SHADOWS OF THE BLOODLINE

CHAPTER 6

 EILISH GRAVES

AERIS

Eilish Graves was the hardest one to find. She'd been through so many foster homes that the system had trouble keeping track of her. She was sixteen years old, a russian immigrant who had her father deported and her mom have been missing.

I found her in a foster home on the east side. It was a small house with three other foster kids. I waited until after midnight and slipped inside through an unlocked window.

Eilish was having a nightmare. I could hear her whimpering from down the hall. I made my way to her room and opened the door carefully.

She was thrashing in her bed and was sweating like she was roasting on top fire. Her hands were clenched into fists, and smoke was rising from her palms. I took a step back, flabbergasted. The sheets beneath her hands were starting to smolder.

"Eilish," I said quietly. "Wake up."

She didn't hear me. The smoke turned to flames, and they spread across the sheets, toward the pillows and toward her face. In seconds, the whole bed would be on fire, and I had to wake her up before then.

I raised my hand and pulled the flames away from her. She and I were from the fire element Etherwindbloodline. But I only knew how to control my fires and not somebody else. The temperature in the room spiked. The smoke alarm started screaming.

Eilish woke up gasping. She sat up and stared at her hands and the burned sheets. "Gosh, not again! How in earth would I keep giving a logic explanation for what happened."

I smiled back and nodded with approval. That was good; this one was aware of her power.

I extinguished the fire burning my hands, and that drew her attention. She let out her sharp breath. I was so calm as I looked at her, and that made her snap. "Who the fuck are you?"

"You're having an awakening," I did my best to have a friendly smile on as I carefully approached her."I'm sure you know that you can generate and control flames but right now, it's tied to your emotions.When you have nightmares or panic attacks, the fire responds."

She nodded erratically as she scrambled towards me, fright in her eyes. "Please, if you know what's wrong with me, how can I stop it. I feel like I'm crazy...I can't ---"

Footsteps pounded down the hall. It could be her foster parents. I had maybe thirty seconds before they burst in.

"I'm not crazy?" Eilish asked.

"No. You're powerful. And there are people who want to help you control it."

I threw a card onto her bed. "Tomorrow night. Eight o'clock. This address. Four others will be there. Come alone."

I disappeared through the window before the foster parents opened the door. Behind me, I heard Eilish trying to explain the burned sheets.

I made it back to the Sanctum around three in the morning. My chest hurt worse than usual. The wound was spreading. I could feel it creeping through my ribcage toward my heart. I coughed again, and more blood came up.

I sighed. Two months was optimistic. I probably had one.

My phone rang. I dug it out of my pocket and saw that it was Charis Ashford. She was the only Watcher who'd stuck around after the last incursion. She monitored Etherwind bloodlines and had access to prophecies I didn't.

"Tell me something good," I said when I answered.

"I can't," Charis replied. Her voice was tight with worry. "The convergence is accelerating. Whatever you're planning, you have less time than you thought."

"How much less?"

"Five weeks. Maybe less if the pattern continues. Grimfall is pushing harder than it did twenty years ago. It's relearning."

I sat down heavily on a wooden crate. Five weeks. I'd barely have time to teach them the basics, let alone turn them into warriors.

"The five descendants," I said. "They're just kids, Charis. They're broken kids with broken lives, and I don't know if they can handle this."

"They'll have to," she said softly. "Because if they don't, everyone dies. You know that."

"Yeah. I know."

We were quiet for a moment. Then Charis said, "How are you holding up?"

"I'm dying."

"I know. How much time?"

"Enough," I lied. "I'll get them ready."

I hung up before she asked me further prying questions. 

The Next day

The Sanctum

Eight O' clock

They were all here. I honestly didn't expect any of them to come. I watched them from the shadows across the street, studying their body language and trying to figure out which ones would run the moment things got hard.

Rune Weaver arrived last, pulling up in his beat-up Honda Civic and sitting in his car for a full minute before getting out. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. But he got out anyway.

The awkward introductions started immediately.Zayan Frost stood apart from the others, his arms crossed defensively, his face set in stone.

Kaladin Wright paced nervously and kept checking his phone. He seemed like he was the impatient kind because I knew there was nothing he was doing at home.

Eilish Graves stood with her shoulders hunched and her arms wrapped around herself, she looked like a strong wind could blow her away.

And Wilder Ash recognized Rune immediately.

"You sell drugs," His voice was flat.

"Yeah," Rune replied, not bothered to spare him another glance.

"And you're supposed to be some kind of magical warrior descended from ancient sorcerers?"

"Apparently."

They both bust out in laughter but there was no humor underneath.

This was going to be harder than I thought; they didn't trust each other and barely wanted to be in the same space.

Zayan pushed off the fence, his jaw set in a hard line. "This is stupid, we shouldn't be here."

"Then why did you come?" Rune asked.

"Because I don't have a choice," Zayan shot back. "Because some crazy guy showed up at my work and told me about shadow monsters. A few minutes after he left they attacked, and I wanted answers. But now I'm wondering if he was not the same one who created the shadow monsters so he could lure us here."

"My parents are kidnapping people," Kaladin blurted out, his voice cracking. "They are working for some cult, so yeah, my life is pretty much over anyway."

Eilish said nothing, her eyes trained on the ground.

Wilder looked between all of them and then back at Rune. "You're my dealer and now we're supposed to save the world together. This is insane."

"I didn't ask for this either," Rune said quietly.

Time to intervene before they all walked away. I stepped out of the shadows and let the fire hover above my hands, it was not threatening, but enough to remind them why they were here. They all turned to face me.

"Nobody asked for this," I said, my voice rougher than usual. The wound in my chest was burning worse today. "But here we are anyway, follow me and I'll explain everything."

"And if we don't?" Zayan challenged.

I raised my hand, and fire erupted in front of him, a wall of flames that shot up from the cracked pavement and blocked his path. He stumbled backward and I saw fear flash across his face before anger replaced it.

The fire died down, and I walked toward the subway entrance without looking back. They were hesitant at first but then rushed after me into the darkness.

The stairs went deeper than any normal subway station because this place had been built during the last incursion twenty years ago as a safe house. Emergency lights flickered along the walls and I could hear their breathing getting heavier as we descended. Kaladin was already out of breath, Eilish walked silentlyl ike a ghost, Zayan's footsteps were angry, Wilder kept his distance from everyone, and Rune brought up the rear, watching everything with careful eyes.

The platform opened up before us and I heard their surprised reactions, the Sanctum was bigger than they expected.  I'd spent three weeks preparing this space, and it still didn't feel like enough.

"Welcome to the Sanctum," I said, turning to face them in the center of the platform. "This is where you'll train, where you'll learn to control your powers and where you'll become what your bloodlines demand."

"What bloodlines?" Eilish whispered. She was always speaking in whispers