Enflame (Insight #6)(76)
Nervously, I glanced around at the covered furniture, knowing I would end up burning down this entire palace if I tried.
“It’s not really there, you see it because you know in reality it’s there,” she offered as Landen and Phoenix made their way to us again, both peering down through the translucent floor.
Telling myself not to get sick, I focused on what they were looking at and saw a massive ballroom that was near empty. Looking to the front steps of the palace, I saw the carriage arriving with Charlie and the others, as the court, Perodine, Alamos, and Drake waited on them.
“There he is, mate,” Phoenix said to Landen, nodding to a man that was standing along the line of people marking the entrance.
I wasn’t entirely sure I was looking at the same person as they were, but I did notice a man that was taller than the others, with almost yellow hair. He stuck out because the ghosts refused to go anywhere near him.
“He’s up to something,” Landen muttered as he walked across the attic, looking down at every crevice the palace had. A few minutes later, he waved Phoenix over. Any other time I would have followed, but I was doing well just to keep my balance with the height.
As Charlie approached, all the ghosts I could see began to rumble amongst themselves, then I began to hear her name and Draven’s. They were telling her to run.
“What’s going on?”
“Hush!” Skylynn said to them. “Out of my space.”
They all vanished from around us and appeared on lower levels, continuing their cry for Charlie.
“Why are they telling her to run?”
“I’m sure they feel the Escorts.”
“Draven?”
“No. The ones that are in service to Xavier.”
“How do we stop them?”
“By doing our own thing—quickly.”
She glanced to my hand, to the velvet bag. “Take that out, rub it across your hands, your skin. Calm yourself and focus.”
Grudgingly, I listened and rubbed the leaves across my skin.
Landen and Phoenix walked back in our direction just as I put the broken leaves back into the bag and stuffed it into my pocket.
“We can’t let him get out of this room,” Landen said to Skylynn.
“He’s strong. Make up your mind. Either we make him weak, or we trap him.”
“No trap will hold him long,” Phoenix offered.
After debating with himself for a few minutes, Landen looked at Phoenix. “If I go, you stay with her no matter what.”
Phoenix glanced over me slowly, as if he were debating if he wanted to be in charge of me. “I can do that,” he said finally.
“What is going on? Where would you go?” I asked nervously.
“If Xavier moves, I need to follow to make sure he’s not hurting anyone.” His glance fell to the floors below. The ballroom was filling up with guests. “Let’s do this.”
“Where is your Witness?” Skylynn said with little enthusiasm.
As if called, Clarissa appeared next to me.
“Right,” Skylynn said. “You’re on, Willow.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I showed you. Do that, but bigger.”
“Are you crazy?”
“Apparently Guardian is, because he thinks you are capable of actually helping us now that you are not running into someone else’s arms.”
“You’re throwing that card in my face?” I said as I blushed with anger and stepped forward. “At least I wasn’t shallow enough to hold a taken man!”
“Ever heard of Karma?” she threw back at me. “We did nothing wrong, and enjoyed every second of it.”
Just as I went to throw all my force at her, a rush of warm wind surrounded me. Phoenix had carried me at least five hundred feet away from her, but not so far that I couldn’t hear Landen scolding her.
“She is just trying to get your energy pumped up for this spell. She didn’t mean one damn word. It was miserable. I’ll bear witness to that.”
“There are better ways to get my energy pumped up. She meant it,” I seethed, feeling adrenaline coursing through me, the storm deep inside swelling.
“Skylynn only knows one way: to push buttons.”
“I’ll show you a button!”
And with that, I created a massive burning pentagram, with all those little symbols in place.
“One hell of a devil’s trap,” Phoenix applauded with a sleek grin.
Both Skylynn and Landen turned to us, finding themselves in the center of what I created. The smirk on Skylynn’s face told me that Phoenix was right: she did do that on purpose.
A bit overconfident, I started to walk back to them, avoiding looking down. Clarissa was walking around the details of the mark, holding her hand out over the fire, letting drops of her blood fall into the flames. When I reached the edge of the circle, at the bottom point of the star, Phoenix told me to stay. He then moved to the next point while Landen, Skylynn, and Clarissa marked the other points.
“Focus on the fire,” Landen coached me from across the circle. “No matter what, do not let it go out until this is over.”
I nodded once to tell him I understood. I heard him and the others begin to whisper words in another language. As they did, the smoke from the fire twisted into a vine. Twenty feet in the air, it pooled out into a cloud of darkness, swirling so fast that I could not look at it.