A plume of dark, cloying smoke streamed from the window, and Rae scrambled towards it, her feet skidding over the stones as she drew to a stop in front of the shattered shop. She was about to throw herself back through the window when Fulminancy—no longer her own, but a piercing white variety—flared, snapped, and blossomed into another explosion that forced her back. Rae shielded her face, the heat raking claws over her skin, then gritted her teeth, bringing Fulminancy to life in her legs.

Maybe normal people would stand here and watch while their sister burned alive, but Rae was a Fulminancer, and she’d find a way. Fulminancy might not shield her from the heat or smoke, but it might make her quick enough to save her sister.

The parlor erupted again, sending another plume of ash, smoke, and heat into the dark sky. Rain and blood mingled together on her clothes as others tumbled out of the parlor, panicked and screaming. Rae pushed past them, fighting to see into the chaos. Besides the window, there was only one way out of the room they’d been in, and even through the smoke Rae could see that the doorway had collapsed into a pile of rubble. Smoke churned out of the window and Rae took a deep breath, feeling Fulminancy gather in her boots.

She took a single step towards the window.

Something caught her—an arm. Rae moved to brush it off, but she felt her Fulminancy dim, that power ebbing from a gushing river into the dribble of a freshly dammed stream.

Her gut churned, and white-hot fear prickled up her arm.

She’d never once felt her Fulminancy leave.

What in Fanas’s name?

The arm tugged her away from the smoke and into a crowd of men and women wearing the blue jackets of Witchblades—Fulminant enforcers for the Council and city. Rae paled and tried to tug her way out of the man’s grip, but the buzz of several Fulminant swords stopped her. She froze as that crackling energy so much like her illuminated the wet street around her, and one rested close enough to her face to feel the heat.

Another man emerged from the group, well-dressed for this part of the city, wearing the blue and silver sash of the Council. He was young for a Council member—perhaps no older than forty, though Rae felt like a child in comparison. Her own falsified red sash suddenly stood out like a sore thumb among all the blue and black of the city’s upper crust in the group of men now surrounding her.

He stood there, surveying the damage with a casual eye, even as Rae tried to dislodge herself of the other man’s grip. Then he nodded.

“Let her go, but keep an eye on her.”

The man holding Rae shrugged, but let her charge ahead.

Please don’t be too late, she thought. What would she do without Reina? Where would she go? What would she be? She didn’t want to think about it. Please don’t be too late. Please don’t—

Rae froze again, one foot in the shop’s window. Black smoke churned out around her, and the heat was nearly unbearable. Coughing, she stood there, but didn’t go any further. A choked, strangled sound bubbled from her lips.

Something pale and distinctly human poked out from the burning rubble, unmoving. Rae dropped to her knees, ignoring the searing pain of the heat even as she choked shaking breaths of thick, smoky air down.

She pushed aside the former portions of the shop, though half the pile was ablaze. She had to know. She had to see.

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She saw.

She wished she hadn’t.

The men outside pulled her back into the rain just before another beam collapsed in the main part of the building, sending up a jet of heat, light, and smoke. None of them moved to help those trapped inside.

Rae collapsed onto her knees in the damp street, numb, her searing burns and the rain barely registering. She kept staring at the building, expecting her sister to come trotting out, an eager smile on her face. We have more to do, she thought, watching the flames with stinging eyes. More to see. More to be, Reina. It wasn’t real. None of it could be real. Fulminancy was an ally. It wouldn’t, it couldn’t have caused this. It was stable. Safe. Rae knew it better than her own face.

Rae shook her head, pressing her burned hands into her eyes until she could see no more. She couldn’t think those thoughts right now. If she lost Reina and Fulminancy on the same day, what would that make her?

Boots scuffed in front of her. She opened her eyes to find the well-dressed man crouched in front of her, face strangely kind for a councilman. His eyes had bags under them, and his blond hair was mussed with rain.

“Rae, is it?” he asked.

She nodded mutely. If they’d found her, there was no reason to care anymore. If Reina was gone, that was even more reason not to care. The man sighed, looking uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” he said. “Fulminancy can be…unstable at times. It’s one of the reasons we try to regulate these parlors. Still, nothing like this should have happened. And, well, I suppose I’m about to add to your misery.”

Rae’s eyes snapped up to his finally, some sort of animal instinct reminding her she should be fleeing from these people. But Reina… “What do you want?” she asked, voice hoarse from the smoke.

“A word,” he said simply. “And your silence about what happened today in return for protection from the Council.”

“That’s not all you want,” Rae said. “You’ll have me killed, same as Mariel.”

“Oh come now,” he said, looking amused as the rain poured down the side of his face. “You and I both know that Mariel is alive and well—how long have you spent watching her? In any case, you can be too—provided you cooperate with us.” He paused, then glanced back at the burning wreck of the parlor. A few energetic firemasters fought the blaze with speed and efficiency—the men were probably downright bored right now during the city’s rainy season. “Look,” the man continued. “Perhaps the death of a close loved one is not a great time to start a business relationship, but your sister isn’t the first person to suffer from Fulminancy’s instability. It’s getting worse with each day, and Mariel is the key to all of this. Find her, watch her, and keep tabs on her, and we’ll see that you never have to worry about losing your powers to us.” He paused, then twisted his mouth into a wry little smile. “Consider them on loan, I suppose—semi-permanently.”

“And if I refuse?” Rae asked. She was hollow. Wrung out.

The man smiled pleasantly. “I don’t think you will. You love your Fulminancy, don’t you?” He let a few tendrils of his own crackle into his hands, and Rae couldn’t help but watch, captivated, though she quickly tore her gaze away. He winked, then snuffed it out and patted her on the shoulder. “I know I do.”

His fine boot crunched over an ornate chunk of glass—a piece of the glass she’d held only moments before. Rae knelt in the sodden streets, her only company the chunk of glass as it settled into her bloodied and blistered hand, heavy and final.

Rae stared at the raw pink of her palm, and her Fulminancy flickered back to life, a calming, soothing presence against the pain and emptiness. She wrapped herself in a cocoon of crackling gray energy, and stared, shivering, at the smoke as it twined up to join its fellows in the stormy sky.