Wildfire (Kindling Trilogy #3) - Paperback Edition

How far will she go to save the ones she loves?

Ashe and the wizards are on the run. Their hideout is gone, and their people lie dead.But in the midst of the destruction, there is hope. The historians are out there, and the secrets they hold could end the war.

Now all that’s left is to find them.

But the truth she seeks may be worse than anything she's faced this far, and when lies begin to spiral around her, Ashe finds herself confronting a threat greater than she could have imagined.

Including a conspiracy that could end her life.

The Kindling Trilogy - Now Complete!

1. Kindling
2. Ignite
3. Wildfire

Metal screeched as the sedan tore across the fence and onto the road. Hitting the brakes, Cole hauled the wheel around, snapping the car through the tight turn.

Her gaze caught on the hangars. Flames engulfed the buildings and black smoke poured into the sky. On the ground near the wreckage, motionless bodies lay.

The air was thick and hurt to breathe. Pulling her gaze from the destruction, she stared at the seat fabric, fighting back a scream. Of its own volition, her hand reached up, gripping her wounded shoulder. The pain helped her focus and swiftly, she sent a rush of magic through the bleeding gash and up to the wound on her head, healing them as best she could.

Cole swore. Her eyes snapped back to the field.

The wizards had gained control of the security vehicles. And they were coming.

“Hang on!” he called.

With a jolt, the car flew past the broken gate of the service road and bounced onto the main airport thoroughfare. Horns blared in Doppler shift around them as the sedan darted between cars screeching to a halt and pedestrians scrambling to get out of the way.

The security vehicles skidded onto the road behind them.

“Faster!” she yelled.

“Trying!” he snapped back.

A minivan pulled from the parking garage ahead, its driver jerking to a stop in the middle of the road at the sound of all the honking. Swearing, Cole accelerated hard, jumping the sedan over the curb and onto the grassy hill by the roadside. The car tilted as it rushed up the slope, while in the lane below, the other driver never glanced their way.

She looked ahead. Over the rise, the elevated interstate arced above the airport road and, as the car surged forward, she could tell Cole had seen it too. Gripping the wheel harder, he raced the sedan down the incline and onto the street, veering around the cars paused by the exit road stoplight.

Fire erupted beyond the hill where the minivan had been.

Lily gasped. Ashe turned to see the girl clambering up on her knees to stare out the rear window.

“Get down!” she ordered.

She spun back to the road while Lily dropped low in the seat.

Half a dozen white security trucks flew out from behind the rise. The sedan took to the on-ramp, racing for the highway.

Lightning sped toward them. She gasped, her defenses rushing through the metal and the glass to surround the car.

Energy glanced from her shields and propelled the sedan sideways. Metal squealed as the rear panel slammed into a guardrail, and then they were on the interstate, leaving shards of the taillight scattered behind them. Snarling, Cole yanked the wheel around as the car careened across three lanes of traffic and then straightened out, snapping back onto the road just shy of the metal pylons at the center of the highway.

“Was that you?” he called, swerving to avoid another car.

“Just the shield.”

Gripping the back of the seat to keep her balance, she looked over as he cursed, pain twisting his face. “Can you handle it if I attack them?” she asked.

A chuckle escaped him, the sound not remotely friendly, and she couldn’t tell if it was intended for her or them. “Just make it quick.”

She eyed him for a heartbeat and then turned to the rear window, dismissing her confusion as deeply irrelevant. Her gaze locked on the on-ramp and her fingers flexed unconsciously with the pressure of the magic beneath her skin.

Three white trucks charged up the ramp.

The rear window of the sedan exploded outward. Rushing over the distance, her magic punched past the wizard’s defenses and into the grill of the foremost truck, carrying the engine back through the cab and out the rear wall. Swerving wildly, the truck collided with the pickup behind it, sending them both through the guardrails and onto the roadway far below.

“Son of a–” Cole shouted. “What the hell was that?”

Ashe drew a breath and struck out at the third truck. The pickup veered sharply as the wizard’s shields crumpled under the blow, but a blast of magic followed the moment the driver gained control.

She ripped the energy from the air and threw it back. Rubber burst across the concrete as the truck’s tires disintegrated and the pickup fishtailed madly through the lanes.

A gasp escaped her. Frantically, she flung her magic across the distance, but it was too late. Careening out of control, the truck caught the rear of the small car in front of it, shoving the vehicle into a spin even as the pickup kicked over itself and rolled.

Her magic hit the truck, propelling it backwards while the little car smashed into the metal pylons in the center of the interstate. As the truck tumbled to a stop, Ashe stared at the car.

The driver pushed open the door and stumbled out, gaping around in shock. Ashe remembered how to breathe.

“Ashley!” Lily cried.

She spun, looking from the girl to Cole. White-knuckled, he grasped the wheel, pain clear in every tense line of his face. Drawing air between gritted teeth, he whipped the sedan around another car.

“Any more?” he growled.

Turning, she checked the distant on-ramp. Her brow drew down. Midday travelers and semis occupied the interstate for miles.

But of the other three security vehicles, there was nothing.

“No,” she answered warily.

He swallowed hard and swiped a hand at the sweat dripping into his eyes. “Good,” he replied, the word sounding as though he’d just as soon it be a curse.

Scanning the road, she ignored him. On a lazy curve, the elevated highway swept toward the heart of Banston, most of which was veiled by a haze of smog. Beyond the guardrails edging the interstate, concrete drainage slopes led to deep ditches and a line of ragged trees trying unsuccessfully to shield the older sections of town from view.

White metal flashed at the corner of her eye, and her gaze snapped back to the highway. Half a mile ahead, three security vehicles sped down the off-ramp and charged into the oncoming traffic.

Her eyes darted from the trucks to Cole.

And then their magic was coming.

Electricity lashed across a semi ahead. The tires exploded, sending the truck careening, and then the semi jack-knifed hard. The front whipped back toward the trailer, catching on the blown tires. With lethal speed, the truck slammed down and ground across the width of the highway in a fountain of sparks and screaming metal.

Cole hit the brakes.

Two security vehicles raced around the ends of the skidding semi.

Swearing, Cole looked from the white vehicles to the semi-truck.

“Go!” Ashe shouted.

He crushed the accelerator to the floor.

The sedan surged toward the semi. Pulling in sharply, the security trucks veered toward the center of the road.

Ashe stretched her hands out to either side.

The car shot between the white pickup trucks.

“Now!” Cole yelled.

Her magic obliterated the windows and the vehicles beyond.

Spinning in her seat, she watched as the trucks tumbled across the interstate, the vehicles flying apart as they rolled. Twisting the wheel sharply, Cole raced the sedan through the narrow gap between the semi and the metal pylons dividing the interstate.

Lily screamed.

Cole slammed on the brakes.

She turned.

There was a car.

Propelled by magic, a blue sports car flew through the air like a child’s toy, heading straight toward them, and she had no time. Metal howled as the car slammed into them, the destruction racing her magic to reach the occupants of the sedan.

Her shields enveloped them.

Glass exploded as the hood crumpled and the whole world went sideways. The magic behind the impact threw the green sedan backwards, and the steel pylons dividing the highway vanished as the car plowed over them and began to roll. Concrete flashed past the windows, grating and screaming and kicking up shattered glass to fly through the chaos in the car.

And then they were airborne.

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NOTE: Casebound hardcovers do not come with a dust jacket. The cover image is printed directly on the hardback surface.

Genre: Young adult urban fantasy

Content:

• Swearing
• Violence
• Physical peril