by Moss, Sadie
I scanned the room, searching for the lanky mage’s brown and silver hair.
He was nowhere to be found.
“Shit. Where the hell is Rain?” I whispered.
Ivy crouched down beside me, her flapper dress and blonde bob looking out of place in this dingy cave. “That’s what I have to show you. I found the magic pulling machine. And Rain is turning it on.”
Chapter 24
Fear iced my skin.
“What?”
“He’s trying to do the pull now. It’s up there.” She pointed to the door at the top of one of the staircases along the wall. A glowing blue light emanated from the corridor beyond it.
“Show me,” I urged, scrambling to my feet. The fight still raged around me, but the noise of it seemed to dim as my focus narrowed. It was too soon for him to do the magic pull, wasn’t it? I thought the spell needed longer to recharge.
Ivy nodded fervently then rose and ran toward the staircase. I was a bit slower than her, since I actually had to dodge moving bodies and projectiles instead of passing right through them. She trotted quickly up the stairs, although her feet never actually touched the steps. I took them two at a time after her, my lungs burning and my body aching with exhaustion.
I’d never used this much magic all at once before, and I hadn’t realized what a physical toll it would take. I felt like I’d just run up a mountain while being pelted with rocks.
Actually, that was a fairly accurate description of my night so far.
At the top of the stairs, Ivy turned into a long corridor. It was illuminated by glowing blue lights, and it wound around in a tight spiral, moving upward at a steep angle. As I ran, I reached for the communication charm on my earring. I needed to tell Noble and the others where I was—where Rain was.
But my hand closed around bare earlobe. I cursed. The fucking earring must’ve fallen off when Rain pinned me to the wall with wind. My footsteps slowed as I fought an internal war with myself. I wanted to go back, to tell someone what was happening, but I wasn’t sure I could spare the precious seconds.
Mind made up, I put on a burst of speed, sprinting after Ivy.
I had to stop Rain.
Careful not to trip, I brought my focus inward, mentally erasing the image of myself. It was entirely possible Rain had a charm like most of the guards at the People’s Palace wore that would allow him to see through an invisibility spell. But it was worth trying, at least.
“Ivy!” I hissed, my breath coming in sharp gasps. “Can you make yourself less visible?”
She turned back to me, her eyes finding mine immediately. Apparently, ghosts weren’t fooled by invisibility spells.
“Oh, yes!” A few seconds later, she faded from view almost entirely. I could see an outline of her form if I looked closely, but it was nearly indistinguishable. “How’s this?”
“Good,” I muttered. “Just stick close to me so I don’t lose you, okay?”
“I will.” A shiver of cold raced up my arm as she brushed against me.
Finally, the corridor leveled out, and a door appeared at the end of it. It stood slightly ajar, just wide enough that if I exhaled all the air from my lungs, I could slip through without touching it.
Ivy passed right through the wood, and a moment later, her face flickered into view through the crack. “He’s distracted. Quick! Follow me.”
Her voice was so low I had to strain to hear it. Making my body as thin as possible, I slid through the opening in the door. Another cold brush of her hand pulled my attention, and she led me toward a stout pillar at the side of the room. I ducked behind it, peering out slowly into the large space.
Rain moved quickly around the room, flipping switches and sending small jolts of electricity into parts of his machine. Jonas stood to one side, watching anxiously.
The room was big, though nowhere near as cavernous as the space below us where the battle still raged. It had a high, domed ceiling with a small hole in the center. The night sky and stars were visible outside. We must be near the mountain’s peak.
I didn’t linger on that thought, because my attention was immediately taken up by the contents of the room. Set along one wall, the metal platform with the prongs sticking out of it held the magic from Rain’s first pull. The dense ball of power glowed, pulsing with energy.
A large device dominated the center of the room. Rain’s magic pulling machine was simple and almost beautiful, comprised of a shining metal platform topped by curved pieces of metal. The pieces created an orb, which was suspended by a thick arm that arced up from the base. A small ball of light glowed inside the orb.
