Chapter 51

Ellery

Shiftinghis weight to the side, Ryker turned his head to take in the steadily reddening sky. "It's too early for the sun to set."

"It's not a sunset," I whispered.

When he looked back at me, his gaze dropped to my mouth; hunger and regret filled his eyes before he planted his hands on the ground and pushed himself up. I immediately missed having his body against mine, but my growing concern didn't allow me to focus on that for long.

He held his hand out to me, and I clasped it. Callouses marked his palms, and I liked how they felt against me as our fingers intertwined as if it was the most natural thing in the world and we held hands daily.

Standing together, we watched the sky deepen to a blood-red hue. When I first noticed the change, I was only a little concerned, but now terror churned in my belly as it clawed its way up my chest to my throat.

Tempest was a realm full of immortals who could control different aspects of the weather, but no amsirah could do this. It would take all the amsirah who could control rain working together to cover Tempest in a rainstorm, and these weren't rain clouds.

I held many secrets, and some of them were about my abilities. My lightning-bearer ability and the fact I could control all five weathers made me an anomaly amongst the amsirah, but this was more than secrets, and it was far more than any amsirah could do.

I had no way of knowing if this strange, red sky covered the entire land, but I couldn't shake the feeling it did. I was certain that all of Tempest was trapped beneath this bloody sky, and something awful was about to happen.

"What is it?" I whispered.

"I don't know. I've never seen anything like it before."

As the sky continued to darken, the air crackled. That crackle wasn't electricity; I was familiar with the sensation. It was something foreign and… and… and wrong. The hair on my nape rose, my throat went dry, and that crackle crept over my skin like ghostly fingers seeking a way in.

"Do you feel that?" I whispered.

"Yes."

The intensity of the crackle increased until it became small needle pricks against my flesh. The tension in the air ratcheted up as tiny sparks started popping and fizzing around us. It reminded me of the glow bugs that came out in the woods and around the manor at night, but those were far less ominous than this.

My hair rose to wave around my face, and when I glanced at Ryker, his was also standing on end. "Amsirah aren't doing this," he stated.

The sky had stopped changing color, and a reddish pall hung over the woods. The whole realm seemed to hold its breath. I certainly did as I waited to see what would happen.

Without warning, something in the air snapped, and an echoing boom rebounded over the land. It quaked the earth and trees as the ground heaved.

And then a wave of something I couldn't quite put my finger on rushed at us from the trees. It was clear, but I could still see it sweeping toward us.

It stretched from the ground to at least the tips of the trees and possibly beyond, though I couldn't see it. The hush that had descended over the forest vanished as a cacophony of noise rattled my eardrums.

Trees shook and bowed as it rushed past them; rocks and debris kicked up from the forest floor to create a maelstrom of rubble at the bottom of whatever was rushing toward us. Flung from the trees, birds and other animals rolled through the storm before vanishing.

My instincts screamed at me to run, but it was moving far too fast, and there was no outrunning this and no way to fight it. I could control the wind, but it wouldn't do anything against whatever this was.

Ryker must have come to the same conclusion; instead of trying to run, he released my hand, turned his back to the approaching storm, and dragged me against his chest. Cradled protectively in his arms, I lifted my arms to embrace him, but before I could, a rolling wall of air smashed into us.

It lifted us off our feet and flung us backward. Its impact spun us through the air as we rolled with all the rubble torn from the forest.

I scrambled to try to hold on to Ryker, but when a tree branch crashed against my back, I cried out as my arms went limp. Something slammed into Ryker's side, tearing him halfway off me.

My arms flailed as the air pummeled me, but when I hit a tree, I lost Ryker completely. He vanished amid the debris as I hung against the tree, my back aching and my shoulder blades screaming their protest over the impact.

Closing my eyes, I was helpless to avoid the air, rocks, and dirt continuing to pummel me, but thankfully, no more branches hit me, and neither did anything larger than an apple. The wind rushing around me whipped my hair and clothes back while keeping me plastered to the tree.

It felt like it lasted forever and was never going to end, but it was probably only a second or two before it stopped. As soon as it did, gravity took control, and I slid down the trunk to my ass.

My head pounded, and when I tried to open my eyes, a wave of dizziness assailed me before my vision blurred. I scrunched them closed again and suppressed a groan.

I took a few seconds, and some shallow breaths, before prying my eyes open again. I was still seeing two and three of everything, but having my eyes closed when I had no idea what else could be coming was a surefire way to die.

Something had attacked us, but what that something was, I didn't know, and we had to find out.

My mother.

The thought of her came with a soul-crushing jolt of terror. What if something had happened to her?

That wall of air might have only hit the Revenant Woods, but I didn't think so. I had to get back to her!

I pushed myself to my feet and staggered a few steps before hands on my shoulders steadied me. I lifted my head and blinked the two Rykers into one.

"Easy," he murmured. "Take a few seconds to get oriented. I'll open a portal to get us out of here."

I nodded and instantly regretted the action as it sent a fresh jolt of pain through my already throbbing head. I rested my fingers against a nearby tree, bowed my head, and took a few deep breaths as I tried to bury the nausea churning in my stomach.

Slowly, the throbbing eased, and my belly stopped feeling like it was going to hurl everything inside it all over the ground. Ryker came back and clasped my elbow.

"Are you okay?" he inquired.

"I'm doing better."

"Good."

He handed me my bow and quiver; I had no idea where he'd found them in the scattered debris littering the ground, and I didn't ask. He kept hold of my arm as he led me toward the portal ten feet away.

"Are you okay?" I asked, though he looked fine.

"Yes."

He led me into the portal he'd created, and a few seconds later, we emerged in the woods near the edge of The Hollows. "I have to go home," I protested.

"I know, and we'll go there next, but I had to see the town and if anything happened to it."

I glared at him, but it made my head start pounding again, so I stopped. Shouts and cries of suffering quickly diverted my attention from Ryker to the horror unfolding in The Hollows.