Dawnbreaker

Twenty-One

Only the human guardians spoke during the car ride to Ollantaytambo. Even then it was low, whispers in broken bits of Spanish or Italian. I rode in the front seat next to Danaus, who graciously volunteered to drive. At the random intersection, he’d stop, grunt, and we’d silently look at the map Eduardo had given us before we wordlessly continued on. Stefan lounged in the seat directly behind Danaus, vainly attempting to unnerve the hunter. If he succeeded, I couldn’t tell, but then again, that was Danaus. As far as I knew, I was the only one who had succeeded in rattling him. And I had every reason to believe he was going to cut my heart out for my troubles.

Stefan’s goal was also to remain as far from Cynnia as possible. It had not gone well when I informed the nightwalker that both an earth witch and a naturi would be joining us on our journey to Ollantaytambo. He would have been content to cut Cynnia’s heart out where she stood in the middle of the city sidewalk and leave her for the humans to find later, but I deftly talked him out of it, using promises of being able to use her as a bargaining chip later at the battle of Machu Picchu.

So, for now, Shelly acted as a thin, human buffer, sitting between the powerful and brooding Stefan and the all too quiet Cynnia as we headed deeper into the Sacred Valley by a sliver of fading moonlight. I would have liked to ask either of the two women if their sense of the power in the air was getting stronger, but I didn’t want to alert Stefan to any of this earth magic nonsense just yet. I preferred for him to think that I maintained a strict captor-captive relationship with Cynnia. He didn’t need to know that I was currently depending upon her to give me some kind of guidance when it came to controlling, or at least using, the earth magic that seemed desperate to flow through my body.

As we drove close to Ollantaytambo, hills rose up around us, blotting out what little light the stars had to offer. Naturally, the moon was nowhere to be found. Reduced to a slim sliver of her once great glory, she remained hidden from sight, seemingly content to let us fumble around in the overwhelming darkness. The animals that watched us lumber along the narrow, winding road were silent, cloaked by the rocks and bushes.

After more than two hours of driving, both the mountains and the scattering of trees and brush at last pulled back, opening into what seemed to be a tiny valley. Despite the fact that I didn’t breathe, I had to fight back the urge to draw in a deep breath at the sight of Ollantaytambo. The city was small, with only a handful of streets and a few hotels. It wasn’t a major stop for tourists. Some would take a short day trip to see the ruins at the edge of the city, but then move on to Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu.

As we slowly rolled down the main street, I noticed that the four humans we’d brought along had fallen silent. At the back of the van I could make out the sound of cloth rustling and the soft snap of weapon guards being released so knives and guns could be quickly drawn. Before leaving the hotel room, both Danaus and I once again loaded up on weapons. He had a short sword strapped to his back along with a pair of guns that I couldn’t readily identify. The hunter had also been kind enough to return to me the same style of Glock and Browning that I’d used at Crete. I didn’t like handguns but was familiar enough with these two that I could manage better than starting with two totally unknown weapons. I also had a short sword strapped to my thigh. I was hoping to avoid using my power while we were here, as there was already too much energy crackling in the air to make me feel comfortable.

As we drove into the city, I noted that each block was surrounded by high walls in the traditional Incan design. Inside the walls were a cluster of neat little houses, and a courtyard in the center of it all. It was nearly midnight when we entered the town, and each of the houses was shut up tight and the lights doused.

At the end of the main street, Danaus halted the car and looked at me for direction. Now that we were here, I didn’t want to move, didn’t want to speak. It had sounded like a good idea while I was sitting in a crowded bar in Cuzco surrounded by my own kind. No, that’s wrong. It had sounded like a horrible idea when I was in Cuzco, and now that I was sitting here in the dark, I knew it was disastrous.

“Mira?” he prodded when I still refused to speak.

“The ruins,” I replied in a low voice, proud that it didn’t tremble. Of course, I was still struggling to loosen the death grip I had on the door handle. “Were we followed?”

There was no reason to ask who I was talking about. Only one group would be able to follow us without being detected by normal means. There was only one group right now that any of us were worried about. The naturi.

“No, but they’re not far away,” Danaus said. His deep voice was even and calm; a soothing balm despite the ominous words. Since we left the hotel, there had been a steady throb of energy seeping from him as he searched the area for our enemy. The relentless waves washed over and through me, pulling me closer to him. Those waves had both protected and sought to tear me apart in the past. Now I needed their protection not only from the enemy that was drawing close, but also from the ghosts haunting my past.