Several feet away from the contraption, a figure sat slumped and still in a chair.
Eben Knowles.
His dark skin was ashen, and though his eyes were open, he didn’t seem to be truly seeing anything. A thin ribbon of drool slid from the corner of his mouth.
Pity and revulsion roiled my stomach at the sight of him. If this was what Rain’s new machine did to its victims, death might be a better option.
I almost jumped when Rain himself stepped forward and hauled Eben from the chair. He tossed the once-Gifted man aside, and Eben gave no resistance. When he hit the floor, he crawled dazedly away. Rain kicked away the chair Eben had been sitting in. His movements were forceful and jerky, and I couldn’t tell if it was from adrenaline or fear or the massive amounts of power surging through his body.
Rain crossed over to a large stand and picked up a crystal almost twelve inches in diameter, lifting the heavy jewel reverently.
When Rain turned back, Jonas stepped forward, his brows pinched. “Are you sure this is wise?”
“Of course I am.” Rain sneered at the other man, stepping around him and depositing the crystal in the same spot where the chair had been. It hovered several feet off the ground, glittering in the light. “I’ve worked toward this moment for years. I won’t let another Lockwood stop me. This time it will work. It’s already working.”
“But you said yourself the spell needs time to recharge! You just did the pull on Eben. You need to give it more time.”
“I don’t have more time!” Rain rounded on him, nostrils flaring. “That bitch took all my time! I have no choice. And it will work. It just might not be as stable as I’d hoped.”
“Meaning what?” Jonas’s voice was hard, and he moved back into Rain’s path. “Will people die again?”
Rain stopped, his body growing stock-still. He tilted his head at Jonas. “They may. Why?”
Jae’s father licked his lips, seeming to be fighting some internal battle. Finally, he squared his shoulders. “Then I can’t let you do this. That was not what we agreed on.”
A ghost of a smile flitted over Rain’s lips. He chuckled, his raspy voice making it sound almost like a wheeze. “When will people realize they need to stop saying that to me?”
Jonas shook his head. “I’m sorry. I am on your side, Rain. We can find another way. We—”
“There is no other way!” Rain screamed, spittle flying from his mouth. His hands flew to Jonas’s neck. Jonas jerked back, but he was too late. Electric white light burst from Rain’s thin fingers as he squeezed.
I drew back behind the pillar, not wanting to witness what came next. I wasn’t sorry the world would be rid of Jonas, even if he had tried to do one semi-decent thing in the end. And I was relieved in a way that Jae wouldn’t have to be the one to kill him. But as much as I hated the man, his resemblance to Jae made my heart hurt. I couldn’t watch his death.
A moment later, Ivy’s soft, sad voice came in my ear. “It’s over.”
Heart thundering in my chest, I peeked back out into the room. Rain dropped Jonas’s limp body. Small streaks of blood trailed from the dead man’s eyes. The savagery that had overtaken Rain’s face a moment ago faded, and he brushed his hands off on his suit jacket.
“There really is no other way,” he said softly, seeming almost apologetic.
Gods, this guy is fucking insane.
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And he was about to unleash the Great Death all over again, leaving an untold number of Gifted and Touched people dead or brain-dead while he rose to almost godlike power.
Whispering softly to himself, Rain fetched a large vial from a work table near the wall and walked back over to his machine. He uncorked the bottle and poured its contents over the crystal. The liquid was viscous and almost clear, running slowly down over each facet of the crystal, coating the entire thing.
He stepped back, raising his hands toward the large metal pieces of his machine. Lightning flared from his palms, but before he could unleash it, I dashed out from behind the pillar.
Twin flames burst from my hands, flying toward his back.
He spun, expanding the electricity between his hands to create a shield. My fireballs slammed into it and exploded in a burst of light.
Rain’s lips pulled back from his teeth in a horrible impression of a smile. “Decided to come out of hiding, did you, Miss Lockwood? I suppose that makes you braver than your father. He tried to sneak past me, to destroy my life’s work without even having the decency to look me in the eye first.”
