URSA MINOR

36

ALL FIRES START SMALL.

Hetty learned that from her mother, watching a simple spark create a flame that would last for days as long as it was tended. Fire transformed the world, bringing light to where there had been none, and heat where only cold remained. But fires had to be contained, because once let loose, very little could stop them.

This fire in the ballroom was not a normal one.

Fueled by magic, it fed on the floorboards and quickly extended its reach. Then, of course, like the keen checkers player he was, Nathan Payne pressed his advantage and flung even more magic into the flames.

As people ran, Hetty pushed through to where she’d last seen Benjy. Darlene was sprawled on the ground, half held up by him. As Hetty reached them, George burst through the crowd, falling next to Darlene.

“Is she alive?” he rasped.

“She fainted.” Benjy directed his words to them both. “She’ll be fine. George, get her out of here.”

“I can’t!”

“You can, and you will,” Benjy said.

He saw Hetty then, and he gently moved Darlene into George’s arms.

“It’s Eudora. She hired Payne,” Hetty said in a rush. “Her father’s name was not always Alvin Jacobs.”

Benjy nodded. “I thought it might be. Should we attempt to find her?”

“I don’t know. Can we trust that our friends will get out of here without trouble?”

Benjy looked up and muttered something under his breath. “No, we can’t!”

Hetty looked up as well.

Through the flickering flames, she saw Thomas and Oliver on the stairs. They were near the top, stopped by the flames that were growing by the second.

As for Penelope, she was perilously near to Nathan Payne, shaking one of her potion bottles.

“I need to get up there,” Hetty said. “But I’ll be too late with this crowd in my way.”

“Do what you did before,” Benjy said. “Jump.”

“Jump?”

“Yes.” He knelt down with his hands clasped together, his meaning clear.

Hetty set a foot down atop his hands and in the next moment she was flung into the air.

For a brief moment she hovered, her magic lifting her up, and then she dropped down onto the landing just as Penelope threw the potion bottle.

Payne dodged it.

The glass shattered into a puff of pink.

He was still laughing when a glittering arrow struck the floor.

Hetty flung more arrows at him, pushing him back.

“Get out of here,” Hetty said, without looking back at Penelope. “Go now!”

“No, I have this under control!”

“Do you want to die?” Hetty shouted. “Because that is how it happens!”

“Let her do what she wishes, Sparrow.” Payne sneered at them. “I’ll get to her sooner or later.”

He had a knife pointed at them, but that was hardly a concern in the wake of so much magic flying around. Hetty flicked her hand, and a crow swooped in and pecked his face.

Payne howled in pain. The knife fell out of his hand. With him distracted, she pushed him with her magic into a nearby room and shut the door.

“That won’t hold him for long,” Hetty said, going to Penelope. “Time to go.”

“Where? We’re trapped.”

The fire blocked their way back to the stairs. The flames weren’t high enough to hide Oliver and Thomas, but there was no safe passage ahead.

“If I knew it would be like this,” Penelope coughed, “I would have brought the ice pistol.”

“Wouldn’t have helped.”

“This way!” Thomas called. “Jump, we’ll catch you.”

“No.” Oliver drew Thomas back. “It’s too dangerous. We have to get off the stairs before they collapse!”

“Go,” Hetty called. “We’ll be right behind you. I promise.”

Thomas protested, but Oliver grabbed his arm, shoving him back. “Trust Hetty.”

They vanished then, swallowed up in the smoke. Hetty went to the edge thinking they could jump down. The fire was too high, and most people, like Cora and Jay, were using spells to push the fire this way to help others escape.

Penelope had looked down as well, but the sight had frozen her in place.

“It’s burning too quickly. How will we stop it?”

“Not our problem,” Hetty said.

Spying the window at the end of the landing, she moved them toward it. The wood of the window was already unbearably hot. Hetty held on to it anyway and yanked it open. The cool night air struck her face, although she could see little outside.

“We’ll get out this way. The drop isn’t far.”

When Penelope didn’t move, Hetty grabbed her friend.

“If you don’t jump, I won’t!”

This got Penelope moving.

Hetty had just gotten Penelope near the window when the door behind them flew off its hinges.

“You need help,” Penelope whispered. “I have to—”

“Worry about other things.”

Hetty slapped a sigil on Penelope’s back and the Crane flowed around Penelope as she fell, disappearing into the night.

Hetty thought she saw Jay head for Penelope. Hetty couldn’t check. A blue light was the only warning she got. She jumped away from the window, missing the lobbed spell.

