Shadows of Stars |Wielder Chronicles Book I|

(28) A Storm of Snow and Shadow

Colson roared, his fists lighting ablaze as he pummeled them into the ice. His fire struck holes through the wall, but each time he lifted his fist away, the ice regenerated. It was too cold to be melted so easily.

Marina lifted herself from the ground, her blonde hair changing to a snow white as the frost crept further up her arms, up to her shoulders. Snow not only swirled around her, but also fell from the clouds in the sky.

Adira realized quickly that Ryder's death had snapped something in Marina. She didn't wield the ice. The ice was wielding her.

"You have taken the last thing from me," Marina said, her voice carrying on the bitter wind. Each step she took towards him ice shards shot up from the ground where her foot was placed.

Snow whipped around her, her hair billowing, the white flakes disappearing as if they were becoming one with her.

Grimm watched her with amazement in his eyes, laced with fear. He actually took a step backwards until ice was at his feet, freezing him in place.

A dagger of ice formed in the air next to Marina and zipped across the space, embedding itself in Grimm's thigh. He screamed in pain, his hands digging at the ice, trying to grip it hard enough to yank it out of his leg, but his hands just kept slipping over the slick surface.

"Soren!" he yelled, searching frantically for him. "Help me!"

Adira searched for him in the mass of white and found his head of ebony hair. He was just as still as her, his eyes locked on Marina and the ice shards that continued to shoot up as she walked.

Marina would kill him as soon as she killed Grimm. Adira knew it. But she had to save him. This wasn't him. It wasn't the boy she'd seen in her dreams, the one who had warned her about Grimm. Something happened to him when the shadow took him.

She would make him free again.

Still surging from power, she reached out with her mind, trying to find his, trying to make some sort of connection that might bring him back from the brink.

Soren lifted his foot to race to Grimm, but stopped as soon as Adira found his mind. He could feel her-she saw it in his eyes. It was as if the storm around them stopped, as if time itself had frozen, and all they could see were each other.

His mind was shrouded in shadow, covering every edge and corner in darkness. She swept a wisp away like a cobweb. She swept and swept, blowing as many shadows away as she could until something stopped her. A resounding boom shattered the air, the ground trembling so hard that the ice wall Marina had created crumbled.

A shriek followed, echoing over the boom. It was followed by another, and another.

Adira had no idea what it was, but she knew one thing-it wasn't human or Wielder. The sound shook her to her core, raising the hair on her arms, making her heart shiver.

"What the hell was that?" Obsidian asked from behind her.

"The Foulings," Wren said quietly. "They broke free. The collapse of the Pits must have done something."

"Impeccable timing," Taliyah said. "I don't know about you guys, but I don't plan to stay and introduce myself."

"She is right," Obsidian said from Wren's side, helping her to her feet. "Can you zip us out of here, Tali?"

Adira wanted to protest, to demand that they plan something different, but the group converged on her, their hands touching her shoulders. She was there one second, gone the next. Taliyah stopped them in front of Colson for a breath while she put other hand on his shoulder, dragging him with them as they warped through the air.