Age 18

Mesa, Arizona

There's only a couple ways to spend the summer in Arizona. It's too hot. Like murder an egg on the sidewalk hot. My family doesn't have a pool, so our go-to option is to watch hilariously awful movies together and yell at the TV.

I sat on the couch thinking about how nice it was to just be able to sit here with my family. It had been a rough couple of years. Mom was gone. Loki was gone, no matter what had happened in New York. I finger the emerald at my neck, it's familiar smoothness a sweet reminder. I missed Mina. But I was finally safe, finally home. I didn't have to worry about Eldmara, she couldn't find me here. I was at peace with my powers.

"That's the third time she's used moist in the last 15 minutes," Ty whines at the movie. "It's so gross." I chuckle.

"What? You don't like the word moist?" I tease. I know that he doesn't. But as the oldest child it's my purpose to torment the lives of my younger siblings. "Moist, Moist, Moist, Moist." Ben joins in chanting at Ty's face. My dad smiles at us from the couch, his iPad in his hands, playing the latest train game that he found. I think he's about to say something when there is an insistent pounding on the front door. I spring from the couch in alarm, old habits rising. Moving to the door, careful to not be seen by the open front window, I look in the peephole. My dad is behind me and the boys have followed. I kick myself for not making them stay back. But there's no threat, not immediately at least.

"What are you guys doing here?" I exclaim as I pull the door open, ushering Sif and Mina inside. "What's wrong?" I give Mina a hug, but keep eye contact with Sif, who looks worried.

"We aren't safe here," Sif answers. "We need to move."

"It's Eldmara," Mina fumed. "She found you."

"But you cloaked me! You said she couldn't track me, not like before." The panic sets is, the light I've been managing for months starting to pulse with agitation.

"Ally?" My dad calls from behind me. "What…" He doesn't seem to know which question to ask, which is fine because I don't know how to answer.

"I'm sorry." Mina is angry and scared at the same time. "It wasn't enough. I'm not strong enough." I take a deep breath, giving myself one last moment of fear.

"How long do we have?" I ask Sif, springing into motion. "Will Asgard take us in?"

"An hour, maybe less. Heimdall is waiting, but you'll have to talk to Odin when we arrive." Sif answers quickly, her steady efficiency is comforting. I turn to face my dad, he's scared too, but for a different reason. He's never seen this side of me, the soldier who evaluates and solve problems without fear.

"Can you delay it?" I ask him, trying to find options.

'I can't. I can't see what we're fighting." He's frustrated, but I just breathe and nod.

"Then we're leaving. I'm sorry," I address all three of the boys, making a plan. "We have ten minutes to move. Pack a few changes of clothes and anything you can't live without but that you can carry. We aren't coming back." Ben is crying, but Ty drags him to the room they share. My dad needs extra validation. "She's coming for me. She doesn't care who is in the way and she will kill you and Ty and Ben to get to me. We'll be safe in Asgard."

"Ok," he accepts. "I trust you." He leaves to pack. I head to my room and Sif and Mina follow. I change into my pair of fireproof clothes, the sweet scent of Asgard still perceptible. I think of what I want to bring, but I've moved so many times that there's nothing really valuable to me besides the necklace I'm already wearing. Except maybe the sketchbook, so I pick it up and tuck it under my arm.

"Ally, I'm sorry. I thought you'd be ok, I really did." Mina sounds heartbroken.

"It's ok. We can do this." I give one last look at my room, the bed unmade, a full basket of laundry needing to be done, and my closet unorganized. Then I turn and leave without another thought.

—

We are on the road minutes later, driving down Bush highway towards Tucson. We can't call Heimdall too close to populated areas, the Bifrost reacts strangely with human technology. My dad drives like a bat out of hell, dangerously over the speed limit. My brothers look scared, my friends look sick. I look both when frost starts to form on the car windshield in Arizona, in June.

"Pull over!" I yell at my dad, and he slows enough that when the ice hits the wheels and we careen off the road it's at a non lethal speed. "She's here," I tell Mina and Sif as we get out of the car. "We have to end this."

Eldmara stands out against the pale tans of the desert, her trademark dress and headpiece seem even more blood red in the sun. I loathe this woman with every fire in my being.

"Oh, my pet. Did you think you could run from me forever? You belong to me." I can feel her icy tendrils on my arms, my face. I breathe out, warming myself, allowing light to seep through the cracks in my skin.

"I belong to no one but myself. You are not my master. You can't hurt me anymore. You have no claim and no power over me." Sif unsheathes her sword and Mina summons a psychic construct, knives of rose-colored energy. My family has left the car to watch, or maybe to run.

"Don't I? Ally, what makes you think I would let you out of my sight? I have had eyes on you when you felt at your safest. I was just waiting for you to be ready." Her smile is victorious, even though the fight hasn't yet begun. It throws my off guard just a little.

"What are you talking about?"

"Mina, dear, why don't you let Ally in on our little secret." No. My heart stops, and my enemies press their advantage. Mina puts me in a headlock, her magic leeching my energy. I watch helplessly as Sif charges at Eldmara, only to be frozen completely. My brothers and father share the same fate as they try to run.