The magic, instead of destroying the window, created a barrier. Hetty snapped her fingers; the magic she tossed at it only fed the angry flames.

At the coarse laugh behind her, Hetty turned to see Nathan Payne.

“Here we are again, Sparrow,” Payne called, his nose freely bleeding. “What did I do to deserve this fate?”

“There’s a saying: you get what you deserve. You’ve gotten no less.”

“And so have you,” he said with deliberate slowness, “Henrietta Rhodes.”

“Keep my name out of your mouth. I won’t have it said by a man so low, the worms won’t eat his tainted flesh!”

“We do what we need to survive.”

“No one who sells out their own people to get ahead is surviving. I’d die first before I ever did such a thing!”

Payne sneered. “I’ll give you some help with that.”

He flicked more magic at her. Her wards repelled his hex, and he jumped back, barely missing being struck by the counter­spell.

“Always in my way,” he grunted. “Would have been an easy job if not for you.”

“This won’t be the first time you disappointed your employer. What happened when One-Eyed Jack found out we gave you the slip?”

Roaring, Payne charged at her again.

Her wards didn’t shatter, but his heavier weight threw her backwards. Knocked on the floor, her ears ringing, she lost her focus, and this time the wards around her vanished. The moment they did, Payne didn’t waste a second. He reached for her again. She yanked a hairpin out, and jammed it into his hand.

As he yelled, she slammed her elbow into his ribs and tumbled out of the way.

“I will kill you, Sparrow.” Payne spat out blood. It sizzled in the flames. “Maybe not today. But one day. But before I do, I will slit the throat of every person you love. Your husband as he whistles on the bench in your yard, your friend and her daughter as they feed birds, your sisters as one digs in the garden while the other sketches the sky, your wizened parents waiting patiently on the doorstep, your brother and his anxious spouse as they argue about the time of day. I’ll kill them all and leave them for you to find, just like I found my son!”

Hetty’s hand fell to her side. Each of his words hammered against her heart, holding more power than any of his previous threats. “You were outside my house, watching us?”

A terrible grin filled his face.

“I was going to set your home on fire, but your magic stood against even the potions I gave the alderman. But this is far ­better.”

He threw a burst of raw magic at her.

Unable to react in time to counter it, Hetty jumped out of the way, only to scramble back when she remembered the flames.

Her foot caught on something. There was a crack, a shudder.

And then the floor collapsed under them.

Impossibly, it seemed to fall slowly. Maybe it was the pain that engulfed her. Maybe it was the flames crackling in her ears. But the impact she was expecting didn’t come. She scarcely felt anything.

And neither did Payne.

He laughed as he approached her, spells flickering at his fingertips.

“This looks familiar,” Payne taunted. His spell slithered around her, binding her in place. Focused as he was on tying her down, he didn’t notice how the shadows grew taller and broader behind him. “But with some—”

Payne never got to finish.

A piece of wood swung out and crashed against his head. The board snapped on impact and splintered into chunks that fed the hungry flames.

Nathan Payne staggered, his magic vanishing at once.

And then Benjy emerged from the inferno.

The flames parted for him as he hurried to Hetty. His shirt and waistcoat were lit up in violet light—all the spells she’d sewn into clothes by habit, since her blacksmith husband always got too close to fire.

It was also one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen.

“What have I told you about running into dangerous situations without me?” Benjy said.

The clever quip Hetty had on her lips was forgotten in a single moment as she saw Payne get back on his feet.

“Behind you!” Hetty called.

Benjy didn’t even turn. He stepped aside and grasped Payne by the arm. And then twisted.

The piece of flaming floorboard in Payne’s hand fell to the floor, but Benjy kept twisting until bone snapped. Payne cried out, although from the pain or rage, the chances were evenly split. With a grunt, Benjy shoved him to the ground.

It was only then as Hetty looked around that she realized the light around her wasn’t just from the flames. Benjy’s magic had melded with the wood, suspending the balcony in the air.

She couldn’t tell how much he was holding up. But she knew one thing. He couldn’t do this for long.

Not with Payne still able to work magic.

Hetty braced a hand to the floor and slowly began to push herself up.

She was nearly standing when she placed her weight on her right foot. A knife ramming through her ankle would have been less painful. But she swallowed back that scream. Grimly, Hetty drew a star sigil into the air, slowly taking the time to draw the most elaborate one that came to mind.

The telltale green glow of her spell drew Payne’s attention.

And instead of tossing his magic at Benjy, he took aim at Hetty.

This was the last mistake he ever made.

With Hetty’s spell in place to hold up the landing, Benjy was free to catch Payne’s magic.

