by Amy Braun
Mortis stood behind my little brother with the crystal dagger. Declan had wrapped one of his fists in my mother’s hair, a short knife to her throat. Turve had his hand clamped over my father’s forehead, drawing it back and exposing his neck to a tempest-blade.
“How…” It was the only word I could get out.
“It seems they frequent the Missing Boards,” Mortis announced. “Declan knew where to find them. He recalled where you lived and where the local resource stations were.”
“Wasn’t hard, Ginger,” the bully announced with pride.
My eyes turned to him, finally seeing how awful he looked. I’d noticed the paleness before, but when I was captured on the road in Sanford, he was either behind me or I was too delirious with pain to notice his physical changes. Now I could see the utter transparency of his flesh, so thin I could see his blue veins beneath. The texture of his skin was uneven and almost wrinkled, like a burn victim.
Or the texture of a hurricane-Stormkind.
I wished I could feel the anger I was supposed to feel. That I wasn’t so overridden with terror I couldn’t even straight.
“Allow me to make this perfectly clear, Ava,” Mortis said. It was a monumental effort to drag my eyes from my kidnapped family to him. His expression was stony and empty. As if holding a dagger to a little boy was commonplace for him.
“You will strengthen your abilities. You will become our weapon. You will increase your strengths until I am prepared to unleash you. I will create more new Stormkind like you. If you do not agree to my terms, or if you attempt to contact the Precips, I will kill your family in front of you.”
He put his hand on James’s shoulder and squeezed. My baby brother winced.
“Starting with this one. If you do not agree, he will die now.”
My parents screamed. Declan and Turve shouted at them to be silent. James started to cry. Mortis stared at me. I felt my world begin to collapse.
“See what will become of them if you refuse. Ava? You will lose more than a brother. Your parents will be ruined. You will see it all, and suffer from a pain greater than any physical torture I could ever inflict.”
He paused, letting me listen to my parents’ tortured sobs.
“Or, you can swear here and now to obey me. To be exactly what I made you to be. You can say goodbye, and embrace your new life.”
I knew then that there was no painless choice for me. Either I would watch my little brother die and see my parents succumb to grief before they were killed, or I would agree and be forced to leave them forever. No matter what, Mortis would have what he wanted. I was his weapon. His experiment.
“Decide, Ava.”
James’s sobs caught in his throat. The tears I’d been trying to hold back spilled down my face.
“Please,” I cried, “please, he has asthma–”
“Decide.”
He wasn’t offering me a choice. He was giving me a command. The worst part was, I knew what my answer would be. I only had one. There would be consequences for it, and I would suffer regardless. Me and countless others.
“I’ll do it,” I whispered. Gathering my voice and letting go of my pride, I wearily met Mortis’s eyes. “I’ll do it. Just please, please let them go.”
Mortis stared at me for a long time, searching for some kind of deception or trick. I let him stare, because I had no tricks. I had no way of defeating the Mistrals.
Not yet, anyway.
Mortis released my brother, then looked at Turve and Declan. They let go of my parents and backed away a couple steps. My parents huddled together, keeping James between them and soothing him so his breathing relaxed.
“Release her, Ferno. Let her remember what she stands to lose if she fails us.”
The grip on my arms disappeared. I tore across the dirt and skidded to a stop in front of my parents and brother. I was amazed when they didn’t recoil from me, and even more stunned when they wrapped their arms around me and held me close. None of us could stop crying.
“Don’t do this,” my father pleaded. “Don’t give in.”
“I don’t have a choice,” I sobbed. “You don’t know what they’re capable of. If I don’t do what he says…” Tears choked my throat.
“We can’t leave you here,” my mother begged. James clutched my stomach like he would never let go.
I wanted them to stay with me. I dreaded the thought of being alone with these psychopaths. But I couldn’t risk my family again. I couldn’t lose control around them. Not when I’d witnessed the depths of their terror when I got that damn glow in my eyes.
