“Looks like we have company,” she said. “Such a shame.”
Before she could attack me again, I turned myself into air and rushed for the door. But as I emerged from Sophia’s secret room, I found myself in the middle of yet another fight.
“Oh thank God you’re here,” Marissa said, holding up a wall of fire. “We’re under attack.”
“What?” I dodged a waterball and looked at the man dressed in black who was using his air against Kenna’s. “Who are these people?”
“Sophia’s supporters.” Marissa grunted, backing away a few steps.
“When did they get here?” I doubted Sophia could have notified them that she’d be coming or that she needed help with me.
“A few minutes ago. There’s at least ten of them.”
“Are they regulars or tainteds?” Why would any tainted elemental work for Sophia? If they had been mind-controlled, I could fix that, and then we wouldn’t have to fight them.
“No clue, but they keep using only one element.”
“A little help here!” Ashley yelled, and I flew in front of her, pushing her down to the ground just in time to avoid a bunch of ice shards that were coming from behind her. I materialized and faced the woman, who was forming another ice shard in her hand. She suddenly raised her arms, and if I hadn’t looked up and shielded my head with my fire, I would’ve been pierced by a huge stalactite.
“Don’t hurt Moira! I need her!” I heard Sophia’s voice, but I couldn’t see her. Some of the equipment had been destroyed in the fight, and I nearly slipped on the nylon that was lying on the floor.
“There she is!” a male voice said, and two shimmering clouds rushed toward me. Turning myself into air, I whizzed past a box and headed for the exit. If only Sophia and her friend were tainteds, then I’d have to drag them away from the others, because the two of them were the most dangerous ones.
But as I landed on the hard, dusty ground in front of the building, I saw Sam and Kenna fighting three men in the fields. It seemed like the fight was going to continue outside, because after Sophia, the rest of the elementals came running, and Marissa and Ashley were after them, dodging elemental attacks and trying to get a hit on someone.
“You can’t fight all of us,” Sophia said, materializing in front of me. The second shimmering cloud turned into a man with curly dark hair. It was Terry.
“Those are just regulars, aren’t they?” I nodded at the people who were now using fire and water to push Ashley away from them.
“Oh, it’s not them you have to be afraid of,” Sophia said. “Your tainteds are weak. I took your best already, and I’ll take you too.”
“No, you won’t.” I took a deep breath, my fingers curling into fists.
“We can end this fight right here and now.” Sophia took a step closer, and a shimmering thread shot out of her and went toward my head. I turned into air and dodged it, then flew right through it to sever it.
“You think you’re strong, but you’re not.” Sophia nodded at Terry, and two shimmering threads started for me. I avoided one, but the second one reached its target. I dropped to the ground, feeling as if my mind was being split in two.
As I covered my head with both hands, I squinted at Sophia and saw her approaching me. The shimmering thread embedded itself stronger into my mind, and I cried out. Focusing on my own element, I pushed against the intrusion with everything I had. Was I feeling the thread’s pain worse than ever because I knew what it was trying to do to me?
One part of me wanted to stop fighting and just give Sophia whatever she wanted. Biting down on my lip so hard that I drew blood, I called to my fire and let it take over me. Every inch of me was turning into flames, and Sophia backed away, uncertainty flashing in her eyes.
“Help me out,” she said to Terry, whose shimmering thread joined hers, but it couldn’t breach my fire. I slowly lifted myself to my feet and advanced toward them. Every part of me was fire, and I didn’t want to lose it because it seemed to be the only protection I had against Sophia’s and Terry’s elements. Moving was a bit difficult because my legs felt way too heavy and I wasn’t quite sure where and how I was taking a step, but Sophia easily evaded my fiery fist that was going for her jaw.
“You don’t think you can actually win this, do you? You might be able to protect yourself, but they can’t.” Sophia smirked, then looked at Terry. “Mind-control them to stop fighting.”
