Rise of the Sparrows (Relics of Ar'Zac #1) (4 page)

Rachael wanted to turn around. This was none of her business—children died on the streets all the time, especially during winter. Likely someone had tried to rob her and when they saw that she had nothing worth taking, they had beaten her. Or worse.

She knew better than to get involved, but this time was different. This time she knew the girl.

Slowly, so as not to startle her even more, she sat down next to Cephy, and carefully took her face into her hands and turned it towards her. The girl tried to resist at first, but Rachael was stronger. She hoped Cephy would calm down once she saw that it was Rachael, and not her attackers who had come back for more.

“Cephy. It's me, see? It's all right. What happened?” Cephy's eyes focused on Rachael, and through slow, ragged breaths her body relaxed. Her eyes were wide, and gentle tremors caused by her crying still shuddered through her, but Rachael could tell that Cephy was relieved to see it was her and not whoever had done this. “What happened? Who did this?”

“My father.” Acting on instinct and hoping that she wasn't hurting Cephy more in the process, she pulled the girl into her arms and held her. Somewhere at the back of her mind she seemed to remember someone holding her like this once, stroking her hair for comfort, so Rachael did the same.

“Your father did this to you?”

Cephy nodded. “Me and my mother.” She was still shaking, but her voice had calmed down.

“Why did he do that?”

“Because he found out that mummy left me her baked bread every day, while he was at work.” That explained how she had been able to spare so much. Her mother had been feeding her, in secret, ever since her father had kicked her into the streets like an unwanted dog. Now that he had found out what had been going on behind his back, he had had to assert his authority.

Rachael felt ill at the picture Cephy was giving her of her father. What kind of man raised a girl with love, and then abandoned her like this?

She had learned never to make assumptions. She didn't know if he had been a good father until now, or if there hadn't been some other reason Cephy wasn't telling her about.

“I'm sorry.” Life was hard on the street, when you were on your own. It was cruel that she had been treated like this, but in the long run it would make it easier for her. It wasn't every day that food was just handed to you when you were one of the strays. Maybe now Cephy could learn to look after herself, rather than have someone else do it for her. Maybe now she wouldn't ask the impossible of Rachael.

Maybe now she would understand that you only had a chance of survival in this world if you stood alone.

“They don't love me. Father doesn't, and mummy doesn't, either. And you don't want me, either!” This time Rachael was truly lost for words. How could she argue with something like this? After how this man had treated his daughter?

There was only one thing that came to mind, and Rachael wasn't convinced that it wouldn't make things worse. Seeing the light dim behind Cephy's eyes made the decision for her. “Your mother loves you. She gave you bread every day, right? Fresh bread, still warm. Every day. Because of her, you-”

“They are replacing me.” Rachael found it odd that a voice as tiny as this could interrupt her so easily. “My mother. They are having another child. When father beat me and mummy I heard my brothers say that it's to replace me, because I was a failure.” There was nothing Rachael could say to make Cephy's pain go away. For a small moment she wondered if this was why she was alone, if her parents had abandoned her when she had had her first dream promising death. If her mother had left her the blanket as Cephy's mother had left her the bread. But then she remembered that she knew nothing about her parents, and that she had been alone for as long as she could think.

Whatever reasons her parents had had for leaving her, it had nothing to do with this curse. Likely they had struggled for food like everyone else, and leaving a young child behind to starve had been the easiest option.

She knew she'd regret it but there was something she could say to Cephy, after all. Something that she knew would make her feel better.

“Cephy...” She prepared herself for the wave of pain coursing through her body as it had the last time, but nothing happened. The only pain she felt was the one that already existed, and she decided that what she had felt last time must have been empathy for Cephy. For the situation they were both in. For how similar they were.

Rachael, the girl who dreamed of death, and Cephy, the girl who could set anything on fire simply by wishing it.

They only had each other. Was it really so wrong to hold on to that?

In her arms Cephy had become numb. Her bloodshot eyes wide open, the girl merely stared at the snow in front of them.

“Cephy.” Rachael tried again. “If you want to stay with me, you can.” Her words had an immediate effect on Cephy. Her eyes grew even wider than before, darting up towards Rachael, searching for any signs that she was lying. When she found none, she threw her arms around Rachael and held on to her so tightly Rachael was worried she might have difficulty breathing.

“Thank you! You won't regret it!” Rachael hoped that Cephy was right.

The sudden explosion of fire and smoke filled every corner of her consciousness before she could comprehend what was happening. There were panicked screams everywhere, and her vision blurred.

“What have you d-” His accusing voice was silenced by a falling wooden plank, its fire shielding her from his glare.

Terrified, she turned around. The door stood open, but could she just leave? Could she leave everyone she loved behind in this mess she had started?

This was her fault. If she left now, every accusation he had thrown at her would become true. Her being a monster. His reasons for throwing her into the street like unwanted leftovers.

Everything would have been justified.

She spun around again, determined to go back for her mother, when the cupboard on the other end of the room exploded. The very same cupboard where her mother stored the lamp oil.

Barely aware of what was happening, she fell to the ground, tackled into a white-hot deafness by the sudden force of the blast. The screaming had ceased, but then everything else had, too. Around her the flames were consuming everything, but the silence was just as maddening.

With a terrible ringing in her ears she noticed that she was closer to the door. The blast must have thrown her across the room.

There was only one thing she could do now. Run. The rest of the house was unreachable to her, and her hearing was slowly returning. She didn't want to hear the screaming again.

Ignoring the pain in her back and ankle she leapt for the door, opening it with the bit of strength she had left and stumbling into the cool snow and onto the street. A crowd had gathered to observe the flames and, seeing her leave the building alone, they put two and two together.

