by Jenn Nixon
Zorin’s eyes flashed and his elements doubled. The fire heated her entire left side in response. Energy twirled through her muscles, not to be outdone. She was almost there. Mergan’s spear shot through the air. Cyndra ducked. Zorin’s wings lifted taking the strike.
“You dare defy me, monster!” Mergan screeched.
Zorin’s head swayed side to side.
Focus. Fight her. Cyndra couldn’t help him fight Mergan and took every drop of power he wanted to give, instead. Zorin steadied himself, caught between her and Megan, who refused to let go. Cyndra tilted her head, rolling her eyes as the siphon expanded, drawing a dark strain of energy.
Then it all vanished.
Mergan smirked.
Sensations that went beyond anger, beyond fear surged inside. A pulse shot from Cyndra’s hand, sending Zorin and Mergan backward, into the water of the bay.
Her power had returned, but nowhere near strong enough to face Mergan. Cyndra sensed Rune and Jack’s power growing as they ran toward her and they still had no chance of winning. Mergan had possession of a box of crystals and had yet to siphon one.
Live to fight another day.
Unable to break the hold over Zorin, resigned to the loss even as it pitted in her stomach, Cyndra dropped to her knees and gazed down at her hands. “I’m sorry.”
Chapter 29
Zorin shuddered when Mergan mentally ordered him to close his siphon. The simultaneous surge of Cyndra’s terror and rage, the male caster’s approaching earth power, and Mergan’s dark hold invaded his senses, scraped over his skin and dug into his muscles, setting his teeth on edge.
Cyndra’s energy shot forth, blasting his body. When he lifted his head, he was in the bay, next to Mergan, still clinging to the caster box. Shaking the wet hair from his face, he rose to his feet and helped Mergan after she forced him.
Cyndra fell to her knees. His heart dropped knowing how hard she tried. Mergan was simply too strong.
“I’m glad to see you finally know your place,” Mergan said, lifting her hand as she exited the water, forcing Zorin to follow. The screeching wraiths echoed through the air. She smiled at Cyndra. “Thank you, by the way. You cracked the mirror. Now you have a few hours before the realm implodes.”
His caster chuckled bitterly, shook her head, and lifted her bright hazel eyes, already holding back so much. “That was your real plan, wasn’t it, get the crystals and destroy the mirror. Innocent people are in there!”
“Blame your grandmother. She turned it into a safe haven,” Mergan spat, lifting her hand at Jack and Rune, neither of whom seemed worried as they casually continued their approach. Zorin focused on Cyndra as she covered her face, tried reeling in her growing powers. “She altered the wraiths to bring all the casters to the mirror-realm not me.”
“And why did she do that,” Jack said, musing playfully for some odd reason.
Because Mergan’s flare would have killed them all.
“What?” Cyndra blinked.
“There weren’t many left near the end, maybe a thousand or so. Her targeted cast from the flare would have killed any caster not protected, not just the humans nearby.”
“How…”
“We’re not alone anymore, Cyndra,” Jack said, meeting Zorin eyes and winking. Rune, also in a happy mood, slowed and stood beside the elder caster, glancing down at his left hand, revealing the earthcasting brand on his palm. Zorin wanted to smile, but Mergan’s control didn’t allow it.
And since Evie altered the wraiths…she can control them too, Rune projected with a smirk.
Three wraiths shot out of the woods, zooming over the fields, zipping toward the group. The figures emerging next drew his gaze. Their faces formed out of the darkness, stopping his heart.
“Who…” Cyndra turned, trailing off and gasped slightly. Then she whispered, “Pristy?”
Rune approached Cyndra, motioning to the field and sharing a private conversation that he had already surmised.
Mergan started laughing and everyone froze. “She found a way through the crack you made? All the same, I have what I want, time to go, Zorin.”
“She’s here too?” Cyndra said, wrapping her arms around her body to stop the shaking and looking between the woods and him.
“Fight her,” Jack grunted, stepping closer, the only one not distracted by the newly emerged casters.