Danaus turned the grumbling white van down the road and drove the short distance to the ruins. Surrounded by hills, it was easy to make out the ruins rising up before us with the intricate stonework carved out by men centuries ago. The hunter pulled the van into the small, gravel parking lot a few hundred yards from the base of the mountain. Of course, mountain was a relative term considering we were already more than nine thousand feet above sea level. By the looks of it, the hike to the peak of the ruins was less that a quarter of a mile.

“Well, Mira,” Stefan started, breaking the silence that was punctuated by only the rough breathing of the humans. “We’re here. What is it you wished to see?”

Turning in my seat, I looked back at the naturi huddled as close to the door as she could get, putting as much distance as possible between her and Stefan. “Cynnia? Is there anything you can tell me?” I asked, ignoring the nightwalker for the time being.

“Nothing. I’ve never been here. I’m not quite sure why it would be viewed as important other than the fact that there is a great deal of energy in the air right here.”

I couldn’t argue with her there. The air seemed thick with energy, as if it were moisture on a hot and humid day. The energy within the area had become an entity that seemed to demand its presence to be recognized. Well, I was about to.

“We go to the top,” I bit out, goaded on by Stefan’s insolent tone. If the nightwalker had any special skill, it was his ability to instantly get under your skin like a tick. “The humans stay here and guard the van.”

“Mira?” Shelly’s voice softly broke the quiet of the van.

“You stay close to Cynnia. Don’t let her out of your sight. Don’t let her anywhere near the ruins where she might be able to escape us,” I commanded, more for Stefan’s benefit than for Shelly’s. I didn’t expect Cynnia to make a mad dash for freedom here, not if she was afraid of the allegiance of any naturi she found. For now, she was actually safer in my hands.

“Are you sure she can handle—”

“She can handle it,” I snapped, interrupting Stefan’s question.

Without waiting for any additional comment or argument, I shoved open the door and stepped out. I had to get moving. A flock of nightwalkers would be arriving in less than an hour to fetch us and carry us back to the lodge at the base of the ruins. This would be my only chance to see this place. Yet, all well laid plans are nothing without the occasional stumbling block.

The moment my booted foot touched the gravel-covered ground, my knee buckled beneath me. Luckily, I had yet to unwrap my fingers from around the armrest on the door, saving me from landing on my butt. The weight of my body pushed the door all the way open, pulling me out of the van. My other foot touched the ground and a second shockwave of power surged through my body, pulling a soft whimper from my throat. I tightly locked both hands around the armrest and leaned my head against the door, waiting for the feeling to pass. I couldn’t get my legs to work. They remained limp, useless noodles beneath me. Pain filled me in massive, endless waves as the power from the earth pushed and pummeled my body from head to toe.

“Mira?” Stefan laid a hand on my shoulder, his voice questioning but without its usually cold indifference. I hadn’t even heard the side door slide open when the nightwalker alighted from the van.

“Don’t you feel it?” I choked out as I unclenched my teeth.

“Feel what?”

The question startled me enough to force my eyes open. I twisted my body to look over my shoulder and find Stefan standing just behind me, appearing perfectly fine. Then I lifted my head to see Danaus walking around the van. He also appeared unaffected. There was so much energy in the air it was positively suffocating. How could either of the two men manage to be completely oblivious to it?

“Shelly?”

“I feel it, but it’s not painful,” she said, coming to stand by me. “It feels like a lot of energy just flowing by me, sort of like standing in the middle of a fast-running stream.”

“It’s not running by her like it should,” Cynnia said as she walked toward me. “It’s trying to push its way into her. Even with the manacles, I can feel the energy swirling around Mira, swamping her. It wants in.”

“What’s going on?” Stefan demanded over the buzz of conversation and contemplation. “What energy are they talking about?”

“The energy from the earth,” I muttered when no one seemed willing to talk directly to him. “I can sense it.”

“Is it going to make you useless to us?” he continued in his usual less than cheerful manner.

“Danaus?” My eyes fell shut again as I concentrated on holding onto the armrest. I didn’t need to worry about Stefan and his attitude at that moment. I had to worry about finding a way to function like this. If we were attacked right now by the naturi, I would be useless to the group, a liability.

I listened to the crunch of gravel beneath Danaus’s feet as he stepped closer. His broad hand rested on my back and a surprised grunt escaped him. He drew his hand away and I opened my eyes to find my dark companion staring at me in confusion.

“What is that?” he growled.

“The earth,” I whispered. “Pick me up.” My grip on the door of the van was beginning to weaken and I didn’t have the strength to crawl back into the van. It also wasn’t an option. We had to get to the top of the ruins before the other nightwalkers arrived.

