EVA

HAVENWOOD ZIPPED BENEATH THEM at a nauseating speed. Lights shattered as they soared past, and when she peered up at the wider landscape, they flickered for miles in every direction. The streets swirled and doubled in her vision. Bile crept up her throat, and she prayed that some poor citizen wouldn't have to clean vomit spewed from four stories up. Swallowing the rising sickness, she instead turned to Emrys in hope that her misery would make him descend to a more reasonable height—preferably one where her feet touched the ground.

Eva restrained a gasp when her eyes landed on the ruffled black hair and sharper facial features of his Phoenix form. With Bobbi held tight against his other side, his eyes bore straight ahead, their glow dimming by the second.

Large, black wings protruded from Emrys' shoulder blades, ripping straight through his t-shirt and flannel jacket. Made of pure ash, their solidity seemed physically impossible. Their main support came from hardened, bone-like structures that shaped each wing, with a canvas of soot stretched taut between them. Sparks lit the edges of his wings and embers flurried into the distance, where they were snuffed out by the deluge before they could dust the ground. Spanning ten feet on either side, their fast beat was enough to spray raindrops in every direction, until they straightened out for him to glide swiftly near the park.

"Hang in there, guys," he said, swiveling his head to check their surroundings. "We're coming in for a landing."

When the streets rose steadily to meet them, Eva slammed her eyes shut. Emrys brought them to the pavement gently, keeping a firm arm around Eva's waist until she stopped wobbling and obtained the courage to open her eyes.

Bobbi wasn't in much better shape. She leaned against the brick wall of a local flower shop, cowering just inside the dark alleyway they'd landed in front of. Her trembling legs nearly brought her to her knees. Sobs racked her body, and even glaring at Emrys through bloodshot eyes seemed to take most of her energy.

"What have you done?" Her voice was so meek, so quiet that it hardly even sounded like her. "You... you destroyed everything."

While a Phoenix should have been a feared, unstoppable force, the brokenness in Emrys' sidewalk-bound gaze had reduced him to a lesser threat than a wounded puppy. His wings drooped. They cracked at the edges and split their skeletal bonds, crumbling to ash on the cement. Their remnants drifted away in the wind, leaving behind the hollow shell of a guilty man.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, a whisper above the rain. "Kali would've killed you both. Hellfire won't hold her long, but it's the only thing I know will slow her down."

Bobbi turned away to swipe a sopping wet sleeve across her eyes.

In all the years Eva had known her best friend, she had never seen her in such a state. Drenched and shivering, even her lively curls matted in limp formation, and the sparkle that always brightened her eyes had been snuffed out.

Eva wanted to rush to Bobbi's side and reassure her that everything would be all right. They could rebuild the coffee shop one brick at a time. Become roommates for as long as she needed. Head to the cabin together and escape their upside down world.

But when she stepped forward, the Emrys' hand on her shoulder stopped her from muttering empty promises—ones that would be impossible to fulfill with magical beings on their tail.

Clearly sensing her distress, Emrys took her hand with a tight, reassuring squeeze.

"We have to go," he said. "If we stay here, Kali will hunt Eva down like an animal, but she isn't powerful enough to break through the Barrier on her own. It may be our only chance of escaping her." He cast a pained glance at them. "Do either of you have my amulet?"

Bobbi sniffled, but tugged at a silver chain around her neck to pull the Runestone from beneath her collar. "Maybe now would be a good time to tell Eva how your powers work."

Emrys winced. "We don't have time. I'm sorry." He swallowed hard. "Bobbi, if you get into trouble, use that to communicate. For now, you need to wait until the fire crews arrive, get back to your car, and drive like hell to that cabin—"

"What are you talking about?" Bobbi's voice rose in alarm.

"I'm taking Eva with me."

She straightened her posture. "And me."

"Bobbi, please," begged Emrys. "It's dangerous enough to take one person with me, let alone to shield both of you under my wings—and I'm not risking anyone burning to death."

