Ablaze (Indestructible Trilogy Book 2) (2 page)

Please. Don’t depend on me.
I was nobody when I was human, and now… I’m expected to save everyone. It’s a responsibility I never asked for, nor do I deserve it. It’s moments like this when I wish I was human, anonymous, again. If Cas hadn’t found and healed me, he wouldn’t be Jared’s prisoner.

I shake my head, like that’ll help me forget it. “What about removing the tattoos?” Screw not speaking about it in front of Elle. Everyone has to know, because other people have the tattoos.
That was Jared’s edge over us. He never activated them before, but that doesn’t mean he won’t if it means he’ll get his way. “I thought you were working on a cure.”

“We were trying,” says Murray, “but we hit a snag. Corrupted blood was used to bind the victims to Jared. I managed to stop Elle’s because it was recent, and your blood neutralised it. But I can’t guarantee the same would work for the others. I tried to get answers from Nolan, but he doesn’t know.”

“Or so he claims,” says Val.

Nolan. Hate surges beneath my skin. He betrayed us, marked Elle to force Cas and me to go and join Jared. It’s his fault Cas’s gone.

If I see him, I might kill him.

Elle lets out a choked sound, apparently seeing something in my expression, and steps back. “Leah, you can’t talk to him. What if he marks you, too?”

I blink. I’ve never even considered the possibility. Would his mark work on me? Or does it only affect regular Pyros? I store the information away—maybe I can use it to my advantage. If my blood neutralises the tattoos… there’s no way I can let this go.

I scan my surroundings, at the heart of the supposedly-extinct volcano where the Pyros made their home. The railing’s slightly bent out of shape from when Cas and I fought the fiends that came in here. The image of Cas standing on a rock in the middle of the lava rises unexpectedly, and tears prick my eyes.
Dammit.

Val hauls me off to the nurse for an appraisal. It comes as no surprise to hear that I’m fine. Not at all like I effectively burst into flames three days ago. Murray himself hovers anxiously in the background, paying more attention than usual to the bright-red samples of my blood collected in test tubes. I’m not keen on the idea of them being left lying around, if I’m honest, especially considering how Jared created the blood-tattoos.

Stupid. No one here would betray you.

But after Nolan, I’m not sure I believe it anymore.

“Right, she’s healthy,” says the nurse. “Better than anyone has the right to be, after what she’s been through. I’d suggest bed rest, but—”

“I’m fine,” I say quickly. “I’ve had more than enough bed rest already.”

“I thought you’d say that,” says Murray, with a hint of amusement. “You remind me of Cas, after—” He breaks off, guiltily.

A lump sticks in my throat. “Are you just going to leave him with Jared?”

“We don’t know where Jared
is,
Leah,” says Murray. “In fact—that reminds me. Do you mind giving me a more detailed account of what happened? In my office.”

Val comes along, too, as she’s my supervisor. I’m guessing he’ll tell the other senior Pyros as well. I’m restless, a large part of me wanting to scream that Jared’s tormenting Cas right now. Not that I know for sure. But I nearly killed the guy.

Swallowing my impatience, I give a quick account of our brief stay at Jared’s place. Or, the Pyros’ old headquarters. The escape, the almost-invasion, Cas’s capture, and the fight with the Fiordan. They seem more interested in that than Jared apparently coming back from the dead. I stabbed him, and there was a
lot
of blood. The memory makes me wince slightly, but I don’t regret it. I wish I’d aimed for the heart.

“So the Fiordan,” says Murray. “We’ve sent out a patrol to the divide since you came back, and it doesn’t look like there’s been any kind of disturbance there. More energy blasts nearby, of course, but few people are left in those areas anyway.”

Because they died. Or ran away.
The divide appeared at the time of the fiends’ first invasion. Energy blasts rippled along the length, killing everyone in their paths. The same thing almost happened again. But I stopped it.

