Phoenix Academy - Lucy Auburn Page 0,68

than a little delusional."

I laugh, despite myself. "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I guess we'll all find out when we get—"

"We're close." Xavier's voice, raised to cut through ours, is serious and deep. "They'll be able to hear us soon. Or she will, at least. Time to be quiet rather than quick."

My pulse is like a galloping horse inside my body. I barely feel prepared for this, even though I've rehearsed it most of my waking moments and in my dreams.

I'm going to draw the runes in phoenix flames, because it'll be faster that way, and Lizzy's phoenix powers will protect her from being burned.

The guys, who are also protected from my flames by our bond, will drag her into the center of the runes.

When the tether is visible, I'll summon a sword of fire—and cut through it.

Then... then she'll be free. And my faith in our connection, in her love for me and the ever-constant heart beating in her chest, will be tested in that moment. Because either she'll turn to me—or against me.

I send up a little silent prayer to my mother, whether she's in the Spirit Realm or beyond by now, hoping that she can hear me now the veil is so thin and ever-present once more. Hoping she's watching over her girls and will help us come together, in whatever way is possible.

Xavier has come to a stop at a break in the trees. He motions for us to avoid something to our left, and I glance over in surprise at a set of abandoned railroad tracks. The thick steel rails have survived years of rust and degradation, though the wooden ties are mostly gone. I don't understand what they're doing in the midst of the wild woods until I come even with Xavier's position and see the abandoned train station up ahead.

It's hard to imagine commerce ever flowing in this direction, but maybe the train was a local endeavor, one that inevitably went to ruin at some point. The station appears to be burnt out and has mostly fallen to ruin, though much of the original supports and the concrete platform are intact. It's on this platform that Lizzy is pacing back and forth, her voice raised in some kind of speech I can't make out well from here, while over a dozen people stand on the tracks themselves and watch her.

I can't feel my father's heavy presence nearby, but I reach out and grab Xavier's hand for support anyway. Glancing into my worried face, he shakes his head sharply, and leans down to murmur in my ear.

"The Heretic isn't here." Relief fills me, until he adds, "Though he isn't far out. Maybe half an hour on foot. When the wind shifted, his scent disappeared, but I could just barely make him out before it did."

"We don't have much time then. We have to get her, sever the connection, and make a portal back before he shows up."

"We do."

"And these people." I observe them, keeping my voice pitched low like he is. "I don't think any of them are my father's followers. They don't have the look of it."

From behind me, David murmurs, "They're potential recruits. She's trying to bring them over." At my curious look, he explains, "I have better hearing than the others."

Reggie mutters resentfully, "Barely."

"She's telling them about their futures." We all watch as one of the potential recruits, a man in his late forties who looks like he's seen hard days and sad living, walks forward and closes his eyes reverentially as my sister lays a hand on his forehead. "I think she's using her powers to somehow convince them that... that your father is some kind of holy man with a close connection to God. That's why they're all here—that's what they're doing with her. She's his proof of the divine."

Revulsion rolls through my stomach, even though a part of me always thought this might be part of it. He wanted her to die so she would be reborn, and he got what he wanted: a powerful tool ripe for molding.

I wonder what he told her had happened when she woke from the dead. And if she thought she was all alone in the world, with no other family but him. Her spirit would've been ripe for the taking—at which point, he tethered them together with dark magic so she could never even consider leaving.

"We have to save her." In amendment, I add, "And those people, too. There has