Nina Redfeather's Arc

Chapter 8 of 12

Nina stood at the mountain's base with no apples left. Above her, the fire bird clung to the snowy peak, its feathers burning orange against the white. Below, the dark cave breathed cold air over the river. Umbral Nightshade pressed against her heel, straining toward the shadow in the rock. The door he spoke of was there, somewhere between fire and dark. She just had to find it. But the bird would not wait. It screamed and dropped from the peak. Flames trailed behind it like a comet. It swept low over the cave mouth and shrieked at the demon below. Umbral Nightshade tore free of Nina's shadow and rose up black against the snow. The two met in the air between peak and cave, fire and shadow snarling. "Stop!" Nina shouted. Neither listened. A pine near the river caught fire. The flames jumped to the next tree. Smoke rolled across the slope. If they kept fighting, the whole forest would burn, and her town past it. Nina ran between them. She threw her arms wide, one hand toward the bird, one toward the demon. "You both want to go home," she yelled. "Then help me open the door!" The demon's white eyes fixed on her. "The door opens from inside," he hissed. "Fire wakes the stone. Shadow quiets it. Neither alone. Both." Nina understood. They were not enemies. They were two keys. She grabbed Umbral Nightshade's cold hand and pulled him toward the cave. "With me," she said. Then she called up to the bird. "Follow! Burn the door, not the trees!" The fire bird folded its wings and dove at the cave mouth. Nina pushed the demon ahead of her into the dark. The bird's flames poured in behind them. Heat and cold slammed together against a wall of flat black stone deep inside. On the stone was carved a single circle. "Now," the demon said. He pressed his black hands to the circle. The stone went cold and still. The fire bird landed beside Nina and laid its burning wing against the same circle. Fire and dark met on the carving. The stone cracked. A line of light split the wall from top to bottom. The door opened. Warm air rushed out, smelling of old stone. Beyond it Nina saw two paths, one climbing up toward light, one falling down into shadow. The fire bird hopped through and rose along the bright path. The demon slid toward the dark one. At its edge he stopped and turned his white eyes on her. "You opened it," he said. "But I am still yours. The home is theirs, girl. Not mine. Not yet." He did not step through. He slid back and settled once more in her shadow. Outside, the burning trees hissed under falling snow. The fire bird was home. The demon was not. And Nina stood at an open door she could not close.