The strongest of the circles, the two I trained with, stood on the platform at the top of the stairs, waiting for the chance to elevate me back into my own body.
One of the Shades gave instructions in how to detain Sarah once she was returned to the cave.
We started chanting.
Above it all I could hear Sarah, "Now they're all acting up. Let's take care of Micah; then we can fix this little problem together."
The power of Shawn's circle increased exponentially, and the ground rolled up around Micah in waves. He could barely hold on. One misstep and he would be burned alive.
It had to be too much for him, watching me and Shawn hold hands, working together against him. He too, had seen my nightmare. Even though we kept it close as a warning, every step we had taken since then was the exact right move that got us to this point.
I chanted louder, encouraging the rest to put everything they had into it.
"Shut up, shut up!" I could hear Sarah yelling.
"Sarah? Are you still there – is everything ok?" Shawn’s voice was worried. She was losing it.
I began to take control again; little pieces of the real world came through to me, then shot away as Sarah resisted. But I was getting through, and each time I managed to stay a little bit longer. I focused on the wall around Shawn. Micah was right; it was thick, impenetrable. There were several flattened bullets lying just outside; Alex had been taking shots when he could. It was difficult to comprehend; I could see weaves of all four elements, but it was too hard to distinguish where just one began or ended. They were working as one, melding into the perfect armor.
"Enough!" Sarah shouted, pushing me back down into the cave once again. "I'm going to put an end to this right now." She reached into the blanket, still fastened around me like a cape, and withdrew the athame. A smile lit up her face; I could feel my lips cracking as they were stretched impossibly wide, as she slowly lowered the knife to my stomach.
"No!" The cry was so loud, it echoed through my little cave, and throughout the valley. I realized, with sudden clarity, that it wasn't an echo. It was my cry combined with Micah's, but also Shawn's.
Sarah looked at him in shock. "Losing the baby would break her. It's the only way to ensure she doesn't come back. Don't worry, baby, you can heal the scars later."
"It's not that, Sarah." Shawn stumbled. "The baby…it might be mine."
Sarah's eyes widened even further, and he corrected himself, "Ours. The baby could be ours. Yours and mine. You will finish carrying it and we could raise it together, just like we always talked about."
"You…and her?" She took a step away from him, holding the knife in front of her.
"No. It wasn't like that. It was…"
"Rape," I answered. I managed to sneak in for a split second, just in time to get out that word.
"What?" Shawn frowned; he didn't know who was speaking.
Sarah was back now. "You raped her? Why? We had a plan. Even if I couldn't carry it out – something like
that
was never part of it."
"It wasn't necessarily like that," Shawn said.
"Necessarily? Tell me, Shawn - did you enjoy it? The feel of another women? Did she give you something me and my limp leg never could?" Sarah practically shook with anger.
Quickly I started relaying instructions to my circles. "…and after you do that, if she comes down do not detain her. Leave her loose."
They hummed in confusion.
"Do it. I'm going to need her. Okay, get ready. Here we go."
The elevation this time was rapid. Quicker than it ever had been before. And the takeover was easy. Sarah didn't fight it.
I blinked, adjusting to my body.
Shawn was still trying to talk Sarah down. As soon as I felt the Shades pulling apart the weaves of his shield, I rushed forward. I still held the athame Sarah pulled out. The hole was still forming, and it was small. It was a lot for the Shades to handle such an intricate and difficult weave, especially since they hadn't seen how it was accomplished.
I would have to be exact. One step, a lunge, and I thrust my hand out, through the hole, and into Shawn's stomach. I would have preferred his chest, but the angle was too awkward, and I'm not sure I had enough force to make it through, especially not without Micah's shield.
Right before the knife entered his body, I felt a surge of power. The final thrust incapacitated Shawn instantly. I knew it was Sarah. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. It was just a matter of putting that scorn to good use.
Inside, the Shades understood what happened, and immediately moved to block Sarah should she change her mind or do anything else.
Shawn and I collapsed together on the ground. The hilt of the knife dug into my side and inevitably pushed the blade further into him.
I clutched my side; it hurt but no skin was broken. To make matters worse, my back was acting up again. The pain there was arching around my sides and to my front, sending cramps all throughout my lower stomach, intense enough to blur my vision.
I pushed myself to my feet, and was face to face with Vayu. He peered into my eyes. There was no fooling him; Sarah was gone and I was back. Immediately I made a net in front of him, pushing it toward him and wrapping it around. He managed to unravel it quickly. Before he could completely finish the job, I called the rolling ground from Micah and sent it toward Vayu. The Shades inside were helping; their magic flowed freely through my hands.
