Dragon's Storm (Legion Of Angels #4)(50)

“What happened to her?” I asked, looking around. I didn’t see anyone. I was alone down here.

“It happened just as you saw,” the voice replied. “Dark angels took her.”

“But how? What was she doing all the way out here?”

“She has not gone rogue.”

The voice had guessed my thoughts. Or read them.

“She’s been working too hard, straining her magic too much,” the voice said. “It weakened her mind, her defenses. The dark angels invaded her dreams, taking control of them over the course of many weeks. Dream by dream, step by step. Caught in a trance, she came here. She thought it was just a dream.”

“Where did the dark angels take her?”

“They drew her into a dimension between Earth and hell. A dream dimension. Let me show you.”

Visions flashed through my head. A dark room. Colonel Starborn being chained to a wall. Shadowed figures swimming around her. Her tortured screams.

“Where is she?” I asked, my voice shaking. The voice hadn’t just shown me the angel. It had bombarded me with everything Colonel Starborn was feeling right now. Pain. Anger. Despair.

“I don’t know,” the voice replied. “My powers cannot find her. The dark angels are blocking me.”

“Then how am I supposed to find her?”

“Someone with a connection to her can lead you to her location.”

“Captain Somerset?” I asked.

“No, that connection is broken. But there is another.”

“Who?”

The voice didn’t answer in words. It showed me, hitting me with a thousand different images at once. Flashes of Colonel Starborn training someone, her protege. Flashes I couldn’t process, couldn’t believe.

“You must go,” the voice told me. “Now.”

I blinked back the visions and looked around. The lava was rising again—and this time it was real. I had to get out of here before it reached me.

“There’s a way up that wall,” the voice told me.

I looked up. The wall was tall, but it wasn’t completely smooth. I began climbing, trying not to panic as the temperature rose. As long as I stayed ahead of the lava, my elemental resistance would protect me. I was not going to die. With that settled, I wiped my sweaty hand on my shorts and kept climbing.

I found Nero at the top, a shattered wall of rock behind him. “You’re late,” I told him with a smirk. It was easy to smile now that I was on solid ground again.

“The mountain gave me trouble,” he said.

I looked through the shattered wall to find many more shattered walls behind it. “I see you showed it who’s boss.”

“Yes.” He looked down into the pool of rising lava. “Did you find anything interesting down there?”

“More like something interesting found me. Colonel Starborn was here, but she’s not anymore. She’s been abducted by dark angels.”

I told him everything the mysterious voice had shown me.

“And you believe it?” he asked.

“Yes. I can just feel it’s telling the truth.” I looked at him, expecting a lecture about not being so trusting.

He merely nodded. “Ok.”

“Ok? That’s it? No lecture?”

His brows arched. “Do you want a lecture?”

“Not particularly.”

“I trust you, Leda. If you feel the voice was telling the truth, then that’s good enough for me.”

My mouth dropped in shock. “I…” I covered my surprise with a big smile. “Careful, Colonel, some people might think you’re going soft,” I teased him.

You could have cut diamonds off his face. “If you’d like to test that theory, Pandora, then by all means, continue.”

“Oh, no. I’m fine.” I swallowed a chuckle. “We all know you’re a badass.”

“And don’t forget it.” He waved me toward the substantial hole he’d made in the wall of solid rock. “Let’s get out of here before you get heatstroke.”

I didn’t argue with him. Even my pride knew he was right. Sure, I’d been training my elemental resistance, but we were inside a volcano. It was still too much for my feeble magic. I was getting dizzy, and if we didn’t leave now, Nero would have to carry me out. That was considerably less badass than walking out on my own two feet.

The truck was waiting for us right where we’d left it. Lava hadn’t eaten it for lunch, and neither had any monsters. As we drove back to the base, I thought about doing the right thing. What did that even mean? Sometimes it was the hard choice, the one that was best—but not necessarily what I wanted. A sacrifice. Is that what Captain Somerset had done with Colonel Starborn by letting her go? Had she made the choice that was right for everyone even though it hurt her?

The base was bustling with activity when we got back. Nero hurried off to hear Major Horn’s report, while I went up to the top of the tallest tower. It was the perfect place to think. No one else was up here. I looked across the vast desert. The sun was setting, its red-orange rays lighting up the sea of sand, making it sparkle like millions of diamonds. The air was clear and still tonight. I couldn’t believe how late it was already. How long had we been in those caves?

I’d watched the sun set at Storm Castle too. It was so different from here. From the top of the castle, I could see all four elemental zones. At sunset, when the sun’s rays ignited their magic, it was like watching four distinct light shows. Lightning cut across the sky of the Sky Plains, and below wind funnels danced on the ground. Down in the Crystal Forest, the sunlight caught the tiny raindrops beaded on the trees’ needles. Snowflakes turned and twirled, changing color as they fell softly down. The smoke that rose from the Fire Mountains glowed with the colors of the sunset. And these earth lands shone just as brightly from the castle.