I pressed my hand to my nose, feeling the blood. It would heal quickly, but that didn’t make it hurt any less in the moment.
Samara didn’t even glance back. She walked straight to the front door, which swung open on its own. This was shaping up to be something straight out of a horror movie.
Was it possible I was having a nightmare? Was she manipulating me? She could have very well lied about females and their capabilities.
I pushed myself up and ran after her. “What the fuck, Samara!” I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her toward the house.
Light burst from her body. The force of it hit me, launching me backward. My back slammed against the side of the house, and I heard the stone crack.
I slid down, gasping, trying to catch my breath. By the time I looked up, she was already running.
Straight toward the gate and the forest. Straight toward the storm.
“Shit.” I forced myself to my feet, ignoring the pain radiating through my spine. I could heal later. Right now, I had to stop her before she got herself killed.
Guards attempted to stop her, but the gate flew open, and they flew to the sides, landing in unconscious heaps.
I ran after her, and she stumbled, going down hard at the tree line before pushing herself up immediately. She’d hurt her leg and was limping but not slowing down.
I sprang forward, wings erupting from my back in an explosion of white feathers. The magic of this place pulled at them, making the shift rougher than usual, but I didn’t slow.
Something grabbed my left wing and yanked hard.
I spun, power already gathering in my palm, ready to incinerate whatever?—
Nico’s eyes were wild and desperate. “Let her go. You can’t stop it or she’ll hurt herself.”
“Are you fucking insane?” I jerked my wing free. “She’ll die out there.”
“She won’t.” He moved to block my path, shoulders squared. “This is what she needs. What she’ssupposedto do.”
Behind him, Val and Amari ran out the door and bypassed both me and Nico, heading straight after Samara.
Nico threw himself in front of Val. “Stop! All of you need to go inside.”
Val’s fangs descended. “Get the fuck out of my way, rodent.”
Nico planted his feet. “You don’t understand what’s happening. None of you do.”
Amari grabbed Val’s shoulder, yanking him back when he tried to push past. “He’s right.”
We were all moving forward despite Nico’s and Amari’s attempts to stop us.
“She’s going to get herself killed.” Val struggled against Amari’s grip. “I’m not losing her again.”
We reached the edge of a clearing where she’d stopped. The storm gathered overhead, the tendrils of lightning dancing in the clouds in a way I had never seen before.
The first bolt struck.
It hit Samara square in the chest, and her arms spreadwide. Her head fell back, mouth open in what should have been a scream but wasn’t. More lightning came, bolt after bolt, each one slamming into her body.
It would have vaporized a human, but she wasn’t vaporizing. She wasglowing.
The light built in her chest, spreading outward through her limbs. Her hair lifted, crackling with energy. Her face held no pain or fear. Only peace.
My celestial senses opened wide, reading the magic flowing through her. It wasn’t draining her. It wasfillingher.
The storm was giving her power like she was an empty vessel meant to be filled.