He immediately went toward the others, and I fought the urge to smile. If my mind control worked, Terry would fail at his task. I didn’t know how my friends would react to conflicting orders, but I hoped I had prevented any trouble with my careful choice of words.
“It’s just you and me now,” Sophia said as we circled each other. “Why don’t you drop that ugly disguise so we can play?”
Opening my mouth was a strange sensation, as if someone was parting my flesh. “I don’t want to play.” I rushed her, but she got out of my way at the last moment.
“Something’s wrong!” Terry yelled, and Sophia’s face turned into a scowl.
“What did you do now, you incompetent fool?” she hissed.
“I mind-controlled them, but they aren’t doing what...”
“Then you did it wrong. Do I have to do everything myself?” She blasted me back with her air before I could reach her. “Deal with her, but don’t kill her.”
“I’m not your dog,” he snarled. “You can’t just order me around...”
“Well, I can. You can’t do anything right!” She threw her hands up, then turned invisible and headed toward Ashley and Marissa, who were holding up just fine against the attacks of ice, water, fire, air, and earth, probably because their opponents were just regular elementals.
Terry pressed his lips into a tight line as he faced me. “Show me what you got, girl.”
“I don’t have to show you anything. Looks like Sophia doesn’t really hold you in high regard. I guess fighting you will be easy,” I said, hoping to annoy him enough so that he’d be more careless.
“You don’t know anything about me!” A huge wave of water appeared out of nowhere and threatened to fall on me, so I quickly raised an airy shield and slammed it into the wave, sending drops of water flying everywhere. It almost seemed as if it were raining. But some of the drops had reached Sophia’s shimmering cloud, and she tumbled to the ground, her body flashing from invisible to visible. She clearly hadn’t expected anything to hit her cloud and hadn’t parted her air right.
Glad that she was struggling, I focused back on Terry, who was intently looking at something behind my back. Shit. I threw myself to the ground at the slightest touch of a breeze against the back of my neck, barely avoiding a hit from behind. But what I didn’t expect was the huge watery snake that slithered across my body and started for my neck.
I screamed, breaking through the water with my air, but a powerful gust of wind lifted me up into the air and tossed me across the field. My shoulder painfully connected with the ground and a soft moan escaped my lips. As I rolled through the grass, I saw Sophia creating a big tornado in her rage. She must have failed to mind-control my friends. I pushed myself to my feet and ran toward the others, who were staring at the tornado with fearful eyes.
“Kenna!” I yelled. “Help me with this!”
Kenna’s eyes met mine and she nodded. She was the only one who had air, and I doubted I could stop the tornado by myself since it was getting stronger with each second. I directed my element at the tornado, trying to swallow its energy and mix it with mine. Kenna did the same, focusing on the other side of the tornado so it was being held between our elements.
Marissa successfully knocked out two regular elementals, who started to flee when they saw the tornado. The rest of Sophia’s supporters must have dispersed, because they were nowhere to be seen. They were clearly too afraid to face whatever would happen next.
“What do we do?” Sam asked. From the corner of my eye, I could see Terry coming toward us.
; “Don’t let him help her!” I yelled, increasing the strength of my element so the tornado shifted to Kenna’s side a bit more, but Sophia’s power wasn’t getting any weaker.
Terry successfully sent Marissa, Ashley, and Sam flying and they landed not far from me, briefly distracting me. Terry joined his forces with Sophia, whose face was red with anger. The tornado grew even bigger, and strands of my hair ended up in my face. Shaking my head, I kept shoving my air at the tornado, but my attack didn’t seem to have any effect on its strength.
“Marissa!” I said as she was pushing herself to her feet. We all had to step away because the tornado was threatening to swallow us into itself. Broken pieces of metal were already being sucked up into it, and I knew if that happened to one of us, we wouldn’t get out alive.
“What?” Marissa shielded her eyes, her shirt flapping in the strong wind.
“I can’t let go of this! Run to the other side with Sam and Ashley and attack Sophia and Terry.” If we could unbalance or even distract Sophia and Terry, then we had a better chance of stopping this. Marissa nodded, then helped Sam get to his feet, and they all dashed across the field, careful not to get caught into the tornado that was shimmering with magic.
