“Faster,” I say, and everyone breaks into a shambling run.
Halfway across, the storm breaks.
“Get down!” I shout, and throw myself to the stone surface. My heart beats thunderously in my chest. A monstrous gathering of air lauvan streaks toward our rocky outcrop, boiling in a furious wave of silver strands. The roar reaches us a second before the wind hits. When the force pummels us, my breath is taken away by its ferocity.
My streaming eyes pick out my companions plastered to the surface of the rough granite slab. The blast of wind dies slightly, enough for me to lift my head and shout.
“Everyone all right?”
Heads nod.
“Start crawling forward. We need to get off this rock.”
The end of my instructions is swept away by the next fierce gust. Air whistles and roars across my ears and burns my skin with its intensity. The only thing to do is cling to the infuriatingly smooth rock. The wind is so strong that my hands slip and my body shifts a fraction closer to the edge.
The gust lessens once more.
“Go, go, go!” I scream, and everyone scrambles toward the opposite side. We only make it a few shuffles before the wind returns. I slip further, and even through the roar Jen’s shriek reaches my ears. We can’t continue like this for much longer, not if the gusts keep getting stronger. A flurry of movement dances in the corner of my eye, and I turn my head. My heart sinks.
Another boiling mass of air lauvan writhes in our direction, peppered with tiny white pebbles. At my strangled shout, Jen’s head turns. Her eyes widen, and I know what the pebbles are.
“Hailstorm!” she screams. She drops her head and covers her neck and face with her hands.
An instant after Jen’s warning, the hail hits hard enough to bruise. I wince and curl my body into a fetal position to reduce surface area, but the hail still smacks and smarts. My bare arms welt up with red patches from the onslaught.
What can I do? I wrack my brains, but nothing is coming to me. I could try to control the wind that surrounds us, but how can I do that when I can’t even stand up, let alone release my grip on the granite? I lift one hand feebly, but the air lauvan whip through my fingers and break the instant I try to grasp them.
A faint shout reaches my wind-deafened ears. Alejandro has lost his grip, and rolls toward the edge of the cliff, out of control, past the lauvan cable. My heart stops and I lunge out, heedless of the danger. I can’t let Alejandro slide to his death.
His wildly waving foot passes my outstretched hand, too far away for me to reach. I scramble toward the edge. Before I can grab him, Alejandro’s body jolts to a stop.
Wayne is stretched out on the granite, one hand firmly surrounding Alejandro’s wrist. Both their arms are patchy with red welts from the hail. Alejandro’s eyes are wide and he squeezes Wayne’s hand as they both roll closer to the wall.
The hail stops, but the wind remains.
“Keep going,” I yell, hoarse from shouting. “That’s the only way to end this.”
“Can’t you do something?” Cecil shouts back. “They said you had powers.”
I don’t bother answering, but he’s right. I’m overpowered and underprepared and I have no idea what I’m doing. I’ve led these people to the precipice, with no parachutes to pass out. My blood boils with the indignity of my failure, but I have no object to vent my frustrations on and no energy to spare from survival.
The lauvan cable lies next to Alejandro, a few shuffles away from me. I pull myself over the slab, feeling like a sloth on the ground. As I move I attempt to formulate a plan. What can I do with the cable?
The wind increases in intensity when I approach the dense mass of earth lauvan, but I find a good grip and plunge my other hand deep into the cable.
My closed eyes roll back with the sensation, but I mentally shake myself and pull out strands handful by handful. It’s difficult to reach Alejandro, but I manage to hook some of the earth lauvan to his shoulders. Alejandro’s hair begins to tousle gently instead of dancing in a frenzy. He opens his raw, streaming eyes in amazement.
There’s no time to communicate. I failed to attach myself first, and now I’m bowled sideways, rolled front over back until I hit another body and then the rock wall. I grab onto the person and discover Jen in the maelstrom. My eyes stream with tears from the blasts of ferocious air and her long hair flings against my arm in the chaos. She yanks my head toward her mouth with both hands.
