The Storming

Chapter 2

Prologue

Three days. I’ve been a prisoner for three days. More, if you count the time I spent knocked out and tied up on the back of my best friend’s gravicycle, speeding through the air towards Valhalla.

I haven’t spoken to Khai since then, although he’s been talking to me plenty. I have nothing to say to him.

What would you say to the man who tased you in a bid to keep you “safe?”

Right. Exactly.

I’m free to wander Airmed’s home and grounds, but if I try to leave? Let’s just say that water fae can create stationary shockwaves, too, and Airmed is one of the best at shielding techniques. Someday, the ancient healer says, she’ll teach me how, but not until she’s sure I’ve come to my senses.

So, I’m stuck here.

My mother calls every night. I hear Airmed talking with her, but I won’t speak to her. Right now, my voice, or lack of it, feels like my only weapon. My one form of protest.

But I get updates. David, my boyfriend, is still missing. Mialloch and Dorian have both come by to visit, representatives of the Light Council and its fae Guard. I told them everything I knew, and it didn’t feel like nearly enough. I can’t shake the feeling that Mialloch knows more than he’s telling me. Yesterday a meeting was finally arranged with David’s organization in Boston, but from what I’ve heard, trust levels are low between them and the fae.

I can’t imagine why.

Everyone needs to work together, to save all the innocent people who have been taken. First, though, the fae and starseeds have things to discuss. Plans to make. They want to figure out just how they can help each other, what the other side can and cannot do.

Every hour that passes here makes me want to scream. How long before David gets brainwashed, before he becomes a warper?

Is he one of them already?

I can’t just sit here and wait. I can’t.

But I can’t leave, either.

It’s for my own safety, they say. I need to relax. Let the adults handle things. Never mind that I officially became an adult over a year ago.

No matter what I say, they won’t let me leave. I’m to stay here and train in water magic with Airmed like a child in a nursery, while the grownups go to war.

Which is why, this evening I’ve made a decision. I’m going to let Airmed teach me. I’m going to smile and cooperate. I’m even going to forgive Khai. He’s been offering to show me some new sparring moves: it turns out that we didn’t already know everything, after all, and Khai wants to teach me what he’s learning at the Light Guard Academy.

So, I’m going to let him. It’s what friends do, right? Forgive? Forget?

I’m a quick study, and I can see that I still have a lot to learn.

And then, I’m breaking the hell out of here.