“I’m right where I should be, Rosito.”

  Margot Jones stood at Jacob’s side, scanning the area, probably for her no-good Watcher father, Bruno. Jacob doubted the other man would win a mayoral race against him, but did he really want to be mayor? Now? Once his interim term was over, he thought about just whisking Aria away and never looking back. However, he knew she loved this city, like he did, and she loved the Volgens children, and would’ve blamed herself if Miracle Falls imploded.

  His father had always taught him that running away from trouble was easy, but it was the coward’s way out. But taking a stand, even when people were set against you, took courage, and was what should define his character.

  “Jacob!” Margot tugged at his suit sleeve. “Look.”

  A battle between four Watchers and five Guardians spilled out into the street near the parked ambulance that served as a makeshift triage station set up at the end of the barrier. Injured people, at least those who could get up and run, fled the area, some of them limping away toward City Hall. A couple of doctors and nurses tried to stick around. They pleaded with the men to take their fighting elsewhere, but even they had to back away and abandon their post.

  Jacob’s head throbbed with adrenaline and anger at the sight. He rushed toward the fighters with Detective Rosito and six officers who had the neutralizing guns. They went after the wizards, and a few other policemen went after the Watchers.

  Jacob had barely noticed that Margot trailed behind him. He quickly dodged a spell of pestilence and disease slung at him by one of the wizards, and he reciprocated with a thunderbolt that sent the man flying backward.

  “Margot, get back to the building!” he commanded.

  “Wait!” She ran over to the right side of ambulance toward a boy who looked no older than six. He had apparently been separated from his parents when the fighting broke out. Jacob watched her scoop up the child then turn around to bring him back toward City Hall.

  Jacob saw the other officers frantically try to reclaim the barrier. He called out to Rosito, who had just finished placing a pair of cuffs on a bloodied Watcher. Two of his comrades sat on the ground, shackled, and three of the wizards lay on the ground unconscious. “Help Margot back to the building!”

  Rosito nodded and headed toward Margot and the frightened boy, gun drawn, and eyes scanning the area. The detective began escorting them away from the barriers, but three more Watchers rushed through the barrier, weapons in hand, and headed straight toward them.

  Jacob rushed forward, voice rising in an incantation and emitting a bright blue flame from his hands. It hit one of the Watchers, landing square in the attacker’s side, burning a large hole into the cloth of his jean jacket. He fell to the ground, shrieking.

  The other two Watchers halted, watching Jacob warily. Thinking that should have been enough to make a normal, sane person turn and run away, Jacob dropped his guard. However, the two men ran toward him.

  “What the hell?” Jacob stumbled backward as a bullet from one of the neutralizing guns grazed his shoulder. He knew those damn things were a bad idea. It was no longer a mystery as to who raided and stole some of those guns from the police department.

  “Protego…” Jacob invoked a shield of protection around him, just as the Watcher fired two more bullets at him. The shield shattered, and Jacob chanced a look over his shoulder to see if Rosito and Margot had made it to the building.

  They didn’t. Two more Watchers with guns ordered Rosito to relinquish his weapon. With an indignant expression, Rosito slowly placed his weapon on the ground.

  “Looks like you’re nothing without your magic,” the masked Watcher told Jacob, approaching with an arrogant swagger. He aimed the gun at Jacob’s heart.

  When the Watcher got close enough, Jacob quickly whacked his arm and disarmed him. The gun fell to the ground. Jacob delivered a punch straight to the man’s jaw and delivered a few kicks to his stomach and groin. His head throbbed and his body ached from using magic, but he just pretended that the Watcher was Harry Storm.

  When the other man fell to the ground unconscious, Jacob turned toward Rosito and Margot. The detective locked gazes with Jacob, perhaps expecting some furtive order to just charge the men, but if he did that, it would endanger Margot and the little boy. The kid clung to her, sobbing and asking for his mother.

  “Just for that,” one of the Watchers said, cocking his gun and pointing it straight at Margot’s head, “they’re going to die.”

