Windswept (The Airborne Saga)

by Constance Sharper

  “Poison?” she managed to say over the gagging. The Guard released her and her hands hit the rough wooden floor. Vertical now, she gasped and spat.

  “Not quite. We can’t just kill you or that Willow magic would jump from you to us. And that wouldn’t look too good in the public eye.”

  A loud screech indicated that the Guard had fully shifted their attention to Mason. Not quite as foolish as she had been, he readied himself for a fight. But the Guard stopped an inch away and Avery shifted to fully face Stern.

  “What?” She asked. Her voice had strengthened and some semblance of power returning to her being, she sat up on her own.

  Stern opened his eyes in a grand gesture. “I’ve been having the Willow magic studied for a long time. And though I may have found no way to get it out of you, I have found a way to neutralize it.”

  Her eyes flittered to the doctor’s. She couldn’t stop her mouth from dropping. Catching on, she was embarrassed she hadn’t seen it before. But then no one had. Avery twitched her fingers. The feeling in her nerves had returned. She took a breath and it flooded her lungs with the warm crispness. The doctor held her gaze for only a moment. That was long enough. Mason had sworn to her even through his attitude, the doctor was still one of Jericho’s biggest supporters and that Mason trusted him with his life. And he’d pulled a fast one.

  “Come here, Avery.” Stern stepped forward as if he’d never expected her to move. The little girl was pushed to the side and with a squeak, she hurried into the corner. “I’ll end this pain for you now with my bare hands. You little human...”

  He laid his hands on Avery. Avery didn’t have a second more to hesitate. Blood fueled with fire, she lashed upwards. Her hands smacked his hard and she dug her fingers into his wrist.

  “Don’t mind me. But I’ve never tried this before.” She felt for the magic exactly as the doctor had told her—opposite of the Willow magic. And it manifested itself as such. Stern screeched in deafening agony. His body crippled backwards. Her shot at him summoned the Guard. She whirled with new found quickness and met the first Guard in the air. They jolted backwards. The magic didn’t manifest as powerfully as the Willow and it’d become clear in seconds. Stern had been rattled from the shock but not dead, and he hoisted himself up. While the Guard honed in on Avery, Mason tore free.

  Avery blasted a Guard from the left, but he swiped at her making contact. She smacked the ground and skidded, avoiding another blow. But pain great, she gasped. Mason blew by her. He kept running straight onto Stern. The Guard grabbed him and tossed him roughly backwards. But it was too late. Mason had met his target.

  Stern groaned and crumpled. Though his wound was unseen, his cries sounded loudly. A crack at the giant doors made the abruptly louder squeal. Avery glanced backwards. The council members had slipped through the gap.

  “Mason!” she screamed.

  “It’s done,” he answered, but not to her. The whole Guard now hovered in the air. “It’s done, Stern’s dead.” Crimson splattered over his stark white shirt, the blow he landed must have been fatal.

  A tense and absolutely still moment followed in the room before the Guard finally moved. Diving for the door, they widened the gap and escaped outside. Blinding sunlight pierced into the room and the figures disappeared as blurry shadows.

  “Mason!” Avery called again desperate to reach out for him. The small girl clung to her leg instead. Avery moved unconsciously, seizing her tiny torso and hefting her up. Avery pressed the girls face into her neck and buried her fingers in the girl’s auburn hair. This time, nearly alone in the room together, Mason gave her attention.

  “The Guard!” she gasped.

  “Avery, their leader is…” he paused as if he couldn’t quite say the word dead twice. His green eyes did steal a glimpse of his bloodied hands, but he finally spoke again. “They aren’t going to target us anymore. They’re going to try to escape. I have to go after them!”

  He didn’t wait for an answer. Wings widening, he dashed for the door. Avery attempted to follow, but her feet struggled to dance over the rubble and obstacles. While the little girl hardly weighed anything, Avery still clung to her cautiously. At the doors, she stopped and breathed. Rebels could have been anywhere. Her eyes went to a spear in the corner and she snatched it with her right hand. Two daring steps outward and she found the place clear. The commotion must have moved to outside.

