Air (35 page)
Micah lifted the binoculars to his eyes, "Oh, you're right." He snorted. "Tool."
"Okay – I say we start with the water elementals. They are the fewest and that would free up Susan to help us."
Alex kneeled and began digging through his backpack. "I'm going to branch off; start taking out the guards." He pulled out a sniper rifle and connected a high-powered scope, one of our more sophisticated weapons. After me, that is.
"Why not just take out Shawn, first?" I asked.
"No," Micah said. "I feel his wall. He's protected somehow. I’m sure he’s thought of bullets as well. You can try but that would probably just alert him to your position. The wall is thick and concentrated; he has to keep it small. It doesn't extend to the guards so you can still take them out."
"Right." Alex popped in a magazine with a snap and turned off the safety. "I'm about to go sniper on their asses."
Micah and I watched Alex slink away, blending in with the terrain almost immediately. He would watch our backs, but who would be watching his?
Now or Never
Micah and I watched Alex slink away, blending in with the terrain almost immediately.
"And then there were two." Micah looked at me and smiled.
I reached for his hand, and we connected. I could feel the familiar spark of energy jump from his hand to mine. His shield around me strengthened. Our eyes widened as we finally realized it. We were much, much stronger together.
Finally, I understood what he was trying to say back at the rock, right after Vayu was lifted into the air. I squeezed his hand in confirmation.
"Come on, we'll take them from the east. Susan has the north, Alex went west, and Cato – for what good he is – is south."
We made our way over the terrain, several times avoiding hidden caves that seemed to open up out of nowhere in the ground. I took care, not quite trusting my back yet, scared I might stumble over some rocks and take a hard hit to the belly.
Micah's grip was solid, as was his shield that moved with me. We took our places east of the formation without incident. We weren't even sure if they knew we were on the island yet. Squinting, we could just make out body forms all the way around the valley. Including Shawn standing dead center, barking out orders to his minions. His attention was focused on the Nerinas, weaving their flows straight toward Susan.
Suddenly, his head whipped around toward his guards at the west. Two lay sprawled out on the ground, the third quick to follow. Alex fired, each shot dead on. After the fourth went down they finally returned fire. But they were shooting blind; no one could spot Alex in the rocky hills, or even the flash of his muzzle in the broad daylight. In fact, they were squinting into the sun, giving Alex even more of an advantage. As the only non-magical being on our side, he was going to need it.
"Now, Kaitlyn! While they are distracted!"
With effort, I pulled my eyes away from the distorted bodies on the ground, now numbering in the double digits, and looked to the three Nerinas, down to our left. Why Shawn had picked a valley to stage his troops was beyond me. So far we had the upper hand.
I closed my eyes, cautiously summoning energy held within the ground below my feet, unsure of how the island, or I, would react. It was neutral energy, slightly tainted by the volcanic ash, but with enough of my influence, it could still work with me. I released a breath. This island was not nearly as potent as the Galapagos.
I used the net Vayu taught me in Australia, constructing it with tight weaves, just big enough to cover the span of the three women. I sent it out, fast and hard, but kept it low, right above the heads of everyone else in the formation. You could see their hair flip up as the wave of air passed over each one. It needed to take the women by surprise, before their Shus detected it.
Success. The net dipped down in front of them and I pulled back, drawing it tight. The three women went crashing back. I angled my pull, using them to take out two of the Earth elements and a guard standing behind them on the lower lip of the smile.
"Hah!" Micah cried out, putting an arm around my waist in a tight hug. "Good job! A few more like that and we'll be home in time for supper!"
The ocean calmed almost immediately. Hopefully Susan had made it through ok. The elementals I took out were now sprawled on the ground, not moving. No way to tell if I had killed them. I shrugged it off, instantly recalling the cruel lack of sympathy from Shawn when we lost Juan. "One less," I whispered to myself.
Shawn’s eyes shot to me. I froze, paralyzed. I had tunnel vision, and he was standing at the end. He smiled, as though he knew what I had just said. The nightmare came back to me all at once and I felt my physical body fall directly into Micah's arms.
There was a brief struggle. Something was wrong, inside. The rock wall inside the cave to protect the entrance to my conscious body from Shades had disintegrated. Instead of disappearing in a puff of magic, the hard rock had shattered. Pieces of it littered the ground and the stairs, and other pieces shot around the cave like deadly missiles. The Shades roared, battling each other. I felt Arianna and some of the team we put together – they had the clear advantage of numbers – but they were distracted. I was exposed.
My presence was barely noticed, except by the one true entity I should have been more careful with. I watched her gaseous form emerge from the crevice halfway up the cave. I knew she was there all this time, but I mistook her aloofness for apathy. I was wrong. She was only biding her time, watching, learning, planning her attack.
She floated forward, hurling energy bolts to clear her path, not caring who she hit – those fighting for or against her disintegrated. They weren't gone permanently, but effectively removed from the battle, left attempting to piece themselves back together.
