FIRESTORM:

  The probabilities really were stacked against us.

  “We have to set Bennu on fire,” I told Jackie. “Scorch the whole place.”

  “What? Are you crazy?”

  “Feraz can’t get his hands on any Bennu eggs. You heard him. That’s why he came here. It’s the missing ingredient needed to take the underground Life Rite serum to the next level. If we burn all the eggs on Bennu, he can’t make the pure serum. Every single egg must be destroyed, and fast!”

  “It’s true, right now he’s using Night Rite cream, which is crazy diluted,” Jackie admitted. “Alpha seems super smart already, so if he gets the real deal…”

  “If Feraz makes the correct serum, Alpha could gain access to the slipstream and enact his redistribution program. We must scorch all the eggs. Bennu Island needs to burn, just like in the last probability. This time, it’s for a good cause. Not just for Beatrice’s epic fire portal.”

  Jackie was speechless. It felt so destructive, but also necessary. Destroy every egg on the island to prevent Alpha from triggering the redistribution program. A simple but scary plan.

  “I can’t think of a better idea to keep the eggs away from Feraz, can you?”

  “That’s a lot of eggs.” Jackie kicked Alpha. “Let’s destroy him instead.”

  “Not good enough. You think Mark only made one? Even if he did, he’ll make another or repair it. Stopping the serum production is the key to stopping Alpha from getting into the slipstream.”

  We sat in silence, contemplating our options.

  “It’s fate. Bennu must burn.”

  “I’ll run down to the village to help the locals evacuate,” Jackie offered. “They’re bound to have a bunch of eggs, and I’d hate to see anyone get hurt like last time.”

  “See you there,” I said from my treetop nest. I slipped out of the trance that allowed me to communicate with Jackie and looked out across beautiful Bennu. It pained me to set these sacred lands ablaze, but we needed to stop Feraz from creating pure Life Rite. Without it, Alpha couldn’t get into the slipstream.

  Since it would take Jackie a while to get to the village, first I flew over to the caves where Grace and I stumbled upon a large egg harvest in a previous probability. Chances were, the bounty would still be plentiful there.

  When I swooped into the cave, I was met by a hungry scavenger. It roared at me with stank breath and slashed my face with its talons. I screamed back, letting my animal instincts kick in. We faced off in tight battle. Survival of the fittest. The Bennu eggs would go to the strongest creature, so it had to be me.

  I blew my fiery breath to char the scavenger to a crisp, but it dodged my advance. This one was smart. I wondered if it was a natural-born Bennu or a mutant like me.

  We went blow for blow; biting, kicking, scratching. With every cut I suffered, my radioactive blood splattered onto the dusty ground. This strong Bennu made a formidable opponent.

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  It tackled me and snapped my wing, so I bore my beak into its neck until I tasted blood. It withdrew, giving me the upper hand.

  The tight space inside the cave didn’t give much room to maneuver, but I managed to jump and land on the other creature’s back. I gripped onto its throat and snapped its neck with all my might, despite the pain screaming from my wounded wing. It whimpered and fell limp to the ground. The Bennu bird would rebirth, so I had to move fast.

  I healed my wing and flew deeper into the cave. Sure enough, it was filled with hundreds of glowing Bennu eggs. I gathered all my strength and blew my flamethrower until a field of fire engulfed the precious bounty. It was a shame to see such waste, but it was better to watch them burn than let them fall into the wrong hands. My people swore an oath to protect the powerful eggs, and this was the best way to keep them safe in this timeline.

  Next, I soared toward the village to meet Jackie. There she was, trying to get my people to evacuate, with little luck. They looked at her like she was crazy. Although she seemed like an outsider to them, Jackie shared their bloodline.

  My presence made the villagers take a step back, but they didn’t leave. I was a god to them, so they bowed down on their hands and knees to show respect.

  Jackie looked at me with tears in her eyes as I landed next to her. We embraced, grateful to make it this far, but worried our mission would still fail. The most probable events were falling into place.

  “Firestorm, it’s so good to see you in the flesh again.”

  “You smell much better this time,” I joked.

  “Took me five showers to get rid of the sewer smell… I’m glad I found Alpha, but my heart breaks over this plan to scorch the island. So much destruction. We can’t let anyone get hurt, but the villagers aren’t listening to me. What should we do?”

  The large pile of Bennu eggs in the middle of the village needed to be destroyed. If I set them on fire, my people would get hurt. How could we tell them to get lost? I let out a battle cry to warn them, but it only confused them more.

  Zayne ran into the gate. He touched the scar on his back from where I emerged in this timeline. His shadow was back again, as fate would have it.

  He ran to me and placed his forehead against mine, sharing our unspoken connection. The villagers gasped.

  Sumi stepped forward with worry. “Finem maluma.”

  Zayne looked at her with regret and sadness.

  Jackie pleaded for help. “Zayne, we need everyone to evacuate. Can you tell them?”

  He didn’t understand the details, but he didn’t need to. Zayne leapt into action, yelling at the villagers to run away. They didn’t listen at first, but Sumi was the first to leave. Then others followed; Jappa, Tinga, the children. The more Zayne yelled, the further they backed away.

  Nannu watched from the kitchen, too wise to interfere.

  “Finem maluma,” she whispered to herself.

  “Do it, Firestorm,” Jackie commanded. “We don’t have much time.”

  Once the villagers were gone, I turned to the pile of Bennu eggs and conjured fire in my belly by pumping my stomach. The flames I spewed spread quickly, and the eggs absorbed the heat.

  The villagers cried at the destruction of their bounty. This was a big loss for them. Weeks of dangerous harvesting went up in smoke in mere seconds.

  Zayne yelled for them to leave, and this time, the villagers listened. My people ran from me, worried they caught my holy wrath. A sacred phoenix like myself was an omen, but in this case, not a good one. Finem maluma.

  Zayne bowed down to pay his respects to me, but Jackie yelled for him to run away too.

  “Go, Zayne! Get out of here! Keep everyone safe.”

  I nodded for him to go, and he listened.

  The flames multiplied. I moved toward the nearby homes to reabsorb the fire before it caused any damage. At least the destruction was under my control this time.

  “Jump on, Jackie. There’s a lot of ground to cover. We have to destroy every single egg on the island as quickly as possible.”

  “As painful as it is, let’s keep going until it’s done.” She climbed onto my back, hugging my neck tight.

  We flew off into the forest, ready to burn Bennu down in order to stop Feraz and Alpha from getting the pure Life Rite serum. Would the destruction of the eggs be enough to change the most probable outcome? Or would Alpha find another way into the slipstream?