Water shot out of the stream like a geyser. The startled beast retreated. Its wild eyes looked bewildered, but it didn’t have time to react before I sent a blast of waves towards it. The sheer force knocked it off its feet.
Rising to my full height, I sent another blast towards it. Then another. And another.
By now it was frustrated and unable to get up—its hideous head bobbed above the surface. I had backed it into a mossy rock face. I sensed its weakness and embraced the opportunity.
With a single thought, the current obeyed my command.Hold the beast.
The creature fought and thrashed, but it was pinned against the rock with no hope of escaping the unwavering current. It was at the mercy of the force that would obey my every whim. I knew this intrinsically. Just as I knew what to do next.
I reached inside the arsenal within my veins and drew more power, directing it toward the midpoint between us. At first, it manifested as a tiny dimple on the water’s surface but, before I’d taken my next breath, the dimple grew into a ripple moving in concentric circles as though I had skimmed a pebble across the stream.
The single ripple soon became a series of ripples, each larger and faster than the last. Collectively, the ripples gained momentum and rotated so rapidly that the water had formed a living funnel— a vortex. I watched with a mixture of awe and horror as the vortex grew, pulling everything in its wake into its center. Almost everything.
I stood firm, unmovable as an island against the raging waters. The vortex would not engulf its master.
The same couldn’t be said for the creature. It continued to clash against my wrathful currents but, this time, it was no longer driven by its desire to slaughter me, but its desire to get to land. To survive.
But my power was relentless, the current was as strong as an iron wall pinning the beast against the rock.
A column of air and water emerged from the vortex, rising higher and higher, like a funnel of wind and fluid and fury.
My wet hair whipped around my face as the maelstrom raged. Magnificent power pulsated through my core, and, for the first time, I truly understood the weight my grandmother placed on our abilities. This magic could end lives, or, in my case, save mine.
I tore my eyes away from my creation of destruction to focus on the beast. I felt a flicker of pity as I watched its drenched form flailing helplessly against the surge of the stream that had changed the tides of our fates. In a few short moments, it had become the rabbit caught inmysnare.
I released the current’s grip on the beast. It made towardsthe bank but it was no match for the all-consuming might of the vortex. With every step it took, the swirling mass of water pulled it closer.
After a few heart-stopping moments of struggle, the vortex ensnared the creature.
I winced at its whimpers, but it was my life or the monster’s. It couldn’t be both.
It was horrifying to watch, but I couldn’t look away. My breath hitched as the mass of water twisted and whirled its struggling form around and around. It dragged the beast into its center, then underneath the surface as if invisible weights had fastened themselves around its limbs. It fought to get out, but it may as well have been a branch fighting against the torrent of a river.
Eventually, the beast stopped thrashing. My eyes traced its limp form as it swirled in the violent chaos of the vortex.
It was only when the first drops of rain startled me out of my trance that I remembered to breathe. I loosed a breath and withdrew my power, stumbling under the buckle of my knees.
The column of air and water dispersed, becoming indistinguishable from the droplets that were falling from the sky.
Almost as rapidly as it had formed, the vortex vanished, leaving nothing but small ripples in its wake. Ripples, and the lifeless body of a monster.
Chapter 35
I trudged out of the water in slow, careful movements. My already-aching feet were now searing in pain from my sprint to safety. Using so much power had left me bone-tired, but I needed to press on.
My grazed hands stung, but at least they were cleansed of the blood and dirt that had marred them. Everything hurt, but I would heal quickly. My heart was pounding, and my entire body was trembling, but at least I had survived.
I had killed. I was a killer. I was capable of ending lives.
No. I had saved myself, saved Filip. Those creatures wouldn’t have stopped until we were dead, it was promised in their eyes. I couldn’t regret my actions. Not when death had been snapping at my heels.
My waterlogged clothing weighed me down like chainmail, and my teeth chattered against the cold that twilight had invited into the forest. At least the rain had stopped.
After I emptied my boots of water, I began to retrace my steps. The sound of my name echoed out from the distant trees.
“Filip?” I shouted back.
I heard my name again, then, “Stay where you are, I’m coming.”
