The Phoenix Prophecy: Nova

INhen Johnny’s face appears on Luther’s phone, I’m pretty certain I’m going to vomit.

“My name is Johnny Lee Mathers, and I’m making this video because everyone out there has a right to know what happened to me.”

He’s in a hospital room, sitting up in bed. Everything is bandaged except his face. Just looking at it makes my skin start to crawl.

“I was attacked by a witch. A witch who infiltrated my town. Pretended to be human. Then used her filthy magick against me.” His face contorts as he says ‘magick’. His cheeks are red, his eyes dark. “She burned down our apartment. Set me on fire and left me to die.” He pauses and looks at something beyond the camera. As if he’s about to stop, but someone is telling him to keep going. “She told me she hated humans. That all supers want us dead. That she’d been plotting it for years!” He’s getting animated now, mirroring the vitriol of the A.M.A. meetings he’s been to. “And that others out there are doing the same. Hiding in plain sight. Waiting to take us down!”

I shake my head. I can’t speak.

Then the screen changes. Now, it’s a video taken from outside my old apartment block. It’s shaky and dark, but then flames start to flicker in the distance. Inside.

I put my hand over my mouth. That’s the fire. I’m in there.

The glow gets brighter and brighter. Luther swipes his thumb to skip forward a few minutes, and then people are tumbling out onto the street.

I see Sarah before I see myself. She’s got her arm around me. She guides me away from the building. The camera zooms in. Smoke is coming off my clothes. They’re hanging off me. Singed rags barely clinging to my frame. But it’s clear I’m unhurt.Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

The video cuts back to Johnny.

“That witch left me to die. She’s out there somewhere. We need to find her.”

For a long moment, we all stare at the phone. Then Tanner pulls me into his lap and wraps his arms around me. Squeezing me hard, he whispers, “It’s going to be okay.”

“He’s lying.” I look from Luther to Mack. “I didn’t plan it. I didn’t even know I was capable of doing it. You believe that, don’t you?”

Mack nods firmly. “We do.”

“But,” Luther adds, “We’re not the problem.” He picks up the phone and pockets it. “Your ex-boyfriend just did what the A.M.A. and the Human Extinction League have been trying to do for years—provided evidence that humans and supers shouldn’t mix.”

“I wouldn’t go that far, Luther.” Tanner squeezes my waist.

“Really?” He tilts his head. “Because the way I see it, humans are going to be out for blood because she tried to kill one of them, and supers are going to be out for blood because she lived with a human then tried to kill him and failed, putting all magickal races at risk.”

“Out for blood? You mean, looking for me?” My mouth is dry, and my words come out croaky and hoarse.

“Yes.” Defiantly, Luther meets my eyes. There’s a heat in him, like there is in me, I can feel it. Fire and Fire.

I look from him to Mack. “So, what do we do?”