Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

M isfits forge the most remarkable paths - my mama had told me that.

"Better to be on the outside looking in, than on the inside looking out, Everest."

It was a little harder to believe in those words when a group of assholes were throwing rocks at you.

"Get her!"

I ran as fast as my legs would go, and a rock crashed against my back, making me hiss through my teeth in pain. But I didn't stop, taking a route into the trees, following a path up the hill which was little more than an animal track winding through the prickly brush.

At least the night offered me cover, though the moon's silvery light would betray me if I strayed from the shadows of the scrappy woodland. All the way out here on the verges of my hometown, only the sky would hear my screams.

Thorns tore at my bare legs and arms, the heat of my land calling for as little clothes as I could get away with, the air thick with warmth even in the dead of night.

The crash of footsteps told me they were following, my half brother, Ransom, no doubt leading the charge with his pack of bloodthirsty allies in tow. By the ocean, I hated him. I hated him so ferociously that sometimes I thought it would eat me alive.

Another rock whistled past my ear, and my heart lurched as I ducked. Eské - fuck - I wasn't losing them.

The dry ground rose beneath my bare feet, the dusty hill climbing ever higher until my breaths were labouring and I prayed to Delphinus to offer me a drop of luck tonight. The stars ruled this world, and the water constellations were above all others when it came to the land of Cascada, home of the Raincarvers who claimed dominion over the elemental power of water. Pisces, Scorpio and Cancer were the highest of celestial deities to my people, but the lower constellations were steeped in power too, all of them able to change the fates of worthy Fae – or curse them in the name of petty contempt.

My thick, curling, brown hair swung forward in the wind, so long it tangled around me, and I had to sweep it back from my face to see again. Mama said my hair was only second in its wild nature to my heart, neither tameable, both beasts of their own free will.

I finally crested the hill, turning left, disoriented in the dark, and I only realised my mistake when an intense crackle of magic made the hairs on my arms stand on end.

I was heading toward The Boundary; the wall of power that kept enemy Fae from entering our lands, the other Elementals. Fire, Earth, Air. This barrier marked the end of Cascada's borders on the eastern part of our territory, looking out towards the dreaded Crux. The vast, desolate crater where the corners of the earth, water and fire lands met.

The barrier kept our adversaries out, and the elders said it would destroy any Fae who tried to leave without permission too. It would have been as good as a death sentence to go out there anyway. There were things in that wasteland, wild, monstrous, magically-altered creatures placed there by us and our foes alike, waiting to feed on any Fae who was dumb enough to try crossing the wilds. Put simply, it was inaccessible and suicidal to attempt entering. Meaning I was running straight towards a dead end.

A crack came from the trees to my right and my throat thickened. The footsteps of my pursuers had fallen quiet, so perhaps it was just an animal. Maybe they'd lost my trail and turned back.

With that hope in mind, I headed closer to The Boundary, a feeling of eyes on my flesh making me turn to glance wildly through the gloom between the boughs, but no attack came.

I kept going, and the temperature began to drop, every step I took plummeting me into a colder and colder world. I never came up this way, it was forbidden for un-Awakened Fae - those of us who weren't yet old enough to harness our magic and the ability to wield water - to be this near to The Boundary.

Those who had their magic Awakened by the stars, unleashing the elemental power that lived in their veins, held certain privileges in Cascada, such as the right to voice their own opinions in matters of our homeland. At the age of twenty-one, every year, Fae were sent to Helle Fort to unleash that magic in them and to face assessment for their calling in life. There was no calling as esteemed as that of a warrior selected to train and fight for the army of Raincarvers who fought in the Endless War against the other nations. An army I was determined to qualify for.

The call of battle had whispered my name since the moment I could hold a sword. And despite the contempt of my half-brother and his adoring fans, I was determined to see my destiny unfold at Never Keep, the fortress where all great warriors learned to harness their element under the guiding hands of the star-chosen prophets known as the Reapers during six months of magic instruction.

Competition for a place at Never Keep was fierce, but I had set my heart on claiming one. Those who survived the gruelling training at the Keep and made it home again were changed, their souls tainted with unknown horrors, blood well and truly on their hands since claiming their warrior birthright. That would be my fate soon enough. I'd turn twenty-one in under a year's time, a Pisces with Aries rising, and when that time came, I would be shipped off to Never Keep alongside my vicious half-brother and all the other water elementals who came of age with us to be assessed for a position fighting for my land.

Snow had been cast ahead of me with magic, and I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself as goosebumps spread across my skin. I was used to balmy air and the warm swells of the ocean where I could ride the waves using my wooden tiderunner, not this frigid tundra where the world seemed so still, so utterly unwelcoming.

