Storm Born

by Amy Braun

  I nodded to Vitae. Whatever she saw in my eyes satisfied her. She nodded and sheathed the tempest-blades onto her back. “Keep up.”

  She bolted before I could tell her I would try. Vitae’s long, graceful legs hammered into the trunk as she slid down it and leaped to the next vehicle.

  So we were car-jumping now. Never thought I’d be grateful for a major car pileup on a highway.

  Vitae outran me, but I followed her path easily enough. There were times when I slipped or had to run over a stretch of road to get to the next forgotten car, but with adrenaline fuelling my veins and the unshakeable desire to get Hadrian to safety so I could slap him for being so damn stupid, I felt like I could overtake anything in my way.

  Zephys and Piper were running on another row of empty vehicles on my right. He was ahead of her, but Piper was athletic enough to keep up. She probably wasn’t as out of breath as I was.

  Then again, she had no reason to lose her calm. I did. My Guardian’s life was on the line. He was out here fighting for a reason I couldn’t understand. Didn’t want to understand.

  Please, please, don’t do anything stupid Hadrian. Well, stupider. If you’re hurt or dead when I find you…

  The thought of him in any kind of pain sent a fresh jolt of adrenaline through me. There was no response from the tether. I had to believe Hadrian was still alive and intent on staying that way. I refused to accept anything else.

  Soon enough, the crowds thinned out. Anyone who would make it out alive was already gone. The only people I could no see were two men standing in front of a massive cyclone, slashing and kicking each other without restraint.

  Turve’s attacks were barbaric. He put as much force as he could muster behind them and struck with the intent to cleave off an arm if he couldn’t take a head.

  Hadrian focused on being faster. He swept under Turve’s arm and snapped a kick into his kidneys. Turve absorbed the blow while Hadrian sliced for his neck. Turve used one sword to block the strike to his throat and shoving the other toward Hadrian’s stomach. My Guardian knocked the second sword away before it could skewer him. Turve roared and kicked Hadrian in the chest. He staggered back and raised his swords, never missing a beat as he fended off Turve’s latest whirlwind of strikes.

  I wanted to scream to Hadrian that we were here to help him. That he could stop. That he was an idiot for running off in the first place. But if Hadrian became distracted, Turve wouldn’t hesitate to run him through.

  I didn’t come here to watch Hadrian die. I came here to slap some sense into him so he could see the bigger picture.

  That was when I saw her. A tall girl with wild black hair and sightless white eyes standing between the tornadoes, her arms outstretched to welcome the destruction.

  Turve’s charge, and another false Stormkind.

  “Ava, Piper, take care of her,” Vitae ordered. She reached over her back and drew her tempest-blades. “We will handle Turve.”

  I hesitated, not even sure where to start with a girl who could control not one but two tornadoes, not wanting to think about what would happen to me if I touched her, and knowing that just seconds ago, I was ready to berate Hadrian for not seeing the bigger picture.

  I looked at Piper. She nodded. She was ready.

  I wished I felt as confident.

  Vitae and Zephys were already leaping from the cars and bounding across the road toward Hadrian and Turve. I jumped off the hood and sprinted toward the false Stormkind with Piper following behind me.

  She turned her head in our direction, white eyes searing her face like a fresh brand. She twisted at the waist, both of her hands coming up to face us. The sky rotated like a drain, a spiral of water, dust, and debris churning into the ground. We stopped as it touched ground, greedy winds yanking at our hair and clothes. I dug my heels into the ground to keep from flying into the twister.

  I looked at my friend. “Can you push her back?” I shouted over the wind.

  Piper nodded, but she couldn’t keep the worry from her eyes. Worry that didn’t seem to be for herself.

  She reached up and pinched her hand together like she was plucking an apple from a tree. When she drew her hand back down, a corkscrew of rainwater came with it. Heavier rains poured around us, but Piper directed the funnel directly at the false Stormkind.

  She sneered and wrenched her hand. The twister all but snapped in half at her command, gathering the rain into its winding path.

  That was what I waited for.

