Windswept (The Airborne Saga) (34 page)

             
“Except it didn’t work. I didn’t die!” Mason snapped.

             
“You didn’t. And we couldn’t act until you were. That was unfortunate.” Stern clicked his tongue. The Guard took a tiny step forward. Heart nearly thundering out of her chest, Avery turned to face them. Back to back with Mason now, she held her hands up as if the Willow magic would do anything. It only made her world fuzzy around the edges. How long until her knees gave out from under her? It couldn’t be much longer now. The elephant that sat on her chest hadn’t lightened. The adrenaline that kept her heart pumping ran out by the second.

             
“And this is exactly why I told Patrick to get rid of that bloody girl.” Avery went cold, knowing that Stern referred to her, but she didn’t turn to face him. He wasn’t speaking to her anyways. Stern kept on. “I knew she would be there to get in our way. A Prince can’t watch his own back all the time. And Mason, so trusting where she is not. Perhaps she is the better harpie. Or the better half. She killed Mikhail. And yet she herself is almost impossible to kill. Patrick failed so many times, but I won’t. You see, I’m not afraid of you, or of your magic anymore.”

             
“Mason!” Avery yelped for him, back slamming harder into his. The Guard had stirred from their concrete postings to a lineup that could have come from a football play. The loyalists in the corner began yipping loudly, waiting for the first move. Their weapons were shaken in the air, but it wouldn’t be enough. The Guard didn’t even spare a glance that way. They were no theat.

             
“Though I hold the human in no high regard, she was correct about one thing,” Stern said above the escalation of noise in the background. “You shouldn’t have come here. And you should have run when you had the chance.”

Twenty Six

              Stern didn’t even have to say a word. The Guard followed some unspoken command and dove forward. Everything happened in a flash. The rowdy group of loyalists reacted in the next split second and intercepted the Guard’s intended target. The harpies clashed in the middle. During the explosion of feathers and screeching, Avery hit the ground. The commotion insane, she couldn’t tell friend from foe. Actually, the figures overhead looked more like flashes of light than people anymore. The more she blinked her eyes, the less she saw. Avery rolled onto her knees and looked for Mason. She found him when she felt a wave of the Willow magic nauseate her to the core. He threw a blast at the Guard, but like her, it only worked at a fraction of its old power.

             
Driven by the need to help him, she struggled back to her feet. Mason stumbled back and the two collided, arms grasping and holding each other up right. The battle ended quickly. The loyalists stood no match for the professional soldiers. The deafening screeches pierced the room and crimson blood sprinkled down. They stood in the middle of a massacre. If Mason thought the same thing she did, he acted on it first. Grabbing her arm, he rushed them for the door. But two Guard members beat them there. Mason backpedaled as they slid to a stop. The Guard didn’t lash out at them. They slipped outside and in seconds, the doors slammed shut with a thunderous boom. The whole ground shook and Avery slipped from her feet again. Mason’s grasp on her arm tightened until it hurt as he tore her back upright. Forced to whirl again, they faced the fight. But the fight had ended. The loyalists fell in heaps to the ground. The Guard remained standing.

             
“Don’t move,” Mason commanded but she knew there was no reason he should have such confidence in his voice.

             
He stood frozen just like her. The next move belonged to the Guard. It belonged to Stern. At this moment, whether they knew it or not, Mason and Avery were entirely at their mercy. Avery shifted first, even with Mason’s tight grip on her, and moved to slip in front of him. She could feel the resistance in his grip, but she didn’t allow him to stop her. Fear was all they had now. And they should be afraid of Avery.

             
“Stop,” Avery said as firmly as she could muster. Her voice still seemed hoarse but that was a result of the Willow magic’s deterioration more than anything else. “You come close, I’ll zap you all to hell.”

             
Stern took a few steps to clear the fallen harpies. His eyes scanned over them without sympathy. A grimace twitched at his face. The now closed room reeked of smoke and metallic blood. It must have nauseated him too because Avery felt like it would make her pass out already.

             
“I know,” Stern said when he’d settled himself across the room. “But I have a gift for you. Please, send them in.”

             
Mason’s grip tightened as Avery glanced backwards. A momentary slit opened in the door but closed before they had the chance to make a break for it. Two people entered slowly. Avery had to double take. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but this wasn’t it. Skipping over the rubble left from the battle was the tiny girl from the market who Avery had met not long ago. She held the hand of the doctor. The two walked in, eyes down, as if nothing stood amiss.

             
“What’s this?” Avery demanded. Her knees rattled.

             
Stern held his hand out when the two stopped.

             
“Come here, Lily,” he invited the girl. She glanced up and gave him a bright smile through the curls that dangled in her face. Skipping quickly, she hurried to him.

             
“Councilman Stern, what are all the people doing on the floor?”