“The divide’s definitely closed?” I frown. “I don’t get how that works, actually. There was this… bridge. It fell to pieces when the Fiordan died.”

“Fiordan?” Val blinks at me. “That’s their name, right?”

Murray gives a tight nod. “Yes, it’s the name of the dominant species on Fior—that is, the fiends’ world. We haven’t seen one since the war, because the divide sealed them off. For one to break through—it might signal another invasion.”

My heart sinks, and Val’s mouth falls open. “Invasion?”

“The Fiordans are clearly attempting to break through to our world again,” says Murray. “We’ve no way to see what’s happening on the other side, of course, but if one almost got through already…”

“I should be out there,” I say. “And—and Cas.” I place emphasis on the name. Murray
can’t
give up on him so easily. There are less than two hundred of us, and how many fiends? Millions? We haven’t even managed to kill all the fiends already here, let alone the countless enemies on the other side of the divide. “How does the divide keep the fiends out, anyway?”

“My theory is that it’s partly a wall,” says Murray. “The two worlds are permanently melded together. I don’t know whether that was the fiends’ goal when they invaded, but that’s what happened. We had no way to undo it.”

“That’s messed up.” I shake my head. “And the people on the other side? You’ve never crossed?”

“It’s like running into a barrier,” says Val. “Cas tried once, of course.”

Of course he did.
“Is there a way to lock the fiends out? Permanently?”

Murray hesitates. “Yes,” he said. “We believed so. That was the eventual goal…”

“Of the Transcendent,” I say quietly.

Murray nods. “But the earthquakes and energy blasts make it dangerous to go near the place, even for a Transcendent. The last…” He looks at Val, his face tight. “When the last Transcendent died, the bridge the Fiordans were using closed, but the divide remained open. Ever since then, the fiends’ world has slowly been leaking into ours—you can see it in the red sky, the energy blasts. And now the Fiordans have a way back here as long as the divide exists.”

“So we need to close it.” I nod, though my chest feels tight and part of me shrinks away from the responsibility. Closing the bridge and defeating the Fiordan exhausted me so much I passed out for three days. How can I permanently remove the divide, when the last Transcendent died in the process?

I draw in a breath, watching Murray carefully.
“I
need to close it. I’m the only one,” I add, interrupting Val when I sense she’s about to protest. “I’m the only one who can. Right?”

Murray’s mouth presses into a line. “We never did find another way.”

“I need more training,” I say, with a glance at Val. “I’ve no idea how I beat that Fiordan. It was all instinct.” Like I turned the energy blast against it. But the memory’s little more than a blur of white light, the Fiordan exploding before my eyes almost before I struck. And Cas told me the last Transcendent accidentally caused the first energy blast here on Earth when Jared killed her in the middle of closing the breach.

I can’t risk going near the place until Jared’s gone for good.

“Most fighting is, for us,” says Val. “It’s in our DNA. But of course you can come back to training. Just… don’t do anything rash.”

She’s not stupid, and neither’s Murray. They must know I’ve at least considered rescuing Cas. He might have been an asshat, but he doesn’t deserve to die. Or to be tortured at Jared’s hands. I’ve seen it before—more than Cas wanted me to know. I’ve seen what Jared did to him, pushing him to his limit against the fiends, torturing him, and giving him no escape, even death.

To know he could be going through that again, right now, is more than I can take. I
will
get him back.

CHAPTER TWO

Val insists on dragging me to the cafeteria to eat something. We’re joined by Poppy, the dark-skinned girl my age I met on my first day and Tyler, the boy with dreadlocks who shares our dormitory. They’re as astounded I’m alive as Elle, and I’m the centre of everyone’s stares. There’s no chance to talk privately and tell my friends what really happened, so I just pretend I got lucky. Val must have told them not to mention Cas, because no one brings him up even though his name passes unspoken throughout the recreation room when I walk there with Elle, Tyler and Poppy, doing my best to ignore the stares.

“So,” says Tyler, with a grin, settling on a chair. “Want to go wall-punching?”

