Page 74 of Palingenesis

Shannon

The truck isn’t even in park when I dive from the backseat, the door swinging behind me as I bolt over the pavement towards town center.

Toward Ilios’s statue.

His offerings.

The very fountain he resides in that’s summoned a crowd of people that look far angrier than I anticipated.

Torches light up the mob in orange dots, bodies packed in tightly enough that it takes pushing through them, stepping on toes and elbowing my way around, to get anywhere near the center where I spot the slicked back pony of what has to be the one in charge.

The sheriff is pointing, a map in her grip when I all but crash into her, interrupting the orders she’s barking out.

“I’m Shannon. I’m not missing.” It comes out on a pant, my heart in my throat as she pauses on me.

Her light eyes assess me, brows pulling low. “You?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I rush out. “You don’t have to do this.” Gesturing around at the throng of angry townspeople surrounding her and what has to be her deputies judging by the matching brown uniforms, perspiration blossoming on my brow, I all but beg her. “Please. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

“He?”

The nod of my head is so enthusiastic that my curls fall into my face. “He. Ilios.”

Her brows hit her hairline and she does nothing to contain the burst of laughter that escapes her thin, pale lips. “And here I thought that we were naming wildfires after where they originated. Calling them “she” after the amount of damage they leave behind.”

I blink at her, my own brows pulling down tight. “You can’t backburn the forest. There’s a—something—that lives in there.”

She doesn’t bother to hide her eyeroll, either. “Son, these parts are full of stories, animals. All kind of nature. Ain’t a single one of ‘em worth losing our town again.”

Again…

My stomach bottoms out, palms slicking as she whirls away from me and starts barking more orders to the overly eager deputies. Two of them break off and disappear into the crowd, and my stomach knots.

“Ma’am, please listen to me.”

Grabbing her arm makes her freeze in place, gaze locked on where I grip her elbow. I drop it immediately. The last thing I need is to be caught up behind bars while there’s a wildfire raging out there, while Ilios is all alone and has no idea that the town he’s been a legend in for gods know how long is planning to take everything from him.

Maybe even him with it.

“Please,” I ask again, hands signing out of habit. “There’s someone out there, living in the woods. We have to make sure he’s out.”

Shaking her head, the sheriff sighs. “We’ve already evacuated the area because of the smoke. I’m sorry, son. There’s nothing else I can do.”

Time slows to a crawl as she pats my arm apologetically before folding into the moving crowd. Bodies flow around me, leaving me standing next to the marble version of the monster that’s been everything I ever wanted.

The man.

The one I ached for much longer than even I knew.

I can’t lose him, not like this.

I’m running before Avery can stop me, my feet beating the ground with each step like it deserves the punishment. The fear that’s unleashed inside me sticks in my throat, choking me.

Not like this.

My shin burns, another reminder of Ilios and his care that kept me alive when I was ready to hang it all up and let the mountains have me just like they had him and isn’t that the crux of it all?

Find the thing you need and let it destroy you.