Her hearing wasn't good enough yet for her to hear the insults and accusations her old neighbours threw at her. She didn't need to hear them, either. She doubted that they could say anything to her that she wasn't already saying to herself. Her father had been an unmoving heap on the floor last she'd seen him. Her mother was trapped in the attic nursery, trying to save the twins.

Their accusations weren't necessary for her to know what fate she had likely left her family to.

Her legs gave in, and she sank to the ground. Her arms went up around her ears, anticipating the return of her hearing, and she let her tears flow unhindered as she rocked herself into madness.

Rachael woke up, drenched in sweat. She'd had two vivid dreams now since she had met Cephy, and both dreams had left her feeling panicked. While that in itself wasn't unusual, the frequency of her dreams was. Often months passed between dreams. This time it had been days.

It was too late for doubts. Cephy stayed with her now, and Rachael didn't have the heart to send her away again. Had someone offered her the same chance she had offered the girl she knew she would have been grateful, if not suspicious. Cephy hadn't lived on the streets for long enough yet to feel the same paranoia.

She filled her fists with snow to wake herself up and to get rid of her lingering doubt. She didn't know that her dreams were connected to Cephy. It was a coincidence, nothing else. The idea that the girl had anything at all to do with it was impossible.

As much as she tried, Rachael couldn't shake the feeling that something was going on. That something was shifting. Something out of her control, but involving her nonetheless. That she couldn't figure out the details was as frustrating as her situation in the nightmare had been.

Tired, Rachael took a look around, squinting in the weak light as her eyes adjusted. It was still dark outside. The blanket, which she had wrapped around herself in a hopeless attempt to stay warm, was covered in a thin layer of fresh snow.

Her eyes moved across from her to the spot Cephy had claimed as hers, but it was empty. Her side of the blanket had been slept in, Rachael could tell as much, but the girl was nowhere to be seen.

Confused, Rachael got up. Unlike her, Cephy didn't wake easily. She didn't startle at the slightest sound, like Rachael did. There was no reason for her to be up at this hour. It was unlike her to stray far from Rachael even during the day. In the short amount of time they had spent together, Rachael had figured out that Cephy didn't like the dark. Odd sounds didn't scare her as much as the shadows between buildings, which the faint moonlight always seemed to breathe life into.

The sound of her bare feet in the snow seemed unnaturally loud. Something was wrong, but Rachael couldn't figure out what. She felt sick and her stomach was twisting into knots, but she did her best to focus.

A week had passed since Rachael had found Cephy sobbing and bruised. Since then Rachael had insisted that Cephy recover from the shock and her injuries, while Rachael herself went out to find food. It had been obvious how shaken the girl was, and since Rachael was faster on her own Cephy hadn't objected. She was young and not yet used to her new life, but she was clever. She knew it made more sense this way and had agreed after having given it a moment of thought.

Maybe Cephy had decided that she had recovered enough, after all. Maybe she had gone out to find food, to make up for staying behind while Rachael was out searching for anything edible.

Rachael wanted to go back to her blanket, but something moved her away from it. Blackrock wasn't safe at night, especially for someone as fragile and trusting as Cephy.

“Cephy?” The darkness seemed to swallow her voice whole. When no one answered, Rachael got worried. 

She moved around another corner. No wonder something had felt off. The smell hit her nose hard, and even though she hadn't witnessed one often she knew what this was.

There was a fire. Her eyes shot up between the buildings. Thick, grey clouds smothered the night sky, lit by the pale orange glow of the nearby  flames. The fire was close.

Her body froze solid, her blood turned to ice as realisation hit. It hadn't been a dream. It had been a vision. A real-time vision.

And Cephy had been in the middle of it.

Rachael began to run. She knew roughly where Cephy's old home was, but even if she hadn't the flames would have shown her the way. The closer she got, the bigger the mocking play of light and shadows that danced on the walls around her was.

And then she reached the square. The whole house was engulfed in flames. A choking, oppressive smell filled the air, and a crowd had gathered to watch their neighbours burn to ashes. In the middle of all that, sitting on the floor with her face buried in her hands, was Cephy.

As quickly as she could manage, Rachael forced her way through the onlookers who soon gave way once they realised who she was. 

“Cephy. It's me. Rachael.” Cephy didn't look up. Her body had gone rigid, incapable of movement. “Can you hear me?”

Three people in suits carrying buckets full of water rushed past her, anxious to get to the people trapped inside. Rachael thought that she could hear screaming but wasn't sure whether it was coming from inside the house or from the crowd.

“I only wanted to see my mother.” Rachael had to strain her ears to hear the tiny sound coming from Cephy, but didn't want to ask her to repeat anything. This wasn't something she should have to relive if it wasn't necessary.

“Come on. I'll get you home.” As soon as the words were out, Rachael regretted them. Home to Cephy was the burning ruin behind her, not a frozen spot on the ground, and there was definitely no going back there now.

“I just wanted to see her one more time. He saw me, and hit me, harder than he ever did before. And I-” Rachael pulled her into her arms before Cephy could say another word. She could imagine what had happened after that.

Carefully, Rachael picked her up. It took all her effort to carry the girl on her back, but she managed to walk and began to make her way back through the crowd.

No one tried to stop her. The looks they threw Cephy said more than words could have done, and Rachael hoped that Cephy had her eyes shut so she wouldn't see their disgusted, hateful glares.

She knew if Cephy hadn't just burned down a whole house by herself, if the damage had been any less, things would have been a lot worse.

For the first time, Rachael wondered if maybe their curses were actually small gifts. Everyone knew what both of them could do and no one was going to arrest someone who could give you the details of your death, or who could so easily reduce a building to ashes.

Cephy had committed a crime.

And thanks to that, they were safe.