Storm Born Read online

  What the hell?!

  Declan shifted on his feet and I looked up at him. The smug bully I’d seen before was gone, replaced with an angry brute that didn’t look pleased about a little girl landing a hit against him.

  “So you do know a couple tricks.” His grin was murderous, which made the situation even more terrifying, because I didn’t know what he was talking about. “They won’t be enough, Ginger.”

  He was right. They weren’t.

  Declan pushed out his hands again. Blasts of air hit me like fists, battering the sides of my body and crushing the air from my lungs. He held me in place with one hand, then reached out to the side. I watched him flick his wrist, spinning it into a circle.

  Then I watched the debris from the building on my left pitch and spiral, rising upward and turning into a funnel.

  A tornado made of shrapnel.

  Declan grinned his dark grin, winked at me, and swept the tornado in my direction. The whirlwind of shattered brick and serrated metal spun in a blurring cycle, churning violently and creeping out of the ruins. My hair was thrown away from the sides of my face as it drew closer, kicking aside garbage and slicing apart the raindrops around it.

  I couldn’t move, trapped in whatever invisible barrier Declan had crushed around me. I couldn’t ask Hadrian for help when he was fighting two warriors with swords and serious animosity toward him. I was on my own.

  But what the hell was I going to do?

  I scrabbled for some kind of idea– I need to move– tried to remember how the rainwater bent to protect me. Had I done that? I didn’t know for sure, but the bad guys seemed to think I had some kind of power, so I didn’t see the harm in trying something outlandish and insane.

  Plus, I was desperate.

  I couldn’t move my hands, so I concentrated on the tornado shifting toward me. I thought about stopping it, holding it in place, turning it around, anything–

  Frost snaked across the ground like a streak of lightning. It crept under the shrapnel tornado and gathered at the peak. The frost interwove with the spinning shrapnel, freezing over the pieces until the stony grey particles became frosted white.

  Declan bellowed again, thrusting out his hand to push the icy whirlwind at me. He concentrated so completely on the tornado that his hold on me loosened. I staggered from the released pressure, almost losing my balance.

  Strong arms circled me. A hard chest pressed to my back. I opened my mouth to scream.

  “Trust me,” Hadrian said in my ear.

  It was all he had time to say. The tornado shot toward us like a bullet, shattering out of Declan’s control. Razor sharp debris exploded outward, a scattershot mess of metal and brick that would slice and batter us.

  Hadrian kept his arms around me, still holding onto his swords, then pivoted so his back was to the explosion. The temperature around me dropped. His arms froze my chest. I looked down. The blades of his pale silver swords were glowing with white, frosty light. The frost swept over the ground and encased it, crawling into the air like spider-webbed glass.

  He was cocooning us in ice.

  I just didn’t know if he would be fast enough.

  Ice crunched and groaned behind me. The debris was hitting the frosty wall. Hadrian suddenly jerked and tightened his cold arms. His arms pushed against my bruised ribs, and a hiss of pain slipped from his teeth. He was hurt.

  He was pressed too close to my back for me to see his face, or the injury he’d taken. All I could do was look ahead.

  Turve and Ferno were still standing and scowling. Rage filled their faces. They wanted blood, and the ice wall was weak in front of us. They could have cut us down without any problem. Hadrian’s grip wasn’t loosening any time soon.

  But they were hesitating.

  Because I'm in front of Hadrian, and they want him dead. Not me. They want me for something else.

  I had no idea what that something else was, and didn’t want to find out.

  Shards of ice spat past us. The frosty light from the swords was getting weaker. Hadrian was shaking. He couldn’t protect us for much longer.

  Images of rainwater bending and shooting into Declan’s chest like darts rushed through my mind. Ghostly sensations prickled my skin when I recalled the thick, watery feeling in my veins.

  I was scared to ask, but I did anyway. “Do I have powers like him? Declan?”

  Hadrian’s breath was ragged in my ear. “Yes.”

  Adrenaline shot through my veins. I wasn’t entirely sure I believed it, but with Hadrian hurt and that group out there ready to kill him and capture me, I would play along for now.

