Authors: Amy Braun
Vitae and Zephys were in front of us, fighting the Mistrals wildly. Zephys had both blades in his hands, slashing them at Ferno and Turve. His torso snapped back and forth as he kept them both at bay, knocking swords away from his chest, stomach, and head. The Mistral warriors were enraged, and kicked him when their sword-strikes failed. Zephys jerked from each hit, but never slowed down and never stopped fighting. I didn’t know if he was a better fighter than Hadrian, but he was still damn good.
Behind him, Vitae battled Mortis. He’d grabbed Declan from where he lay and clamped his hand on the back of his neck. Declan was slumped, possibly unconscious, yet Mortis was still holding him with one hand and using his gifts with the other.
Rapid, pummeling winds billowed toward Vitae. She raised her hands and pushed back, bending the water and hardening it midair, freezing the rain until it resembled broken glass. Mortis gripped Declan’s neck tighter and swung his hand up, hurtling the ice shards away. With a flick of his wrist, mud broke out of the ice and split into tiny particles. The mud launched at Vitae and she cried out in pain as the hardened mud struck her like a flurry of wasps.
Panic filled my chest as I watched them both fight. Hadrian kept carrying me, and then I saw another slumped form in danger.
I grabbed his arm and pulled. “Piper! Take me to her!”
“It is too dangerous out in the–”
I looked at him desperately. “Take me!”
Hadrian hesitated, then changed his direction from the school to my best friend. He carefully set me down so I could crawl next to her. I put my hands against her neck, grateful for the pulse I felt under her skin.
I felt the heat of her life force teasing my fingertips, but shoved the desire away. This was Piper. My best friend. I would never hurt her. I
wouldn’t.
“Ava, you must get to safety.”
“Not without her.”
“Ava–”
“She’s like me, Hadrian!”
That gave him pause. He glanced at Piper, then at me. Hadrian cupped the back of my neck and brought his face dangerously close to mine. My breath hitched, and I was suddenly consumed by the intensity of his eyes and his cool, saltwater scent.
The heat of his life force was even more tempting than Piper’s, and much harder to ignore.
“You must keep away from the fight,” he instructed. “We don’t know how to combine your tether with your Stormkind senses yet. I felt you pull on the tether. It told me where you were, but it weakened me. It is a shared bond, Ava. That is why it took me so long to find you.”
Melancholy slashed through his eyes and into my chest. “I didn’t–”
His hurt disappeared. “I will send Zephys to guard you.”
He got to his feet and sprinted to the fight without another word. I watched him, fear coiling around my heart. How much strength had I taken from Hadrian? He didn’t look weak, certainly wasn’t running like he was tired, but what about his abilities? Would he be able to use them if he needed to?
Was it even worth using the tether if I weakened us both each time?
I had to trust that Hadrian could take care of himself. Besides, he was right. I couldn’t trust myself to fight with all the energy roaring through the air, and inside of me. I could still feel the coolness of Hadrian’s tether, but the pulsing energy I’d felt when I touched Declan was still there. I had no idea what it was or what it could do, and I couldn’t find out unless I wanted to risk going Stormkind on everyone I saw.
Hadrian raced for
Zephys, Ferno, and Turve, but I was horrified that he wouldn’t make it in time. Zephys was still matching strike for strike, but even I could see he was growing tired.
He kicked Ferno in the stomach and brought both his swords around his body to stop Turve from slicing his head off. Metal shrieked as they split off. Turve started moving fast, the tempest-blades becoming blurs of liquid silver. Zephys could only block.
He had no idea Ferno was still behind him, both swords poised directly at the Precips spine and throat.
But Hadrian did.
His swords were still tucked in their scabbards, and instead of drawing them, he held out his hands. Frost consumed them, the rain condensing and hardening into a thick spear of ice. Hadrian spun his wrist, and the massive icicle responded. It pitched end over end, crashing into Ferno and splintering into a million pieces. Ferno staggered and turned, Hadrian’s boot catching him in the chest.
