Airborne (24 page)

She couldn’t spot Mason among them. The waves drew her back and threw her again. Salt water washed up her nose and burned in the back of her throat. The magic hummed but Avery couldn’t feel anything below her abdomen.

A shadow suddenly swopped over her and then a quick hand plucked her from the water. Avery looked up into Eva’s grinning face.

“I told you we’d have a nice chat.” Eva laughed.

Avery didn’t fight. Too weak, she couldn’t. All she could do was wait and see what Eva had in store for her now.

Twenty-two

Magic ripped through the air in vibrant flashes of blue, green, and gold. The night sky lit up like a thunder storm. Every second, the clouds above would glow and show the vicious fighting shadows above. Eva maneuvered through the raging battle with practiced ease. Fifteen stories up, she dropped Avery on the building top. The resulting awkward crash into brick left Avery writhing on the damp floor. Eva set down next to her and yanked Avery upright by the back of her collar.

“Stop fighting me.” Eva growled in advance.

Avery hadn’t yet thought of using her magic. The wind up here was fierce, and the cold salt water clung to her skin to leave her harrowingly numb. Bones aching, she stilled obediently. She just had to wait, Avery told herself. She just had to wait for Mason. With that mantra in her mind, Avery turned her attention to the situation.

Eva had thrown her down in the middle of the makeshift courtroom. Above, atop the raised wooden bench perched Mikhail. He balanced lightly with his wings barely opened and peered down at her.

“How are you dear?” Everything about the leisure ridden tone seemed bizarre as though the harpie didn’t realize a battle raged on around them. Eva also kept her eyes set inward as if they were in a bubble and everything else went down miles away.

“What do want? You said you couldn’t use me.” Avery shouted almost futilely. Her teeth chattered so hard, she could barely form the words.

Wings snapping open, he swept down until his presence towered over her. Avery jerked back but Eva held her still with a brutal hold on her shoulder.

“Oh foolish girl, we didn’t kill the Prince to let our prize go.”

Avery sputtered for an answer when Mikhail produced a gleaming knife. He brandished it but never struck. So focused on the situation in front of her, Avery barely noticed Mason land with Leela nearby. He came to an awkward landing and before their feet even touched the ground, Leela broke free from his hold. The girl then took off, rushing to stand besides Mikhail. Leela was still bespelled, clearly, and her mind must have been on a one track road. Mikhail’s allure amulet still had Leela bowing at his feet.

Mason stood by, doing nothing but waiting intently. He didn’t want to step in with Mikhail’s knife still posed to strike. Avery held back on protesting herself. They were at a standoff.

“Let her go.” Mason said slowly. “She’s no use to you.”

Eva sneered.

“Then why are you still here, Mason? If she served no other purpose, you would have traded her in to the government a long time ago.” Eva asked pointedly.

Avery’s heart skipped a beat. The Band apparently didn’t miss much. If he had decided he couldn’t remove the amulet’s magic from her body-- turning her in or not-- he wouldn’t have spent almost three days delaying. Mason seemed to know this too. Apparently careful to change their thought train, he said something else.

“I wouldn’t trade her into the government. They’d kill her and you know it. I won’t let another innocent person die. I’m nothing like you.” His temper had flared and with it, he growled so darkly at his sister that even Avery was intimidated.

“You’re everything like me. When will you admit it?” Eva shot back, her voice curling into an ugly and bitter tone.

The hatred in her green eyes simmering, she looked ready to attack. Avery watched it, her stomach knotting with the tension. If Mason kept this up, a sibling show down would be inevitable but he was also successfully distracting Eva.

“I would never have killed our father. You crossed a line.”

Avery watched as Eva kept going for the distraction hook, line, and sinker. Too concerned with the spat, she hadn’t been any closer to discovering the secret about the amulet’s magic. Avery’s attention flickered to the clouds. The police had descended upon the island with a fully fledged force. Most of the Band was in the area fighting back but they were clearly outnumbered. She stood a chance, Avery realized. If she just kept the secret for a few minutes longer, the police would swoop in and she’d escape.

“You have no right to judge me, Mason. And you have no right to protect that man. Jericho was a thief, a traitor, and a liar.”

“Eva. Shut up.” Mikhail said softly but the second he spoke, all attention fell to him. His knife still lingered in the air but his patience had apparently worn thin. “You’ve forgotten why we came.”

Avery squirmed backwards on the muddy pavement but Eva quickly readjusted her painful grip until Avery moved no more. Mikhail turned his eyes on Avery and she felt her skin crawl and her stomach flutter. Lungs constricting and mind blanking, she struggled to talk. Mikhail was using his amulet again. He would compel her to comply with his commands just as easily a second time.

“Tell me dear. Why are you still around? What has Mason found out about the Willow magic?”

Her mouth clicked open but she struggled for words. Her head pounded. Mikhail looked dreamy again. His black eyes appeared soft and beautiful. His hair fell over his face perfectly and skin looked shiny and smooth. His half smile made her heart swoon. Feeling light headed, she forgot all of her concerns.

“You have pretty wings.” She giggled lucidly. “Can I touch them?”

He pouted and Avery panicked, knowing she’d upset him.

“Not until you tell me. Tell me what Mason has found out about the Willow magic.”

“Oh.” Avery frowned. Her mind wasn’t functioning properly and her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. She knew Mason had found out something but that something kept slipping away. She grasped at the memories, straining to think properly. Mikhail wanted to know and she wanted to tell him.

