“She’s practically crackling,” Justin said.
Another pair of hands cupped her face.This time, there was no hiss of pain, and Wave almost opened her eyes, but she knew who it was.Marc could shield against her little power trip.
“What do you need, sparkle?”
Why the fuck were they being so nice?They had ended things.She was no longer their problem in any sense.Wave debated claiming she was fine one more time, but it seemed a bit redundant now.Her mind moved sluggishly, trying to find a solution.
What she really needed was an ocean to sing to.Or a willing victim.Neither of those was an option, and she couldn’t let her siren side surface.It was pushing against the barrier of stormbringer powers, bringing them forth with a vengeance, so she needed to figure something out.
The whole building shook as lightning struck close.
“Oh fuck,” someone gasped.
“Morsel,” Risha’s cool voice broke through the haze in her mind.“Can you channel through someone?”
“I’ve never tried,” she whispered.
“First time for everything,” he said, and Wave heard the smile in his voice.He wasn’t laughing, but there was something reckless in him that pulled at her.
“You are not sharing power with him,” Jarred snarled.
“And what is she supposed to do then?”Irishen replied.“Push this amount of power into you and explode your little kitty cat?”
Suddenly, the room turned unbearably hot, and Wave’s eyes flashed open in panic.Had she turned the floor into lava by accident?No, she hadn’t, but someone had pulled up a pillar of hellfire.It blazed in the middle of the hallway, and Wave vaguely wondered why no one was sounding an alarm.
“Irishen, freeze it over,” Hellion snapped an order.
“But—”
Hellion cut Jarred off.“No.All of you, shut up.Irishen, do it.Wayla, keep pumping power into him until you have it under control.”
Marc was still holding her face and met her eyes without flinching.“You can do it, sparkle.”
“How?”she whined, and hated how the pain was evident in her tone.Marc smiled ruefully.
“Let it flow.”
“I—”
Marc turned her head so she was facing Irishen and his white, glowing eyes.He leaned even closer and whispered into her ear, “Kiss him.”
Both Wave and Irishen jerked.Jarred growled, and Hellion’s hand tightened on her arm.Before anyone could say anything, Irishen pulled back.The moment his hand left her arm, Wave groaned in pain.
Hands caught her as she crumbled, but none of them gave her the relief.The storm inside of her rose, crushing her ribs, her lungs.Time and space started to lose their meaning.Desperately, Wave tried to latch on to some shred of sanity.She couldn’t lose control.She just couldn’t.
With the last bit of clarity, Wave turned the power inward.It was the last resort; one she had been forced to use once before.She had survived that cell, she had made it through then, and she would do so now.It had taken a few years to heal, but what were her other options?
First, she needed to suck in the electricity coursing over her body.Every last spark and current until there was nothing left.It hurt, but it was nothing compared to what was to come.
She no longer heard the voices around her.Every breath was pain, but she forced herself to suck in electricity with every gulp of air.Once she could feel her skin again and the hands holding her up, she knew she had managed that.
Her bones creaked, too fragile to bear the load without the support they should have.Too many powers fought inside of her, and she couldn’t tap into any of them.
Just suck it up, buttercup.
Next, she needed to disperse the storm.Usually, if she was in control, she could push out and release it slowly.Now she had to pull all of the power in the storm in, not push it out.She couldn’t let anything out.
Her heart beat so hard, it felt like bursting.Maybe it was.For all Wave knew, her body couldn’t handle the strain this time.It was still better than releasing it and leveling the whole campus.Mother would disagree.
