Amber takes a step back, tasting the air. “Not just Guards,” she says, adjusting her grip on the knife. “There’s a Summer. Coming from the south.”
Julio shakes his head, angling closer to her. “Southwest.”
“And a Winter from the north,” Fleur says.
I’m picking up at least two Autumns. One from the northwest, and another just south of it. Julio and I lock eyes as he senses them, too. Four Seasons, closing in fast. But where are the Guards?
We form a circle, back to back, waiting.
The wind shifts, gusting over the ridge, scattering dead leaves.
A flock of black birds caws and takes flight just beyond the outhouse. Another cloud of them shrieks, peppering the sky behind the cabin.
A branch sways near the overlook, pulled by Fleur’s trip line. She raises a fist, prepared to spring the trap. I reach for her and she stills.
Win over those who will listen. Take strength from others where you can.
“We don’t want to fight you!” I call out.
A girl’s voice echoes from the woods. “If you didn’t want to fight anyone, you wouldn’t have put that Autumn in the wind!”
“That was an accident.” My own voice bounces back to me as I search for her. “He was trying to kill us. We couldn’t let that happen.We won’t let it happen now.” The wind whispers through the trees, concealing her movements. “I’ll explain everything. Join us if you want to. Or just walk away. We won’t stop you.” A flash of color catches my attention. She peeks out from behind a trunk, then ducks back behind it, but the blue streak in her hair gives her away.
“Névé?” She doesn’t answer. Névé Onding’s a Winter, an old friend of Noelle’s, a fact that I’m trying not to think too hard about, since she was never very fond of me. “What are you doing here?” Her region ends at the border of West Virginia, nearly a hundred miles from here.
“Chronos opened the boundaries. He put a bounty on your head. Two hundred and fifty points and a Relocation to the Season who brings you down.”
A bounty? Are these the reinforcements Doug’s team was waiting for—Seasons lured by the promise of a reward? Névé pokes her nose out. Her nostrils flare at the Summer I smell creeping up the slope behind us and the Autumns closing in. Even if she’s tempted to come out and talk to me, there’s no way she’ll make herself vulnerable now. Lyon was right. They’re all out for themselves.
The trip line rustles. Fleur jerks a tight fist. Two trees on the ridge snap back, releasing an avalanche of timber. Somewhere downhill, the Summer shrieks.
In seconds, the two Autumns are on us, barreling straight for Amber and Julio, scattering our group. Amber strikes out from our circle, swinging her knife in a wide arc and forcing them backward. Her blade strikes the first, tearing through his shirt. She kicks the other back when he gets too close. He darts a hostile glance at Julio.Amber uses the distraction to swipe the blade across his face. With an enraged shout, the Autumn charges her.
I grab Fleur’s hand, pulling her behind a boulder as the second Autumn hurls a ball of fire at Julio’s feet. The dead leaves catch like dry tinder, igniting a blaze around him. Julio jumps back, shielding his face.
Fleur snares his attacker, pinning him to the ground with a root while I run for the well.
“Julio!” I shout through the flames. He turns toward my voice, flinching back from the heat. I wrench the lever and water gushes from the tap. Julio summons it. It swirls from the spigot, exploding like a geyser and raining down over the flames.
He shakes the water from his face and scoops up his hammer, stalking through the smoke toward the Autumn Fleur trapped. The Autumn struggles against the root. Desperate to pull himself free, he digs his nails into the plant’s flesh—Fleur’sflesh.
“Fleur?” I spin to the boulder, but she’s gone. Panic grips me when there’s no answer. “Fleur!”
“Up here!” I find her halfway up an oak, holding fast to its trunk. A battered Summer climbs after her, his shoes and fingernails scraping the bark, opening long scratches down her arms. “Jack! Behind you!”
I turn as Névé rushes toward me. Angry welts circle her wrists where Fleur must have tried to hold her back. I brace for the impact as she closes the distance. A spray of dirt erupts from the ground between us, and a root drags her kicking and screaming into the brush.
In the tree, Fleur grunts. Scratches bleed through the legs of her jeans. Her foot slides within reach of the Summer’s hand, and I swingthe ax before he can touch her. He’s already glowing when his body hits the ground.
Fleur slides down the trunk. Her foot catches the nearest sturdy branch, her eyes glassy and faraway, as if her mind’s still engaged in a battle with Névé. Névé struggles somewhere in the underbrush, trapped in Fleur’s roots. I don’t know how much longer Fleur can hold her off. Or how many other Seasons she might still be fighting in her mind.
I drop my ax and reach for her. She’s shaking, her jaw clenched in concentration and her forehead beaded with blood and sweat. A victorious shout echoes from the cabin and a ball of light rushes over our heads. A second flash follows, and Fleur sags into me.
“You okay?” I press my lips to her hair, my fingers finding the warm skin at the nape of her neck.
She nods, letting me hold her weight. The Summer’s gone. Névé’s still tangled in the underbrush, and by the looks of it, the two Autumns are on their way home. But we’re not out of the woods yet.
“Come on.” I take her hand and pull her gently behind me, jogging back toward the cabin to check on the others, keeping my eyes peeled for Doug’s team.
