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“Ow,” Blaze whispered, rubbing the side of his face. I wished he could become someone else, but if Enzo was going to succeed tonight, that was the last face I wanted to see.
We walked through so many doors and up different stairs that I didn’t know where the hell I was. We finally climbed up a ladder, and the hatch opened into a room. It wasn’t even the forest.
There was no way that we were going to be rescued.
Fake your headache, Sophie. I grunted, and I went down on my knees.
Blaze kicked my leg. “Get up!”
Fake harder. A piercing scream sounded faintly in my thoughts. I took a huge breath and let the scream rip through my lungs.
“Dammit, what is going on?” Enzo reached us, and I screamed again, clutching my head. “No, no, no!” He picked me up and took me aside, and I grabbed his shirt, faking it more. He grabbed my necklace and saw that the pendant was gone.
I screamed one last time as Murkel came to Enzo’s side and put her hands on my temples. She grunted and slapped me hard. “There is no headache. She is faking it!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Murkel said, and my head was fiercely close to Enzo’s. His fingers curled around my neck. I couldn’t breathe as he carried me while my legs kicked in the air. He pushed me onto a metal table. I was right in the middle, surrounded by nine other tables.
I coughed as I drew a breath.
His hands worked fast, clasping a leather strap around my arms and buckling it tight. My other arm swung, and my fist connected hard with his face. Another guard grabbed my arm and put my hand in the contraption as I moved my legs and struggled on the table. The headache finally pulsed as my heart elevated. Someone tried to grab my leg and my foot connected with something hard. It only attracted more guards.
Blaze laughed, using Drake’s voice and jeered, “She is feisty.”
I groaned, and Enzo looked at me. “Stop it. There is no way out of this.”
“I hope when I become your weapon, I’m going to make your life a living hell.” I spat in his face.
He wiped it off, and I thought he would hit me, but he didn’t. It might have brought on the headache faster.
“All of them are in place,” a guy’s voice came from the system.
Think, Sophie, Think! The words scrambled through my mind as the table started moving, putting me in an upright position.
With my heart pounding so fast and my hands, feet, and body tied to the contraption, I couldn’t think. My body refused to give up, and I shook against my restraints and grumbled like a wild, trapped animal.
The machine started up, and my heart felt like it was going to explode.
“Get the crowns,” Enzo ordered.
“Don’t do this, Enzo. They’re just kids,” I begged one last time.
“It will be over soon, Sophie.” He spoke in a calm voice.
I screamed again, and my headache pulsed, matching the rhythm of my heart, but the headache would not come.
I felt like a ticking time bomb.
Something jolted from my body, taking my breath away. I heard a loud bang followed by grunts, thumps, flesh hitting flesh and moaning from somewhere behind me.
“No, no, no!” Enzo screamed as I heard the guards fighting. Someone came?
I opened my eyes and froze. Around us, duplicates of me fought. Limbs kicking, and fists punching. Some even jumped on their opponents. One pulled Murkel’s auburn curls, swinging her in circles as the woman screeched.
A clone came to me, working with fast fingers she untied my buckles.
I kept staring at her with enormous eyes. She had dark flat hair, with dark brown eyes, her nose was a bit too long. The freckles were there, even the slight purple bruise on her cheek was present too She had all my flaws.
My eyes flickered to a guard behind her. “Behind you!”
She kicked behind her and left me, going for the opponent as he stood up.
I pulled my wrist, but the strap didn’t want to budge. Another Sophie appeared next to me, and she unbuckled the rest of my hand as she kept looking around her.
“I got it,” I said as my hand was free and she ran away and hid behind a pillar.
Okay, she was weird.
The kids kept staring at all of me with enormous eyes.
“Sophie,” Damon called out to me.
“Not now, Damon,” one of me called.
Enzo went to her and grabbed her by the neck. “Stop this, now!”
She turned into a billow of smoke.
I rushed to untie Damon. A gasp slipped past his lips as someone shoved me. I lost my balance, and a hand clasped around my throat. Enzo pressed so hard that all the other Sophie’s disappeared.