  Gripping the tether and pulling strength from it, I shoved out my hand. The rain turned to ice as it became caught in the tornado’s spiral. Chunks of ice spat wildly around us, though I captured most of the stray pieces in another wind and pelted them at the girl.

  Not very nice of me, but I figured we were past niceties. She was trying to kill people who didn’t deserve to die, and the only way I knew how to fight was to take dirty cheap shots.

  From the look of pure rage she gave me through the ice, she didn’t appreciate it a single bit.

  The false-Stormkind spread her arms and split the tornado wide in front of her. One more push sent it toward us. Piper gritted her teeth and pushed back, but she was holding back. The girl wasn’t. The wide tornado spun wildly, dragging up cracked pieces of road and clumps of grass and hurling them at us. Piper swung wildly, pushing monsoon winds at the false-Stormkind.

  Turve’s charge smiled like a demon possessed.

  The winds of the tornado hooked me like claws, dragging me forward. Piper stumbled forward before planting her feet again. I staggered back and grabbed Piper’s arm. I dragged her back onto the highway, which wasn’t easy as she kept shoving rain and wind at the false-Stormkind. I finally reached cover behind a car and yanked Piper down. I was surprised at the sharpness of the stare she gave me.

  “What are you doing?” she demanded.

  “We can’t fight her on open ground like that,” I shouted back. Before she could argue, I continued. “You keep pushing her back. I’ll go around her.”

  It didn’t take Piper long to see the logic in my plan. She straightened and grabbed at the sheets of rain tumbling from the clouds. The rain was like a sheet, nearly impossible to see through. I could hardly see the tornado or the girl controlling it beyond the downpour. Though I knew they were close. I could feel some of the rain whipping back into my face, stinging my cheeks.

  I was terrified at the idea of running blind, but I didn’t have a choice. There was a tornado snaking toward the houses behind me, dozens of innocent people about to lose what little remained of their lives. Another massive twister was feet away from me, where Hadrian, Vitae, and Zephys were fighting Turve. My stomach turned at the thought of them fighting against the winds of such a massive force of destruction– a problem Turve wouldn’t have since he was helping to control it– but I consoled myself in knowing the numbers were in their favor. That counted for something, right?

  Trying not to think on it more than I had to, I ran toward my own goal, trying not to think about how Dorothy felt when she was yanked out of Kansas and thrown into Oz.

  I passed by the curtain of rain Piper poured onto the road, ducking behind another car and glancing over its hood. The false-Stormkind was still trying to push her tornado forward, but its gait was slow. She must have exhausted most of her energy earlier, not that you could tell from the unfiltered rage on her face.

  I gripped the tether and felt my body cool. My hands frosted and I stood a little higher to get better aim–

  A painful shout came from behind me. I lost focus and glanced back, and saw why Turve was winning.

  He drew his hands toward himself, pulling more strength into the tornado. The Precips were gripping onto the edges of cars fiercely, but their grip was slipping. Turve lunged forward, running for Zephys. He slashed at the Precip, catching him in the arm. Zephys yelled and flinched, losing his grip on the edge of the car. He slipped, and the force of the wind dragged him across the road. Turve laughed and kicked him back towa
rd the car he’d slipped from.

  Turve turned and locked eyes with Hadrian. My Guardian was bleeding from a scrape on his cheek and was missing one of his swords, but there was no masking the conviction on his face. He let go of the car and charged toward the Mistral. Turve laughed again and beckoned with his hand. The tornado shifted in Hadrian’s direction, the intense pull dragging him closer. Hadrian skidded to a stop, trying to fight the tornado. He rooted his feet in place, but couldn’t move forward or back. If he couldn’t shift his feet, he wouldn’t be able to fight. Turve had no problem running for him with a sword aimed at his chest.

  I had no problem gathering energy from the tether and slapping my hand on the ground. I watched frost creep from my hand and cover the road, a line of white gloss streaking toward Turve. My heart squeezed, not knowing if it would move fast enough–

  The line of ice glided under Turve’s boots. He didn’t know what hit him until he slipped, his legs flying out from under him. He slammed onto his back, cracking his head against the road. I winced, hoping I hadn’t just killed a man.