  “Stop! You stop!” the screaming made Avery’s blood turn to ice. She whirled, weapon in hand, but sight of the older female stopped her.

  “Momma!” The girl recognized the voice and started to squirm. Avery lowered her to the ground and she ran over to the harpie. Blonde hair and aged leathery skin, they hardly looked alike, but the smile on the girl’s face didn’t lie.

  “Are you alright? Are you alright?” She madly clawed at her daughter, yanking, and twisting the girl to see any injury.

  “She’s fine,” Avery interjected even while the question wasn’t meant for her. “Take me down to the lower level. I need to help the Prince.”

  She didn’t say please. She didn’t have to. The harpie took the command like it was an executive order. Offering a hand, she clenched the girl in the other arm and dropped them safely to the ground floor. Avery released her instantly and clenched the spear till her knuckles turned white. Her feet hit the sand outside and her eyes scrambled for the nearest fight. She saw more loyalists lingering in the area.

  “Help catch the Guard! Help Mason!” She hollered. None of them took action and they didn’t have time to stand around. “Come on!” She madly gestured as she ran down towards the open market.

  Someone seized her from behind. Avery buckled wildly but only succeeded in loosening the spear from her hand rather than using it to her advantage. Then the voice sounded in her ear.

  “Put it down, Avery.” Recognizing it as Mason, she stopped thrashing. “We’ve got them lined up.”

  She tilted her chin up but didn’t believe what she saw. Hardly any people crowded around, but the Guard still rested on their knees with heads dropped. They waited in submission.

  “We’re okay. Now, Avery, please put it down.” Mason’s hands slowly slid down her arm. The hot trail finally reached her hands where Mason wrenched the spear free. She didn’t realize she’d been clinging to it so much or trembling so hard. The spear hit the dirt with a clunk and she let out a gasping breath.

  “We’re okay,” Mason cooed in her ear. She clenched her eyes shut and tried to will the adrenaline away. The Guard had been lined up which surely meant the council was soon to follow—even if comparatively they posed no danger. Mason stood without grievous injuries and he clung to her, keeping her upright. He kept talking in her ear.

  “It’s over, Avery.”

  Twenty Seven

  She didn’t turn around in time. The impact nearly smacked her off balance, but with the assistance of the wall, she recovered.

  “Yo, you have to stop that. Announce yourself first,” Avery sighed more from relief than anything else. Hands covered in plaster, she was careful when she tapped Lily on the head. The little girl released her knee and hurried off with a smile, dodging passed Leon who stood stiff in the corner.

  Avery’s eyes skirted back to the bucket of cream paint that luckily remained intact. The ground covered in a plastic lining might have been protection from splatter, but if the can tipped fully, she’d be scrubbing it off hard wood floor for days. Dusting her hands together, she pulled back and looked at her work. During the time she’d been helping rebuild, the sickly scent of the house began to bother her. Old smoke mixed with recent rain and the peroxide of cleaning supplies, it created a cocktail of gas that she could take a break from. Plaster on this wall done already, she excused herself out the side door. The harpies huddled over their own projects, and only gave her a grunt of acknowledgment. She skirted out into the warm sunlight with Leon on her tail.

  “I see you’ve become quite a favorite with the children,” Leon murmure
d when they stepped outside. Avery hadn’t been wearing shoes so she indulgently buried her feet into the sand, plopped to the ground to sit, and stole a breath of fresh air. Her lungs lit up and the rush of cool felt wonderful reaching down her throat, once raw from screaming.

  “Yeah, the children weren’t the ones jamming cameras in my face this morning and asking how I’d taken part in the conspiracy,” she pointed out, but after her eyes did a survey of the area, she saw no more of the rambunctious packs of press. The locals had probably thrown them out. A harpie who’d lost their home was in an even fouler mood than usual and probably physically threw the press off the island. Some others strolled around, like she had earlier today, doing a cursory look at all the rubble and houses burnt and blackened.