Without a word of argument, the hunter lifted me up into his arms. Instantly, the surge of energy was gone. For a moment my limbs felt weak and shaky, but even that quickly subsided. Laying one arm around his shoulders, I rubbed my temple with the heel of my other hand, trying to clear the fog from my brain. I didn’t have a clue why the energy was so strong there. This wasn’t where they would make the sacrifice in order to open the door. We all knew that was going to be at Machu Picchu. But for some strange reason this place was a maelstrom of energy, and I had to know why before we continued on to the lodge. If this place was of value to the naturi, I needed to know why before we left it at our backs.

“Let’s get going,” I sharply said, feeling awkward giving commands while being cradled in Danaus’s arms, but I’m sure I accomplished it with my usual aplomb. “How long until the others arrive?”

“They’re already on their way,” Stefan stiffly said. Danaus had started walking, and the nightwalker was forced to take a couple jogging steps to catch up. “You can’t have him carry you to the top.”

“I can’t touch the ground here just yet. There’s too much energy in the area. It’s either Danaus carrying me or you flying us both to the top,” I snapped. I didn’t trust Stefan. I wouldn’t put it past him to fly me to the lodge and leave Danaus to catch up in the morning. I didn’t want to be separated from the hunter. Not until after the sacrifice was stopped. He was the only one I knew that shared the same goal: stop the naturi.

“We haven’t time for this nonsense,” Stefan grumbled, his pale gray eyes flaring with frustration.

“Why are we here?” Danaus smoothly interjected as if sweeping the nightwalker and his concerns under the rug. “What do you remember?”

“Nothing.” I shifted my gaze from Stefan to the path ahead of as we wove our way up the mountain. The very air seemed to tingle about us.

“Did they mention this place?” Danaus continued.

“No.” I started to shake my head, but something caught my eye. “Stop!” Reaching out, I touched one of the huge stones that comprised the wall. The gray stone had three straight lines scored into the rock. Two lines ran parallel, cutting diagonally across the stone, while the third line slashed through the rock in the opposite direction, running through the other two lines. It wasn’t a naturi symbol, but it also definitely wasn’t natural.

“Put me down,” I said in a hoarse voice, already pushing against Danaus’s chest. Slowly, he let my feet touch the ground. Again the power surged into me, causing my legs to buckle. My knees hit the ground, jerking a soft cry from me as I continued to cling to the stone.

Clenching my teeth, I reached out mentally and touched any creature that had a soul within the immediate area. If earth magic was going to push and hammer against my body until it found a way in, then I was going to fill my body with as much blood magic as I could find to keep it out. Around me, I could feel the energy flowing from Shelly and the humans down at the van. More important, I had fired up the connection between Danaus and me. I could feel his emotions so clearly now, as if they were my own. With very little effort, I knew I would be able to hear his thoughts as well, but I was careful to keep that door shut.

The wellspring of power flowed cool and soothing into me, helping me fight back the intense energy that was trembling in my limbs. Pain still filled my joints and caused a heavy throbbing in my temples as the two energies fought for dominance within my slender frame. But at the moment, the pain didn’t matter. I finally remembered why Ollantaytambo was so important.

“It’s their gateway,” I announced, struggling to my feet.

“What do you mean?” Stefan asked. Standing close, he cupped my elbow with one hand, helping to steady me now that I was standing again.

Instead of answering him, I twisted around so I could look at Cynnia, who seemed to shrink from my gaze, shifting so she was partially hidden behind Shelly. “You can travel through the energy, can’t you?” I demanded in a harsh voice.

Cynnia nodded to me, her brown hair falling forward to obscure her face. “It’s how we can quickly get from one part of the globe to the other part. It takes some practice and a lot of control, but most naturi can manage it, from what I’ve been told.”

“Can you?”

The young naturi snorted at me and took a step away from Shelly. “Of course not. I’ve not been on earth that long, and no one has bothered to tell me how they work. I’d probably get myself killed in the process.”

“I’d stay away from it,” I warned. “We would hate to lose you.”

“So, there’s a gateway up here?” Danaus interjected, cutting short my ominous threats. He really did have a knack for ruining my fun.

“There are great energy flows through the earth like massive underground rivers. The naturi can ride these rivers to travel around the world,” I explained, my voice gaining strength as I continued up the path. One hand slid along the rock wall face in an attempt to steady myself. “But there are only a handful of openings to these flows. The closest one to Machu Picchu is here in Ollantaytambo. It’s why I’ve been here; why I remember it.”

