“Come.” Her voice carried on the wind, sharp as a razor’s edge.
“I’m not following you anywhere!”
She moved closer. I could feel her just behind me now.
“I can protect you,” she said, more urgently, the tone of her voice changing slightly. It wasn’t a threat. It was more . . . a plea. “You know as well as I do that the Rebellion doesn’t care about your safety. They’re just going to use you as a weapon against us, anyway. I can get you home, and I can get you there safely.”
Home. I ached for it. I missed Aunt Jo, missed my friends, wanted desperately to have my old life back. Was she really trying to help me? Could I trust her?
“No!” I yelled back, trying to make my voice as steely as possible.
“Fine, suit yourself. But I have to warn you.”
Warn you. I have to warn you. My blood pounded in my ears, and I braced myself for whatever was coming next.
“You should know. He’s in River Springs, waiting for you. They all are. Tons of them. If you’re going back there, you should know what you’re getting yourself into.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked. What ulterior motive could she possibly have?
“I may be a Guardian,” Raven said, “but there are laws that I’ll never understand.” She pulled up alongside me. “Don’t get yourself killed,” she added. “If it’s going to happen, I want to be the one to do it, ’kay?”
I continued for a moment in silence, breathing hard.
“Careful there, Skye!” Raven shouted as she veered, suddenly, left. Her voice was shrill and mocking. “Don’t fall now!”
And then as if her words were a direction I had no choice but to follow, I fell, tumbling forward through a gaping hole in the side of the mountain and into what looked eerily like the snow cave that Asher and I had fallen into during the avalanche, the first time he’d shown me how to create fire. A figure in a black snowsuit stood hunched in the corner, his back to me.
I was flooded with relief.
“Asher!” I tried to catch my breath. The figure turned around, pulling down the hood of his jacket. The light reflecting off the snow caused his blond hair to blur into a halo around his head.
Devin.
I wasn’t at all prepared for the wave of emotions that overtook me when our eyes met. He looked so helpless, like he had that night in the clearing. Not at all like the evil monster he’d become in my head. “Skye,” he said. “I missed you.”
“How can you say that?” My voice was shaking. “How can you talk like you didn’t try to kill me?”
“I’m sorry. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t.” He reached out his hand. It was trembling ever so slightly, as if he was willing it not to. “Take it,” he said. “Take my hand.”
“No.” I couldn’t. Not after what he’d done. “I will never trust you again.”
“You will,” he said. “The Gifted can see it. They know you will.”
“Then prove it!” I yelled. My voice rose above the howling of the wind and snow. “Prove to me I can trust you!”
“You know the Rebellion isn’t the place for you. You have too much chaos in your life already. You want order, Skye. You want rules and serenity. You know I can give you that. You’ll look for reasons to trust me again.”
I paused, the wind whipping my black hair in every direction. We stared each other down. The ice glistened on the walls around us.
“You’re lucky this is just a dream,” I said. “If this were real life, I’d hurt you, just like you hurt me.”
“Are you sure it’s just a dream?” he asked. His voice was low, level, calm as always.
“Yes,” I said. “I’ve had this one before. In a minute, you’re going to warn me.”
“Warn you? About what?”
“You know,” I said through gritted teeth, waiting for it, bracing myself, “what you have to warn me about.”
And just like that, a searing pain sliced through my stomach, and the walls of the cave became wings, writhing and alive, white as the snow and stained with my own blood.
I woke up gasping, clutching my stomach. I wondered if a day would ever come when I wouldn’t be afraid of dying.
I thought about home. I was afraid to find out what had happened to Cassie. Afraid to face Aunt Jo. And since turning seventeen, I’d been afraid of my powers—terrified of becoming as powerful as everyone said I would be.
But I didn’t want to be a person who was governed by fear anymore.
I was going to have to go home.
I lay awake in bed as the sky changed from inky night to stormy gray. Thunder churned outside my window and lightning flashed silently across the clouds. I knew, somehow, that my fear was causing the storm. I didn’t know how to calm myself down, to shut off my mind—or my powers. They all just blended together. The turmoil of being me.
When the sky was light enough to count as morning, I turned from the window to the door. The rocking chair was empty. Asher was gone.
As quietly as possible, I got out of bed and tiptoed to the top of the stairs. There were voices coming from below, and I held my breath so I could hear them.
“. . . have to leave here.” Asher’s voice was low and insistent. “What if she told them? It’s not safe.”
“But where do we go? We can’t take her back to the Rebel camp. She’ll destroy it; she’s too wild. Uncontrollable.”
“You saw her with the icicles. She’s learning. . . .”
“No, it’s too risky. But if we take her home—”
“There are Guardians everywhere,” Asher said darkly. “It’s not safe anyplace.”
I couldn’t believe they were talking about what to do with me, like I was just some doll they could pack up in a suitcase and carry away. Like I had no say in the matter. I thought we were done with all that. But it looked like I was wrong.
If I was really as powerful as they said, then it was time I took control of my own destiny once and for all. I pounded down the stairs. Asher and Ardith looked up, startled.
