by Amy Braun
He jutted his chin behind me, in the direction of Declan and the girl. I turned. Declan was scowling, but the girl was still weak. She lolled her head to the side, dark hair swaying off her tanned face–
My heart jumped. “Piper!”
Hearing her name, my best friend tilted her head to follow my voice. More of her hair fell away, showing me the dark bruise on her left cheek and the blood running from her split lip. A haze covered her eyes, but Piper still recognized me.
“Ava?”
Her horrified expression mirrored my own.
I balled my fists and whirled on Mortis. “Bastard,” I seethed. “What did you do her?!”
Mortis didn’t blink or show any emotion he might have felt at my outburst. He reached for his belt and plucked out a knife.
The same crystal one that scarred me.
“The same thing I did to you.” He put the knife back in his belt. My eyes were glued to it until he spoke again. “Only she has not yet found her tether. We have tried to assign her one, but she proved difficult, and needed to be taught obedience.”
I shuddered, knowing exactly what kind of “lessons” Mortis was capable of.
“It was a shame your body had not recovered before the Precips launched an attack upon us. I was forced to leave you on that rooftop. I fully intended to return to you and make you my charge, but it seems a lesser warrior has taken that honor.”
Mortis’s eyes darkened to voids as he referred to Hadrian, but the flicker of emotion disappeared as quickly as it came.
“And so I was forced to tether myself to a weaker experiment.”
There was a yelp of pain behind me. I spun, seeing that Declan had thrown Piper onto the ground and was marching toward me with clenched fists.
“I’ve done everything you asked!” Declan bellowed. “I found Piper, I told you which safe house Ava would run to, I lured that Stormkind here so you could see what she could do–”
“And she has done far more than you ever could.” Mortis extended his arm and swept it across the expanse of snow continuing to cover the ice.
“All of this, drawn from a single tether.” Mortis lowered his hand and looked at Declan. “How do you intend to impress me?”
Declan snarled, “By eliminating competition.”
His cold dark eyes flashed and he swung his fist at my chest. The punch didn’t connect with me, but the wind he gathered did. It hit with wrecking ball force, literally picking me off the ground and hurling me past Mortis and Turve. I barked out a cry of pain when I struck the rough, icy mud.
“A trick we have seen before,” Ferno rasped. His arms were folded across his chest, and he looked even less impressed than Mortis.
Declan shot him a murderous glare. “Fine. How about this?”
I tensed, seeing an unnatural glow begin in the whites of his eyes, blotting out the vengeful blue. Whatever he was going to do to me would be worse than the supercharged shoving he seemed to prefer. I moved to get up as he drew back his arms, but I was too slow–
A slender form knocked into Declan’s legs and caught him off balance. Piper.
They landed in a heap and she scrambled to get on top of him. Turve barked a laugh. Ferno shook his head. Mortis just watched.
Piper managed to straddle Declan. She’d taken a self-defense course over the summer, and she knew how to protect herself.
It just wasn’t enough.
Piper struck Declan twice before he grabbed her wrist and punched back. His fist collided with Piper’s chin, knocking her off him. Declan rolled and pinned her onto the ground. He slammed another punch into her face to daze her, then stood up. Drawing his hands back again, Declan threw whatever he’d intended for me at my best friend.
Even from where I lay, I could feel the pressure in the air as it was crushed onto Piper’s injured form. Eighty mile per hour winds could break her bones. When she started to scream, I knew that’s what was starting to happen.
Forgetting all my aches and exhaustion, I rolled onto my knees. Since the wind Declan was using was so strong, I was able to target it and use it for my own powers. I pulled it away from Piper and shoved it at Declan. He launched back, carried by snowy, blizzard strength winds. He landed hard, but quickly rolled to his feet and fixed me with a look that promised pain and death. It took the last of my energy, until I felt a cool tug at my heart.
The tether’s pull seemed like a sign for me to use it. I just wished I knew how. It wasn’t like I could use the tether alone…
Unless I could.
