Authors: Amy Braun
But that would make me a liar. I had already lost my family. I didn’t know what Hadrian would think of me now. I could only guess at how Piper had been changed. The last thing I wanted right now was to feel alone.
“
You believe you have more than one gift?” Vitae asked tentatively.
I nodded without looking up, still trying to catch my breath and steady my racing heart.
I closed my eyes and sighed. I didn’t want it to be true. I wanted to tell her that I only had one “gift,” and it was the one that tethered me to Hadrian.
But not wanting to admit the extent of my damage would only make it worse.
So I nodded. “When I touched Declan, I felt something in him push into me. It was like I was taking the wind into my body.”
Vitae’s eyes sharpened. She leaned forward. “You felt his power go into you? The same way you felt Hadrian’s?”
I took a breath to tell her it was different than that, except it wasn’t. The more I thought about the jolt that connected me to Hadrian, the more it reminded me of the powerful shock Declan shoved into me.
“It wasn’t cold but,” I nodded. “Yeah. It was kind of like that.”
Vitae continued staring at me, her jaw clenched. Her fingers gripped her knees tightly. Now I was the one who felt awkward. It seemed like she was restraining something. Part of me didn’t want to know what she was thinking, but if she was looking at me like a secret was about to burst past her lips, I felt I had a right to know what it was. It was
my
life that was being turned on its head, after all.
Just as I started to ask her what she thought had happened to me, a drop of wetness splatted onto my head. Confused, I looked up. Water began to steadily drip from the ceiling.
Vitae’s eyebrows creased and her lips were pulled down in a frown. “Strange. The water has never leaked before.”
Said leakage was continuing to dribble on me. Because of course it was. I had been clean and comfortable. My recent adventures had been getting in the way of maintaining that status.
When I heard the pipes groan beyond the ceiling, I knew it was time to move. I tossed the blankets aside and swept off the bed. Not a moment too soon, either. There was a crack of metal, a crunch from the roof, and the hiss of water spitting from the destroyed fire sprinklers.
I was a bit unsteady on my legs because I’d been laying down too long, but Vitae was on her feet and running out of the door. I followed her as quickly as I could, more water spraying wildly from the busted sprinklers. I clung to the walls and shuffled my feet so I wouldn’t trip.
It wasn’t long until I started hearing the screams.
My heart stuttered at the sound of them, convinced that there was some kind of attack and we were caught in the middle of it again. But as I entered the main cell block, I realized the screams weren’t cries of pain or fear.
They were screams of anger.
“I said get away from me!”
I turned around the corner and watched Piper shove her hands against Zephys’s chest. He held out his palms, showing that he was unarmed, though I spotted coiled tension in his hazel-blue eyes.
“You must relax–” he called through the rain.
“Relax? Did you just tell me to
relax
? How am I supposed to
relax
when I can do this?”
Piper lifted one of her hands toward the sprinklers. Water pooled and collected into a swirling ball in her hand, a sphere of water that looked more like cracked glass. She shouted wordlessly and dropped her wrist. The ball of water crashed into the floor and splashed Zephys. He pushed his hands down, keeping the water from spraying him in the face.
“Normal people aren’t supposed to do that kind of thing!”
Zephys was trying to do his job, act as Piper’s Guardian and tell her the truth, but he knew nothing about my best friend. She was strong, but she wasn’t like Vitae. She listened to gentle truths better than harsh ones.
Which is why Zephys said the worst possible thing he could say when he responded with, “You are not normal any longer.”
Damn damn damn!
I scurried into the prison block as horror swam across Piper’s drenched face. She screamed again and charged Zephys. She needed something tangible that she could rail against, and he wasn’t going to hurt her.
The moment she touched him, her eyes started to glow.
Oh no.
I ran faster than ever, my heels threatening to give way under me. Piper’s eyes were wide and wild as she grabbed Zephys’s forearms and lunged in like she was going for the world’s boldest kiss.
That was when Hadrian appeared, slipping up from the sidelines and standing in front of me like a brick wall. I hadn’t even known he was there. His hands found my shoulders and held me in place. He made it more than clear that I wasn’t getting past him without a fight.
“You must stay back, Ava,” he said, void of all the emotion I’d seen from him earlier. He was almost robotic now. “It is not safe.”
I glared and balled my fists. I was really not in the mood for this, or him. “I must not do a damn thing you say,” I mocked. “Move.”
Hadrian stood in place.
“Move or I’ll make you move. I think we both know I can do it now.”
Empowering blue eyes burned dual holes in me as I waited for him to call my bluff. Angry as I was for how he’d yelled at me, for calling me a damn monster, I wouldn’t hurt Hadrian. I didn’t know what we were to each other, but I wanted to move past our spat. If only to believe that I wasn’t exactly what he thought I was.
Water soaked his hair and snaked down his face. He was as striking as ever, but I was becoming better at resisting him. I gripped his wrists and pulled his hands from my shoulders, then hurried around him. Zephys was keeping Piper away from him, but she wasn’t giving up. She attacked him wildly, hunger in her glowing eyes. Water hammered down in thick drops from the broken pipes. We were all soaked.
Again.
I was totally spending some time in the desert after this.
In the background, I watched Vitae inch closer, a silent hunter approaching her cornered prey. I waved my hands at her, telling her not to attack Piper. I could handle this. Piper couldn’t see me yet.
