Trial by Fire (Worldwalker 1)

And if you ever try to possess me again, I’ll find a way to kill you, Lily.

Understood.

Dana paused at the end of the passageway to look up and down the abutting main hallway. She waved Lily and Juliet forward, and then darted down the main hallway to grab a sword from a fallen guard.

“Oh my,” Juliet breathed when she saw all the bodies.

Lily had helped create this slaughter. It was inhuman to have enjoyed it as much as she had, and she wondered what had happened to her to make her so bloodthirsty. Was it the thrill of power, or was there something sinister growing inside her? She thought twice about possessing Dana, and still she did it. That worried her.

“Come on!” Dana said, charging toward the stairs. “Don’t get squeamish on me now.”

Lily and Juliet raced after Dana, taking the steps as quickly as they could. They encountered a pair of soldiers on the stairs, and Dana ran them both through before they could even call out. Their bodies slid past Lily and Juliet. Juliet shied away from the corpses, her hand at her mouth, and Lily had to pull on her arm to get her to move again. As they got closer to the surface, Lily tried to touch the minds of her mechanics.

Rowan? Tristan? Caleb?

She heard nothing in reply and kept climbing. Both she and Juliet were drained, and they were flagging. As they reached the surface, Lily heard the shouts and clangs of a huge fight. The three women passed through the broken bars of the portcullis and came out into the courtyard.

“Rowan!” Lily screamed.

He was fighting in the center of at least three dozen soldiers, his legs planted around the crouching figure of a woman. He was bleeding.

Lily! Help me.

“Get back!” Lily yelled at Juliet and Dana. She yanked the pocket bomb out of her skirts, pulled the pin, squeezed the lever, and slid the clip over the lever to keep it in place. Dana recognized what was in Lily’s hand and tackled Juliet, who was staring at her sister, slack-jawed.

Lily threw the pocket bomb at her feet just as it exploded. The white-bright fire expanded, slowed, and then retreated b

ack on itself as Lily devoured its energy. Instead of the deafening clap of a bomb there was silence, followed by the shrieks and howls of a fierce witch wind as it rushed over the ramparts. The wind hit Lily like fists on all sides and pushed her high into the air, arms straight up, head thrown back, and lips parted like she were trying to jump up and swallow the moon.

She sent the Gift to Rowan and felt him exalt in it.

The shrieking wind was nearly overshadowed by the screams of the soldiers as Rowan renewed his attack. He quickly blazed a path through the circle surrounding him and pulled the scientist out with him. He managed to stop himself from turning and facing the rest of the guards in the circle. He didn’t want to kill them all.

We need to run, Lily, before Lillian comes.

Wait, Rowan. My sister is down there. I have to Gift Dana to get them out of here.

Lily took the last of the heat from the smoldering wreck of the bomb, turned it directly into force, and channeled it into Dana’s stone. She felt Dana’s elation at this new and much more intense level of power and had to fight to stay focused.

Get my sister out of here, Dana. Don’t wait for me.

Alright. Good luck, Lily.

With its energy source almost completely spent, the witch wind grew weak and began buffeting Lily unevenly. Lily looked down as she was being tossed about violently and saw Dana pick up Juliet, throw her over her shoulder, and climb up the wall in a few fluid movements. She heard Rowan in her head.

I’m coming.

Rowan jumped and snatched Lily out of the air. He landed once, rebounded, and leapt over the Citadel wall, holding Lily on one side and the exhausted scientist on the other.

As they sped through the city, knocking stunned and frightened people out of the way, Lily heard Lillian’s voice in her mind.

Give them back! They must be hanged, Lily.

No, Lillian. I won’t let you do this.

You don’t know what they’re capable of. You don’t know because you haven’t worldjumped on your own. You haven’t seen the cinder worlds yet. Do you have any idea how many of them there are? I won’t let this world burn, too. Think of it, Lily—a few lives to save an entire world, a beautiful world. I know you agree with me. I know what you believe, and I know you’re strong enough to do what has to be done, no matter how hard it is. Deep in your heart, you ARE me.

No, Lillian. You’re wrong.