I shook my head. The darkness lent her a supreme advantage, something she played on as more fog and clouds filled the sky, removing the moon from our view.
“It’s time,” I whispered, nodding at Vox.
He bowed his head in acknowledgment, communicating to his squadron.
The hairs along the back of my neck rose.
A whistle of foreign energy glided through the air.
Followed by the acridness associated with the dead.
There! Claire shouted into my mind. By the forest line.
I narrowed my gaze, seeing the shift of smoke. But another glimmer near the opposite edge of campus caught my focus just as Vox said, “Behind us.”
She’s approaching from all angles, I told Claire, saying the same out loud. She means to divide our forces.
A smart tactic. One that would work if we weren’t all in communication in some manner. “Luring these monsters isn’t going to work. River, tell Sol and Titus to move to their secondary plans. They’ll understand what that means. Go. Now.”
“On it,” River said, taking off for the rock tunnel manufactured by the Earth students. It appeared to lead underground, but didn’t. The clever fae had carved it into a hill, one that rested above sea level, thereby allowing the fae inside to maintain their access to the elements while hiding beneath a sturdy shelter.
I rolled my shoulders, preparing for the inevitable. Darkness continued to fall as the smog painted over the light above, shrouding us in a sea of black.
But I had a contingency plan.
One that would light up with my signal.
Closing my eyes, I called upon the source of both my elements, weaving them together in an intricate web of life and ripples of tranquility.
Sprinkle and grow, I whispered to the intoxicating mess of magic. Breathe new vitality into the sky. And shade our land in hues of blue.
I released it on a breath, smiling as the sensation grew into a spark of watery light above our heads.
The display of a royal.
The power of a king.
“Vox,” I said, opening my eyes and glancing at him. “Wanna dance?”
His lips curled from across the field. “Hell yeah.”
Air tangled with my elements, stirring a vortex into the night sky that absorbed the darkness threatening our lands while leaving my energy to shine.
That was the sign.
“Let’s begin,” I said, raising my hand and showering my fae with gifts from the source itself. “Go!”
Claire
Droplets kissed my skin, Cyrus’s power infusing my own and eliciting a smile from me despite the dire circumstances. I love you, I whispered to him.
I love you, too, little queen. Now focus on protecting my brother.
My smile grew. Already am.
I had my palm pressed to Exos’s lower back, our spirit energy growing mutually between us and cascading over the lands in search of the villain we sought. We had one goal: to dismantle her soul.
But she remained elusive, hiding behind her ebony ocean of death. It clouded our affinity for life while seducing our darker side, causing us to fight an upward battle as we strove to hold on to the vitality that grounded us.