So I lied.
“I’ll come home,” I whispered. “I’ll find my way back to the old house. I don’t know when or how, but I’ll be there. I promise.”
The words gagged me. My cheeks flared with heat and my eyes burned with tears.
My family believed me.
“You’re a strong, brave girl, Ava,” my mother told me, her blue eyes shining. “We’re so proud of you.”
The three of us embraced again. James’s words were muffled in my shirt, but I heard him loud and clear.
“Come home soon.”
I wondered if my tears were ever going to stop.
“The goodbyes have been said,” Mortis announced blandly.
Ferno’s rough hands grabbed my shoulders and yanked me back. My family wailed as I was torn from them. My father shot to his feet with his fists balled. I shook my head frantically, begging him not to risk his life and help me.
Defeated, my father turned to Mortis.
“March west. If you do not find a resource station, you will find the coast. Follow it south from there.”
That was it. No other advice, no supplies, nothing. If what Mortis told me about the forest was true, it was all but a death sentence, and it was the only thing he was going to give.
My father realized this. He slowly helped James and my mother to their feet. Wrapping his arms around their shoulders, he looked back at me.
I don’t think I had ever seen my father cry before.
“We love you, Ava. We love you so much.”
Then my father shuffled away with my family. I could feel my heart leaving with him, abandoning me to nothing but grief and dread.
Chapter 17
“You are about to witness something that no human has ever seen before.”
I stared at the ground, not caring one single bit about Mortis’s grand proclamation. I was exhausted even before we started the long walk across the forest. I hadn’t slept a wink last night, too busy crying and wondering if my family would make it would out of the forest alive. I had to believe they’d be okay. Even though I would never know, because I was never going to see them again.
Don’t think like that, I scolded myself. Figure out what the Mistrals want to do with you, turn it against them, then run.
That was the extent of my master plan. How I was going to accomplish it was a mystery, but I figured I would jump that hurdle when I came to it. Right now, I had to pretend I was curious about what the Mistrals wanted to show me.
It was cold here, and the spare sweater they gave me wasn’t doing much to keep the chill away. Wind whipped my hair, and I finally looked up. Half bent trees surrounded us, their splintered branches dangling over our heads like shattered bones. Toppled branches and twigs dug into the middle of my boots, and the smell of pine and cedar filled the night. The full moon’s light poured over us, a ghostly glow that sank into the ground and illuminated the tragedy of the ruined forest around me.
I hadn’t asked any questions since I said goodbye to my family. I hadn’t even tried to contact the Precips to ask for help. I could barely feel the cool thread from the tether in my chest. It was like it had been unplugged, separating me from Hadrian and any possible chance of rescue. I had no idea if I would still be able to use it in a fight, but if it came down to it, I would try. No matter how hopeless I felt right now, I refused to go down without a fight.
After what seemed
like hours, Mortis came to a stop. Turve and Ferno stood on either side of him. Declan shoved his palm into the middle of my back and urged me forward. Not because I had slowed down– just because he was an asshole.
I turned to glare at him, maybe even give him a piece of my mind, when a flash of light shone across his scowling, transparent face. I turned and watched the flash again, like someone was wielding strobe light at the bottom of the hill.
I stalked away from Declan and stood on the top of the hill next to Mortis. I peered down the hill, seeing instead that it was a crater. It looked like some giant god had taken a massive spoon and scooped out a chunk of the earth. The curves of the walls were perfect and smooth, drawing my attention to the dozen cages clustered in the middle. One of them contained the harsh, blinking light, but there were other lights in the cages. Thinner lights, each one spread into five lengths that connected together like a…
My eyes widened. I whirled my head to look at Mortis. His smirk was smug. He nodded.
“Behold the last of the Stormkind, Ava.”
