Storm Born

by Amy Braun

  “Impressive.”

  I almost jumped at Hadrian’s voice so close to my back. He didn’t look at me, staring over my head at the board. “Imagine what you could do if that were ice instead of snow.”

  My smile tripped across my lips. If I turned that snow into ice, I wouldn’t be temporarily blinding my enemies. I would potentially be cracking open their skulls.

  Wind gusted on my left, tossing my hair into my face. I spat it out of my mouth and drew it away from my face. Piper was flinging her hands wildly, an uneven pattern as she attempted to control the wind. Zephys hadn’t moved an inch, and looked even less pleased than before.

  “The wind is your ally. You must not punch your allies.”

  “Shame,” she spat. “Because I’m seriously considering punching you.”

  Zephys grinned. “It would be a pity for you to damage such a handsome figure, don’t you think?”

  Piper scoffed. “You’re not that handsome.”

  “Ah, but I am handsome enough that you noticed it.”

  Piper didn’t say anything. She went back to slapping the air uselessly.

  I took a step closer to my friend. “Are you using the tether?” I asked.

  “Of course,” she replied, exasperated. “Pretty boy back there won’t let me use the energy in the air.” She dropped her hands and tilted her head back, breathing deep and closing her eyes. “I can feel it, Ava. I can even taste it.”

  I bit my lower lip. “Maybe you should channel it for a little while.”

  “No. You should not.”

  I glanced at Hadrian. His eyes were as dark and cold as the ocean when they flicked to me. “For now, you must learn to rely on the tether, and nothing else. Otherwise you will lose yourself as every Stormkind has done.”

  “I used some natural energy a minute ago,” I said, shooting him a pointed glare. “Do I look out of control to you?”

  He blinked. “I am not sure there is a safe way to answer that question.”

  I snapped my arms over my chest. The snowfall was heavier than before. “Did you miss what Piper said? We don’t have eons of experience to work with. We never asked for this. We’re working with what we have. Besides, doesn’t it make sense to learn how to control the tether and natural energy, so we don’t let it overtake us?”

  “In practice, that theory is sound. In combat, it cannot be your weapon. Adrenaline will overwhelm you, and you will lose control the same way Stormkind do.”

  “That hasn’t happened to me yet,” I seethed.

  He didn’t react to my anger. “Yet is merely another word for soon.”

  I wanted to narrow my eyes, twist my lips into a scowl, and ball my fists so he wouldn’t know how much his words stung me. Why did I expect any different? Hadrian had never believed in me. All he cared about was getting his revenge on Mortis. I was a tool to him. That was why he was so tender around me. He wanted to make sure his insurance policy was intact. If, for some reason, he wasn’t able to take Mortis down himself, or if he needed a distraction, I was the perfect substitute. I wasn’t like Piper or Declan. I was able to control different types of storms. The only ones I was missing were dust and rain. I had a pretty good handle on ice and snow. I was more than enough to give Mortis and the Mistrals some problems.

  Why Hadrian was even bothering to teach me about drawing power from the tether was beyond me. Probably just a way to appease Vitae in case she came by.

  Fine. If that’s what he wanted, that’s what I would do.

  I spun so my back was to him and felt for the tether, which had sunk back into my skin while I was talking to Piper. It was cool and relaxed in my chest. I didn’t want to be rough with it, but I was angry. Nobody did anything rational when they were angry.

  Piper was arguing something beside me, but I blocked out her and everything else. I pulled energy from the tether until it was taut as a whip, like a cool piece of string had been stretched inside me. Hadrian said something sharp, but I ignored it. I concentrated on the whip, and thought about what I wanted. Something detailed. Something small and precise.

  Didn’t take me long to figure out what I could do to prove Hadrian wrong.

  I exhaled, relying on steady, even breathing, and held out my hands. Cool tingles danced along my wrists, poked my palms, and prodded my fingertips. Settled into the sensation, I stared directly at the net of the basketball hoop. I coaxed a whisper of ice from my veins and pushed it toward my target.

  Snowflakes parted as the frosty breeze moved through the air. I nearly lost a few times when the stronger, natural breeze gusted around me, but I didn’t lose my concentration.

