Magic of the Wood House (The Elemental Phases Book 6) (19 page)

Teja
slowly smiled at him.

Eian’s
eyes narrowed, seeing her choose before she uttered the words.  “No!”  He
thundered, his expression darkening.  “
No!
 You can’t possibly be this
foolish.”

Freya’s
face fell in dismay.

Teja
kept her attention on Oberon.  “I want my own room.”  She cast a pointed look
around the Fire Fortress’ sideshow-in-Alcatraz interior design.  “Without
skulls on the walls.”

Oberon
blinked.  “You want to stay here with me?”  He clarified, like he hadn’t
expected it to be so easy.  “Um… okay.”  He quickly tried not to blow it. 
“Sure.  We can redecorate your room.  Absolutely.  Pick any one you want.”

“Except
mine.”  Djinn put in with a perfectly straight face.  “‘Cause that one’s mine.”

Teja
glanced over at him, her eyes gleaming with a mixture of amusement and
exasperation.  Sullivan knew that feeling well.

Eian
wasn’t going down without a fight.  “This is unacceptable.”  He stalked forward
to seize hold of Teja’s arm, jerking her around to face him.  “This is your poor
breeding at work.  If you can’t make a reasonable decision, I’ll just have to
make it
for
you.  You’re coming with me and there’s nothing anybody…”

Four
things happened at once.  One:  Sullivan’s vision filmed over in red as the
Cold Phase grabbed her.  Two:  Oberon let out a roar of outrage that shook the
rafters.  Three: Teja jerked away, as Eian tried to jump her out of the Fire
Kingdom.

And
Four:  Djinn attacked.

His
fist slammed into Eian’s aristocratic face, knocking the other man right off
his feet.  “You son-of-a-
bitch
.”

“Djinn,
don’t!”  Teja shouted.

He
ignored that.

Big
surprise.

“The
next time you touch my cousin, they won’t find your
goddamn body!
”  He
roared.  Before Eian could even stop rolling from the first punch, Djinn reached
down to grasp the front of his shirt.  He hauled Eian up and threw him into the
wall.

Actually
through
the wall.

Sullivan’s
eyebrows soared as Eian impacted the plaster about ten feet up, leaving a
crater straight down to the stone exterior.  That hole was still there, back in
reality.  Hope had hung a festive wreath made of broken Darth Vader toys around
it.  It was the only Christmas decoration Sullivan approved of.  Now, he liked
it even more.

“Great
distance on the throw, Djinn.”  He remarked with an impressed nod.

If
he could’ve heard Sullivan, the Fire King no doubt would have agreed.  The guy
was the Picasso of violence.  Pure artistry mixed with creative flourishes.  Djinn
stalked towards Eian as the other man staggered to his feet.  “Fun fact.”  He
casually selected a mace from a decorative rack as he passed.  “Did you know a
Phase can sustain six hits with one these babies before they die?  Crazy, I
know.  But, that’s fucking
math.
”

“Five.” 
Oberon corrected, as if this was an ongoing area of scientific debate.  “I keep
telling you, ya gotta look at the average, Djinn.”

“I
did and it’s
six
.  Here.  I’ll prove it to ya.”

Eian
gave a squeak of alarm as Djinn reached for him.

“No!” 
Freya cried, moving to help her brother before his brain was liquefied.

“Isn’t
D hot?”  Pele asked the room at large.  “I think he’s
so
damn hot.”

“Stop
it!”  Teja got between her cousins, pushing them apart.  “I mean it.  Just
stop
.” 
She glanced at Djinn.  “We said I’d choose and that we wouldn’t fight.”

Djinn
snorted.  “Did I agree to that?  I don’t remember agreeing to that.”

Teja’s
eyes narrowed at him.

“Oh
fine
.”  Djinn stepped back with a pout, tossing the mace to the floor. 
“But he started it.”  He headed back over to sit on the arm of the throne like
nothing had happened.

“Thank
you.”  Sullivan told him sincerely.  Djinn might be a sociopath but he was a
sociopath committed to protecting Teja.  That was good enough for Sullivan.