The snarling Wolf that Payne had flung in Hetty’s direction collided directly with Benjy’s wards and then rebounded back at Payne.

Payne flew backwards until a sharp wooden beam shortened his flight.

Hetty didn’t look away.

Not at hearing the loud thwack when the beam burst through his chest. Not at seeing the blood blossom and stain the wood. Not even when his face went slack and his hands fell to his side. Hetty didn’t look away until the light faded from Payne’s eyes, so she could be certain that his ghost would never return to haunt her.

“Hetty,” Benjy had an arm around her. “We’re going to have to jump.”

“I can’t.”

“You’re going to have to try.”

“I can’t.” Hetty struggled to find something more useful to say. “I hurt my ankle.”

“Is that all? I’ll carry you out.”

“How?” Hetty asked. “Wherever you came from, it’s probably collapsed by now. Unless you know a way to fly out of here, it won’t be in time for—” Hetty blinked, seeing through the flames.

She took a step forward, forgetting her ankle. Benjy caught her before she toppled to the ground.

“Time for what?” he asked.

“To find the clock,” Hetty gasped, swallowing back another wave of pain. “The clock that blocks a tunnel entrance!”

“You’re kidding!”

“It was in the hallway where we spoke to Bernice.” Hetty pointed in one direction, but Benjy calmly pointed in another.

Not that it mattered. Beyond their little bubble of protection, the flames roared equally.

“If it’s not blocked by the flames, parts of the building probably collapsed on top of it by now.”

“Then we blow a hole through the floor,” Hetty said.

“No,” Benjy corrected. “You blow the hole. I’ll make sure the rest of the building doesn’t fall as you do.”

“Always so logical.” Hetty managed to laugh.

Benjy flashed a quick smile. “I love you too.”

He bent down so he could carry her on his back. The magic stitched between their clothes blended together, and the unrelenting heat around them faded, despite the growing flames.

With the weight off her injured foot, the pain receded to a dull throb. The immediate danger held off by Benjy, Hetty turned her focus on one thing: moving forward.

The first sigil she chose was Andromeda. But she kept it in its raw state, channeling the magic behind it into the floor beneath them.

She had an idea of where the tunnel was. She just needed to clear a path.

And clear a path she did. Keeping tight control of her magic, Hetty knocked aside the worst parts of the still-burning building as Benjy carried her into the hallway.

What remained of the clock was long gone, but the door to the tunnel was untouched by the fires due to the glistening magic spun across it.

“Together,” Benjy murmured.

Hetty held up her hand alongside his, and as one they launched spells at the door, their magic entwining in a way that made it hard to tell where her magic stopped and his began.

Benjy hurried inside and then shut the door after them. Hetty tapped it, adding a few charms in place to hold back the fire at their backs.

The passage was especially cool after the intense heat of the fire, and the more they traveled through it, the more all the aches and pains of Hetty’s brawl with Nathan Payne settled in on her.

She was also finding it hard to keep her eyes open, now that most of the danger had passed. She was just starting to slip off into sleep when Benjy jostled her.

“A little light will be helpful.”

“You do it,” she muttered.

“No free hands,” he said, although Hetty had a feeling he was lying.

With an effort Hetty ran her hand along his shoulder, and the stitches in his shirt turned a bright purple. She lifted her hand, pulling the magic like thread, shook it, and then tossed it out into the air before her. Light as bright as a lantern appeared as a pair of crows materialized next to them. As Benjy continued to carry her down the tunnel, the crows’ wings silently flapped as they lit the way.

“Who told you about this tunnel?” Benjy asked.

“Does it matter?” Hetty frowned and the crows flickered but remained.

“I’m curious.”

“You’re curious about everything,” she said, lying back down.

“I know,” he said cheerfully. When Hetty didn’t say anything, he jostled her once again. “Don’t fall asleep on me. You have to keep your magic going.”

“I can’t focus,” Hetty moaned. “I’m too tired.”

“Tell me a story then, any story. Just stay awake.”

Hetty swallowed, her throat dry. She couldn’t deny anyone a story, let alone her husband. She began: “Once there was a tunnel, and in it”—she blinked and saw the glimmer of a star sigil that wasn’t her magic—“there was someone who came here before us. Benjy, Eudora came through here. She might have left a trap for us!”

Hetty shifted about, nearly jumping down despite her broken foot.

The glimmer of magic came closer, threatening to swallow them up and their shadows. It stopped right in front of them, and in the center of the light stood a person.

“There you are!” Thomas said, grinning despite the ashes that streaked his face. “Temperance Murray said you’d might come out through here!”