Phoenix

Confrontation

It was well past midnight by the time Ash slipped into her dormitory. She hadn't eaten much that day, just some plain rice and fried potatoes, brought to their meeting room by Gus while they discussed and refined Shorty's battle plans. His hands had lingered on Ash's bowl, his gaze searching. She'd pretended not to notice, had stuffed her mouth full so she wouldn't have to talk, then turned to hide the prickly heat rising to her cheeks. She hadn't wanted to eat much after that.

Now, her stomach growled as she lit the candle next to her bed by swiping her hand close to the wick. As the flame burst to life, she noticed an anomaly against the wall—a bulge in the curved outline of limestone that had not been there before.

Holding the candle out like an offering, she lengthened the flame and directed it towards the anomaly. As light grazed the shadows and contours, she realised it was a human being, crouching and watching.

A blue fringe flickered dirty green in the candle light. Blue eyes widened. Freia slowly unfurled from her position, holding a slip of paper in her shaking hands. "Who's Jai?" she said. "Your lover back in Ace?"

If it wasn't so dark, Ash was sure Freia would've noticed her whole face drain of blood. The paper had been ripped from the diary next to her bed. She remembered what she'd written in it that night. Every word. And it wasn't good. "That's none of your business," she said, holding her hand. "Give it back."

"None of my business?" Freia said. "I wonder what the others will think when I harp to them that your lover boy knows Lydia Syntra from Seers Advertising. Wasn't she the Director's little pet, the one that got killed in a car crash?"

"Give. It. Back," Ash said.

"Or what?"

Ash focussed on the paper in Freia's hands, filled the air with heat, then channelled it into a fine point like a ray of sun through a magnifying glass. But just as she released it, Freia moved the paper behind her back.

No!

The rest happened in slow motion. The spark hit Freia with a sound of a pillow hitting another pillow—whomp. And before Ash could pull back her intention, Freia's arms flew outwards, the paper fluttering from her grasp, the front of her robes exploding into flames.

Swiping the sheet from her bed, Ash tackled Freia to the ground and rolled her over and over to smother the flames, while using her force to draw the fire away from the fabric and into the surrounding oxygen. Soon, only the acrid smell of smoke remained.

Freia pushed Ash away with all her strength and struggled out of her cotton binding. Clutching her chest, she staggered to the far side of the room, putting the bed between them. "I seen you were a crow from the start," she gasped, using the orphan slang for murderer. "The Director was right. You killed my brother. And now, you got eyes for me."

Ash was too shocked to speak. How did Freia know? Had Eli told her?

Freia straightened and squared her body to Ash. "Well, go on. Do it. I dare you. Crow me like you crowed Eric."

When Ash didn't move, Freia's lips slid over her teeth as though she were smiling. It was the smile of a hyena—all pointy whites and triumphant grinding of molars. "What? Suddenly gone froze? Wondering how I seen all this time you were a crow?" She sneered. "I seen ever since the Recruitment," she said. "I was late for breakfast because Falconious took me aside and harped me what you did to Eric. Harped me to spy on you, to bring back information about the Wanderers so they could kill you all. I was happy to do it. Harped him everything I knew about your witchy friends when Eli took me back to Ace."

Ash digested this information as though it was a rock. Freia had known what she'd done the whole time and had managed to refrain from doing more than slapping her in the face. It seemed like a feat of endurance that only an orphan could've managed. The venom in Freia's slap made much more sense now.

"I didn't mean to burn you," Ash began. "I—" Her voice wobbled and fell away. She'd been about to say,I didn't mean to kill your brother, but that wasn't true. In that moment, she'd wanted to kill him with every molecule of her being.

Freia seemed to sense it too for suddenly, she lunged, sharpened fingernails slicing the air. Ash was too slow to react and Freia's claws stripped the skin from her arm, in the same place Eric's had done in the alleyway.

Capitalising on her element of surprise, Freia shoved Ash against the wall, pinned her so that her cheek was pressed against the rough, limestone wall. Condensation dripped down Ash's chin and pooled in her collarbone. She could've used her force to break free, could've cried out for help. But she did neither. She didn't want to hurt Freia any more than she'd already done. She's already killed her brother. Freia's actions were nothing considering what Ash would've done if their situations were reversed.

Freia's fingers laced around the chain of the pocket watch, pulled tight, and twisted. Ash realised now what Freia was going to do. Retribution by suffocation. A neck for a neck.

"They're coming for you," Freia rasped in Ash's ear. "The Establishment will be here any day now." Her fingers twisted the chain so that, link by link, it shortened her air supply until it cut it off completely. "I was going to let them kill you. But now I think I'll do it myself."

Ash's eyes bulged and the veins in her face engorged to capacity. As the oxygen left her, so did her connection to her force. She tried to reach for Gunner's knife in her hair, but couldn't twist her arm backwards. And struggling only sped up the asphyxiation process. So, like a prisoner strung from the hangman's rope, she gave in to the fall.

And closed her eyes.

The pocket watch ticked against the pulse point at her throat, seemed to slow in time with her heart. As her conscious faded, so did the limestone cave, Freia, everything. And from the darkness, a memory surfaced, clear as the day it was made over a decade ago.

________________________________________________________________________________

*~*

Still enjoying the book? Please consider supporting an independent writer by buying PHOENIX FROM THE ASHES for $1.99 USD (or the equivalent in your territory's denomination) at the link below. If you do, you get the BONUS EPILOGUE as a thank you :)

https://books2read.com/PhoenixFromTheAshes

________________________________________________________________________________

*~*

Individual links:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094691Y28

https://books.apple.com/au/book/phoenix-from-the-ashes/id1566013656

https://www.kobo.com/au/en/ebook/phoenix-from-the-ashes

https://www.scribd.com/book/506289899/Phoenix-from-the-Ashes

https://shop.vivlio.com/product/9798201713911_9798201713911_10020

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/phoenix-from-the-ashes-lk-skripjack/1139405381;jsessionid=C85A66F5346F67905D72F073A499EE11.prodny_store02-atgap03?ean=2940165268571