I grit my teeth. There’s no going back. I must shake the very sky. My mind is aglow with the light of the cosmos. I sink my magic into two stars this time and pull. The ice answers my command, toppling from their seats and cascading toward us.
An explosivewhooshsounds as three fireballs spew from the top of the volcano, one after another.
“Run, Ez!” Farron shouts.
“I c-can’t let go!” Ezryn responds. His body shakes with the effort of keeping the plates of tundra together.
The first fireball careens toward him. “Ez!” I shout.
Dayton lets loose a roar as he runs forward. The snow changes form, and a vast wall of water appears before Ezryn. The fireball hisses straight through it, hurtling to the ground only twenty feet from him. It skids through the snow, showering his body in embers. A line of lava ripples in its wake.
That was close. Too close. But the second fireball is following, this one closer to Ez?—
“Ice!” I cry to Dayton. “Turn your shield to ice!”
Dayton looks over his shoulder, giving me an insulted look. “I don’t know how to do that!”
“Yes, you do. Water is both Winter’s and Summer’s domain. Trust yourself and feel for your connection to the world around you.”
There’s no time for Dayton to second-guess himself. He raises his hand, crafting another giant wall of water. But then it trembles, shifting, materializing into a solid screen.
The fireball speeds into it. The shield hisses at the impact, and the fireball falls to the earth, still glowing, still dripping with lava, but collapsing onto the earth. This fire from the Above is stronger than ice from the Vale, but the defense holds.
“Don’t let the shield fall, Dayton,” I call.
“I won’t.”
Seconds turn into minutes that turn into an hour as my body verges on breaking. Star after star, I pull from the sky, freezing lava running down the side of the volcano and across the tundra. Ezryn shakes with the force of keeping a full earthquake at bay, and Dayton’s shield has broken and been rebuilt more times than I can count.
“It’s not enough,” Farron says beside me. “That lava will keep coming until you’ve run out of stars in the sky.”
My heart thunders against my chest. No. We can’t give up. This can’t be it. I won’t let my people fall. But there’s something about Farron’s words. He’s been thinking.
“What do you suggest?” Each word is a struggle as I keep my focus on the world above me.
“We need to plug the volcano.”
“How?”
“Pull the stars as close as you can to the volcano’s opening. I’ll do the rest.”
I stare into his eyes, searching to see who is in control. My friend, my brother, the mate of my mate, or the other presence within him.
“Kel,” he says, grabbing my arm, “trust me.”
I let loose a sigh. “This trusting thing is going to be the death of me.”
Farron smiles, then steps away. “I don’t know, Kel. I think it suits you.”
Heat rushes over my body as Farron disappears into orange flame; his hair, his skin, even his eyes are a bonfire.
“See you soon,” he says and then, as if he were his own volcano, erupts skyward.
I tear my gaze away from him and back to the gap in the clouds. Inside me, my wolf howls in encouragement. In my mind’s eye, I see arrow after arrow darting into the cosmos. I tug the stars free, balls of ore and ice clattering down, as close to the volcano as I can maneuver them.
Dancing in the air between them is a streak of orange light as Farron uses his flames as combustion to propel himself forward. He looks like a flaming bird, his speed incredible as he surges toward the volcano.
“Farron!” Dayton screams, his shield faltering, then shattering to the ground. He runs after him, as if there were any way he could catch up on foot.
