Breaker (Ondine Quartet Book 4) (15 page)

Eventually, you have to decide who you are. You can’t be all things to all people.

I shook aside the echo of Julian’s words. “I’m sure you’ll be great.”

I meant it, too. Tristan believed in Dax for a reason.

He slanted me a look. “I might have believed that if you’d given me a better first assignment.”
 

“Mmmmh.”

“At least some action, Kendra.” He crossed his arms. “I graduated at the top of my class!”

“Good for you. That means you’re already a step ahead of everyone else.”

“By guarding a bunch of nixes at a cabin in the woods?” He scowled. “You know there’s another nix sneaking around —“

“Ray.” I nibbled on a crab cracker. “He’s part of your assignment, too.”

“Why does he keep following you around?”

I shrugged. “He’s harmless.”

Holden and the others hovered near the opposite end of the buffet table. His wary gaze flickered over to Dax every minute or so.

“And why does Holden keep giving me the side-eye?”

“Because he doesn’t trust you.”

“I’m protecting him!”

“You also gave Ian a hard time in your kingdom.” I took a bite of the tuna salad and hastily spit it back out into a napkin. Gross.
 

Dax shot me a knowing look. “Told you. Look, I still don’t understand why you’re going out of your way for them. I understand Ian’s your friend. But this group doesn’t mean anything to you.”

I coughed. “They’re an important asset.”

“If they’re so smart, why do they need our protection?”

“Holden kept his group alive for twelve years. He’s been on his own, avoiding gardinels, elementals, and Aquidae since he was eight years old.”

A muscle in his jaw tightened.

“He’s brilliant, cunning, and wants to help us win the war. I promised him my people would protect them with their lives. Of all the gardinels I could’ve selected for this job, I chose you because I trust you’re not going to make me a liar.”

He stared at me for a long moment. “Of course not.”

“Good.”
 

My stomach heaved and I put my plate down. Maybe the canapés had been sitting out for too long.
 

Energy swelled and rolled across my abdomen.

“You sure you didn’t eat too much of that tuna?” Dax peered at me. “You look a little pale.”

Something tugged at my stomach.

It was both familiar and different, like a scent your body instinctively remembered but your mind couldn’t quite place.
 

The sensation raced through me again.
 

Swell, roll, pull.

Dax’s hand fluttered over his lower torso.
 

“Do you feel it?” I asked sharply.

“What?”

“You touched your stomach.”

“Has Tristan ever told you how scarily intense you get?” he answered easily.
 

“Dax —“

“Relax. I just felt a little tingle.” He eyed the buffet table. “Probably indigestion.”

The sensation grew more insistent. This had nothing to do with spoiled mayonnaise.
 

“Kendra?”

I ignored him.

Instinct drew me through the intoxicated revelers and out on to the main road. A light wind whirled around me, the warm, sultry air grazing my skin in invitation.
 

The pull strengthened.

There.

The strongest pulse of energy came from the woods.

I slipped through the trees and followed its trail. Whispering branches swiftly muted the blaring music. The light from the fire and party faded, leaving behind only the soft trickle of moonlight.
 

Uneasiness grew with each step.
 

There were no Aquidae. Nothing to indicate something was wrong.

But I knew this energy. It was the same recognition I’d felt when Rhian teleported me.

Someone was using her Virtue.

Recognition finally clicked and one name reverberated through me with absolute certainty.
 

Nexa
.

What demandingly tugged at me was Empath laced with her magic signature.

Icy fear spiked in my gut.

I ran.

My feet flew over uneven undergrowth. Trunks whipped by, shadowy phantoms in the darkness.

The woods ended and I crested over a small hill. Below me, two figures stood in a clearing roughly the size of a soccer field.
 

Julian’s
kouperet
flashed. He protected Nexa, slicing his way through one Aquidae before carving into a second.

A third raced toward them from the north. I dashed down to meet him.
 

Moonlight cast shadows across the demon’s face, sharpening the feral violence reflected in his eyes.

