I watch in a daze as it picks up a giant boulder and hurls it at the mountain.
Half the rock face crumbles away.
Holy.
Freaking.
c.r.a.p.
"What are you doing?" Gus snaps as I grab my wind spike and line up my aim.
"I"m getting rid of that-whatever that is." I test my swing, feeling dizzy when I realize I"m about to kill something.
But it"s not a person.
It"s . . . well . . . I don"t know what the h.e.l.l it is, but it"s not human or sylph-that"s for sure.
It"s a force for death and evil and nothing else-and I"m not going to let Raiden use it.
"Wait," Gus says, grabbing my elbow and stopping me midthrow.
"We don"t have time to wait, Gus. Think of what that thing could do if it gets out of this valley."
"Yeah, but you can"t give away our location and use up one of our only weapons until we have my father and are ready to get out of here."
I hate him for being right.
And I have to find Audra, too.
But we have to be quick because I have a feeling Raiden didn"t just bring his new toy for Show and Tell. We have to destroy it before it"s too late.
"You won"t be able to find him," Gus tells me as I close my eyes and search the air. "Feng"s trace is completely gone."
Audra"s is too.
All the winds have vanished-and our bond has faded too much for me to follow.
But there has to be a way to find her.
I force myself to focus, begging my instincts to guide me as I stretch out my hands and search with every ounce of concentration I have. My brain feels like it"s going to explode, but the pain is worth it when a warm itch p.r.i.c.kles my palm, telling me there"s a Westerly somewhere on the other side of the basin.
I try to call it to me, but the stubborn wind won"t budge, almost like someone else is controlling it.
Could that be Audra?
Sweat drips down my face as I try to lock on to the draft"s location, but all I can tell is that the pull is coming from one of the narrow cracks in the badlands.
"Where are you going?" Gus asks as I make a break for the nearest clump of rocks.
"There"s someone down there in one of those crevices." "Do you think it"s my dad?"
I hate myself for forgetting all about Feng. "I don"t know. I can"t even tell which crevice it"s coming from."
"Well then, let"s check them all-but we better move quick." We both glance back to the giant storm thing, which is flinging more rocks at the mountains.
Gus draws his wind spike and races toward the next outcropping. But halfway there I freeze.
I saw something move in one of the crevices, but it was too quick to tell what it was.
I squint into the shadows and it moves again-and this time I catch a glimpse of dark hair and pale skin.
My elation lasts about .0004 of a second. Then Audra steps out onto a narrow ledge in the middle of the mountain, standing in full view of the Stormers as she raises a special wind spike and hurtles it at Raiden"s beastly Storm.
CHAPTER 24.AUDRA.
T.
hrowing that wind spike was the hardest thing I"ve ever done.
I know Vane would rather die than serve as a mindless mercenary for Raiden-but as I watch the pale blue spear streak through the sky, I can"t make myself run away like I"d planned. The dark patterns in the Living Storm look so much like eyes, watching me as I end him forever-and the ache of my bond still remains in my chest.
What if there"s a small part of Vane left?
"Divert!" I scream in Westerly, holding my breath until the spike alters course. It misses Vane by inches, whisking by his head and landing on the ground a few feet away.
Right at Raiden"s feet.
"Come!" I hiss at the spike, and it zips to my waiting hand. For a second Raiden and I just stare at each other, his fury obvious even from this far away.
But I can also see his hunger.
He knows the power I have.
And he wants it.
"There are two ways we can do this," Raiden shouts up at me as his Stormers turn to him, awaiting his order. "We both have our tricks." He calls the Living Storm to his side. "But I also have my army. And you?"
He waits, like he"s expecting a fleet of Gales to pop out of the shadows.
"That"s what I thought. So you can surrender now. Or we can see which one of us has the stronger weapon-though I get the impression you don"t really want to destroy this." He runs his hand along the funnel of the Living Storm, his voice heavy with mock sympathy as he asks, "Was he a friend?"
I aim my spike at Raiden"s head.
"Suit yourself," he says as his Stormers launch into the mountains above me, trapping me in the canyon.
Raiden snarls a command I can"t understand, and I feel my insides drop as the Living Storm swells to three times its already enormous size, looming over the valley in a tower of shadow and wind.
I duck back into the crevice I"d scaled and slide down the sides, grateful my Westerly shield protects my skin from shredding against the sharp rocks. As soon as I"m back on the ground, I race for the Maelstrom, hoping the hungry, swirling drafts will shield me from the Living Storm long enough to come up with a plan. But I make it only a few feet before an arm of thunderous wind tangles around me and drags me back to the open air.
"Don"t do this, Vane," I scream as I stare into the raging winds, trying to find the shadows that looked like eyes a few minutes before.
All I see is a cold, frenzied Storm.
The fist tightens, crushing the breath out of me, and I try to pull my wind spike free but I can"t breathe and the pain is so sharp, like all the bones in my body are splintering from the pressure.
Light flashes behind my eyes and I feel my consciousness start to slip. But in the gray s.p.a.ce between nightmare and darkness I see a blur of deep blue streak past me and crash into the shoulder of the Storm.