“I’m feeling better,” I said loudly. “I’m ready to go home now.”
They shared an uneasy glance.
“We were just talking about that,” said Asher.
“I don’t think there’s anything to talk about,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. “I need to see Aunt Jo. I need to find out what happened to Cassie. I need to finish school and get into college.” I was getting more worked up by the second. The cabin was growing warmer. Asher glanced around nervously. “I can’t stop living my life just because of who my parents were. Because of what they were. I can’t just abandon everything I love and everything that makes me me.”
“It’s not just your parents,” he said to me, passion building in his voice. “This is who you are, too.”
“But I don’t—”
“Your powers are a gift. You’ve been given greatness. You’ll see. Once you learn to control it—and you are learning—”
“I didn’t ask for this!” I yelled before I could stop myself.
“No one ever does.” Ardith’s voice cut across the room like glass. We both turned to look at her. “You can’t abandon the life you’ve always known, Skye, we know. But you can’t abandon the life you’ve been given, either. It’s not the powers you were born with that will define you. It’s what you make of them. That’s what everyone’s waiting to see.”
My powers. Everyone said I had the potential to be more powerful than any Rebel or any Guardian. They all wanted to see just what I was capable of. But I just wanted to be me. I just wanted to be happy. What was so great about what I could do? As far as I could tell, my powers were impossible to control.
I looked down at my hands, cupping them in front of me like I was holding water from a river.
Okay, powers, I thought. Do your thing.
Nothing happened. I closed my eyes, and tried to remember what Asher had told me back in my room in Colorado.
“Just pretend that ev
erything inside you is lots of unfiltered electricity. Imagine what you want to do with it. And then imagine flipping a switch—and turning it on.”
He paused, and I opened my eyes and looked at him. His eyes were searching mine, impossibly deep. I had to control myself. “The Gifted,” he said, “start small. They focus on nuances. A whisper of a breath. A hair out of place. They manipulate each and every small thing on this earth. And every little thing has an effect on something else. Just think of what a big change can do: it could sway the path of someone’s life, the outcome of battles, the course of history.”
I swallowed, hard, mesmerized by the look in his eyes.
“It’s our job, as the Rebellion, to stop them from controlling what they have no right to control. You could help us do that.”
I tried to stop the energy roiling inside of me like storm clouds. My wild, impossible-to-control feelings for Asher. My anger at the Rebellion for wanting too much from me, and at the Order for trying to control me. My fury at Devin for betraying me, and frustration at my friends for never being able to understand. And most of all, my fear of all of this—of being the powerful blend of light and dark that would sway the outcome of a war. Of becoming Great with a capital G. Being Great wasn’t going to bring my parents back. It wasn’t going to make me closer to my friends. And it really wasn’t going to make it any easier for me to let myself trust anyone.
A gentle warmth began to bloom in the palms of my hands. I opened my eyes.
Entirely on my own, I had created fire. I held it in front of me like it was an offering to Asher and Ardith. They looked at each other.
“I need to go home,” I said.
“Okay.” Asher relented. “Okay. We’ll take you home. But we’re going to need—”
“Gideon,” said Ardith, quietly. “We’re going to need Gideon.”
Chapter 6
We’d officially made a decision, and Asher and Ardith kicked into gear.
“We’ll fly you home,” said Asher. “No one can see us unless we reveal ourselves to them. We’ll be able to get you back there safely.”
“I’ll summon Gideon,” Ardith said. “He can go ahead and secure the area, and we’ll meet up with him there.”
“You sure you want to do this, Skye?” Asher put both hands on my shoulders and looked at me pointedly. “Home won’t be like it used to. It’s not the River Springs you knew and loved. It’s not yours anymore. It’s the Order’s. Guardians will be everywhere. You have to be aware, everywhere you go.” His eyes were serious and deep as he searched mine. “You’re on borrowed time.”
I took a deep breath. “I know what I need to do.”
Asher nodded. “Okay,” he said. “We’ll go tonight.”
Ardith went off to contact Gideon, and Asher took my hand. “I almost don’t want to leave this cabin,” he said. “There’s something about it—”
“I know.”
“It’s like our little place. Where we can just . . .”
“Be,” I finished.
“Yeah.” He pulled me toward him and wrapped his arms around me. I lay my cheek against his chest. “I just want to protect you, Skye. All I want is to keep you safe. But I also want to see you be as awesome as I know you can be, and if that means going back to River Springs and all the things that might come between us, then that’s what we have to do. But . . . can I just show you one thing before we go?”
“Of course,” I said.
I looked up into his eyes, and the air grew suddenly misty and cold. Now that we’d stopped talking, a deafening roar crashed in my ears.
“Asher, what—” I turned around to take in my surroundings, and my jaw dropped. “Where are we? How did you do that?”
We were at the top of a huge cliff. Water spilled down over the side in huge, driving waves, pounding into a whirlpool below.
“Do you like it?” Asher asked.
“It’s unbelievable,” I said, letting the mist fall against my face. “It’s gorgeous.”
“This is what I did while you were unconscious.”
For just a second my heart stopped. “You what?”
