Let The Wind Rise (Sky Fall, #3) (22 page)

Suicide draft
.

“NO!” I scream. “GET RID OF IT!”

Aston slashes again.

But the windslicer does nothing.

Neither do any of the commands Aston and Solana shout.

And Gus keeps choking harder and harder, right up until the moment his neck snaps and his body goes limp and cold.

G
us is . . .

I can’t.

I
failed.

I
don’t understand.

How can Gus be—

A sharp sting across my cheek knocks me back to reality.

“Finally,” Aston says, and I realize he slapped me—and that I’ve lost control of the winds.

“I need you to set us down,” he tells me. “Can you handle that?”

I try.

It’s a bumpy landing, but the snow softens it—mostly.

I sink into the cold, letting the numbness take over. It helps me face the question I don’t want to ask.

Was there something we could’ve done?

I try to search for warnings we might’ve missed, but nothing stands out—except Raiden’s last threat about the price we’d pay if we escaped.

“Where’s Audra?” I ask, flailing to sit up.

“She’s fine,” Aston promises. “You all are. The anemometer’s been silent, ever since . . .”

He doesn’t finish the sentence. But his eyes dart to where Audra sits half buried in the snow, clinging to Gus’s body.

Gus’s
body.

My stomach heaves, and I have to crawl away and puke into some bushes.

I keep gagging long after I run out of bile. And even when that stops, I can’t seem to get up.

“Come on,” Solana says, her voice thick with tears as she grabs my good arm and tries to pull me to my feet. “The storm’s getting worse.”

I hadn’t noticed the wind, but she’s right. It’s tearing branches off the trees. And the thunder sounds like a war zone.

“You need to get inside,” Arella tells us.

“Inside?”

I thought we were in the middle of a forest. But I turn to where she’s pointing and see we’re actually in the middle of . . . I’m not sure.

There’s a huge red-and-white building with pointed roofs and narrow windows. It almost looks like a castle, but I’m guessing it’s probably a hotel.

“You have to get away from the wind,” Arella says. “I’m sending Raiden a false trail, but he won’t believe it if he picks up the real one.”

She must be using the same trick she used after she killed my parents to make him believe we were all dead. Sylphs lose a piece of ourselves when someone we love dies, and Arella knows how to change the loss and make it carry a message. The concept makes zero sense, but if it buys us some time, I’m not going to stop her.

We need to clean our wounds and rest for a second. But we’ve only gone a few steps before I hear Audra let out a sharp cry.

I’m picturing snapped necks and suicide drafts as I tear through the snow to her side.

It’s almost as heartbreaking to find the real problem is Aston trying to pull her away from Gus.

“I’ll take care of him,” he promises.

She tightens her hold, kicking and sobbing and flailing.

Until she notices me.

The pain in her eyes nearly knocks me over, and I try to think of something to say.

All I can do is stretch out my arms and offer her a place to hide.

Slowly—very slowly—she lets go of Gus and stumbles over to me, burying her face in my shoulder.

I hold her as tight as I can, just like I did after the storm that shattered our families.

A different kind of bond formed between us that day.

But right now . . . I can’t feel it.

I can’t feel anything except a rage so thick it fills me with the darkest, coldest kind of hate.

A crunch of branches makes us jump, and we both turn to watch Aston carrying Gus into the trees.

I don’t know what he’s going to do with him, but I’m glad I won’t have to see it.

“He’s gone,” Audra whispers. “How can he be gone?”

“I don’t know.”

But I know everything’s changed.

My instincts have fallen silent.

I’m finally ready to do what has to be done.

I’m going to end this the only way it will ever really be over.

I’m going to find a way to kill Raiden.

I
should’ve paid closer attention.

Should’ve seen something that could’ve saved Gus.

Instead, I hovered helplessly by and let Raiden snuff the life out of him.

After all the sacrifices Gus made.

All the suffering he endured.

I failed him.

And then . . . I breathed in his gift.

I didn’t want to.

But Gus chose me.

His final message said,
To make sure you keep fighting.

