My nightmare returns to me. Pedr Bounty’s grandson’s voice echoes in my mind.I see a girl on a mountain… lightning’s striking, claws are ripping, but she’s fighting back.
I suddenly speak up. “I have an idea, but it involves spoiling your fun.”
Baelen raises an eyebrow at me. “Just as long as I’m part of the plan.”
Senturi opens his arms wide. “Of course, Marbella, please tell us.”
“Senturi, would you please ask the Outliers to get behind us. Far back, please.” My heart swells when he immediately obeys me without question. He trusts me. Completely.
When Senturi and the Outliers are safely located near the shield, I whisper to Baelen, “You are always part of my plan, Baelen Rath.”
In the back of my mind, I pray:Hold on Elise and Talia. Not much longer.
I reach for Baelen’s hand, connecting our power. He grins as he understands what I want to do and our power combines in a flash.
Acid rain.
I listen for his heartbeat as he closes his eyes for a moment. Connecting with him is like coming home. Everything he feels for me rises to the surface. Even in the middle of battle, his thoughts are for me. And mine are for him.
The birds are only fifty feet away. I open my eyes, turning to face Baelen, meeting his burning gaze and drowning in the smile he gives me. Drops of acid rise up from our skin, filling the air around us for ten feet in all directions, forming a thick, crimson barrier. Lightning ignites between us at the same time, crackling from his body to mine and back again.
The birds are almost upon us.
We turn to face them. Wait a moment longer…
Then we release our power.
Giant ropes of electricity shriek out from our bodies, striking into the middle of the flock of birds and out to the sides, circling them completely. Acid rain rushes along each charged rope, splattering everything in its path. The birds screech and scream, pulling up, beating their wings, trying to get away. The ones closest to the lightning light up for a split second before they disintegrate instantly. The birds further away are unluckiest, cawing as their wings light up, burning, holes growing where the acid rain touches them. Hundreds fall within seconds, most of them turning to ash before they reach the ground.
Our acid rain won’t harm the elves below us because of the shield across them, although a big part of me hopes it will upset Grayson’s concentration. I follow the falling crows, checking Grayson’s response. He hasn’t taken his eyes off me. I jolt with surprise as he continues to watch me, his eyes half-open slits—even when each drop of our acid rain onto his protective shield makes him flinch with pain. His hands are shaking. Talia and Elise have stopped screaming but their arms drop to their sides, the shield wobbling. Worry races through me because the reason they’ve stopped screaming is because they are almost unconscious.
It looks like Grayson isn’t fairing much better.
“Marbella!”
Baelen’s shout has me spinning back as a final crow spears down toward me from above. It must have been right in the sun for me to miss it. Baelen’s open hand flashes out between us, ready to pluck it out of the air in front of me, but before he touches it, its body explodes.
I gasp in surprise. Baelen jolts. White dust floats over us.
White dust… That’s sorcery…
I spin to Grayson in the distance. His eyes are wide open now. For a second, his gaze burns me across the distance.
Did he just kill the bird so it couldn’t hurt me?
He looks away, and I force myself to focus on Talia and Elise. Baelen’s worried glance tells me the shield is about to break. He flies back toward the cliff top. We need to prepare for when the shield comes down; we need to get Talia and Elise out of here because they’ll be vulnerable and unable to defend themselves.
As soon as he speaks to them, Llion and Liliana immediately rise up and fly toward Talia, stopping in front of the shield, ready to carry her away as soon as it breaks. Erit and Indira head toward Elise. They will take them as far behind the battle lines as they can to give them time to recover.
It’s time for the Outliers to do the same.
“Senturi!” I call to the older gargoyle. “You have fought bravely. You’ve protected us all. Now I want you to take the Outliers and go to the back of our army. I need you to regain your energy and form our final defensive line if the elves get through.”
He places his hand on my shoulder, his wings beating the air across my body. “We will be ready.”
Baelen calls our gargoyle friends together onto the central peak. As I land on the cliff top beside him, Jordan and my Storm Command are shaking their heads. Baelen has just told them to leave as well. Jasper and Sebastian are also determined to stay and Roar, Welsian, and Arlo plant their feet next to my ladies, but Roar kisses Gilda fiercely and tells her to go with Indira.
As Gilda reluctantly flies away, casting glances back at her husband, acracktells me that our shield is finally gone. The glistening barrier disperses into nothing and Talia and Elise drop to the ground, hunched over their knees, heads low, barely conscious. They’ve done so much for us. I wish I could fly to each of them, hug them, and tell them to be safe, but the battle on the ground is about to begin.
