They were real. They were alive. And I recognized them. Even from up here, I could see my mother’s brown hair and green eyes. My father’s dark hair and tall build. I was about to wave when they raced inside.

Holy fates! Excitements and nerves collided inside me. I didn’t know how to process this. They were here!

Would they like me?

Oh, shit, this was bad.

I had no more time to worry. My mother burst through the door, her brown hair flying behind her.

Shock and joy stole my breath as she collided with me, throwing her arms around me. “Phoenix!”

Her voice was so familiar. Even though I hadn’t remembered it until now, it was familiar. Tears burned my eyes. I clutched her to me, amazed that I was finally with my mother again. This was real.

My father joined us, wrapping his arms around the two of us. Joy like I’d never known filled my body.

My parents.

I’d wanted them for so long. Wanted answers. And here they were.

My mother pulled back, tears sparkling in her green eyes. “Let me look at you.”

I smiled, tears pouring down my face.

“You’re so beautiful. And so big.” She looked at my father. “We’ve lost so many years.”

“But we’ve found her.” His gray gaze met mine. “We’ve found you.”

“How?”

“Come.” My mother held my hand, gesturing toward the door. “We’ll go to the sitting room.”

I collected the beaker and followed them to a room with two couches and a fireplace. Finally, a memory rushed to the surface. Me, playing here as a child.

We sat on the couches, my mother next to me and my father on the other couch. There was a massive window in front of me showing a beautiful view of the city and mountains. I turned toward my mother.

“How did the portal finally appear to me after so long?”

She reached for my hand. Only then did I realize that not only was she dressed like a warrior, she looked like one. Her arms were strong and lean, daggers sheathed at her hips.

“We’ve been searching ever since you were captured on one of our trading expeditions to the outside world,” my mother said. “He took us as well, but we escaped within the first day. We tried to find you, but they’d taken you elsewhere. We’ve searched ever since, but you were well hidden.”

Tears pricked my eyes. At least they’d searched for me. And I wasn’t responsible for my father’s death—he wasn’t even dead. The Monster’s threat had been empty, the vision of my father being run through by a sword was an illusion. My shoulders relaxed, as if for the first time in my life. Like I’d been carrying that tension and that fear for a decade.

“It’s taken ten years.” My father frowned. “Too long.”

“Why now?” I asked.

“In the last week, your unique magical signature has grown. Our tracker could sense that. Finally, we had a way to find you, and our strongest wizard sent a portal to you. It was drawn to you by your unique magic.”

“My unique magic? You mean my FireSoul nature?”

“No.” My mother shook her head. “I mean your gift over life. Over plants.”

So I wasn’t crazy.

“You would have learned your magic sooner if you’d been here,” my mother said. “But the magic waited, bursting free when it couldn’t wait any longer.”

“I wouldn’t call it bursting,” I said. “Some strange stuff has happened with plants. But no bursting.”

Should there have been bursting?

My mother laughed. “It will come.”

“Why do I have such great plant magic if this place has no plants at all?” Despite my parents’ arrival, it still felt strange here. Wrong, somehow.

My mother and father shared a look, indecision and worry.

“What is it?” I demanded.

“We must tell her,” my father said.

“Not yet.” My mother whispered, worry in her gaze.

“Tell me what?” The hair on my arms stood on end.

“It’s nothing,” my mother said. “It can wait until—”

“Tell me.” I gripped her hands. “Please.”

Resignation shined in her eyes, and that scared me more than anything.

“Fine.” She swallowed hard, then gestured to the huge glass window that gave a fabulous view of the city climbing up the valley and the mountains towering overhead. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

“It was once covered in greenery. Plants and trees and crops in the lower valley beyond.”

“What happened?”

“You were born.”

Uh, that sounded bad.

“But it was a good thing,” she rushed to say. “A good thing. Though this place began to die. The plants and trees slowly withering away, giving their life and their magic to you.”

Horror opened a cavern in my chest. “That’s terrible.”

