Burned (16 page)

I looked into the futures in which I stayed where I was. I could still hear the sirens from below, and I looked into the extended futures, not quite able to believe it. Still nothing. I opened my eyes and looked around. Behind me and to the right, a patch of rooftop was glowing with heat, fragments of paint turned to glowing embers. The spell had missed, and I stared at it, fascinated at just how close I’d come to dying. If that had burst above—

Anne!

I pulled myself up to look around. From where we’d come, the roof of the apartment was still burning, but the blaze was dying away. There was no sign of the fire mage. But on the roof just ahead, a dark figure was lying still.

My heart lurched. Forgetting about the fire mage, I ran forward. As I reached Anne, I smelled a too-familiar scent, thick and sweet and putrid. It’s the smell of burned flesh, and once you know what it is you never forget it. Full of dread, I reached down to touch Anne’s body.
Oh God, please don’t be dead, please don’t—

Anne jerked, and I pulled away. She rolled over on to her back, and the sight of her made me flinch. Her clothes were black and irregular, and so was the skin of her hands and face. It was too dark for me to see clearly, but I knew it was bad. But she could heal herself, if I could just get her somewhere …

Gate.
I’d grabbed my emergency gear from my table, and one of the items was a gate stone to Anne’s flat. ‘Anne,’ I said quietly. ‘I’m going to gate us to your flat. So you can heal. Okay?’

There was no reaction for a second, then Anne’s hand found mine and she squeezed. Her skin felt wrong, cracked and wet. I didn’t let myself think about why. I kept hold of her, while with my other hand I dug through my pocket for the small piece of carved wood. ‘I’m gating,’ I said, forcing my voice to keep steady. ‘Just hold on.’

Anne squeezed my hand again.

I held the gate stone and concentrated, sending power flowing into the item. I’ve got very little talent for gate magic, but I’m good with focuses, and over the past year one of the things I’ve spent my time on has been practising with gate stones. It paid off now. Light bloomed and an oval-shaped portal appeared in mid-air above the rooftop. ‘I’m going to lift you,’ I said to Anne. I knew this was going to be agonising for her. ‘Hang on.’

Anne gave my hand another squeeze, then let go. I slid one arm under her shoulders, slid the hand with the gate stone under her knees, then heaved her up. I felt Anne’s muscles go rigid, but she didn’t make a sound. The gate was holding steady and I took one last look back over my shoulder.

The fire on the apartment roof had died away and I could see clearly back to my shop. Flames were leaping into the sky from where the roof of my flat was. There was no sign of the fire mage or the other gunmen. Maybe they’d jumped off the roof, or gated out, or maybe they’d died and their bodies were somewhere in the darkness; I didn’t know, and right now I didn’t care. I could see the edge of a fire engine below, and jets of water were spraying up towards my flat, but just from a glance I knew there was no way they could save the building. My shop and flat were gone.

Holding Anne in my arms, I stepped through the gate and let it close behind me.

The gate closed behind me, leaving us in darkness. Anne and I were alone.

I crossed the carpet and kicked open the door to Anne’s bedroom, scanning the futures for danger. The inside of Anne’s flat was warm, and the night outside was quiet and still. We were in Honor Oak, south of the river, and the fire and our enemies were far away. I entered the bedroom, letting my divination guide me, then set Anne down as gently as I could on the bed at the centre. I could hear her breath in the silence, raspy and quick. Carefully I took my arms away from under her, then walked to the door, flicked on the light and turned around.

Even though I’d been braced for the sight, my first reaction to Anne’s injuries was to close my eyes. I took a breath, then forced them open again. Anne’s skin was mottled with a mix of colours – white, red, tan and coal – and the front of her clothes had burned away to reveal cherry-red burns across her stomach and breasts, spreading up to her neck and face. The burned skin looked moist and weepy, and already angry-looking blisters were forming. Although her body looked bad, her left arm was worse. The skin there wasn’t red but black, cracked and charred, and across the forearm it had peeled away entirely, revealing red muscle and white bone. I moved closer and the smell hit my nostrils again, putrid and rich. Bile rose in my throat and I swallowed, fighting back nausea.

Anne opened her lips and spoke, keeping her eyes closed. ‘If you’re—’ She stopped, took a breath, and tried again. Her voice was raspy. ‘If you’re going to throw up, don’t do it on me.’