  “Tell me what to do with them,” I said.

  He shuddered again. “You’re not ready.”

  I nudged him roughly with my elbow. “Bigger picture, Hadrian! Tell me what to do!”

  I didn’t think he would answer me. Around us, barrages of wind shoved wreckage onto the street. Bricks became wrecking balls. Strips of rebar were spears.

  Then he whispered, “Imagine the rain becoming hail. Use the energy of the storm around you.”

  If there was a lesson more confusing than that, I didn’t want to know what kind of class it was for. So I imagined it was make-believe, that I knew what I was doing with… whatever power I had.

  I closed my eyes and thought about the rain dousing us. Recalled its cool caress before Declan and his new pals showed up. Wished it were colder. Harder. That the raindrops were like chunks of broken glass, deadly and sharp.

  The air outside of the shield became frigid. My skin was covered in goose bumps, and my lungs were tight. The raindrops turned white, crystallized together until they were icicles.

  I narrowed my eyes and watched them fall. My heart was galloping in a body that felt too cold.

  In front of me, Turve and Ferno stood helplessly against the onslaught. Their arms were raised, protecting their faces but little else. The falling ice cut lines across their forearms and backs. I heard Declan yell behind me. He must have been enduring the same thing.

  Hadrian’s arms finally uncoiled from me. The ice wall fell away. He stepped back and turned me around.

  Rain had drenched his hair, shadows played across his face and danced in the shallow cut on his cheek. His eyes were electric, the dual blues shining like cold fire.

  “Take the shrapnel out.”

  Hadrian turned again and showed me his back. And the jagged piece of metal sticking out of his upper left shoulder blade. I winced, my eyes trailing down his back to his scabbard. Printed into the leather was a sigil, a broadsword pointed up amongst a torrent of rain. I gasped, the hail pounding the street around me. It was almost identical to the one I’d seen on the man who stabbed me.

  No, that one’s different. It was a sword cutting through waves, not raindrops–

  “Now, Ava!” Hadrian barked, bringing me out of the memory.

  I didn’t want to hurt him, but that shard couldn’t stay in his back. We weren’t out of the fight yet.

  I gritted my teeth and put one hand on the middle of his back. The other curled around the cold metal. I shoved his spine and pulled the shrapnel at the same time. Hadrian grunted and stumbled forward, released from the shard.

  “I’m sor–”

  He spun around, ignored me, and shoved his swords into the ground. Frost exploded from the tip of the blades, layering the road again to block us from Turve and Ferno. Then the frost hardened to ice, and another wall sprang up. This one covered in thorny icicles that stabbed out at the two warriors.

  They skidded to a stop to avoid being impaled, glaring murderously at Hadrian.

  Turve scowled and sliced his blades together. Metal shrieked against metal, and a crush of wind batted into us. I slipped a little, but Hadrian kept his ground. He tightened his grip on his swords and pushed the wall closer to Turve.

  I didn’t see Ferno until I started looking for him. The blood-haired warrior was running to Hadrian’s open side, slicing his sword against a patch of unfrosted roa
d.

  Mud kicked up with it, and went straight into Hadrian’s eye.

  He yelled sharply, off balance and blind. Ferno ran with both swords held out.

  I spun and reached for the icicles again, wanting them to dart to Ferno as I’d done with the rain to Declan.

  It worked.

  The shards of hail twisted and slammed into Ferno’s chest like daggers. He skidded to a stop and howled in pain. The sound cut straight to my heart, and all I could see was the blood, the oozing trickles of it spilling past Ferno’s armor, made all the brighter from the melting ice coating his chest–

  Wind hammered around us, as if the very air had detonated. I was thrown from Hadrian’s side, landing close to the spiked wall of ice. I groaned, my entire body feeling like one cold bruise.

  I rolled onto my stomach and looked back, seeing Declan.

  His face was a twisted combination of malice and insanity. His fists were balled at his sides. On either side of him, the wreckage and refuse from the Centennial was pitching up in waves, tumbling through the air. Broken walls, doors, cracked furniture, more brick and metal, all of it hurtled through the street in a wild tumult.

