Phoenix Academy - Lucy Auburn Page 0,80

excuse what I became. But they wanted a weapon, and they got one. Just... not the kind they expected."

"What were they expecting?"

"A phoenix. Some kind of rare one, based on their excitement when they captured me. But while I have the blood of the reborn in my veins, I wasn't destined to come back from the dead. When they raised me anyway, things went... sideways. In my soulless state, I blamed every witch for what was done to me." His eyes close in guilt, then reopen and stare up at the ceiling. "Including you, your sister, and your mother. Oh, Ari. No wonder you hunted me down. If you want revenge, I suppose it's yours to take."

Something about this feels hollow. This isn't the man I came here to kill. I knew there was a chance it wouldn't be, but—not like this. I can't become a cold-blooded murderer.

Until Reggie reminds me, "We don't know how long the rune will work, Ari. He was risen from the dead. That tends to come with side affects. There's a chance he'll revert."

"What my brother said," Xavier adds, raising his brows. "Though usually I'm the one with the information on hand."

"I'm not sure I can do it," I confess. Looking up to David, the one of the three who understands fucked up fathers the most, I ask him, "Could you?"

"I don't know. I don't think so." He motions towards a gun. "But I could do it for you."

That would be wrong. I can't turn him into a killer. This is my task to take.

"I have to do it. I can't let the three of you bear that burden or that guilt." Looking down into the eyes of the man I've feared all my life, I tell him, "Wes Grainger, your sins are too many, and you were never meant to rise from the dead. So in a way, I'm just putting things back how they should be. Just in case, though... do you have any last words?"

Those eyes meet mine. He says, "Lean closer."

I do. Maybe I'm a fool. "Yes?"

"I love you, Ari." His eyes go to my hand, where I loosely hold the knife. "And I'm sorry that it has to end this way."

I don't understand. Then he moves, lightning-fast. He grabs the knife from my hand. For a terrifying moment I think he's going to kill me, that this has all been a trick, that I never had a kind father underneath the soulless monster.

Instead he holds the knife to his own throat, and in a clear, soft voice says, "Goodbye, girl."

Then he slashes it across his own veins so deep and so fast that blood sprays across my face. I rear back in horror, wiping my eyes—and by the time I can see through the red spray again, he's gone.

Forever.

Chapter 18

Two Weeks Later

I prowl through the combat field, eyeing Dani from every side. "Whatever trick you think you have up your sleeve, you can forget about it. I'm onto you."

"Are you?" She smirks, turning to follow my movements as I crouch in the long grass. "Sometimes I wonder, Ari, how you ever managed to hunt for food. Because your footsteps are loud as fuck."

I ignore her, considering what her next steps might be. We've been practicing our combat against each other—a sort of phoenix-battle on difficulty setting, given that neither of us can burn the other with fire, and we've both agreed to leave our guys out of it.

But while Dani has promised not to use her four demons, that doesn't mean she can't summon other demons. And the results of my destruction of the Hellgate have been... interesting.

Needless to say, Grims will never be the same.

Though the threat to phoenix isn't necessarily greater: Headmaster Towers told us that an attack on a satellite campus near Vancouver revealed that some Grims have lost their powers and strength. Others summon unexpected demons when trying to attack, as many of their summoning secrets have shifted. The runes they've known and loved for the past few centuries no longer point in the right direction.

Luckily for Dani, two of the nerdiest researchers this side of the veil are here on campus. Lynx and Auerbach together have figured out most of the changes in summoning rules; they've been helping Dani figure out how to use the Grim side of her powers in battle. Now she has, by my count, at least six new demonic summonings memorized.

The little crab demons with the pinching arms are my least