Iridescence

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

FAITH

I hate flashbacks. I like to pretend the past never happened, but sometimes my subconscious likes to mess with me and I end up back there. I usually manage to wake myself up and move on pretty quickly, but that night, that wasn't the case.

I could smell smoke. I jumped out of bed and ran to my parents' bedroom. I heard someone laughing a few feet away from me, but no one was there. I flung open their bedroom door and jumped onto their bed between them.

"Mommy! Daddy!" I shouted. "Wake up! Wake up!"

My mother opened her eyes. "What's wrong, honey?" She asked me.

I pointed to the door. My mom saw the smoke then. "Henry... Henry, wake up!" She said urgently. There were flames everywhere now. The fire had grown out of control unnaturally fast.

My father let out an incoherent groan. "Henry, the house is on fire!" My mother told him.

That woke him up. "Get Faith out of here," he said. "I'll get Deacon."

Deacon was my father's younger brother. He was living with us while he went to college. Mom started dragging me toward the front door. That was when the roof collapsed.

My dad was trapped beneath the debris. His head was bleeding and his body was crushed. "Henry!" My mom screamed. She stared at him in shock.

"Mommy, we have to get out," I said.

My mother refused to move. That was the day her mind shattered for the first time. I was four years old, my father was dead, and my mother was frozen in place. As my mother's nightgown caught on fire, I realized I wasn't burning despite being surrounded by flames. I grabbed my mother and dragged her out of what remained of the house.

I was able to walk straight through the flames without even feeling them. If anything, they made me feel stronger. As long as I held onto my mother, the fire didn't touch her either. Even her nightgown stopped burning.

My father died that day. Uncle Deacon did, too, or so we assumed. We never found his body. His room was completely destroyed. The firemen said he must have burned to death.

I wanted to wake up, but instead, I suddenly found myself in a new location. I was surprised when I spotted Artemis. She looked a little bit younger, yet mostly looked the same. I had a feeling this wasn't the present time.

"Where is Tana?" She asked urgently.

The man she'd spoken to was strangely familiar. He radiated with fire and sunlight, and I could tell he was a deity. "I lost her," he said numbly. "Chaos attacked, she tried to protect me from harm, and the next thing I knew, I was here."

"You lost track of your daughter?" Artemis snapped. I could tell she cared about Tana very much just by how upset she was. "Where did you get ambushed, Helios?"

Helios, I thought. The name stirred something strange inside of me. I knew him. I was sure of it, but I was also sure we'd never met before.

"We were in her mother's domain. Ember did not survive," Helios replied. His grief was clear.

"Tana may still be alive," Artemis said with determination. "I'm going after her."

"Artemis, it's too dangerous."

"You don't have the right to tell me what to do, Helios. Go see my brother. He will patch up your injuries while I go rescue your daughter."

Helios looked absolutely defeated. Part of me wanted to stay with him, but I followed Artemis instead. Soon, she reached a place that was filled with fire. She clutched a necklace in her hand. It began to glow, and the flames suddenly allowed her to pass through them.

A pile of ashes sat nearby in the form of a human. Fire Nymphs burn to nothing but ash when they die, I thought. I wasn't sure how I knew that, but I did. This pile had once been Ember, mother of the mysterious Tana.

Artemis bowed her head and whispered a prayer for the dead before moving on. She searched through the area for any signs of life. There were none. She kept searching until she found a girl lying in the middle of a pool of blood.

The blood appeared to mostly belong to her enemies, as their corpses surrounded her. She clung to her sword, although it was clear she was in severe pain.

"Tana!" Artemis cried in relief. Then she seemed to realize what had happened. "You've been bitten," she said in horror.

"Hey, Gorgeous," Tana greeted her weakly with a flirtatious grin. "I was hoping I'd get to see you one more time."

"I'll go to Hermes. He has the antidote to the venom. You're going to be alright, Tana."

"You won't make it in time."

"You know Hermes is impossibly fast. He can save you." Artemis was about to run for help.

"Artemis..." At Tana's serious tone, Artemis hesitated and turned to face her. "You won't reach Hermes before I die."

"Stop it. You'll be fine, Tana."

"I have only moments left, Gorgeous. I want to spend them with you." Tana paused before adding, "Do not leave me to die alone, Artemis. Please."

Artemis seemed to realize Tana was right. She knelt beside her and took her hand. "You are not alone," she said firmly.

"Thank you," Tana replied softly.

"You are my best friend, Tana. I give my word, I will avenge you."

"I know you will..." She paused. "I love you, Artemis."

As a single tear escaped from her eyes, Artemis remained silent. She didn't let go of Tana until she exhaled a final time and her body began to burn.

"I'm sorry..." Artemis whispered. "I swear on everything I hold sacred I will make them pay for this." She watched as Tana burned to nothing but ash, not leaving until the process was complete.

"I love you, too," she said softly. She gathered up Tana's ashes and placed them inside of a crystal that was shaped like flames. She repeated the process with a second crystal for Ember.