Zorin narrowed his gaze, the singular muscle he controlled, staring at Jack and beyond, to Rune and Cyndra focusing on the field.
“Your words are pointless, Jack-Jack.” Mergan lifted her hand to Zorin’s temple, her disturbing draw filling his body. “No one can fight my control.”
“You can, Zorin, you have before,” Jack said.
He shut his eyes, fighting Mergan’s pull, ignoring her commands over his body. If he had done it before, he had help. He wasn’t strong enough on his own. Cyndra…
She whipped her head around.
Mergan snarled and gripped Zorin’s wrist, jerking him toward the docks. Even as she pulled him away from Jack and Rune and Cyndra, and all the approaching casters, he kept his gaze locked on his caster, hoping she’d understand.
Cyndra turned from her family and her friends, finding his face through the dark moonless night. She didn’t call to him or project her thoughts, instead, she released her power and fed him through her siphon.
“Enough!” Mergan pushed Zorin to the side and lifted both hands.
The wraiths screeched, altering their direction away from Evie, Pristy and the others who emerged from the woods, darting for Mergan, once again under her control.
“Siphon all the casters,” she demanded, twisting her hand, asserting her control.
He fought the command, using Cyndra’s pure energy to block Mergan. He grabbed his head when his temple started to burn.
Mergan bombarded his mind.
Zorin screamed and stumbled sideways, still, he refused to move. He’d never harm another. He’d never do her bidding again even if it meant his death.
“Zorin,” Cyndra called, making his bones shudder.
His vision turned cloudy under Mergan’s powerful hold. Two new wraiths shot out of the woods while the three closest to Mergan swirled through the air, blocking his view of the casters. Rune dashed off to meet Evie and Pristy and another he couldn’t see. Jack didn’t move from Cyndra’s side.
The harder he fought Mergan, the deeper her hold seemed to go. She took over his mind, his vision. She wasn’t done, no, she wanted full control over him…
Mergan’s final command filled his mind.
He had the strength to project two words: Cyndra…run!
Chapter 30
The terror in Zorin’s voice froze Cyndra in place. Jack clasped her hand in solidarity, unmoving, even as her cousin Pristy called out from behind. A completely new look filled her gargoyle’s eyes, sending a shudder up her spine.
Then his eyes went white.
She stepped backward.
Jack squeezed her hand, glancing sideways and frowned. “What?”
“Go…”
Zorin dashed forward and rammed into Jack, slamming him into the ground, knocking him unconscious.
“No!” she screamed, evoking her powers, letting the energy and fire fill her palms, taunting him.
He turned to her, eyes narrowing.
“Focus!” Cyndra glared at him, bringing the fire to her palm.
Zorin sprinted toward her with fingers curled like claws, reaching for her. She lifted her left hand, directed a blast of energy to his shoulder. He expertly dodged, sliding closer and ducking slightly as his wing clipped her hip. Cyndra fell to her knees, rolled forward and sprang back up, making a fist with her right hand and smacking him with her flare.
Cyndra!
Zorin regained his footing and extended his wings, running toward Rune, next.
“No!” Cyndra evoked her elements to both hands, blasting him in the back, which did little more than stop him in his tracks. She glared at Mergan and
dashed to Rune’s side. “Don’t hurt anyone else, please. Just…go.”
“Gladly,” she replied. “Come, pet.”
“I’m afraid that’s not an option,” said a voice Cyndra knew but had forgotten. Her heart swelled, seeing the face of Grandma Evie come into view with Pristy at her side, helping her to walk. “Not with the crystals.”
Rune had his casterguard on his arm, leading another person toward the lighthouse, pausing halfway to check on Jack.
“Surprised you’ve held on this long, Evelyn,” Mergan bit, lifting her left hand to stroke Zorin’s chest. Then she twirled her fingers. Five wraiths swirled closer to her, floating behind her, ready to move at her command, just like Zorin.
“Long enough to do what I should have done to before,” Evie said, sighing, breaking from Pristy’s hold, and smiling up at Cyndra, unchanged from her childhood memories. “You can reach him, Cyndra…use your bond. I don’t know what will happen afterward, but I trust him, no matter his face.”