Poppy hits him in the arm. “As if. The back way’s out of bounds. There are people there almost all the time.”

“They think the fiends might get in that way again?” I ask, frowning. “Or—Jared.”

“So it’s true?” asks Tyler, glancing over his shoulder. “He’s really Murray’s evil brother?”

Poppy and Tyler exchange glances.

“More or less,” I mutter. “He’s like Dr Frankenstein, but with freakish fiend technology.” I instantly regret speaking, and stand, unable to bear the restlessness burning through my veins. “No wall-punching, but are either of you up for some sparring?”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m discharged,” I say. “No injuries. I want to be able to fight again.”

“I’ll spar with you,” says a voice from behind. Val. “I’m your supervisor. I can have you declared fit for the field again.”

Gratitude floods me. “You mean that?”

“We’ll come watch,” says Poppy, with a grin. “See how your new badass powers work.”

So Elle did tell her something. At least no one else is in the practise hall. Obviously, I can’t use my real blade, but Val and I have a couple of hand-to-hand bouts, most of which end up with me on the floor. I don’t mind too much. I’m out of practise. Fighting the fiends is different to battling a Pyro. The fire leaping from my skin, the surge of energy, the way my body feels light and weightless as though gravity itself doesn’t matter anymore—nothing can match it. But I can’t use the extent of my powers here.

I know what being a Pyro is. But
Transcendent
is like a label that doesn’t belong to me. I’m none the wiser about how I killed that Fiordan.

There are more of them. They might be coming to Earth, again.

Fire surges from my hand without warning, and I stumble back over my own feet to avoid hitting Val. “Oh, crap. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Val wipes her forehead with her sleeve.

“You okay, Leah?” asks Poppy from the side lines. She and Tyler sit with their backs to the wall, near the alcove where the targets and training dummies are set up. Where Cas used to hang out.

“Yeah,” I lie. “Sure, I’m fine.”

But I don’t feel much like talking for the rest of the evening. I make an excuse to have an early night, but the other three follow me back to the dorm. There’s no one else around, thankfully. I’ve had enough of the stares.

“I’m glad you’re all right, Leah,” says Tyler, lying back on his bed with a paperback. “For real. We thought you were a goner.”

“No, we didn’t,” says Poppy, throwing a pillow at him. “I knew you’d pull through.”

“Right,” says Elle, yawning. “You’re like a phoenix, remember?”

I forgot the nickname. “Ha ha,” I say.

Tyler watches me. I almost guess the question before he speaks. “So it’s true that you… went over to the fiends’ world?”

I nod, sitting on my bed with my arms wrapped around my knees. “Yeah.” There’s no point in lying to my friends.

“So does it mean there’s going to be an invasion? Like, soon?”

I hesitate. “I don’t know.”
Yes,
I think. It’s just a question of who makes the first move: Jared or the Fiordans.

“Damn,” says Poppy. “I hope not.”

“Murray’ll have a plan,” says Tyler, with bravado that doesn’t quite fool any of us. “He always has.”

“Yeah, but we weren’t old enough to fight the last time,” Poppy reminds him. “Don’t you remember how he shut himself up in his office all the time?”

“He blamed himself for the fiend invasion,” Elle says quietly, surprising me. “He said he shouldn’t have pushed the Transcendent—” She breaks off, almost guiltily.

“And he doesn’t want to do the same to me,” I say, getting it. “But if I
am
the only person who can close the divide, I’d do a lot more good outside. Besides, I’m ready to fight again.”

Please.
If not for the safety rules, I’d run outside to clear my head. I’ve been trapped inside too long.

And I’m not alone in my head. Cas’s memories await every time I close my eyes.

***

I’m standing on a plateau, a jagged piece of rock protruding over a river of molten lava. The river churns, red and steaming, and my feet inch closer to the edge. Looking down, I can see an arm that’s not mine, hanging limp at my side, marred with livid red scars.