Let the Storm Break (27 page)

The wrong girl.
Please tell me I didn’t save the wrong girl.
Especially since I’m the one who sent Audra here. If I’d listened

to her . . .
I stop myself from finishing the thought.
Right now I need to focus on finding her.
A dim glow finally appears ahead, and I take off running, racing

straight for Arella’s cell.

She doesn’t respond to my call, and when I peer through the mesh curtain, I can see her collapsed on the floor. Her skin is a freaky gray-blue and her arms and face are all twisted with pain and when I try to shove the curtain aside it won’t move, no matter how hard I try.

“Stop!” Solana tells me as I pound and kick and scream all kinds of things my mom would kill me for saying. “Os told me a word when we were up in the mountains and the Storms were closing in. He didn’t tell me what it meant or was for but . . .”

She whispers something I can’t understand, and the curtain of metal slides to the side.
I scan the small space, desperately searching for Audra or Gus. But no one’s here. Not in the other cell either.
“I think I feel a pulse,” Solana tells me, her legs shaking as she crouches beside Arella. “But it’s really weak. . . .”
“We have to get her back to the winds.”
Arella weighs almost nothing, so I could probably carry her even with my bum arm. But I let Solana help me, grabbing Arella’s feet while Solana grabs her shoulders and we haul her outside and stretch her out on the sand.
I didn’t expect her eyes to pop open with her first breath of air— though that would’ve been nice. But even when I wrap her up in Westerlies, she’s still not getting any better.
“Come on,” I whisper, crouching down beside her. “You have to wake up. You have to tell me what happened.”
I stare at her cracked gray-blue lips, trying to work up the courage to do CPR. But as I’m leaning down to try it, the Easterly from earlier tangles itself around Arella and starts to spin so quickly that it lifts Arella’s limp body off the ground.
Solana and I both back away as the wind spins even faster, turning Arella’s form to a blur
“I think it’s helping,” Solana says.
I’m trying to figure out what she’s seeing when the wind unravels, streaking into the Sky as Arella drops back to the sand, coughing and hacking.
“Liam,” she screams, flailing her pale arms as she pulls herself up. “Liam, I . . .”
Her voice trails off.
The wind is gone.
“Where are Gus and Audra?” I ask, grabbing her shoulder so she’ll look at me.
“It’s so much worse than I remember,” she groans, hugging herself and rocking back and forth.
I don’t have time for her games. “Where’s Audra? You called her here and now she’s gone—and Gus is too. Tell me what happened.”
“I called her here?” Arella asks, staring at the sky. “I don’t remember. I don’t . . .”
Shadows settle into her features.
“I had no choice,” she whispers.
I tighten my grip, feeling my fingers sink into her skin. “What does that mean?”
“Raiden.”
“What?”
I scream, lunging for Arella’s throat. “I trusted you! I—”
Solana blocks me, and I’m shaking too hard to resist.
Audra was right.
I never should’ve asked her to come here. And now she’s . . .
“Where is she?” I whisper, afraid I already know the answer.
Arella stares at the sky. “Raiden took her—
but I didn’t have a choice
! He told me to call Audra or he’d . . .”
“Or he’d what? Kill you?” I ask, wishing Solana would step aside so I could strangle Arella myself. For once I think I’d be able to. “Looks like he tried to do that anyway.”
“There are some things worse than death, Vane. And I knew Audra had the power of four. I thought she’d be strong enough to fight Raiden. I didn’t think he’d be able to take her.”
“Take her where?” I yell as she closes her eyes, shivering again.
“I’m not sure. It feels like he built a pipeline right there”—she points to a dent in the sand about a hundred yards away—“and launched her and Gus somewhere very far away. I’m guessing his fortress in the mountains. That’s where he always took the others.”
I want to cry, scream, punch something really hard. But I don’t have time for a meltdown. If Gus and Audra are in Raiden’s prison, I have to go—now. “Where is his fortress?”
“You can’t go after her, Vane.”
“Tell me where it is!”
My scream echoes off the foothills, but Arella doesn’t even blink.
“I can take you,” Solana offers quietly. “I know the way to that city better than anyone. We can leave as soon as you’re ready.”
“I’m ready.”
She touches my wounded arm—her fingers barely brushing the skin—and a sharp pain ripples through my body. “You’re hurt, Vane. You need to get treated.”
“I need to get to
Audra
.”
“She might not be in as much danger as you think,” Arella interrupts, and I swear if I had the energy I would drag her back down to her cell.
“She’s with
Raiden
!”
“Yes, but . . . I don’t think she has what he wants anymore.” She closes her eyes, waving her hands through the air. “Don’t you feel it?”
“Feel what?”
It almost looks like she’s smiling as she tells me, “She broke your bond.”
I clutch my chest, trying not to believe her.
But I don’t feel any sort of pull.
And is that why her trace feels so weird in the air?
A tear streams down my cheek before I can blink it away, and I realize I’m leaning on Solana way more than I want to. “Why would she do that? Why would she . . .”
But I know the answer.
“To protect the Westerlies,” I whisper.
Audra would never let the fourth language fall into Raiden’s hands. So if she was afraid she couldn’t protect it, she would just get rid of it.
“Does it even work that way? Can she forget it completely?” I whisper, not sure what answer I’m hoping for.
“I don’t know,” Arella admits, closing her eyes. “I didn’t know bonds could share languages. But it feels like it.”
Everything is spinning too fast and I . . .
“So, we’re not bonded anymore?” I ask as Solana helps me sit on the sand.
“
She
isn’t.”
“What does that mean?”
God—for once could she just answer a question
completely
?
“It means that
you’re
no longer a part of her. But
she’s
still a part of you. Unless you decide to let go. . . .”
She rubs the skin on her wrist, where her bracelet used to be.
Her
link
.
I always thought it was sad the way Arella clung to her connection to her husband, despite the fact that he was gone.
Now it gives me hope.
I’ll be holding on to Audra with every ounce of strength I have left.
I close my eyes, taking slow breaths.
I
will
get Audra back. And I’m going to bring Gus back too.
But to do that we have to move fast.
Every second counts.

