Mai screams. “Leave!”
A gust of unnatural wind shrieks through my ladies. It plucks them into the air, one by one, as they struggle and shout. They fight it, but each one of them is cast from the room, hands outstretched, some sliding through the door while others fly into the gardens beyond. At the same time, the wind tries to suck me upward too, plucking at my clothing and my legs, demanding that I leave.
I’ve fought worse than this. As I harness the lightning inside me, it reveals itself in snaking tendrils around my arms and legs. I won’t release it, but I need its power to keep me anchored against the dark force around me. I shake my head. “You can’t move me, Mai. I’m staying. I’m going to help you.”
A glow reaches me from the corner of my eye and Baelen steps up beside me. His heartstone light burns fierce against his skin, a deep burn around his torso and arms. The false wind swirls around him in the same way it rips at me, but he doesn’t budge. It can’t move him either. As he draws near to me, the light around him blends with mine, red and blue swirling into a brilliant purple glow between us.
I feel… stronger. Calmer. Like half of me was missing and it’s returned to me. I meet Bae’s eyes, not really sure what’s happening, just knowing that together we can beat the evil in this room.
As if admitting defeat, the wind lifts the door behind us, slamming it closed again.
We’re alone with Mai and it’s as if some of the spell lifts from her. She still doesn’t lift her head and blood-rain trickles from her fingers, drip-dripping onto her dress. But she slumps forward, and when she speaks her voice sounds more like her own. “The storm attacked us. Here in my home. It killed Darian. My husband… is dead.” She tries to twist in his direction, but unlike me, the wind is pushing her around, beating at her and forcing her forward. No wonder she was bent double when we got here.
My heart crumbles. Darian was Mai’s whole world. “Mai, please let me help you.”
“Darian tried to help me, but the storm killed him as soon as he touched me.”
I push against the wind, inch by inch, edging closer until I’m right in front of her. “The storm didn’t do this to you. This isn’t the storm. It’s some kind of spell.”
Up close, I search for her eyes beneath her hair. They’re wide, her pupils dilated. Tears track down her cheeks. She’s in pain but she’s hiding it. “A spell?” she whispers. “A spell killed my husband and now it’s killing me. Get out, Marbella. Please. While you still can.”
“I’m not leaving you, Mai.” I turn to Baelen. “I need you to pick her up. We have to get her out of here so Sahara can help her. Can you do that?”
He ploughs through the opposing force, striding against the wind so that it takes on the appearance of water streaming around his calves and thighs. It plasters his clothes against his body, clinging to his muscular chest. He slides one arm around Mai’s back, ready to scoop her up into his arms, but at the last moment, he flinches. “Marbella, she’s…” His agonized eyes meet mine. “Her body, it’s… frozen. She hasn’t moved because shecan’t.”
He lifts her easily and she doesn’t fight him. As he pulls her up against his chest, her head tips back and her hair drips across his arms, but her arms are stiff and wooden and her legs are bent at the knees without moving, set at an awkward angle.
“Her limbs are already dead. The spell’s killing her from the toes up.”
“Bae…”
He meets my eyes across her head. “I’ll get her out.”
He pushes against the wind, leaning into it and I follow in the slipstream, conserving my energy for the task of getting the door open. When he reaches it, I slip around him, discovering that it’s much harder to pull open than it was to push from the outside. I grip the handle and pull as hard as I can but even without any hinges, the suction inside the room is too strong.
“Stand clear, I’m going to use the Storm.” I plant both palms against the paneling and let loose the thunder and lightning at the same time.
The door explodes outward, shards flying, but before they can fly into my waiting Storm Command, time slows. Splinters halt in the air. At the same time, the spell behind me makes a harsh sucking sound, trying to pull us back into the room like water rushing down a drain.
“Bae! Get down!” It’s the only warning I can give him before letting loose a blast of lightning into the center of the room. The explosion pushes us outward into the garden and at the same time the spell finally cracks, splintering, its force dissolving. Every floating object inside the room thuds to the floor. Darian falls too, and the smallest hope I had that he was still alive fades as his lifeless eyes stare back at me.
Bae is already hurrying down the path. Time speeds up as Sahara Splendor rushes toward us with Elise at her side, both of them hauling medical pouches.
“Hurry!” I shout. “Mai’s dying!”
Bae rests her down on a grassy patch at the side of the front path and retreats to allow Sahara full access. The elegant female wastes no time assessing Mai. “Paralysis. Fever… Necrosis!” She gasps. “Her body’s shutting down. Is this the Storm?”
“No!” Rage spirals through me. “Someone wanted it to look that way. It’s a spell. A cursed spell made to look like the storm.”
I pace back and forth as Sahara and Elise work over Mai. They examine Mai together, speaking quietly, conferring with each other. As they deliberate, Elise forms a bubble between her palms. Rainbow light swirls inside it. She tips her hands at an angle toward Sahara so that she can inspect the spell. As soon as Sahara nods, Elise rolls her hands gently across the bubble’s surface, pressing inwards, until the bubble shrinks to the size of a marble and then smaller. Finally, it forms a droplet that rolls off her finger across Mai’s lips. I hold my breath, hoping…
Sahara shakes her head, desperation flooding her posture. “That should have worked.”
Elise’s response is to conjure another spell, and then another, while Sahara injects medicines into Mai’s limbs. But the more they shake their heads and run their hands over their eyes—the more spells and medicines they try—the more I know they’re going to fail. My hands begin to shake and my heart thuds so hard in my chest it feels like it’s going to crash out of me.
“They can’t save her.” Sobs rise in waves, riding through my body, crippling me. Sahara is the most talented healer and Elise is the most talented spellcaster, but even they can’t stop the spell that is killing Mai limb by limb. I clutch my stomach, doubling over as the pain of losing my friend intensifies. “I’m going to lose her.”
Bae’s quiet voice anchors me, helping me rise without touching me. “Marbella, I’m here. Tell me what you need.”