Water could be deadly in all forms, but it was also the greatest life giver in The Waning Lands. I'd been raised on tales of the revered warriors who had died in the first battles of the Endless War so long ago that the stories about them had become legends, always a little different every time I heard them.

Hazarar the Fierce had supposedly turned a whole faction of Stonebreakers - who held the power of earth - to ice and crushed them all with a giant hammer made from the tempestuous waves of the ocean.

My people were deadly, but so were our enemies. And one day, I would face them on the battlefield and shed their blood with as keen a hunger as they sought to shed mine. It didn't unsettle me, I ached for somewhere in this world where I belonged. And I had the feeling it would be there, at the heart of the chaos.

The trees here were heavy with snow, bowing under the weight of it all, the branches woven together above me. It was too dark to see much further, so I slipped a hand into my pocket, taking out the everflame I kept in a little jar, shaking it to brighten it up.

I'd be in serious trouble if I was found carrying this thing around, but it had been a gift from Mama, a trinket she'd acquired in her line of work at The Forge. It was only meant to be used in work such as hers, forging weapons and wielding our enemy's fire for our strength, and I shouldn't have been carrying it around for my own needs. It was a miracle which I secretly coveted even if I did hate the Fae who had created it – a fire which never went out, burning eternally, creating a light that needed no fuel and persisted without end.

My mother had been selected as a Provider long ago, birthing children from the ruthlessly powerful Commander Rake who had been assigned to her, and though she had never fought battles, she wasn't one to flinch at death either. I was glad my features resembled hers over his, from my warm brown skin to my large bronze eyes and wide lips that my mama had said were made for smiles. Though I hadn't had many chances for those. This small life of mine was forged under the weight of a brutal war, and I was born to be a cog in the machine that drove our nation toward greatness.

Mama had told me stories that had set my blood chilling when I was just a child, of a time when the Flamebringers - who held the power of fire - had marched into our land and burned a path of death right through the heart of our nation. She had taken up a sword, cutting down those who sought to kill her loved ones, and victory had been claimed after a bloody week of carnage. Those tales had always lit me up instead of making me cower. As if the streak of wildness that lived in her, lived in me too.

I made it to The Boundary, the air sparking with energy and a ripple of deepest blue light shimmering before me, the unearthly glow making the snow glitter at my feet. There was a steep drop beyond it, a slippery slope of ice plummeting down, down, down into the wild valleys where nothing but a grisly end awaited any sorry soul who went out there.

I was fascinated by the idea of all that danger sitting so close to the borders of our land, miles of unimaginable horrors waiting for a foolish squadron of Fae to try their luck at making it across The Crux into our territory.

In the distance, Pyros - the land of the fire wielders - loomed, nearly lost to the darkness at this time of night. I wondered if somewhere on the far side of the distant boundary beyond the wilds, a Flamebringer might be peering this way too, my enemy so close and yet neither of us able to reach the other. All the four lands had defensive magical barriers like this running along the borders that faced The Crux, though they were hardly needed when crossing that wasteland was a death sentence.

An eerie, blood-curdling shriek carried from far out in the wilds, and I shuddered, taking a step back from the crackling magical boundary.

My heart lurched as my back knocked into a hard body, and I knew my quarry had found me.

Strong hands crashed against my spine, shoving me hard, and I lost my footing, my knees hitting the ground and the everflame jar slipping from my grasp, landing in the snow with an incriminating thud.

"By the ocean, Ransom, your freak of a sister has her own fire," Alina Seaman accused, and I glowered up at her as she stepped forward to stand beside my half brother. She was tall, strong, with hard features that were a likeness to her powerful warrior aunt, her long, black hair so silken it was as if it had been woven from the night itself.

" Half sister," Ransom corrected coldly.

My brutish half brother was all muscle, clearly the one who'd shoved me. He resembled our father in all ways, his skin far lighter than mine, his height towering, shoulders terribly broad. He was built for war, my father's perfect heir with his natural bloodlust and obvious power. His hair was russet brown, perfectly kept, and his eyes were a slick of mud that always held so much arrogance. An arrogance well instilled by our father. The barbarous commander favoured him, hailing him as his latest prodigy. He praised and doted on him in a way he had never even attempted with me. To him, I was a runt, a pointless endeavour to be dismissed, while Ransom was his budding warrior who would soon be ready to be honed into a fearsome weapon.

To make his esteem all the greater in my father's eyes, Ransom had recently Emerged as a Merrow – the very same Order my father happened to be and, of course, in his opinion, the greatest Order in existence. They were a ferocious breed; jagged, serrated blue scales coating their body like armour in their shifted form, remaining mostly Fae in appearance apart from the spines that ran the length of their backs and the sharp spikes that extended between the knuckles of their hands. In water, they could shift their legs into a tail and carve through waves faster than any other Order of the ocean, their throat producing gills that allowed them to breathe underwater too.

