Flamethroat (43 page)

I had eyes only for Jack. He lay on the damp floor, breathing hard.

‘
How
?’ I asked him. ‘You healed them without physical contact. I didn’t know you could do that.’

Jack shook his head. ‘Either did I,’ he croaked.

I brushed the wet hair from his eyes and smiled. ‘You’re amazing.’

Jack grimaced. ‘Is-is everyone okay?’

I looked around the room. My mother and father were back in the corner, coaxing the Humans out of their hiding spot. Maria and Robert were embracing tightly while Penny, Tom, Elise and Bran confined Martinez.

‘We are okay,’ I nodded. ‘I don’t think Martinez’s guard is though.’

Jack sat up groggily and looked around. There was the wolf-man, who lay dead in a pool of his own blood. The multiplier-Mage was alive, but had lost an eye. Then there was the soundwave-Mage who lay burned, bloody and barely conscious. The force field Mage had fainted from the effort of protecting his Master and the Water-Mage cowered in the corner, while Martinez was on his knees, begging for mercy.

‘We won,’ Jack stated, his face blank.

‘We did the right thing,’ I nodded.

Jack lifted a shaking hand and tucked a tendril of hair behind my ear.

‘Are you going to kiss me, or what?’ he asked.

I took Jack’s face between my hands and bent down to meet his lips. He welcomed the kiss, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me closer. I didn’t care that I was in a room full of people, including my parents.

The sound of Bran clearing his throat loudly caught my attention. I broke away from Jack and looked up to find him staring at me.

‘What do we do with Martinez?’ he asked the room at large.

‘Kill him,’ said Robert.

‘Yes, ‘ee deserves it,’ Maria agreed.

Penny and Tom nodded in unison.

It was at this moment, when everyone was distracted, that Martinez saw his opportunity to attack.

With a swipe of his hand, he sent a force field rocketing across the dungeon. Jack pulled me to the ground and shielded me against his body. The force field acted like a blade, slicing everything in its path. I felt it whoosh past my hair, cutting off the ends.

Once it had passed, I looked around to see if anyone was hurt. It seemed that everyone had ducked in time, the attack passing right over our heads. I let out a sigh of relief, but it caught in my throat as I realised that Maria was still standing, a look of shock upon her face.

I followed her gaze downward as she looked at her stomach. A horizontal line of red appeared across her blouse, seeping at an alarming rate.

‘Maria!’ Robert choked, scrambling to his feet. Jack hoisted himself from the ground and flew across the dungeon floor, ready to help Maria.

But it was too late. Maria had been cleft in twain. Her top half fell to the floor with a sickening thud. The bottom half teetered before following suit.

‘No!’ Jack’s hands fluttered uselessly, unsure of what to do. He could not heal decapitation.

Martinez took advantage of the distraction. He sent another attack rocketing across the dungeon, but we were ready for it this time. Everyone hit the ground just in time. I must have been too slow, for a foot of hair fell next to me.

How could I attack Martinez when my Power was useless against him? I did not want to give him more ammunition. I now understood why he had remained inside the force field before. He was absorbing Power from his guard.

‘Martinez!’ yelled Robert. He was lying on his stomach, looking up at Martinez. Tears streaked his dirt-encrusted face. ‘You murdered my wife!’

‘She was far too old to be fighting, anyway,’ said Martinez dismissively. ‘I did warn you. I said there was no need for a fight.’

‘I’ll kill you!’ Getting to his feet, sixty-something year old shook with rage as he lifted his hands slowly. As he did so, the entire dungeon began to tremble as if there was an earthquake.

But I knew better. I knew that Robert was manipulating the ground around us. Deep cracks appeared overhead and bricks smashed to the floor, narrowly missing our heads.

Martinez looked around, alarmed. He didn’t seem to understand what was happening. The metal door of the dungeon began to warp before it flew out of its frame.

I gaped as I watched Robert manipulate the solid metal. The door started to reshape itself as though it was made out of metallic liquid. Slowly, it began to spin into ribbons around Martinez until it had formed a prison, trapping him in the middle. It resembled something like a spherical spider-web.

Slowly, the earthquake died away and Robert was left panting in the middle of the room.

When my mother and father stood up and faced Martinez, I followed suit.

‘You’re out numbered,’ my father said as Martinez tried to break free of the web-like cage.

‘Let’s kill him,’ said Robert, breathing hard.

Jack gave me a worrisome look and I knew what must be done.

‘No,’ I said, taking a step towards Martinez.

All eyes snapped to me.

‘Why not?’ Penny asked. It seemed strange for someone so small and petite to be so in favour of killing someone.

‘We shouldn’t kill him,’ I said cautiously.

Everyone began to argue at once, but Jack rushed to my side and held up a hand to silence everyone.

‘Avalon’s right,’ he said glancing at me and beaming. ‘It’s not right.’

‘Not right?’ my father repeated, aghast.

‘My wife!’ Robert croaked.

‘I know!’ I said loudly, over their protests. ‘I know, he deserves it.’

‘You’re damn right he deserves it,’ Bran snapped. ‘You won’t be able to stop me from breaking his neck.’

I shook my head. ‘I have a better idea.’

No one spoke. Penny and Tom gave each other mystified looks, while every body else looked simply furious.

‘Well?’ pressed my father. ‘What is it?’

I took a deep breath. ‘We erase his memories.’

A look of confusion spread across the room.

‘What?’ Elise scoffed. ‘Make him forget about the fight?’

I shook my head. ‘No. Make him forget his whole life. He will be a shell, just like the Humans he enslaved. We can send him off to the Human market. He won’t even know he is a Mage.’

