Page 110 of Inextricably Tied

“Is she ok?”

Evie’s lip trembles. “I don’t know.” Blood coats her hands in the dim light of his eyes. “I tried. I’ll keep trying…”

Agony leaves Harbinger in her hands, shifting back to Flint. His labored breathing breaks Agony into a wet laugh, burying his face against Flint’s shoulder until he stirs. Blood cakes his tusks. One’s broken off at the base. Agony dazedly cradles Flint’s jaw in one hand. “You’re missing a tooth.”

Flint blinks back to consciousness. “Where’s – Harbinger?” He tries to pull himself to his feet, but the wounds take their toll, body still struggling to heal.

“We’re taking care of her.” Agony’s hand eases against Flint’s chest. “I need to get you out of these chains.”

Exhaustion sits heavy in Flint’s bones. Agony’s tendrils spread, weaving between the links in the chain before he squeezes and shatters them. Metal falls away, and Flint struggles to his feet until he can move in Harbinger’s direction. Agony hovers beside him as Flint falls to his knees. “Is she…?”

“I don’t know.” Tears slip down Evie’s cheeks. “I tried.”

Agony curls between Evie’s fingers, wrapping his other hand around Harbinger’s. Flint presses her palm to his lips, squeezing his eyes closed.

Please don’t leave.

There’s a raspy breath. Agony’s eyes shoot open, the shallow rise of Harbinger’s chest illuminated in their eyes. Agony buries his face against her hip, and Flint mutters a prayer into her hand.

A light hovers on the shelf, swirling and flickering through rainbow shades. Then Agony sees the arm extended to it, the bear creature stretching toward the vial of phoenix fire with his final breaths. He tips the glass from the shelf, smashing it to the earth and engulfing the stairs in a roar of color. Evie’s panicked eyes light with the flames. Flint shields her from the heat as Agony breaks through Harbinger’s chains.

“Come on!” He expands his shadows, straining against collapse. Tendrils flicker and threaten to fade. “I can do it.” He bares his teeth, screaming until the shadows spread, fire clamoring around them. “I have to fucking do it!”

Evie stumbles into him as Flint lifts Harbinger in his arms. Agony envelopes them all, flames eating away at the shocked bear’s face as they disappear into the darkness.

They emerge into open air, away from the carnage and smoke and horror, collapsing onto the ground. Agony is barely more than shade, shadows shriveling on a patch of grass as he struggles to catch his breath. Harbinger slumps in Flint’s arms. Evie clutches at a tree trunk, staring into the distance.

Dying leaves blow in the breeze, forest waking in the first hints of sunlight. Agony isn’t sure where he dropped them. It’s calm, dew still wet on the grass.

Flint leans against the sturdy tree beside Agony. “Did you think we left you?”

It takes a moment for Agony to find his voice. “After the dick I gave you two last night? Nah.”

His laugh sounds more like a sob. Flint lays out his palm beside him, and Agony slots his fingers inside. They stay like that for a long moment, until Harbinger stirs against Flint’s chest, blinking through the streaks of blood and the darker hollows under her eyes.

But she’s alive.

Flint gathers her up, tightening his arms around her as Agony does the same.

She mumbles against Flint’s jaw, groggy and confused. “I need my helmet. They took it…”

Flint eases her back down. “It’s gone.”

“But we brought you something better,” Agony adds.

Harbinger’s brows knit until she sees Evie staring at them through the gap in their arms. Flint sets Harbinger back on the grass. Breath works weakly in her lungs.

“You’re alive.” Her gaze skirts over Evie. “Are you ok?”

Evie hesitates before she answers. “I don’t think it’s hit me yet.”

“I saw your ring. In the cellar. I thought you were…”

Evie twists her fingers around the place it had been. “I left it yesterday when they took me down there. I was the last one. They were going to…” Dread flashes in her eyes. “They kept us in the attic. When they took a girl downstairs, she never came back.”

Her lip wobbles, adrenaline finally waning. “There were things in the cellar. In the dirt. Pieces the other girls left, clues for somebody to find. I rolled one of my rings under the shelf, but Char took me back upstairs. I didn’t know why. I saw —”

Her eyes drift over Flint and Harbinger. “I saw you on the floor of the cabin. I thought maybe you were there to save…” Her voice is tiny with disbelief. “But hours went by. And then the screaming.”