Even though I knew that’s what I’d seen, hearing it made it real. Real and terrifying. I turned to look down the hill again, looking at each cage and its imprisoned Stormkind. My mind screamed at me to figure out what we were doing here, but I shied away from the answer. Whatever the reason was, it couldn’t be good.
“How can these be the last ones?” I asked, desperate for answers to all but the most obvious question. “What about the Stormkind around the world?”
“Fellow Guardians did as they were ordered. They brought the Stormkind to the mountains. They would have returned to their posts, training and waiting for the next Centennial. Though their positions have become useless, I knew they would be reluctant to release their charges to us. It was their choice to make the situation complicated.”
I stared at him. “You killed them?”
No, he couldn’t have, that kind of betrayal would lead too deep, the burden of duty unable to pass onto new generations of Guardians…
Mortis met my gaze without a flicker of remorse. “They made their choice to stand against us. To stand in the way of progress. I did what needed to be done.”
My stomach sank. Just when I thought he had some kind of code, a single line that he wouldn’t cross no matter what, he did something like this. I was too horrified to move when Mortis leaned down and pressed a hand on my shoulder. It felt like a lead weight about to crush me into the earth.
“Sacrifices must be made when you reshape the world, Ava,” he told me with absolute certainty. “You sacrificed a future with your family. I was forced to sacrifice the lives of seven brothers and sisters.”
“Like you sacrificed Sonus?”
Mortis didn’t flinch outright, though his fingers pinched my shoulder harder than before. “Sonus was blind to the future. He was too weak to embrace change. Too stubborn to bring the Guardians the glory we deserve.” A bitter light gleamed in his eyes. “Weakness and stubbornness that passed onto his son, it appears.”
My fists balled. “Hadrian is stronger than you think he is.”
Mortis paused as if to consider this. Then he nodded slowly. “Perhaps.” His steely eyes sent shivers down my spine. “But he is not strong enough.”
I took a breath to defend my Guardian, but Mortis soldiered on.
“I will atone for the deaths I have caused, I am certain. But until the new Stormkind have taken their place in the world, I will not look back. The future is here. It is time we embrace it.”
Without another word, Mortis began climbing down the hill. Ferno and Turve followed him diligently. I trudged after them, not wanting Declan to push me again and send me falling head over heels into the dirt.
The slope wasn’t actually that bad, but every step I took felt like the beginning of the end. The closer I got to the Stormkind, the higher the hairs on the back of my neck rose. The stiffer I became. The heavier the unease became in my stomach.
By the time I was on the flat part of the crater, just fifty feet from the nearest cage, I could hardly move. I could see the Stormkind in crystal clarity under the moonlight now.
The cages were exactly the way Vitae had described them to me. The bars were made of tall tempest-blades. The sides of the cage were made of standing swords, the tips driving deep into the earth. The sides of the hilts touched along the edge, and on the top of the cage, the swords were laid flat like they were on display. I could feel the steady pulse of power coming from each cage, like the heavy bass beat of a nightclub sinking through my skin.
Behind each cage was a Stormkind. I recognized a couple of them– the hurricane-Stormkind with its rippling exterior, and a sparking thunder-Stormkind, but there were others I hadn’t seen before.
A Stormkind covered in ice and capped with shimmering snow. Another with water melting down its body and dripping from its fingers. A Stormkind whose skin spiraled in circles like a top out of control. A fourth with dirt-covered flesh that rolled and crunched together when it moved its joints.
Two of each Stormkind paced in their six-by-six cages, their glowing white eyes fixed on us as we approached. Without pupils, it was impossible to tell who they were really looking at, but I felt like I was the center of their attention. I didn’t know exactly how sentient the Stormkind were, but I was willing to bet they had enough instinct to know the Guardians were harder prey to devour. As far as the Stormkind were concerned, I was a simple human. Fresh and mere feet away.
The two thunder-Stormkind pulsed with light, bursts of energy throbbing under their lightning skin. The others increased the speed of their pacing, until they were all but running from one side of the cage to the other. Their silence gave me chills.