“Zorin?”
“Yes.” Grandma Evie reached up and touched her cheek, tears in her eyes. “There’s a journal, in the mansion, exploits of my youth with your grandfather. Remember us that way, firebug.”
Cyndra frowned. “Grandma?”
Evie lifted her hand, knocking Cyndra and Pristy, Rune, and even Zorin to the ground with a force that almost slammed them into the lighthouse. When she lifted her second hand, the colors of her elements spilled into the air, forming a barrier.
“Evie?” Cyndra gasped.
“What are you doing, Grandma?” Pristy yelled, scrambling to her feet first.
Zorin jumped upright, darting for Mergan.
Cyndra blinked over at Rune as the top of the barrier closed in around them and part of the lighthouse.
“You think that will stop me?” Mergan shouted, twisting her hands.
Four of her five wraiths swooped down, entering the barrier before it shut. Cyndra, shaking the discomfort from her head, got to her feet watching them swirl around the top of the bubble. Zorin slammed into an invisible barrier and bounce backward, growling in pain.
The four wraiths shrieked and broke apart targeting each of the casters. Rune used his casterguard as a deterrent against a wraith. Jack darted out of the lighthouse tossing water spears at another’s head.
“Get inside,” Jack called to Pristy, who dashed away from a diving wraith, inadvertently smacking it with her energy and bashing it into the wall near Cyndra’s head.
She ducked, palmed the ground, and rolled forward targeting a diving mirror-wraith with her energy.
The exterior of the barrier vibrated. Everyone inside gasped. Mergan and Evie’s powers swirled through the air like dueling tornadoes of power, lighting the dock through the darkness, expanding and growing as their elemental weapons clashed.
“Evie!” Cyndra screamed, wishing there was something she could do.
Zorin grunted and slammed into the barrier again with both fists. The wraiths screeched in response and swirled around the top as if debating who to attack next. Rune and Jack blocked the opened doorway to lighthouse guarding Pristy. Cyndra moved back to form a straight line and evoked her powers, giving them an incentive to pick her.
When Zorin’s head turned and his siphon opened, her whole body heated. His jaw locked and he turned away, punching the barrier again.
The wraiths dove down.
Rune shielded her and Jack with the casterguard while making the ground rumble with earthcasting, preparing to attack. Jack speared one wraith in the head giving Cyndra a chance to clip another with her fire.
Two more mirror-wraiths zipped toward them, breaking the group apart. Jack dashed to the right. Rune bolted forward as one of his roots shot upward and bashed a wraith into the side of the barrier. Cyndra jumped left, landing with a thud on the ground, unable to attack with her head all fuzzy from Zorin drawing her power.
“Cyndra!” a new voice called from the lighthouse doorway. The woman with dark hair covered her mouth with both hands. All the memories of her mother lifted to the surface. She’d been so young when Lily left there weren’t many to have, but they twisted through Cyndra’s head, strengthening her energy, which only tempted Zorin because he started taking more.
The wraiths shifted toward her mother.
“No!” Cyndra flicked her wrist, slamming the mirror-wraith into the barrier to disorient it. The action drew her gargoyle’s gaze again. His siphon consumed her energy and fire.
Beyond needing him to keep her balanced, beyond needing to feel his energy in return, beyond needing him inside of her, Cyndra needed Zorin’s laugh and his compassion, his understanding and the security she felt in his arms when everything around her seemed to fall apart. Without Zorin, she had no chance of surviving this new world. Maybe that would seep through their bond. Give him a reason to fight.
Flames licked up the side of her body. Energy overtook her entire right side.
Back, get back, Rune said, pushing everyone into the lighthouse as far as the barrier allowed.
The wraiths screeched, targeting her friends, her family. The power wanted out. Zorin craved it. The wraiths hated it. Cyndra had to fix this. Save her friends. Free Zorin.
Remembering the result of her actions when she fought Mergan the first time, Cyndra tapped her fists together sideways. The energy and fire mixed and gushed forward with such force it knocked Cyndra back into Jack and dusted the wraiths in one fell swoop. Only problem, her powers weren’t done. The buildup was too much, Zorin continued to siphon her, teasing her unknowingly, but it wasn’t enough. Too strong. Too fast.
