“I fucking hate you.”
He rubbed her back. Sirens still blared. The compound was in a frenzy, flame ripping through everything, but in this moment Ren found peace. However fleeting.
Ren pulled away. “We need to leave.”
Kato stood. Helped her up. Surveyed the walls, the plastic pens. Stepping into his cell, he flattened his palms against the wall adjacent. “My Scion crystal—it’s missing.”
Ren’s hands curled around her crystal. “Can you still use your power?”
“Yes,” he told her hesitantly, “but I will need to draw from you.”
Ren didn’t like the sound of that. “Draw what from me?”
“The souls in your crystal.” He turned, eyed the contents of Ren’s crystal. “Once that is exhausted, I’ll draw from myself.”
Draw what? He threw her a look, one that warned against asking too many questions. Kato turned away. “Ready?” he asked.
Ren didn’t get a chance to voice her complaints. A gale began to fill the room, charging past her in a flurry of razor-sharp coils. Her hair flew at her face, her t-shirt threatened to rip at the seams. Behind her, the heavy door groaned as it fought against the pull of Kato’s power. Ren’s crystal flew, dim light escaping. The souls dissipating. How much would Kato use?
Enough.
The wall exploded in a shower of concrete debris, bricks crumbled to sharp shards that caught in the gale. Whipping around the room like white talons. Sand poured down onto the basement floor, the deluge about one-story deep. It looked like a wave of water surrounding him. Continuously pouring in as Kato scooped himself out. “It’s going to fill the room!” he shouted, “We’ve got to go!”
The armored door whooshed open. Ren stole a look behind her and met Xavier’s wild eyes. “You aren’t getting away from me a second time!” he shrieked, two men flanking him. Guns pointed squarely at Ren.
Ren sprinted. Bullets crisscrossed behind her as she rushed to meet Kato’s hand. He pulled her up, wind forcing the deluge of sand to work against itself in a backward wave of sediment. A hail of bullets flew at them, ripping through the sand. The concrete. Ren’s ears rang as she clung close to Kato and was lifted up into the night. Stealing one final glance at Xavier as he rushed toward the gaping hole, she opened her hand and shot a searing blast of fire at him.
“Burn in hell.” She hissed, the words only for her to hear.
Standing on the beach, Ren couldn’t tell if her blast had actually hit the fucker. But it didn’t matter. They were free. Now, all they had to do was make it to the Wall.
They sprinted. Charging through the sand, the moon at their backs. Waves crashing into the beach as the compound shrieked and shuttered. They passed by the twisted tower of black metal, winking in the moonlight. A drill, Ren now knew, it whirred and sputtered. Hummed like a great beast towering over her. Its massive black skeleton a dark testament to the power of her grandfather. This would only embolden him, she knew. Once they returned to the village, the Mesh would need to leave or suffer the consequences of her actions against Morgan Black. This wouldn’t stop her grandfather. Nothing would. The Mesh were fucked.
But she was free. Kato was alive. They met the Wall at a run and slapped into it. Blue light dripped from Ren’s crystal. She was almost running on E. Ren looked at Kato, watched him slide down the Wall and stare at the smoking white compound on the beach. A helicopter picked up from the roof and rode the wind. The huge thing sailing over their heads, kicking up sand and dust. Ren shielded her face. Kato coughed up a storm.
“Is anyone coming?” Ren asked, staring up. “Are they going to let us in?”
Kato shook his head. “With the Kirabo threatening them from a new front—” he coughed into his hand. “Probably not.”
Fuck. There was only one way through, then. To safety.
Ren slapped her palms up against the Wall. There was no telling what using her own life-force to fuel her fire would do, but she had to do something. They needed to rally the Mesh and run—fight back against the Kirabo and defend themselves against Morgan Black’s men. Kato couldn’t do shit without his crystal and he sure as hell couldn’t siphon anything else from hers. He was spent.
The Wall became dough beneath her burning skin. Clay melded with her palms, falling away to mud. It slapped to the ground as she moved her hands into a circle, creating a doorway that eventually melted to mud as well. Catching Kato by the wrist, she tugged him through the opening. Once through, the hole collapsed on itself. The entire wall trembling, groaning as it lost its foundation and crumbled into itself. Clogging up Ren’s hole. The Wall lost a couple stories but still stood. Ren collapsed, her crystal going dark.
