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SEVENTEEN

Fiona

I tried not to cry as I saw Reed wade back to the edge of the little lake, the merry green glow I’d enjoyed earlier now seeming sinister, the evil green aura cloaking a cartoon villain. It left everyone at the edges limned in sickly green light, the forest a veil of blackness my eyes couldn’t penetrate from inside the lake.

But that buzzing terror still burrowed and stung under my skin as if I’d been invaded by fire ants, and more than anything, I needed it to stop .

“Please,” I whispered, locking eyes with the witch I barely knew. “Make it stop.”

“I will, girl, I will. You work with me, and we’ll take this block off you in no time. Breathe in.” She paused, lifting her chin as she mimicked what she wanted me to do. “And out.”

I blew out my breath, trying not to flee as she gripped my face between her hands.

She wasn’t a large woman, but the fierce purple glow of her eyes and the imposing strength of her grip were enough to lull me to quiescence.

As she began to mutter those ancient, unknown words at a barely audible volume, the buzzing increased, an angry swarm urged on by her incantation.

I gritted my teeth against a whimper as the stinging increased, her voice growing louder, angrier, as she seemed to fight for every word she spoke.

That same rush of water I’d watched envelop Brielle was starting to encircle me, but it was a smooth ball of liquid this time. No, this time, it was angry .

Rain pelted my skin, and when I looked up, I saw a wall of thunderclouds scudding across the sky, blocking us from the thin moonlight and plunging us into thick darkness.

Each drop of rain felt like it was peeling away a layer of flesh, yet somehow, I craved the next lash. Kari’s chanting grew fainter, her grip on my face loosening as I leaned into the barrage of the storm.

It was cleansing, the buzz inside quieting as the storm raged outside. My lips parted, my eyes closed, I invited it in. I drank in the maelstrom as fierce gusts of wind seemed to suck me free of the witch’s grip, bathe me in the fresh scent of rain.

This was it, the floating sensation that preceded the cleansing light.

Come to me. It was a simple request, to who or what, I didn’t know. But when nothing happened, no light rushed in, I tried again. She told me to use my power, to push.

Come to me.

COME TO ME.

Lightning cracked across the sky, streaking and forking with vicious precision. That electric finger arrowed with unnatural intent, striking me in the chest, right between my breasts.

Everything inside me burned, brighter and brighter as the power engulfed me, lifted me, consumed me.

I laughed as the wind gusted. I raged as the rain pelted down in sheets. I screamed my will at the sky, and the sky screamed back at me.

I was the storm, and the storm was everything.