Vayu looked in fear at the wave of earth barreling toward him, and it got us both. We went flying. I slammed into a fire element. Grabbing a knife from my blanket, I shoved it into his throat before he could react. I threw another at a fire elemental, charging me. The earth elementals were busy battling the still rolling ground. I heard Alex's rounds whizzing by me. One caught a fire elemental as he threw a small fireball my way. I managed to duck under it, but it singed my hair. I looked back at Alex, still shooting and running down the hill toward me. He left several dead guards behind, but plenty more were chasing him. Things were not looking up for our small team.
I felt the water Shades inside of me joining their power with Susan. The wall of water appeared in a flash, looming over the valley.
The cleansing effect of the tsunami took us all out. By the time I made it back on my feet, I could spot several people out at sea, pulled away by the water. I searched frantically for Micah and Alex. They coughed and sputtered, luckily still with us. Unfortunately, so were Vayu, Shawn, and three other elementals. The knife still protruded from Shawn’s stomach, blood leaking out to replace what had been washed away. He gurgled, conscious, but he wasn't going anywhere.
With most of his army carried away, his shield was down. I reached out for earth again, and the ground rolled and pitched at my beckoning. But before it could affect Shawn, Vayu and the three remaining elementals joined powers and formed a protective circle around him.
Twin tornados, identical in size and intensity, formed on either side of the valley. They sucked in snow, ice and rock from the island, turning them an eerie silver color, shining almost unnaturally. Ice and rock shot out from each tornado, making deadly missiles.
"Look familiar?" Vayu yelled at me.
I furrowed my brow in confusion, trying to imagine what he was talking about…until a certain newspaper clipping I kept hidden in a box under my bed came to mind. It was a tornado that had taken my parent’s life; the tragic story of a couple gone, and the daughter they left behind. It was a freak storm. Two twisters merged to form a super tornado; a whirlwind force that took everything in its path, including my parents.
"It was too easy, catching them by surprise like that." Vayu turned back to study his fabrications. He began to direct them together.
I stared at the creation that killed my parents, and worse, the man that created them.
"They were on to us, working to take apart the organization while it was barely in its planning stages. They knew too much. Had to go."
I looked at Shawn. He moved his lips as if to speak, then leaned forward, toward me, but pain won him over. He grimaced and fell back onto the ground, curling around the weapon Sarah and I shoved into him.
Micah
, I called telepathically,
I need you
.
Alex and Micah ran to join me.
"Shoot him!" I shouted at Alex. He was taking aim before the words were out of my mouth, but the wind elemental was faster. Alex went flying back, caught up in a vortex of wind; his sniper rifle flew off in another direction.
Vayu conjured more wind, making it difficult for Micah and me to stay upright.
"Kaitlyn!" Micah yelled, his voice barely discernible above the wind tunnel.
I shook my head to indicate I didn't understand. He made a circling motion with his hands. Finally, his words got through to me, "Create your own circle!"
Susan was north, Cato south. I nodded and immediately ran for the east side of the valley – Micah ran west. Using their magic, with the help of the Shades inside me, I could create my own circle. We had the entire battlefield covered.
I stopped, turned and raised my hands. My flows joined with Micah, and then we reached out to Susan. Thankfully, she was quick on the uptake. The Shades help was fading noticeably. I was too far from the athame. But they did their best to compensate fire for Micah. Next, the three of us sought a connection to Cato. Hopefully he was conscious.
He was less than conscious. He wasn't even there.
Found and Lost
Our flows wavered in confusion. The circle was not complete. I lowered my arms and looked at our enemy. Vayu, understanding what happened, smiled in triumph. Our last chance failed.
Another round of cramping had me holding my sides in distress. The wind still raged all around us; whipping my hair in front of my face, making it difficult to see, but something caught my eye. Cato, half-crawling, half-dragging himself toward Vayu and Shawn. He had made his way into the valley undetected until now.
Vayu started to direct the wind to overtake Cato, but the old man was obviously no threat. Micah and Alex started toward Cato.
No – let him
. I directed my thoughts toward Micah and he put one arm up to stop Alex as well.
Why?
Micah asked.
Shawn is his son.
His birth son.
With our telepathic communication, I was hoping Shawn could hear, like he could on the Galapagos.
He heard. Shawn lifted himself up on one elbow, grimaced, looked at me, then to Cato. With his slow crawl, Cato finally made his way to Shawn.
Cato began fiddling with the blanket I had left; still wrapped around him. I took a few steps closer but Vayu blocked my path with his strongest winds. I eased off. I wasn't looking to attack with Cato in the thick of the enemy.
Cato chewed a bit of the blanket, mixed it with dirt and began applying it to Shawn's wound. Cato was healing him.
As soon as Micah and Alex realized what was happening, they rushed in. But Vayu was on top of his game. They flew back, well clear of the group.
Micah reached out to me mentally.
We have no chance
.
I looked at Shawn. Cato withdrew the knife. Shawn grunted in pain. A small, half-smile lit his face. He had heard Micah too and knew he was right.