Dropping her face into the ashen dirt, she cried out. Pain threading through every fiber of her chest.
44
Ren fought to breathe. Every breath wheezed up her constricting throat. Her heart began to thunder in her ears, her eyes popping out of her head.
Kato touched her back. “Calm.” Though he said it in island-speak. The throaty whisper did nothing to calm the panic, to stop her body from seizing up and attacking itself. Using the fire with an empty crystal took everything from her. Pinpricks of pain spiked through her lungs, the air in them becoming coagulated liquid. Spiking through her. Forcing her eyes wider.
“It will hurt every time.” He warned her. “We must refill your crystal.”
She hated his tone. Too calm. Too detached. He knew she wasn’t going to die, but she sure as hell felt like it. Bringing a fist to her chest, she forced herself up onto all fours. Saliva dribbled down her chin. Followed by vomit.
“Just allow it.” He said. “Stop fighting.”
“Shut up.”
Kato rubbed her back. She sputtered beneath his hand, vomiting everything up. Some of the pain had nothing to do with the crystal. She had killed people back there. Burnt them alive. Hell—she probably murdered a few families in the aftermath. Fire was dangerous. She was dangerous. A murderer—a savage. What was she becoming?
For a moment she saw him. The Mafioso staring back at her as she towered over Itzel, murdering her with her own weapon. That damned dream—Ren shook the thought away. I’ll never be like him. Fucking never. But she couldn’t be too sure. She’d killed so many without a thought. She’d killed so many.
Well, it stopped here.
Ren stood.
“I’m…sorry.” Kato said, standing behind her. “You are a true Scion, Ren. Outsider or not. You were able to control your fire a lot faster than I could control my air. You’re a natural.”
She gave him a weak smile. “I’m sorry too. I’m a selfish bitch, you know? But not anymore. I’m staying.”
He blinked. “You’re not going back home?”
“Even if I could,” she shrugged. Turned away from him. “I wouldn’t. I think—I think I belong here, Kato.” She started walking, leaving him behind.
“Yeah,” he said. Catching up. “You do. Definitely.”
Ren couldn’t help but crack a smile.
They met the village as the sun began to rise. Devastation shadowed the village like an encroaching storm. The dark clouds far away, yet close enough to cause worry. The boardwalk was shredded, torn up by the planks into a serrated wall of splintered boards. Thatched roofs were sunken, fallen into their respective huts like caterpillars sliding back into cocoons. The gangplank was gone, shredded like most of the boardwalk. Here and there, blood spatters painted the teakwood sidings of huts and larger homes. Villagers sat outside their dwellings, crying, arguing, slamming their fists up against what was left of the boardwalk and ripping their hair from their heads.
It was a city of ghosts. Of grief and blood and anger.
Ren followed Kato to his hut. Instead of a standing home, they found a pit of burnt thatch and blood-spattered wood. Ren dove into the wreckage, cursing the entire time. Combing through thatch and woven grass, she searched for Mia and Ava’s phones. Her fingers caught something circular and she pulled up the d
ream-catcher Kato had made for her. The strings were cut. Ripped and knotted and tangled. What had happened here?
Kato and Ren exchanged glances. Kato’s eyes glittered as he stood on the threshold, his body frozen in disbelief.
“They returned.” Came a voice. Sullen and ghostly. “The Kirabo. Their masks are scattered about like autumn leaves. As are the bodies of the Mesh.”
Kato turned on his heel. Ren straightened. The Shamaness stood at the threshold, battered and bloody. She was a stark representation of the village, a symbol of the carnage that swept through. Behind her, a gathering of those left behind stood. They crowded around like shadows, white eyes agitated. Shaming.
“In our hour of greatest need, our Scions vanished. Kato and Outsider; you disobeyed my orders to protect Nyx and pursued the Dreamers. You return to Nyx with nothing—nothing to show for your efforts.” Her face was sunken, her eyelids drooping. “Was it worth it?” she hissed. “Was it worth destroying your home, boy?”
Kato paled. Ren gritted her teeth.
“Outsider,” the Shamaness said, turning to her, “are my reasons for not trusting you clear now? Do you see what your kind do to us? Outsider Scions are harbingers of death.”