AUDRA
I

t’s cold in the tower.
Chilled air seeping through the bars of my narrow window. Thick frost coating everything I touch.
Raiden offered me a blanket when he tossed me onto the rough

stone floor and barred the heavy iron door. But the only thing I want is my freedom, and since he’s not willing to give that, I’ll find a way to take it.

I’ve combed the walls for the guide Aston mentioned, but he must’ve carved it into a different cell. Maybe the one Gus is locked in. Wherever it is, I’ll find it.

In the meantime I keep my back to the wall, never sleeping— barely breathing. Listening to the mournful wails of the broken Northerlies and promising myself that when Raiden comes for me, I’ll be ready.

He doesn’t believe the secret is lost.
It’s why he’s kept me alive.
Why he’s kept Gus alive.
Waiting for the right time to break me.
But it’s gone.
Everything is gone.
Everything except the gentle breeze I can still feel brushing my

skin. Wrapping around me. Still determined to shield me. I don’t deserve its loyalty.
But in this dark, frozen place, far away from the warmth and

peace and things that hurt too much to think about, it helps to have something to hold on to.

And even though I can’t understand the words it sings, I have a feeling I know the theme of its melody.
Hope.

VANE
T
he Gales are declaring a victory, but it feels like a defeat. The rescue workers are still pulling people from the rubble, and the entire valley is in a state of emergency.

Only seven guardians remained after Os eliminated the last Living Storm, and three had serious injuries. But it’s enough to hold down the base while they call for reinforcements.

I told them I don’t have time to wait.

Arella and Solana popped my elbow back into place—which sucked a whole lot more without Audra there to distract me.
But thinking about her hurts more.
Way
more.
Gus too.
I have no way of knowing if they’re okay, but I have to believe Raiden won’t do anything to them.
They don’t have the power he wants.
All he can use them for is bait to try and trap me.
And I’m heading out tonight.
I wanted to go alone, but with my arm down for the count, that probably wouldn’t be a good idea. So I’m bringing Solana and Arella.
Arella, because of her gift—and because every time I let her out of my sight, she manages to betray us.
And Solana to guide us to Raiden’s city—and because I need
someone
I can trust.
Os wanted to come too, but someone needs to stay here and figure out what to do about all the destruction in the valley. The people in the desert deserve our help and protection. We can’t make up for what they’ve lost, but we can make sure it never happens again.
It was the first real order I’ve given. The first time Os obeyed without question. First time it made sense to be called Your Highness.
It still felt
weird.
But I think I’m ready.
I’ve bandaged my arm.
Texted my parents a quick update, followed by about fifty more texts answering all my mom’s questions—she wonders why I never text her.
All I have left to do is change.
The uniform the Gales gave me has gathered dust for too many weeks. It’s time to step into my role.
The pants aren’t so bad—but the jacket is just as itchy as I thought it would be, and it hurt like hell slipping it over my arm.

LET THE STORMS BREAK

And I’m
not
growing out my hair so it can be in some ugly braid. But I’m a Gale.
A
guardian.
And I’m getting Audra back.

Acknowledgments
TK