Crystal Casters: Awakening (The Crystal Casters Series Book 1)

by Jenn Nixon

  Rune nodded.

  “Work together, for what? Haven’t you done enough?”

  “How can you trust them, any of them? They deserve to rot where they are. Even the ones you turned against me to help didn’t trust you.”

  “Enough with your lies, Mergan!”

  “Silvio put up this barrier around the mansion so you couldn’t get in and I couldn’t get out long before Evie learned of my plan. He never trusted us or you, even when you betrayed me. Why do you think he took all the children off the island, away from you?”

  As tempted as he was to know what happened, he didn’t trust a word coming out of her mouth. He’d never seen a sincere emotion cross her face.

  “Why are you stalling?” he asked, something Cyndra would undoubtedly say. “Waiting for the wraiths or soulless? Rune and I can handle it, easy.”

  Rune nodded and flipped a blade in his hand.

  “I’m waiting for Becca to get the newborn’s pendant. I never thought Evie would give up her crystal and all the power it accumulated.”

  Zorin furrowed his brow.

  “Oh, you don’t remember? Priceless. You have no idea how surprised I was to see Evie without hers when she came to the mansion. It’s the only reason she almost stopped me.”

  Did stop you, Rune added, making Zorin smirk.

  “Just like Cyndra will stop you,” Zorin said, opening his siphon, taking Mergan’s power too, so long as it made him stronger, he didn’t care the source.

  “I highly doubt that,” Mergan said, stepping down the last few stairs and approaching slowly, creating a ball of water above her palm. “When I threaten to end your lives, she’ll do anything I ask to save you.”

  “She will never help you,” Zorin growled and extended his wings, using the pain to replace the power he wanted from Cyndra.

  A half dozen mirror-wraiths swarmed over the top of the mansion and slithered toward their master. Two swirled around her body then hovered at her side. The ball in her hand reshaped into a short water spear. Zorin turned to Rune. Do not underestimate her.

  The remaining wraiths shot forward.

  Rune nodded and ran into the fray.

  Chaos followed.

  Between dodging Mergan’s water spears and dashing away from the mirror-wraiths, Zorin watched the caster’s back as he fought and ran toward the mansion. A wall of water appeared, stopping Rune’s attempt to reach the stairs. Three wraiths swirled above their heads. The caster used his fireshield to scare them away. Mergan shot a water spear against his shield, slamming Rune into the ground.

  Cyndra’s fire energized the siphon giving Zorin a boost at just the right moment. He darted forward and lifted into the air, soaring up the stairs. When he landed, he dropped to his knee, grunting back the pain, wishing Cyndra’s energy entered the mix. “Go, Rune. I’ll follow when I can.”

  We fight her together, Rune said, extending his hand. Zorin clasped it and rose to his feet. The caster picked two pieces of glass from his wing. Zorin growled. Sorry, there’s a lot.

  “I’m aware,” Zorin replied and shook his wings once, hard, making a few more pieces fall which would be worth the initial jolt of pain.

  Mergan gasped. They both glanced to the lawn to see one of the wraiths circling her. Tendrils of smoke and fabric shot out and wrapped around her limbs as she screeched. “What are you doing?”

  Before the smirk formed on Zorin’s lip, the wraith zipped up the stairs and into the mansion.

  Cyndra, Rune said as his eyes widened.

  Her unmistakable energy sizzled against Zorin’s skin. To feel her so strongly from this distance closed his throat. He wasn’t there to help her maintain balance. After hearing what Mergan had said, he needed to get back to Cyndra, now.

  Zorin dashed into the mansion, following Rune back the way they came, calling out to Cyndra, begging her to answer him so he knew she was safe.

  Cyndra kept her focus on the wraith’s hunger, sensing it through the soulless who called herself Becca. Allowing the woman to siphon enough energy to ease whatever pain she felt, Cyndra made sure her fire was ready at any moment should either of them turn against her. Trust wasn’t high on her list of compromises right now.

  “We have Mergan,” Becca said as her whited-out eyes returned to their normal faded brown.

