This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.
In the ashes of her past, she will rise up, and her death will save us all.
Lizzie ran from her past for ten years, zigzagging across the United States every few months, trying to outlast the prophesy that an oracle gave to her when she was just sixteen years old.
But nobody can run from their destiny forever.
After watching her friend brutally gunned down by a group of ruthless demons, she had no choice but to protect the woman’s child, and there was only one place where Lizzie knew the girl would be safe.
Bronard, Missouri.
Home.
She stayed away to protect her parents, but the girl needed mystical protection.
Her parents had taken in magical strays their whole lives, including Lizzie. If anyone could save the poor child’s life, it would be her mother and father.
But will returning to her home doom Lizzie even as she works to save the child she has vowed to defend?
I racked my brain to try to remember where Becky lived. We chatted so much that she must have told me before, but I couldn’t think—in a flood of adrenaline, I passed an intersection where the street sign triggered a memory. I’d driven her home once after Rick stood her up.
Though, she wasn’t a human at all, was she? She was probably fae, like Rick, and they were on the run, just like all those poor little fairies that came into our house when I was a kid. They were scared—petrified, really—and alone. The world was tough enough for humans, but fairy folk had been hunted down for centuries.
We could blend in with humans, sure, but our magic left a mark. Anybody that knew what to look for could find us. That was why Rick’s necklace was so important. The black opal had special properties allowing magic to bind to it, specifically a very powerful protection spell that kept fae hidden from all but the most powerful magical forces. However, you needed runes to keep it charged, or else it was useless.
I parked on the street across from Becky’s house. She drove a rusty Dodge Charger that barely turned over most days, which I didn’t see in the driveway. If I had a heart, I would have offered her my car, or at least to give her a ride, but I was protective of my wheels in case I needed to leave town at a moment’s notice.
That made me wonder why I was still there. I’d run away from so much less. Normally I would already be on the road, halfway across the state by now. And yet, I couldn’t will myself to leave Becky. How had she made such an impression in such a short time? Why were some people so good at burrowing themselves into your heart?
It was probably the magic. Of course. Becky might not even be aware of her power, but it was the only explanation. I was far too rational to let her win me over any other way. Even with the possibility that she might have cast a spell on me, I couldn’t put the car back into drive and speed off into the horizon.
I was sitting there wrestling with my desire to leave when the beat-up Dodge Charger pulled around the corner and into the driveway. Becky removed two brown bags from the backseat and walked toward the house.
I stepped out of the car and walked toward her. “Becky!”
She turned to me. “Jesus, Jude. You almost gave me a heart attack.”
“We have to go. Come on.”
“What are you ta—” She looked past me toward the car behind her and instantly made the connection. “Where’s Rick?”
I dropped my eyes. “He’s dead. Four men came looking for you. We tried to escape. I made it. He didn’t. Where’s Veronica?”
She started trembling. She tried to control her crying, stay in control, but the emotions were winning. “She—how—Are you one of them?”
“Who are them?”
“They’re—they’re after Veronica,” she said. “Because of what she is. Because of what we all are.”
“No, I’m not one of them.” I looked back to the street. They would be coming any minute. “Let’s go inside. Do you have a go-bag?”
She opened the front door. “We’ve had one since we moved in, just in case.” She set the food down on the counter. “Guess I don’t need these. I was gonna make lasagna.” She walked toward the stairs. “Wait here for me.”
“Where’s Veronica?” I yelled down the hall.
“Still at school. I was just about to pick her up.”
I peered out of the window. A long black car slid to a stop in front of the house. “We have to go, now!”
When I turned back, Becky had a duffel strapped to her side and was holding a tiny backpack just the right size for a little girl. “I’m ready.”
“Who are these guys?” I asked, watching them walk out of the car.
“Demons,” she replied.
“Why are they after Veronica?”
“We didn’t know for a long time. They have been after us since she was born. Finally, we went to an Oracle.”
“Let me guess,” I said, pushing a chair to the lock as they stormed up the stairs. “She’s a prophecy girl?”