“It’s a way for them to get reinforcements to Machu Picchu,” Stefan said, his hand tightening on my elbow. “We have to destroy it.”

A bitter laugh escaped me before I could grab it. “You can no more destroy it than you can stop the coming dawn,” I sneered. “It’s the very life of the earth and all the things that grow upon it.”

“Can we block the opening?” Danaus demanded, drawing my eyes back to his face. He stared at me, his cold blue eyes seeming to glitter in some stray starlight. “At least temporarily block it. Buy us some time.”

“Maybe. Are they here?” My concentration had been so completely focused on the energy pouring from the earth and the opening that was at the top of Ollantaytambo that I almost forgot that the naturi were on their way there.

“Not yet, but getting close.”

Looking over my shoulder, I found Stefan intently listening to our conversation. “How much longer?” I asked him.

“Bertha and a few others should be here soon,” he replied.

“Then we have to move now. We won’t have another chance at this,” I said, picking up my pace a bit. My legs were trembling beneath me and it was hard to keep focused on gathering the energy I needed to fight back the earth magic that was desperately attempting to force its way into my body.

A soft sound of frustration escaping Stefan was my only warning, and it came nowhere close to providing me with enough time to react. Wrapping one strong arm around my waist, he pulled me back so his chest was pressed to my back, and then we were in the air. I envied his ability to fly, to have the freedom to escape the coming dawn whenever he so chose. And under most circumstances I might have said something nice about the feel of the cold air rushing past us. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the mood. He was being an overbearing ass, and I had enough creatures in my life trying to control me.

The second my feet touched the ground I tried to shove my elbow into his stomach, but I hadn’t thought about the well of power waiting for me when we reached the top of the mountain. My legs immediately crumpled beneath me, leaving me leaning heavily on Stefan’s arm.

“It’s worse up here?” he asked.

“Yes,” I choked out as I struggled to fight back the power that left my knees knocking. I reached out to every living creature I could find. My mind stretched out to the village of Ollantaytambo and its sleeping population. Their energy swirled around me and swam through my body, seeming to cleanse me once again.

“Why can’t I feel it?”

“Because you have not traveled in the flow,” I replied, getting my legs beneath me so I could step away from him. It was a lie, but one he would buy for now. I had no idea why I could sense earth magic beyond the fact that I had the ability to manipulate fire. Unfortunately, I had a dark suspicion that my ability to manipulate fire and my ability to sense earth magic had little to do with each other. There was something else that would one day step forward to haunt me on that front, but for now I thought the lie might make everyone a little more comfortable.

Stefan slowly slid his hand from me, as if expecting me to fall to the ground the second he pulled away.

“The flow in the earth is how the naturi were able to get me from Spain to Machu Picchu in a single day,” I explained. “It’s the only way they could have done it.”

I didn’t go on to explain that I now remembered our arrival in Ollantaytambo. I could vaguely recall the sun and my body burning as the naturi raced to find a way to protect their prize before it was reduced to a black pile of ash. I remembered screaming and thinking I had finally descended into Hell. But there was no explaining how I came to be awake during the day, beyond the theory that it was just a side effect of the flow.

Yet those delightful contemplations were pushed aside. “The naturi are here,” I announced to the cold night air.

“Are you sure?” Stefan demanded, frowning. Before I could answer, a single gunshot shattered the silence. Hesitantly, the earth seemed to take another breath before a barrage of gunfire from an automatic weapon resounded in the valley below.

“Yeah, pretty sure,” I said, sarcasm slathered over every syllable. Before the first gunshot rang out into the night, I had felt a disturbance among the humans. They felt uneasiness wash over them, as if something was watching them out in the darkness. Pulling in their energy, I was also attuned to their emotions. I had felt their fear instantly grow to terror when they realized they faced a creature they could not beat.

The silence had sunk back in again. Without checking, I knew the four humans we had brought with us were dead. The naturi would wipe out anything and everything from their path to us. The humans were simply a warm-up act to the slaughter they anticipated on the top of the mountain at Ollantaytambo.

A footstep at the edge of the plateau had both Stefan and I ready to spring into action, but we quickly relaxed at the sight of Danaus jogging over, followed by Shelly and Cynnia.

“How many?” I gruffly demanded.

“Eight,” the hunter replied, one of his guns already sliding into his hands. I pulled the Browning from the shoulder holster I was wearing, cradling the gun tightly in both hands as I waited for our adversaries to arrive.