Eian
swiped at his broken nose.  “
This
is the House you choose over mine,
Teja?”  He jabbed a wrathful finger at her.  “If you go with them, the Cold
House will wash its hands of you forever.  We’ll disown you and cast you out of
our family.  I swear it.”

Freya’s
lips parted.  “Wait…”

“Do
what you want, you jackass.”  Teja scowled back at him.  “I’m not going with
you.  I’ll
never
go with you.”  She stepped back, closer to Oberon and
Djinn.  “I’m a Fire Phase.”

Scenes
shifted and time passed.  Sullivan saw Teja living in the Fire House. 
Refereeing video game championships between Djinn and Satour…  Having tea
parties with a much younger Hope…  Laughing with Oberon… Helping Alder practice
his sword fighting skills…  Arguing with Pele about which TV shows to watch… 
Shouting at Oberon… Trying to reattach the heads of Missy’s decapitated dolls… 
Playing chess with Qadesh…  Laughing
while
she shouted at Oberon…

Always
with her family.  Always loved.

Then
came the Fall.

Sullivan
looked around the courtyard of the Fire Fortress and saw nothing but death. 
The plague that Teja had told him about was a waking nightmare.  The stench of
burning bodies.  High-pitched wails of grief.  Sunken faces with lost
expressions.  Stacks of bodies being fed into massive bonfires.  Hopelessness
and despair.

Death.

Even
in war he’d seen nothing like this horror.

His
eyes went to the arched, Gothic door of the palace.  Hope was hanging a picture
of Oberon on it, surrounded by bouquets of blood-red flowers.  There was only
one possible thing that could mean:  Teja’s beloved grandfather was dead.  The
one person she counted on most had left her alone in this hell.

Oh
no.

“Teja?” 
Sullivan looked around trying to spot her in the chaos.  His instincts were
going haywire, screaming at him that she was in danger.  Even if he found her,
he didn’t know how he planned to protect her.  It seemed like he was invisible
in this place.  No one could hear him and he couldn’t interact.  But, he knew
he had to be with her.

Sullivan
moved through the crowd, spotting Djinn and Pele.  They were covered in black soot
and mechanically piling corpses for cremation.  The fact that they were so damn
silent
had the hair on the back of Sullivan’s neck standing up.  Fire
Phases were
never
silent.  It was like they’d just turned themselves
off, so they could endure.

He
kept looking for Teja, spotting Alder wearily using his powers to build yet
another funeral pyre.  Satour gathered wood for the blaze, tears cutting
through the dirt on his cheeks.  Missy was huddled against the side of the
building her hands covering her face, as if she just couldn’t watch anymore. 
Qadesh moved restlessly between his relatives, like he was trying to protect them
from something he knew he couldn’t stop.

Sullivan
was having trouble breathing.  This memory, or whatever the fuck it was, was
too terrible for anyone to survive.  No one could come through this and not…

He
suddenly spotted Zakkery, of the Smoke House in the crowd.  The guy was clearly
trying to stay out of sight, but he looked like the member of a boy band and
dressed like a refugee from an 80s music video, so he stuck out like a really
tacky sore thumb.  What was he doing there?

Sullivan
started for him.

Zakkery
had some kind of paper in his hand.  He frowned down at it, like he was willing
it to make sense.  Curious, Sullivan peered over the guy’s shoulder, so he
could read it, too.  One sentence jumped out at him like neon, so horrible that
he couldn’t even process the rest of the note.

Stop
Teja from killing herself.

No,
no, no, no, no.

Sullivan
began to panic.  “Teja!”  He bellowed, his head whipping around frantically. 
“Fuck!
” 
He turned back to Zakkery.  If he could have touched anything, he would’ve
grabbed Zakkery by his Sid Viscous t-shirt.  “Why are you just standing there? 
Find her, you moron!”

Zakkery
sighed in frustration and looked around the courtyard as if he had no idea where
to begin searching.  His eyes flicked over the other Fire Phases, lingering on
Missy’s dark head.  She and Teja had the same color hair.  He looked briefly
confused, taking a step towards her.

