The Council (Darkness #5)(39)

“Embody it.”

What the f**k does that mean?

And then I knew. As everything was slipping away, and my struggle for life faded, I let go. I let it all go. Threw the doors wide, stopped trying to fight it, stopped trying to control it, and just surrendered.

Something clicked deep inside. Snapped closed. Aligned.

I took a huge gasp. The air was so sweet that it should’ve been illegal to be poured right into my lungs. The magic was so hot it should’ve burned me alive and saturated my body. My blood sizzled. My bones hissed. My fingers tingled.

I opened my eyes as laughter bubbled out. Elements danced all around me. Laughing and playing, magic invited me to join it. I didn’t need to suck it in; I needed to simply flick the elements in a direction. I held hands with them at all times. Would hold hands, always.

“We are special, Sasha,” Cato was saying in a hushed bubble that surrounded us. His eyes sparkled as they held mine. “We have a rare gift, and a dangerous burden. If we survive this day, I will show you.”

“Why didn’t you show me this sooner?”

“I had to know your merit, of course. Fate-touched does not always mean good. Nature is both brutal and beautiful. A forest fire, causing mass destruction and death, is necessary for rebirth and new life. I had to know which you were. One to destroy, or nurture.”

“I hate that you are even more long-winded than Charles.”

Cato laughed. With a flick of his hand, the bubble evaporated. Screaming and yelling assaulted me immediately. Swords clashed.

“What’s happening?” I yelled, looking around wildly.

Mine and Cato’s crew stood within the room staring out at struggling and fighting men and women I did not recognize. Mage June lay on the floor, unconscious—hers was probably the link I found. The door had been closed, and now only the hole in the wall stood agape. Except, those trying to burst in froze in midair amid sparks, which led immediately to screaming.

Cato had some sort of protective spell in place. I didn’t have time to analyze, however.

“Andris has been busy. There will be a great cleaning of the Council today.” Cato glanced over my people and let his eyes settle on me. “Rudy is unimportant. I had reports of one of your clan members—Jessie, I believe. He stole one of our vehicles shortly after your motorhomes exited the premises. If all goes well, he is still on your side. If not… hopefully he works with the enemy and you know how to track a cellphone.”

“Jessie!” Hope surged into me. Whether he was a traitor or not, he could definitely lead us to Andris. We just had to hope he still had his cellphone. And also that Charles knew the name of the nerdy guy in the mansion who always played video games. He was the electronic genius of the clan.

“Okay, we gotta go!” I slapped Charles to get him to focus. “We have to get out of here somehow.”

“What about Toa and Dominicous?” Charles yelled over the din.

“I will tell them whence you’ve gone.” Cato leisurely strolled toward the back of the room. “I am sure I will see them. Dominicous will be stuck in the middle of it. Until he learns of the more important battle being waged, of course. He will not resist Fate’s pull. But then, who among us can?”

“I am so tired of hearing about stupid Fate,” I muttered, the elements pulsing around me.

“Come out of there, old man! You’ve been crowned long enough!” A colossal guy bent to look through the mouth of the hole.

“Getting out of here is going to really suck,” Charles groaned, his grip tightening on his sword as he stared at the man.

“Here we are.” A click sounded at the back of the room, barely heard over the fighting outside. Cato gestured us closer as a small door cracked open. “Every important official has an escape chamber, whether they were told about it or not. I am a crafty old fool who has learned a thing or two in his years.”

“Please don’t ever be my enemy.” I rushed in that direction, Jonas and the wolves at my back.

“Where do you think you’re going?” The man straightened up, his stomach nearly filling the entire hole. Muscles waved, his limbs organizing something out there I wanted no part of.

The wolves loped out ahead of us. I paused for Cato as the spell on the house fluxed and bent. It pulsed again, a surge of color visible for one moment, before fading away into the light of the room.

“Oh dear, someone has unleashed a demon.” Cato waved me through. “That won’t be much fun.”

Unleashed sounded to me like something with free rein. Which sounded like a distraction Andris might use—let it loose to rip the place apart and take off so he wouldn’t be followed. It still fit.

A new blast of urgency hit me. I motioned for Cato impatiently. “No, you go.” He was old after all. I half-worried Charles would have to carry him.

The wrinkles around his eyes creased as he smiled. “No, no. I will not be joining you. The battle lies beyond.”

“But—”

A blast took apart another chunk of wall, spewing wood and debris into the room.

“Go!” Charles yelled, shoving me through the door.

“But—”

My protesting didn’t matter. Charles picked me up and carried me through. We filed into a tunnel, pausing at a crossroads for the wolves to break up and scout it out, and then come back and stare at Tim.