  Like another hurricane.

  As terrifying as it was, that wasn’t what twisted the knife of fear into my heart. It was Declan’s eyes. The glow from the whites drowned out any color, turning him from a bully I knew into something inhuman.

  The glow reminded me of the Stormkind that had loomed over me weeks ago.

  A dark shadow slid across the ice toward me. Hadrian put one sword onto his back, gathered me in his arms and stood me up.

  His hand clasped– crushed– into mine. “This way!”

  He pulled me off the frost and toward the flying rubble. Toward debris that would cave in my skull if it didn’t take my head clean off.

  I planted my feet into the ground and dragged him to a stop. He spun on his heel, a flare of anger slicing across his face. His eyes lifted over my head, snapped left and right, then fell on me again. Hadrian gripped my arms firmly– but not painfully– and pierced me with his sturdy, glowing eyes.

  “You are tethered to me, Ava. You will be safe.”

  Hadrian’s voice left no room for argument. With that kind of determination, the only thing I could do was believe him. And hope for the best.

  He gripped my hand and dragged me through the wind to the hurtling debris. I was scared to look over my shoulder, not wanting to know how close Ferno and Turve were. The only person I managed to see was Declan, who stood stock still with his eyes glowing white and a flurry of broken housing tumbling past him. He looked like an empty vessel that was replaced by one of the Stormkind. Deadly and unnatural.

  Declan’s head turned ever so slightly, and while the glow in his eyes made him look blind, I knew he was looking at us. A shattered door dislodged from the pile ahead of us. It careened in our direction, spinning end over end. It was moving too fast for us to avoid it.

  Hadrian drew to a stop and snapped out his free hand. A flash of ice grew in place, quickly spreading into a thick blue shield about the size of his body. He grabbed me again and turned his back to the shield. The door slammed into the shield and shattered both. Pieces of ice and wood splinters showered around us.

  Hadrian never missed a stride. He found my hand and pulled me back into the windstorm. I heard Turve and Ferno shouting behind us, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

  Hadrian slid his second sword onto the scabbard across his back and lifted me onto the pile and settled me into a hollowed out area in the rubble. Once I was tightly squeezed in the space, he crawled over the opening and braced his hands on the brick. Frost drifted from his fingertips and webbed out behind him, forming another thick shield that covered most of the exit. Hadrian wedged it into the opening, then hovered only inches above me, staring straight down but not at me.

  “What’s going on?” I asked shakily.

  Hadrian lifted his eyes slightly, but didn’t meet my gaze. “They are trying to get him under control.”

  “How? What’s wrong with him? Why can he do what he did? Why are his eyes–”

  Hadrian finally looked at me. “Ava, it is taking considerable energy to keep this shield up. Save your questions for later.”

  I was torn between arguing and screaming until he gave in, but I decided staying safe and alive was the best option right now.

  Outside, the wind howled. Our shelter shivered. My heart kicked my ribcage, beating in time with the throbbing from my bruised ribs. I squeezed my eyes shut, breathed as steadily as I could, but calm refused to come. I was shaking as bad as the rubble around me.

  Even when I saw Hadrian’s shoulders relax, I still trembled. Lightning quick, he lowered himself enough to turn around. He touched the ice shield and let the frost break apart and creep backward into his arm. When his hands returned to their normal color, Hadrian peered out of the crevice. Rain and hail kept pouring from the sky.

  “Stay here,” Hadrian abruptly ordered without looking at me. He withdrew one of his swords and was climbing out of the hole before I could tell him there was no way I was hiding in here alone.

  Grimacing at the stitching pain in my side, I scurried up after him, slowing only when I reached the top. I poked my head out, looking for a safe spot to take cover. Hadrian hadn’t crawled far, so I found him first. He glared at me, then shook his head. I took that as a sign it was safe enough for me to come out, so I carefully made my way over to his side.

  I had just nestled beside him when I heard the screams.

  “No! Get away from me!”