“Come on.” Mikhail reached out and brushed her cheek-- the contact threatening to make Avery’s knees buckle from under her. Blood pounding in her ears, she opened her mouth.

“Avery, stop!”

Mason’s voice suddenly tore through her daze. Snapping from the stupor, Avery found herself on the building top again, wet and in pain. Her eyes connected with Mikhail’s but this time they didn’t look inviting, just horrifying. Mikhail’s expression changed rapidly. Going from amused to infuriated, he tightened his grip on the blade.

“Leela.” He ordered and Avery’s friend became alert again. “Did you overhear them? What were they saying?”

“Leela, don’t say anything!”Avery couldn’t finish. Mikhail wacked her hard enough that she saw stars.

Leela blinked as if she was having trouble comprehending, and she was probably going through the same struggle Avery had. As so, Avery was convinced she could snap her friend out of it.

“Mason!” Avery screamed, frantic to stop this. She cast a hurried glance sideways but Mason and Eva were nowhere to be seen. She was on her own. Avery tried to wrestle her way to her feet but Mikhail held her firm. Leela kept talking.

“Mason was upset. He said that Avery had to die. If she died then the magic would jump to the nearest organic life form. It’s the same way she got the magic inside her body when the amulet broke.”

Mikhail eyes shot open and his face flashed with some incomprehensive emotion.

“Eva.” He ordered into the sky. “Come here.”

Avery crawled to her feet just as the female harpie swooped back toward the building top. Mason was still nowhere to be seen and Avery’s panic grew. Eva crossed the roof and grabbed hold of Avery again. Immobilized, Avery couldn’t escape when Mikhail idly drew his talon across her cheek.

“So this magic can be absorbed into another person? This means once you die, whoever is closest will get the magic. And they can use that magic as an invaluable weapon.” Mikhail surmised.

“It’s not that easy.” Avery protested.

“Because you don’t know how to use it. But if you die, and I inherit the magic-- I will use it well. I will be unstoppable. So that all leads us back to you dying for me.”

“You’re insane!” She gasped but he grabbed her chin and forced her head still. Bringing his eyes up to meet his, he stopped smiling. He spoke to Eva.

His hand moved quickly, launching back and then forward to give Avery a sharp slap. The strike jarred her but also made her fight harder. Mikhail struck her again but this time he slammed his knee into her jaw. Avery’s bones rattled and her vision splotched with blackness. Mikhail struck her and Avery’s entire world threatened to go dark. The back of her head smacked the brick and she found herself staring at the chaotic blue strips of sky above.

Her thoughts didn’t work right. Where was Mason? Her mind kept repeating the single idea. He should have been here to help her by now. Feeling more than mildly delirious now, she looked back toward Mikhail. His figure, blurry around the edges, had two fellow duplicates at the sides of her vision.

Advancing on her, Mikhail ordered Eva to back up with a sharp bark. Holding something shiny and thin in his hands, he leaned down before her. Avery’s mind urged her to move before Mikhail could use the knife, but every inch of her body only quivered from the attempt. In the visual distortion, something shining and orange caught her eye. Drawn to it, a last wave of adrenaline ripped through her veins. Avery used it. Darting up, she caught the orange amulet between her fingers and tore it free. The chain snapped before Mikhail could even let out a screech of rage. Holding it tight, she caught his eyes.

“Stop.” She ordered in a firm but breathy voice.

He didn’t advance again.

“Stop it now. Drop the knife.” She said again, feeling empowered. The allure amulet heated in her palm and she clenched it until the glass bit into her skin. Mikhail obeyed on cue and the knife skidded on the floor.

“Back up.” She struggled to hold his eyes now and forced her aching muscles to stand. She staggered but stayed up right. Mikhail backed up in slow, stiff movements.

“Now don’t move until I tell you.” Blood turning to ice water, she desperately watched it work.

She concentrated on the harpie so much, she barely heard Eva’s growl of outrage behind her. The female harpie sprung and before Avery could whirl around, they both crashed into the ground. The orange allure amulet went sliding away.

On her belly, Avery couldn’t struggle. She tried to summon the humming in her blood but Eva shoved her face against the brick. Eva’s weight suddenly lifted from her back. In a flash of moving feathers, Mason had yanked her free. Avery staggered to her feet. The two siblings danced around each other with quick swipes and lashes. Avery backpedaled to avoid the fray when she spotted Leela in the corner. The small girl, wrapped in her own arms, shook. Slipping through the multiple frays, Avery darted to her side.

The police had brought in reinforcements by now. Reminiscent of the thunderous flapping on Hatcher Pass, they began the assault to retake the island. The police pounced on the immobilized Mikhail. Only when the mass of bodies collided with the floor did Mikhail snap out of his trance and let out an ear splitting screech.

Eva turned her attention to distracting them and Mason took the opportunity. Quickly returning to Avery, Mason lifted her backwards with one arm around her waist. The roof swarmed with harpies. Reaching out, Avery snatched her Leela’s hand when Mason forcefully lifted them off the ground.

Then it happened.

One of the Band members sideswiped Mason to join the frenzy and another came swooping in for them. Mason dodged backwards sending them both over the side of the building. Avery held onto Leela’s hand, but with the sudden jerk she lost her grip. Then Avery held nothing but air.

Mason flew upward just as the roof began swarming with police. Leela still stood on the edge of the building, growing smaller in the increasing distance.

“Mason! Turn around! Turn around!” Avery hollered over the deafening wind.

Mason didn’t turn though and his wings pounded to propel them forward. Just when they touched the first layer of clouds, Leela’s form finally disappeared in the swimming mass of bodies.