“It’s not.” My mother smiled. “It was fated to be this way. You were fated to be. Elesius was created to birth Life. To create you, who would in turn use the magic to defeat a great evil.”

Holy fates, this was what the prophecy meant when it said that I represented Life in the Triumvirate. “Is this why this place feels so strange? And why I feared it as a child?”

“Yes.” My mother nodded. “You knew it was dying, but didn’t understand why. It scared you.”

I scrubbed a hand over my face, my thoughts whirring. “Why me?”

I wasn’t strong enough for this. Wasn’t worthy of the sacrifice made by Elesius.

My mother smiled. “Because you’re the one with the will to do what must be done. Elesuis knew this was our fate—a seer decried it long ago. Life would come from my line, which is why I am queen.”

Oh, man. I hoped that didn’t mean I’d be made queen. I did not need that on my plate.

“But it wasn’t me, nor any of my ancestors,” my mother said. “When you were born, it was like Elesius knew the time had come. And it began to die.”

“Giving me its power.” Holy fates, this was awful. My stomach churned.

“You are the Warrior of Elesius,” my father said. “The princess of our kingdom. Fated to defeat the evil that rises.”

“This has been in the works for thousands of years.” My mother gripped my hand. “But I didn’t want you to have to face this.”

It was suddenly hard to breathe. “When you say that I’m supposed to fight—”

A flash of movement in the window caught my eye. A figure crashed through, glass exploding into the room. He moved as fast as lightning, streaking toward me and grabbing me, dragging me toward the wall.

It was a blur as he positioned himself in front of me and held out a dark blade toward my parents.

Recognition slammed into me.

“Ares!” I shoved him, but he wouldn’t budge.

“Step back,” Ares commanded of my parents. “Don’t come near her.”

Oh shit, he was rescuing me. Of course he was rescuing me.

My mother drew her daggers, looking like a serious bad-ass Amazon, while my father drew his sword.

“Step away from her,” my mother demanded.

I wiggled out from behind Ares. “It’s okay, everyone. It’s okay.”

“It’s not,” my father said. “He’s entered our kingdom. That should be impossible.”

He clearly didn’t know Ares. Though I had no idea how Ares had found me or gotten here, that wasn’t top of my list right now. Brokering a ceasefire took precedence.

I reached for Ares’s arm, noting the tensed muscles and warrior’s gleam in his eyes. “Ares. Meet my parents.”

His shock was so brief I almost didn’t see it. But the flickering of his eyelids gave it away.

I turned to my parents. “Mother and Father, meet my…” What was he to me? I had no idea yet. “Ares. Meet Ares.”

Who had my back.

No question now.

“I’m certain everyone can lower their blades,” I said.

“You don’t remember your parents,” Ares said.

“I do now.”

His gaze traveled from my parents to me, and then back again. “They aren’t affiliated with Drakon?”

“That was my thought, but no.” I pushed on his arm.

He lowered his sword. My parents followed suit.

Ares looked at me, face intense. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Shaken up, but fine.” I was about to ask him about the burn on his cheekbone when my father spoke.

“How did you get in here?” he demanded.

“I can cross realms.” He turned to me. “Your deirfiúr tried to come but they could not cross over.”

“What are deirfiúr?” my mother asked.

I opened my mouth to tell her about the family I’d created after I’d been stolen from them, but Moira rushed into the room, panic on her face.

“There’s been a breach.” Moira’s eyes were stark. “In the lower city.”

My parent’s eyes darted to Ares. “Is that where you came from?”

He shook his head. “I came from the higher end of the city. In the mountains.”

“We must go.” My mother looked at me. “Stay here.”

“No way in hell.”

Frustration twisted her face. “Then be careful.”

This was all in a day’s work for me, but I doubted any loving mother wanted to hear that her kid fought demons on the daily. So I just said, “Okay.”

She and my father raced out of the room. I grabbed the box from the coffee table and followed, Ares at my side. At the door, he grabbed my arm, pulling me to a halt.

“What?”