“That’s it?” I sounded strangely disappointed by the number. Of course, after having already battled a horde in London and another army while in Crete, I would have thought an army was waiting to destroy me in Peru.

“There are more on the way,” he growled, as if to appease me.

“You and Stefan block the gateway. I’ll take care of the naturi,” I ordered, my eyes darting from the hunter to the nightwalker. Neither one looked particularly pleased with me, but no one argued.

“What about me?” Shelly asked, drawing my attention back to her and Cynnia for the first time. I had forgotten that I dragged the naturi and the earth witch into the nightmare with me. Maybe I should have left them both back in Savannah playing cards, but now wasn’t the time for contemplating such things.

“Keep an eye on Cynnia! She’s not to leave the mountaintop unless Danaus or I accompany her.”

“I’m not leaving here with them, Mira!” Cynnia shouted. “Those naturi most likely belong to Rowe, and I’d rather not see my brother-in-law just yet. Not until at least one of us has a plan.”

“Do I protect her?” Shelly asked, leading me to pause in the act of turning back toward Danaus and Stefan. My eyes danced from the naturi to the earth witch, my mind a clutter of thoughts, none of which made sense in that moment when a battle was breathing down our necks.

“Protect each other,” I murmured.

Cynnia held up her manacled hands and I shook my head at her. “There’s enough energy in the air. I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

“Mira!” Danaus shouted, finally drawing my gaze back to Stefan and him. “Where is this gateway that you’ve been talking about? Where’s the opening?”

“Over there,” Cynnia said, pointing behind them. Spinning on my heel, I followed Cynnia and Shelly to a depression in the ground a few yards away to the west. “This is it,” the naturi confirmed.

Both Danaus and Stefan looked at me, doubting the veracity of anything told to them by one of the enemy. I nodded. It was the exact spot I would have picked out. The energy was the thickest there. The earth was covered in thick green grass, as if it grew from the richest earth and was watered every day. The rest of the surrounding area was dirt with patches of grass and weeds intermixed with large stones. The gateway was here.

Drawing in a deep breath, I focused my powers and attempted to create a ball of fire that would hover over the depression. Instead I got twenty balls of angry, crackling fire scattered about the plateau.

“Whoa,” I murmured. I had meant to say something close to “Holy shit” in old Greek, but my mouth wasn’t working. I stared at the flickering fires the size of basketballs. Not quite my usually cute, baseball-sized beacons of light. Of course, I was tapped into two different power sources, and both were looking for an outlet. The power from the earth had immediately surged into my frame, but it was unable to tear me apart because I was still pulling heavily from the soul energy in the region. I just had to hope that the naturi didn’t decide to wipe out the nearby village before they came to take care of us.

Danaus threw me a dark gaze, but wisely kept his sarcastic comments to himself. He had been around me enough the past several days to know I hadn’t intended for that to happen. I walked over with him and Stefan but stopped several feet away, not wishing to draw any closer. The gateway was nothing more than an oblong circle about three feet in diameter that was slightly sunken into the ground, marked by the lush green grass that stood out against the surrounding rock and dirt.

“How do we close the gateway?” Stefan inquired.

“You don’t,” Cynnia said, taking a half step backward. I followed her lead. Standing so close to the flow sent a feeling creeping over my skin, like thousands of ants marching beneath my clothes.

She held her hands out toward the gateway, as if warming her hands by a fire. I had no doubt that she could feel the energy pouring out, enticing her, but so far she was behaving herself. “You can only block it so the naturi can’t use it,” she explained.

“Take some of the large stones off the ruins and pile them over the opening. Make a pyramid or something. I don’t care,” I shouted. I grabbed Cynnia by the shoulder and pulled her away from the opening. I didn’t need to worry about her and an abundant source of power, even if the iron manacles were supposed to dampen her ability to use magic. I truly doubted that the iron completely blocked the ability, particularly with this much energy floating around in the air.

“And the naturi won’t tear it down?” Danaus demanded, the sarcasm finally slipping out.

“I’m sure they will, but I’m hoping it won’t be before the new moon,” I growled at the hunter. “You’ll just have to get some of the Themis boys down here to protect it during the day.”

Danaus opened his mouth to argue, but I was saved from having to listen when a naturi dart shot through the air. He jerked his head back just in time to avoid the poison-tipped mini-arrow.

Three naturi with wrist crossbows crested the plateau first, shooting their bolts in hopes of paralyzing their victims before finally delivering the killing blow. I dodged two arrows aimed for my heart and unloaded the Browning into the three before they had a chance to launch the next phase of their attack.