Cyndra was losing control again.
Chapter 31
Mergan’s pull overrode every instinct and desire. Zorin shut his eyes and bashed his hands against the barrier, taking the pain, knowing he deserved it for letting her get back into his mind in the first place. Cyndra’s powers pulsated behind him, drawing his focus, giving him seconds of clarity. He needed more if he wanted to break free.
Her heat suffocated the air. The energy from her body carried more emotions than he thought possible.
Zorin wanted it all.
The casters behind him screeched when Cyndra cast her flare. The heat of Cyndra’s power scorched his back. He drew it all in, arousing him instead of harming him and surging through the siphon like wild fire. The wraiths trapped inside trickled to the ground as pieces of ash.
“Cyndra?” Jack gasped.
“You need to focus,” Lily said.
Zorin’s body hardened and absorbed his caster’s heat, giving him enough strength to pound into the barrier for the fifth time, not enough energy to shake free.
It’s obviously not working, why don’t you do something useful! Rune growled through the mental bond.
Wishing he could answer the caster, Zorin did the only thing within his control, stare at Mergan running toward the docks, away from Evie’s attacks, and siphon Cyndra’s powers.
“Help her, Zorin!” Pristy said.
The ground vibrated.
Cyndra’s power moved through the air like a sound wave. The terror mixing with her energy pierced his mind. His caster needed him.
Holding onto her energy and letting her fire seep into his muscles, Zorin regained a moment of control. Drawing her in, he balanced her heat making the moment last another, then another. Her energy spilled into him next, strengthening his tired, beaten muscles, invigorating every cell. Absorbing her solidified his control, he breathed in, clearing his thoughts.
He spun around, meeting her eyes. Cyndra?
Stop Mergan. Cyndra’s eyes rolled back as a popping sound echoed over his head.
“The barrier,” Jack gasped, glancing from Cyndra to Zorin. “Can you stop her?”
“I will try, so long as I maintain control,” he said, gritting his teeth, staring at Cyndra while Rune held her shaking body. All the power she expelled into the air was for him. He needed it to keep Mergan out if he had any chance of surviving and keeping
the casters safe.
Jack grabbed his arm, his fingers cool from casting so much power. “Siphon all of us if you have to, Zorin. She can’t leave the island with those crystals.”
Nodding, he did exactly as Jack said, and siphoned all the nearby casters adding their strength to Cyndra’s and glided away from the lighthouse.
From a distance, Mergan and Evie, slinging elemental attacks at one another, looked as if they were teenagers playing with their powers, not the most powerful casters battling for survival.
The closer he got, he realized why. Mergan was doing as Mergan did, taunting and manipulating.
There you are, my pet. Time to face the music, Mergan’s voice ripped through his mind and his wings froze in place making him drop like a rock. Her vile energy tainted Cyndra’s pure power inside his body.
“You deserve what you get after what you did to us,” Mergan snapped, tossing a large water spear at Evie’s stomach.
“We tried to show you another way.” Evie swatted the spear with the swipe of her hand then flexed her fingers, creating a casterguard of green energy around her arm. “Zorin begged you stop, he knew you’d gone too far.”
“He helped more than you know.”
“You possessed him, Mergan.”
Lifting his head from the ground took as much energy as breathing, whatever Mergan was doing, Zorin could barely move, he was helpless.
“I didn’t convince Cyndra you all deserved to stay in the mirror. He did. Why do you think she left with him? He’s already turned her,” Mergan said through a chuckle.
“Liar!” Zorin shouted, meeting Evie’s eyes as he tried clawing his way to the dock.
Protect the casters, Zorin, for as long as you can. Evie projected to his mind.
Holding the box of crystals tighter against her body with one hand, Mergan evoked a water spear in her other and shot it at Evie’s head this time.
The elder caster evoked her air, blocking the attack and pushing Mergan backward, not fighting nearly as hard as she could.