A door exploded close to the roof, and Sterilian guards stormed through.
Enzo turned me around so my back was against his chest, like a human shield. His grip around my throat eased, and I coughed as I took in air.
The brute that had slapped Blaze swung a sword in circular movements, walking toward the first guard that rushed down the stairs.
The guard had snow white hair falling over his shoulders. He lifted his hand, and the brute won himself a place against the wall and crashed hard to the floor.
“Stop, or I will kill her!”
“Enzo, it’s over. Don’t be stupid,” the blond-haired guard said.
“It will never be over, Caus. Not until I have my weapon.”
Caus! I stared at the guard. His pointy ears protruded from his hair. His face was oval, with neat white eyebrows and sky-blue eyes. Caus was real.
He sauntered toward us as my eyes landed on something that moved on the top platform above our heads. It was a griffin.
“Stop,” Enzo yelled again, and my gaze darted back to Caus.
From the corner of my eyes, Murkel and Evangeline still moved. I looked at them and back at the guards. Nobody told them to stop.
The drugged-out Dingle-hopper with a crown came into view, and I knew they were invisible.
I found the owl face stalking past the Sterilian guards a few feet in front of me. Parvati.
Murkel was coming closer. I showed Parvati with my eyes where the Dingle-hopper was, and I could see the intellect behind her big, hooded eyes as she flickered her gaze to what I was staring at.
Those yellow eyes darted back at me, and I nodded. The drivine knew precisely what I tried to show her.
“Shield,” Parvati yelled, and a shield-like Mavis’s pushed Murkel and the Dingle-hopper away when she pranced in the direction I’d shown her.
The force blew Enzo and me away in the process.
“Maverick,” Mavis yelled.
They were still alive.
Green vines pulled on my arm and yanked me out of Enzo’s grip pulling me forward.
I collided hard with a body, and we toppled over.
“Heya, lass.”
“You’re alive,” my voice faltered, and I grabbed Maverick around the neck.
Enzo exploded into a griffin as we got up and Maverick pushed me behind him.
“No, Drake! He has dark fire,” Mavis yelled. My gaze flickered back to the griffin on the platform, now airborne, ready to pounce on Enzo.
Drake?
Enzo lit up with black flames and fell on his back, pushing Drake’s body away from him. Drake crashed against an empty table, skid over the table, and crashed to the floor.
“Nooooo!” I yelled as Maverick grabbed me and started pulling me backward.
A spear hit the dark griffin in the eye, releasing a piercing shriek that almost blew my ears. Suddenly my feet got dragged up the steps. Caus jumped off a railing into the air with a bow and released arrows in Enzo’s direction.
I couldn’t see Drake at all.
Enzo’s used his wing to protect himself as Caus landed right next to him.
I heard Enzo’s high pitched whistle as Maverick pushed me out the door. Fresh, cold air caressed my skin.
“Drake needs our help!” I yelled at Maverick and wanted to go back inside, but his arm pushed me back.
“Yeh sound like Lindy now, lass. Let’s go,” Mav roared.
Drake was still alive. I wanted to cry, scream, and I wanted to laugh all at the same time.
I fought hard to get Mav’s arm away from me while he kept dragging me father away from the entrance.
“Sophie, stop,” Maverick yelled.
“He needs our help.” Tears streamed down my face.
“It’s Dark Fire.” Mav shook his head.
“What?”
“Enzo hit Drake with Dark Fire. It’s not good if Drake wakes up.”
If? I looked at Maverick and my energy waned. I landed on my knees.
Arms hugged me, and Damon grabbed me tight around the neck. “You didn’t have sight. You are a shield. They protected all of us. Only shields do that.”
“What?” Mav asked.
“It was bloody amazing!” Damon yelled.
I was a shield? Drake, Dark Fire. Mavis was right. If he wakes up. The thoughts scrambled in my head.
My eyes flickered to Mav. “How is it you are still alive?”
