Phoenix: The Rising (30 page)

Lucy’s eyes flew open, and she found herself back in her motel room.
Her heart thudded against the wall of her chest as the realization of what she’d just experienced shot through her.

“No. It can’t be.” Lucy shook her head in denial, but she knew it was true. 
Liana told her she’d find the answer to her destiny in the box, and she did.
She
was the descendent of Laylah
,
The Protector.
But how could that be? How could she be both a descendent of Laylah and the offspring of a fallen angel ... a Nephilim?
She was her own worst enemy!
The promise of immortality she was willing to kill for a few moments ago was suddenly not hers to take, but rather hers to protect. It wasn’t just the human side of her that made her have such confusing thoughts and feelings since the morning her mother killed herself.
I
t was the blood of the Protector and the blood of the Nephilim fighting a battle of life and death inside her.  But which part of her would win? Which part was strongest?

Lucy closed her eyes and waited ... waited for something miraculous to happen. A bolt of lightning. A burning bush. A booming voice from heaven. Something—
anything
that would tell her which path she was supposed to take. Lucy slowly opened her eyes as the answer slipped into her mind. This wasn’t a question of which side was strongest. It was simply a matter of choice, just as her father chose to turn his back on God. Just as her grandmother and Laylah chose to be Protectors. Lucy wiped the tears from her eyes, and suddenly, she knew.
This
was her destiny.
This
was her birthright. She was to be the mother of the Fire-Child! And the Fire-Child lay unconscious on the bed next to her.

Lucy cinched up the pouch and stuffed it in her pocket then fell to her knees in front of Julie, cradling her head in her hands as she checked for a pulse.
Thank God
! She still had one, but it was weak and thready. She looked at the time on her cell. 4:40. She could make it to
Mono
Lake
and
still
have close to an hour to get Julie on Paoha before sunrise. With Eli’s help, they could position Julie at the location of The Rising she saw in her vision. Maybe that’s why Eli was there ... to help her. To be her mate. A father for the Fire-Child
!

Lucy grabbed her backpack and keys and ran out to the truck, pulling it just in front of the door to her room. She ran back into the room. Julie was completely out, evidenced by the thick saliva bubbling at the corners of her mouth. There was no way Lucy was going to get her to walk, so she positioned herself in front of the unconscious girl and hefted her over a shoulder. Julie seemed surprisingly light. Lucy could only chalk that up to her own heritage. She was a half-breed. As a Nephilim, her father’s strength had obviously been passed on to her. At least she could put one of the traits she inherited from him to good use.

****

Eli’s eyes fluttered open. As he looked towards the mainland, he could see a set of headlights closing in on the shore.
Please let this be them
! He pulled himself up and began walking, determined to meet them near the land bridge. He couldn’t leave this world as Eli Sullivan without seeing Julie one more time. To tell her he loved her. To tell her good-bye.

Julie’s head lolled to the side of the cab, bouncing off the passenger door window with each bump they hit. If she wasn’t dead already, then she was close to it. Panic pricked the back of Lucy’s throat.
What if she didn’t get her there in time? What if Eli wasn’t there to help her? Would Eli ever forgive her for what she did to Julie
in the pool house
? For her part in Charsey’s death?
Would she even tell him?
Lucy’s mind whirled with questions and fears as she pulled to a stop on the
shore
of
Mono
Lake
.

Hopping out of the cab, Lucy scanned the horizon for any signs of Eli or Kas. Eli said he was here already, but
if he was, then
where was his motorcycle? The light from the giant moon aided her search, but she still couldn’t see anything that remotely resembled a human, except for the rocky tufa formations rising out of
Mono
Lake
and dotting the shores of
Negit
Island
. It looked
as if
she would have to do this alone.

Lucy turned back towards her pickup and squinted
into the darkness
. Headlights were coming her way. She sprinted to the back of the pickup as her heartbeat went into overdrive. The lights were still a ways off, but she knew it wasn’t Eli. There were two lights. Eli had a motorcycle. It had to be Kas.

Grabbing the end of the canoe, Lucy hauled it off its rigging and pulled it towards the shore, sticking the nose into the shallow water. She ran back to the cab and ripped the door open, flinging Julie’s dead weight over her shoulder and grabbing her backpack at the same time. She suddenly hated the thought of killing someone, even a Nephilim, but if she had to do it to keep the Fire-Child safe, then she would do it without blinking an eye.

As Lucy neared the waiting canoe, headlights lit her path. She turned to see Kas jumping out of his truck and barreling towards her.

“Lucy! Wait!” Kas would be on her at any moment
, and if he caught her, then she and Julie were both as good as dead
. She knew she would hurt Julie even more if she simply dumped her in, but she had no choice. Julie hit the bottom of the canoe with a thud. Lucy tossed the backpack in beside her, then pushed off and hopped in. Kas’s fingers brushed the back of her shirt as she flowed out of reach.

“You bitch!”

Lucy could see Kas entering the water six feet to her left as she searched for a paddle. He was within striking distance, and he obviously knew about the land bridge. That would be the only way a Nephilim would get in this water without a lifejacket on. Going into deep water without one would be a death sentence for him, and for her as well. Kas reached out for the canoe as her fingers gripped the handle of the paddle under Julie’s body. She pulled, but the paddle wouldn’t budge. Kas yanked the canoe towards him.

“Not so fast. This is my birthright. I killed two people to get here. You didn’t do a damn thing.” Kas grabbed hold of the side of the canoe with both hands and shoved down. The canoe leaned precariously to the left, rose up violently to the right, and down again as he continued his assault. He was trying to capsize them! Lucy’s hands shot out to her side
in an attempt
to steady the canoe, but it was no use. Her backpack flew into the air and landed in the water several feet away. They were next!

