It repeats:He won’t be himself.
I shudder so hard my arms shake. Of course, a curse takes over and the person doesn’t know what they’re doing.
The mouth of the wind tunnel widens, opening and rising above me. It crashes down on me, sucking me upward at the same time. I don’t have time to defend myself as it pulls me across the Vault, slamming me against the wall.
The air leaves my lungs. Pain courses through every bone in my body. Now I’m caught in the larger hurricane beating around the room. The centrifugal force pins me against the walls. I could bear it if the walls were smooth, but they were originally made of rock and stone and the surface grates against me, shredding my storm suit in patches. My skin will be next.
I push against the force as hard as I can, pulling my knees under me, scraping them at the same time, ready to spring out of the wind. It takes every muscle in my legs, but I fling myself backward and toward the calm center.
I’m free for two seconds before the smaller wind tunnel picks me up again. It throws me upward, hurling me into the air. High up, there’s calm. For a moment, I can see everything beneath me: the wind whooshing around the walls, the smaller tornado writhing like a serpent, the lightning trying to curl back around me.
It’s time to fight back.
I harness the lightning as the ground races toward me, drawing more and more of it toward me. Thunder suddenly rages above me. I draw the sound in and at the same time as I hold the lightning, I release the thunder beneath me.
It thuds between me and the ground, the force halting me several feet from where I was about to smash against the floor.
I lower myself to the ground, drawing more and more lightning to me with my arms and hands. The lightning in my hands changes color. It’s no longer the usual blue. Instead, it streaks dark red like streams of blood run inside it. The force grows in my hands, raging and pulsing. Tendrils reach beyond the sphere, trickling along my arms and across my chest. It burns like acid. If I don’t release it soon, it will consume me.
The wind tunnel looms over me again. With a scream, I release the burning mass into the wind tunnel and the raging storm above me.
The sphere explodes into the darkness, staining the air, and for a moment, a shape is revealed in the roiling darkness. The outline of a female’s figure burns in the sky above me before it fades.
I sink to my knees. The wind stops wailing. It must have started to rain at some point during the fight because water drips around me and from my hair. I’ve collapsed in a puddle of rainwater that’s quickly turning icy—a last reminder of the storm’s power.
I force myself to stand before my legs go numb. My storm suit is shredded in places and my knees are bleeding. I’m not sure how I’m going to regain my energy before the trial begins in another hour. I drag myself across the Vault. I don’t even have the energy to squeeze the water from my hair as I push through the first door.
I stop short inside the ante-room.
Baelen stands in the center of the room while Elise waits at the side. Bae’s head is down, his eyes closed, his feet planted, and his hands formed into fists at his side. There’s something about his posture that alarms me—something locked as if he’s fighting a battle inside his mind that I can’t see.
“Baelen?”
He raises his head, slowly opening his eyes and, for a second, his green eyes are flecked with red. It’s the same color as his family’s heartstone. Crimson light trickles across his irises, flowing across his cheeks and down his neck. The color fades as he refocuses on me.
He says, “The Storm’s growing stronger. You shouldn’t have to fight it alone.”
I’m cautious, not sure if what I just saw in his face was a trick of the light—some sort of visual disturbance caused by my own actions with the lightning just now. “I wish I didn’t have to.”
He nods, accepting my response. The light is gone from his eyes and his expression is piercing, focused now. “The Elven Command won’t drop me anywhere near you for the first trial. They’ll place me on the other side of the mountain.”
I can’t stop the smile playing around my mouth. “I don’t need your protection, Baelen Rath.”
“No, but you need my knowledge. The Elven Command will keep us apart at all costs. This might be the last conversation we have.”
He’s right, but not only about that. This might be the last moment we ever share in private. I have no idea what the future trials will involve. Elise has stepped to the other side of the room. She won’t take her eyes off me, but it’s the most privacy she can give us.
“What do I need to know?”
“There are gargoyle nests on Scepter peak.”
My eyes widen. “But… no… We have to warn the Elven Command.”
“They already know.”
My mouth drops open. “What? They know they’re about to drop the champions on a mountain with gargoyle nests?”
“To kill the gargoyles. There are enough champions to do it.”
