Storm Born (32 page)

And felt every particle in my body evaporate.
 

Rain poured onto my face, but it didn’t absorb into my skin. Blood turned to ash in my veins, clogging my arteries and forcing my heart to beat at a rapid pace. My lungs burned as I drew breath from my ragged throat. My eyes burned and my skin prickled as it lost all moisture.
 

I blinked as the man in front of me wailed and collapsed off of me. I flipped onto my hands and knees, pain dashing through my skull and slicing into my stomach. I grimaced and gripped the thick sand between my fingers. I could feel the moisture, knew it was there, but I couldn’t get it.
 

But I
could
get the life force in the man’s body. That would be good enough.
 

His eyes widened when he looked at me. I don’t know what he saw. I didn’t care. I snarled and rushed him. He yelled and slammed his boot into my shoulder. Pain spiked through my chest, but I didn’t stop moving. I pounced on him like an animal, digging my nails into his face and pinning his head to the ground.
 

I stared at his mouth, feeling that warm, sweet energy whispering across my face like a promise. I had never tasted that kind of power before. This would be my first time. Not ideal conditions, but what did I care? He was nothing to me.
 

I crunched forward, diving at his mouth for a venomous kiss. My lips pressed over his mouth, and the first taste of that light flicked against my tongue, a soft, melting sweetness that tasted like milk and honey–
 

Something heavy smashed into my skull, knocking me away from the man’s lips. I groaned, white spots dancing in my vision.
 

“Worthless,” a man rasped.
 

I blinked and shook my head, gazing up and meeting the dusty stare of Ferno.
 

My limbs froze. I glanced away to see where Piper and my friends were. Behind Ferno was a massive wall of sand, blocking them from me, likely drawn up by him while I was busy trying to devour Austin. The horror of what I’d nearly done hit me like a sledgehammer. Austin stared at me like he didn’t know what I was.
 

Like I wasn’t a human, but a monster.
 

“You were a waste of our time,” Ferno grated out. He gripped his sword tight in his hand, and I knew this was it. This was the moment I died.
 

Shudders wracked my body and tears burned my dried eyes.
 

I don’t want to die I don’t want to die I don’t want to–
 

Ferno lunged with the sword. It plunged through flesh.
 

Flesh that wasn’t mine.
 

Austin gaped at the tempest-blade in his chest, as though he couldn’t understand why it was there. He understood what happened when I screamed. The tether in my chest snapped taut, and I thought I heard Hadrian’s voice in my head.
 

Ferno pulled the blade free and looked at me with shadowed eyes. He drew the second tempest-blade over his back and set it overtop of the bloody one.
 

“You live because you are not yet complete,” he told me. “Once you are, you will not escape your purpose.”
 

Light blinded me as he drew on his storm-sight. He became an illuminated pillar, and then he was gone.
 

White stars swirled through my vision. Darkness closed in, and kept closing until I passed out on the sand.
 

Chapter 14
 

“We cannot continue this.”
 

Hadrian sounded like he was on the edge of homicidal fury. I wouldn’t have wanted to be on the receiving end of it. I was perfectly content to lie on the infirmary bed. It was a sad sign that I had been here so many times I could recognize it by touch without even opening my eyes.
 

“Ferno killed his charge,” Vitae’s voice carried through the room. I figured she would be the one Hadrian was fighting with. “He left Ava alive when he could have taken her. We must find out why.”
 

“If that mistake on Cayo Costa taught us anything, it’s that she cannot contain her abilities like this. She is human, and every gift she absorbs is killing her.”
 

My heart plummeted. I was dying? I didn’t
feel
dead. Weak, yeah, definitely. I couldn’t even open my eyes yet. But
dying
? That couldn’t be right.
 

Until I remembered Hadrian telling me that I had bled from my nose and ears when I Enervated, exerting too much power and took it from another false Stormkind. Bleeds like that meant there was cranial damage. A warning that said if I pushed myself too far, a part of my brain could burst and instantly kill me.
 

My hands tightened on the bed sheets. I didn’t want to die.
 

A smooth, warm hand slipped over mine. Piper. She knew I was awake, and she was here for me.
 

I wished it were enough.
 

“I do not wish any harm to come to Ava either, Hadrian,” Vitae continued with restrained calm. “But we must look at the larger issue. Ferno had the opportunity to capture Ava, yet he did not. Are you not curious about why that is?”
 

“No. Not anymore.”
 

Hadrian didn’t even hesitate with his answer. He said it like it was the simplest thing in the world. I knew the truth wasn’t quite so black and white.
 

Vitae pressed on. “Unless we discover what the Mistrals intend to do with Ava, we must continue to lure them out.”
 

“We are not using her as bait,” he snapped.
 

“We have no choice–”
 

“I have already put her in too much danger,” Hadrian bellowed. The sudden silence clashed with his seething breath. It was a long, quiet minute before he calmed down enough to speak again. When he did, his voice was solemn and gravely serious.
 

“She is my charge, and I have failed her over and over again. Now that I can see clearly, you want me to put her in the path of those who would break everything she is. I will not allow you to do that. I will protect her the way she deserves to be protected, from
anyone
who means her harm.”
 

This time I opened my eyes. There was no mistaking the implication in that threat. I turned my head to see Hadrian standing in the infirmary, towering over Vitae, his leader and friend of his father. I’d never seen anyone so enraged. His knuckles were white, his eyes wide and burning, his shoulders rigid with tension. He was one word away from punching something. Or some
one.
 

Which is probably why Zephys was standing so close to Vitae, ready to fight his friend if he attacked their leader.
 