  “Bring her back.” Evoking the energy to her hand, Cyndra stepped closer to the door just in case the wraith decided to misbehave while Becca stayed near the mirror. “If the wraith doesn’t drop her in the hall, I’m going to grab it, last warning.”

  The mirror-wraith’s shriek resounded up the spiral staircase.

  Cyndra kept the fire to her hand instead of a full flare for better control and sensed Zorin’s stimulating and worried energy seeking her out. Siphon or not, she was strong enough to stop the wraith. She stepped back from the doorway when the wraith bobbed at the top of the staircase and screeched.

  “Becca?”

  The soulless bitch grabbed her pendant chain and ripped it from her neck. “I’m sorry, Cyndra. Mergan is the only one who can transform me back and send me to the mirror-realm.”

  “The power doesn’t work like that,” Cyndra snapped, lunging for her pendant.

  The wraith flew into the room and set Mergan on the ground. Becca handed over the crystal.

  “Good work,” Mergan chuckled.

  “You’ll change me back now?” Becca asked meekly.

  “Yes, yes,” Mergan said, waving her hand as she stared at the crystal.

  Cyndra shut her eyes, wishing she’d never given the soulless a second chance, hating how this power had twisted Mergan and her followers, fearing what she’d do if freed. Despite having no crystal, both hands held her power unwavering. Growing.

  The power will always be within. Cyndra’s heart thumped. As she lifted her left hand, ready to lock Becca and Mergan both in place with her energy, she heard Zorin and sensed him and Rune approaching. Cyndra used their presence, their power, to maintain focus.

  Mergan lifted her head to the door and held both stolen crystals protectively as she stared across the room. “Guard the mirror.”

  “Cyndra!” Zorin’s voice vibrated from the hallway, carrying his energy and overpowering emotions into the prison room.

  “He thinks you can save what’s left of his cold black heart,” Mergan snapped with more bitterness than anger.

  Cyndra tilted her head. “Guess you tried and couldn’t?”

  Zorin and Rune ran into the room, both bursting with power in their own way. Becca lifted her hands ready to siphon. Mergan created a water ball in her hand.

  “He’s beyond saving. I’ve known him for longer than you’ve been alive, caster, and you? A week?” Mergan sneered and turned toward Zorin.

  “Then you must’ve really sucked at being a person. He’s right, you don’t have a shred of empathy do you?”

  “Who needs empathy when one has demons to do her bidding?”

  “Enough!” Zorin bellowed, extending his battered wings despite the pain on his face.

  Mergan grinned as a water spear formed and shot across the room. Cyndra rolled forward. Rune threw a knife at Becca, angrier than she’d seen him. Zorin, growling half in pain and half rage, swiped his wing at the wraith heading for the mirror.

  The mirror-wraith screeched. Cyndra spun and lifted her hand, directing it away from Rune.

  “Behind you,” Zorin called, ramming into Mergan with his shoulder.

  Cyndra turned, readying her flare. Another knife flew through the air, striking Becca in the stomach. The desire to dust the soulless filled her veins. Her fire grew.

  Zorin’s siphon tried to hold her back.

  Not this time.

  She evoked her energy, locked the wraith in place with the flick of her hand, and surrounded Mergan and her soulless with a ring of fire. Rune retrieved his knives and came to her side, ready to keep fighting.

  “Nice attempt, newborn.” Mergan swung her arm wide, slamming Cyndra into the wall
near the mirror. The fire ring shrank as she crumpled to the ground. Rune flung a knife at Becca. She evaporated and reappeared behind Zorin who swung a wing, clipping her in the back of the head.

  Mergan evoked a water spear in her hand. She glanced toward the mirror. “I can send you to your mother. I’m sure she would love to see Zorin again.”

  Power surged through Cyndra and intensified, spreading the fire down her leg, up the side of her neck, tangling through her hair. Her energy, not to be outdone swirled around her fingers building until it glowed a soft greenish-white.

  Cyndra, Zorin’s voice broke into her thoughts at the same moment she felt his excitable energy mingle through their bond.

  She wouldn’t let Mergan hurt anyone again. Every thought turned to strengthening her energy. Cyndra needed to stop Mergan. Imprison her, just like Evie had. I need to seal her in this room. Take Rune and go!