I took a breath and regained control. ‘Sorry.’ I started to say,
Are you all right?
and stopped myself. ‘What can I do to help?’

Anne’s breath rasped. ‘Water.’

I hurried to the kitchen and filled a glass, letting my mind focus on the mundane task. Big glass … she wouldn’t be able to drink from the edge. Needed a straw. I went through the drawers. Anne’s kitchen is small and tidy. I found a packet of drinking straws and tore it open before hurrying back.

Anne hadn’t moved, but I could sense magic working inside her body, complex spells layered on top of one another. She didn’t open her eyes as I leaned in and fed the straw through her cracked lips. Anne’s face wasn’t as badly hurt as the rest of her body, but it still wasn’t pretty. Red streaks ran up her cheek and past her eye, and a patch of her hair had been scorched away, the scent of burned hair mixing with burned flesh. Anne drank slowly and steadily until she’d emptied the glass. I set it down on the bedside table.

Anne licked her lips and spoke again. She still didn’t open her eyes, but already her voice was stronger. ‘Are we safe?’

‘I don’t think they tracked us,’ I said. ‘How bad is it?’

‘Third-degree burns,’ Anne said. The rasp in her voice had gone. ‘Fourth on the arm. I’ll manage.’

‘Do you need anything?’

‘Time.’ Anne was quiet. ‘What happened to the shop?’

‘Screw the shop,’ I said. ‘Do whatever it takes to make sure you’re better. Okay?’

‘Okay.’ Anne paused. ‘Alex? There’s … one thing.’

‘Name it.’

‘I can repair this. Most of it.’ Anne drew in a breath. ‘But … it would help if I had more.’

I knew what Anne was asking. Healing magic takes energy. Major healing takes a lot of energy. One way for Anne to do that is to take the energy from her own body, but she can also take it from others. That had been what she’d done to the fire sprites, draining their life force and using it to repair her own injuries. But Anne has limited capacity: she can’t ‘store up’ energy beyond a certain point. Repairing this would take more than she had to spend.

I touched Anne’s unburned right hand. ‘Take what you need.’

‘Thank you,’ Anne said quietly, then paused. ‘You should sit down.’

‘Oh.’ The last time Anne had done this to me, I’d gone out like a light. ‘Right.’ There was a small armchair back in the living room. I went back, carried it into the bedroom, then set it down next to the bed. ‘Okay,’ I said, sitting and taking Anne’s hand in both of mine. ‘Do it.’

The last time Anne had life-drained me, it had been like having the energy and strength pulled from every part of my body at once. It had been horrible, and as I took Anne’s hand my muscles were tense, my mind dreading going through the same experience again.

But this time was different. I saw the spell take shape, reaching out to touch me, but there wasn’t the same draining sensation. Instead it was more of a drift, a flow. I felt myself growing tired, my eyes becoming heavy, but it was the sleepiness of being curled up in a warm bed. I fell into a drowsy state, the world floating away.

As I rested, I saw something strange. Out of the grey mist a glowing form took shape: it felt as though I was seeing it with my eyes, and yet I wasn’t. It was a human body, luminous, its skin and flesh formed from glowing green light. As I looked closer I saw that the light wasn’t solid, but woven, tendrils and vines laced into a tight-knit whole. Parts were reddened and blackened, the vines warped and fraying at their ends, but as I watched I saw that they were regrowing, new shoots stretching out from the damaged ends to interweave with the others. It was both slow and incredibly intricate, like watching someone repair a ripped tapestry with a needle and thread, one strand at a time. There was something fascinating about the deftness of the work. There were no missteps, no mistakes, every new thread of glowing green weaving into the greater pattern. I kept watching until the image faded away and I drifted off to sleep.

At some point during the night I came half-awake to see that Anne was leaning over my chair, her face close to mine. Her body was glowing with soft green light, and she was whispering to me. I tried to make out the words but they blurred together and Anne turned into Arachne and I was curled up on one of the armchairs in Arachne’s cave, surrounded by bolts of silk. Arachne was somewhere in the back, working away on some creation of hers, and I turned over and went to sleep.

I woke up slowly and gradually. I could hear voices around me, and the light seemed brighter. From outside, a bird was singing. It was morning.

‘… you’re okay?’ It was a girl’s voice, and it took me a moment to realise that it was Luna. ‘I mean, you don’t look as though…’

‘I’m fine.’ It was Anne, and she was speaking from right in front of me. I could feel her hand on mine. ‘The dangerous time was last night.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘I’ve had worse, you know.’

