The campfire blazed to life, the flames instantly reaching the height of a fully grown man and exploding out in all directions. The three men who had been approaching Ty screamed as their clothes caught fire in the blaze. They dropped to the ground, rolling around frantically and patting themselves to put the flames out. Their screams echoed around the woods, and Ena smelled the burning of their clothes, the burning of their flesh.
But she knew it wasn’t enough. They’d get up in a few minutes, burned but alive. And they’d try to hurt her again. They’d try to hurt Ty.
Something came over Ena then—a feral feeling she had never had before. She didn’t think she’d ever drawn on her magic this much, and it filled her from the crown of her head down to the tips of her toes. Her Gift was there, too, thrumming under herskin, waiting to be used, but she ignored it for now and, instead, she crouched down and placed her hands on the earth.
She gripped the soil in her hands, feeling it push under her fingernails, and she spoke again.
{Terra}
Her magic rumbled through the earth, splitting it in two. Radiating out from her hands, a deep fissure cracked open through the ground. The men she’d burned with her fire fell into it where it opened beneath them, and she barely heard their cries for help as it closed around them. Soil and debris rained down on them, filling the crevice like a shallow grave. Their cries became slowly muffled by the earth as it swallowed them, until she couldn’t hear them at all anymore, and she Knew they were dead.
She stood up and looked around, her heart pounding and her muscles twitching with adrenaline. She turned just in time to see Ty, still locked in battle with the only two men who remained alive. The blaze of the fire she’d started lit up the forest as she watched. One of them had a large butcher’s knife that he swung at Ty’s head. Ty kicked him away so hard that the man flew into a tree a horse’s length away and went slack. But doing so exposed Ty’s side to the last man, who shoved his knife deep into Ty’s abdomen. Ena felt the blow like it was to her own body, and fear flooded her anew.
“Ty!” she screamed.
Ty made a pained grunting noise before taking two steps back and yanking the dagger out. She watched him swing his axe into the chest of the man who’d stabbed him, then turned towards her, his face grave with pain and concern.
Some movement out of the corner of Ena’s eye caught her attention. Another figure was running out of the woods, his knife raised at Ty while his back was turned.
Ena was too far away to reach them and Ty didn’t see him; he was too busy looking at her. She felt her Gift growing inside her again, begging to be used, and she didn’t know what else to do, so she reached for it.
It grew through her like a vine, a torrent of power exploding through her like a blazing wildfire, and she gave herself over completely to the unknown of it. It didn’t matter if she lost control now; everything was already out of control.
All at once, she felt a channel open between her and the attacker and she felt the man’s intentions like never before; she felt his mind, his thoughts, his beingjust therefor the taking. The instinct came to her naturally, like she was finally learning to walk, when all she’d done before was crawl. She latched on to it and spoke through the channel.
{Stop.}
Ena’s voice sounded strange, even to her own ears. The tone wasn’t quite right. She sounded calm, even though she didn’t feel it, and even though it was only her speaking, there was a simultaneous echo, as if two of her were speaking at once.
The man running at Ty froze instantly, his knife poised to strike Ty in the back. Ty whirled to look at the would-be attacker, his eyes going from the point of the knife, now placed right above his heart, to the man’s face, etched into a permanent snarl. Then he turned to look at Ena. Horror and confusion played across his face, but he didn’t say a word.
The man was frozen like a statue; Ena wasn’t even sure if he was breathing. But she didn’t care. She knew what to do next.
{Draw the knife across your throat.}
The man obeyed as if in a trance. He lifted the knife and drew it slowly, deeply across his own throat. Blood spurted out frantically as it sliced across his flesh, leaving a bloody gash visible in the firelight. Ena watched his mouth fill and gurgle with blood until his legs collapsed underneath him and he fellto the ground. She watched as the light went out from his eyes, until he stared vacantly at the sky, and Ena Knew he was dead.
Chapter Eighteen
Everythingwasquietfora minute. Maybe two. Ena had no idea how long it was quiet, actually. All she could hear was her breathing. All she could feel was her fear. Every nerve in her body felt alight and ready to fight. Her Knowing was alert, waiting for more threats, but her eyes remained focused on the man she’d just killed with her Gift.
“Ena?” Ty spoke gently, like he was speaking to a spooked horse.
Her mind barely registered the strain in his voice as she dragged her gaze from the dead man to look at him. He was kneeling on the ground, surrounded by bodies. He was clutching his side with both hands, and his face was a mixture of pain and concern. “Are you okay?” he asked.
Was she okay? She didn’t know.
“I think they’re gone. We’re safe now.”
Safe. Was she safe? She didn’t feel safe. She didn’t think she’d ever feel safe again.
Ty tried to stand and let out a pained groan with the effort. The pitiful sound somehow snapped Ena out of whatever trance she was in and she rushed over to him.
He was breathing hard and Ena placed her hands on his wound. Standing closer now, she could see it was gushing blood. Had the attacker gotten him in a vital organ of some kind?
But Ty wasn’t looking down at his wound. He was looking up at her. “What in the Underworld was that you just did?”
“I-I don’t know,” Ena said. Her voice was shaking and sounded weak. So different now from the one she’d just used to kill that man.