As Artemis left, I wanted to follow her, but I couldn't. I couldn't breathe as grief and pain suddenly overwhelmed me.

"Faith! Faith, wake up," a voice called to me. I felt someone shaking me and opened my eyes. Genie stood over me looking pretty concerned.

"What happened?" I mumbled.

"You were crying in your sleep," Genie explained. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah... I just had a weird dream."

It wasn't a dream, my inner monologue insisted. It was a memory. Not just the fire when I was little, but the other part, too. I was there. I was Tana.

I knew it was true, but that didn't make it any less confusing.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Genie asked sympathetically.

"Not really," I replied. "Revisiting my childhood trauma isn't my idea of fun." I couldn't exactly tell her about the flashes involving Artemis, but my explanation seemed to satisfy her.

"I understand," she said. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Cover for me." I started getting dressed.

"What do you mean?"

"I need air. I'm about to sneak out. I'll be back before we're supposed to get up. Just make sure no one knows I'm gone?"

"Sure. I can do that. Just be careful."

"If anyone tries to cross me, I'll set them on fire." I showed her my lighter. Genie didn't need to know that I didn't actually need a lighter to torch someone anymore.

She smiled nervously, like she wasn't sure if I was kidding or not. I climbed out of the window and jumped down to the sidewalk below. I was on the second floor, but the jump wasn't too bad, and I easily landed on my feet.

I didn't really know where I was going, but I kept walking. I didn't stop until I reached Kissena Park. I sat in the woods, not caring if any local homicidal maniacs were lurking nearby. Let someone cross me. I'd make them regret it.

I felt like the weight of the entire universe was about to crush me. I pulled my knees to my chest and tried to calm myself down. I don't have panic attacks often, but let me tell you, this one was a doozy.

I knew the truth without having to relive it. The venom had been incredibly painful. Tana had hidden it well, but inside, she was screaming. She'd refused to let Chaos and his minions realize how bad it was, and she'd kept fighting until she slaughtered the ones who hadn't managed to run away. She had died, but she'd done it on her terms.

I could still feel the venom flowing through my veins, destroying me. I couldn't make it stop. I couldn't remember how to breathe.

I jumped when a hand landed on my shoulder. I nearly attacked the person until I realized who it was. "Artemis..." I said in surprise.

"What are you doing alone in the woods at this hour?" She demanded.

"I needed air," I replied. "What are you doing here?"

"You put yourself in danger by doing this. It was incredibly foolish, Faith! You're still training. If you'd been attacked, you might not have escaped with your life. I came to ensure you didn't get yourself into any trouble."

"It's sweet of you to care."

"You and the others are my responsibility, Faith."

"Is that the only reason you came?"

She hesitated. "I sensed your distress. I thought it might be best to check on you."

I smiled at her. "See? You do care," I said with a grin.

"The point is that this was not a safe choice you made. You need to return home at once. I'm here to escort you."

"Do you not trust me to go home of my own free will?"

"You're as unpredictable as fire, Faith. So no, I can't be certain you'll actually go home just because you say you will."

"Artemis... What's that necklace you wear? The one you hide beneath your clothes?"

Artemis stared at me suspiciously. "How do you know about that?" She demanded.

"You never took it off... I figured you still don't. Can I see it?"

Artemis hesitated. "It's personal," she replied.

"Please... It's important."

She sighed, but she pulled it out from beneath her clothes. "It is a sunstone," she explained. "It was a gift from someone very dear to me."

"It lets you walk through fire, right?"

"Among other things. Did Apollo tell you this? I'm going to kill him..."

"No... He didn't need to. If I don't think too hard, the information just comes to me." I reached toward the necklace and touched it. "Anavo," I whispered. Ignite, my mind translated automatically.

Suddenly, the sunstone grew hot in my hand. The colors seemed to come alive and dance. The effect was iridescent, a fact that seemed pretty fitting given what Apollo had named us.

I smiled, suddenly feeling more connected to Fire and magic than I'd ever been before. I also felt more connected to Artemis.

She pulled away from me and stared at me. I expected her to smile or hug me or call me Tana or do pretty much anything but what she did.

She put a dagger to my throat. "I will not fall for your lies! Tell me who you really are!" She demanded.

"I'm Faith," I replied. "And I'm pretty sure I used to be someone named Tana... Gorgeous." I winked at her.

She stared at me again before shaking her head. "I have to go," she said firmly. "Hermes!"

Hermes appeared in a flash. "Something I can do for you, Sis?" He asked.

"Take Faith home. It isn't safe out here."

"You mean you're not going to walk her home yourself?"

"Just do it, Hermes!" She snapped. With that, she ran off like she couldn't get away from me fast enough. That hurt more than I wanted to admit.

"Well that was odd," Hermes said lightly. "Then again it's Artemis. It's best I not question her actions. Come on, Faith. I'm going to take you home. Tonight is definitely not the night to piss off my sister."