  “You’ve selflessly helped with reconstruction of homes of families you don’t even know.” He took another awkward step forward. Though the Guard had basically been wholly dismantled and his official job discharged, he didn’t seem ready to sit in the dirt alongside her.

  “I pointed that out. That they should get the cameras out of my face and take them to the people pleading for help. After the third time I yelled at them, I think they reacted okay.” Well, they’d reacted terribly. The woman’s face couldn’t have reddened anymore. Avery might have made the attacks on the press a little personal, but she had no great love from them right now. Avery’s chin dropped when her thoughts led her to the inevitable—to the woman who’d taught her how to act in public.

  “Have you heard anything about Adalyn?” Avery asked.

  She didn’t see the frown but did catch the click in his throat. Not a good subject to be questioning—Adalyn had ran off with the fugitive that had attempted to murder the Prince. Even if she’d assisted them in the past, that remained unforgivable amongst the loyalists and more so to Leon. But after the ordeal they’d all faced together, he kept any more judgmental grimaces to himself.

  “I honestly could not tell you, Ms. Avery. Our forces have been too scattered. The police and army have been combing their ranks for any hint of the rebel cause. They’d assigned the only safe ones to Mason—though that hasn’t quite stopped the loyalists from watching over him too. With no one to look for them, we simply haven’t picked up any trails…”

  She smiled despite his opposing opinion. Hopefully by the time they did, the trail would have gone cold. She completely understood the others’ fears, but Patrick had not been working for himself and Adalyn still desired to protect Mason. Somewhere between there was the fact that Avery was still human and wanted to forgive them. She wanted to believe in a happily-ever-after for the most war-torn couple she’d ever known.

  “Ms. Avery!” A harpie from the house hollered. So covered in grime and sweat, she didn’t recognize him well enough to answer with his name. But it didn’t matter. “We’re giving up for the day. We thank you for your help,” he said.

  She pulled a mock salute and stood. She’d spotted plenty of other houses in need of rebuilding along the way. The hut-like houses didn’t stand a chance against the rebel flames. Explosion and physical trauma destroyed the area and there was nothing left but scorched wood and twisted metal. They’d have to be scraped out and rebuilt from the ground up. The unmistakable sense of dread washed over her again when she realized these people’s lives had been taken even if they didn’t die. Her phone buzzed and spared her from the excessive thought. She knew who it was before she even looked at the screen.

  “Hello, Leela.”

  “Happy first day of college, Avery!” The girl’s tone was more pointed than innocent even if Leela tried to hide her agenda in a cheerful tone.

  “Yea,” Avery tugged at the collar of her shirt realizing it had suddenly grown hot out here. “I feel like I should stick around and help with the rebuild a little while. Also I don’t want to bother anyone with a flight over California.”

  “Avery,” Leela’s tone dropped warningly.

  “Also, I have an appointment with the doctor. Like five minutes ago.” She flipped her wrist over to glance at an imaginary watch. It was semi-truthful at least.

  “Avery, if you miss the first day they drop you from the class. And it’s an evening class. Wrap up work this afternoon, get some food, take your no doubt grimy little self to the shower—a shower without Mason—and then get to class!”

  “Okay, yes Mother…” She dragged out the last word. Her eyes skirted to find Leon too far away to even help her. Her feet led her back towards the capitol building instead. Compared to every other structure on the island, it held up the best even though it’d been the center of the action. That’s because it was probably built to last—marble and concrete didn’t come down as easily as the huts. Vicious harpies…always planning on avoiding destruction somehow.

  “Good. I’ll call you after class to see how it went.” Leela’s voice peaked with a sure smile on the other line. Avery let herself laugh.