I bent my knees and slid. Dirt and grass tore into my legs as I shifted my dagger to my left hand.

The Aquidae’s eyes widened.

I slashed the back of his thighs, ripping through hamstrings straight to the bone.

Black blood spattered across my torso. It roared and tumbled forward, outstretched hands landing a foot away from Nexa.
 

I leaped up, smashed my foot into its skull, and buried my blade into its Origin.

Nexa’s magic whipped through the air, tangling and knotting with mine. Our combined Virtues sharpened the world. Everything seemed brighter, clearer.
 

Julian yanked his blade out of the last Aquidae’s neck. We stood back-to-back, Nexa between us, our bodies tense and alert.

Stillness fell. My skin prickled.

The Shadow wouldn’t have sent only three.

“They’re coming,” Nexa whispered.

Where are you?

I closed my eyes and listened.
 

Moisture shifted and recoiled, a tumultuous upheaval as if a great disturbance plowed through it.
 

But it didn’t come from the air or clouds, from the canopied woods or the calm expanse of the ocean.

It came from beneath me.
 

A hand shot out of the ground.

Dirt clung to rigid fingers, curled like claws. I brought my blade down and sliced across the palm. It retreated back into the earth.
 

Another hand attached to a longer arm burst through. Julian’s
kouperet
flashed.
 

It was like a creepy game of whack-a-mole. For every hand we cut, another broke through the dirt.

“What the fuck?” Julian muttered.

We slowly retreated back toward the woods. The earth shifted and rumbled as if a deep displeasure brewed at its core.

“The underground tunnels,” Nexa said.
 

The hairs on the back of my neck stood.

Pop.
 

I swiped another hand reaching for my ankle. “What tunnels?”

Julian slung Nexa onto his back. Her tiny form clung to him, eyes shining like jewels in the night. I flicked the blood off my dagger.

They were coming faster.

Pop. Pop.

More hands punched through the earth, followed by arms, shoulders, heads.
 

“The bridge to Fontesceau was only built sixty years ago.” Nexa’s voice turned urgent. “Before that, elementals used underground tunnels to reach the island. They run beneath the ocean floor.”

“They weren’t on any of the maps,” Julian said sharply.

Haverleau’s maps also didn’t indicate the access trail behind the Academy. It didn’t mark the tunnels running beneath the Council Chamber that led out to the ocean.

The entire Selkie Kingdom and every ondine community in the world weren’t plotted on any map, either.

“Yeah, well. Maps suck, LeVeq.” I stomped on another hand, crushing the fingers attempting to grab my shoe.

We turned and raced through the woods. The ominous boom of crumbling earth thundered behind us.
 

With everyone scattered all over the island, evacuation wasn’t a perfect solution. But it was our best shot.

I yanked the receiver out. “This is the Governor. We have a breach. Initiate immediate evacuation protocols. If evacuation is not possible, seek shelter!”

We burst through the last row of trees and sprinted toward Fontesceau’s center. Air thickened as the Aquidae’s suffocating void began to seep into the air.
 

The earth churned, a violent turmoil of energy preparing to vomit forth an army of demons.
 

Sweat dripped down my face. The copper taste of adrenaline flooded my mouth.
 

Dax ran toward us, Holden, Ray and the other nixes a few feet behind him.

“Take her!”

Julian passed Nexa over to him and circled around to the homes. Shit. There were too many people here.
 

“What are you doing?” I motioned to Holden. “Get them out.”

Stubbornness settled across the young selkie’s face. “If Aquidae are here, I want to fight —“

“Dax.” I leaned in, my voice ice cold. “I gave you a job. I expect you to do it.”

He tensed. Damn it, I had no time for this.
 

“They’re coming!” Nexa snapped. “Let’s go!”

His mouth tightened, but he silently picked her up and took off toward the beach, the nixes by his side.
 

“Get inside!” Julian ordered.