“Don’t be shy,” Declan taunted in my ear, his clammy hand sliding down my spine to the bottom of my belt. I shivered and pulled away. “We’re not the ones who are going to get hurt.”
I glanced over my shoulder. Declan was smiling and looking over my head, an awful excitement filling his eyes. I turned again, watching Mortis, Turve, and Ferno spread out. Each one of them drew a crystal dagger.
I watched with horror, now realizing that Mortis must have perfected the design of his dagger and given it to his most trusted generals. During the Centennial, they could have run through the chaos, choosing victims to stab and inject with unwanted powers.
The Mistrals didn’t choose cages reflective of their abilities. Ferno stood in front of a thunder-Stormkind. Turve was before a dust-Stormkind. Mortis chose one made of ice. They didn’t flinch as they looked at their prey. The Stormkind went wild, throwing their bodies against the tempest-blade bars. The moment they struck, they bounced back as if the bars had electrocuted them. They rushed forward again, absorbed the pain as they flew back, then ran forward again.
I cringed. The Stormkind must have been desperately hungry. Their century long starvation was beginning. Having felt that pain, I knew how it would drive them mad. Seeing the Mistrals standing there, taunting them and provoking that hunger… It was simply cruel.
“Strike on my command,” Mortis said, never looking away from the Stormkind frozen in place in front of him.
“Wait,” I said, taking a step forward. Declan gripped my shoulder and yanked me back. My heart hammered against my ribs, each pulse becoming a knot of dread.
“Strike.”
When the Stormkind launched into the bars again, the Mistrals moved with blinding, accurate precision. The crystal daggers flashed and punched through electricity, dust, and icy flesh. The density didn’t matter. Nothing could shatter a tempest-blade, no matter how small it was.
The Stormkind stood frozen place, unable to back away. I watched in horror as the light from their skeletons retreated to the core of their being, then funneled into the blade. The crystal glowed to life, so bright it seemed to scorch my eyes.
I didn’t know if the tears lining my face were caused by the searing light from the daggers, or the crushing pain in my chest.
It
wasn’t that I adored the Stormkind. I would never forget waking up on that rooftop and seeing the endless horizon of disaster and destruction. I would always remember the sight of my ravaged house and the broken furniture on the lawn. I would have nightmares about the Stormkind that devoured life forces in front of me, the electric light in their eyes when I knew I was next.
But they couldn’t be blamed for what they’d done any more than a starving hawk could be blamed for eating a field mouse. They were predators simply doing what nature intended them to do. Not even the Primordials could be faulted for this. If the legend Vitae told me was true, then the Primordials knew what they had created was beyond their control. That’s why they created the Guardians and gave half their powers to them. It was all nature, action and reaction. Despite the horror it endured in the Centennial Storm, I knew the human race would survive. It was what we were best at, and if Vitae was right, the Stormkind would eventually go extinct.
The world wasn’t supposed to be unbalanced this way, through intended violence and slaughter. Every time someone tried to change the world to match their own twisted ideals, it ended in disaster and needless death.
That’s what would happen here, even though Mortis was convinced otherwise.
The final light from the Stormkind faded. One by one, their bodies collapsed in heaps of sparks, dust, and melted ice. Mortis stepped back, examining his dagger pensively.
“These blades are not as strong as the previous ones we used. We will likely have room for one additional absorption. After we use them on our chosen targets, they will need to be disposed of.”
“Are we going to try again?” Ferno asked. “If the daggers cannot hold another power, they could be rendered useless. There is no guarantee that our targets will survive the same way Hadrian’s charge has.”
The crystal daggers could only be used once? That explained why there weren’t more freaks like me running around. I imagined it took time to create each dagger, and there was no guarantee the person the Mistrals targeted would be able to hold more than one power. Maybe that was why Ferno killed Austin– he saw him as a failure as well as a means of escaping the Precips.