Oh crap.
Had the guild set them up?
Had they set up Jai?
Why hadn’t the idiot seen through that? He was supposed to be the smart one.
Oh God, Jai!
Visions of finding his lifeless body flashed across her mind, and Ari’s breath left her in panic.
No, no, calm down. She shook her head. I’m acting like a crazy person.
Or am I?
There was only one way to make herself feel better, and that was to go after Jai and assist him. If he was fine and sent her back, then she would obey him. For once. She just needed to know that everything was okay. Do I tell them I’m leaving?
Ari thought about her suspicions.
Nah.
Doing as Jai had taught her, Ari concentrated on the cemetery. St. Francis, Gerard had called it. She thought about the St. Francis Cemetery in Phoenix and focused on Jai in particular. Fire exploded around her, licking her skin with its flames. Disorientation eased far more quickly this time and Ari stepped out into the night air, the smell of heat still tickling her nose.
Everything happened so quickly after that.
Jai laid on the ground, yelling in agony as two fire blazing swords pinned him down through his shoulders. Anabeth stood yards away from him, standing over a body, rubbing a large emerald stone. In her other hand was a ball of glowing, molten, violent ember that grew in swirling ferocity.
“There’s no coming back from this, Jai!” Anabeth cried out maniacally. “He wants you gone!” She threw the ember ball at him and Ari had no time to command her, no time to stop it. Instead, she pulled on the peripatos, fire flickering in and out, dizziness overwhelming her… and then pain as she put herself between the magical weapon and Jai, landing in the ember ball’s path. It felt like a hole of heat had been punched right through her. Her chest blazed with pure agony. She couldn’t breathe. The starry sky twinkled above her as Ari tried desperately to pull oxygen into her lungs. Tears streamed down her cheeks as her body writhed, her limbs twisting, her fists clenching as she struggled on the hard, cold ground.
Her lungs suddenly opened up but being able to breathe now only made her focus on the excruciating hurt flaring from her chest. It crawled into her blood and snapped all her nerves. The sky grew blurry, black creeping into the edges of her vision as her brain tried to shut down what it couldn’t withstand.
Red hair blew across her vision, and Ari gulped, tasting blood. Anabeth’s fuzzy face appeared over her, worried and glazed… like she was hypnotized or something. Vaguely, Ari wished this wouldn’t keep happening; that she could finally stumble into one of these situations and be able to use her power before she got hurt. But life was never that easy.
“It wasn’t supposed to be you,” Anabeth whimpered. “No.”
Ari coughed, feeling the darkness creep ever faster. She was losing time. She still needed to save Jai. “I c-co-” she choked on the blood. “I command you to leave Jai unharmed,” she whispered, and the blackness finally won.
The magic in the swords pinning him down was strong, and Jai was weak. That was no ordinary emerald in Anabeth’s hand. That was Mount Qaf emerald. Someone had betrayed them.
He could see Ari lying on the ground from where she’d taken the hit that was supposed to have killed him. A hit that might kill her now. Through the pain Jai growled weakly as he tried to move, to get to her. To protect her as Anabeth strode toward her with trembling limbs.
“It wasn’t supposed to be you,” Anabeth whispered. “No.”
Ari shuddered hard and Jai bit back another yelp of pain as he tried to lift his left arm. “I c-co-” she stopped as a horrible coughing fit took over. Jai felt panic grip his chest. “I command you to leave Jai unharmed,” Ari’s hoarse words whispered toward his disbelieving ears.
And then she was still.
Lifeless.
“No!” he yelled, fear more agonizing than the physical pain. “No! Ari!”
Anabeth stumbled away from her, looking at him with her fear printed in her eyes. “What do I do now?”
And before Jai could beg her to let him go so he could save Ari, Anabeth fled into the peripatos. As the last hiss of her flames died out, Jai laid there in the sickening silence and cursed Ari for putting his life before her own. Fury and impotence roared through him and all his magic exploded into his telepathy.
RED, GET HERE NOW! ARI IS DYING!
He'd barely sent the message and suddenly the Red King burst into the cemetery, lunging out of the peripatos toward Ari. His red hair rippled behind him like a banner of war. “What happened?” he roared, his face mottled with rage as he dropped to his knees beside Ari’s body.