“My people did this?” Ren gasped. There was no way. They were too busy dealing with the fire in the compound. Morgan Black had said himself that he was waiting for the Kirabo and Mesh to rip each other apart before charging further inland. He wouldn’t lie to her…would he?
“The Kirabo returned, taking many. Murdering the rest. Among them, an elder has been taken. Elder Lindiwe.” The Shamaness stabbed an accusatory finger at Ren’s chest. “Her death lies squarely on your shoulders, Outsider. May her blood darken your heart.”
The crowd gasped. Ren took a step back. The Kirabo had done this? Elder Lindiwe was taken? Ren shook her head, “Why didn’t you follow them?” she blurted. “Sure—pin this on me. But you need to fight.” Ren looked out toward the crowd. “You all need to pick up a spear and fight!”
Dead eyes stared back. Their fighting spirit had died with their home. It made Ren’s chest go cold.
“You have disobeyed my orders for the last time, Outsider. Breaking the third maxim is punishable by death.”
Kato collapsed to his knees. Ren refused—refused—to believe that everything they had done had been for nothing. No fucking way. “I did it to help you—you can’t just sit here and blame me! You all will die if you don’t fight back! Do you hear me? Die!”
“Shield Seble.” The Shamaness called, crossing her arms. Seble peeled from the crowd, unable to meet Ren’s eyes as she dipped her head toward the Shamaness. “Lead the Outsider away.”
Seble took Ren’s arm. They exchanged glances. Seble’s gaze was stone.
“Kato.” The Shamaness called. “Your punishment is banishment.”
45
From the cliff’s edge, Ren could see the sun.
It was ironic that Seble took her back to their old training spot.
“Turn around.” Seble said, her voice ice.
Ren turned. Shot her hand out as Seble tossed Ren her spear. Ren caught it with a smack. “What the hell?”
A smirk formed on Seble’s lips. Old blood crusted her cheeks. “Ren, why would I kill you in cold blood?”
Ren flinched. “Because you’re a bitch?”
Seble chuckled. Stopped prowling a semicircle around Ren and cracked her neck. “I am your teacher, and now I must be your executioner.”
“Sad world, isn’t it?”
Cutting her gaze away, Seble spat into the grass. “The Shamaness told me—kill the Outsider Scion and I will let Kato return.” Seble took a step forward, dug her forward heel into the grass. “I love him, you know. So, this is something that I have to do.” Holding her spear in both hands, she lifted a leg. Taking on a stance Ren had never seen before, one that resembled a crane. “I am not sorry.” She charged.
Spears thwacked, smacking like crunching bone. Seble doubled back, Ren skipping backward toward the sharp edge of the cliff. Wind brushed at Ren’s back as Seble dropped to the ground, leg straight out in front of her, and swiped her spear across Ren’s feet in an attempt to steal her foundation out from under her. Ren side-stepped—barely. Seble’s spear nicking Ren’s right ankle. Drawing blood.
Fuck.
But she couldn’t scream. Couldn’t cry out and drop to the ground. This time, Seble meant business—hell, she meant to fucking kill her. Crouching low with the spear angled behind her, Ren watched Seble for a hint of her next move. Seble guffawed, throwing back her head while charging her spearhead forward. The sharp end narrowly missing Ren’s ribcage as Ren rolled away.
Ren couldn’t use her firepower. She was spent from running through the compound—breaking through the Wall. Her ankle bled, a clean slit widening every time she moved her leg. She needed to end this fast, but could she kill Seble? After she had promised to take no more life?
“Dancing will not save you, Outsider. You will tire. You will trip. And when you falter I will stab you—” Seble sprang from her position, stabbing her spearhead faster than Ren could blink. “Again and again and again—” she grunted, pulling back the spearhead, panting from her effort. Seble hoped to end this quick as well, Ren realized. Why? She had been in a fight too, but she couldn’t be as spent as Ren. Could she?
Ren met her eyes. Eyes of stone, dark with green envy. No—there was no way. Seble was just getting started.