“What do we do now?” she screams into my ear. A gust even more powerful than the hurricane we’re currently experiencing drags me a few feet away from Jen. I scramble back. What are our options? Harnessing the crazed air lauvan by hand is out of the question, and lighting incense is laughable. The lauvan cable can be a temporary reprieve, but we’ll never get off this plateau attached to it. What about Bethany’s spell?
“Festina, o Zephyre,” I say as clearly as I can. My words are whipped away from me as soon as they are spoken. “Irascare, Auster dirus!”
“What are you doing?” Jen yells. I slip a little further and Wayne’s hand tightens like a vise on my ankle.
“Spell. Latin. It worked before. Consurge, o ventus Boreas! Fles violenter, Eurus currens!” I pour my whole concentration into the words, willing them to help. I’m out of ideas and out of my depth, high in the sky.
I can hardly see out of my streaming eyes, but is the wind lessening from a hurricane to a gale? Is it my imagination? Jen presses her ear to my mouth and listens intently to my chanting. On the second repeat, she chants the Latin along with me.
“Festina, o Zephyre…”
The two voices in tandem accomplish far more than a single voice alone. The wind lessens considerably, enough that we can stand up, albeit still leaning into the wind. The others look to me. I wave them forward impatiently while Jen and I continue to chant.
Alejandro and Wayne reach the trees with Jen not far behind when one more gust appears in a writhing silver cloud, heading straight at me. I have no time for a defense and the power of the gust knocks me off my feet. I roll uncontrollably to the edge of the cliff, which is too close at this point. Jen’s screaming faintly reaches my ears over the roar of the wind.
My body jolts and comes to a halt. My shoulder wrenches at an uncomfortable angle from a firm grip on my forearm.
“Up, Merry. We’ve got to get into the trees.”
Cecil, you’re full of surprises. I stagger to my feet and follow his lead, back to the shelter of the forest where the others wait anxiously.
Jen gives me a swift hug then turns to Cecil.
“That was so brave.”
Cecil shrugs nonchalantly, but his lauvan wriggle happily. I put a hand on his shoulder.
“Thank you, Cecil. I am in your debt.” I look at our path, and am pleased to see copious amounts of fresh gray lauvan. “I think we’re close. Come on, everyone, follow me.”
I break into a jog, intensely eager to find Drew and finish this battle, face him man on man. I’m tired of dealing with his spirit emissary. I’m the one who’s supposed to have the otherworldly advantage, dammit.
CHAPTER XIX
In the end, it’s too easy to find Drew. His lauvan peel off him in clouds, like a shedding dog. He hides behind a tree with a view of the plateau, presumably to better witness my demise. Tough luck, Mr. Mordecai.
When he spots our grim-faced group, he takes off in a sprint. Wind swirls frenetically through the fir boughs, directionless.
“There’s nowhere to run, Drew Mordecai. Stop and face me like a man.”
Drew stops and turns with clear reluctance at the edge of a steep precipice. His eyes dart among us. I’m reminded of a wolverine I cornered, a century ago. It took me hours to heal myself from the wounds.
“Well?” I demand. “No words to defend yourself?”
Alejandro shifts beside me. Drew backs up a step.
“I had to take you out.” Drew’s voice is raspy. “You stopped the eruption, stopped our plans. I couldn�
�t let that happen.”
I put my hand on my chin in a mock show of consideration.
“You couldn’t have, I don’t know, talked to me? Before trying to kill me? Or worse, those around me?”
“You’re too powerful. You even saw the air cluster in your apartment—that was a test, that’s when I knew the volcano wasn’t a fluke. I have the spirit within me, so I can do Potestas’ dirty work.”
Drew stands a little straighter at his own words.
“I have the spirit within me,” he repeats.
I ignore his posturing. He’s feeling in control again, but I want a few answers first.
“How did you find Alejandro?”
“The spirit has many powers. It was simple—I only needed something of his, that ticket stub was perfect—and the spirit twisted his aura to act as a tracking device.”
“The same as Anna put on me.”
My voice is calm, measured, firm. Drew is twitchy and nervous, but when he glances at the swaying tree branches his shoulders relax. Alejandro steps forward and lays a hand on my shoulder.
“Merlo, let me. Please.”