He dug into his coat pocket, dragging out the package he’d been holding while standing beneath my window. He tore into the brown paper, revealing a cuff bracelet that flamed purple and red. He shoved it toward me. “Put it on.”

“What is it?”

“Protection. Put it on.”

I shoved it onto my wrist. It was large enough that I had to push it up onto my bicep to keep it from coming off. Magic sparked through me, like a shield had drifted around me.

I wanted to ask what the hell it was, but Ares had started running after my parents.

“Are attacks normal here?” Ares asked as we raced down the cobblestone street behind my parents.

“No idea.” I looped the leather strap over my shoulders and sprinted harder. I’d made it my mission to not let the beaker out of my sight until I’d harnessed its magic, but it was becoming a real pain in the butt.

People spilled out of houses and shops, running alongside us down the street. They were armed with blades and bows, and dressed in similar old-timey armor like my parents.

It was surreal, to be rushing to the defense of my homeland alongside people I may have known as a child. My heart thundered, joy and fear twined together.

The main street terminated in the courtyard where I’d entered. Ahead, it stretched about two hundred meters toward the gleaming opalescent barrier. There were a few skeletal trees that I now realized had given their life for mine. Their power for mine.

A hundred meters in the distance, the shimmering white veil that protected this place was torn asunder. Figures were spilling forth, racing toward the town’s inhabitants.

My parents sprinted across the courtyard, hurtling toward the demons. A line of buildings extended along the right side of the courtyard.

“I’m going up high.” I shifted the box so it hung off my back.

“Be careful.” He left, running toward the fight.

I ran for the row of houses along the courtyard, jumping onto a windowsill and scrambling up onto the roof. I conjured a bow—old faithful. Once I’d found purchase on the tiles, I knelt, firing an arrow at a demon who was about to collide with my mother. She had her daggers ready and a warrior’s stance, ready to slice the demon to ribbons, but my arrow thudded into his right eye just before he reached her.

She spun, her gaze finding me on the roof. A grin spread across her face. I smiled back.

It was weird, bonding over battle, but it was my kind of weird.

She turned back to the fray, daggers ready. At her side, my father swung a massive sword, taking the head off a demon with the biggest horns I’d ever seen.

I fired my arrows, taking out a lightning mage who’d barely missed striking a woman with a spear.

Ares cut through the battlefield, taking out enemy after enemy. My parents and Ares, along with the other villagers, had it covered on the ground. In the distance, I spotted a mage standing near the tear in the barrier. His hands were outstretched toward the rip. Magic glowed from his palms and streaked toward the tear.

He was keeping it open while attackers continued to pour through.

I drew a steadying breath and sighted my arrow, then fired toward my target. The arrow whistled through the air, straight and true.

Until it was incinerated by a fire mage standing between me and my target. The blast of flame streaked through the air, devouring the slender wooden shaft in an instant.

Shit.

I conjured another arrow and shot at the fire mage, knowing it was likely hopeless. And it was. He blasted the arrow to bits before it ever reached him.

I’d never get to the guy holding open the barrier this way. But Ares wasn’t too far away. He’d just removed both arms from a demon with claws made of flame. One last blow of his shadow sword beheaded the beast.

“Ares!” I called.

He turned to me. I pointed toward the fire mage and called. “Get him!”

Ares shifted, turning toward the mage. He sprinted toward the man, his vampire speed eerie in its grace. I took off across the rooftop, scrambling onto the next and leaping onto the one after. I needed to get closer to the mage. He was protected by the line of attackers who stood between me and him, but if I could come at him laterally…

I felt like Batman as I leapt over rooftops and skidded along tile. Finally, I neared the barrier, which shimmered with a pale opalescent light.

The portal mage—or whatever he was—had his back toward me as he directed his magic at the tear in the barrier. It crackled with electric light.

I knelt and sighted my arrow, focusing on his back as I released the string. The arrow whistled through the air, colliding with his broad back. And then bounced off.

What the hell?