My mother and father looked at each other with raised eyebrows. They seemed impressed.

‘No!’ Martinez’s muffled voice came from inside the prison. We ignored him.

‘That’s all well and good,’ said Tom. ‘But how do we erase his memories? We don’t have the serum The Realm used.’

‘We don’t need it.’ I said. I glanced at Ræ
ve
n, whose expression was impassive.

I knew that Ræ
ve
n had accidentally erased her own parents memories using nothing but her voice. She had told me about it when I stayed in her home, back in Frost Arch. Her mother and father didn’t even know they had a daughter. Of course, I would not reveal Ræ
ve
n’s secret, not even to Jack. I would take it to the grave if she asked me to.

‘Ræ
ve
n?’ I said.

She bit her bottom lip, her brow furrowed.

‘Please?’

Ræ
ve
n sighed and nodded. I knew she thought of her gift as a curse, but a great justice would be done today if she overcame her shame.

Jack rummaged through his pockets to find his earplugs. I stuffed my own into my ears.

‘You might want to block your ears,’ I told everyone.

Looking around nervously, everyone put their fingers into their ears. Martinez followed suit.

‘Oh, no you don’t,’ Robert growled. With a flick of his hand, ribbons of metal wrapped around Martinez’s wrists, pulling his fingers away from his ears.

‘No!’ Martinez cried, struggling against the binds. He could no longer block his ears.

‘Ready?’ Jack asked Ræ
ve
n.

She nodded, taking a deep breath.

‘Block your ears!’ Jack shouted to the room.

Everyone did as they were told. The last thing I heard was Martinez screaming for mercy.

I watched as Ræ
ve
n opened her mouth. Her eyes were filled with sadness and I felt terrible that I was making her do this, but I knew she would understand. After all, it was for the best, wasn’t it?

I turned to Martinez. He was still shouting for help, yet no one came to save him. Slowly, his eyes became unfocussed and eventually he stopped struggling.

I scrunched up my eyes. I didn’t want to see it happen.

A minute passed and I wasn’t sure whether it was safe to look. A hand on my shoulder told me that it was over. Opening my eyes and looking up I saw Jack standing over me, a sad smile on his face.

‘It worked,’ he told me. ‘Let’s take all of these people and get out of here.’

Three days later.

Part of me could not help but feel responsible for Maria’s death. I knew Jack blamed himself too. He said over and over again how he wished he could have healed her, but I told him numerous times that there was nothing he could have done. I wish I could tell myself the same thing.

Jack was not able to heal from afar any more. We figured that it was something he could only do under great pressure. I knew he had the Power within him to do it; we just needed the right circumstances.

Ræ
ve
n felt guilty too. Although everyone was pleased she had erased Martinez’s memories, she did not seem very thrilled by it. I supposed it reminded her of her parents, a memory which must be very painful for her.

Overall, as a trio we were all rather miserable. We tried to comfort each other, but nothing seemed to work.

That night, Ræ
ve
n revealed that she would be leaving at once. I suppose it had all been too much for her. I was sad to see her go, but knew she must return to her life in Frost Arch.

‘I wish you could stay with us,’ I said as I embraced her.

Ræ
ve
n hugged me tightly, resting her chin on my shoulder. ‘I will see you sooner than you think,’ she promised.

‘I hope so,’ I said. ‘I’ll miss you.’

Ræ
ve
n kissed my cheek and turned to Jack. ‘Take care,’ she said softly.

Jack nodded, his jaw clenched tight. ‘Fly safe,’ he said.

They embraced before Ræ
ve
n spun on the spot and flew out of the open window into the cool night air.

Jack and I did not talk for a long while. There was nothing to be said. Hawthorne snoozed in front of the fire, his large body rising and falling with each breath. I stared into the flames, feeling lost.

Jack seemed to read my mind. ‘What do we do now?’ he asked.

I pulled my gaze out of the fire. ‘I don’t know.’

After we had fled the Martinez manor with all of the Humans, Robert had offered his home as a safe house. He said it was what Maria would have wanted. There were currently eight Humans living there, including Helena. We knew if The Realm discovered them, we would all be arrested and hanged.

I hadn’t been able to look Helena in the eye since we had returned. She was not the little sister I had once known. Part of me refused to believe that she was gone forever.

Jack had tried to talk to me about it numerous times over the last few days, but I refused to listen. My father was in the same boat. He left the lodge regularly and came back hours later. When we asked where he had been, he simply said ‘for a walk’.

Jack had not talked of ‘us’ in days, for which I was grateful. I could not think about romance right now, not with Helena being the way she was.

We were sitting in our lodge room when he decided to bring it up. I sat on a stool by the fire, staring aimlessly into it’s depths. Jack was trimming his hair in a small, hand-held mirror.

‘It would be much easier if you did this for me,’ he said, angling the mirror to see the side of his head better.

‘You would trust me to cut your hair?’ I asked, turning around to face him.

Jack reconsidered. ‘I see your point.’

I sighed and stood up, stretching. I saw Jack’s eyes linger on my body. Feeling self-conscious, I folded my arms over my chest and looked at my feet. Jack looked away, his ears pink.

‘Are we going to talk about it?’ he said after a long silence.

‘Talk about what?’ I asked, sitting on the edge of his bed.

Jack sat next to me. ‘Helena.’

I held my breath and closed my eyes. ‘No.’

‘We need to discuss it,’ he said. ‘You need to go and see her.’

‘I don’t want to.’

‘Why not?’

‘She isn’t … she’s not-’ I couldn’t find the words to describe it.