They prowled, Ren circling until the cliff edge was no longer at her back. Seble didn’t seem to care that the ocean air swept up at her, that the edge crumbled beneath her bare feet. Taking her crane stance once more, she exploded in an unending volley of twists and stabs. All aiming for Ren’s face, the spearhead dancing close to her nose. To her eyes. Ren teetered backward, looking for an opening. Sweat sticking her hair to her face. Blood trickling through the wound on her ankle. Seble fought in a frantic state, her eyes wider than they ought to be. A perverted smile stretched her lips wide, the ends of her teeth poking through.
Another gash slicing across Ren’s shoulder sent her stumbling into a misstep. Seble saw the opening. Screamed a cacophonous war cry, and drove the spear down. Aiming for Ren’s belly.
Ren didn’t shut her eyes, she just stared. Gouging Seble’s eyes with her own glacial glare. With the spearhead driving for her belly, Ren curved her own spear up and in a flash of movement, drove it right into Seble’s ribcage.
Seble coughed. Her spearhead slowed. Dipped and slipped from her sweaty hands. Ren hadn’t punctured her skin—hell, she hadn’t even drawn that much blood. But she used the threat of death to force Seble away. Seble stood, hands slack to her sides. Eyes white with panic, she seemed to speak but couldn’t get the words out. Ren forced Seble to the edge of the cliff, making her back up until pebbles crumbled beneath her feet. Sebles heels dangled. The ocean crashed hard below.
With one prod—one shove—Ren could send Seble tumbling. She’d hear the sickening crack of Seble’s back breaking, her neck turning inward.
Slowly, Ren twisted her spearhead into Seble’s bone. It held fast, sucking like a vacuum, and Seble dropped. Falling to her knees, feet teetering off the edge.
Ren ignored the shock, ignored the gasp climbing its way up her throat. The spear held fast to Seble—draining her. Sucking life and adding to Ren’s own.
Ren looked down. Her crystal—it glowed. Slowly becoming blue.
46
“I will not be like the Mafioso.” Ren said, clutching her spear tight. Yanking the spearhead away from Seble’s uninjured chest. “I will not kill you.”
Ren stalked away, leaving Seble there on her knees.
Seble did not follow her back to the village.
It was time the Mesh took a stand.
Ren pulled herself up onto the splintered boardwalk. She made her way to the heart of the village. Or, what used to be the heart. The Shamaness’s hut.
She knew some Mesh could understand English. Ren swallowe
d as adrenaline curled in her veins like static crawling up her skin. Hopefully, what she said would count. If the Mesh didn’t follow her to the Kirabo camp, she’d go alone. She could tough it out.
“You’ve let them take your children,” she said, making eye contact with a few desolate souls who skirted up the boardwalk toward her. “Now, you’ve let them take your elder.”
Ren hissed. Fuck this polite shit. “Are you all seriously just going to sit on your asses and let this happen? Fuck—even if you die trying to save your people, at least you did something. You’ve been living with the guilt of letting—no, pretty much handing over your own fucking people to those child murdering monsters. And now, you’re just going to wallow in this shithole? In this fucking graveyard?”
A crowd was gathering while a shadow loomed over Ren, heavy and tall. She knew it was the Shamaness. So, Ren turned on her heel. Met the woman’s flinty eyes with a stone glare of her own. “You deserve better.” She said, acknowledging the crowd. “The Mesh deserve better!”
The Shamaness sneered. “Bow down, little cur. If Seble could not finish you, then I will.”
A waterfall of pressure slammed into Ren’s back. The Shamaness’s inky shadow magic leaked from the clouds, falling onto her like a deluge of rain. But Ren would not budge. Fire welled up behind Ren’s eyes. Flame spewed from her fingertips. “I will not bow to a coward.”
“Will you listen to this Outsider? Someone who cannot even speak our language?” the Shamaness called out, pacing along the boardwalk, bell-shaped skirts swishing. “We wait for them to return, my people. We cannot attack. We are weak in the Wilds, but here—in Nyx—we are strong.” The crowd stared blankly. “We must wait.”
“I have followed the Kirabo into the Wilds. I know where they are.” Kind of.
The Shamaness turned on her heel. “This one has scorned you. Has ignored your cries for help in your darkest hour. We cannot listen to a snake.”
Yet the people were listening. Fear hung over them like a cloud, but so did hope. Sunken eyes became angry. Tear stained faces began to nod as fists pumped into the air.
Wild Magic (The Island Book 1) Page 14