in my way.
Shock gripped me as he came to stand before me. Nicolas… Whatever regret I’d thought I had, vanished.
With a sneer, he wrapped that suffocating shield around me, but unfortunately for him, I was much stronger than before. Staring hard into his eyes I began to weave past his shield into his mind. I became oblivious to the shouts around me, and the magical weapons being shot back and forth, nothing would stop me from ending the threat he posed.
The air inside the shield got thinner, but I had breeched his mind. “You can’t block me,” I snarled. His eyes flared wide in alarm when he realized where I was. And remembered… Ruthlessly and painfully, I blocked off his powers, and the shield fell from me. The cool night air, rich with the scent of the forest, washed over me. Nicolas turned and ran to the dark fog, only to find it gone. And so were all his people.
Neila ran up and got into his face, her hands full of fire. “Where did they take Alexis?” she demanded.
“What?” Both Nicolas and I roared at the same time.
She pointed a slender finger at Nicolas. “His Grove grabbed her, and took her into the fog, and disappeared.”
It took only a second to realize I couldn’t sense her, or Nicolas’s Grove anywhere. I grabbed his shoulder, and whipped him around. “Where is she!”
“I don’t know,” he grunted, throwing off my hand.
“You’re going to want to tell me,” I warned him.
With no mercy I started ripping through his mind, causing pain and discomfort any way I could. Even when he started screaming, I didn’t stop…
NICOLAS
(1 Week Earlier)
CHAPTER 8
La Roque-Gageac, France
What a waste. Emotional. Unstable. She kept saying she wanted to die, and I really wanted to help her with that. I stared down at Tempest, disgusted. She laid prostrate on the floor with grief. Keening with heartbreak over some guy who had cheated and left her. Instead of getting revenge, she was bruising my eardrums, and wasting my time. If her powers over weather elements weren’t so powerful, she would’ve been destroyed long ago. But here we all stood, babysitting her.
Garron, the head of our Grove, moved to my side. “Nicolas, I need you--” he started in his gravelly voice.
“I know,” I interrupted him, and stormed out of her room.
Tempest, true to her name in her self-absorbed grief, had created a dangerous storm surrounding the castle, lightening, thunder, and gale force winds threatened to tear down a castle that had stood more than 300 years. I flung open the shutters to my window, and for a moment let the rain pelt my face, enjoying the stinging sensation, before I built a shield around the entire building. For Tempest’s sake this had better be the last time I had to do this. Personally I thought she caused more trouble than she was worth.
I turned at the sound of a firm knock on the door, and without even waiting for a reply, Lisette walked in. She looked like a witch from a story book, with her dark burning eyes, pale skin, and black hair streaming all around her. Her gaunt frame encased in a long black dress, completed the image.
She looked me over with a cold smirk. “I should think you would be more understanding of Tempest. I can sense your feelings of betrayal. Your wounds are just as deep as hers, no matter how you try to hide it.”
I glared at her, and refused to give her the satisfaction of making me angry. We stared each other down for several tense minutes, and eventually she got bored with trying to goad me, and left. That was the problem with Empaths, they could sense every emotion you had, and felt the need to shove it in your face, just in case you were ignoring it. I sat on my bed, and scowled at the night. My head began to ache from the effort to keep such a large, and strong shield up. At least I told myself that was the reason.
Almost a month had passed since my parents, desperate to heal me, contacted our Grove in France for help. It had taken two
Sheri S. Tepper
J.S. Strange
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Jennifer Culbreth
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Lara Hays