  Beads of sweat started to form around my hairline when the breeze passed the halfway point. The tether vibrated as I dragged energy from it, but I figured this was like working out a muscle I hadn’t used before. All I had to do was push harder and keep it from tearing.

  Finally, the breeze met the netting. Now came the tricky part.

  I pictured the frost wrapping around the netting, but only the netting. I had to avoid the metal ring above the netting as well as the board. Freezing the snow didn’t matter, I figured. I was making this hard enough already.

  The frosty breeze drifted over the net. It hardened the rope in a cool blue case. I almost went cross-eyed from staring so hard, but at least I could see it happening.

  Took me two more exhausting minutes, but I did it. The visible parts of the net were frozen in ice, the board hardly touched. I relaxed my hold on the tether, and felt the bones in my legs disappear.

  My head spun like it was caught in the tango with an overzealous partner, and my knees buckled. Firm hands clutched my shoulder and pressed against my back to steady me. I sighed and relaxed into them. Then I smelled seawater and musk behind me, and pulled away. Hadrian’s hand disappeared from my back, but the touch on my shoulder lingered until I turned around and plucked it off.

  “I’m fine,” I said, planting my hands on my hips and trying to focus on his swaying face. I blinked quickly. “Don’t need your help, don’t need to learn control.”

  Hadrian stared at me with sharp, blue eyes. He looked ready to lay into me, but all that came out was, “You are infuriating.”

  Maybe I should have been a little more insulted, but honestly, no one had ever called me infuriating before. Driving Hadrian crazy was so far the highlight of my day.

  I smiled wickedly. “Looks like I’m going to have to find another word to describe you, then.”

  Hadrian’s lips twitched, like he was fighting a smile. His eyes betrayed him, and my heart did that little skip it did whenever he was around.

  “Look, if you’re not going to help me, get back. Ava can teach me instead.”

  Oh, boy.

  I tore my eyes from Hadrian and looked at Piper and Zephys. He was closer to her than before, his hands slightly outstretched like he wanted to touch her. My best friend’s fists were balled at her side, like she would punch him if he tried.

  “Ava is still learning her abilities. Her tether could be stronger than usual, given that she does not contain one power.”

  I grimaced, sort of wishing that Vitae hadn’t dropped that little snippet of information on our trainers before we came out here while she went hunting for supplies. I was barely comfortable with the knowledge myself.

  “She’d still be more help than you!” Piper shouted. “All you do is berate and insult me! You haven’t even shown me how to use your little magic tricks. For all I know, you don’t have any power at all!”

  I glanced up. Against the dark night sky, I could see rolling thunderheads closing in above us. I heard the warning rumbles, but the people causing them didn’t.

  “Um, Piper, Zephys–”

  They ignored me. Pride was getting the better of them.

  Zephys took a step to the right, standing between Piper and me. The thunderclouds landed directly over our heads. He snapped up his wrist. Rain began to pour and thunder began to rumble.

  Goddamn it.


  Zephys snapped his fingers. A streak of lightning erupted from out of the storm cloud and slammed into the basketball hoop. The flash of light vanished, and nothing but a warped, charred square of metal remained.

  “Whoa, Zephys, what are you doing?!” I blurted.

  The Guardian’s eyes were fixed on Piper, though I think his words were meant for me. “I am demonstrating the control I have over my gifts, as my student has doubted me.”

  Piper’s arms were rigid at her sides. The clouds grew thicker above them.

  “Look, I know she accidentally tried to kill you, but you need to get over that. Throwing lightning left and right is only going to draw attention to us.”

  “I agree,” Hadrian said from close to my back. “Unwarranted impatience will earn us nothing.”

  “That’s all I have to do?” Piper snapped. “Fine. Easy.”

  “Piper–”

  She ignored me, too, whirling on her heel and slapping her hands down. Twin bolts of lightning crashed into the prison yard, kicking up snow and singeing the ground. Thunder exploded over our heads. I have no idea what she was trying to hit, if anything, but I don’t think she cared. Piper’s anger had bested her.