“The guy had thought he killed me. I got to Drake and Mavis just in time.”
Enzo didn’t lie. “You really almost died?”
He nodded.
“How did you find me, Maverick?”
“Mavis and her paranoia. She put a tracker in yer new stone. It just took us longer to get out of the woods without Flint.”
He led me to the van that waited.
“Flint died?”
“Naw, they put a crown on him.”
I gave Maverick a side hug as he put me into the van.
“It’s goin’ ter be okay. Ye’re safe. Ye’re all safe.”
The kids’ arms curled around me. I still didn’t know what Maverick had meant by the dark fire comment and if Drake was going to wake up. He couldn’t be dead. I could deal with dark fire, but I wouldn’t deal with death.
34
SOPHIE
Maverick, Alex and Parvati gave out blankets and water. Afterwards, we took the drive back to the academy. I rested my head on Maverick’s shoulder.
“It was a lot of dark fire, Alex,” Parvati said.
“Hank might pull him through.”
“You make it sound as if it’s fantastic!” Parvati’s eyes glistened with tears. “It’s dark fire. He will be cursed. He will end up like Enzo, out of his mind.”
Tears rolled down my cheek as I prayed it wasn’t too late. Sirens blared, and an ambulance zoomed past us.
“Is that him?”
“I dinnae ken, Lass.”
Alex looked at Parvati. “He’s one of the best. If it’s Dark Fire, we will deal with it. If there is one griffin that can fight it, it’s Drake.”
“No one can help phoenix griffins from that… not anymore.”
“What do you mean, not anymore?” I asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Parvati said, as we stopped in the parking lot of the academy.
Alex was the first one out of the van, and he ran up the stairs into the academy.
Brooke waited with plenty of parents in the parking lot.
“Dad,” the boy with the horns yelled, and he was the first one out of the van. He ran into a giant of a man’s arms, also with horns, and they both cried as his dad kept kissing him on his head, holding him tight.
Two other kids spotted their parents and ran to them as we made room for the others to get out.
Brooke reached the van and hugged me tightly as I climbed out.
“Come guys, your parents are waiting for you,” Parvati said, and I let go of the hug.
“Mom?” the girl with the orange cat ears asked. She was a phoenix griffin.
“Abigail!” her mother screamed with excitement, and it was like the rest of the parents’ feet got unfrozen, and they darted for the van.
Brooke and I stepped back as laughter, screams of relief, and tears filled the reunions. Full-grown men cried like babies as they wrapped fatherly arms around their sons and daughters. I pushed a make-believe reunion with my parents to the back of my mind. It would never happen.
Damon climbed out, and there was no sign of his parents.
I put my arms around him.
“It’s going to be okay.” I rubbed his arm.
He nodded, as his eyes still looked bewildered around him.
“Damon!”
Damon flickered his eyes to where the voice came from. Tears pooled in his eyes, but he didn’t go to his father.
“It wasn’t your dad that did all those horrible things to you. Don’t give Blaze that satisfaction.”
Damon looked at me and then at his father again. “Dad.” The fourteen-year-old griffin ran to his father.
“Look how big you got,” his father said and pulled him to his chest. His mother screamed and came running to them.
“All happy endings.” Brooke had tears in her eyes and wiped them away.
Drake. I looked around. There was no sign of Parvati, Alex, and Maverick. “No, something happened to Drake. We have to get to the infirmary.”
I grabbed Brooke’s arm and ran to the infirmary, past the parents, and into the academy. I took three steps at a time, and Brooke struggled to keep up.
Uncontrollable sobs and screams came from the end of the hall, and I froze. I couldn’t breathe. Brooke darted past me and grabbed my arm as my feet climbed the last few steps.
In the hallway, in front of the infirmary’s door, Maverick held Mavis tight as her body shook from violent sobs. Alex held Lindy, who screamed into his chest. Emile had his arms wrapped around Parvati as she cried.
Xander sat on his haunches, and his shoulders shook.
