“NOVA!” ADRIAN YELLED—and his scream split through the sudden, unexpected silence. The inferno had disappeared as quickly as it had come.
Nova, untouched, stood only a few feet from the others, who were clutching one another on the floor. Their faces were ashen, their hair drenched with sweat.
How long had Phobia been tormenting them? How long had they been trying to stand up to their greatest fears, as the Anarchist slowly wore them down to their greatest weaknesses?
BANG.
They all jumped at the gunshot. It was earsplittingly loud, and Adrian spun around, trying to find its source, sure the gun had been fired only inches from his head. But the sanctuary was empty.
BANG.
Nova whimpered, bringing his attention back to her. Her eyes were shut tight and she was trembling from head to foot, both hands gripping her head.
BANG!
A shadow rose up in front of Nova. For a moment, Adrian could see the hazy outline of Phobia forming, the billowing cloak, the sharp scythe, but then he morphed into something else.
A man. A mammoth of a man, towering over Nova’s small frame. His chin was rough with stubble. He had pale hair tied at the nape of his neck. There was a splatter of dried blood on his brow.
He was holding a gun, pressing it against Nova’s forehead.
A hatred like Adrian had never known surged inside him and the next thing he knew, he had crashed into the man’s side. They both fell. The man landed on his back beside the altar, but Adrian’s momentum sent him rolling across the floor. He struck a column that shook from the impact of his armor.
On the other side of the sanctuary, Nova released a shuddering breath and fell to her knees.
The man started to cackle. His body dissolved into wisps of shadowy smoke, before re-forming again into a long black cloak. The gun elongated into a staff and a hooked blade.
“Master Everhart,” said Phobia, his raspy voice making Adrian twitch with loathing. “I had hoped our paths would cross again before this night was through.”
Adrian climbed to his feet, one hand braced on an intricately carved cabinet. He peered into the blackness where a face should have been and realized this was the moment he had spent years imagining. He had found his mother’s killer. Justice was within reach.
“You killed my mother,” he said through gritted teeth. The image came unbidden to his mind. His mother’s broken body, her silent scream. Dread filled him all over again, but he needed to stall. He needed time to think.
Behind Phobia, he saw Nova urging the others to run. Narcissa seemed keen on the idea, but Oscar and Danna were staring at Nova in disbelief. They didn’t trust her. Why would they?
But then … how on earth had they come to trust the mirror walker?
“So I did,” rasped Phobia. “It might have been my favorite death of all. Do you know what her greatest fear was?”
Adrian clenched his fists.
“It’s an easy one to guess. It usually is with mothers.” Disgust and boredom oozed over the word. “She feared losing you. She feared that this dark, cruel world would ruin her darling little boy. Ruin him or kill him, whichever came first.” He chuckled. “Would you like to know what was the last thing she ever saw?”
Adrian said nothing.
“Me … holding the body of her dead son in my arms. I didn’t even have to say anything. She took one look and started to scream and then … she just gave up. I think she might have actually forgotten that she could fly.” He made a quiet tsking sound. “Her scream was a symphony. I can hear it to this day.”
With a guttural roar, Adrian grabbed the narrow cabinet beside him and flung the whole thing at Phobia.
The villain dissolved before impact, wisping away in a cloud of smoke. The cabinet crashed onto its side, its door swinging open and an assortment of chalices and urns spilling across the floor.
Phobia appeared again, rising up on top of the altar. “You’re very much like her, you know.”
Adrian ripped a statue from a nearby alcove and threw that, too. Phobia blocked it with the handle of the scythe, sending the marble figurine skittering into the choir. “You also fear losing the ones you love. It’s a common fear. One shared by prodigies and humans alike. But for you there is an added element of … responsibility. Your greatest fear is to lose