The naturi were a mess, but still breathing. My aim was pathetic—I had to learn to shoot. Dropping the empty gun on the ground with a hollow thud, I pulled the short sword from the sheath and ran to their side. In a few quick slashes their heads were rolling from their bodies and I was splashed in a fresh coating of blood.

A whimper drew my attention from the edge of the plateau. Cynnia stood behind Shelly, peering out over the witch’s shoulder. Her wide green eyes shimmered in the firelight. For a moment something within me felt at peace. She was finally seeing me as the monster I truly was, as the nightmare her people had painted me for countless centuries. Washed in the blood of her people, blade in one hand and fire flickering around me, I was the Fire Starter.

“Watch out!” Shelly cried.

Ducking down as I turned, I managed to block a sword aimed to enter my back. We exchanged a series of blows that I narrowly escaped. I had finally met my match in a swordsman, but that wasn’t my greatest concern. My big problem was that the sword fight gave the naturi time to gain purchase on the plateau. One attempted to slip by me and head for Danaus and Stefan. While blocking one blow, I pulled a knife from my waist and threw it at the second naturi. The knife found her back, but I got a long cut across my stomach as I failed to block my adversary’s next move.

“You can’t win this time, nightwalker,” the naturi taunted, coming at me with another flurry of blows that I barely managed to block.

I wanted to make some witty comment, but as I tried to take a step backward to avoid another blow, my right foot became stuck. Unable to look down, I tugged at it, to find that something had wrapped around both of my ankles. I was trapped where I stood. An earth clan naturi had arrived at the party.

“I’ve got it, Mira!” called Shelly from behind me.

“No! Stay with Cynnia!” I shouted back, trying to keep my focus on the bastard in front of me who was trying to cut my heart out.

“Cynnia?” he whispered.

I didn’t question the distraction. With a quick stab, I plunged the short sword into his heart, catching him by surprise. He dropped to his knees before me, and I relieved him of his head.

“Mira!” Danaus shouted. I turned to find him struggling with a naturi. He had the creature by the wrists, fighting to keep the dagger from being plunged into his chest while another naturi approached from behind. We were being overwhelmed.

“I’ve got it!” Cynnia shouted, to my surprise. There was no warning, no chance to stop her. A bolt of lightning crashed from what had been a clear sky only a few moments earlier and instantly incinerated the naturi sneaking up behind Danaus. It surprised the naturi who was struggling with the hunter. He broke off and tried to take a few steps away, but didn’t get far. A second bolt of lightning struck, burning the naturi to a crisp in an instant.

I turned to find Cynnia on her hands and knees, struggling to breathe. I ran over and knelt beside her, with Shelly on the other side.

“Is she all right?” Danaus called, heading toward us.

“I’ll take care of her. You just get it covered!” I shouted, waving him off. Eight naturi, my ass! There might have only been eight naturi in the immediate area, but they’d taken the time to awaken the surrounding wild life on their way to Ollantaytambo.

Behind where I squatted, I could hear a mix of grunting and the crunch of heavy stones being dropped on one another. The pile was building, but they needed more time to finish. I also needed Cynnia back on her feet if she was going to be able to help defend our position. However, at the moment she was on her hands and knees, heaving up her guts. Shelly stood silently by, holding Cynnia’s hair out of her face while rubbing one hand gently up and down her back.

“Are you hurt?” I demanded when Cynnia finally drew in a cleansing breath, wiping her mouth with the back of her dirty sleeve.

“I—I killed them,” she replied in a shattered voice. “I killed my own people.”

I knew that it was a sad commentary on my own existence that my first thought was to tell her to get used to it, but I wisely kept my mouth shut for a moment. Nightwalkers made a common practice of killing their own kind. So did humans. But not every race was quite so heavy into genocide as we were.

“You saved Danaus’s life and I thank you,” I murmured, causing her to finally look up at me. “Were you hurt casting that spell?”

“Yes,” she hissed, as if suddenly noticing what had to be searing pain. We looked down to find that her wrists were burned and blistered where her manacles touched her flesh. The iron hindered their spell casting, but apparently it didn’t necessarily stop it under the right conditions. A good thing to remember.

I looked up in time to see more naturi reaching the top of the plateau. Our brief rest was over and I needed to get back to the business of defending my compatriots. “Keep your head down and keep each other alive. Danaus and Stefan are almost done,” I said, hoping that I was telling the truth.