“Yeah, because you’re the best judge of decency,” I shot back, letting my invisibility illusion drop. It obviously hadn’t stopped him from seeing me, and although it didn’t take much energy to maintain, I needed to save every bit of power I had left.
Rain must’ve read my thoughts, because the bags under his eyes crinkled as he smirked. “Tired?”
“No.” I glared at him, trying to form some plan of attack. I wouldn’t stand a chance against him toe-to-toe, so I needed to find some way to surprise him, to put him off balance.
“Liar.” He raised his hands, looking almost euphoric as a web of lightning surrounded his body, encasing him in a protective shell. The flaming sword appeared in his hands again, making him look like some kind of vengeful angel. “You should try power, Miss Lockwood. There’s really nothing quite like it.”
His glowing, electrified form advanced toward me.
Chapter 25
It took everything I had not to turn tail and run.
I’d never been afraid of a fight—but I’d never fought a glowing white monster with a blade made of fire before.
Pivoting, I threw a burst of flame toward the goo-covered crystal in the middle of the room. But Rain swung his sword in a wide arc, and my fire veered off course, careening toward his weapon. The sword absorbed the flickering orange light, pulsing as it seemed to glow even brighter.
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
With a growl of frustration, I reached out with my magic, trying to move the crystal through levitation. It wouldn’t budge. Rain advanced toward me, sword raised. I shot a spear of ice toward him, but he cleaved through it, the heat of the blade reducing the weapon to mist.
He lunged toward me, stabbing for my abdomen, and I jumped back. I avoided the strike by several inches, but sweat broke out on my brow at the blazing inferno of heat the weapon radiated.
Breath heaving, I forced a blast of air toward Rain, driving him backward. He let the lightning shield drop before he slammed into the base of his machine, the sword disappearing from his hands.
Ha! He didn’t want to risk damaging his precious contraption.
Taking advantage of that weakness, I pressed forward, using the wind to keep him pinned. I threw a dagger at him, and it crossed into the path of the wind as it flew toward him. The gust sped it up but knocked it off course too. The blade clipped his arm, tearing a hole in his suit. Blood welled, staining the dark gray fabric a reddish-black.
The wind weakened as my strength ebbed, and Rain ducked to the side. I drew my other blade, heart thrumming so fast I couldn’t distinguish the individual beats. Rain summoned his sword again, swinging wildly as he stepped forward. I raised my blade to block his, but as soon as they connected, the metal of my dagger began to melt. Globs of hot steel fell on my forearm, and I screamed in pain, dropping the handle.
His blade continued its arc, and I twisted, falling to the floor.
I had no more means to block his sword. My feet scrabbled against the smooth stone floor as I pushed myself away from him on my back. I felt for my thigh sheaths, desperate for any kind of weapon. One, at least, wouldn’t be coming back at all. Where was the other?
Desperate, I shot a ball of fire at him, but the flame was weak. His sword gobbled it up immediately, pulsing with power.
Godsdamn it. Everything I did seemed to make him stronger.
In another two steps, he stood above me, his face a mask of triumph. For the second time today, he raised his sword for the killing strike.
Cold steel met my fingertips, and I could’ve wept for joy. My dagger.
As Rain raised his flaming blade high in both hands, I sat up quickly, yanking the dagger from its sheath. In one smooth motion, I plunged it into his gut, twisting as hard as I could.
His eyes went wide. A small grunt of pain and surprise escaped him.
Then he brought his own sword down.
The blade pierced my midsection, forcing me back down. Pain beyond anything I’d ever felt tore through my body as the blade both cut and burned. I screamed, my vocal cords shredding with the agony of the sound. He pulled the sword roughly out of my belly, and a new kind of pain flooded me.
Something hot and wet spread beneath my body.
I couldn’t sit up.
I could only turn my head weakly to the side as Rain stumbled away from me. His sword sizzled, wet with my blood. He banished it with a flick of his wrist and used both hands to pull the dagger out of his stomach.