All Fae held an Order; the ability to shift into a creature of scales or fur. Some only partially shifted, such as Centaurs and Harpies, but others transformed entirely into Werewolves, Nemean Lions, Pegasuses and the like. Every Order form had gifts of their own, a type of magic unique to their kind such as the Sirens' ability to influence emotion or the Medusas' gift to paralyse their enemies with a single bite from the snakes in their hair. Each Order had a particular way of recharging their elemental magic once it was Awakened too. Merrows drew their magic from the turning tides, Pegasuses flew through clouds to bolster their power, and Werewolves ran beneath the moon.

I, much to my father's disgust, was yet to Emerge into my Order form, meaning my abilities and the powers I might be able to use in battle were still unknown. I ached to Emerge with a desperate kind of need, hoping to prove myself powerful once the truth of what I was had been revealed but, so far, I was still waiting. Most Fae had long Emerged by my age – which was just another reason my father had to dismiss me.

More of Ransom's band of merry fuckwits moved forward from the shadows, baring their teeth at me like wolves who'd found a lamb to prey on. A few of them had shifted into their bestial forms, a huge Nemean Lion baring his teeth at me, his golden fur rippling in the wind, his size terrifying and his teeth as large as knives. Maria was smirking cruelly in her Centaur form, stamping a hooved, brown leg. I hoped that when I gained my own form, I wasn't something half Fae, half beast. I'd prefer to shift entirely or not at all.

I tried not to show my fear, but it was tracking along the inside of my veins, eating away at me. I'd been pushed into the dirt beneath them all my life, my nose bloodied countless times, but there'd been a change in them since we'd reached our teen years. Their bullying had turned more vicious, more cruel, and I knew where it ended if I couldn't escape again.

"I question every day how I could be related to such a thing . Look at what she's wearing," Ransom sneered.

My heart twitched with hurt as they took in my clothes, the shift I'd made by hand, blue with little seashells stitched across the material and lacquered with etzia oil to give it a constant rainbow shimmer, along with the armour I'd made to fit over it. A gleaming breastplate painted metallic blue with matching wrist cuffs.

"Why are you dressed like an ugly sea urchin?" Alina jeered, and anger flooded through my chest. "Do you think that armour will actually protect you from us?"

My cheeks scorched as they all laughed, mocking me, and as much as I wanted to scream a retort back at them, my tongue wouldn't curl around the words. Everyone in this land told me to tone it down, stop being so odd, try to fit in, don't stand out, keep your head down, play it small.

There were only two people I knew who encouraged my differences. One was my Mama, though I didn't always tell her the truth about why I often came home bruised and bloodied. The shame of it was just another dent to my already poor reputation. But I always did come home to Mama, and I couldn't let her down by not making it back tonight. I would never be the daughter she was the most proud of, not with six older sisters already graduated from Never Keep with plenty of battles to their names and too many accolades to count. But I could make it home.

With a surge of determination, I shoved to my feet, snatching the everflame into my grasp, holding it out in front of me and making Alina nearly fall on her ass as she stumbled away from it.

"She's trying to wield fire," she gasped. "Look at her. Rejecting her own lineage. It's foul."

"Would you rather be a flame fucker, Everest?" Ransom growled, stepping forward, his dark eyes lighting under the glow of the everflame. "Do you think you'd fit in better there? Because I don't think any of them would want you either."

He clearly wasn't afraid of the everflame, even as I turned it his way, my foot sliding out behind me as I took up a fighting stance. I counted six of them, easily enough to beat me in a brawl, but I could probably break at least three noses before I went down. I may have been scrawny and outnumbered, but I was feisty and knew how to fight, courtesy of my training. Every citizen was taught basic combat, even if we didn't all make the cut for Never Keep's warriors when the assessment came. We had to be able to defend our land regardless.

"I'm no flame fucker, but you will be when I shove this everflame up your ass, Ransom," I spat to try and rattle him, making some of his little friends gasp. It didn't do much to ease the frantic pounding of my heart.

"Grab her," Alina encouraged my brother, a growl in her throat that was more worthy of the Werewolves than the Order she actually possessed. Cyclopses held mental powers that could sift through your memories and pick through your thoughts. She had gotten inside my head one too many times since her Emergence and I was determined she wouldn't do so again. "Make her eat that fire. Make her pay for scorning the ocean."

Ransom came at me, his large hand reaching for my throat, and I ducked it, making a bid for freedom, but he caught hold of my waist, hurling me onto the snow, my back warming with the heat of The Boundary. The energy it emitted was thrumming through the air, making my ears ring with the magic it held.