"No!" I roar, trying to feed my internal fire, to fight back. Mina's magic is too strong. "Don't hurt them. It's me you want." I choke out a sob.

"Of course it's you I want. But they would try to stop me and I've waited so long for you. You're powers are fully realized now, and there's nothing that you can do about it." Mina forces me to my knees.

"How could you? Were you ever even my friend?"

"Yes, Ally, I was. But this is more important to me. You've seen how Asgard treats witches. Eldmara can make a better world for us. I'm sorry, I…" She sounds honest. I don't care

"I trusted you."

"I know." She start to chant, I know the incantation. It makes my blood run cold.

"No. No Mina, please" Eldmara laughs. "This is your plan. You're going to erase me? Then what? What good will that do?"

"Then our master can insert her own conscience into your body and control the Eternal Flame, finally fulfilling her greatest goal." Mina's voice drips with self satisfaction.

I can feel the effects of her spell already. I don't remember how we got here, and the more that I try, the harder it becomes. I cry out in pain and frustration, knowing I have to act before I lose myself entirely. I reach for the heat around me, feeling the baked desert ground on my palms. I don't pull it towards myself like I want to, instead I push it out toward Sif and my family. I keep that thought at the forefront of my mind, even when I stop remembering how I was home with my family. Even when I wonder how my brothers look so old. Even when I forget who the lady with the sword is.

All I know for sure is that I have to reach my family. Memories continue to rise and then disappear. Two men in red and gold capes yell at each other. I see a rainbow, vibrant and beautiful. A man with black hair and green falls into darkness before I have time to remember his name. I strain to focus on the present, on the red dress woman who laughs in my face here and a hundred times more in my memories. I look away from her, searching for purpose, for answers.

I see my father's face, and I know I just have to reach him.

The ice that surrounds him, my brothers, and the sword lady melts suddenly, and I feel as if I've just moved a heavy weight with my mind. I stare in disbelief with my hands, they're glowing. All of me is glowing. Sword lady goes for the girl that was holding my head and shoves her toward the other one in the red dress.

"Go! Call for Heimdall!" I don't know what that means, and I start to cry. My father runs toward me, holding me in his arms like he did what feels like moments ago in my parents' bedroom. Clarity rushes through my head and I remember it all. Sif fights Eldmara and Mina at the same time, barely fending off their attacks. "Go Ally!"

I can't, I can't leave her here. She can't fight them both, but I'm so weak that I can barely hold myself up.

"Ally," My dad's voice is solemn. I've only seen him use his gift a couple times, and I can see how much effort it takes. "I can't hold on forever. You have minutes before whatever she did starts affecting you again." I know what I have to do. Everything I've done has brought me to this moment. I'm still not prepare.

"It's ok," I tell him, summoning all of my strength. My skin glows brighter, it's natural yellow light giving way to a brilliant white. "You have to let me go. Get the boys, and," I struggle to stand and my dad helps me up. "When Sif disengages, run into the desert. Trust her." I look into his eyes. I see his grief from all these long years, but I also see his love for me. "You can't ever come back. It's not safe. Promise me."

"I promise. Sunshine, I love you. I'm so proud of you." I am able to stand on my own, but he continues to hold my hands, like the strong supportive parent who can't quite let go of the toddler learning to walk.

"I love you too Dad." He runs toward my brothers who have been too afraid to move. I run toward the fight, fists full of anger incarnate. Sif does a good job keeping them distracted and I hit Mina right across the back, burning hot enough to dent her armor in the shape of my fist. She screams as the superheated metal burns. She collapses, trying to form a barrier in between her back and her armor but she can't sustain it. I put myself in the path of an icy blow from Eldmara meant for Sif. We share a brief look, but she knows what I can't say.

Sif makes one last swipe at Eldmara, giving me an opening to attack. I take over the fight, and I catch one last glimpse of Sif as she ushers my family away. Good. They'll be safe. As I trade blows with Eldmara, her icy powers barely a match from my unkempt fury, Mina rises to rejoin the fight. I let them corner me, the fight has to last long enough for the ones I love to get away before I complete my end game.

But I can only fight them both for so long. My strength wasn't great at the beginning and I can't hold out for too much longer. Eldmara knows this. I can see it in her grin.

"You know I'm just going to hunt them down and kill them with your own powers once I take you, right?"

"You won't get me. I'm not in your control anymore. I have one last trick up my sleeve."

"So did your boyfriend and he's dead." That hurts more than any physical wound I received today, but I press on.

"No more games Eldmara. No more." I reach for all of my powers, every last bit, and when I run out of that, I break my promise. I do what Loki told me never to do. I reach for my life force, for the core of my power, my being.

I light it on fire.

I do not combust, I become fire, white-hot and inescapable. I become the thing I hate. Eldmara and Mina scream in pain, and I feeling the pain of burning. I settle an ancient debate.

The world ends in fire.