Never missing a beat, Hadrian drew one of his tempest-blades, slid beside Zephys, and caught one of Turve’s swords, the one that had been about to chop at his friend’s throat. Hadrian knocked the blade aside and slammed a kick into Turve’s ribs. The stocky Guardian jerked, unprepared when Hadrian leaped forward and smashed his elbow into Turve’s head.
With both opponents stunned, Hadrian quickly whirled to face Zephys. He shouted briefly, the only words I could make out being “protect her.”
Zephys hesitated, but Hadrian didn’t give him any space. His sword collided with Turve’s, his free hand swinging vicious punches into any space he could find. Ribs, stomach, chest, face, Hadrian had no preference. I wanted to warn him that Ferno was still there, but I didn’t have to. As he spun around Turve, he swung up his free hand. Slivers of ice rose from the ground and punched into Ferno, halting his charge and drawing an outraged scream from him.
I didn’t know Zephys had arrived until he knelt down next to us. He didn’t act like he was in a lot of pain, but I knew he was hurting. I also knew from the grim shade of his hazel-blue eyes that he didn’t want to be here playing bodyguard. He wanted to be back in the fight.
I wanted the same thing.
“
What happened to her?” Zephys asked, glancing at Piper and reaching to touch her face.
“
I’m not really sure,” I said through the tightness in my chest. “Mortis said she was like me, but she doesn’t have a Guardian–”
Zephys’s fingertips brushed Piper’s cheek for an instant. Then he gasped and drew them back, staring at her with wide-eyes. Piper hissed in pain and groaned, though her eyes remained shut. My heart squeezed and I clutched her hand.
“
She does now,” Zephys remarked, though his eyes didn’t move from my best friend’s face.
I looked at him, unease and relief sliding together. I was glad that Piper’s Guardian was a Precip, and I trusted Zephys, but I didn’t want her to be like me. It meant nothing but danger for her.
A yelp of pain captured my attention. I raised my head and watched Vitae crashed into the ground. Mortis encircled her in a tornado of mud, so thick I could hardly see her. Bits of debris or rock flew inward and struck her. She tried to dispel it with rain, but the muck was too thick. She couldn’t see anything, and the tornado was closing in.
So was Mortis.
He released Declan and drew one tempest-blade over his shoulder. Declan collapsed, but Mortis gave him a second glance. He walked straight toward the tornado, ready to drive the blade through it– and her.
“
Vitae!” I shouted.
She couldn’t hear me. But someone else did.
Hadrian risked a glance at his leader. He saw what was going to happen, and he erupted into action.
Moving faster than ever, my Guardian swung a wide roundhouse kick into Turve’s temple, snapped another kick into Ferno’s chin, and sheathed his swords. Hadrian’s hand frosted over and he curved it like he was holding a whip. As his arm moved, the rain around him crystallized into ice. By the time his arm was in front of his chest, the rain was sharpened darts of ice. A dozen of them shot directly at Mortis’s throat and face.
The attack drew attention away from Vitae, but not one of the darts found a home in Mortis’s face. Instead, the leader of the Mistrals pivoted on his heel and slammed out his hand. The ice-darts exploded into a billion shards. They’d never even gotten close to him.
It didn’t stop Hadrian. While the darts flew, he’d been running full tilt toward Mortis. He drew both tempest-blades from over his shoulders. His face was terrifying. I had never seen someone so hell-bent on destruction. Hadrian looked like a monster, a scowling demon finally freed from the pits of Hell, hungry for flesh and thirsty for blood.
Mortis let his hands fall to his side. Other than that, he didn’t move.
Hadrian shouted a war-cry and hurled one of his tempest-blades at Mortis. Quicker than I could register, Mortis twisted and avoided the blade.
Mortis kept turning, swinging his blade at Hadrian. My Guardian pulled to a stop just in time to block the sword aimed at his throat. Mortis took the offensive, slashing and swinging without pause. Hadrian matched him strike for strike, but that was all he could do. He was so intent on cutting Mortis he didn’t notice the way his opponent’s free hand drifted over the bottom of the ground. The way the mud shifted and steadily rose.