My heart thrashed with fear at what would happen if I touched it. Maybe I'd melt there and then, or turn to ash, or my lungs would burst and I'd bleed out at Ransom's feet.

Kaské - shit - I needed to get out of here. Fast .

I popped the lid off of the jar, throwing the whole thing at Ransom's face in a furious attempt to defend myself. He cried out, raising a hand, batting the jar aside, and the everflame went tumbling over my head.

My lips parted in shock as it hit The Boundary and exploded on impact, the wall of magic destroying it so quickly that the glass was shattered into tiny pieces, scattering across the snow. There was nothing left of the everflame, as if it had never even existed.

"Woah," Ransom cooed and some of his friends shared excited looks.

"Do you think that would happen to her if she touched it?" Alina whispered to him keenly, and my blood ran cold.

"Only one way to find out." Ransom rushed forward and I scrambled to evade him, but he had me trapped. He caught my thick, brown curls in his fist, shoving my head towards The Boundary, and a scream of terror pitched from my lungs.

A flash of memory seared across my mind of a boy's lifeless body crumpled at the feet of my father, Commander Abraham Rake, put there by a gang of bloodthirsty kids who were glorified for their strength.

"Good," Father had praised them. "The weak must fall so the great can rise."

It was dog-eat-dog in this land, always had been, always would be, and it was actively encouraged too. Runts didn't make it to adulthood, because runts made the spine of Cascada weaker. I'd made myself a target when I'd refused to go along with the crowd, when I hadn't found ways to fit in and create a group of my own. They called me different, unusual, an outcast. And no one would flinch if I was killed now, except perhaps Mama and my one friend in this world. Harlon Brook. He'd taken me under his wing long ago, one of the strongest Fae of our generation, but he had never been one to go along with the pack either. He'd stood at my side through thick and thin, but he wasn't here now. I was alone, facing the murderous look in my brother's eyes, wondering if he might just kill me this time.

This cut-throat barbarity was the way of our kind. There was no place in this callous world for rejects.

I clawed at Ransom's arms, drawing blood, thrashing, kicking, fighting for this life of mine that no one else would fight for. It was survival in its purest form, and my soul was screaming for another day in the sun.

"Goodbye, Everest. I'd love to tell you that I'll miss you, but Father would scold me for lying. He will praise me greatly for unburdening him of his failure though. Of all his children, you are the tar on his name. But not anymore." Ransom threw me at The Boundary and Alina cried out in excitement while the others cheered, the Nemean Lion releasing a roar.

The warmth of The Boundary rushed over me, and terror carved its name into my very essence as the magic ran across my skin, consuming me.

Yet somehow, impossibly, I wasn't consumed. I wasn't burning up in its terrible power, ripped to pieces by the magic. Instead, The Boundary let me through.

My relief was painfully short-lived as I started falling, slamming onto the steep ground of the icy slope, trying to grab anything I could for purchase, but it was already too late.

Ransom's brown eyes widened in surprise as I went skidding away down the sheer bank and a horrified scream left me as I fell, sliding down the plain of ice, crashing over sheets of compacted snow, unable to get a hold on anything at all.

My knees were ripped raw against the ice and my body was badly bruised as I began tumbling like a ragdoll, losing all control of my limbs as I gained momentum down the hill.

My shift tore in places, seashells ripped from it, scattering away from me with clinks and jingling that sounded like bittersweet music. My breastplate took a bashing but stayed firm, protecting me from some of the bigger rocks I slammed into, but it likely wouldn't be enough to save me from the violent impact that was coming at the bottom.

I clasped my head in my hands, curling in on myself, trying to protect anything vital, the moon a blur of silver above me as I rolled over and over.

My spine hit hard ground with such a forceful collision that I was winded in an instant, spluttering and coughing as I tried to draw breath where I lay in a pile of crushed seashells.

"Skyforgers!" Alina shrieked from far above me on the hill, and I blinked to try and right my thoughts, that word striking fear into my soul even as I fought to make sense of it.

Cries carried out all across our town, far beyond The Boundary, and I stared up at the thick clouds that were rolling in above the wilds, searching them with a frantic terror crawling up my spine. They parted like a veil and the moonlight glinted off of the giant slab of land which was revealed within them, an entire island travelling in the sky, descending on our people like wraiths in the night. The air elementals were here, and they had come for blood.

A nightmarish shriek carried from the wilds, driving terror through my heart as I pushed up onto my knees, still staring at the horrifying sight of the hulking sky island as it passed overhead, blocking out the moon entirely.

It didn't matter that I was still breathing, or that The Boundary had let me pass through unscathed, because my death would either seek me here in the wasteland or it would come at the hands of the sky warriors descending on us from above. But I would rise to meet it, like always. Because I was born for war.