  We’re not leaving.

  “Then you can watch them both suffer,” Mergan twisted her left hand, slamming Zorin and Rune into the wall, inches from the mirror. She flicked her wrist and repeated the move, knocking Rune unconscious and keeping both pinned against the wall.

  “Stop!” Cyndra shouted, balling her hands, reeling in her powers, trying to tamp it all back, hoping her next idea worked because she didn’t have any others.

  “Release all the barriers from the island and you can leave, unharmed with your friend.”

  “And Zorin,” said, feeling calmer when she gazed across the room and met Zorin’s eyes. His brow crinkled as if trying to figure out what she was doing. She wiggled her left hand and smiled at him.

  The woman chuckled and shook her head. “Just like that?”

  “No, not just like that,” Cyndra said. “Ready to do what I have to do. That’s the only way to survive.”

  Cyndra, don’t. My siphon hasn’t been open long enough.

  She has to be stopped, Zorin. If I—

  No, you can’t beat her.

  I have to try.

  Cyndra evoked her energy in a quick blast, felt the element swirl around her fingers, and cover her hand. The fire came next. In concert, the greenish-white glow of energy and orange and red fire crawled up her arms to her shoulders.

  “I’m giving you one last chance to back down before I unleash twenty odd years of pent up survivor’s panic on your ass. I’m not afraid of you.”

  “You should be,” Mergan said, lifting her energy casting hand and directing it toward the mirror. “I will destroy everything you care for.”

  “You already have.” Cyndra shot her flames forward. Mergan blocked her body with both arms causing Rune and Zorin to collapse to the ground. A pulse of energy blasted from Mergan’s body. Without thought, Cyndra lifted both her hands and tapped her fists together. The motion created a flash, reflecting Mergan’s attack and exciting her energy, which taunted her fire.

  Zorin’s siphon exacerbated the sensations, spreading euphoria to every inch of her skin, making her stronger from the inside out, lifting all her power to the surface. His energy, their connection, and bond tried to overpower the rest, draw back her anger and thirst for revenge.

  Neither of them could stop what was building.

  Mergan conjured several small water knives and shot them across the room. Cyndra dodged the first two, but not the third. The knife slammed into her chest, knocking her back. She collided with Zorin as his wing curled around their bodies and took the brunt of the remaining strikes.

  Cyndra crashed to the ground.

  Zorin roared and darted forward.

  Mergan bashed him back into the wall, even closer to the mirror. “You will die, betrayer! We could have ruled this world, created a utopia for all casterkind.”

  “Keep your delusions, Mergan. You’ll never be free again.”

  Cyndra lifted her head from the ground. Mergan walked over the glass, leaving a trail of blood in her wake as she approached Zorin, balling her left hand, filling the room with her tainted power. Zorin gasped for breath and clawed at his neck.

  Cyndra rose to her feet and evoked both elements to her hands. Seeing Rune still unconscious boiled the blood surging through her veins. Zorin, fighting for his life, shook his head when she met his eyes. The fire was instant, encasing the entire right side of her body. Energy swirled around her fingers, creating the same greenish-white glow. Mergan was the reason for all of the suffering, the mirror, soulless, wraiths, even losing her cousin and the destruction of the world.

  No one could hold back this rage.

  With the swipe of her left hand, Cyndra bashed Mergan into the ground and surrounded her in another ring of fire.

  Zorin dropped from the wall and palmed the floor as he caught his breath. Cyndra, don’t!

  We have to stop her.

  Keeping Mergan locked in place with her energy, Cyndra let the fire build, knowing it was so much stronger, and tried to convince herself what she was about to do was justified.

  I won’t let you kill her. I won’t let you carry that burden, Cyndra.

  “Then you do it!” she yelled, feeling every emotion from the past week, the last twenty-five years of her life, rumbling beneath her chest.

  Mergan laughed. “He’ll never kill me. I’ve given him everything he’s ever wanted, power, strength, and invincibility. Do you really think he’ll give that up for you?”

