Enflame (Insight #6)(77)

The air around us was vibrating with energy, and the ghosts were screaming louder than before. I wanted to look around and see why, but I was too afraid to lose my focus.

With each minute that passed, the air became denser, the cries louder – then all at once, within the dark smoke above us, a purple wave appeared, lacing through the black. Landen’s relief and excitement told me it was a good thing.

There was an eerie silence that came when the purple began to take over the black. The ghosts were silent and the raging flames were still. There was not a sound that could be heard – that is, until a screeching scream pierced around us.

I thought it was normal, but the automatic defensive emotion I felt from Landen told me I was wrong.

That scream was not alone; there were others that followed. I dared to glance away from the fire to see Escorts, dressed in black suits, appearing on different levels of the palace.

The point of the star that Skylynn was in front of erupted, causing the flames there to reach the purple and black smoke. I could see her stare through the flames and followed it to see Aden a few floors down, running – but not from someone. He was trying to catch somebody. Before I could figure out who, or why he was even here, I felt ice cold hands reaching into my body. As I glanced back, I saw Silas pull an Escort off me, reach into it, and pull black smoke out just before its remains burned. Two more appeared, but before they could act, Silas ended them, too.

“Hey!” he yelled in Skylynn’s direction. “Focus!”

She threw a glare at him but listened and began to whisper the coded words across her lips.

“You, too,” he said to me. “Pull it out, or you will fail. We’re outnumbered.” He vanished before I could ask what to pull or how.

I returned my focus to the smoke that was climbing into the sky. In my mind, I saw it as a flaming tornado, one that I needed to pull everything up, faster. It was a mental battle. I was terrified that I would create a real one, hurt everyone below.

After endless moments of this mental battle, I managed to focus all the energy I was sending out on the fiery trap before me. The energy was so intense, so powerful, it blew my hair back and nearly forced me to close my eyes. I envisioned that blond man downstairs, his energy burning in this smoke, being ripped from his being.

Moments later, other Escorts appeared around me. Adrenaline was fueling my body. I knew I could fight them and keep the fire burning, but just as I went to defend myself, Dane appeared, proving to be just as fierce as Silas was at stopping them. None of them had a chance to get within feet of me.

The spinning smoke began to break. In the center, a light appeared, and a flow of energy that looked like a waterfall flowing backward rushed into it.

I had a feeling that that was the goal, that what I was seeing was Xavier’s power escaping him. The fact that Escorts kept appearing told me I was right. They were doing everything in their power to stop us.

An explosion of energy knocked us all back.

Across the flames, I saw Landen stand immediately. He was glaring down through the floors of the palace and disappeared at that second. I would have followed or protested, but I was under attack. Every second, I felt icy hands reach for me. Growing tired of it, I turned and charged my hand into the first Escort I saw, pulling out its essence.

Something happened inside of me at that moment. I didn’t have to think. I didn’t have to focus. I was on autopilot, killing anything that posed a threat to me.

Then all at once, the fire of the pentagram vanished. Thinking I’d lost my focus, I stopped my fight, but at that point there was no reason to fight anymore. All of the Escorts had vanished.

I looked down through the floors, trying to see what was going on, where Landen was, the others, but there were too many souls in my way. My stare found Skylynn. She was frozen in place, staring into the distance with utter exhaustion on her face. She vanished at that moment.

Dane helped me up from my crouched position. “What is going on?” I asked.

“Nothing now,” he said, looking over Clarissa, making sure she was okay. “You got this?” he said to Phoenix, who was walking toward me.

“Go on,” he said with a nod to him.

Dane and Clarissa vanished at that moment.

I didn’t have a chance to utter a word. A warm rush absorbed me, and the next second I felt the hum of the string, Phoenix’s strong arms around me.

Feeling awkward in his embrace, I stepped back. He smirked in response.

“Where is Landen?”

“Helping.”

“Then I need to help, too.”

“No. You need to wait right here.”

I glared at him. “Maybe you didn’t get the memo, but I do not play the part of the damsel in distress.”

He tried to hold it in, but he couldn’t. He bellowed with laughter, making me feel like an idiot.

I didn’t have time to entertain him. I was pretty sure I knew where I was in the string, and I went to walk into one of the gray passages only to feel his arms around mine, his rock hard chest against my back.

“Now, now. Calm down.”

I elbowed him to get away, but it was pointless. He was too strong.

“No. What if he needs us? You should at least go!”

“He doesn’t need anyone. He’ll be here in a second.”

“Did it work? Can you at least tell me that?”