Empire Island, Exile the First

Chapter 22

"What the fuck do you mean, demons?" I asked. "Demons were driven from North America decades ago."

I'd heard the lore, the demonic wars had happened long before my lifetime. My grandmother had been one of the instrumental figures working together with other practitioners of the magic arts across the continent. Witches, werewolves, hags, mages, fae, spell casters and thousands of others who had joined in on the fight.

"They have them," Calla said. "You mentioned Uruk'Zu, right? That's the demonic god they're working with?"

I nodded and she leaned back on her heels, looking up at the trees above us and said, "Goddess help me. If this has gone too far we'll be in another demonic war and we can't survive another one of those."

"We're all so weak now," Day said, dragging one hand along the other in a nervous motion. "This time we'll be overrun, this is bad."

"Fuck," I blurted. "Fucking fuck. What can we do to stop it?"

"It depends on how many have made it through the portal. With Empire's magic working against them, they would've only been able to bring one at a time, once a month on the full moon. If you're forced to hand Empire over to them, then Uruk'Zu returns and he can bring as many as he wants during every full moon."

"What can we do to destroy him?" I asked.

"Bring the sun," Calla replied and looked down again. "We'll have to burn them out."

The stricken look on my face must have touched something in Day's heart because she took pity on me and said, "Not the actual sun. Don't scare her, Calla, it's not helping given our current circumstances."

"And I still don't know if I've forgiven you for everything," I added, narrowing my eyes.

Calla drew back and arched her eyebrows. "Point taken," she replied. "I can understand that. It is a strange time for all of us to have come together and if we make it through all these strange circumstances, I promise we will have time to explore everything that needs to be explored when the time comes."

"Hey, do you see anything different about Calla?" Day asked. "Can you see more of her aura?"

"Did you teach her the sight?" Calla asked, one brow arching higher than the other this time. "Was that really appropriate?"

"She can handle it," Day said, defending me. "She's powerful, more than you and I combined. Maybe that's what worries you about her."

"I'm right here," I said, waving my hand in the center of our triangle. "I can see more of the world but I'm also okay with it."

"So far," Calla said, shooting me a look that would've made the fine hairs on my arms stand on end if I wasn't so determined to not back down. "You don't know what's going to happen if shit hits the fan. What are you prepared to do if a fucking demon comes at you and all you can see is the fiery heat of their aura blazing a brand onto your vision? You're going to be in real danger, so what will you do?"

"I'll do what my gut tells me," I replied with a calm I didn't feel inside. "I don't think you should be the sole gatekeeper of what I learn and when I learn it. I'm not ten years old anymore, the time for me to learn all of this is now. Because I might be in danger. Because it could save my life if I can draw on other powers."

"She has good instincts," Day said. "And you're being over protective for no good reason. She's an adult woman who is more than capable of choosing magic for herself. It's no longer our duty to shield her, or Phoenix, from the teachings they need to survive."

Calla's face screwed up, her normally warm, brown eyes turning inky black and swirling as her anger sizzled just under the surface. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun at the back of her head, and her features seemed elongated because of it. She was otherworldly for just a moment, it wasn't anything more than a flash in my vision, but it happened.