Page 60 of Stormbringer (Tracthesian Academy #1)

M ore and more bodies surrounded her. They pressed closer, and Wave could see murder in Elena’s eyes. Whatever this thing had originally been, it was now a fight between the two of them. Or fifty of them and her.

Wave couldn’t be sure how many there really were, but more than when Sinister got out. At least he and Zahir weren’t caught in the crossfire. Wave had no illusions about making her way out of this unscathed.

Tracthesian Academy might be neutral ground, and that might hold back certain players from certain actions, like indiscriminate mass murder, but things happened in the heat of battle. Elena wasn’t going to let Wave walk away from this, no matter what.

Disbelief and rage warred on her face when Wave kept fighting back and holding out on her own. While Elena and her troupe seemed to be throwing everything at Wave, she still tried to contain the destruction her powers wrought.

What Elena didn’t know was that Wave was at her limit. Her body couldn’t hold on to this much power, no matter how much Hell Moon was leaking over, and Elena wasn’t backing off. Silently, Wave laughed. It seemed that the cavalry wasn’t coming this time.

She took solace in the fact that there wasn’t a single stormbringer in the mix standing against her. She wasn’t going to kill her own people, and it would come to that on one side or another.

Blood dripped down from her nose, and Elena grinned. Sighing, Wave gave in. She had put up a good fight. She could either go out in a blast of murderous power or quietly drop. For some reason, Wave couldn’t quite muster the rage to kill even Elena.

Her external shield of ice fell, and her electricity fizzled out. The world warped around her, and Wave almost threw up.

Sinister appeared next to her and stretched out an arm for her to grasp. Too late, he realized Wave’s shields were down, and there was nothing holding back the inferno. He didn’t flinch back though. Or maybe he couldn’t open a new portal under the immense pressure.

“No!” Wave screamed as the first fireball slammed into his shoulder.

Without a thought, the well inside of her yawned, and the lid blew open. Power, deep, hungry, ancient power roared up. It lifted Wave off the ground and fortified her body. Then it took over.

There was water everywhere. Wind. A storm.

It was impossible to see through the deluge. Nothing, absolutely nothing could burn in this rain. Wind pushed the water away from Wave and blasted everyone around her. The urge to scream rose in her beyond the point of holding back.

She lent her voice to the storm. It howled deafening shrieks that rendered her enemies helpless, tearing into their minds and pushing them to their knees. Wave poured her desperation, loneliness, and hurt into that voice and pleaded for the storm to cover it up.

The power knew it belonged to her even if she hadn’t claimed it. It bent to her will. Still hers, even though she had spent her whole life trying to push it down and deny or control it.

The siren screamed its defiance to the air, and the storm took the sound and made it its own. The well of an heir apparent, the well that Wave had never wanted to have because it meant her father was truly, irrevocably dead, pulsed with so much power.

Wave let it out, let it rage. She had been holding back, denying who she was, what she was, for too long. It felt unbelievably good to let it all out. It was cathartic not caring about consequences for one glorious moment.

Just let the storm rage.