Typhoon & Tempest

Chapter Twenty Two

She snapped her gaze up when water began sprinkling on her scalp to see the tsunami begin to crest over her head. Lily's arm shot up to halt its path. The water strained, more droplets raining down over her as the tsunami pushed against her yet again, forcing her to take a step back.

Lily clenched her jaw, her arms shaking under the strain of the ocean. The storm above her responded in kind, thunder shaking the ground beneath her feet as the tsunami roared louder.

She could not hear the sounds of rogues launching a fight against Jack and Haidan, now defending the hostages. She couldn't see Niall's eyes flare pearly pink and the huge gust of wind slam into Yuric, Kristofer and Lucia, holding them back from joining the fight.

Lily stared straight ahead at the wall of water churning in front of her, glimpsing her reflection for a brief moment. The red hair matted to her body, the paleness of her skin like glimmering pearls - and bright silver eyes of her supernatural soul shining through at full force.

Her abilities had no limits. Her strength had no bounds. She'd survived everything that had been thrown at her - Lily knew, somehow, she could live through the tsunami screaming at her if she let it go.

But this wasn't about her, or her power. Niall was bound behind her, along with old friends and family. Her family gravestone was cracked. Jack and Haidan were fighting as best they could against the rogues itching to get to Lily while her back was turned, but Haidan's fire was weakening in the darkness of the storm and the tsunami, and Jack could only rip down so many trees before they fell through the earth itself.

They were struggling without her - Lily knew that without turning, she could hear it alone from Alice's muffled screams. She could feel it from the darkness growing around her from the tsunami's growing crest. The water was winning.

No. The word clanged through her body, her hands no longer shaking. Lily took a step forward, her toes brushing the brink of the water and touched the tsunami. It trembled beneath her fingertips, her lightning-kissed skin. She knew it sought freedom, release. She could feel it writhe beneath the surface.

Lily knew it sought freedom for someone else.

"No." Lily spoke aloud, her voice firm and unwavering. The lightning struck the ground behind her before a rogue could launch itself at her back. More lightning slammed into the wolves leaping at her, flinging them away so they twitched uselessly at their leader's feet. "I said no!"

The tsunami kept roaring but the current wavered in hesitation. Lily narrowed her eyes and stepped forward again. The water banked, curling around her as she moved. It tried to resist but Lily's anger from the hostages, her determination to save everyone, held her firm. She would not break, she would not bend.

Lily Morgan pushed back the tides.

She clamped the neck of death itself and pushed it away from the lives of her friends it threatened to steal. The pressure in her lungs built up again but not from a lack of air. The starlit veins of her right hand began to burn as sparks danced on her flesh, mimicking the lightning striking out above her, stabbing the surface of the tsunami.

The storm roared in the skies. Lily's shoes dug into the muddy ground and she recalled Freida Slater's words to her. Remember what's beneath you.

Lily began to feel the tsunami push back one last time as she reached the edge of the clearing. She glimpsed twisted boats in the water, bodies struggling to reach the oxygen so far out of reach, cars bent like macaroni from the force of the currents.

The wild woman's battle had gone on long enough, Lily thought. The hand holding the tsunami was still shaking but Lily's was as still as ice. With her other arm raised to the skies, Lily only had to think before her storm responded in kind.