I look at him in surprise, but nod and step aside. Perhaps Alejandro is more diplomatic than I am and can talk Drew down before he attacks again. I would strike first, but I’d rather avoid a fight here so there are no innocent casualties. Still, I’d like some insurance against Drew escaping, so I catch Wayne’s eye and jerk my head ever-so-slightly. He understands immediately, and slides sideways into the trees. To cover him, I cross my arms and pace noisily behind Alejandro. Drew’s eyes track my movements.
“Drew, I know you think you have to kill Merry Lytton to keep your spirit with you. It must be very difficult without the spirit.”
“Difficult?” Drew laughs incredulously. “You have no idea. I can’t go back to that life. This is my only chance. And I can’t have him screw it up.” He points accusingly at me with a shaking finger, and I narrow my eyes. Alejandro continues to speak in a soothing tone.
“You don’t have to kill him. We can talk about this reasonably, come to an agreement. You don’t need to become a murderer.”
Alejandro’s earnest gaze bores into Drew, who stares at him with indecision. I hold my breath. Will Alejandro’s silver tongue win Drew over? If it doesn’t, what do I intend to do with him? Decisions are so much easier in hot-blooded battle than in rational diplomacy. Peace talks were never my forte.
Drew wavers, unsure. A flash of Wayne’s black T-shirt appears in the trees behind Drew. Good.
“Come on, Drew,” Alejandro says softly. “It doesn’t have to be like this.”
A heartbeat, two, three…
“There is no other way,” Drew spits out, his voice harsh. “Merry Lytton must die. Why am I bothering to talk to you, anyway? I have so much power on my side. You really have no idea.” He lifts his arms and tilts his head with closed eyes.
“Now, Wayne!” I shout. Wayne bursts from the trees like a wild boar, and with a mighty yell he tackles the slight Drew to the forest floor.
But Drew has already called upon his spirit. Wind funnels through the trees, breaking branches and tossing fir cones like tiny missiles through the air. I stagger with the force, then charge toward Drew. Wayne has him pinned, but a gust full of fir needles smacks Wayne in the face and he releases Drew involuntarily with a curse. Drew stumbles up and streaks past me. My arm snaps out and snatches a handful of his lauvan. I let go when a huge branch swings toward me and I leap sideways just in time.
I twist in midair to right myself on contact with the ground. My eyes follow Drew’s path. Alejandro and Cecil both charge toward Drew as one, but before they reach him, a dense mass of air lauvan descends from the forest canopy. It splits into two and each ball streaks toward Drew’s attackers. My strangled cry comes too late.
They don’t even know what hits them until they are walloped with the force of a speeding car. They both fly through the air with identical expressions of surprise and pain on their faces. Alejandro smacks against the trunk of a large fir and collapses on the ground. Cecil lands on moss, but rolls over and over before he stops against a fern-covered rock.
Drew turns to me with a wild light in his eyes.
“Are you ready to die, Merry Lytton?”
“Are you ready to kill, Drew Mordecai? It’s both easier and harder than it looks. And I’m more resilient than most.”
“I’ll take that as a challenge.” Drew raises his hands. The air lauvan that usually intertwine with his own now stream out from his fingertips. They plunge toward me as Drew speaks. “I think you’re full of hot air. A little more should do the trick.”
I attempt a barrier of my own lauvan in the moment before the air lauvan arrive, but the strands dart through mine with ease. They enter my nose and mouth and fill my lungs with a breath I didn’t intend to take. At once, my chest feels uncomfortably warm, then hot.
Hot air, indeed. Drew’s spirit is cooking me from the inside out.
The burning sensation quickly overwhelms me, but I try to hold onto rational thought. This is a fight against air. Bethany would suggest to harness the air lauvan myself, but I pull at the lauvan in my mouth without effect. All right, what would Braulio say? The opposite of air is earth. I can’t shove rocks down my windpipe…
Or can I? My lungs gasp involuntarily, but I can’t expel the burning air. I scramble in the dirt at my feet and scoop a handful of fine dust from the path. Drew’s raucous laughter is easy to ignore when my whole being is focused on my burning chest. I close my eyes, throw the dust into the air in front of my face, and breathe in deeply.
