The Phoenix Prophecy: Nova

It’s early. I’m sitting on the steps outside the kitchen, staring at the fountain. Luther left for Ridgemore at sunrise to try to track down Nova’s ex, although we’re both pretty certain he won’t be there. The world’s media will be looking for him by now, and my hunch is he’ll be holed up with whoever was holding that camera.

I hear her footsteps before I see her. She’s still wearing Tanner’s tee shirt, and pads barefoot down the steps to sit next to me.

“Did you sleep?” I ask, examining her tired face.

She shakes her head and tucks her hair behind her ear. “You?”

“A little.” I pass her my mug of coffee and she smiles thankfully as she drinks from it.

For a few seconds, she stares into her coffee. Then she looks up and nudges a little closer to me. “Thank you for letting me meet Snow. Thank you for sharing him with me.”

I clear my throat. I’ve been trying not to think about last night. About pulling off her nightdress and drinking in her curves in the moonlight. About forcing myself to walk away. Allowing Snow to pace in the woods until we heard her scream, knowing we’d missed the orgasm that rocked her body.

“I’m sorry I kissed you,” she says. “I didn’t mean to put you in an awkward position.”

I look at her and smile. “Never apologize for kissing me.” I place my hand gently on top of hers. “Believe me, Nova, there’s nothing I would have liked more than to kiss you back. Or stay and…” I trail off and rub the back of my neck. Nova smiles and blinks up at me from beneath her large eyelashes. Those eyes of hers are tantalizing. Two different colors. Both hypnotic. “But I’m trying to stay focused.”

“On the mobs that are looking for me? Or on figuring out if I’m the key to an ancient prophecy?” She picks up the coffee again and passes it back to me.

“Both.” I put my lips where hers were and drink.

“And which do you think is the most urgent?”

“They’re equally urgent.” I don’t want to scare her. But I do want her to realize how serious this is, so I hold her gaze.

“Mack?”

“Hmm?”

She angles herself toward me and wraps her hands tighter around the mug. “Who took the video outside my apartment?” When I frown, she puts the mug down and rubs her thighs against the cold morning air. “I can’t stop thinking about it. The filming started before the fire, but if I didn’t know what was going to happen that night, how could anyone else have known? Someone just happened to be filming my apartment block late at night at the exact moment I set it on fire?” She shakes her head vigorously. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“No,” I agree. “It doesn’t. Unless someone was keeping tabs on you. Unless someone suspected you were the Phoenix long before we did.”

I pause and look back at the fountain. The sound of the water is usually calming, but this morning there are too many thoughts racing in my head. “Luther has gone looking for Johnny, but I doubt he’ll find him.” I check my watch. “I’m going to the station as soon as this caffeine hits my system. I’ll call in some favors. See if we can get the video taken down or find out who posted it. That might lead us to whoever Johnny is working with.”

“You think he’s working with someone?”

“Someone filmed your apartment. Someone put that video together and someone visited him in the hospital to film it.”

“And you can find out who?”

“We can try.” I nod purposefully. “This is what we do. Luther and I. We find the truth and we take down the bad guys.”

At that, Nova smiles, and a laugh escapes her lips. “Like superheroes.”

I smile back then say. “Only cops. But close. And while we do that, Tanner’s going to take you to the hospital for some tests.”

Her eyes widen. “Tests?”

“Nothing invasive. Blood tests and scans.”

“Why?” She wraps her arms around her middle. Her posture says she’s feeling suddenly vulnerable, but the glint in her eye says she’s ready to defend herself if she needs to. “So we can figure out if you have human DNA or supernatural DNA. We’ll also can check for any spells or incantations that might be influencing your powers.”

Nova taps her mug with her fingernail. “Okay.” She nods. “That sounds sensible. And when we know, what then?”

I haven’t thought this far ahead, and with her watching me, I start to feel nervous. The way I used to feel when an alluring student asked a particularly insightful question in a seminar or lecture. Snow huffs at me. He’s still pissed about last night. Before I can answer, Nova sits up a little straighter and inhales slowly. “Mack, there’s something I should tell you. It might influence what happens.”

“With the tests?”

She nods. “But also…” She presses her lips together. “The video. What people think of the video.”Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

I don’t allow my expression to change.

This time, she breathes out and braces her palms on her thighs. “My parents didn’t die in a car crash.” She can’t look at me. “It was a fire. I don’t remember what happened. I don’t think I started it. All I remember is waking up in hospital and being told they were dead.” She sniffs and her eyes moisten. She glances at me. In a tiny voice, she says, “My brother died too.”

The word ‘brother’ hits me like a freight train. She had a sibling. A sibling who died. I stand and brace my hands behind my head. Snow has let out an anguished cry that’s now reverberating around my head. He’s thinking of Layla. I plead with him not to.