“That’s
not Teja.”  Sullivan snapped, when Zakkery kept moving forward.  “
Concentrate!
 
We have to…”  For no reason at all, he looked up and his lungs stopped working.
 “Teja!”

She
was standing on the edge of the roof, staring sightlessly down at courtyard. 
Even from the distance separating them, Sullivan could tell she was in shock. 
Her eyes were unfocused and glassy; her features far too pale and calm.  She’d
seen too much.

She
was breaking.

“No,
no, no, no, no…”  Without even realizing it, he chanted the word out loud.  “Teja,
don’t
.”  He took a step forward, all his attention glued on her.  “You
can’t
do
this.  You can’t leave your family alone!  Think of
them
.”

She
paused, almost as if she heard him.

Sullivan
kept shouting, his instincts all blaring at him to help her.  “Goddamn it, step
back!
  It’s not your time.  You have too much
life
to just give
up.  That’s not you.  You’re a
Fire Phase
.  You fucking
fight
.”

Her
head tilted to one side, like she was listening.  Like she was reconsidering
this terrible plan.

Sullivan
stared up at her, his heart pounding out of his chest.  “Teja,” he whispered,
switching to begging, “please don’t do this. 
Please
don’t leave me here
alone.”

Teja
slowly pulled away from the ledge.  At the last possible second, she changed
her mind about jumping.  Sullivan exhaled shakily as he saw her fight against
the darkness.  She shook her head and stepped back.

His
vision waivered in relief and he had to brace his hands on his legs to stay
upright.  She wanted to live.  She wanted to stay with him.

…Only
something went wrong.

Tiles
slid free of the roof, crashing to the cobblestones below.  Teja lost her
balance.  She grabbed for the crouching gargoyle beside her and missed.  Sullivan
watched her tumble downward and couldn’t even roar out a denial.  He didn’t
have the oxygen.

Oh
God…

“
FUCK!
” 
Djinn bellowed, seeing Teja fall.  His hands automatically went up, like he was
trying to catch her.

“Goddamn
it!”  Zakkery shouted at the same time.

Clouds
of dense smoke appeared around Teja, trying to shield her.  It had to be
Zakkery’s energy at work.  Sullivan didn’t know what the Smoke Phase’s powers
did exactly, but the clouds were more than ordinary mist.  They seemed thick
enough to slow her descent, at least somewhat.  It wasn’t going to be enough,
though.  Teja was going to hit the pavement and nothing could save her.

Sullivan
heard his heart beating in his ears, as everything slipped into slow motion.

Qadesh’s
eyes went wide in horror.

“
Nooooo!
” 
Hope screamed, dropping to her knees.

Satour
and Pele froze.

Missy
stared uncomprehendingly at the scene, like it was just too much for her to
process.

Alder
cringed, turning away rather than watch the inevitable impact.

Sullivan
didn’t think about what happened next.  It was pure instinct.  He saw that Teja
was about to die and everything inside of him
refused
to let it happen. 
A great swell of energy moved through him.  A charge that burned through his
system.  It felt huge and powerful and
right
.  It came from deep inside of
him and poured out like a wave, taking everything he had. 
More
than he
had.  He threw every bit of his strength into protecting Teja, because, without
her, he would be nothing anyway.

Teja
plummeted towards the cobblestones… but she never hit the ground.

Sullivan
stopped her.

Sort
of.

Rather
than smash against the unforgiving rocks, Teja landed in a ten foot pile of
moss that appeared out of nowhere.  It materialized directly below her,
cushioning her fall.  She slammed into the center of it, unhurt and still
three-dimensional.  Her head popped up and she looked around in confusion.

She
was safe.

Sullivan
collapsed face down on the pavement, unable to stay upright.  He lay there,
trying to stay conscious.

Zakkery
seemed to be expecting a divine shout of “April Fools’ Day!”  “Holy
shit.
”
 He gaped towards the sky.  “Okay, I owe somebody big.”  He flattened a hand to
his chest in relief.  “Daphne would’ve killed me.  How could I fuck up that
rescue so bad?”  Shaking his head, he jumped out of the Fire Kingdom before
anyone saw him.