Fuck. It wasn’t fair. We’d both landed a blow, but one of us had used a fucking sword made of fire.
And one of us still had power to spare.
As I watched through half-lidded eyes, Rain cupped his hands over his stomach, a bright glow emanating from his palms. The blood that was welling through his fingers slowed and finally stopped.
Keeping one hand on his stomach and walking with a hunched gait, Rain crossed to the door. He pushed it shut before waving a hand at the large chair Eben had once occupied. The chair floated over, and he wedged it in front of the door.
Straightening, but still breathing hard, Rain crossed back to the large machine in the middle of the room. He checked the crystal, hovering his hand over it and whispering to himself again. When he was satisfied, he stepped back two paces. Raising both hands, he sent small streams of electricity into the joints of the machine, his muttered whispers growing louder.
With a metallic whine, the pieces of the machine began to move, spinning and whirling at different speeds. A low whump, whump, whump sound filled the space.
Blackness edged my vision, so it took me a moment to realize what I was seeing. The night sky above the hole in the dome wavered, like the horizon on a hot day. That same wavering distortion filtered down toward the crystal, almost imperceptible.
The stone glowed, refracting light through the potion coating it and sending beautiful patterns all around the room. Then the beams of light suddenly merged into one. Pure magic streamed out from the crystal to join the small sphere of power suspended inside the whirring metal orb. It pulsed and grew slightly.
Swallowing was difficult. Breathing was difficult. But I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the incredible, horrifying sight of magic being collected like water through a straw.
Rain’s voice reached a fever pitch, his words loud and fast. As he spoke, he slowly walked around the machine. Then he stepped directly into the beam of magic transferring from the crystal to the ball inside the spinning metal arms.
His body jerked, his words cutting off, and for a moment I thought something had gone wrong.
Maybe the magic wasn’t accessible to him this time either?
Then he laughed, holding his hands out to the side. Light emanated from his body, glowing from his eyes and even his mouth. As if he’d swallowed a star.
It had worked. Rain was pulling magic from the world a
nd transferring it to himself. He would become as powerful as a god—and regardless of whether those who lost their magic survived the pull, their lives would be forfeit anyway.
I let my eyes drift shut, almost beyond caring as a bone-deep weariness tugged at me. We had tried. We had failed. I just wished death would hurry up and take me so I wouldn’t have to listen to Rain’s awful, raspy laugh anymore.
Gray eyes.
My father’s eyes. Full of hope and love.
My grandmother’s eyes. Glistening with understanding.
Beautiful green eyes, so full of emotion I could spend my life staring into them and never get enough. Sweet blue eyes that shone with kindness and laughter. Brown eyes like melted chocolate, warm and happy. And eyes so dark they were almost black, beckoning me to fall deeper into their swirling depths.
So many people had already died because of Rain. He’d taken my family from me. I wouldn’t let him take my four too. I wouldn’t let him destroy any more families.
The small pilot light of magic still burned inside me, guttering as my life force slowly dwindled. I had tried every kind of magic I could think of against Rain.
Except one.
Jae had told me in our lessons that a mage of my power should be able to access and control all four elements. But we’d never gotten to earth.
“Ivy?” My voice was faint and rough. I wasn’t sure she could hear me over the noise of the machine.
But a moment later, her face appeared above mine. I could see her better now, and I wondered fleetingly if it was because she’d made herself more opaque again or if it was just because I was dying.
“What? What can I do?” Her hands fluttered over me, as if she wanted to touch my body, to try to heal me. But of course she couldn’t.
“I need you to do something for me,” I whispered. “Go back to the main level. Tell everyone to get out.”
Her brow furrowed. “But what about you?”
“I have to finish something here. Tell them I’ll be… I’ll be right behind them.” The lie tasted like ash on my tongue, but I needed to say it. They’d never leave without me otherwise. “They have transport spells. Tell them to get out of the tunnels. Off the mountain.”