‘I still wish I’d been there.’ Luna paused. ‘What about Alex?’

‘Well, he’s awake. Why don’t you ask him?’

I opened my eyes. Morning sunlight was streaming through the window, illuminating the pale green walls of Anne’s room. Variam was sitting by the desk, bent forward with his elbows on his knees, and Luna was hovering nearby. She still looked worried, but she perked up as she met my gaze. ‘You’re okay?’

‘Kind of tired.’ I yawned. I felt sleepy, and my limbs were heavy, but I wasn’t hurt. Actually, I felt very comfortable, which was weird given that I’d just slept in my armour. Must have been Anne’s work. ‘When did you guys get here?’

‘Not long. I was talking to Anne and— Crap, kitchen! I forgot!’ Luna turned and ran out into the living room. ‘I’ll be back!’ she called over her shoulder.

I looked at Anne. ‘What was that about?’

‘Oh, Luna was offering to make some food,’ Anne said with a smile. She was lying on her bed, covered with a blanket, and she looked better – actually,
much
better. I couldn’t see her left arm or her body, but the skin on her face was smooth and unmarked. Only the clumps burned out of her hair betrayed how recently she’d been hurt. It made her look like a sea urchin with pattern baldness, but her eyes were peaceful. ‘I was hungry, and she said she’d take care of it.’

Variam shifted position on his chair and glanced down. I realised that Anne was still holding my hand. Anne seemed to realise it at the same instant, and let go. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘Good. A lot better than last time.’

‘I was trying not to take so much this time,’ Anne said. ‘More like sharing.’

‘Well, whatever you did, it worked.’

Anne smiled. ‘Oh.’ She carefully reached out with her right arm to pick something off the table, then dropped it into my hand. ‘Here.’

I looked at it curiously. It was a spent bullet, slightly deformed. ‘Where did …?’

‘From that last run around the forcewall,’ Anne said. ‘I took it out last night. They can do tests on bullets to figure out where they came from, can’t they?’

‘You were shot as
well
? Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘I didn’t want you to worry.’

I gave Anne a disbelieving look, then shook my head and turned to Variam. ‘Any news?’

Variam snorted. ‘From us? No. Who did this?’

‘They didn’t exactly announce themselves, but if I had to guess, I’d say Light mages,’ I said. ‘Whatever’s going on, some people really don’t want me involved.’

Luna came bustling in with a tray. ‘Here.’ She set it down on Anne’s bed. ‘Uh, it might have got a bit burned.’

The tray held muesli, toast, fruit, bacon and eggs. The muesli and fruit looked fine, the toast and bacon were blackish and I had no idea what had happened to the eggs. I played it safe and took an apple. ‘Hey!’ Luna said. ‘That’s for Anne.’

‘It’s all right,’ Anne said. ‘He needs it too.’ She pushed herself further up against the headboard, then reached for the bowl with her right hand. She didn’t seem to be in pain, but I noticed she kept her left arm beneath the covers and out of Luna and Variam’s sight.

‘So what happened last night?’ I asked.

Both Luna and Variam looked away. ‘We screwed up,’ Luna said. Her voice was strained, unhappy.

‘You had your phones off?’

Luna nodded. ‘And before you say it, I know we weren’t supposed to. You told me back when we set this up, keep it on all the time. I just forgot.’

Crappy reason to get yourself killed.
I looked at Luna for a second. She didn’t meet my eyes, and I decided not to push it. ‘I guess it could have been worse.’

‘It nearly
was
worse!’ Luna said. ‘You both nearly died!’

‘Yeah, well, it might have been better this way,’ I said. ‘If you’d gated in while the ground floor was on fire…’

‘But I’m not her,’ Variam said. He was quieter than usual. Vari and Anne have a complicated relationship and in a lot of ways they don’t actually have much in common, but Vari’s deeply loyal to his friends. Failing to protect Anne must have stung his pride.

I shook my head. ‘What’s done is done. I’m guessing you were busy training or something.’

Luna hesitated. ‘Yeah.’

Something was nagging at the back of my mind. There was something I was supposed to be doing. ‘What time is it?’

‘Ten-thirty.’

Suddenly I remembered.
Caldera.
‘Crap.’ I stood up, feeling my armour adjust to my movements, and nearly fell over. My head was spinning.