Darting forward, I nudged Zephys away and grabbed Piper’s wrists–
A wave crashed into my chest, nearly knocking me from my feet. Cold water flooded my veins, filling them like engorged tubes. It swelled in my lungs and slipped into my skull, making my brain feel like it was floating on a gently moving river.
I gasped and pushed Piper away. I couldn’t be around her, or anyone else right now. I felt the hunger gnawing at my insides. The desire to devour anything tangible. I recognized this sensation. The way it consumed me when I tried to devour Hadrian, and when I nearly went for Piper.
I closed my eyes and bent double, my stomach swimming with nausea. I wrapped a hand around my middle and groaned. The floor wasn’t supposed to be spinning, was it?
When I opened my eyes, I could see Hadrian moving toward my side. I held out my hand to halt him.
“I’m okay,” I mumbled. “Just stay back.”
I don’t want to hurt you.
Pain cramped my stomach and I winced.
“Ava?”
“One second, Piper.”
Silence fell over the cell block, disrupted only by the sprinklers overhead. I couldn’t feel the energy in the air the way I could when I was inside, but I could feel the hot, inviting pulses of life from the people surrounding me. So much, so close, all I had to do was trick them, get them closer…
Hadrian, get everyone to back up to the walls.
“All of you, back up,” Hadrian growled.
The heat became distant, stretching farther away. A portion of my mind roared in protest. I pinched my eyes shut and tried to block out the pain.
I am here, Ava
. Hadrian’s voice was a soothing balm to the ache in my head.
No matter what happens or what we say, I will be here.
Something like regret filled his voice. Was it for the things he’d said to me, the things I’d said to him, or was I indulging in another wishful fantasy?
Doesn’t matter
, I told myself
. Block it out. Nobody can stop this but you.
I concentrated on regulating my breathing, just as I had done in yoga with Piper or when James had an asthma attack and we couldn’t reach his inhaler yet. In, hold, out. In, hold, out. After a few seconds, the pain began to subside, and I could no longer feel the heat pulling me toward my best friend and the Guardians.
The flow of water fizzled out, probably shut off by one of the Guardians. As soon as the water was gone, the ache in my belly started to ease. There was no aggression or elements I could misuse. The water on the floor was still there, but it was thin. I couldn’t do much with it, even if I wanted to.
And even if I could, I didn’t want to think about the damage I could cause.
I straightened up slowly, fighting the vertigo that sloshed through my head. Hadrian started toward me, then pulled back at the last minute. Things hadn’t diffused between us, and probably wouldn’t for a while. He didn’t seem to know if he should touch me. That shouldn’t have stung as much as it did.
Piper didn’t have any such reservations. My best friend barreled into me, crushing me into her arms. She trembled and sobbed.
“Oh my God, Ava, what happened to us?”
I curled my arms around her back, for her comfort as much as mine. “Did Zephys explain it to you?”
“Yeah,” she whimpered. “But I don’t understand it. How do we get rid of it?”
“I don’t know. But you can trust these people. They’ll keep us safe. I know they will.”
She whimpered again, then composed herself and let me go.
My eyes slid in Hadrian’s direction, though I stopped them before they reached his face. I was still weak from the transfer when I’d touched Piper. I was glad I had been able to do it without going crazy and trying to eat her. Becoming a soul-sucking cannibal was a good way to ruin a friendship.
“Ava,” Vitae’s voice finally cut through the silence. “Did you absorb your friend’s power?”
I turned my head to the leader of the Precips. Her eyes were wide, her expression torn between awe and horror.
“Um,” I started guiltily. “I think so. It wasn’t as strong, but… it felt the same.”
Vitae’s mouth closed firmly, but the shock in her eyes remained.
“It is clear to me that your training must continue. Piper’s must begin. She must learn to control her gift, but Ava, you must learn your limits. Until we understand how you can draw and contain our gifts, you must know how far we can push them.”
“Vitae–” Hadrian started.
His leader held up her hand. “It is not negotiable, Hadrian. You have managed to rid us of two Mistral guards, but the three that remain are the most dangerous.”
I glanced at my Guardian, and could practically see his molars grinding together. Nevertheless, he nodded briskly.
“It is best that we take our rest now. I will begin first watch. Zephys, ensure the comfort of your charge. Hadrian, do the same for yours.”
Zephys moved past me toward Piper. He reached for her arm, but she recoiled like he was a snake. Hurt crossed the Guardian’s eyes. I swear he even pouted a little. Piper glanced at me. I nodded once, a silent confirmation that she could trust him.
Piper relaxed enough to let Zephys escort her out of the cell block. I would try to find her later and catch her up on everything.
Swift movement passed behind me as my best friend disappeared down the hall. I spun around to see Hadrian confronting Vitae. He was taller than her by almost a foot, but she didn’t look weak or small when she gazed up at him.
“I want to know everything,” he whispered, thinking I couldn’t hear him.
Vitae didn’t blink. “Then do not ask me.”
Casting me a final glance, Vitae nodded respectfully and walked down the opposite end of the hall, heading for the front door.
Leaving me alone with Hadrian.
The cell block didn’t seem so big anymore.
He took a hesitant step toward me, confidence growing every time his foot touched solid ground. He stopped just a foot away, gazing down at me. I curled my arms around myself. It was a reaction that must have made me appear weak in his eyes, but I couldn’t control it. I was scared, not just of the things that were happening around me, the confusion and chaos.
I was afraid of what I was starting to become.
“Will you tell me what you and Vitae discussed?” he asked tightly.