Hadrian’s power relied only on the tether. I might not be able to combine it with the energy in the air and create a massive blizzard, but I knew exactly what it felt like inside of me. Maybe I could use it as a smaller way of attacking, like Hadrian had. No harm in trying. Hopefully Hadrian wouldn’t mind, and if he did... Oh well.
Declan shot his fist out, but not at me. His knuckles pointed at the building behind me. The massive brick structure that wasn’t ready for the ruthless amount of wind that ripped off pieces of the desecrated roof.
Dozens of bricks the size of my torso shot down at me. I grabbed the tether and pulled as much strength from it as I could. It felt like a muscle being stretched taut, strained to the point of tearing. Yet I knew it was strong. I knew it would hold.
The tether’s sudden charge was an electric shot straight to my heart, a welcome pulse that cooled the burning pains under my skin. It filled me in an instant, and then I dropped to one knee and slammed my hands against the frozen mud. The ice lurched as power rippled past my palms toward my boots. I felt its chill and heard it creak when it curled over me. The ice shielded me, a trick I stole from Hadrian. But this was on a much, much larger scale.
The bricks torn from the school pounded against the shield, each strike causing the ice to crack. I focused on the tether, drawing more power from it. I had no idea how much I could take until it was useless or I passed out, so I resolved not to think about it right now. I thickened the ice wall, stretched it taller and wider. Finally, I heard the last of the pounding.
From the corner of my eye, I watched the ice curve like a wave fifteen feet on either side of me. The tips of the wave jutted out in hundreds of sharp spikes, a fierce warning to Declan. I turned my head toward him.
Declan’s jaw was slack, shock on his face as the white glow in his eyes faded. Beyond him, Ferno and Turve watched me with wide eyes, their expressions only a little less restrained than Declan’s.
Mortis didn’t react the same way they did. Instead, he smiled.
“It appears you have been bested, Declan,” Mortis goaded. He glanced at the bully he was tethered to. “Again.”
Declan snapped, but not at Mortis. He charged straight for me.
I could feel my energy draining. Either the power from the tether didn’t last very long, or I was more exhausted than I thought. I worked to draw more ice around me, to block me from Declan completely. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was all I could think of.
And it didn’t work at all.
Declan shoved his fists toward the ice wall. A torrent of powerful hurricane winds slammed against my shelter, shattering it under his knuckles. I shrieked and covered my face from the shards. Declan grabbed one of my outstretched arms and pulled me out from under the protective wave. He swung me around and buried his fist in my stomach. Air flew out of my lungs in a painful rush. I barely managed a gasp before he hit me again. Declan roared like a beast and pushed me onto the ground.
Stars exploded when my head struck the hardened muck. I couldn’t see clearly, but my body was completely awake to the pain. To the fingers that snared my throat and squeezed, the palms the pushed my trachea toward the back of my throat.
I could taste the air. Recognize the taste on my tongue. But it didn’t go any further. It didn’t sate the fire burning in my lungs. It didn’t stop the pounding in my head. I slapped at Declan’s face, but it only made him squeeze harder.
Not knowing what else to do, I dug my fi
ngers into his wrists until my nails broke his skin. He didn’t register the pain. The tether shuddered against my heart, the last vestiges of power shooting through my veins and out of my hands. Frost covered my fingertips and sank into his skin–
Energy whipped into me, as if a torrent of wind had crushed through my skin. I lost the cold sensation of the ice. It was smothered by a new, wild sensation that rushed up and down my veins like a Ferrari on the Autobahn. It was like physical adrenaline, yet more. It was chaos beneath my flesh.
An agonized croak drifted past my lips, and I wanted all the sensations to stop, I just wanted it out–
Declan was thrown from me. An unseen force swooped under his chest and picked him up like a ragdoll. I didn’t know where he went, or how he’d been thrown– if I had thrown him– and I didn’t care. I rolled onto my side, coughed, groaned, gasped, whimpered. I couldn’t fight anymore. I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
“Impressive,” I heard Mortis say. “It seems you don’t need to absorb a Guardian’s power to wield it–”
A clash of steel cut him off. Surprised shouts and furious cries rang through the air. Wind whipped violently. Mud shifted and rose from the ground. Rain poured from the clouds. Ice creaked nearby.
