I put my nails on his wrist and scraped as hard as I could.
He finally looked at me, his gaze glowing and glistening. So I repeated his name. “Rey’azikeen. You have to stop. You’re going to burn this town down.”
He looked through the fire. He’d already leveled the park.
“You have to stop.”
He furrowed his brows. Looked down at his sister’s ashes. Bent down and covered his eyes with his fists.
That was when I saw them, rising over the god before me. I fell back and looked on in awe. He was covered in fire, his outline almost translucent. But the fire arced over him, too, and created the illusion of wings. Massive, angelic wings folded in and wrapped around him.
I forgot all about the impending nuclear disaster. I watched my husband as he sat back on his heels and laid his head back, trying desperately to get control over his emotions. He was solid muscle. Tense and combustible and so beautiful I ached. And he had wings. The fires licked over them, shaping and molding them. He dropped his head into his hands again.
Before I could snap out of it, another being walked into the fire. A departed. She laid her hand on Reyes’s head, and he opened his eyes. Looked up at her. Almost collapsed when she kneeled down and folded him into her arms.
“He was trying to draw you out,” Kim said, more beautiful than I’d ever seen her. “He knew that you’ve been following him.”
“What?” I asked, appalled. I stood and walked over to him. “You were following him? An evil, malevolent god? Was this one of your secrets? Because I don’t remember this coming up during our last conversation.”
Kim laughed softly, stood, and hugged me. I hugged her back for a long time.
“I understand so much now,” she said, then looked back at her brother. “I know how special you are. Both of you. I knew you were, but not like this.”
“Kim, I wish we could have told you more,” I said.
Reyes stood and looked at her like she was the sun and he’d been raised in total darkness. His fire still billowed around him.
“You don’t understand,” she said. Her face brightened. “My name is on Rocket’s wall. I was sent.”
“Kim, that’s amazing,” I said, not sure what else to say.
She nodded and leveled a loving gaze on her brother. “I was sent here for a reason. I know it. And I promise to guard her forever.” She put one hand on my face and one on Reyes’s. “I’ll be your eyes and ears. I will give you minute-by-minute updates on how she is. What she’s doing. Her first words. Her first steps.” She lowered her head and smiled. “I’m an aunt of the girl who is destined to save the world. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
“Oh yeah?” I teased. “Well, I’m her mom. That’s right.” I blew on my fingernails and polished them on my shirt. “You can be jealous.”
She chuckled, but Reyes was still lost. The fire still raged. Her loss still cut.
I stepped forward, drew him down to me, and put my mouth on his. Then I tamed the fire. I cooled it with my breath. With the beats of my heart. With the pulse of my energy.
The roar of the fire was replaced with a crackling sound as ice spread from under my feet, along the boardwalk, and up walls and posts and amusement park rides. The fires around us died immediately, and black smoke rose in its place, the scent pungent and acrid.
I pulled back. Reyes’s wings were gone, and his fire had calmed though certainly didn’t disappear. He was made of fire, so it was no wonder.
“Only she can tame the beast,” Kim said.
I looked at her in question. “It’s something Rocket said to me.”
“Ah. He’s smarter than he seems.”
She nodded and pulled us both into a hug. “Would you like to see her?” she asked us in the softest whisper.
“Yes!” I said before Reyes could say no. When he gave me a wary look, I said, “I don’t even have my light right now. Just for a minute.”
His head still not quite in the game, he nodded, and in the next heartbeat we were in a convenience store. A couple in front of us was oohing and aahing as they served themselves cups of coffee.
“Your light is not as visible,” Kim said, “but you’re still not really human. The supernatural world can sense that. You must be quick.”
“I promise.” I couldn’t take my eyes off the carrier Mr. Loehr had set on the counter while Mrs. Loehr doctored their coffees.
They were chattering about what color curtains to put in Beep’s room. And Mr. Loehr needed to call the gas company the second they arrived. They were on a trip, across country from the looks of it. Were they moving them again?
I glanced around and saw the outline of a hellhound nearby. It backed away when it realized who we were, as did the other three.
A coo sounded from the carrier, and my breath came out too sharp, too loud, when I heard her. The Loehrs tensed instantly. Mrs. Loehr scooped the carrier up while Mr. Loehr stepped in front of them. A barrier. A protector. And then they recognized us, and relief rushed through them both.
I smiled, put an index finger over my mouth, and gave a secretive wink. Surprised, they smiled back and pulled me into a group hug.
“Is everything okay?” Mrs. Loehr asked.
Reyes nodded and took his would-have-been mother into a fierce hug. He did the same with Mr. Loehr while I stepped closer to the carrier she’d put back on the counter.
I could see her essence before I saw Beep herself. Then I saw her. A tiny hand at first. A pudgy arm. And then huge, coppery eyes that dominated a round face. For the first time in over a month, I saw my daughter.
I put a hand over my mouth, she was so beautiful. She smiled at me, her dimpled cheeks bright pink and full of life. Her eyes sparkling.
Mrs. Loehr looked on proudly. She tipped the carrier so I could see her better. “They say it’s gas.”
“Gas?”
“That makes babies smile at this age.” She leaned in and whispered, “They’ve never met Miss Elwyn Alexandra.”
She beamed at me and then at her husband. They seemed so happy despite the danger we’d put them in. They seemed grateful.
Reyes came to stand beside me.
I laughed softly, the joy in my heart so overwhelming. “She’s dark and powerful and fierce,” I said to him. “And she’s no more human than you or I.”