Storm Born by Amy Braun Page B

slammed a punch into the back of his head. Declan went still, and the wind stopped.  
    The rain and hail didn’t.  
    “Primes,” spat Turve, marching back to Ferno as he pulled a length of twine from his belt and wrapped it around Declan’s wrists. “Why did he have to get chosen?”  
    “I do not know,” replied Ferno, not looking up, “but the choice was never in our hands.”  
    “No,” Turve growled. “If it were, things would have been different.”  
    Ferno quickly finished binding Declan’s wrists and stood up. Because of the sleety storm, they had to shout to each other, which was the only reason we heard them.  
    “They will be. All four of them are still being tested.”  
    Turve scoffed at that. “We have only found two of them, and one of them happens to be Hadrian’s charge. The other could be meant for the Precips as well.”  
    “We will find the others. And as for Hadrian’s charge… Let us be realistic, Turve. Fortune has never smiled upon Hadrian’s charges.”  
    Beside me, Hadrian stiffened. I glanced at him, but he didn’t seem to notice me at all. I turned my attention back to the street and the conversation the strange warriors were having.  
    Both of them were looking up at the tumultuous sky.  
    “She is powerful, is she not?” Turve remarked.  
    “Truly. You should have witnessed her as she endured the trials. Quite impressive, for a human. Though she did scream for an annoyingly long time.”  
    I started shaking again. The dream I had wasn’t a dream at all.  
    It was a memory.  
    Ferno had been there, at my torture.  
    He thought my reaction to the crushing agony he and his boss put me through was annoying .  
    The rain and hail continued their onslaught. Hadrian ducked his head and nudged me with his elbow. I barely felt it. I didn’t give him a second look. My eyes were riveted ahead to where the warriors were picking up Declan’s prone form.  
    “Should we find her?” asked Turve.  
    “Not yet. We need to get out of sight before the humans see us. We’ll find the other one after we bring this nuisance,” he nudged Declan’s bound, prone form with his boot, “back to base. Besides,” I couldn’t see much of Ferno’s face through the heavy rain, peppering hail, and drenched snow, but I heard the smile in his voice. “She’s Hadrian’s problem now.”  
    They laughed together. I shrank down until I could no longer see them. The sound was lost in the downpour. We stayed crouched there for what seemed like an eternity. Hadrian looked at me. I processed everything they said. I was still shaking.  
    “They have gone,” he told me over the storm. “You can relax.”  
    The magic word. The one thing I wanted to be right now. The only thing I’d dreamed about since the Centennial.  
    The suggestion made me snap.  
    I whipped my head at Hadrian. “Relax? Did you just tell me to relax ?!”  
    His steely blue gaze locked on mine. “You need to stop the storm, Ava.”  
    I gaped at him, then shoved to my knees. “How?! I’m not doing this!” I waved at the rainstorm falling around me.  
    The sheets of water swayed with my arms. Small pieces of hail spiraled past me. Hadrian pinched his eyebrows together impatiently, a look that said, Really?  
    It would have been funny, if I weren’t having a panic attack.  
    My chest and ribs hurt, and I couldn’t breathe. I scrambled to my feet, slipping on the wet brick and nearly collapsing. Hadrian stood up quickly, moving with a fluid grace I couldn’t have managed even if I weren’t having a breakdown.  
    “You must remain calm, Ava, and end this storm.”  
    “ I don’t know how! ” I screamed. “I don’t know anything! Who were those people? What do they want with me?” I suddenly backed up from Hadrian. “What are you going to do to me?”  
    He laid down his sword and held out his hands in a placating gesture. The rain drenching him from head to toe made him look cool and