  The winds before me dwindled, the thick tornado slowing down and breaking up now that the man on the ground was out cold. I looked up and cast a quick glance at Hadrian, who met my eyes at the same moment. Dozens of emotions rushed through his eyes, most of them moving too fast for me to fully comprehend. I caught glimpses of shock, confusion, annoyance, gratitude... And something so heated that it sent a warm shiver through me.

  All I did was smile and shrug.

  His sparkling eyes moved past my shoulder, and every emotion melted into horror.

  “Ava!”

  I whirled around, and watched the false-Stormkind racing toward me, her white eyes scorching into mine. The snarl on her face was inhuman. The tornado she controlled was gliding past her, toward where Piper was trying to hold it back.

  I got to my feet and backed up, letting frost cover my hands. The false-Stormkind jumped onto the hood of the car I’d used as cover. She swung her hands like she was gripping a bat. Wind slammed into my ribs and hurled me across the road. The world became a blur until I slammed into the side of a car.

  Then the world became pain.

  I shook my head and got to my knees, searching for my vision–

  A crush of pressure snared my ankles and yanked. I landed hard on my stomach, air knocking out of my lungs. My hands scraped along the rough, broken road, tearing as I was pulled back and leaving lines of blood on the pavement.

  All I had was the frost. It would have to be enough.

  The dragging stopped. I heard names shouted over the highway. Piper’s. Hadrian’s. Mine. Voices too far away to help me.

  I flipped onto my back. The false-Stormkind leaped from the hood. I snapped up my hands and made a shield of ice. It pieced together lightning fast, covering my torso. The false-Stormkind slammed face-first into the icy shield, eliciting a yelp from her. The weight of her body shattered the ice– and almost my entire arm. She tumbled off me and landed in a heap on my side. I rolled away from her, watching her eyes. They were closed, so I had no idea if she was still possessed by the tether and the lure of life force.

  Not wanting to take any chances, I got to my knees and crawled away. I gripped the side of the car closest to me and stood up. I peered over the hood and searched for Piper.

  She was shaken, but standing. Her big dark eyes found me, relief sweeping across her face. I followed her gaze to the housing district. Stress left my shoulders like a weight when I saw the tornado hadn’t made it within their boundaries. Hopefully, by the time the Mistrals arrived, we would have Turve tied up or thrown in a trunk or something. I didn’t know what the Precips would do with the girl, who groaned and clutched her head we she rolled on the ground, but as long as they didn’t torture her or kill her, I was happy.

  I turned one more time to see if I would be able to track Hadrian down, only to find that he was right in front of me.

  “Holy hell!” I gasped as my heart skipped. “Don’t do that!”

  His face was tight and stony, but his eyes were blazing with surprise and concern. “What are you doing here?”

  Straight to the point, for a change. Now that my minor cardiac episode was over, I could get back to the major issue:

  Being mad at him.

  “That’s my question, you jerk! What was the goal here? Take out whatever anger you have at Mortis and his goons by running at them headfirst without a plan?”

  “I had a plan,” he grumbled.

  “Oh, good,” I put my hands on my hips. “Explain it. Please. I would love to hear it.”

  Hadrian glared. He didn’t say a word.

  “That’s what I thought,” I stated, proving my point.

  His eyes narrowed to slits. He still didn’t have an argument. As we stared at each other in the ruined, empty highway, I could see there were words on the tip of his tongue. His lips were pressed together too firmly for him to simply be angry. Something was hidden behind his rage, something he didn’t want me to see.

  I wasn’t afraid of it, though. Not like he was. I didn’t think there was anything he could hide from me that would cause me pain. Hadrian was difficult and aggressive, but he wasn’t unreachable. When I had been lying in the infirmary after passing out from Ferno’s attack, something inside him snapped. I heard it in his voice, watched it unravel when he nearly punched Vitae.

  Hadrian was breaking.

  I took a careful step toward him and slid my hand into his. He stiffened, but didn’t pull away. That counted as progress, right?