I groaned. “No more rain. No more cold.”
I felt someone kneel down beside me. I curled into myself, jumping when a hand found my shoulder and carefully rolled me onto my back. I opened my eyes, meeting the most beautiful blue eyes I’d ever seen.
“Took you long enough,” I mumbled.
Hadrian set his lips in a firm line and slipped his hands under my shoulders and the back of my knees. He lifted me as gently as he could, but the motion still caused my head to loll to the side and see what was happening.
Vitae and Zephys were in front of us, fighting the Mistrals wildly. Zephys had both blades in his hands, slashing them at Ferno and Turve. His torso snapped back and forth as he kept them both at bay, knocking swords away from his chest, stomach, and head. The Mistral warriors were enraged, and kicked him when their sword-strikes failed. Zephys jerked from each hit, but never slowed down and never stopped fighting. I didn’t know if he was a better fighter than Hadrian, but he was still damn good.
Behind him, Vitae battled Mortis. He’d grabbed Declan from where he lay and clamped his hand on the back of his neck. Declan was slumped, possibly unconscious, yet Mortis was still holding him with one hand and using his gifts with the other.
Rapid, pummeling winds billowed toward Vitae. She raised her hands and pushed back, bending the water and hardening it midair, freezing the rain until it resembled broken glass. Mortis gripped Declan’s neck tighter and swung his hand up, hurtling the ice shards away. With a flick of his wrist, mud broke out of the ice and split into tiny particles. The mud launched at Vitae and she cried out in pain as the hardened mud struck her like a flurry of wasps.
Panic filled my chest as I watched them both fight. Hadrian kept carrying me, and then I saw another slumped form in danger.
I grabbed his arm and pulled. “Piper! Take me to her!”
“It is too dangerous out in the–”
I looked at him desperately. “Take me!”
Hadrian hesitated, then changed his direction from the school to my best friend. He carefully set me down so I could crawl next to her. I put my hands against her neck, grateful for the pulse I felt under her skin.
I felt the heat of her life force teasing my fingertips, but shoved the desire away. This was Piper. My best friend. I would never hurt her. I wouldn’t.
“Ava, you must get to safety.”
“Not without her.”
“Ava–”
“She’s like me, Hadrian!”
That gave him pause. He glanced at Piper, then at me. Hadrian cupped the back of my neck and brought his face dangerously close to mine. My breath hitched, and I was suddenly consumed by the intensity of his eyes and his cool, saltwater scent.
The heat of his life force was even more tempting than Piper’s, and much harder to ignore.
“You must keep away from the fight,” he instructed. “We don’t know how to combine your tether with your Stormkind senses yet. I felt you pull on the tether. It told me where you were, but it weakened me. It is a shared bond, Ava. That is why it took me so long to find you.”
Melancholy slashed through his eyes and into my chest. “I didn’t–”
His hurt disappeared. “I will send Zephys to guard you.”
He got to his feet and sprinted to the fight without another word. I watched him, fear coiling around my heart. How much strength had I taken from Hadrian? He didn’t look weak, certainly wasn’t running like he was tired, but what about his abilities? Would he be able to use them if he needed to?
Was it even worth using the tether if I weakened us both each time?
I had to trust that Hadrian could take care of himself. Besides, he was right. I couldn’t trust myself to fight with all the energy roaring through the air, and inside of me. I could still feel the coolness of Hadrian’s tether, but the pulsing energy I’d felt when I touched Declan was still there. I had no idea what it was or what it could do, and I couldn’t find out unless I wanted to risk going Stormkind on everyone I saw.
Hadrian raced for Zephys, Ferno, and Turve, but I was horrified that he wouldn’t make it in time. Zephys was still matching strike for strike, but even I could see he was growing tired. He kicked Ferno in the stomach and brought both his swords around his body to stop Turve from slicing his head off. Metal shrieked as they split off. Turve started moving fast, the tempest-blades becoming blurs of liquid silver. Zephys could only block.