Two demillirs and an ondine sat on the steps of a small beach house, a bottle of vodka between them. The demillirs stood, swaying slightly. Unfocused eyes watched us.
 

“What?”

Julian didn’t bother replying. He grabbed the front of their t-shirts and yanked.

“Hey —“

“What the fu—“

I grabbed the ondine by her arms.

Julian kicked open the front door and shoved the two demillirs inside. I threw the ondine in after them.
 

We closed the door, cutting off their protests. “Lock it if you don’t want to die!”

They shut up.

Shops and homes lined the main road before us. Lights flickered in a few windows, careless laughter and conversations dancing through the night air.

Oppressive magic pressed against my skin. They were close.
 

Not enough time to clear out every home. But we had to try.

Julian was already in motion. “I’ll take the left.”

I nodded and dashed to the house on the right. I shoved the door open and listened. A sound from upstairs.

I raced up and kicked open the closed bedroom door.

“Get out!”

“What the hell?” a demillir shouted.

The naked ondine beside him pulled up the sheet to cover herself. “Are you crazy? What are you doing in here —“

“We’re under attack. I don’t care if I have to drag your naked ass out on the street. Get to the bridge and get off Fontesceau.”

They moved pretty quickly after that.

I cleared out another five homes before Julian stopped me.

“Let’s go.”

I shook my head. “I want to see how he’s doing it.”

The Shadow had changed the way he attacked in Merbais. I needed to know if he was continuing that strategy.

Julian studied the buildings around us. His gaze landed on a three-story motel, one of the taller buildings on the street.
 

I nodded. Good vantage point, enough options for escape. We bolted up to the roof and watched the demons arrive.

Six dozen Aquidae streamed out of the woods. Ten demons, carrying unidentifiable packages under their arms, split off from the rest and veered toward the eastern shoreline.

Apprehension twisted my stomach. Why didn’t they head straight for the bridge?

The remaining group broke off into five groups and each entered a separate building with the meticulous precision of a tactical SWAT team.

Like the Merbais attack, their movements demonstrated an understanding of the community layout and a clear plan for destroying everyone in it.

A group of Aquidae entered our building. Time to go.

We shimmied down the fire escape along the west wall and landed in a narrow alley.
 

“Come on!” Julian yanked me forward and we darted down the road, exposed and visible.
 

The mass of dark energy shifted, concentrating on us.

Damn it.
Run faster.

A few doors opened, fearful eyes peeking through the cracks.

“Get inside!”

The screams behind us was proof they didn’t move fast enough.

Blood pounded against my ears. Legs and arms pistoned as hard as possible. The demons were gaining, a lethal wall of horror surging behind us.

Left. Right. Left.
 

We wove our way across the island until the glimmer of ocean cut through the night. A row of gardinels protected the bridge. Ahead, a few elemental stragglers ran toward them, their legs shaky with terror.

Almost there.

The line of gardinels charged, attempting to hold the Aquidae behind us.

Julian grabbed ahold of two crying ondines and pulled them toward the bridge.

A tremendous crack suddenly resounded through the air.

The churning ocean shot a wall of water and debris into the sky. Waves surged high up on to the shore.

The earth shook and I stumbled, landing on my knees in the wet sand. Julian and the ondines tumbled forward.

At first, my brain thought it was an earthquake. And then another blast ripped apart the night.

A jagged crack appeared in one of the pillars holding up the bridge.

Understanding dawned. The packages the Aquidae carried contained explosives. They’d approached the bridge underwater and were blowing it apart.

“Go!” I shouted.
 

Chevaliers helped Julian drag the remaining stragglers across.
 

I stood and fell again. A hand gripped my leg like a vice.
 

I whipped around, blade catching the Aquidae across the chest. My foot hammered his face, snapping his head back with enough force to break his neck.

I pulled myself up and raced forward. The time had cost me.

Cracks rapidly spidered across the bridge. Another series of explosions rocked the night air. Screams disappeared in the roaring tornado of water and wreckage.