  “Tell me what you were trying to achieve,” I whispered. “Tell me what you’re looking for.”

  The rage shielding his eyes began to waver. He quickly dropped his gaze to the ground. His fingers curled gently around my hand. “It was my intent to retrieve answers from Turve.”

  At the sound of his name, I glanced past Hadrian to see what our recently defeated Mistral was up to. He was frowning as Vitae stood next to him with a sword pressed to his neck. She was asking him questions I couldn’t hear, and he was replying with one or two word answers. He looked bored, and I couldn’t shake the wrong feeling to the casual way he sat on the ground, like he was still waiting for something.

  Dismissing it, I retuned my attention to Hadrian. “And how did that work out before you started punching him?”

  Instead of answering, he tightened his jaw.

  Exasperation made me lose my patience. “God, Hadrian, did you even ask him anything?”

  “He would have answered me once I subdued him and his charge–”

  “Did it ever occur to you they might not tell you where Mortis was, or what his next step was–”

  His hands were cupping my face and drawing me closer before I could blink. His scent was cool and familiar, yet his hands were all but burning.

  “You think I tracked Turve because I care about Mortis?”

  I was about to say yes, because that was what mattered to him. He wanted retribution for his father, and punching answers out of Turve would have been a good way to do it.

  But then I looked into his eyes– really looked– and saw the desperation, the hurt, the fear.

  Emotions I wouldn’t see if he were thinking about Mortis.

  But if he were thinking about me...

  “That would have been true once,” he whispered, his shields completely stripped now. “But now every time I think of him, I worry about you instead. I know what he is capable of, what he has already done to you, and it terrifies me that I will not be able to protect you from it again.” He dipped his forehead, pressing it against mine. I didn’t know if he were shaking, or if it was me.

  “I tracked Turve because I cannot bear the idea of losing you, Ava. I do not know how you are undoing me, but I do not want you to stop.”

  I could see everything he’d tried to hide from me. The contrition, confusion, loneliness, desire… It was open to me now.

  Only to me.

  I fought to regain my
thoughts as Hadrian struggled to regain his control. I wanted to keep berating him for scaring me, but after what he’d said, the way he was holding me—

  A crush of wind knocked into us and stole the ground from under me. Hadrian’s arms came around me as the wind whipped us violently. His back became a shield as we were thrown against the side of a car. I wasn’t hurt, but I felt the breath punch from Hadrian’s lungs as he was crushed. He grunted, still holding me as we toppled forward. He twisted at the last possible second, landing on his back again and keeping me from smashing face-first into the pavement.

  I wriggled out of Hadrian’s arms and turned to check on him. My Guardian was already on his feet, grabbing his last tempest-blade from his back and shifting his feet into a fighter’s stance. I got to my feet and stood behind him.

  The false-Stormkind was on her feet, the color back in her dark eyes. Her lips were peeled back into a savage snarl. She pushed her hands out to Hadrian, but he was stronger than her. He flipped the sword in his right hand so the blade was extended horizontally. Gripping it carefully between his thumb and index finger, Hadrian pushed out his hand. A gust of cold wind cut a path straight to the false-Stormkind. It struck her in the chest and shoved her toward a car. I jumped at the screeching sound I heard when she hit it.

  But Hadrian hadn’t pushed her hard enough for the car to make that kind of noise. Which was coming from the left.

  I turned my head, breath catching in my throat.

  The abandoned cars were skidding along the highway like toys being pushed by an invisible bulldozer. They spun off the side of the road and flipped over, parted forcibly as the wind picked up around us. My hair whipped across my face, coming from both sides. I huddled closer to Hadrian as he pushed the false-Stormkind back again.

  “Hadrian,” I whispered, tugging his arm to get his attention.

  “I know. I hear it. Stay close to me.”

  His voice was calm, easy, and confident, all the things I wasn’t. I glanced around, searching for Piper. I quickly found her with Zephys. He stood in front of her with one arm stretched across her middle, pushing her away from the cars being knocked aside by an unseen force.