Chapter 17: Willing To Trust

Piers steps back a half pace, but keeps his grip on me as I tremble out my hurt and anger, looking up into his troubled gray eyes.

"What happened?" His British accent clips, words tumbling over themselves in his anxiety. Is it over my state or does he have his own dire news to share? "I tried to reach you when you called, but I just couldn't leave and missed you. I stayed, hoping you'd come back."

I gulp down my overload of emotions and the need to cry all over again, my hands rising and crossing over my chest to grip his which are still holding my arms tight. "I was afraid he'd attacked already and you weren't coming back."

His worry turns to serious concern, brows pulling together as Piers pulls me closer. "What are you talking about?"

"You have to help us." This time a sob does escape, more tears trickling down my cheeks, my face aching from all the crying I've done, the excess of emotion wearing at my strength. "If I tell you everything, will you save us?"

From ourselves. As powerful as I am, I can't go into the sanctuary alone. I need him to say yes.

Piers visibly calms, the tight grip on my arms softening, his face taking on deep kindness, such sincerity as I've never seen. For an instant, fear rockets to the surface. Everyone lies to me. Everyone. I've just had proof of that. And here I am, willing to trust Piers on the weight of a lifetime of visions that might or might not have been manipulated.

But he's not a stranger. I know Piers, I've felt his heart, felt my own, in the foresight I've lived and the times we've spent together. I know he's a good person, that his concern is real. And I have to trust someone.

"Just tell me," he says, lips descending to brush over my forehead, the faint scent of peppermint following the hot stroke of air as he speaks. "We'll figure it out together."

It takes little time to blurt my herky-jerky way through my story, though it feels like forever. He holds silent as I speak, though I can tell from the way his brow twitches, his lips moving a fraction, he has questions. Of course he does. I'm only giving him part of what he needs to know. But I fear we have no time for answers or a full disclosure of the history of my people, the pressure of the fire growing as each second passes. A vision is about to become manifest.

But which one?

Piers kisses me when I'm through, his skin cold compared to mine as the flames lick around the two of us. He gasps in a breath, but doesn't pull away, his sorcery smothering the fire before it can harm him. I sigh into his mouth, my sorcery connecting with his.

"I know the sorcerers you speak of," he says. "We've been seeking Liander Belaisle for a long time." Who does he mean by 'we'? It doesn't matter, though I'm certain Syd is among that number. "If you can show me where he's hiding, we can end this once and for all."

I nod quickly, hope a reality again. What do I need with Ash and my traitor mother? The tiny group of fearful ones who huddle together and don't act? Piers's determination is infectious, and I find myself smiling, eager.

He half turns, one hand releasing me, extending, as a black tunnel forms. I only have a moment to register the shock on his face and to realize he didn't create the tunnel.

And then we're surrounded by darkness deeper than any night, tunnels opening all around, black-robed men appearing to ring us in. Piers pulls me against him, one arm around me, his sorcery flowering out beneath him, but I know as he must, we're no match for so many. My gaze flashes over Kayden's snarl of jealousy as he stares at me in Piers's arms before I lock eyes with Liander.

"Hello, my boy." He smiles with nothing but contempt up at Piers. "I've been looking for you."

I can't let them take Piers. But the moment I reach for the flame, I'm smothered by a dozen back cloaks of power, my magic crushed under the gathered sorcerers while Piers's magic is devoured and he's driven to his knees.

He manages to look up, gray eyes full of pain, but he's smiling at Liander as the smaller man bends over him.

"Syd will be so happy to see you," Piers says.

Liander's smirk turns to fury, one hand lashing out across the younger man's face. Piers rocks sideways, spitting blood. But I see the fear in Liander, the way his eyes dart around the circle, hear the anxious note under his words as he speaks. "Take him." He kicks at Piers while Kayden and two others hurry forward, jerking Piers upright by his arms, their power smothering him. Liander turns on me, black drifting over his eyes. "As for you," he points a finger at me, "your grandmother won't be able to protect you this time."

I feel their hands on me before I know I'm surrounded, but it doesn't stop me from fighting. Again and again the fire tries to rise, the sorcerers cursing as flames lick them, only to be devoured again. I just need a little more time, but then we're in the tunnel and I'm falling into darkness.

They dump me onto the hard stone floor at Sibyl's feet, Liander appearing beside me a moment later. I look up into my grandmother's cold eyes and feel true hate for the first time in my life. Does she know my mother is alive? She must. And I will never forgive her for that.

"Your precious little brat was talking with the Steam Union." Liander's power jerks me to my feet, pushes me toward Sibyl. She catches me, her flames burning away his grip, but hers is no more gentle. It's only then I spot Rena peeking around her shoulder, glaring at me like I'm the enemy.

She has no idea what's really going on here, though I know just enough as it is, to put myself in harm's way.

"You foolish, foolish child." Sibyl's hand lashes out, the slap so loud my ears ring from it, my cheek on fire where her skin impacted mine. I stumble in her grip from the force of the blow, less staggered by the fact she's struck me than the fact my whole world is crumbling at the edges and I can't stop it. "How could you betray your own family like this?"

My jaw locks. I want to scream at her, to tell her what I know, but I hold my tongue. It's not going to make a bit of difference. I see her guilt, the subtle gleam of it in the back of her eyes, the way she wriggles against her own choices. She's fully aware and has been controlling and manipulating me and the rest of the family for a long time.

What visions have I missed because she's been holding me back?

"Kill her." Liander's spit travels almost the full distance between us, a sparkling drop arching from his lips.

Would my own grandmother really comply with such an order? For a moment, I fear she's lost to me, that he owns her completely. But the moment her shoulders stiffen and her jaw clenches, I know she might be duplicitous in his schemes, but she's not completely gone.

"Don't be ridiculous," she snaps. Liander's face turns deep red, a vein popping up in his forehead. But Sibyl speaks again before he can rupture something. "Zoe is my responsibility," she says, "and like it or not, we need her. She is the strongest of the Helios Oracles." His lips gape, protest almost visible as she turns to me. "However," she says, glaring down at me, hands fishing in my pocket, retrieving my lighter which she palms, "that power and your mind are clearly clouded by outside influence." I feel the flames in her mind press down on mine, her sorcery biting deep. I flinch from her touch, the scent of dying smoke passing through my nostrils as my fire sighs and retreats.

I start to shake, looking down at my hands, feeling inside myself for the flames so familiar. Nothing. Not even a coal remains, the life of it snuffed out. I look up into her eyes, trembling and teary-eyed as the magic that makes me who I am dies.

"It's not permanent." She touches my hair as though to reassure me, though it's the same hand that struck me only a moment ago, her other still clamped painfully around my arm. "I can reverse the effects if and when I choose." My knees want to buckle, to carry me to the floor, but I stay upright if only because of my grandmother's grip on my arm. I hear Rena's snigger, catch her wicked smile she covers with her chubby hands, but it doesn't matter. I hang there from Sibyl's strong hand as she arches an eyebrow at Liander. "Will that satisfy you for now?"

He glares at her a moment. "Keep an eye on her," he says. "I have other work to do."

I watch him leave, though only part of me is present. Everything has gone dull and gray, fuzzy at the periphery. The fire that lights my life is gone and I have no idea how to get it back.

***