I wobbled as I pushed back to my feet. Exhaustion chewed at my limbs and weighed on my shoulders. I was still pulling soul energy from the village and a little from Shelly in an effort to keep the earth magic from entering my body, but it was becoming a losing battle. The fireballs I was maintaining around the plateau to light the battle had grown in size. They crackled and snapped, as if they had developed souls of their own and were angry.

Danaus? Are you almost done? I asked, mentally reaching out to the one companion that I had grown to depend on in more ways than I cared to count.

Soon.

I may need your help.

It was time to let the earth magic in. I was tired of fighting it, and at the moment, it was more powerful and more plentiful than the soul magic I was desperately clinging to. Waving my hand, the large balls of fire hit the ground and rolled to the main path up to the ruins. As they traveled down the path, glomming onto whatever creature they passed, I found myself humming “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” as if the balls of fire had become my broomsticks to command. My head fell back and I stared up at the canopy of stars reappearing now that Cynnia had stopped casting her weather spells. Laughter welled up in my chest as I listened to the naturi scream. It almost made up for the night of torture I faced at their hands centuries ago. It almost made up for the fact that I knew I would be destroyed tomorrow night by either the naturi or Jabari. Almost, but not quite.

I turned to find that the mountain of stones the two men built had a base more than ten feet wide and was more than eight feet high. Only Stefan could now pile rocks on the top, since he could take to the air.

“Are there any naturi in the area?” I called, a waver threading its way through my voice as I fought to contain the energy writhing within my body, searching for an outlet. I had thought to extinguish all but two of the fire balls that Danaus and Stefan were working by, but the flickering flames were the only way I could keep the power from the earth appeased. Otherwise, it would eventually tear me to shreds.

Danaus shook his head as he wiped his brow with the back of his hand, breathing heavily from the exertion. I was willing to take a wild guess that he had tried to keep up with Stefan. Yes, Danaus was fast and half bori, but Stefan was a nightwalker that was nearly an Ancient.

Do you need me? he asked, taking a step toward me even before I answered, but I shook my head, waving him off. I had to find another way to control the power or it would destroy me. I couldn’t rely on Danaus or Jabari always being around to save my ass when I found myself in a situation I couldn’t control.

As I stepped toward Cynnia and Shelly, I leaned forward, my arms wrapped around my middle. The grass under my feet curled and turned black. I was a walking flame, and I needed the naturi’s help to find a way to extinguish myself.

“Help me,” I gasped, kneeling on the ground before them. “I can’t stop it. The power. It’s inside of me. Running through my brain.”

“Let it go, Mira,” Shelly said, placing a hand on my shoulder, but quickly pulled it away and stumbled back a step. I knew she must have felt the charge of energy burning away inside of me, searching for an outlet. She shook her hand and stared at me in wonder.

The power continued to grow inside me, and the trees surrounding the plateau burst into flames like dry tinder too close to a crackling fire. A circle of fire sprang up around us, reaching more than six feet into the air.

“Mira!” Danaus called, sounding worried. I could barely feel him on the periphery of my mind, waiting until he had no choice but to intervene. In the past he had pushed his own powers into me, which in turn pushed out the powers of the earth. But considering the energy and pain burning through me then, I wasn’t sure that he would be strong enough to help me take control again.

“You have to release the energy, Mira,” Cynnia calmly said. “You have to send it back out of your body and into the earth.”

“Don’t you think I’ve been trying to do that?” I shouted, my voice broken and fractured under the weight of the growing pain. “I push against the energy with everything that I’ve got and my only outlet is to create fire, but it’s not enough. I would have to set the world ablaze for it to finally be enough.”

“Why is the energy getting stuck?” Shelly asked. I looked up to find her staring down at Cynnia, who was frowning at me.

“Because she’s a nightwalker,” the naturi softly murmured. The pounding of the energy and the crackle of the fire made it nearly impossible for me to hear her. But then it wasn’t her words that unnerved me so much, it was her tone. “She doesn’t have an outlet for the earth magic to flow through. The fire magic, that little bit of who she is, seems to be drawing it in, and it has nowhere else to go but to leave her through fire. She needs an outlet for the earth.”

“How?”

Instead of answering, Cynnia knelt before me and reached over to one of the knives in its sheath on my waist. She slowly unsnapped the safety strap and placed a restraining hand on my shoulder as she pulled the knife out of its sheath. She met my gaze, her wide eyes swimming with fear. “Please don’t let them kill me,” she whispered, then plunged the dagger into my heart.