  “Thanks again, Mom. Anyways, how do you like it living with Nate? Still all roses and daisies?” Avery asked when she heard no other voices in the background. School hadn’t started yet, but Leela probably talked on the phone somewhere in the dusty stacks of a dark library.

  “Roses and daisies? Sheesh, living with him in the beginning was the worst. And I mean the worst. He leaves his dirty clothes in the clean basket, smells like onions before he takes a shower in the morning, and fought with me over using the extra closet for shoes. It could only get better from there.”

  As Leela spoke, Avery slipped in through the grand doors to the main hall. The harpies on post knew her so well that they didn’t even hesitate. Inside, the place smelled of some lemon cleaning supply, but it also equally sparkled. She traversed the halls from memory but never remembered how deceivingly big this place actually was.

  “Anyways, I kind of like it now. Took some getting used to…I’d ask you how well you’re getting along with Mason, but then, as much as I want details, I don’t want to know.”

  So Leela couldn’t shake all her disfavor for Mason but it only made Avery laugh harder.

  “It’s alright. I’m too cool with sparing the dirty secrets there either.”

  “See! There are dirty secrets. You’ve already said too much. Ughhh Avery, I am picturing the worst now. Don’t you do anything that will compromise college now and I mean anything. I mean...”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean.” Avery’s laughter should have quit but even red-faced, it still seemed too funny. She wiped spare tears out of her eyes before she reached her room and came to a halt.

  “We’ll Skype after class. I have to let you go,” she whispered this time. She could already hear the two familiar voices sounding muffled through the door. Leela made one more jab about making it to class on time before she hung up. A soft knock to the door silenced the voices.

  Avery pushed the phone into her jean pocket and finally remembered that she was covered in plaster and dust. This hardly seemed like an outfit to wear but she hadn’t actually thought about it while working.

  “Come in,” the doctor’s voice called and she found no place to run. At least releasing her hair from its containment, she allowed the dark black curls to tumble to her shoulders. She slipped inside and welcomed the fresh scent of coffee and cinnamon. She knew Mason was there before her eyes found him, and just like a school girl, her heart fluttered too much. Determined to keep immature reactions in check, she dropped into the red cushioned chair beside him and faced the doctor.

  “I believe I have found the correct cocktail to stop the deterioration of the magic’s individual elements. Stable but still around, this is the best route for the Willow magic. But I wished to examine your progress one more time before I gave Mason his own cocktail,” the doctor explained. He’d worked a miracle, slipping something to save them by Stern, and yet didn’t ask for praise. He was truly loyal, continuing with his duties. Avery held her arm out but the faded black of the Willow hadn’t changed and would probably never change again.

&nb
sp; “I’ve felt great. No problems,” she told him, although she knew that’d never be enough to satisfy his prodding curiosity. It remained more complicated than that. The elements of the Willow magic had broken down but stayed put. With it, she’d zapped Stern off his feet and saved her and Mason’s life by creating a frenzied reaction. But at the same time, the effects the magic gave her were minuscule in comparison. She knew it when her knees and palms had bruised purple from her work this morning. This magic wouldn’t heal her. It wouldn’t protect her. Or be anything compared to that of the Willow magic. The doctor clearly thought this too.

  “It’s not coming back, you know. You’ve become used to the Willow magic I can see, but know that’s its powers are not coming back. You must readjust your life. Remember you are mortal.”

  “This one won’t let me forget.” She jabbed a thumb in the air towards Mason but he didn’t smile. Something dark in the green of his eyes, she closed her mouth and made a mental note to ask later. The doctor’s other tests had become routine. A poke and prod here and there. She had the uncanny ability to make things cold or dewy. It wasn’t exactly the superpower she wanted but it also didn’t summon itself like the Willow magic. It’d be like no more than wearing a simple amulet, the doctor said. He’d moved onto Mason and tipped the tarlike substance down his throat. She remembered the bitter thick taste that coated his throat just looking at it. Cringing, she didn’t relish watching him struggle to swallow it while he had all of the napkins and water-chaser possible.