“Before you woke up,” he said, eyeing me, tentatively gauging my reaction. “I couldn’t sleep. When it was Ardith’s turn to watch you, I would come out here in the woods, at night. I needed to do something. To feel like I could control something. The thought of losing you . . .” He grazed his thumb along my cheek.
I squeezed his hand. “You made this for me?”
“I made it because I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was struggling with so many . . . feelings, I guess, and I had no idea what to do with them.” He paused and looked around, surveying his work. “I could have kept going, but you woke up. And then I needed to be with you.”
“I . . . I don’t know what to say.”
He had told me he loved me, but it wasn’t until this moment that I really knew what that meant. The water crashed around us, wild, impossible to control. He shrugged. “Don’t say anything.” He gestured at the waterfall, the cliff, and the jagged rocks below. “Come on,” he said, taking my hand. “This way.” We wended our way down a path in the side of the cliff that took us to the bottom. Asher held back branches for me when they hung too low, so they wouldn’t snap back in my face. Something had changed while I’d been unconscious. Asher had certainly never held back during our training or treated me in any special way. Now, it was almost as if he was afraid of breaking me. All of a sudden, I was fragile to him. Something that needed protecting.
My heart felt like I’d swallowed it. I wanted so badly to stay close to him, so he’d never have to worry about losing me again.
“Asher?” He’d disappeared. I was alone on the path, mist from the whirlpool fogging my vision and making it hard to see.
“In here.” His voice rang out over the din of the churning water. I stepped cautiously through the curtain of mist, finding my footing on the slippery stones. The small path opened up into a dark cave. Asher stood several feet away, his back to me. When I walked up beside him, the view took my breath away. We were in a cave behind the waterfall, staring out through the velvety sheet of water.
I slipped my hand into his.
He turned to look down at me, happiness radiating from his face.
“You and me, Skye,” he said. “We’re partners.”
“For always,” I said.
He put his arms around me, and I leaned into him.
“You’re going to be so powerful, once you learn to control all of this,” he said quietly. “You could have powers greater than any other Rebel. That’s why we have to be so careful about what to do now.” He paused, his eyebrows knitting together as he stared out over the raging pool. “They’re in awe of you. And some of them are afraid.”
“Are you?” I whispered.
He didn’t say anything, but his arms tightened around me.
“I don’t know how to feel about all this,” I said, watching the waterfall as if it held all the answers. “I don’t want them to be afraid of me.” Or you, I thought. For some reason, it reminded me of something Devin always used to say about the Order. A place with no fear. I hated how he kept creeping back into my thoughts, whether I wanted him there or not. I was grateful that Asher’s powers didn’t include the ability to read my mind. Though I had a hunch he suspected I thought about Devin. Every now and then, like now, as he gazed out at the water, his eyes grew dark with storm clouds. And when they did, I knew he was thinking of ways to get back at the icy blond angel for coming so close to stealing my life.
I didn’t want to be there when he finally found a way.
“I’ll keep you safe,” Asher murmured to himself.
Safe. He’d said the word so many times, I wondered which of us he was trying to convince.
That night, we flew. Asher gripped me in his arms like he had the night he saved my life. Ardith coasted on black wings, silently, beside us. The wind rushed in my ears.
Soon, the dark clouds gave w
ay to a scattering metropolis of lights below us. And then, the lights thinned out, and we began to descend.
My feet hit the ground hard, and as I looked around to get my bearings, I realized we were on Main Street. The moon hung low in the sky, casting the dimmest of light on downtown River Springs.
The air was cold, and it reminded me so much of the moonless night when I had turned seventeen.
The air had a brutal edge to it as I stood outside of Love the Bean.
The sky was dark. The street, deserted.
Snow from a recent storm had frozen over in the subsequent days’ chill, leaving the roads and the sidewalks in town slick and hazardous.
Asher and Ardith stood on either side of me.
“We won’t reveal ourselves yet—unless we need to,” Asher said reassuringly.
The wind sliced at my neck where it was exposed beneath my hat, and I scanned up and down the street for signs of life.
In the window of Into the Woods Outdoor Co., a light was on. I felt tears well in my eyes.
I was home.
Chapter 7
A white mist swirled around me, dense and damp. It caught in my eyelashes, and when I blinked, it trickled down my cheeks. I opened my mouth and the mist tasted salty on my tongue. Just like tears, I thought.
Where was I? It wasn’t Main Street anymore, yet I knew this place. I’d opened my eyes to find myself here before.
I took a step forward, and the ground gave easily under my feet, soft and grainy. The mist began to clear for the first time. A black sand beach stretched out before me, trailing off into the distant mist. The dark sea lapped at the shore, constant, insistent. It was trying to tell me something.
But what?
I tripped on something and fell to my knees. Panic tore at me blindly, but it was only the hem of my dress, dirty and soaked, that had gotten tangled beneath my feet. My dress?
It was long and gauzy white, grazing my ankles. For a moment, I was shocked to be wearing something so beautiful. And then, the shock gave way to sadness as I realized that I’d ruined the barely-there fabric. The dark sand and seawater stained the hem and at my knees where I’d fallen.