  Hadrian wrapped his arms around me and drew me back. I let him, grateful for the protection from my crazed friend as she hurled lightning at a rapid pace. It sliced into the ground like a knife in the hands of a maniac. I dug my fingers into Hadrian’s arm as the rain showered us both, hoping to God that Zephys would realize how badly he’d crossed the line and fix it.

  Thankfully, he managed the first part. Wide-eyed and slack-jawed, he watched my best friend in her rage for two seconds before he understood that she was out of control, and it was his fault. Then the mask of a seasoned warrior covered the shock, and he drew one of his tempest-blades over his shoulder.

  I pulled on Hadrian’s arm, trying to rip it away from my body so I could stop Zephys.

  He tightened his grip and drew me into his hard chest. “Be still, Ava,” he said through the storm. “He will not hurt her. He will use the tempest-blade to lure her away, the same as we do with Stormkind. She will be safe.”

  I believed that. I knew the Precips weren’t the kind of Guardians that would kill their charges. The Mistrals were the ones that killed the Stormkind, for whatever sick reasons they decided on.

  But it was almost impossible for me to watch an experienced soldier approach my best friend with a ready blade.

  I saw the instant Piper felt the power in the tempest-blade. She whirled around to face Zephys. I cringed when I saw the white flash in her eyes. The thunderstorm pounded us with rain and wild flashes of lightning shuddered through the sky. I shook violently, even as Hadrian wrapped his arms around me and whispered that it would be all right.

  Piper stalked toward Zephys with a feral snarl. My friend was beautiful, even when she was angry. But what I was seeing now wasn’t just anger. It was ferocity. Animalistic fury, untamable, and unnatural. I never thought I would be afraid of Piper. Piper, who was strong, beautiful, independent, generous, unbiased, the best friend any girl could ask for.

  But I never imagined that either of us would be stuck with Stormkind powers, either.

  Zephys remained calm, backing up as she approached him. One hand was raised in complacency. The other held the tempest-blade at his side. I was so tense I could have snapped. She stormed forward, and I instinctively reached out to stop her.

  Big mistake.

  She suddenly stopped and whipped her head in my direction. I recognized the look in her eyes as the same one I’d seen in the Stormkind when they were starved.

  Oh, no.

  Piper abandoned Zephys and went straight for me.

  Hadrian let go of my arms and jumped in front of me. His hands went up and filled with ice. A frosted barrier formed between him and Piper. She bounced off it and landed on her back. While I didn’t want her to so much as crack a fingernail, I also grimly hoped she would get some sense knocked into her. Even if it had to be literally.

  Zephys rushed her while she was on the ground. Lightning slammed into the yard a foot away, and he was thrown onto his back.

  So much for grim hope.

  Hadrian slowly curved his hands inward, turning the wall into a cage. Lightning crashed down around him, each strike closer than the last. He didn’t notice, but I jumped at every strike. Piper might not be able to see him– the wall was taller than her at this point– but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t get a lucky strike. I remembered the man on the roof of the school. How the thunder-Stormkind had struck him with a bolt of lightning that threw him off the building. The horrid, scorched lump he’d become when he landed at the Stormkind’s feet. How the Stormkind lifted him up to be devoured without a second thought.

  I might butt heads with Hadrian, might know that he saw me as just another insufferable charge, but I didn’t see him as my broody teacher. He was more than my Guardian. He was my friend, a friend I was hoping might see me as something more one day.

  It was his job to protect me. It was my choice to protect him.

  Gritting my teeth, I closed my eyes and reached for the natural energy around me. I didn’t risk the tether, since Hadrian was busy containing Piper in an icy cage. Snow began to fall heavily around us, and I imagined a blast of cold wind curving into the open end of the cage. Maybe a serious chill would stop Piper’s rampage.

  She screamed, a sound of rage or pain or both, I didn’t know. But it struck me as sharply as any lightning bolt I’d seen tonight.

  I raced around Hadrian, charging for the back of the cage even as he shouted for me to stop. The cage was about three quarters done, only the back open for Piper to escape if she chose. I swerved around the icy block and came face to face with my friend.

