Page 53 of Phoenix Chosen 2

“I willalwaysfind you,” he says again.

The force of the impact pushes us off the ledge. Dark tentacles wrap around me, pulling me away from Kalistratos. His fingers tighten around my hand as the void envelopes him. I’m slipping out of his grasp. He looks at me once more before the shadow falls across his face, and everything is gone.

20

TYLER

I’m suspended in darkness, and the tendrils of shadow work around my body, writhing up my skin like icy fingers. I can feel Kalistratos’s fingers still clinging to mine, but I see nothing. It’s like I’m in the cave again. My entire existence is dimming out in a slow fade to black, but my mind still burns hot, and I’m fighting to hold on.

I refuse to let go.

I’m not a phoenix.

Out from the pit of nothingness, I see a glowing image floating slowly towards me, like a tiny television screen. It’s a room, like the set of a stage play in a dark theater. The walls are made of rough plaster, and clean sunlight filters through specks of dust from a wood-framed window. What looks like a baby bottle made from pottery sits on a finely crafted table next to a glowing hearth, and in the corner of the room is a large circular nest filled with cushions and soft furs. Near the door is an altar with a small stone statue of a phoenix wreathed in multicolored flowers.

The door opens, and I see Kalistratos enter the room. He’s laughing, but I can’t hear anything except a low echo like I’m listening while submersed in a thick jelly. He unloads a slab of fresh meat off his shoulder and drops it onto the counter near the hearth. Then another figure steps into the doorway’s light, and I’m startled to see it’s me.

I’m wearing a faded blue chiton that has been lovingly patched and repaired, and I’m carrying an amphora in my arms. I watch myself turn to pass the jar to Kalistratos. Slung snugly against my back with strips of white cloth is a sleeping baby. Kalistratos sets the jar on the counter and then helps me take the child off, and I watch as the two of us happily cradle the tiny bundle.

“No,” I say as the vision begins to fade away. “Wait!”

There’s nothing I can do to stop it. The scene drifts off into the dark, and it’s soon gone.

But now, in the cold nothing, I feel that phantom heat glowing against my chest, hotter than ever before.

A key turns in my mind, and a thought emerges from somewhere hidden.

I’m not a phoenix…

But I am an omega, and the baby I carried was given to me through the power of the Great Phoenix.

No, the baby Icarry.

I press my hand to my chest and feel the heat of the pendant. I call to it, beckoning it to return to the safety of my body. Its warmth surrounds me, and my unconditional love andprotective care flow out from my heart. I feel the cold being pushed back, little by little.

My child. My phoenix.

The pendant dissipates as if it is being drawn into me, and I feel a wholeness radiate through me like sunlight. Kalistratos’s hand is there, his fingertips barely hooked to mine. I grab him, then swing my other hand through the viscous dark and take hold of his other hand. A golden aura shines from between our palms, then bursts out in broad sweeping rays that pierce the darkness. Kalistratos’s face emerges, and he opens his eyes like he’s waking from being put under.

“Tyler!” he shouts.

I pull him in, wrap my arms around him, and feel the wellspring of power open inside me, a combination of my soul and my baby’s.

Take us home.

Light erupts from our bodies and surrounds us, and in a single instant, the darkness is ripped back like a blanket in a hurricane. The monster’s screech pierces the air and is swallowed into nothingness, engulfed by the roar of air rushing past us. We’re in a vivid blue sky surrounded by puffs of snowy white clouds.

Kalistratos and I spiral as we fall, and I see a green plateau below and a sea sparkling in the distance. Rocky hills covered with ancient olive trees touch an oak scrubland, with vast fields of wildflowers. There’s a city with terracotta-roofed buildings wrapping around a huge white-columned temple. The welcoming sun shining overhead dries the thunderstorm off our skin and warms my chilled bones.

“Holy shit!” I yell.

“You did it! By the Gods, Tyler, you did it!” Kalistratos’s grin is so wide I’m afraid his mouth might fly off.

I feel his hand push against my stomach, and I look down. I can’t stop the tears from coming—but thank God the wind just sucks them right off my face. I’m pregnant again.

We’re back.

Then Kalistratos lets out a whooping cry of joy, and his body flashes with heat as bright emerald and red feathers erupt across his skin. His hands slip out from mine as they spread out as majestic wings trailing brilliant plumage. I flip around and spread my arms like a skydiver, and he grabs me around the shoulder and armpit with his black talons. We soar through the air, circling over the beautiful landscape. The smell of Circeana is in the air, and I take a long, deep breath of it.