Storm Born (12 page)

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 the 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.
 

My chest and ribs hurt, and I couldn’t breathe. I scrambled to my feet, slipping on the wet brick and nearly collapsing. Hadrian stood up quickly, moving with a fluid grace I couldn’t have managed even if I weren’t having a breakdown.
 

“You must remain calm, Ava, and end this storm.”
 

“
I don’t know how!
” I screamed. “I don’t know anything! Who were those people? What do they want with me?” I suddenly backed up from Hadrian. “What are
you
going to do to me?”
 

He laid down his sword and held out his hands in a placating gesture. The rain drenching him from head to toe made him look cool and beautiful, the same way a blade is beautiful before it cuts you open.
 

“I am your Guardian, Ava. You are tethered to me–”
 

“I don’t know what that means!”
 

“It means I am bound to protect you,” he snapped. “It means I am supposed to prevent you from doing
this
.”
 

He waved his hand through the storm, but neither the rain nor hail bent with his hand. Not like it did with me.
 

“I am not going to hurt you,” Hadrian continued, “but nor can I help you or give you the answers you seek if you do not calm down.”
 

My heart thundered violently. My breath struggled to catch up. I pressed a hand to my chest. My eyes burned from tears streaking down my face, the traitorous drops becoming lost in the cold, hard rain.
 

“I can’t,” I panted. “I can’t, oh God, what’s happening to me?”
 

Hadrian took a patient step toward me. “Ava, listen to me. You need to release this storm. You are going to cause a flood.”
 

A flood… like the one that surged into the school after I had my nightmare. Another occasion where I was panicked and terrified of the world around me.
 

Ironically, the rational part of my mind said yes. That something happened to me, probably during that week I went missing. It told me I had caused the flood at the school. It reminded me of how I used the weather around to me to stand up to Declan. It persisted to tell me I was able to create hail when Hadrian told me to. It all but yelled that I was causing this rainstorm right now.
 

Causing water that could be flowing back into the school again, hurting my parents or drowning my little brother, who already had trouble breathing–
 

Strong hands curled around my arms. I jumped and choked on my scream. My eyes registered Hadrian standing in front of me, as solid and unbreakable as a wall.
 

“Close your eyes, Ava.”
 

I didn’t have the answers to this seriously screwed up situation. But Hadrian did. I could listen to him until I dragged the truth from him. I closed my eyes.
 

“Now breathe. Slowly. Concentrate on breathing, and nothing else.”
 

Right
, I thought.
As if it’s that easy.
 

It is not meant to be.
 

I jumped when I heard his voice in my head. I blinked my eyes open. Hadrian’s face was stony as ever.
 

“How did–”
 

“Close your eyes and breathe, Ava. When you are relaxed, the answers will come.”
 

I chewed my lower lip, uncertain whether I
wanted
to believe him or not, but I closed my eyes again anyway. I’d taken some yoga classes with Piper a couple months ago– she got them free as part of one of her modeling contracts– so thinking about her helped me regulate my breathing. I thought about the air filling my lungs, cool and sweet, turning warm in my chest, and sinking to the very marrow of my bones. I kept thinking about it with every breath, erasing all thoughts and fears.