“It’s too strong!” Kenna yelled. “We’ll have to let it go!”
“We can’t!” The elemental energy around the tornado was so powerful that I could feel its pressure on my face. Behind Terry, I could see a figure approaching, probably Marissa. She threw a log at Terry, who fell to his knees, his element leaving the tornado and slamming back into him. Sam was on him in a moment, punching and kicking. Sophia shrieked, the power of her element waning, and her body started to shake and shimmer.
The tornado slowed down, its size rapidly decreasing, as if someone had sucked it into an invisible hole. Kenna pulled her element back, and I let mine return to me too. Sophia slumped to the ground, her chest heaving. But as Marissa tried to approach her, Sophia jumped to her feet and hit the ground.
Everything started to shake and the earth parted under Sophia’s fist. Marissa lost her balance, and the crack in the earth kept spreading while advancing toward us. Kenna and I immediately turned into air, lifting ourselves up and watching as a new tornado started to form from the ground. The ripple kept going, splitting the earth and guiding the tornado forward, right in the direction of the city.
“Stop it!” I yelled and rushed at Sophia. Materializing just before my body collided with hers, I slammed into her and we both rolled on the ground. Her hands briefly shimmered, and I climbed on top of her.
“Do you have those element-blocking cuffs?” I asked Ashley, who was trying to help Marissa up.
“Yeah,” she said. “But I don’t think they’ll hold her.”
“Then put all you’ve got on her. Quick. And on Terry too.” When I was sure Sophia wasn’t getting up, probably because she had exhausted most of her energy, I lifted myself up and dusted off my pants. She must have overestimated her abilities and thought she could just suck us up into her tornado.
“Um, we have a problem,” Kenna said as Sam and Ashley were tying up Sophia and Terry with multiple element-blocking cuffs and bracelets.
I looked up at Kenna, my eyebrows shooting up. Then I noticed the huge thing behind her back. The tornado hadn’t stopped. It was still advancing, tearing through the earth, yanking trees, and sucking up everything in its way. Shit. “We have to stop it!”
“How?” Kenna stared at me.
“I don’t know, but we can’t let it reach the city!” I didn’t know if anyone would spot the tornado before it was too late and send forces to fight it, but I could still see the shimmering around the tornado, and I wasn’t sure if the regular forces would be enough.
“We can’t just leave them here...”
“Yes, we can!”
“But what about Nick and everyone else?” Kenna insisted.
“We’ll question Sophia and Terry later. Come on!” No matter how much I wanted to find Jaiden, I had to stop the tornado first. Jaiden was probably being held somewhere in the city and if we let that tornado... A shudder ran through my body. No, I couldn’t be thinking about that now.
When I was sure Sophia and Terry were properly tied up, I grabbed Ashley’s and Sam’s hands and turned them into air. Kenna took Marissa, and we were flying after the tornado. I hoped none of Sophia’s supporters had stayed behind to help her, but there was no time to worry about that now. We had to stop this thing from destroying the city.
Chapter 24
“We’re not going to make it!” Kenna yelled as we were getting closer to the tornado, but it was advancing too fast, and I could already see the outline of the city in front of us.
“Hurry up!” I increased my speed, trying to ignore the pressure that carrying Ashley and Marissa caused. I’d never flown this fast before. Kenna was a little behind, but I thought we could make it. The only question was what we would do to stop the damn thing. I zoomed past the tornado, feeling the tugging of its force, but I kept my distance because I didn’t want to risk getting sucked in.
“Come on!” I plunged toward the ground. As soon as we all materialized, I focused on my air and directed it at the tornado that was swirling toward us. We were lucky there were only empty fields around here, but one glance over my shoulder told me we were way too close to the houses. If we didn’t stop the tornado here, it would rip straight through people’s homes.
“What do we do?” Kenna asked. “It’s gotten stronger even without the help of Sophia’s elements!”
