Chapter 18

I'd gone from extreme cold to extreme heat in a matter of moments. My body didn't know whether to shiver or sweat. But I couldn't stop running. I pumped my arms harder and the ground went from hard-packed, frozen tundra to nearly black with veins of lava running through it. Steam rose up around me and tiny bubbles of lava burst as I passed. Up ahead volcanos rose as far as the eye could see. They were imposing with smoking plumes and rivers of lava flowing from them. The ground rumbled beneath my feet, yet I hopped and ran my way toward the castle ahead.

A towering rectangular pillar stood at each of the four corners of the castle. A river of lava ran down each of the walls between the pillars. Black smoke rose so thick it was difficult to see the sun from here. Ash rained down on me like snow. It clung to my hair and skin. Monty jumped down off my shoulder and ran along next to me. He jumped into the lava streams and out again as he pranced by my side. The lava rolled right off him. I would've stopped to study him if Avalon wasn't soaring right behind us. A dark, shadowy figure dropped down between me and the castle. I skidded to a halt. My foot stopped just before a stream of lava. My arms pinwheeled for a moment but I gained my balance.

Avalon stood before me in his dark armor and strands of his hair falling over his face and into his eyes. "You are not to roam free in these lands."

"Oh, fuck off." My power rose with my anger, and I opened my hands, embracing the feel of my smoke rising to the surface. "I don't belong to you or anyone else."

"You will return." His hands were curled into fists at his sides, and the muscle in jaw ticked. Green smoke seeped around his body. It swirled and danced around his limbs.

"Wanna bet?" I held my hands out and let the first few petals fall to the ground. A pool of lava turned to hardened onyx at my feet. Interesting.

"You're going to kill me?" He scoffed and shook his head.

"If I have to." I didn't want to kill anyone, but in this world, it seemed to become more necessary as the days went on.

He held his hand up and a ball of fire filled his palm. He tossed it up and caught it while staring straight at me. "I don't want to hurt you, Lily."

"You think you know me so well. The name is MORGANA, asshole!" I lifted my hand and blew across my palm the way I'd seen Malotte do. My petals shot toward him, and for the first time ever, I hoped they'd touch his skin.

His eyes widened and he leapt to the side and threw a stream of fire toward me like a flamethrower. My petals turned to ash under his power. I'll just have to try harder to kill the bastard. I ran to the other side of him and shot my petals in his direction. Avalon spun to meet me, and fire rose up around him. He gathered a ball of flames in his hand and I gathered my petals. We blasted them at each other and they coiled between us in a ball of flames and petals. Sweat beaded my body and I gritted my teeth. I'd never used power like this before, but anger and sorrow were the only fuel I needed.

The longer we fired at each other, the more our powers deflected around the area we were in. Flames spread and flickered over the ground while parts of it started to turn to shining onyx from my petals. He ran at me and threw a stream of fire in my direction. I didn't know what made me do it, but I stepped in front of it and held my hands up. The flames seemed to hit a wall and just go around me like I was untouchable by his power. He growled and threw a blast of wind at me, trying to knock me off my feet, yet it went around me once more, never even touching me.

"Sucks to be you, vice." I smirked.

We stood there for a moment with our chests heaving. He ran toward me and threw fireball after fireball. I held my arms up and his flames died before they even met my skin. He ran in a circle firing at me from all different directions and nothing touched me. The power of it pushed me back, and I felt my feet slide over the ground with each hit. Monty ran up my leg and jumped off my hand in front of me.

"Nooooo!"

Avalon fired at that exact moment and Monty opened his arms and legs like a flying squirrel. The fire hit him right in the stomach. He caught it and then expanded his arms and legs back out, throwing the fire at Avalon. Monty dropped back down to the ground in front of me and then hissed in Avalon's direction. Avalon lifted his hand and caught the fire in his palm, then threw it to the ground, shaking his hand out as though he himself had been burnt.

I chuckled. "Good boy."

Avalon charged for me, and I turned and started sprinting toward the castle. But he was too fast with the wind propelling him. He caught me around the waist with his arm and tackled me to the ground. We rolled, fighting for the upper hand, when he flipped over me and jerked me to a stand with both his hands wrapped around my wrists. He held them between us, close to his chest. His breaths fanned across my face and rage was plain on his face.

"You're coming with me."

"Never again." I glanced down and jerked my arms back, forcing him to move with me. He swung around and stepped into one of the veins of lava running across the ground. I kept myself just on the edge.

He glanced down to where he stood and chuckled. "Nothing hurts me here."

I opened both my hands and dozens of petals fell across his fingers and to the ground around us. When they brushed across his skin, I prayed they'd take him down with that one touch like they had the others. But they had no effect on him.

Avalon gave me that snide, cocky smirk. "You cannot bring death to me."

The petals fell into the lava that was now up to his knees. One by one they touched the burning liquid, turning it to hard stone around his legs. I pulled my knee right up into his groin, connecting with his balls. He dropped my hands and I stumbled away from him. I chuckled as I turned and ran from him. I could hear his struggles as I left, and blasts of fire sparked at my back. But this was my chance. Hopefully I'd trapped him long enough to get away. I ran headlong toward that castle, thinking it'd be the answer to my problems. I didn't know if it was or not, but I needed to get there and away from Avalon once and for all.

As I got closer, I saw that the door stood at least thirty feet high. It was made of dark lava rock with strips of metal running across it. I didn't stop running, I was so close to finding sanctuary within those walls. I reached for the giant round knocker at the center of the door. A splash of lava dropped down from above and I leapt back from the door. When I glanced up, there was a woman peeking down at me over the wall of the castle.I could barely make out her face this far away.

"And who the fuck are you?"

"I'm in trouble and I was told you could help."

She raised her face toward the horizon. "Yeah, I could see you are trouble from here."

"Please . . ." I checked over my shoulder, praying Avalon wouldn't be there. I thought of what Malotte told me about the leader of the Cinder Clan and how she felt about the leaders of the demons. "If you let me in, it'd really piss off Avalon . . . and King Dacio."

"Why didn't you say so?" She disappeared from the edge of the wall, and a moment later the door began to creak open. She stood there in all her glory, all statuesque and dark ebony skin. Her hair was twisted into dreadlocks and pulled into a thick ponytail on top of her head. Dark streaks of ash ran down her cheeks like warrior makeup. She wore a tight golden crop top and a long black skirt that was tight to her body and held in place by a thick, metallic-gold belt.

She held her arm to the side, giving me space to walk in. "Welcome to Ashington Keep."