"Emrys—"

"Kali is only after Eva. You're safer away from us."

Bobbi stepped away from the wall, mouth open in defense, but the relapsing breeze froze her in place. Her eyes trailed off, lost on something behind her friends.

When they turned, the park's remaining light sources sputtered at breakneck speed. The winds picked up in perfect sync, thrashing about until the alleyway became a wind tunnel. Litter from the concrete stirred in its wake to ping off the brick buildings on either side.

Emrys tugged Eva's hand, but she hardly realized they were moving until he had already begun to drag her across the street. He snapped his head to the side, eyes frantic as they met Bobbi's tearful stare.

"I'll come back for you!" he hollered. "I promise!"

Eva hoped he could keep his word.

They dashed for the park, fighting a tempest that threatened to blow them into the next city. Halfway to the Guardian, Emrys' pace slowed under the gale's escalating force. He measured his strides, much smaller than they would've been in his taller form, until they reached the flower garden surrounding the ancient tree.

A blue flash lit the night.

They turned to find a wall of luminescent frost barreling from the direction of Ambrosia's Brew, nearly concealing the black smoke that rose in the distance. Lightning protruded from the mist; it scattered from the glowing mass, where a humanoid form rested at the center.

Kali.

Emrys pulled at Eva's arm, but her gaze refused to move from the impending doom soaring down the city street. Debris encircled the mist in its own shield as gusts ripped canopies from local businesses and tore shingles from apartment buildings. The damage was beyond anything she'd ever witnessed.

Her home was being reduced to rubble before her eyes, and she could do nothing to stop it.

Instead, she was fleeing like a frightened child.

"Eva!" Emrys lifted his voice above the deafening storm. "We're running out of time!"

His voice jarred her back to reality, but when she turned to run with him toward the tree, she couldn't stop the tears that streamed down her cheeks. Everything she loved, everything she'd ever known, had crumbled around her.

Emrys wrapped his arms around her and tucked her against his chest, but it provided no comfort to her shattering heart.

"I can't do this," she said, half-shouting to be heard. "I can't leave Bobbi behind."

Emrys' hold weakened at her sorrowful gaze. "I won't let anything happen to her. I'll come back for her, even if it kills me."

Hurricane-force winds nearly whisked them off their feet in one steady blow. Eva shrieked and clutched his shirt in a vice grip.

"You've never brought another person across the Barrier." Eva's tone rose to a higher pitch than she thought possible. "We can't risk this."

It was in that moment, as Emrys pressed his forehead to hers, that she could clearly see the redness of his own tear-stricken eyes. "I would never let anything hurt you."

The ground rumbled beneath their feet. Jagged bolts of lightning struck in grand succession around the park's perimeter. The wind's force made it nearly impossible for Eva to keep her feet on the ground even with Emrys' embrace.

She didn't need to look toward the mist. If they didn't act, it would be too late.

Eva buried her face in his chest, sniveling into his already-drenched shirt. A bursting flap echoed in her ears as his wings materialized from his back. They wrapped around her in a cocoon of ash and soot. The storm raged around them, but the sanctity of his wings muffled the noise.

That was when she felt it.

Heat.

It seared her skin until she was sure the flesh would melt from her bones. The sensation was too familiar—a horrifying reminder of her recent visions.

She fought to contain screams that escaped beyond her control. They mixed in the air, finding harmony in the cracking, rumbling, and utter destruction outside Emrys' wings. The Earth shook once more, and all that kept her from collapsing were the strong arms around her torso.

With a final, deafening blast, the blaze erupted in a firestorm so intense that no amount of burying her face could save her from its fury. No wings could protect her from the rattling of her bones and the boiling of her own blood. A new, more terrifying pain began—one like her soul being separated from its body.

But in the time of a heartbeat, it ceased to exist, as if it had never been there at all.

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