart?

I felt sick thinking about it. Here I was, missing him more each day, when everything we had was based on his affection for another.

I didn’t want to see Jack Greenwood again. Though, a nagging part of my brain told me that perhaps Camryn was lying to hurt me. If that was true, how had she known that the locket was from Jack in the first place?

Pushing these thoughts from my mind, I focussed my attention on the journey ahead. I didn’t want to think about Jack, or the lie he had told. It hurt too much.

Every now and then, Fae glanced at me nervously. She was watching me for signs of distress. While I hadn’t told her exactly what had happened, she seemed to get the gist. As a result, Fae rode Shadow beside me the whole way to Concord City.

‘Miss Redding?’ The seventeen-year-old boy was jogging beside Hawthorne, trying to keep up.

I ignored him, keeping my gaze straight ahead.

‘Miss? How much farther until we reach Concord City?’

Travel was slower with so many people following us. We were now a group of nine Mages.

‘Soon,’ was my response.

‘And, um … what will we do once we are there?’ he asked.

‘Stop the Realm,’ I replied.

‘And how are we going to do that?’

I glanced at the boy, whose expression was eager.

‘What’s your name again?’ I asked.

‘Theodore Grimm,’ he said. ‘But everyone calls me Ted.’

‘Ted, we are going to destroy the Realm headquarters. I won’t stop until it has burned to the ground.’

I’d seen it in my dreams; the great marble building, crumbling to the ground, and ashes raining down upon the city. The vision sent a shiver of pleasure down my spine. What had gotten into me?

Revenge. I wanted it more than anything. The very idea made me smile.

‘I’ll do whatever you need, Miss Redding,’ said Ted, his eyes wide.

‘Thank you, Ted. Your power will come in useful.’

He nodded. ‘I can turn the walls to dust.’

I smirked. ‘Yes, the guards too.’

Chapter Thirty

Frankie’s Dream

CECILIA PINSCHMIDT

‘Frankie has anticipated the Fire-Mage's arrival within twenty-four hours,’ said Cecilia to Jack and Kenneth. The three of them sat in her office, discussing Avalon in private.

‘So soon?’ said Kenneth. 

Cecilia nodded. ‘Frankie insisted that her dream was extraordinarily vivid.’

‘Where is she going to go?’ asked Jack. ‘She’ll be arrested.’

Cecilia shook her head. ‘Frankie has seen a group of Mages with Avalon. She has a small army. There will be at least twenty Mages with her by the time she arrives.’

‘Who are they? Where did they come from?’ asked Kenneth.

‘They are followers that she has collected along her journey here, and they are willing to fight for human rights. It is crucial that we liaise with her army when the attack begins.’

Jack and Kenneth glanced at each other.

‘She’s heading straight to the Realm Headquarters?’ Jack asked.

Cecilia nodded. ‘The dream transcript says that Avalon will waste no time in attacking. She will arrive at dusk tomorrow evening.’

‘We are going to meet her there?’ asked Kenneth.

Cecilia nodded. ‘We must time our arrival precisely. There are over one hundred H.W.L members. If we arrive too early, we will raise the alarm.’

‘How do we know what time?’ Jack asked.

‘Xara Swanson will have multiple projections of herself on the lookout. She will be able to relay the message to us within seconds as she will be working at the Realm at the time of the attack. However, she will be in a stasis chamber, which she cannot exit without a second person to help her. Jack, if you can release her before the attack begins, Xara will be able to join us quickly.’

Kenneth and Jack nodded in unison.

Jack chewed on his lip. ‘Tomorrow at dusk, you said? I’ll be on guard duty that evening.’

Cecilia nodded. ‘It’s important you attend your guard duty, as to not raise suspicion.’

‘What should I do when the infiltration begins?’ asked Jack. ‘They’ll try and kill me if I jump ship-’

‘Jack, you’ll need to be inconspicuous. Team up with the other healers as soon as you can. It is imperative that they do not suspect you.’

