Sixty-three

My hand raises without my consent and fire is produced. I'm about to throw it when June steps in the way. She locks eyes with me. "Zahra, I can't let you hurt him."

"I can't hurt you too,"

June shakes her head. "I will be fine, but you have to let me do what I must to keep everyone safe."

I nod, not really caring anymore what it took for me to stop. "Please?"

June nods. She takes a step towards me when I feel my mind being ripped apart. I crumple to the ground and scream. "Stop!" But the pain intensifies, and I end up curled in a fetal position, holding my head in both hands.

From somewhere around me, I hear a voice say, "You're going to be alright."

There was a scream of pain that wasn't my own, then I black out, the pain too much.

As I drift in darkness, I feel at peace and embrace it. I didn't want to go back to the world where pain and agony ruled. I didn't want the fights and the blood. I just wanted this.

Then, a bright light shines behind me, Roan's voice coming from it. It begged me to go back, to keep fighting. Another voice joined his, this one Aspen. He pleaded for me to not give up, that I was strong, that I shouldn't let Marin scare me off.

I frowned, glancing to the endless dark where peace awaited, then back to where my brother waited. Did I really want to die? Did I really want to leave my brother after only knowing him for a short period of time?

A figure appeared as a silhouette against the bright light. It was a slim figure, and at first I thought it was a child, but then, as it got closer, I realized it was a young woman.

Mahogany hair flowed about her shoulders as her hazel eyes twinkled at me on a gorgeous face. Somehow, I knew who she was instantly. "Mother?"

She smiled. "Zahra, my beautiful girl!"

I blinked away tears and hugged myself. "Roan said you're dead."

"I am, but I came because you need help. You're in between life and death, and I am here to tell you to go back."

Sighing, I sit down. "I'm scared mother. I'm scared to be hurt again, scared of being alone again."

"Roan hasn't abandoned you, and he never will. He will be the best person for you to look to for help."

"Even if I've made mistakes?"

Mother chuckled and squatted next to me. "We all make mistakes, Zahra. It's how we grow. I'm sure he's made mistakes too. Big or small, he will never leave your side because of a mistake you made. He will help you."

I look at her with big sad eyes. "But what if he gets hurt?"

Mother cupped my face. "If I know my boy, he won't give up. He will fight to get back on his feet to protect the ones he loves."

Just then, a child's cry made it through the fog of my mind.

I jolted upright and gasped. Beside me, Roan held his arms out to steady me, but I ignored him. Jed was hurt.

"He has nothing to do with this," I hear Lucas from a short distance aaway. "Leave him alone."

"He'll be just like you! I won't let any spawn of yours live!" Marin hissed.

"He is a baby!"

"I don't care! Just like you didn't care for my children!"

I saw his body tense, readying to strike a blow. I screamed, bolting to my feet and lunging for the man who was worse than Lucas, worse than my father. I knocked him down, wrapped one hand about his throat and used the other to summon fire and plunge it into his gaping mouth.

Eyes wide, Marin gasped and weakly struggled beneath me, his face turning red as it grew hot. I saw his throat work, seeming to swallow whatever ash was in his mouth, swallowing embers that now coursed through his body. I willed them to alight. Suddenly, his whole body is aflame, and I jump off. Marin is twitching, half screaming, half choking on fire until there was no more sound. Until his body went still and turned ashen.

Until I collapsed to the ground with shock and horror and disgust and triumph.

I wake to a headache and my mouth parched. I groan, try to sit up, only to find myself tied down. When I actually open my eyes, I am in my head, not with Roan and Aspen, but in my head. Not far away, is Marin.

He smiles at me with a menacing look that promised pain. "Zahra, you have been very rude. I'm disappointed in you."

"Let me go!" I beg.

"Unfortunately for you, I have other plans." He walked over and circled me, looking me up and down with a frown. "You are so fragile Zahra, so weak in the face of danger. I am able to take your mind as easily as if you were a child."

"How are you alive?" I ask more to keep him talking than actual curiosity.

"I'm not," he chuckled. "At least not entirely. I'm between life and death, held there by being here. Here, inside your head keeps me from dying completely, in which I thank you."

I briefly struggle to get free, but then still. I begin to remember something Aspen told me a while back. It calms me, it gives me hope.