She began hurling her weapon at me. Not having had enough practice inside myself, I rolled, dodging them physically. I was at a loss for what kind of magic to use. I looked desperately for Arianna – for anyone to help. In my moment of distraction, the enemy Shade lunged at me, knocking me back off of my platform. I gripped the slippery ledge. My grasp was precarious as the rest of my body dangled over the distant water.
I tried telling myself I was just a Shade here, too. I could just float up and away; I didn't have to fall. But fear and panic paralyzed my brain. Maybe it was that pesky self-preservation instinct.
She landed hard on the ledge, barely glancing down at me – but her evil half-smile told me everything. I watched as she shot up to take command of my body. I reached for her, using what energy I had to try to lasso her and bring her back. I was no match.
But something I did connected, and part of me was dragged up with her while the other part was left behind.
I opened my eyes. While I had fought inside, the battle on the islands had continued. A familiar looking wall of water had formed far out into the ocean, and was now heading for the island. But it had Susan’s magical signature all over it.
Several holes had opened up around the perimeter of the valley, and more elementals came out, previously hidden in the caves. How did we not know? I thought back to my recent experience in a cave with Micah. When I had let my powers go; they bounced off the walls. They couldn't get out. Caves were like a natural barrier to our powers. Nothing entered, nothing left. Shawn had known that all along.
I would like to say all hell broke loose. Hell I could handle. But this…this was an organized battle, well planned. Sun Tzu would be proud. Shawn barked out more orders. All of the air elements broke formation and ran toward Susan's tsunami, fighting back the monstrous wave with their own wall of air. The guards grouped, and began to charge the hill. Half kept Alex pinned down with gunfire, while the other half moved forward. Soon his fight would become point blank shots or hand to hand combat, and he was grossly outnumbered. The earth and fire elements formed a tight circle, Shawn in the middle. Simultaneously, they turned and faced me.
I did the unexpected. I broke the bond with Micah and ran straight to Shawn. I heard Micah yelling after me, struggling to keep the shield intact, but he couldn't. His energy was drained, and combined with the distance I was putting between us, it was too much for him. The shield disintegrated. I expected a full on attack from Shawn and his lackeys, even felt myself flinch in anticipation, but it didn't come.
Yet, I moved forward. Panic reached me. I wasn't controlling my body. The Shade had taken full control while I was unconscious. I made an attempt to steer, but she pushed me right back down, allowing only the part of me that was lassoed to her to stay.
I could see what was happening. I could feel my body. Cold from the icy ground was creeping up into my legs. My lips were burning and chapped from the constant wind. But it was her body, not mine. She continued to walk forward, awkwardly. She had a slight limp caused by stiff leg. Maybe an old injury. Her left hip jutted out in an unintentional sexy sway.
It was that sway which stopped Shawn from attacking. Vayu, nearly out of the cave, saw me coming and raised his wand. Shawn put a hand up to stop him.
Vayu looked thoroughly disappointed.
Somehow, Shawn had just become my protector.
He is protecting
me
, bitch,
the Shade spoke to me.
Hmmm,
I answered.
We'll see about that.
"Sarah?" Shawn's voice carried straight through to me.
"Hey, baby." Sarah stepped up to Shawn, kissing his cheek.
He stepped back in amazement. "It… How?"
"Your athame,” she said. “That bitch absorbed all the Shades you had in there. Well, all the female Shades."
"Sarah!" He picked her up and swung her around. A foreign happiness lit up his face.
I took advantage of the distraction, trying to regain control. The temporary struggle brought my body to its knees. I gripped my head with my hands and screamed with frustration.
She won, again. But I was a lot closer to breaking through this time.
"Sorry about that, babe.” She straightened again. “She's trying to win back her body. I don't know why. It’s so damn…frumpy."
Shawn and Sarah turned to face Micah, and holding hands, began their attack. It was the very image my nightmare had conjured. Me and Shawn, side by side, doing his bidding. Destroying the population in order to save the planet. My stomach twisted painfully.
And we had our sights set on Micah.
Under command, the fire and earth elements surrounding the pair began gathering strength and energy. The ground around Micah shook. It began bubbling, releasing steam, and cracking open. Together, the elementals were turning the ground beneath his feet into molten lava.
"One last chance to join us, bro. Kaitlyn's gone anyway,” Shawn called. “Sarah's too strong to let her come back."
I panicked, silent and helpless in my little cave. The Shades picked up my mood, and most started skittering about anxiously. The rogues by now were subdued, and my team of Shades made their own attempts at taking over my body. Sarah fought back, pulling at her hair and screaming at herself.
This could go very bad. My body was still carrying my baby. I couldn't do anything to let her harm it.
"Stop!" My command carried throughout the cave, and everyone instantly obeyed. "Form your circles; join hands. Make sure each circle has a water, a fire, an earth, and an air. Gaias in the middle. That is not just my body she is holding hostage – it is my baby."
A few gasps, some moans, but then they were all business. Every single Shade joined hands, creating circles, even if they weren't part of one before. It takes a village to save a child.