‘We’re not …
trying
to kill them, right?’ asked Jack.

Cecilia smiled kindly. ‘Not if we can help it, Jack. Life is precious, and we do not wish to harm anyone. But we need to find the cure and the human registration documents, so we can find out where our families were taken, and who they were sold to.’

‘How do you do that?’ asked Kenneth.

‘Each human is branded with a serial number,’ said Cecilia, ‘according to our inside intelligence.’

Jack recalled, Korra and Alastor had wanted to brand Avalon.

‘Seven-eight-one-two,’ said Kenneth, closing his eyes. ‘That is the number branded into Helena’s neck.’

Cecilia nodded. ‘The Realm doesn’t use the Humans given names. Instead, they are tracked with a serial number. From there, we’ll be able to discover where they were sent, and who bought them. We’ll track down every human that has had their memory wiped, and give them the cure.’

‘And what if they try to stop us?’ asked Jack.

‘Jack … they’re not going to try and stop us … they’re going to try and kill us.’

Jack had no response to this statement because he knew it was the truth.

‘I can’t believe Avalon is doing this,’ said Kenneth. ‘She’s going to get herself killed.’

‘Don’t try and stop her, Ken,’ said Cecilia sternly. ‘This needs to be done. Without Avalon, the human rebellion cannot take place. She is the reason we have united against the Realm.’

‘A nineteen-year-old girl won’t make much difference,’ said Kenneth.

‘You underestimate your daughter,’ said Cecilia, folding her arms across her chest. ‘She holds great Power. Her fire will signal the start of the revolution. When other towns and cities hear of the attack, human supporters will rise against the government.’

‘You really think she’s going to start a revolution?’ asked Jack.

Cecilia nodded. ‘It has been foreseen.’

Kenneth crossed his arms over his chest. ‘According to this girl named Frankie, you say?’

Cecilia nodded. Frankie’s predictions were always right.

‘A woman we haven’t even met. Someone who doesn’t come to the meetings-’ said Kenneth.

Cecilia sighed. ‘I trust Frankie and know she is telling the truth. Now, if you don’t mind, I have a lot of things I need to prepare for before tomorrow.’

Annoyed, Kenneth stood up and left Cecilia’s study, Jack slouching after him.

Once they were gone, she let out a long breath, placing her face in her hands. Cecilia groaned. She hated lying – it was so against her nature, especially as a truth-seeker. But she couldn’t tell Kenneth, or Jack. It would destroy them to know the truth. The truth about what Frankie had seen.

Cecilia opened her desk drawer and pulled out the letter written by Frankie after her latest vision, which had been just last night. She began to read it for the umpteenth time.

Cecilia,

The following dream took place between two and three o’clock last night. It is the most vivid dream to date. There is no doubt in my mind that the following event will transpire tomorrow night.

The Fire-Mage will die in the midst of battle. Her death will infuriate her followers. It is crucial that she succumbs to death at the hands of the Realm, otherwise the revolution will not take place. If she lives, the rage of her family, and followers will not dawn a new era between mages and humans.

Frankie

Cecilia folded up the letter. How could she tell Kenneth and Jack of Frankie’s vision? They would try to prevent it. This was the reason the Fire-Mage’s involvement was so crucial to the whole plan. She must die in order for the revolution to transpire.

Standing up, Cecilia walked over to the fireplace, which had been kindling for the last hour. Without thinking, she threw the letter into the flames and watched it curl and catch alight. Soon, it was nothing more than ashes.

A knock on her office door half an hour later signified the arrival of her next appointment. A woman had contacted H.W.L just yesterday, asking to meet with Cecilia. This was not uncommon. Many Mages had travelled to Concord City over the last week, eager to join forces with the Fire-Mage. Word had spread far and wide with Cecilia’s instruction.

‘Come in,’ she called to the person on the other side of the door.

The door creaked open, and a wisp of a woman entered the room. She was very thin, with mousy brown hair, and high cheekbones. She wore a conservative white dress, which covered her wrists and ankles.