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She pulled on the ribbon of power, gathered it inside herself, keeping the frightening i froht she could do that He was insane, but he had faith in her

The power inside her built and heated Her ribs ached as if being pushed out frorew until she started to sweat and shake with the force of it Sweat burned off her skin, rising up in wisps of steam that smelled like fear As the power inside her built, so did the heat She couldn’t stand it, yet no fire flowed from her hand Her insides had to be blistered It was tooto erupt into fla to die This was hoas going to happen

So inside her broke, some panicked, childish part of her she couldn’t control She couldn’t do it She couldn’t bring herself to use his power that way A deep-seated sense of self-preservation entangled with a primal fear of fire made it impossible

She felt herself scrarow cold and nurayher on, but she couldn’t do it She couldn’t call fire Not fire

Drake felt Helen’s o blank with terror and shut down Her fear of fire had won The sas lost

It was tiet out of there before the two of theed at Helen’s hand, but she didn’tin terror

He scooped her up and hauled ass out of the ht of dawn showed him the entrance Even if the kajmela had followed him, they wouldn’t come outside with sunrise so near

Wind blew across his face, drying his tears of grief Thoone Helen was unresponsive and Kevin’s sas still lost

He’d failed everyone

Helen started to regain coherence a little at a time She felt Drake settle her in the front seat of the van and buckle her in The door slaine start

They were leaving The monsters were behind them She hadn’t died in a fire

Tho in her ht soiant mistake and would coo back into the ht this time

But the minutes ticked by and that didn’t happen

The van rocked as they made their way over the rutted country road The mine was more than a mile behind them, but she could still feel the oppressive evil of that place, s to her skin

Thomas was dead and they didn’t even have Kevin’s sword to show for his sacrifice That part was her fault and her failure made her sick

Drake sat silently as he drove, his hands tight on the wheel The back of his right hand was blistered and swollen where a tar monster had touched him, but he didn’t seeravel road

Helen’s insides burned, though whether from physical injury or from emotional overload she wasn’t sure

Drake turned onto a paved road, heading east The sun hadn’t broken the horizon, but the sky was growing lighter Even though it stung her eyes, Helen welcoht Instinctively, she knew that darkness such as they’d faced in that ht

"We’re not going far," said Drake His voice was rough and harsh in the silence of the van

Helen nodded, not trusting herself to speak She was afraid that even one ould send her into tears and she’d never be able to stop crying As ive in to the tears, Drake needed her She could feel howover their connection in shuddering waves of agony He’d loved Thoht She wanted to be strong for Drake, to find a way to help ease his pain, and if she cried, she’d be useless Again

There was nothing she could do to make up for her cowardice, but maybe she could offer Drake so she could think to do to honor Tho Drake would even want comfort from the woman who had failed so coave her a hard stare All the warone

Helen sed past the clog of tears in her throat Her eyes burned against the need to cry "I should have calleddone what you asked" She couldn’t even say the word fire

"I shouldn’t have asked that of you without first teaching you what you needed to know It’s ato find a place to rest for a couple hours Then I’ you home Once youof what you can do"

"She’s the woman you told me about The woman like me"

"Yeah And we’ll see Sibyl, too She’ll knohat to do about your vision of your own death"

Helen gave an involuntary shudder at the reet it?"