  Jacob drew on all his strength and focused on his magic, pooling warmth into his center. He pushed it out, forcing the two remaining Watchers backward and into the other side of the street. It looked like the two men had been caught in a tornado.

  Jacob nearly collapsed as he made his way toward Margot and Rosito. His legs felt like jello and his head felt like it was on fire. He knew he had used a lot of magic today, and it just made him sore like a vigorous physical workout would, but when that bullet grazed his skin, he felt as if something snatched away a chunk of his magical ability.

  “Are you guys okay?” he asked Rosito and Margot.

  “Yeah,” said the detective. “The kid’s parents are waiting in the lobby. I’ll take him.” With a gentle smile, Rosito took the boy’s hand in his and ran with him toward the administration building.

  Margot turned and faced him. “Thanks, Jacob.”

  “You’re welcome. Any news from Aria?”

  She shook her head. “No, not yet. I hope she’s okay.”

  “You should go back into the building now.”

  She looked ready to argue against him, but suddenly a man approaching grabbed her attention. Wearing a white shirt and tie, stained with dirt and blood, Bruno Jones called out to his daughter.

  “Dad!” She ran toward him, throwing herself in his arms.

  “I’m so glad you’re okay,” he said, giving her a squeeze before facing Jacob.

  “Don’t take this the wrong way, Mr. Jones, but I thought you’d be running around here with a sapphire band on your arm.” Jacob glanced at the man’s hand. Bruno no longer wore the signet ring that identified him as a leader of the Watchers.

  Bruno shook his head. “The last time we spoke, I told you that the organization split into two, and unfortunately, my side lost control. I’m not with them anymore.”

  Margot smiled. “Good. You should’ve left them a long time ago.”

  The reporters and photographers who had been inside the administration building came out, swarming Jacob, Margot, and Bruno. They began taking pictures and asking them for statements. Jacob raised his hand in a gesture for them to wait and give them space. Margot smoothed her clothing and pulled her hair behind her ears before posing.

  Bruno, however, kept his gaze on Jacob. “I saw what you just did for my daughter. Those men didn’t care that she was mine, hell, they probably wanted to hurt her because she was mine. I’m man enough to say thank you, and…I’m sorry about all this. I wanted to help the city, but not like this.”

  Jacob gave him a nod of acknowledgement. “Then, help me clean up this mess, will you?”

  Bruno glanced down at Margot. He stood nearly an entire foot taller than her. “I’ll try. I can promise you that much.”

  A few of the reporters began cheering and congratulating him. He could tell when they addressed him as “Mayor Wolfe,” that they now did so without skepticism or disdain. For the first time since he’d been back in the city, he felt a surge of hope—and hope was what Miracle Falls needed to survive this.

  18

  Aria

  “T his would be a bad time for her to croak on us.” Despite Harry’s callous words, he bent down on his knee to offer Clare a glass of cold water .

  The woman sat on Aria’s couch, trembling hands between her knees, and eyes swollen from crying. Her skin was pallid and she struggled to breathe normally. It seemed Mira’s attempt to eat her soul also had an affect on her body. Aria had tried giving her a leftover brew that she had bought at the apothecary a few months back, but it didn’t alleviate Clare’s ailment. Although it looked like order was finally being restored in Miracle Falls, it still wasn’t completely safe to go out into the streets.

  A strong knock at Aria’s front door pulled her away from her thoughts. Harry made a move to answer the door. “No, Harry, it’s fine. I asked Benjamin to come.”

  He gave her a nod as she passed him and went to open the door. She looked through the peephole to confirm, and then unlocked and opened the door. Dr. Benjamin Volgens stood there, his medical bag in his hands and his collared shirt disheveled. He had bags under his eyes, and he wore an apologetic expression.

  “Hi, Aria.”

  “Thanks for coming.” She stepped aside to admit him.

  Benjamin went straight to Clare and set his black bag down, gently taking her shaking hands in his own. “I’m Dr. Volgens. May I read your aura, so I can know how to help you?”

