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“Is this it?” Nina reaches into a barrel of green granules and runs her fingers through it.
Marcus swats her hand away. “Don’t touch it.”
She turns her head toward him, opening her mouth, but remains silent.
“His Grace is probably right,” Breda says. “It’s a chemical you won’t want on your skin.”
Nina brushes her hands off against each other. A spark pops off her palms and drifts into the barrel with the slow grace of a feather.
Her eyes widen, and her lips part in a gasp. Before she can say a word, a scorching blast throws us all clear off our feet and away from a green inferno.
It’s too fast for me to catch anyone. The air softens my landing by its own accord as everyone else hits the ground in a chorus of thuds and groans. I fling a shield up to block the searing temperature, but panic and fury keep things just as heated on this side.
A piercing chord claws at my ears. I see Rylan shout at Nina, and her and Marcus yelling back at him, but the sound is drowned out by the ringing. I shake it out of my head in time to hear Jamys.
“Are you hurt?” He’s on his knee, hovering over me, sweat glistening on his flushed face.
“I’m fine. Tend to Breda.” I swing my legs under myself to get up to my feet.
“Put it out then!” Rylan commands, pointing to the blazing barrel.
Nina’s eyes narrow in concentration, but her expression shifts to frustration, confusion, and finally, dread. She rushes toward it and slams her hand into the massive fire like one might pinch the burning wick of a candle to snuff it out. A sharp yelp pops out of her as she removes her hand as quickly as she put it in.
“Nina!” Marcus grabs her by the shoulders and yanks her away.
She stares at her angry red hand as if it betrayed her. “I can’t put it out.”
Marcus takes the injured hand in his own, and a cast of water swirls around it between their palms. The bright green flames crackle fiercely, and Marcus’ free hand waves toward them, though his focus is on our sister. A splash of water hits the fire, but it only flares up higher, making sparks fly.
In the blink of an eye, the ground has caught. Flames sprint and multiply across the freshly treated field. Warnings and expletives are screamed all around me. I reach out with my magic to get a blockade in front of it, but the green light beats me in the race across the field. Those working in the distance only have time to turn away before they’re besieged.
Breda screeches behind me over the roar of the fire. The massive blaze is so bright, my vision is veiled in a green glare. I swipe my hands away from each other, and a wall of air races around the perimeter of the burning field from both sides, meeting with an impact that pushes the breath from my lungs. Simultaneously, I reinforce the barrier around the fire and try to reach in to pull the people from the field. Any form of air I can muster burns up in the raging inferno. I can’t even see the people out there, but I make futile attempts again and again. Oh gods.
Water pours down on the fire again, only to anger it further, explosions of sparks rearing out where liquid attempts to smother it. They bounce off my containment wall with quick stabs I feel as if it were my palms holding it all in.
“Would you stop that?!” Rylan shoves Marcus and kneels, pressing his hands to the ground. The earth shudders beneath my feet, and the center of the fire begins to collapse. Smoldering land crumbles in on itself as a crater forms, the glowing green pit a peek into hell itself. Unnatural glowing fingers stretch and writhe within the trap containing it.
Soil falls in, and the fire wanes slightly. I pull the walls of air down to cover and suffocate it. It’s slow going, but the blaze shrinks beneath acrid smoke as I stare at it, panting and horrified. A hand lands on my shoulder, pulling me from my shocked stupor.
“Are you all right?”
I look up at Jamys’ crumpled expression and back to the destruction. “No.”
“My son!”
Breda’s wails scrape through my chest like icy claws. We came because she already lost a son. Now we’ve played a part in the death of the other.
Nina’s lip trembles as she approaches the hysterical woman. “I’m so sor—”
“Go!” Breda snaps. “Just leave us be.” Her shoulders sink forward as she sobs into her hands. Nina backs away to find solace in Marcus’ embrace. People from town arrive and flock around Breda. People she trusts. People who will grieve with her in the wake of the disaster we’ve wrought.
Chapter twenty-two
By our fifth day in Lambridge, we know nothing more of our missing subjects or the imposters seeking them out. All the headway we had made with gaining the trust of our people here turned to ash with the strange fire.
Nina and Marcus have quietly insisted there is something off about the granular chemicals they were using. A fire Nina couldn’t control and water couldn’t put out was no natural matter. Guilt for their parts in the atrocity must weigh heavily on them, though, for they aren’t as adamant about shifting the blame as I’d expect. Regardless of fault, half a dozen people died in a fire that sparked from Nina’s hand and expanded due to Marcus’ attempt to stop it.
If the people here weren’t suspicious of us before, they are now.
