Lumière's Arc

Chapter 5 of 5

Lumière came back to the estate at dusk. He meant to find a way past the iron fence and reach the boy who caught lightning. But when he neared the lawn, he stopped cold. Black scars streaked the grass. Lightning had struck here, again and again. The marks glowed faintly, still warm. The pendant burned against his chest. Spencer was close. So was danger. Any hunter who saw these scorch marks would know a gifted boy lived here. He crouched by the fence and studied the lawn. Two men in dark coats already walked the far edge of the grass. They carried no lanterns. They knelt to touch the burnt ground, then pointed toward the great house. Hunters. They had followed the marks. Lumière had minutes, maybe less. He pulled the key-shaped pendant from under his collar. To hide the scorch marks he needed light of his own, and light meant releasing the staff. Its flare could draw the hunters straight to him. He accepted that. Better they chase him than find Spencer. He turned the key. The pendant unfolded into his tall staff. The orb at its top swirled with a caught galaxy. He aimed it at the burnt grass and spoke the words for a glamour. White light poured out. Under it, the black scars faded to plain green lawn. The flare lit the whole ridge like noon. The hunters spun toward the flash. "There!" one shouted. They ran at the fence, at Lumière. A door banged open on the house. Spencer stood on the steps, coat half-buttoned, eyes wide. Behind him came a tall man with a trimmed beard and a hard stare. Edmund Harlow. He gripped his son's shoulder and pulled him back. "Inside," Edmund said. Short. Final. But Spencer had seen the hunters. He raised one hand toward the sky. The clouds churned. "I can help," he called to Lumière. "Don't," Lumière shouted. "Your family's secret—run!" Too late. A bolt cracked down and split the ground between the hunters and the fence. They stumbled back, blinded. Edmund's face went white. His son had shown himself. Lumière shrank the staff back into the pendant. The glow died. In the dark he vaulted the fence and grabbed Spencer's sleeve. "Now they know you're gifted. They'll come for you. Come with me. It's the only way you're safe." Edmund stepped between them. "He stays." "They saw the lightning," Lumière said. "Hiding him won't work anymore. It's over." Spencer looked at his father, then at the recovering hunters. He pulled his arm free of Edmund's grip. "I can't shatter windows my whole life," he said quietly. Then, softer, "The staff never made you afraid." He stepped over the fence to Lumière's side. Edmund did not follow. He watched his son leave, saying nothing. The two boys ran into the dark, the hunters close behind. Lumière had his coven's first member. And a hunt at his heels.