“No, no, no.” Drake couldn’t be dead. I just found out he was alive. This wasn’t real.
I was anchored to the spot, feeling helpless.
He couldn’t be dead. Not now.
“Xander?” Brooke said, and Xander got up.
“Dark fire. He received too much of it.”
Tears streamed down my face as my heart broke, my knees connected hard with the floor as my scream ripped through me.
Arms wrapped around me, and from the smell, it was Brooke.
“I’m so sorry.”
“No, he can’t be dead,” I said into her chest.
“It’s going to be okay.”
It wouldn’t. It would never be okay. I pushed myself up and walked to the infirmary.
Maverick grabbed me as I wanted to enter.
“Let me go.”
But he didn’t, he just held me tight against his chest. “So sorry, lass.”
Chase’s cries came out of the infirmary, and all of us cried outside in the hallway.
Chase finally exited the room, his eyes puffy. Everyone gave their condolences with a hug. Maverick let me go, and I slipped past him and went inside.
Drake sprawled out on one of the infirmary beds. He was still in his griffin form. The light above him was off and his feathers looked so dull.
His front paws with eagle claws lay limply off the table. His wings covered his body, and the tips almost touched the ground. Flat ears laid against his head.
He was so big.
More tears pooled in my eyes as I stepped toward him. My heart shattered, and this time there was no coming back. I fell on his body and bawled. Nothing came from him. Not a buzz, not a single prickle.
“What am I going to do now?” I whispered through my tears. “Why did you do that? It had it under control—you gowk.” I shoved him hard. “How am I going to do this without you? Why didn’t you just stay put?” I cried harder, muffling my sobs at the nape of his giant neck. My body shook, and tears streamed down my face.
My arms prickled, and the buzz spread through my body. I sucked in a breath, staring at him. “Drake?” I buried my fingers in his feathers. The buzz was there. “Hank!”
Hank rushed into the infirmary.
“He’s alive!”
“Sophie.” He shook his head as tears glistened in his eyes.
“He’s alive. Just check.” I took a step back.
He sighed and walked over to me, and his hand disappeared in Drake’s feathers. Hank froze as his eyes widened. He pulled the stethoscope around his neck, switched on the light and put the stethoscope against his neck to check for a pulse.
“Drake,” Hank said, and everyone came running in.
A faint whistle left his beak. He was alive! How?
Hank laughed. “Can you change back?”
His high pitch whistle welcomed my ears. I didn’t care how loud it was. He was alive.
Arms grabbed me from behind, and Mavis’s laughter through her sniffs reached my ears. Emile ran out of the room and announced that Drake was alive.
The semi giant laid back in his human form on the table as Hank’s deep laughter escaped his lips. “Just rest. We’ll deal with the dark fire later.”
He whispered something to Hank.
“She is safe, all of them are safe,” Hank said, and stepped back. He walked over to me, looking concerned. “He needs to rest. Best is to give him that time.”
I looked past Hank at Drake, sleeping. The light of the lid that hovered over his bed was on, and a blanket covered him. Only his arms and face showed.
I turned around and wiped away some tears as Hank touched my back, gently leading me to the door.
Laughter and tears filled the hallway at this revival. Everyone was questioning how he came back alive.
Hank led me to another door and into a small room with a bed. He took out my necklace. “Where is the crystal?”
“I had to take it off. I thought it would induce another headache. Enzo made it clear he can’t use me if the headaches are bad.”
Hank touched my head and healed the one that was busy forming. He kept staring at me as his hand cupped my cheek, healing my bruise. He didn’t ask how I got it.
“I’ll get word to Caus to look for it.”
“Who is he?”
“Caus?”
I nodded.
“He is the general of the Sterilian guards, King Avery’s right hand.”
I remembered Mavis telling me how the king had changed after he’d replaced his general. So that was Caus. I did not know what he’d wanted with Drake, but what Enzo had said in the cell stayed with me. He thought he had killed Drake, Mavis, and Maverick. He didn’t lie.