Just as quickly, she jerked the knife out again and let it and me fall to the ground. I hit with a heavy thud as new pain radiated through my entire body. The fire around us was extinguished with a sudden whoosh, and both Stefan and Danaus were on Cynnia in a flash, while Shelly stood in the background gasping for air. I lay on the ground, feeling the blood flow out of me and into the grass beneath my chest, and with it, the power of the earth finally flowing out of me.

I turned my head enough so there was no long grass sticking into my mouth. “Don’t hurt Cynnia,” I murmured, speaking as loud as I could. Luckily, I was dealing with creatures with superb hearing.

“She tried to kill you!” Stefan argued, sounding like he was standing somewhere above me.

“She saved me,” I said, wincing as Danaus helped turn me over on my back. A puncture wound to the heart couldn’t kill a nightwalker, but it could definitely slow us down. Nothing short of decapitation or the total removal of the heart would kill a nightwalker. As well as immolation, but that fate wasn’t for me.

Laying in Danaus’s lap, I closed my eyes and focused on the different energies I could now feel in, around, and through me. There was the soul, or so-called blood energy, that made up my existence. It was cool and calming, filling me as it mended the wound in my heart. Danaus’s powers also flowed about me, cautious and worried, but not seeking entrance into my weakened frame. He hovered on the outside, waiting for an invitation, or at the very least, a sign that I wasn’t healing as he expected.

And I could now feel the earth’s power, warm and light, flowing up from beneath me. The energy pulsed around me and through me as if it had its own heartbeat. The power seemed to flow out of me just as quickly as it flowed in, as if recognizing that it had wandered into a dead creature.

“Mira?” Stefan demanded in his cold voice, drawing me back to the present and the dilemma at hand.

I opened my eyes to find him holding Cynnia by her hair, a knife blade pressed so close to her throat that a thread of blood was streaming down her neck. I paused for a moment to wonder if we still needed her alive. She had fixed my problem with the earth magic, and I had a feeling that Shelly could now teach me to use that earth magic. I also suspected that keeping Cynnia alive wouldn’t provide me with enough leverage over Rowe to stop him from performing the sacrifice. For that, I had to rely on Nyx.

“I wasn’t trying to kill you!” Cynnia cried when I had yet to move. “You needed a tie to the earth. Nightwalkers lose their tie when they are reborn. Your allegiance is based solely on soul magic and the bori.”

Beneath me, I felt Danaus flinch inwardly at the mention of the bori, but he didn’t move or say a word. The hunter and I still had a few things to discuss about our respective origins, but now was not the time.

“So, blood straight from my heart poured into the earth opened my connection to the earth again,” I said, letting my eyes fall shut as I tried to gather my strength. The wound had not been too deep and for the most part had already healed. Unfortunately, the earlier fight, the tug-of-war between the two energies, and the blood loss, had left me exhausted and in need of a fresh meal. “It was a lucky guess,” I murmured, one half of my mouth quirking in a smile.

“It was not a guess!” she gasped.

“Stefan, you can release her. She didn’t kill me,” I said in a weary voice. I opened my eyes to find Cynnia rubbing her neck, her right hand covered in my blood.

“It wasn’t entirely a guess,” she admitted with a sour look. “I knew you needed a way to give your blood back to the earth. We needed to open the gateway. I was just hoping it wouldn’t kill you in the process.”

I choked on a laugh, allowing my eyes to fall shut. With a sigh, I scanned the area around me out of habit, keeping a so-called eye on everyone during my weakened state. I realized something odd then. I felt Cynnia move, sensed her stepping away from me and approaching Shelly, putting a comfortable distance between herself and Stefan.

I wanted to scream for joy and laugh like a madwoman. Instead I had to settle for squeezing Danaus’s hand and biting my lower lip as I pulled myself into an upright position with my eyes still closed.

What? he demanded in my head.

I don’t know what you’re talking about, I denied, but the words came across as far too giddy.

You’re too damn happy about something.

Possibly that I’m still alive.

No. Tell me, or I’ll find it on my own, Mira, he said, threatening to go rummaging around in my thoughts. I wasn’t sure if he actually had the ability to do such a thing, but in my weakened state I wasn’t willing to put it to the test.

I can sense Cynnia over by Shelly, I admitted, pointedly rubbing my closed eyes.

Danaus remained silent for a couple seconds, then his hand tightened on mine in surprise. You can sense her? Without my help? Can you sense any others?

I don’t know. I’m too tired and this may be a temporary thing related to these specific circumstances. Then I opened my eyes and turned my head to look at the hunter, a grin growing on my pale, blood-streaked face. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could?