My arrows flew with enough force to pierce most armor, and this guy was wearing just a shirt. I conjured another arrow and aimed for his neck. It flew straight and true, but he dodged out of the way right before it struck.

It plowed into the barrier, shattering.

Damn.

But at least his focus was broken. The portal closed without his magic to sustain it. I leapt off the building, conjuring a sword as I raced toward the mage.

He was tall and young—not much older than I—but his magic stank like week-old tuna left out in the sun. As much as I loathed killing, this guy was just plain evil. His magical signature was a flag, declaring it for the world.

And he’d opened the portal into this peaceful world, bringing death and destruction.

I was ten feet from him when he threw out his hands and blasted his magic toward me. The crackling white light streaked through the air. I dodged, diving left, and narrowly avoided it. He was fast though, and the second blast hit me straight in the midsection, bowling me backward.

Pain flared as I crashed to the ground. The box strapped to me dug into my back before shifting to my side so I lay flat. It felt like stepping on a giant Lego. I sucked in a ragged breath, the shock of the blow keeping me pinned to the dirt. Stunned, I craned my neck to see my opponent. The mage was striding toward me, hands glowing as he charged up another blow.

Thank fates he wasn’t strong enough to strike three times simultaneously.

I played possum as pain wracked me, lying still and weak on the ground as strength flowed back into my body. I had the errant thought that if this place had any plant-life left, I’d be able to draw strength from them.

But Elesius had already given me everything it had.

Tears pricked the back of my eyes, but I dared not let them fall. Now was the time for battle, not grief.

The mage stomped over, looming over me, features twisted with raged. He held out his hands, glowing with light.

“Don’t kill her!” The rough shout came from twenty feet away. Another mage. “She’s the target!”

The words just pissed me off. Indecision flickered in the mage’s eyes as he stood over me. I used that second’s hesitation to thrust my sword upward, aiming for his gut.

But he dodged, narrowly avoiding my blade, and grabbed my arm roughly.

Magic exploded out from me, blasting the mage onto his ass five feet away. Shock flared. What the hell? It felt like it came from the bracelet that Ares had given me, but I’d never experienced anything like that.

I scrambled to my feet, my aches fading, and lunged for the mage. He leaned on one arm, the other extended out to me, light flaring from his palm.

I was about to charge him when something silver flew by, headed straight for him. A dagger thudded into the mage’s chest. His eyes flared with shock.

I glanced back. My mother stood ten meters away, having just thrown one of her daggers. She’d saved me.

A grin spread across my face. I nodded at her, then turned and ran for the mage, who was bleeding out onto the ground.

“Bitch,” he spat, blood burbling from his lips.

“Not gonna argue there.”

His eyes went still a moment later, dark and lifeless. A tinge of grief struck me for the life that was lost. He was evil, but he hadn’t always been so.

I knelt at his side, pushing back his collar.

The dragon tattoo twisted over his collarbone. It was no surprise, but my shoulders sagged anyway.

Buck up, buttercup. There was a battle to be won.

I surged to my feet, turning to face the field. Ares stood over the body of the man who’d shouted that I was the target. And my mother’s people—my people—had turned the battle toward victory. My mother and father were polishing off the last demons. The rest were scattered on the ground, already disappearing.

Ares strode toward me, eyes intense and face speckled with blood. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah.” I winced as I shifted the box strapped to my back. This stupid thing was becoming seriously awkward. And even though it was safe inside its specially designed foam padding, there was always the chance that something could happen to it. Fire ball, lightning—anything was possible. I needed to get this back to my trove ASAP.

“They’re Drakon’s men,” Ares said.

“Yeah.” I hiked a thumb toward the mage, who’d already turned to dust. “That one had the tattoo.”

There was no question about it—Drakon was after me. Somehow, he was powerful enough to track me all the way here. I’d gotten lucky both times, being surrounded by friends and family who had my back. But eventually, my luck would run out.

And then?

Well, I didn’t know what would happen then. But it’d be the fight of my life.