  Clare nodded. “I...haven’t seen a healer in quite a while.”

  “Well, hopefully it will be another long while before you have to.” He inhaled and closed his eyes. The temperature in the living room rose as Benjamin searched Clare’s magical aura—and her physical body—for ailments and injuries.

  Harry looked a little uncomfortable. “Anyone want a beer?”

  “No, thanks.” Aria pointed toward the fridge. “Help yourself to one.”

  “Good thing is, it’s not so bad, though whatever hit you was something nasty.” Benjamin’s hands slipped from Clare’s. The white streaks in her hair seemed more prominent than when Aria first saw her.

  Benjamin opened his black bag and pulled out two small vials of liquid. He then emptied them both into a larger sized flask. His hand glowed as he recited an incantation in Latin. When he had finished, he offered the concoction to Clare.

  “Drink. You should be healed within eight hours.”

  “Thank you,” she said in a weak voice. She took the flask and drank.

  “She can go lie down now.” Benjamin retrieved the flask from Clare and placed it back in his bag.

  “Here, I’ll help.” Harry set aside his beer and approached. He helped Clare to her feet and guided her toward Aria’s bedroom.

  When they were both out of earshot, Aria sat on the couch next to Benjamin and stared into his eyes. “Thank you, for coming when I called. I know it’s not easy navigating the city right now, but…”

  “It’s all right.”

  “How are Kyra and the kids?”

  “Safe. They’re staying at my in-laws’ home about an hour away. Kyra just needs time.”

  He ran his large hand over his face, the emotion in his expression saying it all. Aria reached over and squeezed his other hand. “I’m angry with you too. What were you thinking, getting involved with the Guardians? I didn’t even think that was something you’d be interested in. You’re a doctor, a healer; those people are all about the opposite of what you do for a living.”

  He nodded. “I know, and I’m sorry. Just...seeing everything that was happening, and the kids’ safety being threatened, it just made me angry, Aria. It made me afraid. I have a right to protect my family, don’t I?”

  “Yes, you do.” Her tone was gentle. “But how you go about doing it is a different story.” She knew all about wanting to protect and survive. Edwin wanted to do it, Clare, in her own way wanted to do it, and so did most other people. But she couldn’t condone the path they chose.

  “I never hurt anyone, and I never participated in the fighting and rioting. You’ve got to believe me, I drew the line at that.” Benjamin’s eyes held a silent plea for forgiveness.

  “I think you’re a good man. I just don’t want to be proven wrong.”

  A smile flickered across his lips. “Thank you. I feel like such a shit for what I’ve done. Do you...do confession type stuff?”

  She snorted. “I think you need a priest for that. Besides, I only eat sins of the recently deceased.”

  He leaned back, his chest rising in a deep sigh. “That’s right, I forgot.”

  “And I’m sure you have a nice, long life ahead of you with your wife and children. You’re going to have to make up with Kyra and win her back.”

  He nodded. “I love them. I’m going to have to show it, I know that.”

  She couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy. She wondered if she could ever have anything like that. Perhaps she could find it with Jacob.

  “Benjamin…” A painful migraine suddenly assaulter her and the room spun. Her head throbbed in response to the protective wards around her apartment being broken down. An earthquake shook the entire building, and just as Aria gazed through her window, a swift black cloud blocked her view, and it began spreading until it engulfed the building in darkness.

  Benjamin jumped to his feet. Harry stumbled into the living room, cocking his gun and eyes bulging. “It’s her, isn’t it?”

  Aria readied her magic, calling forth the power of her flame from her sin eater’s mark. Her limbs weakened when the windows shattered and Mira flew in from the darkness. As soon as Mira’s feet touched the carpet, Harry unloaded three or four rounds, all but one hitting her in the torso.

  The bullets looked like they hurt, and they slowed her down, but she still sneered at them and headed straight for the bedroom where a sedated Clare slept.