“Use your air on it. We have to slow it down or at least keep it in place.” I sent a powerful blast toward the tornado, wrapping my air around it. Kenna did the same, but the tornado cut right through our shimmering and advanced without a problem.
“Shit! It’s not working!” Kenna stepped back.
“This isn’t just air,” I said, as the ground started to dangerously shake under my feet. “This thing is both air and earth.”
“Should we try both of our elements then?” Kenna looked at me, frowning. “What if that only makes it stronger?”
“I don’t know. We have to try.” I found my fire inside of me and combined it with air, turning the fire blue. With a cry, I unleashed the mix on the tornado. A bright light resembling lightning cut through the tornado in the spot where my fire hit it.
“It’s slower,” Marissa noted.
“But it’s still moving.” And it wasn’t getting any smaller either.
“Maybe we should all try using our elements on it,” Sam said. “Even if we can just redirect it, it will be better than letting it pass through the city.”
“Yeah, okay.” We didn’t really have many options, so we all sent our elements at the tornado. Kenna was using a bit of fire and then air, Marissa was exchanging fire and water, Ashley was mostly using earth because her mist was probably too weak, and Sam was trying to raise a barrier of earth to stop the tornado’s progress.
“I think the problem is this isn’t a regular tornado. It should’ve stopped by now.” Sam gritted his teeth, his hair plastered to his forehead.
“I know.” The tornado was getting slower, but it was still getting closer to us and if we didn’t do something soon, it would pass right through us.
“What if we try to create a big wall? Would it bounce off it?” Ashley asked.
“I don’t know. It could tear right through it, and I doubt we can just combine our elements since they’re very likely to cancel each other out.” Too bad our elements didn’t seem to be strong enough to undo whatever Sophia had created. Her magic was way too powerful.
“If we could suck the energy out of it somehow...” Marissa said.
“What’s that?” Sam’s panicked voice made me tear my eyes from the tornado and focus on the shimmering behind my back.
“If Sophia and Terry freed themselves...” Ashley said.
“They wouldn’t be coming from the direction of the city,” I said, wondering who the newcomers were.
They were certainly tainteds, but I didn’t know if they were rushing to Sophia’s aid or ours. When they materialized not far from us, I could see at least ten tainteds. I didn’t recognize any of them. The wind was getting stronger, and my air wasn’t providing enough of a barrier to stop the tornado.
“How can we help?” one of the tainteds asked. His black hair was cut short, his gray eyes focused on the tornado.
“Help? Oh thank God!” Marissa sighed in relief.
“Use your elements to stop this thing!” I yelled.
“Okay.” The guy waved the others over and they all aligned with us. “What if we try raising multiple walls in front of it?”
“What do you mean? Our elements would cancel each other,” I said.
“No, they wouldn’t if we raise one wall after the other, like dominoes.”
“And if the tornado brings them down like dominoes?” Kenna asked.
“Maybe it will, but that should slow it down enough. If we all just shoot our energy at it without thought, we could make it even stronger or cancel each other’s attacks before they reach the tornado.”
The guy had a point. Just because we couldn’t see our elements canceling each other didn’t mean that wasn’t happening. And now there were more of us, so it would be harder to get everyone a clear area to hit, and by the time we agreed who’d do what, it could be too late. “Okay, let’s do it.”
“Good. Raise the walls of your strongest element,” the guy said. “One by one. Starting from that end.” He pointed at Sam.
“Let’s hope it works.” We all pulled our elements back, and Sam focused on creating the first wall. Ashley was next, her wall of earth positioned right behind Sam’s, but not close enough to touch it. Everyone created their walls, and I made one out of blue fire. The guy’s eyebrows shot up when he saw it, and he looked at me, a small smile tugging at his lips. The tornado was quickly approaching, and it cut through Sam’s wall like a knife. Sam groaned in frustration, then his eyes widened as Ashley’s wall went down too.
Hunted (Tainted Elements, #5) Page 14