“Well, she is a girl, and she has a prophecy, so yeah, I guess so. The Oracle said she would save the world. Then, she told us to get some black opal and lay low, and we’ve been doing that ever since.” She pulled the necklace from her blouse. “See?”
“Did you charge it?”
“Nobody said anything about charging it.”
Someone pounded loudly against the door. “Of course they didn’t. Is there a back door to this place?”
“Yes,” Becky replied, turning around. We heard glass smashing, and two demons rushed inside, guns drawn.
They began to fire their weapons. Bullets tore through the front of the house as I rushed up the stairs, pulling Becky along behind me. She cried out and fell to her knees, a thick red streak on the wall behind her. She looked up at me with glassy eyes, pressing her fingers against her stomach.
“I’m fine. Keep going.”
I dragged her along with me to the master bedroom at the end of the hallway and pushed a heavy dresser in front of the door. Becky stumbled to the edge of the bed. Her breathing was labored and wet.
“Let me see.” I ripped open her shirt to find the bullet hole that had punctured her stomach. It spurted blood with every heave of her chest.
“Listen to me,” Becky whispered as the door slammed. “Protect my daughter, please.”
I shook my head. “You’re going to protect her just fine. Don’t worry.”
She squeezed my hand. “Don’t lie to me. Promise me you’ll protect her.”
My eyes filled with tears as I nodded. “I promise. I promise, but you’re going to—”
“Millard Fillmore. Mister Matt’s class. She’s a panda…” She slumped over, white as a sheet.
There wasn’t any more time to say my goodbyes. Heavy footsteps thundered down the hall. I ripped the necklace off Becky’s neck, grabbed the bags, and smashed through the window out onto the roof. The moment the demons banged open the door, I slid down the roof and landed in some bushes.
By the time they fired at me, I was already halfway down the block in Rick’s Buick. Just leave, Lizzie. Just leave. You don’t owe her anything. You’ve only known her a month. Just a single stupid month. You don’t owe her your life.
Even as I said the words to myself, my hands turned the wheel away from the main road as if I was being guided by an invisible force. At the end of the block, I took a right, and in four blocks, I ended up in front of Millard Fillmore elementary school.
I ducked inside and headed to the bathroom to wash the blood from my hands in the tiny sinks much too small for my body. I did my best to scrub at my pants, but I didn’t have much time. I had to hope people would assume it was paint. It wouldn’t take long for the demons to realize Veronica wasn’t at the house and come to the school looking for her.
The building wasn’t very big, and I followed the pandas down the colorfully decorated hallways. There was a jolly one painted on Mister Matt’s door.
“Excuse me?” I said, knocking on the crepe paper taped to the door.
Mister Matt was in the center of the room reading a book to the kids, and he turned to me with kind eyes before his smile dropped from the sight of me. “Can I…help you?”
I nodded. “I’m sorry to be a bother, but I need to see Veronica.”
“Are you a parent, or—”
“Her mother is very sick, and her father rushed her to the hospital. They sent me here. All I have is this?” I pulled the black opal necklace out of my pocket. “Do you recognize this, Veronica?”
She looked at it for a moment and then pulled an identical one out of her shirt. “That’s Mommy’s. I have one just like it!”
“I know this is irregular,” I said.
He shook his head. “I simply can’t—”
“There’s no time for this!” I didn’t blame him, but right now, he was an obstacle to Veronica’s safety, and he had to get out of my way or suffer the consequences.
I stormed into the room and picked Veronica up. By the time I turned around, Mister Matt was on top of me, lumbering over me with his lanky frame.
“Let her go!” he screamed.
I pushed him hard as he rushed toward me. He stumbled backward and fell into the tiny tables the children used. The children screamed bloody murder and rushed to him.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” I called out to the class, then turned to Veronica. “Are you ready to go?”
“Are we really going to see Mommy?” She was strangely calm, given the situation.
I nodded. “Of course. She’s very excited to see you.” The lie sent pangs through my body. There was only one place safe enough for an orphaned fairy kid. Looks like I would be headed back to Bronard after all. Mom will be so excited.
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.