  “I wouldn’t ask him to. I don’t care what he looks like. I know what’s in his heart.” Cyndra flexed her hand. The power wanted out.

  “His heart? Foolish newborn. His darkness will consume you…as it did me.”

  “Maybe you should have tried to help him instead of using him.”

  She laughed. “Use him? He begged me to bond with him. Make him stronger. You have no idea the monster you aligned with.”

  “He’s not the monster you are!” Cyndra slammed both of her fists together. Her fire and energy merged. A greenish-red sphere grew from her hand and blasted forward propelling Mergan into the air. Her head cracked against the top of the mirror and she dropped like a ragdoll to the ground.

  The power, inside, however, wasn’t done.

  Sweat beaded on Cyndra’s forehead. Both of her arms vibrated to the point of almost going numb. Her eyesight dimmed.

  Zorin grunted and staggered toward her, siphoning just enough to help her focus for a moment. “Cyndra, stop before this goes too far.”

  “It’s…too much, it’s too late. You said not to hold it in. Stay back, I won’t hurt you,” Cyndra ran out of the prison room and slammed the door shut with her blazing hand, inadvertently setting it on fire. Her left arm vibrated faster, numbing her fingertips. She had a fifty-fifty chance of her grandmother’s trick working.

  By the time she reached the end of the hall, she knew it was her last option.

  Cyndra, don’t! Please.

  She glanced back toward the prison room door and felt Zorin on the other side desperately trying to siphon her enough to stop what roared beneath her skin.

  She bolted down the stairs.

  Cyndra was far enough away at the bottom. Shutting her eyes and holding back the tears, she pictured Zorin’s bright blue eyes as she clasped her hands together.

  Everything turned white-hot.

  Cyndra, don’t! Please.

  Zorin dropped to his knees as the prison door closed. Mergan moaned and lifted her head from the stone floor. Ignoring her, he focused on Cyndra, absorbing as much of her power as he could, sensing her control slipping and the fear rising. Her fire was too strong. Her energy propelled her beyond his siphon.

  Greenish-white light flashed beyond the door.

  The floor rumbled and shook.

  An explosion rocked the tower, blasting the door from its hinges and spilling fire into the room.

  “Cyndra!” He ran into the fire and froze in the middle of the hall letting the smoke clear. The entire staircase leading to the tower was gone.

  His heart stopped.

  Zorin extended his wings, ignoring th
e pain, and inched closer to the end of the hallway untouched by Cyndra’s flare.

  “Help me,” Mergan’s meek voice, similar to how she came to him in the dreams, echoed through the biting silence.

  When he returned to the room, Becca was a pile of dust, while Mergan clung to the ground with half her body stuck in the mirror he could now see. Zorin held back every desire to kick her in the face and let the mirror do the rest of the work. Rather, he approached slowly, using a moment to make sure Rune was still breathing, and knelt before his captor, tormentor, watching her fingertips turning white against the stones she clung to.

  “How many people are in the mirror-realm, Mergan?”

  “Thousands. Help me.”

  “All five elements are needed to break the barrier, what else? Did you cast a secondary protection? How do we get them out?”

  “I will tell you everything. The truth, help me, Zorin.”

  “You’ll never tell me what I need to know,” he said, realizing how true the statement was as he glanced over to Rune.

  “I know every name,” Mergan said.

  “And every single one of them wants your head on a pike, talk or you go through the mirror,” Zorin barked.

  “Once the barriers are down, wraiths can bring the casters back,” she said with a frown as another finger slipped.

  “And the soulless, the casters you used to create the wraiths?”

  “They feed the wraiths, so they can breach the mirror. I only wanted to punish those who turned on me. Evie altered them to bring all casters to the mirror.”

  “What? Why?” Zorin clenched his jaw when she smirked and refused to answer, holding back the desire to punch her. He knew exactly why she wouldn’t answer. Mergan had already planted seeds of doubt in Cyndra’s mind. Now she wanted them to grow. “Rune’s father, Cyndra’s mother and cousin Pristy, are they in this mirror-realm?”

  “Yes, now help me. Not another answer.”

  “I don’t need any more answers.”