  The warm brown eyes I was so familiar with were replaced by a bleach-white glow. Even without her natural eyes, I knew Piper could see me. I dragged on the natural energy again, trying to push her back in the cage. The blast hit her in the chest and she was shoved against the frosty wall. She thrashed and screamed, trying to fight the invisible force holding her back.

  A man shouted. I didn’t hear what he said. I saw Zephys running toward me from the corner of my eye. He grabbed my arm, making my control falter. Piper took a shaking step forward.

  “We must move!” Zephys shouted at me. “Hadrian will lock her inside until she weakens, then release her. She will be weak, but not hurt. You must stand aside, Ava!”

  He was right. I knew he was right. He and Hadrian knew all about subduing Stormkind, and like it or not, that’s what Piper and I were halfway to becoming.

  But all I could see was my best friend. Someone I loved, who’d stood up for me when I was bullied, who’d invited me to her big house for hide-and-seek and sleepovers filled with popcorn and terrible romantic comedies. I didn’t want that girl to get hurt. I wanted her back.

  My hesitation cost us.

  Lightning shattered the ground three feet away from me. The sharp white light seared my eyes and blinded me. I screamed and Zephys shouted. I knew I lost my hold on the cold breeze. I still couldn’t see when a force slammed into me and knocked me onto the ground. It kept me pinned. Hard knees crushed out the air in my lungs. My vision was fading back to color when I felt her lean forward to my mouth.

  I covered it with one hand and lashed upward with the other. My palm slapped against her face–

  And fire exploded through my chest. I screamed at the shocks thumping my nerves like fists. Searing pain ripped through me like fabric pulled by cruel hands. My heart danced under the touch of a livewire. My lungs and brain swelled until I thought they would burst.

  Pressure shot through my chest. Desperate, terrified voices called my name. Another jolt of pain wracked me, and I rolled onto my side. My stomach cramped until I thought it would snap in half. Blasts of white light tore the world around me and the ground shuddered.

  I peeled my eyes open and saw three pairs of feet hovering around
me. Three warm pulses of energy teasing my senses. All so close. All within my reach. I just had to extend my arms and take them.

  I rolled my head and looked up. Two men and a woman stared down at me. The men were tense and gripping swords. The woman covered her mouth with her hands and started to weep.

  Two strong pulses, filled with emotion and energy. Pure and undiluted life.

  I dragged to my knees and found my footing. They all backed up. The two men reached for their swords. The blue-eyed one drew his with a tortured expression. The woman screamed. I think she shouted for them to stop. She might have yelled what the fuck are you doing? I didn’t know. I didn’t care.

  I wanted the life. The light and warmth hiding under their skin beckoned me. I would take it. By any means necessary.

  The blue-eyed man barked an order at the dark-skinned man. He hesitated, then grabbed the woman by her arm and dragged her back. I snarled and rushed for them. The blue-eyed man stepped between them and me. I drew to a stop, narrowing my eyes at him. He spoke, and he was close enough that I could hear his words this time.

  “Ava, please do not make me do this.” Pain flickered in his beautiful, life-filled eyes. “Please do not make me control you.”

  Cold rage rolled in the pit of my stomach, twisting into my chest. I was nothing he could control. And once I had the heat of his life buried in me, I would become even stronger. Then I would take the other two.

  The dark-skinned man was restraining the woman. She was shouting at me, but her words were lost in the wind.

  Wind. Yes. That was exactly what I needed.

  From the corner of my eye, I saw horror sweep the blue-eyed man’s face. I felt the air around me and swept out my arm, pushing him aside. I curved my arm and pulled it toward my chest. The dark-skinned man and the woman launched toward me. They landed in a heap at my feet. The heat rolling from their lives was liquid pleasure. So much brighter than before.

  It was about to become mine.

  They scrambled to get away from me, the dark-skinned man reaching for his sword. I snarled and shoved out my hand, drawing on the static in the air. It snapped around my hand and struck him in the chest. He fell back and screamed. The woman’s scream was louder. I riveted my eyes to her. Wasting no more time, I dove–