“No! This isn’t your birthright, and it isn’t mine! It was never meant to be ours!” Lucy pounded her fist on Kas’s hands, but the next shove sent both her and Julie’s unconscious body into the dark water. Her arms and legs jerked and flailed, reaching for something, anything that would help return her to the surface, but all she felt was water. Her lungs screamed for air. This was how it would end for both of them.

Just as Lucy’s arms and legs stilled their useless dance, something snagged her hair and pulled her of the water. Coughing and sputtering, she looked into the eyes of her rescuer. Eli!

“Where’s Julie, Lucy?” Eli’s voice sounded weak and raspy as he deposited her in the safe, shallow water covering the land bridge. Kas’s body floated face down in the lake not ten feet from them.
Eli must have killed him.

Lucy shook her head then looked towards the capsized canoe. “Kas tipped us over. She went down with me. She’s unconscious, Eli. You
have
to find her!”

Lucy watched as Eli dove under the canoe. This was all her fault. Julie wouldn’t make it to Paoha, and Eli might drown trying to rescue her. She held her breath as the seconds ticked by. Before she could count to twenty, Eli broke the surface with Julie in his arms and hauled her to the land bridge. Together, they dragged her to the
shore
of
Negit
Island
and laid her on the warm sand. Lucy put her hand to Julie’s carotid. Nothing. She looked at Eli and shook her head. Eli fell to his knees.

“I know this is going to sound crazy, Eli, but we have to get her to Paoha before sunrise. It’s the only thing that’s going to save her now.”

“What?” Eli raised his eyes to Lucy.

She took a breath and blurted it out. “Julie’s the Fire-Child, and she has to be reborn. On Paoha. Now!”

Eli shook his head and brushed his hand across Julie’s brow. “She’s not the Fire-Child, Lucy. Didn’t you wear the medicine pouch like I told you?”

Lucy pulled the pouch from her pocket. “No, I just opened it. But I saw. I saw that I’m The Protector.”

Eli nodded his head. “Yes, you are The Protector. You’re Laylah’s only living descendent. But it’s not Julie that you’re going to protect
. I
t’s me, Lucy. I’m the Fire-Child. The
Phoenix
.”

The world seemed to tilt as Lucy looked down at Eli. His eyes. His sapphire eyes swirled with color.
“No.” She shook her head in denial. “You can’t be.
This isn’t how it’s supposed to happen.
I love you, Eli
!
”

Eli’s eyes softened in compassion. “
I know
you do
, Lucy
.
And I love you.
But not as a woman
and a
man
love each other
.”

Lucy stumbled to her knees beside him. “No! It’s not true. We’re going to take Julie to Paoha so she can be reborn, and then you and I can raise her. Together. We can be a family, Eli.” Tears streamed down Lucy’s cheeks as she felt her future, her future with Eli by her side, slipping from her grasp. With one last desperate breath, she pleaded, “Say we’re going to be a family, Eli. Please!”

Taking the pouch from her hands, Eli placed it around Lucy’s neck. The moment the pouch settled against her heart,
Eli did the one thing she had been longing for since she met him. H
e kissed her
. Lucy expected fireworks and passion, a thirst finally quenched by the taste of his lips. But instead, she simply
saw
. Everything. Visions—years, decades, centuries of visions tumbled through her mind.
Within seconds, Lucy pulled slowly away from Eli, her eyes filled with
understanding.
She
was
The Protector.
Eli’s
Protector.

“My son,”
Lucy whispered
as she
clutched the medicine pouch, pressing it closer to her heart.

Eli
nodded in affirmation
. “My mother.”

Lucy looked down at the body of Julie, lying silent and still between them. “Do you love her
, Eli
?
Besa Soobedda?
”

“Yes.”
Tears filled Eli’s eyes. Lucy smiled, knowing that she alone could ease his pain.

“Then breathe for her. There can be only one you do this for. Breathe for her and make her yours forever.”

“What?
” Eli looked at Lucy as if she were crazy.
“
What do you mean? Even if I can save her from drowning, she’s dying from
l
eukemia. It’ll only prolong her suffering.”

Lucy smiled.
Leukemia. So that’s why Julie looked so sick
. It all made sense now. “You have the breath of life, Eli, and it can be used only once ... for your true love. Besa Soobedda. Liana knew what she was talking about. As long as you live, Eli, Julie will live, as she is, right now. Young and beautiful. But if you aren’t reborn, her life will end as well.”

Eli’s eyes widened as he took in what Lucy said. He bent over and placed his mouth on Julie’s. Three breaths later, Julie inhaled sharply on her own. The color returned to her cheeks.

Eli rose from the ground and looked down on Julie.
Lucy could see relief and hope flood his face.
“You promise to bring me to her? When I’m of age?”

Lucy nodded and smiled. “It’s her destiny, Eli. And yours. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
A pang of bittersweet acceptance filled her heart, and she knew she meant every word she had just said.
This
was how it was meant to be.

As Eli backed away from her, a golden light enveloped him. He seemed to loom larger than life as two massive wings sprouted from his back, unfurling, stretching outwards, until the tips of each pulsated with colors. Flames leapt from his head, transforming his raven hair into the color of the rising sun. His once sapphire eyes swirled with colors of burning driftwood, then blazed with the brilliance of an emerald. This was the glory Eli had been waiting for. The glory he deserved. He was
Phoenix
—Angel of God.