I turned and ran towards Phoenix, getting as close as I could before the wind pushed me stumbling back. I regained my balance and screamed his name as I felt Lincoln behind me.
Phoenix turned slightly, his shoulders sagging in relief as he kept the winds rippling and swirling around him. He knew where I’d been; that Sammael had been defeated.
‘You need to leave!’ I screamed, pushing closer again.
‘A little busy right now!’ he called back, somehow managing a small smile.
‘Phoenix, look at me!’ I cried.
He glanced over briefly, his strained expression filled with knowing. There was blood running from his ear and down his neck.
Jesus, how much more of this can he take?
‘You always worried you were becoming a new kind of angel, but can you finally see?’ he called out. ‘You were always becoming the best kind of human.’ His eyes met mine, and for a few magical beats all the mayhem around us went away and his calm brown eyes met my hazel ones and understanding passed between us. He knew what I was going to do.
‘This is your destiny!’ he yelled.
Tears fell and I shook my head. ‘There’s still time! You can get away,’ I called out, ignoring Lincoln, who had braced my shoulders from behind as if he knew I might do something crazy.
Phoenix held my gaze and it felt in that moment as if he were holding me together. ‘You are exactly where you are supposed to be and so am I.’ He managed a smile. ‘It’s time for the final act.’
‘No!’ I screamed at him, angry now. ‘You’ll die!’ I couldn’t stand by and let him make this choice. This ultimate sacrifice.
‘Listen to her, Phoenix,’ Lincoln called out. ‘You don’t have to do this.’
Phoenix’s eyes lingered on me before moving to Lincoln’s. ‘Promise me!’
Two words that could have meant anything, but which Lincoln and I both knew were solely about me.
Lincoln didn’t hesitate. ‘Always.’
Phoenix nodded once then looked back across the river to the suburbs being ripped apart, the land sinking into the ocean, and then back to me. He knew he was the only one strong enough to hold the wind. But I didn’t care. Right at that moment, I honestly didn’t. I wanted him to be safe. He deserved his chance.
‘Do it!’ he mouthed and then turned his face back to the storm, his arms wide as he gave it everything he had. And the sheer fortitude in his eyes transferred to me and I found myself nodding even as my throat closed in.
My hand went out and Lincoln moved to my side and grasped it. ‘Open everything, Linc. This is going to hurt.’
‘Take whatever you need,’ he replied without faltering, squeezing my hand and opening our soul bond, bringing me new strength beyond anything I’d ever experienced.
I pulled it all within, adding it to what already lay inside me, and then I lifted into my Sight, hovering above my physical form. I concentrated on the scene below, taking one, then ten, a hundred, a thousand, as far as I could push, my Sight travelling with little more than a thought as I cruised first along the river and then the main square of the French Quarter, down Bourbon Street and finally to Canal Street, looping back down to the river and sucking every exile within the circle into my power. It was more than I’d ever tried or contemplated trying to hold before tonight.
All the while, I tried to exclude Phoenix; tried to keep him free of my power, but in the end it was impossible. The power that had always beckoned me was too strong. Unleashed as it was it consumed me, leading the way.
I knew I had only enough control for one final choice.
I made it.
I tore from each and every one of them what they had given up any right to have. The power coursed through me, my body shaking as I gave the last. My all.
And every single exile under my power fell.
CHaPteR tHIRty-SeVeN
‘Neither shall they say see here or see there, for behold, the kingdom of God is within you.’
Luke 17:20
When I opened my eyes, I was cradled in Lincoln’s arms while he shielded me from the wind and torrential rain.
His eyes were fixed on mine.
‘Did it work?’ I gasped.
He nodded in awe. ‘They’re all down.’
‘Phoenix?’ I asked, my voice breaking. But, really, I already knew.
‘Phoenix too,’ Lincoln said.
I stumbled to my feet, despite Lincoln’s attempts to stop me, and faced the storm.
‘Michael!’ I screamed at the top of my lungs. ‘Michael!’ My hands fisted at my sides.
‘Over there,’ Lincoln said in my ear, pointing me to the corner of the rooftop.
A lion stood proudly at the edge, his front paws mounted on the surrounding wall – the wind neither a deterrent nor bother. And with one almighty roar that sounded and felt like thunder, the rain stopped and the hurricane pulled into a gentle tornado and travelled back out to sea.