“The only other option we have is the one we discussed, and you refused even more vehemently–”
 

“Because Ava is not a tool for us to use,” Hadrian fumed. “She is a human girl who should never have been given these powers. She does not want them. If we had any care for disrupting Mortis’s plans, we would be looking for a way to free her and the other false Stormkind from them.”
 

“You are the
last
person to speak of what Ava needs, considering you were going to use her for the same thing.”
 

Vitae could not have picked a worse thing to say.
 

Hadrian lunged at Vitae, but Zephys grabbed him, shoving him back before he could touch her.
 

But Hadrian didn’t snap out of it. He rushed again, hands curled into fists.
 

I bolted upright. “Hadrian!”
 

My voice sounded horrible, like sandpaper dragged over concrete. Felt about as pleasant, too. Still, it was enough to halt Hadrian in his tracks. His head snapped in my direction, eyes churning like whirlpools. He relaxed when he saw me, the anger fading like shadows burned under daylight. 
 

“
Stop.”
 

This time I did whisper to spare whatever remained of my voice. It was still enough. 
 

Hadrian’s eyes traced over mine, and I watched the realization dawn on his face. He knew I’d heard basically everything. His guilt for pushing me into combat that I couldn’t handle, the self-loathing he’d turned on his oldest friends and allies. Like so many times before, he knew he couldn’t take his words or actions back. Now he had to pay the price for them.
 

That price was seeing the disappointment in my eyes. His assumption that he’d failed me.
 

Hadrian’s arms dropped to his side, his head lowering soon after. He didn’t say another word. I didn’t need to touch the tether to know how deep the humiliation and remorse ran into him then. It was a rock heaped onto his back, crushing down on his shoulders and breaking his control. When he turned and walked out of the infirmary, no one followed him.
 

I sighed and fell back against the pillows. I clapped one hand onto my forehead and wondered if I could ever go back to being a regular waitress whose only major concern would be what I would do with my weekend.
 

The odds weren’t looking great.
 

“
How are you feeling, Ava?” Vitae asked, sounding genuinely concerned about my welfare. 
 

Maybe I was being cruel in thinking that wasn’t the case. I mean, yes, her first interest was stopping the Mistrals and protecting humans from the Stormkind, but she didn’t have any open hostility toward me. I wasn’t sure that we were friends, but I hoped we were more than allies.
 

“
I kind of wish I’d woken up under better circumstances, but I feel okay.”
 

 “Yes. I am sorry you had to witness that. Hadrian has been in quite an agitated state since you fell unconscious on the beach.”
 

I shrugged, trying to act casual. “Don’t apologize. I saved you from being punched in the face.”
 

Vitae’s smile was so weak, she shouldn’t have bothered at all. “You should be proud, Ava. You’ve done what no other Stormkind has ever done. You’ve driven Hadrian into madness.” Under different circumstances, I might have awkwardly laughed at her weak, terrible joke. I probably would have genuinely laughed if Hadrian had been in the room to glare daggers at his friend.
 

But the mark had hit too close to the target, and Hadrian was nowhere to be seen. He was probably hidden so we wouldn’t be able to find him until he wanted to be found. Zephys sighed and scrubbed a hand across his face, appearing just as rueful as Hadrian had before he took off. He wasn’t alone in that dejected little rodeo.
 

After all, it was hard to stay upbeat with the elephant in the room.
 

I looked at my hands as they knotted in the blanket. Then I took a breath, and asked the question I didn’t really want an answer to.
 

“
Am I really dying?”
 

The shuddering whisper in my voice was embarrassing, a pathetic hoarse sound that I would probably make when I really did die. 
 

Each breath was jagged in my throat. Piper clutched my hand tightly to secure me to reality.
 

“
Hadrian brought it to our attention,” Vitae admitted quietly. “Guardians can feel when their charges weaken or pass on. Because you are human, he did not realize what it was at first. Now that he has, he made sure to tell us.” She paused, then added. “I am sure you can see how greatly it has upset him.”
 

Talk about an understatement.
 

“
And you still want me to go with you on these missions? You want me to be bait to track down the Mistrals?”
 

Vitae exhaled sadly. Her shoulders drooped. “Please believe me when I say it is not a fate I wish for you, Ava. Risking the lives of our charges is never something we do lightly. Already, I fear Hadrian is considering mutiny. The only way to find out Mortis’s goal is for him to have the key to it. That key unfortunately, is you.”
 

My heart pounded as that sank in. Piper couldn’t absorb any other gifts. Declan hadn’t taken mine. Austin was dead. I didn’t know if there were any other false Stormkind like me, but if the warnings that Ferno and Mortis left me were anything to go by, I was betting the answer was no.
 

“
You are a conduit, Ava,” continued Vitae. “You have taken almost every kind of Stormkind gift available.”
 

“
Except for Turve’s,” I muttered.
 

Vitae nodded solemnly. The ache built in my chest. I closed my eyes.
 

“
What do you want me to do, Vitae?”
 

She answered honestly. “The same thing we originally planned.
I want to use you against Mortis. I want you to become our weapon rather than his.”
 

I opened my eyes and looked at her. “I’m one superpower short. We don’t know where Turve is.”
 

“
We do,” Zephys said. He didn’t sound or look any more pleased than Vitae did. “Tornadoes have been forming in Sanford. Your government has evacuated as many human survivors as possible from the area, but I fear it will not hold them back for long. Turve enjoys destruction.”
 

I looked at my hands again. My knuckles were as white as Hadrian’s had been when he was arguing with Vitae. 
 

“
It’s going to be a trap,” I stated.
 

“
More than likely.” Vitae didn’t mince words.