“Mack?” Nova stands and puts her hand on my shoulder.

“You had a brother?” I can almost feel her pain, a mirror of my own. Jesus, if this is what Tanner feels when he enters a room, for each person inside it, I’m surprised it hasn’t driven him mad.

She’s crying now, thick tears rolling silently down her cheeks. She nods. “He was only a year younger than me. My parents were fostering him.” She smiles a little. “I remember he had jet-black hair. But until tonight, I didn’t remember his voice.” The smile fades. She puts her hands over her mouth, then whispers. “Did I kill them?”

Inside, I wrap a blanket around her shoulders and guide her to the kitchen table. I want to tell her she’s not responsible for her family’s deaths. That there’s no way she killed her own parents. Her brother. But I can’t.

Into the fire. One. Two. Three.

Without saying anything, I stroke the side of her face. Snow sighs. He likes being close to her. She leans into my hand and closes her eyes.

Before I lose all willpower and give in to the urge in my stomach that’s desperate to pull her close, I stride over to the worktop and start cracking eggs into a bowl. I’m whisking them when Tanner saunters in. He’s mid-yawn when he spots Nova and stops in his tracks.

“What happened?” He winces, as if the emotion vibrating from her is causing him physical pain. “Are you okay?” He sits opposite her and clasps her hands between his.

Nova nods slowly but looks at me. She can’t say it again. I understand that.

From where I’m standing, putting down the whisk, I gently repeat what she told me. Tanner’s jaw twitches. His eyes soften. He swallows hard and closes his eyes, slamming down the gate before mine and Nova’s feelings barrel through him.

When he opens them, he slides around to Nova’s side of the table and puts an arm around her.

“I don’t remember what happened,” she says quietly. “I wish I did.”

Tanner looks over at me. “Would it help if we knew?”

I leave the eggs and walk over. I’m not sure anyone had the appetite for them, anyway. “It would certainly help if we could get ahead of it. I guarantee the media will be scouring Nova’s past as we speak. If they find out her parents died in a fire, they’ll leave no stone unturned figuring out how it got started.”

“They said it was bad wiring,” Nova mutters, almost to herself. Leaning onto her elbows, she pinches the bridge of her nose. “They said it was wiring.”

Tanner is watching her closely. Inhaling sharply, he nods at me and gets up from the table, gesturing that I should follow.

In the hall, he meets my eyes and says fiercely. “Can you do something? Erase records? Change them?”

“I can try.”

He breathes out and leans on the wall. He looks like he wants to punch it.

“It would help if she could remember.” I scratch my fingers through my beard. “So we knew what we were trying to keep hidden.”

Tanner says nothing for a moment.

When he looks at me, I hold his gaze. “Kole.”

He shakes his head.

“Kole. He could…”

“No. He’s not in a fit state. It’s too risky. You saw what happened before. He could hurt her.” Tanner paces to the other side of the hall, then back.

“What’s risky?” Nova’s voice makes us both look up. She’s standing with her hands on her hips. “You think I couldn’t hear you talking? You’re in the hall, not a soundproof cell.”

Tanner puts his hand on her shoulder and dips his head to her level.

Staring him straight in the eyes, she says, “Tanner? Is there a way to find out what happened to my family? Is there a way for Kole to unlock my memory?”

“Yes, but…”

I interrupt, trying to stick to the facts. “Kole was a powerful seer before he got caught up with the Human Extinction League. We recruited him to the Academy because he was one of the most promising mages in the North. He hasn’t used his powers since he got clean. But he should still be able to.”

Nova’s fingers move to her chest, and she brushes them over her tattoo. It’s covering a scar her ex gave her. She told us that he burned it into her. Branded her. Held her down.

As all kinds of images flood my head, I feel Snow beginning to shake. Not for the first time, I contemplate letting him go back to that filthy, Alliance-sympathizing town and rip Johnny to pieces. A few swipes of Snow’s thick-clawed feet and he’d be nothing more than a walking skeleton. Flesh hanging from his bones. But Luther would need to find him first.

“Mack?” She’s speaking to me, but I was so lost I didn’t hear her. I haven’t felt this kind of desire for vengeance since my sister died. Thinking about Nova’s brother and her scar, and my own loss, is threatening to overwhelm me. I blink and force myself to focus. Shove the darkness back down to be dealt with later. She’s staring at me. “Are you okay?”

I clear my throat. Tanner’s watching me too.

When I don’t answer her, she says, “We should do it.”

Tanner starts to shake his head.

“We should ask Kole to access my past.” She breathes in deeply and crosses her arms in front of her stomach. “I’m ready to know what happened. I’m ready to know who I am. And I don’t want whoever is working with Johnny to find out before I do.”