So I inhaled the power and let it settle into my essence, just like the day I breathed in my father’s gift.

A tiny piece of him to cling to.

But it will never be enough.

And I will never be worthy.

Aston returns from the forest with empty arms and an empty stare, and I can’t bring myself to ask what he did with the body.

“I know you’re not going to believe this,” he says, turning his face to the stormy sky. “But there was nothing you could’ve done to change this. Your friend was lost the second Raiden tied that draft around his neck. I would know. That’s how Raiden broke me.”

He pulls back his cloak and points to the holes lining his shoulder.

“I made it through twenty-nine days of torture. But on the thirtieth, Raiden threatened to bind me with a suicide draft. I knew that meant I’d never be able to leave. So I gave in to the power of pain to save my neck—literally.”

Vane pulls me closer when I shiver.

“Why didn’t Gus tell us?” Vane asks.

“He probably didn’t know. Raiden bound Gus to break
you
.” Aston’s eyes focus on me. “I’m sure he expected there would be some sort of escape or rescue, and he wanted to ensure you’d regret it.”

“I do,” I whisper.

But there are questions that go with that—questions I can’t seem to hide from.

Would I have stayed if I’d known?

Would I have remained in that dungeon?

Sent Vane and Solana away and stayed at Raiden’s mercy?

I know what the answers
should
be, but . . . I don’t know.

“It’s okay,” Vane says, brushing tears off my cheeks. “I’m here.”

He is.

And I don’t deserve him.

I don’t deserve anything.

“I see the war you’re fighting,” Aston tells me. “Don’t let Raiden win. Take your freedom and use it to resist him.”

“I’m going to do more than resist him,” Vane says.

“Hm. I believe you,” Aston says. “Though you realize that comes with challenges.”

“I don’t care—there has to be a way to do it.”

I know what they’re discussing.

I know it’s my cue to be strong and join them. That’s what Gus is counting on. He wants me to keep fighting.

But I can’t help whispering, “Raiden always wins.”

“Not always,” a new voice says, and my blood boils when I realize it’s my mother.

“How would you know?” I shout. “Do you think you beat him just because you refused to be his queen?”

“Wait—what?” Vane asks as my mother blanches.

By the time she answers, her voice is as smooth as ever, and I want to claw her eyes out. “I wondered if he’d tell you.”

“Is that why you’re here?” I ask. “To figure out how many of your secrets I uncovered?”

“No. I came to help my daughter.”

“Help me? YOU LET RAIDEN TAKE ME!”

I tear away from Vane, grabbing my mother by her shoulders. “Do you have any idea what I’ve been through? What he did to me?”

Vane’s strangled choke makes me regret the words, but it’s too late to take them back.

“Stay away from me,” I tell my mother. “I’ve had enough of your help.”

I only mean to shove her away.

But I’m not used to my new strength.

My mother flies backward, crashing into one of the trees with a crunch that sounds like breaking bone.

I don’t check to see how badly she’s hurt.

I don’t wonder about the red that splatters the snow.

I let Vane wrap his arms around me and lead me away, telling myself I’m finally free of her.

I
have no idea how badly Arella’s injured—but I can’t deal with it right now.

We have to get out of the wind—and Audra and I both need to get away from the blood.

So I leave Aston to clean up, and lead Audra over to the hotel.

Solana’s waiting for us outside the main doors.

I . . . sorta forgot about her.

I feel even crappier when I see her eyes are puffy from crying.

Gus’s death is a huge blow for her, too—he’s the whole reason she agreed to help me.

I offer her my free arm as an apology, and after a second, she takes it, leaning against my shoulder as the three of us make our way into the lobby.

The place is
huge
—arched ceilings and dangling chandeliers. Music plays softly in the background, and it smells like flowers and money. But what throws me is the mass of people. Hundreds of them, crowding around the scattered furniture.

And of course chaos erupts when they notice the three bleeding teenagers.

They all shout on top of one another and hustle us to one of the couches.

A guy in a stuffy blazer drops to his knees beside us and starts asking ten thousand questions. I thought he might be a doctor, but he sounds more like the hotel’s manager.

