But I’m too far away to get there in time.
And . . . he doesn’t need my help.
He has the wind—and Solana. He has his training.
“What about you?” I ask my mother. “Do you need help with . . .”
She shakes her head. “I can handle the cleanup. I’ve done it before.”
She helps me stand and move my shaky legs to the door, and I find my strength with every step.
I know there’s probably something I should say—some grand speech that could cement these new connections.
But words are failing me at the moment.
So I borrow some from Vane, clinging to the hope that they’ll soon be true for him and me as well.
“It’s not goodbye. It’s see you soon.”
CHAPTER 51
VANE
I’m just going to say it—I’m really sick of wind battles.
Like, I can’t even begin to explain how over them I am.
Crushing cyclones.
Exploding wind spikes.
Getting constantly sucked up and tossed around.
I don’t have time for this crap.
I need to get back to Audra.
She’s strong enough to take down Arella—and she promised she’d be on her guard. But it still kills me that I’m stuck playing Who Has the Scariest Wind Trick? when I could be on my way to help.
And I know Audra gave me a big speech one time about how human weapons have nothing on the might of a hurricane. But, dude, what I wouldn’t give for a tank to hunker down in and keep on blasting.
But no.
All I get is a steady supply of Westerlies, which still haven’t come up with any freaking ideas for how to end this madness.
And Raiden’s wind tricks just keep right on coming.
“Is that really all you’ve got?” I shout from our hiding spot behind a few trees as Raiden launches another volley of wind spikes and Solana uses some special command to deflect them away.
I mean, I’m glad we’re able to hold our own—but seriously, what’s the deal? I’m seeing a lot more average wind fighter and a lot less legendary warrior.
Unless he’s tiring us out, and saving the good stuff for the end. . . .
Yeah.
It turns out it’s the last one.
“You had to push,” Solana snaps as Raiden forms a massive tornado and somehow tangles it with a ton of flashing purple lightning.
I don’t understand the physics of that—but the zapnado is headed our way, and fun bonus: Its suction is pretty much on the level of a supermassive black hole. So it definitely has that NO WAY WILL WE SURVIVE THIS feel I’ve been expecting from Raiden.
I scramble to get us airborne, but that only buys us a few seconds before the zapnado’s pull drags us toward its sizzling funnel.
“What was that?” Solana shouts as some sort of animal gets sucked past us and crispified by the lightning.
“Pretty sure that was a bison. Or maybe a buffalo? Is there a difference?”
“Never mind, just get us out of here!”
“I’m trying!”
My Westerlies fight as hard as they can, but I feel the electricity getting stronger, rippling across my skin, making my hair stand on end.
“Okay, new plan.” I have to look away from Solana, because even with the gravity of our situation, I want to make fun of her giant static hair explosion. “How many winds do you have left?”
“I only have broken ones.”
Another bison whizzes past us, and we barely miss its flailing hooves. “Can you weave them into a wind spike?”
“I can try.” She murmurs a few different commands and ends up with some sort of yellowish curved thing.
“That looks more like a wind boomerang—what did you ask for?”
“I asked for something that would give us a fighting chance.”
“Well . . . let’s see if it works!”
I aim for the funnel’s base, hoping that might knock it over or something.
It does make a dent—but not enough to stop the zapnado.
“Incoming!” Solana shouts as the wind boomerang proves I nicknamed it correctly. It blasts back our way, exploding our wind bubble before I can catch it.
I can’t find any winds to slow our fall, so we’re stuck with the tuck-and-roll method. It’s equal parts painful and disgusting when I end up with a face full of manure.
“For the record, I just bruised every inch of my body.”
Solana has no sympathy, screaming “GET UP!” and hauling me to my feet.
We stumble away just in time to avoid a lightning blast that definitely would’ve turned us to ash.
Solana launches the boomerang back at the zapnado, nailing it right in the center.
Lightning and sparks explode everywhere, like it sucked up a big box of fireworks. And when the lights dim, the funnel finally unravels.
Raiden celebrates our victory by creating three more zapnadoes.
“I am seriously done with this guy,” I grumble, glad to find enough Westerlies to get us airborne again.
We have to kill him.
The certainty of it feels like ice in my veins—every bit as unsettling as it is awakening. All my senses come to life, and I stretch them farther than I’ve ever reached.