  Declan’s voice echoed through the street, his rage echoing through the empty street. The commotion had probably scared anyone outside back indoors, so I didn’t think we’d be seen yet. I hoped no one had been hurt.

  Focusing on the scene up ahead, I pulled my head up and watched him shove both Ferno and Turve. Neither warrior had their blades drawn anymore, and they approached Declan like he was a feral lion. The creepy light remained in his eyes, scraps of broken homes swirling around him, pushed by the wild wind.

  “It is too soon,” Turve soothed, walking closer. Trying to cage him in, like Declan was an animal and not a human being. “You are not ready yet. You must be further trained–”

  He stepped too close. Declan suddenly roared and shoved the warrior’s shoulders. The wind carried his momentum, throwing Turve thirty feet back.

  Hadrian grunted scornfully. “Amateurs,” I heard him mutter.

  Another uncontrollable shudder wracked through me.

  Ferno sprang, jumping on Declan’s back and tackling him to the ground. Ruined houses pitched up in a cresting wave before dropping straight back down. The two men thrashed and rolled on the ground, trying to throw each other off. I didn’t know who had the upper hand until Ferno pinned Declan onto his stomach and slammed a punch into the back of his head. Declan went still, and the wind stopped.

  The rain and hail didn’t.

  “Primes,” spat Turve, marching back to Ferno as he pulled a length of twine from his belt and wrapped it around Declan’s wrists. “Why did he have to get chosen?”

  “I do not know,” replied Ferno, not looking up, “but the choice was never in our hands.”

  “No,” Turve growled. “If it were, things would have been different.”

  Ferno quickly finished binding Declan’s wrists and stood up. Because of the sleety storm, they had to shout to each other, which was the only reason we heard them.

  “They will be. All four of them are still being tested.”

  Turve scoffed at that. “We have only found two of them, and one of them happens to be Hadrian’s charge. The other could be meant for the Precips as well.”

  “We will find the others. And as for Hadrian’s charge… Let us be realistic, Turve. Fortune has never smiled upon Hadrian’s charges.”

  Beside me, Hadrian stiffened. I glanced at him, but he didn’t seem to notice me at all. I turned my attention back to th
e street and the conversation the strange warriors were having.

  Both of them were looking up at the tumultuous sky.

  “She is powerful, is she not?” Turve remarked.

  “Truly. You should have witnessed her as she endured the trials. Quite impressive, for a human. Though she did scream for an annoyingly long time.”

  I started shaking again. The dream I had wasn’t a dream at all.

  It was a memory.

  Ferno had been there, at my torture.

  He thought my reaction to the crushing agony he and his boss put me through was annoying.

  The rain and hail continued their onslaught. Hadrian ducked his head and nudged me with his elbow. I barely felt it. I didn’t give him a second look. My eyes were riveted ahead to where the warriors were picking up Declan’s prone form.

  “Should we find her?” asked Turve.

  “Not yet. We need to get out of sight before the humans see us. We’ll find the other one after we bring this nuisance,” he nudged Declan’s bound, prone form with his boot, “back to base. Besides,” I couldn’t see much of Ferno’s face through the heavy rain, peppering hail, and drenched snow, but I heard the smile in his voice. “She’s Hadrian’s problem now.”

  They laughed together. I shrank down until I could no longer see them. The sound was lost in the downpour. We stayed crouched there for what seemed like an eternity. Hadrian looked at me. I processed everything they said. I was still shaking.

  “They have gone,” he told me over the storm. “You can relax.”

  The magic word. The one thing I wanted to be right now. The only thing I’d dreamed about since the Centennial.

  The suggestion made me snap.

  I whipped my head at Hadrian. “Relax? Did you just tell me to relax?!”

  His steely blue gaze locked on mine. “You need to stop the storm, Ava.”

  I gaped at him, then shoved to my knees. “How?! I’m not doing this!” I waved at the rainstorm falling around me.

  The sheets of water swayed with my arms. Small pieces of hail spiraled past me. Hadrian pinched his eyebrows together impatiently, a look that said, Really?

  It would have been funny, if I weren’t having a panic attack.