Storm Born by Amy Braun

stumbled forward, released from the shard.  
    “I’m sor–”  
    He spun around, ignored me, and shoved his swords into the ground. Frost exploded from the tip of the blades, layering the road again to block us from Turve and Ferno. Then the frost hardened to ice, and another wall sprang up. This one covered in thorny icicles that stabbed out at the two warriors.   
    They skidded to a stop to avoid being impaled, glaring murderously at Hadrian.  
    Turve scowled and sliced his blades together. Metal shrieked against metal, and a crush of wind batted into us. I slipped a little, but Hadrian kept his ground. He tightened his grip on his swords and pushed the wall closer to Turve.  
    I didn’t see Ferno until I started looking for him. The blood-haired warrior was running to Hadrian’s open side, slicing his sword against a patch of unfrosted road.  
    Mud kicked up with it, and went straight into Hadrian’s eye.  
    He yelled sharply, off balance and blind. Ferno ran with both swords held out.  
    I spun and reached for the icicles again, wanting them to dart to Ferno as I’d done with the rain to Declan.  
    It worked.  
    The shards of hail twisted and slammed into Ferno’s chest like daggers. He skidded to a stop and howled in pain. The sound cut straight to my heart, and all I could see was the blood, the oozing trickles of it spilling past Ferno’s armor, made all the brighter from the melting ice coating his chest–  
    Wind hammered around us, as if the very air had detonated. I was thrown from Hadrian’s side, landing close to the spiked wall of ice. I groaned, my entire body feeling like one cold bruise.   
    I rolled onto my stomach and looked back, seeing Declan.  
    His face was a twisted combination of malice and insanity. His fists were balled at his sides. On either side of him, the wreckage and refuse from the Centennial was pitching up in waves, tumbling through the air. Broken walls, doors, cracked furniture, more brick and metal, all of it hurtled through the street in a wild tumult.  
    Like another hurricane.   
    As terrifying as it was, that wasn’t what twisted the knife of fear into my heart. It was Declan’s eyes. The glow from the whites drowned out any color, turning him from a bully I knew into something inhuman.  
    The glow reminded me of the Stormkind that had loomed over me weeks ago.  
    A dark shadow slid across the ice toward me. Hadrian put one sword onto his back, gathered me in his arms and stood me up.  
    His hand clasped– crushed– into mine. “This way!”  
    He pulled me off the frost and toward the flying rubble. Toward debris that would cave in my skull if it didn’t take my head clean off.   
    I planted my feet into the ground and dragged him to a stop. He spun on his heel, a flare of anger slicing across his face. His eyes lifted over my head, snapped left and right, then fell on me again. Hadrian gripped my arms firmly– but not painfully– and pierced me with his sturdy, glowing eyes.  
    “You are tethered to me, Ava. You  will  be safe.”  
    Hadrian’s voice left no room for argument. With that kind of determination, the only thing I could do was believe him. And hope for the best.  
    He gripped my hand and dragged me through the wind to the hurtling debris. I was scared to look over my shoulder, not wanting to know how close Ferno and Turve were. The only person I managed to see was Declan, who stood stock still with his eyes glowing white and a flurry of broken housing tumbling past him. He looked like an empty vessel that was replaced by one of the Stormkind. Deadly and unnatural.  
    Declan’s head turned ever so slightly, and while the glow in his eyes made him look blind, I knew he was looking at us. A shattered door dislodged from the pile ahead of us. It careened in our direction, spinning end over end. It was moving too fast for us to avoid it.  
    Hadrian drew to a stop and snapped out his free hand. A flash of ice grew in place,