  “No!” Aria shouted. She sent her bright red-orange flame toward Mira, but her sister met it with her own. The flames mingled and danced until Mira quenched them both with a gesture. Benjamin sent a whirlwind slamming against Mira, dragging her away from the bedroom door and toward the window.

  Mira was halfway out the window, hands clawing at the windowsill and dark hair whipping around her in a frenzy, when she bit her own wrist and used the dripping blood to paint a sigil on the window. Benjamin’s wind boomeranged back at them, sending the three tumbling to the floor. Mira crawled back in, saliva and blood dripping from her lips. She opened her mouth, the same way she had back at the hotel. With dread gnawing at the pit of her stomach, Aria knew what would come next.

  “Harry, Benjamin, watch out!” She rushed forward, but it was too late.

  Benjamin yelled out, clutching his chest. When he opened his mouth to scream again, a bright yellow light—just like Clare’s—rose from his mouth, hovering just above his head. The way Mira stared at Benjamin, and with such intensity, made it clear to Aria that the woman needed to maintain direct eye contact with the person whose soul she was eating.

  And she did this to our father? No, I won’t let her take anyone else from me.

  “Harry,” she said, closing the gap between him and herself.

  “I don’t think a bullet’s gonna work.” His gaze swept the apartment. He was probably looking for a blunt object or some kind of weapon to wield against Mira.

  “Aim for her face, Harry.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

  “She needs to see the person she’s doing that to, so let’s break that up.”

  Though Harry’s hands trembled, he aimed his gun and delivered two shots to Mira’s face. She recoiled with a howl, backing away from Benjamin and leaving him to collapse to the floor. Mira shuddered as she pressed her hand to her face to stem the bleeding and begin a healing spell.

  Aria rushed to Harry’s side and said in a low voice, “Jonathan Larsson, if you can hear me, have Harry tell me how to summon the Hounds of Hell.”

  Harry faced her with a stunned expression. “Wh-what did you just ask?”

  She had seen Edwin Kovar do it once, in a vision. Hellhounds usually arrived during sin eating rituals to claim souls and drag them to the underworld. They sometimes took a chunk of out of a sin eater’s arm or leg, if he or she weren’t careful. Aria’s former mentor had found a way to actually summon the magical creatures at will. If an incantation existed for it, the Loremaster would know. This was the only thing she could think of using against Mira at this point; she couldn’t beat her sister with her sin eater flame alone, at least not at this stage.

  As soon as Harry began blurting out Jonathan’s instructions, Aria went into action. She called forth her power, mingling it with the weight of the sins she had eaten and carried in the last year or so. They were messy and ugly, weighing down on her heart and making her stomach churn. She grabbed hold of all that, pulled it from her center, then invoked the hounds to come forth, knowing they would be attracted to the stench of transgressions.

  Mira had just finished healing her wounds and preventing further blood loss. She glared at Harry and started toward him, but then halted. The hungry, jackal-like howls of the hellhounds were a familiar sound to Aria, who had been sin eating for decades. For Mira the Soul Eater, though, it was a new and terrifying alarm.

  Another window panel in the apartment shattered. Several somethings landed on the floor. Though Aria couldn’t see the hellhounds, since this wasn’t a proper sin eating ritual, she could feel them and hear them. Still following Jonathan’s instructions, Aria blasted Mira with the sins she gathered so that they stuck to her. Her sister stumbled backward, a frantic look in her eye, as she realized what Aria was doing.

  “N-no!” Mira cried out as one of them tore off half her left hand. She hastily constructed a protective shield around herself and ran toward the window she had breeched earlier.

  Snarls and growls followed Mira, but Aria made sure to start building layers of protection around her and her friends, just in case the hounds turned on her.

  Mira stood at the windowsill and sent a burst of flame from her good hand toward the hellhounds. They whined and seemed to back away a few paces, but their indignant growls indicated that they were poised to launch another attack. Mira extended her uninjured hand and erected a barrier of magical fire, with dancing green and blue flames.

  Mira turned to face Aria. “Now, I see.”

  “See what...sister?”