He was drawing Hadrian into a trap.
One that Ferno and Turve were waiting to jump into.
“Zephys–” I said.
“I see them.” But he didn’t move. He was taking his oath to protect us seriously.
Screw it
, I thought.
I’m not bound to any oath. I can control the weather, and I’ll watch how much energy I use so I don’t devour any life force. I can do this.
With a grunt, I pushed to my feet. It was way harder than it should have been.
“Distract Ferno and Turve. Get Vitae. I’ll take care of the rest.”
He looked at me. “Ava, you do not know your limits, and I promised Hadrian–”
“Just do it, Zephys!” I hissed. It covered up the strain in my voice.
He hesitated, but nodded. Time wasn’t a luxury we had right now. Declan was lying incapacitated on the ground, just as Piper was, but I was still awake. If luck took my side for once, I could end this here and now.
Zephys stormed toward Vitae’s crumpled form. Ferno and Turve noticed him and worked together, with Ferno dragging mud up from the road and Turve pushing a wall of it toward Zephys. The Precip made it to his leader, roughly grabbing her shoulders and pulling her up. Vitae looked weak, her entire body slathered with mud.
But she didn’t stay that way for long. As soon as she was roused, Zephys was on his feet and drawing on the rain. Vitae scrambled up, planted her feet, and waited until Zephys’s attack launched past her to block the two Mistrals. The funnel of rain that Zephys threw crashed into the mud wall. Vitae drew her hands together. The rain that hit the wall hardened the mud, freezing it in its tracks. She pushed again, and the whole frozen-mud wall skidded back into Ferno and Turve. Zephys wrapped his arm around Vitae and started to haul her back. Now that she was turned to me, I could see the blood staining her face and body, like a thousand blisters had erupted on her skin.
Zephys shouted for Hadrian, but his friend didn’t listen. He was still locked in deadly combat with Mortis. The fight was more violent than before.
Hadrian pushed on relentlessly, catching Mortis’ tempest-blade and swinging his arm around to fling it from his grasp. It worked, but Mortis wasn’t fazed. He kicked Hadrian hard in the stomach, bending him double. As Hadrian recovered, Mortis unsheathed his other blade from the scabbard on his back and slammed it down at Hadrian’s head.
Hadrian moved quickly, bringing his sword up and stopping the attack. Metal screamed against metal, and I had never been so relieved that tempest-blades couldn’t be broken.
Though that didn’t mean bodies were safe.
Mortis kicked Hadrian in the ribs. The impact jarred my Guardian and his resistance against the blade slipped. Mortis drove his knee into Hadrian’s stomach, then pounded both his elbows into his back. He twisted and slammed his boot against the right side of Hadrian’s ribcage. He lost his footing and landed on the ground on his back.
Hadrian swung his sword at Mortis in an effort to wound his leg. The Mistral leader kicked it down and pinned his arm. Hadrian tried to rise again, but soon a boot was on his throat, and he was trapped.
As I watched with horror, I felt the energy around me– from the struggle Vitae and Zephys were enduring against Ferno and Turve, to the crumpled forms of Declan and Piper, to the restrained control of Mortis, to the fragile tether with Hadrian.
I could feel it all now, and I knew the only way to help my Guardians was to unleash it.
While I centered myself and prepared to grab the energy swirling around me, I heard Mortis’s voice carry over the sounds of battle.
“Impatient and inferior. Just as Sonus was. I always knew you would take after him. You are not even half the Guardian he was.” Mortis pressed harder on Hadrian’s neck. “At least he could keep his charges alive.”
I felt the weather and the air sweeping over me, and the rough energy coating my tether. I gripped them both, and then I let go.
I screamed and felt my body rip apart. The pressure in my body erupted like a volcano, fierce and merciless. A huge gale crested behind me. The energy was everywhere, snared by the power I was wielding. The pain was unrelenting, but the feeling of complete control and undiluted power was even stronger. And far more welcome. I felt that if I pushed hard enough, I could take it all.