Jasmine:
"I don't like this, Brae. We shouldn't trust her; she was plotting to kill us."
"Was plotting. That was before she met us. She wouldn't now. When I confronted her about it... she was so upset... I think she's really changed, and I think that scares her."
I glowered but kept quiet. If Brae had decided to put our fates in Roxy's hands then there was really nothing I could do. At that moment, Rowan caught up with us. "You're sure she'll be there, Arcan?" he asked for what must have been the hundredth time.
"Yes, Rowan, you have my word. We will not leave without her." Rowan had been extremely reluctant to come this far without Lorelie and Brae's assertions that Roxy - a Helian - would bring her to us hadn't made him any calmer.
We were almost at the meeting place, Sephans and Brizans in tow. Those thought to be under Control hadn't been told anything, as we weren't really sure what the Helians had done to them. They seemed content enough to follow where their leaders took them though.
Convincing the Sephans and the Brizans that they needed to leave had been easier than I had anticipated. It had probably helped that they had been so paranoid about the Helians to begin with. Erica seemed relieved to have a reason to go, she didn't want any proof at all. But Rowan had seemed particularly interested in my dreams and I got the impression that he would quiz me further once we were out of immediate danger. For now, his only concern was Lorelie.
"I can see them," Brae said suddenly, pointing. There were two black silhouettes in the distance. I felt that saying it was them with such certainty from this far away took a lot of faith on Brae's part.
However, as we got closer, I could see that it was definitely them. Lorelie looked peaceful, almost serene, apparently unperturbed by her predicament. I looked at Roxy, expecting to see either malice or nerves, but her expression was as calm as Lorelie's.
Something was wrong.
"Stop!" I hissed, grabbing hold of Brae's arm, but it was too late. Cloaked figures were emerging from the shadows in the trees all around us. We were trapped.
Before we could move, fire sprung up on every side, blocking our escape. The heat pushed the others back into a tight circle, but I stayed where I was on its fringes, relishing the warmth of it hitting my skin. Perhaps it was due to my anger at the trap; my blood must have been boiling far hotter than flames. After all my work, Brae was still in danger. But I wasn't going to let the Helians win now.
Rowan and Euphrasia sent streams of water at the flames to try and quench them, but there was only two of them against an unknown number of Helians and they barely made a dent in the blaze.
Erica clenched her fists and closed her eyes and moments later the ground began to tremble and shake as she created an earthquake. A few of the Helians were thrown off their feet and some of the fires stopped.
The Arcans sprang into action too, creating whirlwinds to buffet the Helians who were still standing. The Helians had the advantage of numbers, but the variety of powers they were facing made it much harder for them to sustain their attack. The amount of water the Brizans were firing out also made it difficult for them to keep producing flames.
Feeling useless, I retreated away from the fighting with Brody and Nolan, who were both in the same situation as me. As battles raged on all sides of us, we were forced to cower and watch.
Within the melee I could see Imogen battling fiercely against Avery, the Helian sending out flame after flame while Imogen buffeted her back with gale force winds. Avery was blown off her feet and fell to the floor with a crash, but as she went down, she sent a huge ball of fire at the exuberant Imogen, forcing her to dive suddenly to the left and land on the ground in a heap.
Both girls struggled to their feet and continued their battle at once, Avery sending a stream of smaller, snow-ball sized flames at Imogen, while Im fought back furiously with icy winds. She formed a miniature twister between them, which flew frenzied towards the Helian, but Avery threw herself out of the way and it was Imogen herself who got caught up in the winds. She was knocked off her feet and before she could right herself Avery was over her, hands ablaze with flames.
I watched with my heart in my mouth, too far away to be able to try and do anything, even if I wasn't powerless. The flames inched closer and closer to Im's face, almost as if in slow motion, but as they were about to touch her, a burst of water sent Avery crashing to the ground and Rowan stepped in to turn the Helian to flight.
As I dared to breathe a sigh of relief Brody gasped beside me and I turned to see Devon fly into view, battling fiercely with another Helian Protector. He was twice her size but she was throwing everything at him, using her unstable powers to try and lift nearby objects, which occasionally collided with his head, but mostly whizzed straight past. The Helian laughed and threw his own, more accurate, flames at her, so she spent more time dodging than attacking.
Brody dove forward into the battle towards her, launching himself at the giant Helian. The Helian wasted no time in turning his attention to Brody, sending flames his way which he was slower at dodging than Devon. But Brody hadn't been lying when he said he was good in a fight; he pounded the Helian relentlessly with punches and kicks, not seeming to notice the flames he wasn't quick enough to avoid.
A well-aimed roundhouse kick sent the Helian backwards into a tree, on which he hit his head and fell to the ground motionless. But the effort was too much for the battered Brody and he crumpled alongside him.
I jumped to my feet, ready to help when a cold, harsh voice froze me in my tracks.
"Aww look who's been left all alone and unprotected."
Cinaer was baring down on us, flames blazing in each hand. From the look of pure loathing he gave me I knew I was in trouble.
"You came all this way, caused a great deal of trouble and it was all for nothing. We've still won. We've got you right where we want you. The only difference is, now you're going to die too, when you could have been safe and sound in the Arcan Realm. Well, for a while at least." He smiled, a wicked glint in his eye. But he had underestimated Nolan, who charged forwards.
"Don't do that, Nolan." Cinaer's voice came out smooth and thick in a tone which was all too familiar after my trip to the library.
Nolan stopped in his tracks and stood motionless, his eyes, which were glowing in the still blazing fires, went oddly blank.
"There's a good, stupid Sephan. Nice and easy to Control. Why don't you go take a nap somewhere? The lake looks lovely and warm."
Smiling dumbly, Nolan turned to leave. "No! Nolan, don't listen to him! Don't go! Fight back!" But my pleas were futile and he quickly vanished from view.
"Looks like it's just you and me, little Arcan. And as soon as I'm done dealing with you I'm going to go and have some fun with your friend Brae - another Arcan who is far more trouble than he's worth. Trust me, I'm really going to enjoy finishing him off. Do you think his daddy will cry when we send him back piece by piece? Will his mummy sob when she hears we've killed her only child?" He laughed darkly, his eyes wide and taunting and I was over taken by fury.
The sky above us flashed with lightning, a long snaking strike which hit the tree above us, sending a large branch toppling to the ground, striking Cinaer across the face on its way down.
He recoiled, clutching his bleeding cheek, but it wasn't the only bolt. More followed, all in the small area of ground we were occupying. They seemed to be targeting Cinaer and I had the strange feeling that I was in some way responsible for them. Fire blazed all around us, blocking Cin's escape, but somehow there was rain too, drenching him again as the fountain had. The skies above us had opened and they were throwing all they had in Cin's direction.
He looked every bit as scared as I felt. Power seemed to surge through me. I had no idea where it was coming from or how to control it but my rage seemed to be directing it at Cin. I guessed that this is how it must have felt for the others, when they had first started producing gale force winds whenever they got upset. But at least they were aware of what powers they were unleashing. I had no idea what was happening around me, or what was going to happen next.
Cin didn't look as though he wanted to stick around to find out. He threw himself through the wall of flames and vanished into the darkness behind me, away from the still raging battle.
Everything stopped. The flames, the rain, the lightning. All of it, gone in an instant. I stumbled through the battle, desperate to check on the others and to try and get out of there in one piece.