“Ignis!” I scream, and the fire burns brighter, flames licking against my face. I thrust my hands out in the direction of the bird-demon, and the fire leaves my fingers. The next thing I know, fire surrounds the thing, and it screams right before it collapses into a pile of ash.
I clench my fists, putting out the fire I’m holding. Adrenaline surges through me, and Aunt Estelle’s voice echoes in my head.
Very good, Anora.
Blinking, I tear myself away from my memories and run to Ethan.
“Oh my god.” I put my hands onto his chest, trying to stop the bleeding.
“It’s okay,” he tells me, struggling to sit up. One hand goes to mine, and he looks down at himself. “I’ve had worse.”
“We need to…to…fuck. What’s closer? Your house or the barn?”
“Horse barn,” he replies, and lets me help him to his feet. I thought the wound on his chest was the biggest concern, but blood is dripping down his bicep at a worrisome rate.
“Don’t move,” I tell him as I carefully pull down his flannel button-up so I can look at the cuts on his arm. As a vet tech that assists in surgery on a weekly basis, I’m no stranger to blood and gore. It doesn’t bother me, and my ability to deal with what others deem as “gross” has always been a source of pride. But this…right now…I don’t know if I can handle it.
Though I don’t have a choice.
“I’m fine,” he presses, putting on a brave face that would turn me on if circumstances weren’t so dire. Blood trickles down his arm, streaming past his elbow and down his fingers, dripping onto the ground. The wound is deep. Fear for his wellbeing makes me sick. I unzip my fleece jacket and use the dagger to cut off the sleeve to use as a tourniquet. I tie it around his arm, and it quickly becomes stained with blood.
“Fuck. You’re losing too much blood.” I swallow hard, feeling like I might pass out, though what good would that do? I squeeze my eyes shut.
“I’m fine,” Ethan presses and pulls me to him. “Are you?”
“Yeah,” I say, though it seems crazy even to me that I got out of this unscathed. I put my hand around Ethan’s arm, trying to stop the bleeding. “I need to get you to a hospital. You need stitches.”
“It’s nothing Julia can’t patch up,” he tells me and looks out at the forest around us. There were three bird-demons, weren’t there? I burned two into nothing but ash, but the third? Did it run away? If it did, will it come back now that it knows we’re injured?
Not wanting to find out, I pick up the dagger and hook my arm around Ethan.
“You…” he starts. “You’re pyrokinetic.”
“I don’t know what that is,” I say, though the very word jolts something inside of me again, and I’m suddenly back in that room. The smell of sage and lavender surrounds me, and I’m sitting on the cobblestone floor, petting a white fox.
“We both know fire magic can be unpredictable,” the pretty woman with black hair tells Aunt Estelle. “It would be in her best interest to attend the Academy. We can teach her how to control her powers. She’ll excel here, which is another thing we both know.”
“The cards don’t lie,” Aunt Estelle presses.
“The cards are just—” A sharp knock on the door causes the woman to stop. She moves around her desk, robes swirling around her feet, and opens her office doors. Two girls, who look to be about my age are ushered in by another adult, who for some reason, I know to be a professor.
“Callie and Kristy,” the dark-haired woman sighs. “I’m not surprised. What is it now?”
I gasp, pulling myself back into the here and now. Blinking several times, I feel sparks flickering around my fingertips, and I know Ethan is right, though I don’t fully understand it.
I am pyrokinetic. I can create and manipulate fire.
And Aunt Estelle knew it.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Sit,” Julia tells Ethan, pointing to a kitchen chair. We just got back to his house, and thankfully, Julia was home from running her errands. She brings a first-aid kit to the table, quickly opening it up and pulling out supplies.
I help Ethan take off his jacket, and I pull his t-shirt over his head. The three claw marks on his chest have stopped bleeding, and a sticky scab is starting to form. Julia is going to have to scrub them open to