A Lightning Storm of Spark and Flame

Chapter 8

Phoebe's mind is still stuck on Grandmother's words about her mother, so she's entirely unprepared for what happens next. Before she can so much as draw in a shocked breath, she's slammed backward against one of the sturdy wooden posts that support the roof of the porch. In fact, all oxygen seems to have deserted the air, and there's an odd sucking sensation inside her body like something vitally important is being forcibly extracted. It hurts unlike any pain she's experienced before. The agonized scream gets lodged in her throat as she fixes her rapidly blurring vision on Grandmother. She stands facing her granddaughter with her hands raised and her cane on the ground at her feet, seeming not to need it at present. She even appears to be growing stronger as the younger gets progressively weaker. The air shimmers and swirls strangely around the old woman's frail body, but that could just be a side effect of how dangerously close phoebe is to falling unconscious. With a harsh, croaking cry, the starling launches itself out of her arms in a rush of black feathers and bright talons. She reaches out feebly to attempt to stop it, but the bird is much too fast. Instead of diving toward Grandmother, however, it streaks down and grasps the cane in its claws. The elderly woman shouts in alarm and tries to snatch it out of the air, but there's a bright burst of light, a scream, and the starling is back. The stolen cane falls heavily to the porch again, making an oddly loud sound for how light it should be. "Give it to me!" Grandmother yells as the wind grows stronger, almost like it would obey her command before her granddaughter could. But just as the girl starts to slump over from agony, she feels something shift. Between one moment and the next, the bird is gone. Now standing between herself and Grandmother is a tall human man with hair as glossy black as the starling's plumage, olive-toned skin, and eyes the same familiar shade of fiery brown. All she can do is stare from where she now lay on the porch, two weak to rise. Without a word, he leans down and retrieves Grandmother's fallen cane, raising it over his head. Phoebe gasps for breath, her body wracked with pain and encroaching darkness. It feels as though there was once something within her that is no longer there. "Devil!" Grandmother's scream makes her jump. In the time between her slowing blinks, the stranger has forced the old woman's back up against the side of the house While he holds the cane in both hands, as though he's going to snap it in two. The raw fear on Grandmother's face fills phoebe with fleeting confusion that rapidly dissipates in the face of her growing exhaustion. The tip of the cane hits the porch Planks with a sound like thunder, and suddenly everything stops. The crippling pain, the draining sensation, the struggle to breathe. It's all gone as fast as it had arrived. Meanwhile, Grandmother looks as though she's fighting against an invisible wall, her hands clawing desperately to reach the cane still gripped tightly in the hands of the strange man That had once been a bird. "Evil demon! Monster, fiend, wicked creature!" she shrieks. There's no verbal response from him, just the deliberate arching of one eyebrow as if to say, "Me?" Rising unsteadily to her feet, Phoebe stairs in stunned bewilderment at the first person she has ever known to frighten her grandmother. Surely, that must mean he is evil, right? Her uncertainty makes her waiver. On one hand, if this truly is the same being, he had saved her life. He had presumably watched over her to ensure her safety for much longer than she had been aware of his presence. so why else would he be fending off the woman that had once cared for and raised her if she weren't a viable threat? He wouldn't, she knows. She has no idea who he is or how he'd found her, but she knows on some instinctive level that he will not harm her. He will only come to her defense if she is in immediate danger. She still can't quite understand what Grandmother had just done to her, but she forces herself to walk toward the man and touch him tentatively on the shoulder. His brown eyes lock onto hers for only a second, Then he pushes Grandmother's cane into her hands and points silently to the railing of the porch behind her. "Am I supposed to break it?" she questions, unsure what is even real anymore. He nods calmly, and Grandmother screams again in fresh rage from across the porch. Finally, she seems to free herself from whatever She'd been restrained with, because she's suddenly lurching across the space between them, her face twisted in anger. Still not speaking, the stranger points once more as he turns from Phoebe to intercede the older woman. The wind picks up again, howling like some otherworldly beast and Whipping the nearby trees into a frenzy. Stumbling from the powerful force, she attempts to summon her own strength to calm it back down. No response at all from within, not even a tired flicker. That frightens her more than anything. Had Grandmother done this? Had she truly stolen her power? Suddenly, the wooden cane in her hands begins to grow warm where it touches her skin, growing steadily hotter until it burns to even touch. It also seems to be trying to pull itself out of her weakening grip. She sees Grandmother using blasts of wind, water, and even fire to attack the stranger, who is now a starling once more. The bird beats his powerful wings furiously, whistling sharply and crying out in that throaty way of his as he counters Grandmother's advances with flashes of purple light that she has never seen before. He cloaks himself in a protective bubble one moment, and uses the same Shield to deflect projectiles back at their sender in the next. No longer able to keep her eyes on the intense back-and-forth, she turns back to the railing of the porch and raises the now rapidly spinning cane high. It rolls and twists in her hands, evidently aware on some level that it is about to be destroyed. With the last vestiges of strength, she brings it down upon the metal, hard enough for the impact to jolt all the way up her arms and threw her shoulders with a painful lurch. But nothing happens. The cane remains completely intact, still burning hot and rotating wildly. Fear grips her by the throat. If Grandmother intends to use this deadly weapon against her only granddaughter and her new protector, then it must be demolished. Looking up into the gray sky, Phoebe knows what she has to do. She focuses, but there is still no response from her power. She jumps when she feels too hands latch firmly onto her shoulders from behind. At first, she believes it to be the man, but then she hears the vicious hiss of her grandmother's once kindly voice. "Give it up! It's useless!" But therein lies her mistake. Upon contact with Phoebe's body, her recently stolen power floods back through her with enough force to rock them both on their feet. the young woman turns her head just enough to meet gray eyes that are so like her own. "Never!" she yells, throwing up one hand. As Grandmother lunges for her cane, Phoebe sends her will into the skies and uses all the strength she has. The world turns white for a moment, and there's the sensation of fierce heat, but that's it. When she opens the eyes she hadn't realized she'd closed, she finds herself still standing on the porch. Before her, the concrete steps are simply gone and so is the metal railing. But likewise, Grandmother's cane has been reduced to nothing but ashes that fall from her fingers like sand. The resulting thunder that tears the air apart is so powerful that she feels the earth quake in fear beneath her feet. Looking behind herself, she sees her grandmother lying shellshocked on her back, eyes wide and confused. There's no sign of the bird, however. Just as she begins to worry, someone takes the wrist of her still outstretched hand and brings it down again. Turning, she sees the same man from before, smiling slightly and watching her with obvious pride. It's almost like he had known she would do this all along.