He had no idea Ferno was still behind him, both swords poised directly at the Precips spine and throat.
But Hadrian did.
His swords were still tucked in their scabbards, and instead of drawing them, he held out his hands. Frost consumed them, the rain condensing and hardening into a thick spear of ice. Hadrian spun his wrist, and the massive icicle responded. It pitched end over end, crashing into Ferno and splintering into a million pieces. Ferno staggered and turned, Hadrian’s boot catching him in the chest.
Never missing a beat, Hadrian drew one of his tempest-blades, slid beside Zephys, and caught one of Turve’s swords, the one that had been about to chop at his friend’s throat. Hadrian knocked the blade aside and slammed a kick into Turve’s ribs. The stocky Guardian jerked, unprepared when Hadrian leaped forward and smashed his elbow into Turve’s head.
With both opponents stunned, Hadrian quickly whirled to face Zephys. He shouted briefly, the only words I could make out being “protect her.”
Zephys hesitated, but Hadrian didn’t give him any space. His sword collided with Turve’s, his free hand swinging vicious punches into any space he could find. Ribs, stomach, chest, face, Hadrian had no preference. I wanted to warn him that Ferno was still there, but I didn’t have to. As he spun around Turve, he swung up his free hand. Slivers of ice rose from the ground and punched into Ferno, halting his charge and drawing an outraged scream from him.
I didn’t know Zephys had arrived until he knelt down next to us. He didn’t act like he was in a lot of pain, but I knew he was hurting. I also knew from the grim shade of his hazel-blue eyes that he didn’t want to be here playing bodyguard. He wanted to be back in the fight.
I wanted the same thing.
“What happened to her?” Zephys asked, glancing at Piper and reaching to touch her face.
“I’m not really sure,” I said through the tightness in my chest. “Mortis said she was like me, but she doesn’t have a Guardian–”
Zephys’s fingertips brushed Piper’s cheek for an instant. Then he gasped and drew them back, staring at her with wide-eyes. Piper hissed in pain and groaned, though her eyes remained shut. My heart squeezed and I clutched her hand.
“She does now,” Zephys remarked, though his eyes didn’t move from my best friend’s face.
I looked at him, unease and relief sliding
together. I was glad that Piper’s Guardian was a Precip, and I trusted Zephys, but I didn’t want her to be like me. It meant nothing but danger for her.
A yelp of pain captured my attention. I raised my head and watched Vitae crashed into the ground. Mortis encircled her in a tornado of mud, so thick I could hardly see her. Bits of debris or rock flew inward and struck her. She tried to dispel it with rain, but the muck was too thick. She couldn’t see anything, and the tornado was closing in.
So was Mortis.
He released Declan and drew one tempest-blade over his shoulder. Declan collapsed, but Mortis gave him a second glance. He walked straight toward the tornado, ready to drive the blade through it– and her.
“Vitae!” I shouted.
She couldn’t hear me. But someone else did.
Hadrian risked a glance at his leader. He saw what was going to happen, and he erupted into action.
Moving faster than ever, my Guardian swung a wide roundhouse kick into Turve’s temple, snapped another kick into Ferno’s chin, and sheathed his swords. Hadrian’s hand frosted over and he curved it like he was holding a whip. As his arm moved, the rain around him crystallized into ice. By the time his arm was in front of his chest, the rain was sharpened darts of ice. A dozen of them shot directly at Mortis’s throat and face.
The attack drew attention away from Vitae, but not one of the darts found a home in Mortis’s face. Instead, the leader of the Mistrals pivoted on his heel and slammed out his hand. The ice-darts exploded into a billion shards. They’d never even gotten close to him.
It didn’t stop Hadrian. While the darts flew, he’d been running full tilt toward Mortis. He drew both tempest-blades from over his shoulders. His face was terrifying. I had never seen someone so hell-bent on destruction. Hadrian looked like a monster, a scowling demon finally freed from the pits of Hell, hungry for flesh and thirsty for blood.
Mortis let his hands fall to his side. Other than that, he didn’t move.