scraped the ceiling as he drew his head back, then let a huge plume of flame that ignited the drywall.
In seconds, the room went from mildly hot to blazing. Smoke began pouring out from every direction, and Emma put her cloak over her mouth.
“Let’s go!” I led the way out of the burning warehouse. I could feel the flames licking up my heels as the fire increased in intensity. Stefan changed back, and he and Delmare hurried out of the warehouse hand-in-hand. Theo swept Odette into his arms and ran out that way.
We burst into the cool night air, and ducked into an alleyway. The warehouse didn’t explode behind us until we were at a safe distance— once it did, lights came on in the city and people flooded out of their houses, looking to see what all the commotion was.
Stefan was grinning ear to ear. “I can see why you like vigilante work. It’s a great rush.”
I looked from left to right, scanning the streets. All the locals were looking up at the burning building— their backs were turned to us, which meant we had to move. “We need to split up, before the Arcanea Alliance shows up. Don’t regroup until tomorrow morning. Lie low for now.”
We split off into our designated couples, and headed off in different directions. Emma went with me— I grabbed onto her and used my grappling hook to pull us to the top of the nearest building, where we jumped from rooftop to rooftop in our escape.
When the spires of Arcanea University came into view, Emma came to a stop. She looked behind us at the smoke rising through the sky as she said, “The Phantom and the White Rose make a good team. Maybe they’re what Dolinska needs.”
She paused for a moment before she added, “Maybe you can be the Phantom, as long as you have me to help to keep the demon in check.”
“Don’t count on it. We’re not doing this again.”
That felt like a lie, though. As badly as I wanted to put away the Phantom, it was clear the city still needed him.
The leshane had been awfully quiet throughout that whole endeavor. I knew by becoming the vigilante I was giving him what he wanted— strengthening the hold he had on me every time I put on that mask.
Yet what could I do? There never seemed to be any options.
This was the Phantom’s first mission with the White Rose, but I knew it wouldn’t be the last.
Chapter Six
Emma
It was becoming one of those months where every day was a bad one, and I really wanted it to stop.
I’d given up trying to infuse my key with the anti-negativity spell. I’d tried it on other objects and succeeded, but the key just wouldn’t take for some reason. I still wore it on my wrist every day, though. It might be useless as a magical object, but it was still pretty.
I wished the charm had taken, though, because I wanted some positive stuff to start happening in my life. I couldn’t take any more of this sorrow. If it continued, I’d drown in it.
On Wednesday morning the second to last week of September, I struggled to get out of bed. I mean, really struggled. My limbs felt like they were covered in heavy weights, dragging me down. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I’d slept in, and yet it hadn’t done any good to ebb my fatigue.
There was no way I was getting up for an early start. This was one morning where I’d have to take it easy. I turned on my TV and tried to watch a movie, just to distract myself from how I was feeling.
It didn’t work. My body was in so much pain, lying on my soft mattress felt like lying on a bed of sharp and pointed rocks that dug into my muscles. I tossed and turned, but just couldn’t get comfortable.
I attempted to focus on the show, instead of the pain. That was useless, too. The moment a character said something, it instantly slipped my mind, and I forgot what the plot was. I found myself rewinding the same scene three different times to understand it. After seeing the same conversation replay over and over, I just didn’t get it.
Duh. I felt dumber than a box of rocks. But at least I had the energy to get on my feet now. Several bones cracked as I rose. I stumbled to the bathroom, where I saw