He seems to think we’re hikers who got caught in the storm.

I don’t bother correcting him. It’s not like I can tell him we escaped from a sylph fortress and have an army of wind warriors trying to kill us.

“I’d call for an ambulance,” he says, “but we’re snowed in. Have been for days.”

That explains why there’s such a huge crowd in the lobby. I bet everyone’s freaking out, wondering when they’ll get home.

“That’s fine,” I tell him, since it’s not like we can take human medicine anyway. “We just need a first aid kit.”

“And maybe some clean clothes, if you have them,” Solana adds.

His eyes narrow at my leg, and I notice it’s dripping blood on their fancy rug.

“Sorry,” I mumble, covering the puddle with my shoe. “It looks worse than it is.”

“I hope so.” He turns to a girl wearing a shiny vest and a bow tie, who looks like she couldn’t possibly hate her job any more. “Can you help them to the bathrooms? I’ll meet you there with the first aid kit, and anything else I can find.”

She nods, but stares at us like she’s just been asked to defuse a bomb. “Can you guys walk or . . . ?”

I nod, and help Solana and Audra to their feet. “Just show us which way.”

The crowd parts as she tells us to follow her, and our footsteps sound too loud on the marble floor.

I notice a bunch of kids hiding their faces as we pass, and they look even more terrified when I try to smile at them.

Vest Girl heads for the ladies’ room, and doesn’t stop me when I go in with them. I set Audra on the chair—since when do bathrooms have chairs?—and she stares blankly into space.

“The paper towels are over there,” Vest Girl says, pointing to the counter. “And soap is by the sinks. And, um . . . yeah.”

“You don’t have to stay,” I tell her, when she stands there shuffling her feet. “I’m sure this isn’t going to be pretty.”

I hike up my pant leg and show her the oozing cut from the Shredder. The one on my shoulder is worse. I can feel it dripping down my back.

“Ouch,” she whispers. “Did you get attacked by a moose?”

“A moose?”

“Moose can be mean,” she explains.

There’s a joke there somewhere. But I don’t have the energy to make it.

She leaves us then, and I hobble over to a sink, catching my first glimpse of myself in the mirror. Between the mud and the blood and the red-rimmed eyes, I definitely get why the kids were hiding from zombie-Vane.

Solana looks almost as bad as she limps up beside me. She’s covered in scratches and bruises, and her leg wound has started bleeding again.

“Here,” I say, soaking a paper towel and handing it to her.

She takes it and crouches down, using it to clean the cut on my leg.

Shame burns my cheeks. “I didn’t mean for you to take care of
me
.”

“It’s my turn. Sorry,” she adds when I hiss through my teeth.

“It’s fine. It just stings.”

“It does.”

Her eyes turn glassy.

I pull at my sleeves, realizing I’m still wearing a Stormer uniform. I want to tear it into mangled shreds. But I should probably make sure they can find me something else to wear first.

“Are you okay?” I mumble. “Do you need to talk about . . . anything?”

Yes, I know I sound lame.

“Maybe later,” she says. “You should be helping Audra.”

My eyes stray to the chair, where Audra hasn’t moved.

“Do you think she’s in shock?” I whisper.

“I don’t see how she couldn’t be. What happened with Arella? I heard screaming,”

“Honestly? I have no idea. Arella might be okay, but . . .”

Solana closes her eyes. “I don’t hear an echo.”

“Would you really be able to hear it? We’re inside—and the storm is super loud out there.”

“I can still hear whispers of Gus’s.”

She wraps her arms around herself, and I try to hear what she’s hearing, but my senses are too dull.

Or maybe I’m too numb.

“So you don’t think Arella’s dead?” I whisper.

“I feel like we’d know if she was. She has such a powerful presence. The sky will shift when she joins it.”

I can’t decide if that’s good news or bad news.

“How exactly did Audra hurt her?” Solana asks.

“She flung her like she weighed nothing more than paper. It was crazy.”

Solana covers her mouth. “I wonder if that means Gus gave her his gift. I thought I heard something transfer as he died, but it was hard to tell.”