The winds howl and writhe and twist as a shadowy gray fog seeps out of the Living Storm"s wound, making the air taste salty. I gag as I wriggle free from its weakened grip-realizing my mistake when I drop like a broken-winged bird and there are no winds to float on or call to my aid.
I brace for impact, but at the last second my Westerly shield surges, coating me in a thick sh.e.l.l of air that absorbs the bulk of the crash.
The Living Storm"s giant fist hurtles toward me and I scramble to my feet seconds before it crushes where I"d been lying. I stumble toward my lost wind spike, but the Storm grabs my legs and I have to cling to cracked ground with all the strength I have left.
My hands are starting to slip when a blur of blond hair charges toward me and slashes through the wrist of the Storm with a spear of deep blue.
The Storm"s arm crumbles into a thick gray fog that makes it impossible to see as its roar of pain shakes me down to the deepest parts of my essence.
I fight my way through the flying debris as the Storm howls again and more fog explodes around me.
Before I can take another step, a streak of blue shoots past me, slicing through the thickest ma.s.s of fog. The sickening gray mist parts for the briefest second and I get a glimpse of the blond warrior as he raises his spike and launches it for the Storm"s head.
"No!" I scream-but it"s too late.
The spike hits its mark and the world explodes.
The choking cloud turns everything black as the earth shakes and rocks rain down and a high-pitched squeal sears into my brain. I know I need to run, move, breathe. But I can"t.
The Storm is gone.
Vane is gone.
Strong hands grab me from behind, shocking me with tiny sparks when they spin me around.
"Hey, calm down," a familiar voice tells me as I kick and thrash and fight to break free. "It"s me."
I freeze, squinting through the fog to stare into a face that"s every bit as perfect as it is impossible.
"Vane?" My knees give out and I collapse into the warm arms that shouldn"t be here, soaking up the electric tingles I wasn"t supposed to feel again. "You"re dead."
"I am?"
He takes my face in his hands and tilts my chin up, forcing me to look into his eyes-vivid and blue even in all this darkness and chaos.
I don"t know if this a dream or a delusion-but I know what I want to use it for. I pull his face down to mine and kiss him with every ounce of the love and longing that I"ve held on to all these weeks.
He tastes sweeter than I remember, and the heat between us is more intense, surging through me like a desert storm as I part his lips and kiss him deeper. His sparks burn on my tongue as I let the last parts of myself pa.s.s to him-sharing everything. Making him mine.
This is all I want, and if somehow I get to live this dream instead of having it ripped away, I"m never letting go. Never letting fear come between us again.
I hear another explosion and Vane"s hands slide to my shoulders and push me gently away.
We both gasp for breath and I shake with a giddy laugh.
He"s still here.
Still warm and beautiful and- "We"re in a c.r.a.pload of trouble-you do realize that, right?" he asks me.
I force my eyes away from his face and realize the fog has cleared enough to show the chaos and destruction all around us.
"I know, I"ll explain later," Vane says to someone behind me, and I spin around to face the blond warrior, who I realize is a Gale I vaguely remember from my days in training.
"Looks like I get three for the price of one," Raiden calls, his deep voice echoing around the canyon.
I glance up and find Stormers crouched in the cliffs all around us, holding wind spikes aimed perfectly at our heads. Every possible path is blocked-even the entrance to the Maelstrom-and the air is filled with nothing but scratchy, broken drafts.
Raiden stands between two of his Stormers on the highest foothill, his stance oozing calm and confidence as he studies the three of us.
"I"d surrender now, if I were you," he warns.
Vane raises his wind spike as Gus sweeps his hair back and hands me the weapon I"d lost. He has another, darker blue spike clutched in his fist.
"You got any ideas?" Vane asks him.
He wipes away the blood that"s streaking down his face from a cut near his eye. "Yeah. We fight."
CHAPTER 25.VANE.
A.
huge part of my brain wants to celebrate the fact that AUDRA JUST KISSED ME!!!!!!! But this is so not the time. "I"m being very generous with my patience," Raiden calls as the Stormers in the cliffs test their aim. "I"d prefer to bring all three of you with me-but I really only need one. So put aside your weapons, lie down on the sand, and spare yourself unnecessary losses."
"Or you could put down those pathetic things you call wind spikes," Gus shouts back, holding out the spike I made him so the sunlight shines along the sharp edges, "and spare me from having to pick you off one by one."
I grab his arm and pull him closer to Audra and me. "It"s probably not a good idea to p.i.s.s off the guy who could shout a kill order any second."
Gus wriggles out of my grip. "He"s not going to kill us. He saw what I just did to his beastly Storm thing-he"ll be careful until he sees how powerful we are. And p.i.s.sing him off is the best way to get him to tell me where my dad is. People get sloppy when they"re angry."
"Your dad?" Audra interrupts.
Just the sound of her voice makes my heart all race-y. Dude-focus!
"The Stormers took him this morning," I tell her, surprised at how long ago that feels. "That"s how we found this place. We followed their trail."
"How long have you been here?" Gus asks Audra. "Did you see where they brought him?"
"I did," Audra whispers, turning very pale.
Gus grabs her arm. "What? Where is he?"