I immediately cough as the dust particles irritate my lungs beyond measure, but I don’t waste time. I grab any strands I can reach in my mouth, air and earth both, and pull. Whereas before, the spirit-driven air lauvan simply broke between my fingers, now both air and earth threads travel up my throat and bring hot particles of dust out with them. As I hoped, the dust of the earth soaked up heat from the air.
When the burning lessens, I cough up the fine red dust then charge Drew without warning. He staggers backward with a look of panic, and I bowl him over and yank at handfuls of his lauvan. He howls with pain. My fingers close around his neck. Drew’s eyes widen in fear.
Silver lauvan spiral up my wrists. Pulses of sharp pain stab deeply into my forearms and I release Drew with a curse. Drew pushes me off and scrambles up and away. He laughs wildly and runs in Jen’s direction—she must have been separated from the others in the chaos. She is near the edge of the precipice.
Drew barrels by, barely noticing her in his haste to escape. Jen—brave, daring girl—grabs his arm. He flails wildly, then lowers his shoulder to Jen’s chest and checks her.
Time slows. Jen’s shocked eyes and open mouth hang, suspended, for too long, yet I can’t make my sluggish limbs move fast enough. Her body flies in an arc over the edge.
Jen’s scream echoes through the billowing wind until it cuts off, abruptly and completely. My heart drops to my stomach, then rage fills my skull until I can hardly see. I charge toward Drew, heedless of dust devils and falling branches that litter my path. Drew scrambles to get away from my advance. His pitiful efforts are fruitless—I catch up as he attempts to climb over an ancient fallen fir. With a flying leap, I throw my arms around him and we roll to a stop. He wriggles madly but I press my knee into his chest and he wheezes. I punch him hard in the face, once, and he is stunned enough to stop batting at me with his arms.
One hand wears a silver ring with a small insignia of an arrow. I can only just make it out through the thick air lauvan that cling to it. I rip the ring off Drew and fling it aside where it tumbles into the undergrowth, lost. The silver lauvan intertwined with Drew’s own wriggle out and twist into the open air, where they join the dying breezes.
Drew stirs. Hate washes over me, and I want to hurt him. Not for attacking me—I can handle myself. Indeed, it was almost refreshing to have a worthy opponent. But for pushing Jen, that I can’
t forgive. Small amounts of silver air lauvan drift in and out of Drew’s mouth, as they do for everyone. I grasp them in my fist and begin to pull.
Drew’s eyes flutter open and he coughs, hacks, tries to draw breath. When it’s clear he can’t, his hands fly to his throat. I pull the silver threads out of his lungs slowly, inexorably. Our eyes meet, and in that moment, he finally knows who he’s dealing with. Then his eyes roll back and he slumps limply to the ground.
I stand and sigh, then turn to where Alejandro and Wayne watch me warily.
“We need to get Jen,” I say. “Come on. Drew’s not going anywhere soon.”
***
There is no path to the base of the cliff, but we manage to scramble over rocks and past gnarled roots that protrude from the hillside. Jen lies in a small clearing at the bottom of the precipice, its sheer wall looming over her slight body. She’s on her side, not moving, with Cecil kneeling beside her. He grasps her hands and speaks quietly near her face. Is she alive? My heart jumps with hope. If she’s alive, not all is lost. I leap to Cecil’s side.
Jen’s eyes, previously locked on Cecil, roll slowly to my face. She is so pale, and her shoulders shudder slightly.
“Jen. You’ll be all right. I’ll do my best to make it so.”
“Merry.” Jen’s voice is small, wandering. “I can’t feel my legs, Merry.” She looks surprised to hear her own words, and panic simmers under the surface of her stunned calm. “I can’t, I can’t—”
“Jen.” I smooth her hair away from her face. “Deep breaths. One,” I breath in. “Two. And again.” She follows my lead. “You trusted me before, now believe me when I say I can help. All right? I will do everything in my power.”
She doesn’t speak again, just stares at me with her big brown eyes wide. She’s on the edge, but breathing deeply as I told her to. I turn to Cecil.
“Keep her calm. I’m going to examine her.”
“So, what, you’re a doctor now?” Cecil snaps.
“Jen needs you, Cecil. Help her.”
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