             
Stern gave a smile in return, but it looked more like a grimace. He took her hand and brought her forward. “Just playing dear. Now I’m sure you know Ms. Avery.”

             
The little girl glanced between them. For the first time, it appeared that the oblivious happiness started to slip. Her round cheeks dropped with a frown and her brown eyes danced around the room a second time. Maybe she smelled it now, the smoke, the blood, or the bitter tang of fear. She scrambled to hold Stern tighter, but he kept her at bay.

             
“What’s wrong?”

             
“Why’d you bring her here?” Avery seconded the question. Somewhere deep down, an ugly feeling told her she already knew. Avery tore her hand away from Mason. His attempt to resist was ceased when the Guard took a single step forward. Avery walked forward on her own. All eyes remained on her. She was probably being stupid. But then she was the one dying anyways.

             
“Why’d you bring me here, Councilman Stern?” The girl asked again but this time it went unheard.

             
“Guard, please grab Avery now,” Stern said.

             
The Guard mobilized immediately. Mason screamed somewhere in the background but Avery didn’t fight. Stern’s hand rested the girl was an unspoken warning. Struggle and she’d die. A true harpie may not have cared, but Avery did. And Avery may have been on death’s doorstep where the little girl wasn’t.

Her muscles had officially locked up
in fear, it didn’t take much for the Guard to hoist her body weight. Their claws tore at her but the sharp pains didn’t hold her attention. On her way back, the fluorescents blinded her and her eyes burned. The harpies dropped her to the ground and propped her up from behind. The world swirled. Avery remained only aware of a few things. Mason screamed her name somewhere in the background, but it sounded utterly surreal. Before her now stood the doctor and the faceless members of the Guard on all sides.

             
Her heart fluttered in her chest, and she let out a gasping moan. Unable to fight back, she slumped but the harpies kept her from falling forward. Avery suddenly didn’t know how much longer she had left. She had been near death only once before and couldn’t describe the sensation as anything particularly memorable. She only remembered that it seemed her world was escaping her. But Avery held on longer this time. She stayed aware when the doctor used a tentative hand to open her mouth. He pushed a vile to her lips and tipped the thick liquid down her throat. Avery gagged on it, finally able to jerk back. But she couldn’t spit it out. The stuff stuck to her lips and gums like glue.             

             
“Poison?” she managed to say over the gagging. The Guard released her and her hands hit the rough wooden floor. Vertical now, she gasped and spat.

             
“Not quite. We can’t just kill you or that Willow magic would jump from you to us. And that wouldn’t look too good in the public eye.”

             
A loud screech indicated that the Guard had fully shifted their attention to Mason. Not quite as foolish as she had been, he readied himself for a fight. But the Guard stopped an inch away and Avery shifted to fully face Stern.

             
“What?” She asked. Her voice had strengthened and some semblance of power returning to her being, she sat up on her own.

             
Stern opened his eyes in a grand gesture. “I’ve been having the Willow magic studied for a long time. And though I may have found no way to get it out of you, I have found a way to neutralize it.”

             
Her eyes flittered to the doctor’s. She couldn’t stop her mouth from dropping. Catching on, she was embarrassed she hadn’t seen it before. But then no one had. Avery twitched her fingers. The feeling in her nerves had returned. She took a breath and it flooded her lungs with the warm crispness. The doctor held her gaze for only a moment. That was long enough. Mason had sworn to her even through his attitude, the doctor was still one of Jericho’s biggest supporters and that Mason trusted him with his life. And he’d pulled a fast one.

             
“Come here, Avery.” Stern stepped forward as if he’d never expected her to move. The little girl was pushed to the side and with a squeak, she hurried into the corner. “I’ll end this pain for you now with my bare hands. You little human...”

             
He laid his hands on Avery. Avery didn’t have a second more to hesitate. Blood fueled with fire, she lashed upwards. Her hands smacked his hard and she dug her fingers into his wrist.

             
“Don’t mind me. But I’ve never tried this before.” She felt for the magic exactly as the doctor had told her—opposite of the Willow magic. And it manifested itself as such. Stern screeched in deafening agony. His body crippled backwards. Her shot at him summoned the Guard. She whirled with new found quickness and met the first Guard in the air. They jolted backwards. The magic didn’t manifest as powerfully as the Willow and it’d become clear in seconds. Stern had been rattled from the shock but not dead, and he hoisted himself up. While the Guard honed in on Avery, Mason tore free.

             
Avery blasted a Guard from the left, but he swiped at her making contact. She smacked the ground and skidded, avoiding another blow. But pain great, she gasped. Mason blew by her. He kept running straight onto Stern. The Guard grabbed him and tossed him roughly backwards. But it was too late. Mason had met his target.

             
Stern groaned and crumpled. Though his wound was unseen, his cries sounded loudly. A crack at the giant doors made the abruptly louder squeal. Avery glanced backwards. The council members had slipped through the gap.