The rage in me, which I quickly realize was Espen’s, drains away, and I sag back against Gee with a gasp.
Lettice starts to wail as Kensa rushes to her fallen husband.
Timo pulls out of Ruri’s grasp with a growl. He raises his thin arms, flames dancing in his eyes and at his fingertips.
The fire in the hearth swells, suddenly exploding outward. Flames spiral toward the snatcher as the blast knocks us all to the floor, pain flaring in my cheek. Billowing smoke fills the room.
“Go!” Gee shouts from next to me, coughing. I stagger to my feet and try to pull her up, but she shoos me away. “Go, Cassia!”
The thatched roof catches like kindling. Smoke, as well as the acrid smell of singed hair, stings my eyes and fills my lungs.
Kensa’s faint outline bends over the crib, coughing and pulling Letty into her arms. I lean back and use all my weight to pull Gee to her feet.
“Cassia!” My name over the flames sounds distant, like a dream. Cassia, get to the door! Ruri’s voice is crystal clear in my mind.
I stagger in what I hope is the right direction. Gee finds her legs, suddenly moving faster than me.
We reach the door and stumble out, smoke streaming around us, choking in the cool night air. Tears slide down Timo’s cheeks as he peers back into the house.
“Mama! Papa!” he cries.
A shadow appears. Then Kensa rushes through the door, Letty screaming in her arms. She shoves the baby at Gee.
“I need to go back for…” She coughs, then chokes out, “for Espen.”
Refusing to take Letty, Gee pulls Kensa farther away from the house. “Get the baby away from the smoke. I’ll get Espen.” Then she turns to me, holding my face in surprisingly strong hands. “Run, Cassia.”
Without a backward glance, my grandma disappears into the inferno.
“Gee, no!” I stand frozen, one arm stretched after her fading silhouette. The fire roars, something crashes. Everyone but me takes a step back. Even if Gee reaches Espen, there’s no way she’ll have the strength to lift him and get him out. I have to go after her, but my feet have grown roots deep into the earth.
Ruri steps in front of me, saying something. Her mouth moves slowly, forming words I can’t hear. She shakes me, but my body is boneless and sways like reeds in the breeze. I waver in the heat and smoke. Blood roars in my ears.
I can’t breathe.
Warmth trickles from my nose. I taste something metallic.
Cassia! Snap out of it! Ruri shouts directly into my head, and it’s like a slap to the face. I look at her. The telepath’s blue eyes are wide and glassy with fright, her jaw clenched. At her side, Timo grasps her dress, coughing into the crook of his arm.
“Cass!” She shouts again. This time, I can hear the words out loud and in my head at the same time. “Please. We have to–”
A band of dark, shimmering metal appears around her throat, yanking her backward. Her voice disappears from my mind as her magic is snuffed out like a candle.
Ruri claws at her neck with both hands as the snatcher drags her away. Its pale skin is streaked with ash, but its managed to escape the fire unscathed.
When Timo starts pulling at its cloak, it strikes out. The boy hits the snowy ground with a grunt and rolls a few paces away.
Something snaps inside me. I lurch forward with a cry, grabbing for Ruri’s hand. I catch hold of her wrist. My feet skid over the snow, doing nothing to stop her being dragged toward the prison wagon. The metal skeleton of the cage glints in the light from the fire.
“Run!” Ruri screams, her panicked eyes moving between me and her brother. I don’t need her magic to get the message.
Save Timo.
I look into her eyes and nod, then bolt to Timo.
“Come on.” I grab his hand and yank him up. He strains toward his sister, crying her name.
My heart wrenches as I pull him away, leaving her and Gee, who still hasn’t emerged from the inferno, behind.
Timo stumbles to keep up, still crying Ruri’s name. Even a few steps away from the blaze, the bitter night air chills my sweat-slick skin, setting all my hairs on end.
Ruri is just a silhouette now, thrashing inside the cage. The snatcher turns toward us. Its milky-white eyes lock onto my own in silent promise.
We’re next.
“Come on, Timo!” My breath clouds before us, and we stagger into the darkness.
Chapter Five
With each step away from Henling, my mind clears, my thoughts and feelings becoming my own once more.
“Cassia…I…can’t.” Timo pulls away from me and doubles over, hands on his knees, panting.
The trees on either side of us are silent, the only sound our ragged breathing. Blood crashes through my ears.
Behind us, a thick plume of smoke rises, spiraling up to the vibrant green curtain of the aurora draped across the night sky.
Useless…
The word twists in my gut with each painful breath. I left my sick grandmother in a burning building. Thanks to this stars-cursed magic, I froze when it mattered most, and now I’m running away from the people I care about.
But I can’t go back. Not yet. I promised Ruri I would get Timo to safety.
I turn my back on the village, gritting my teeth. The path leading to the enclave is lit with an eerie, verdant glow from the aurora. Without darkness to cover our tracks, we’re easy prey.
This morning, I felt like I was being hunted. Now, I actually am.
“Come…” I reach to take Timo’s hand, but he pulls back and looks up at me, gasping.
“I hurt you," he breathes out, tears tracking down his dirty cheeks. “Your face…your hair.”
“I’m fine, Timo.” Truthfully, the pain barely registers. I scoop up a handful of snow and press it against my hot cheek anyway, hoping that will calm him.
“My family…,” he sobs. “It’s my fault.”
“Gee will get your pa out. I promise.” Hot tears prick at my eyes.
I left Gee behind.
“Your ma and Letty are safe. We saw them, remember?” I continue, ignoring the thoughts stabbing at me like knives. “And if they don’t rescue Ruri, we will. But we can’t do that if we get caught.” I glance back toward the village. “You saw that metal ring around her neck?”
Timo nods, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.
“It’s made of a metal alloy that stops magic. If they put one on us, our magic will disappear. You understand?”
He nods again, his face gaunt in the green light of the aurora. Then his brows furrow. “Us? You have magic, too?”
I exhale. “Yes, Timo, which is why we have to keep running. Okay?”
He glances back to the smoke rising into the sky. “Where will we go?”
I point up the path. "The sisters at the enclave are my friends. They’ll look after us, protect us. The snatcher can’t follow us there.”
Hearing movement in the distance, I grab Timo’s hand again. “We need to get off the road.”
I pull him toward the shadowy line of trees to our left. Underneath the pines, the light of the aurora is weaker. Anything farther than an arm’s length in front of us dissolves into darkness.
We stumble forward. I pull Timo with one hand, the other stretched in front of me to keep from running straight into the trees. Snow crunches beneath our boots. Unseen roots and plants claw at our ankles.