Incarnate

“Were they?”

 

 

“More or less. I’ve proven that Janan isn’t all-powerful and worthy of worship, like Meuric and his friends keep saying.” He glanced at me. “Don’t you hate them? I can’t stand listening to them argue about how we’re here for this or that purpose. Now, even though I think I’ve proven Janan is real, I’ve also proven that whatever he is, he can be stopped.”

 

I didn’t want to think about Meuric. My stomach twisted, remembering the way I’d thrust my knife into his eye. “So that’s what you’ve been working on these last eighteen years? How to halt reincarnation?”

 

Menehem nodded.

 

“I thought it was about sylph. And controlling them.”

 

“No. Well, yes, it started out that way. But I never discovered a way to control sylph.”

 

Which meant Li couldn’t have stolen his research and used it to send sylph after me. Menehem wouldn’t be able to tell me why there’d been two sylph attacks in as many days, back when I left Purple Rose Cottage.

 

“I thought you wanted to find Sam.” He waved me toward the avenue again. “I saw him earlier, heading toward the north wall.”

 

Of course he knew what Sam looked like if he’d been following me. I shuddered.

 

Targeting lights streaked across the air, lasers piercing dragon flesh. We splashed through chemicals—probably Menehem’s concoction—meant to neutralize the dragon’s acid, and darted around dead beasts littering the ground. The creatures provided cover for humans and sylph alike, though the latter seemed more intent on finding a way out of the city. They wafted toward the wall, then jumped and fled when they saw Menehem.

 

I grabbed the nearest stranger. “Have you seen Sam?” He shook his head and started to pull away, but I didn’t release his coat. “Don’t die tonight. You won’t be reborn. Tell everybody.”

 

The stranger narrowed his eyes, but nodded. “Good luck finding Sam.”

 

I shouted for Sam as loud as I could, but my voice was useless under the din. When I asked people about him, some of them pointed to places they thought they’d seen him; most of those places were in opposite directions. Nevertheless, I told everyone about Menehem’s plan, pointed at the darkened temple for proof, and followed their leads through the press of people. Five said they’d seen him in the northwest quarter.

 

My shoes squelched in mud. The crops were ruined from the acid and neutralizing chemicals; the ground was safe to walk on, at least.

 

“Sam!” My throat ached with cold and screaming. I ducked behind a dead dragon and shot at another as it swooped through the air, homing in on a nearby section of the wall. The beast shrieked as I shot it again. I ran for a ladder. Maybe someone on the wall had seen Sam.

 

I’d lost Menehem. Didn’t matter. I’d find him if he lived. If not . . .

 

He wasn’t my concern. I hauled myself up the ladder, aching bone-deep now, and paused only to shoot at the enormous wing as the dragon landed on the wall. The structure shuddered, and my ladder trembled, but I leaned all my weight forward and it held the rest of my ascent.

 

The wall was thick enough for ten people to stand abreast. It was still too small for a dragon to perch on, but this one tried. It hooked its front talons on the wall, hovering over a prone figure. Lights glared, making me squint as I took aim and fired.

 

A lucky shot; I hit its eye. With a deafening roar, the dragon spewed acid in my direction, but its depth perception was gone with its eye. My ladder sizzled as the dragon fell backward, clawing at its face. It flailed, its wings scooping air so hard I couldn’t breathe, but I didn’t think it would attack again, at least for a few minutes.

 

I ran for the man who’d nearly been dragon melt. He wasn’t moving.

 

“Ana?” Stef was just beyond the man I crouched over. Blood streaked her face and matted her hair as she struggled to her feet. “What are you doing here? Is he okay?” She swayed and dropped to her knees on the other side of . . .

 

Sam. He was on his stomach and wearing a coat I didn’t recognize, but shifting lights illuminated his profile. I touched his throat, searching for a pulse. His skin was cold, and for a moment I thought he was dead, but then I found the flutter of blood through arteries. Sam coughed and tried to pull his elbows in so he could push himself up. “Not dead yet?”

 

I choked on a sob. “Not yet.”

 

He moved quickly, pushed up and onto his knees, and stared at me with wide eyes and disbelief. “Ana.”

 

More than anything, I wanted to hug him. I didn’t.

 

“No time for ‘I missed yous.’” I found my feet and grabbed my weapons. “Menehem did something to Janan. No one who dies tonight will be reborn. We need to be elsewhere until it’s safe to be dead again.”

 

Stef looked dazed. “What?”

 

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