plied, “Exactly. I’m guessing they don’t have much experience with elemental magic in combat operations.”
Kiarra slid out of her seat and rearranged the magic user at her side. “But I need your touch, Jaxton, or I’m not going to be able to do much more than one blast of fire.”
Jaxton moved to Kiarra’s side and looked over his shoulder. Just as he opened his mouth, the helicopter jerked to the side. Both of them smacked against one of the helicopter’s doors before regaining their balance.
Millie looked around and spotted a rope. Tossing it at the pair, she said, “I never thought I’d be telling my brother this, but tie yourselves up. Just keep the kinky stuff for later.”
Jaxton sighed and secured both himself and Kiarra before tying the other end of the rope to a bar on the side. “I hope everyone is strapped in.”
Millie finished securing the cargo net in the back portion, to ensure the prisoners wouldn’t fall to their deaths. A quick glance showed that Will was in a chair with Petra turned to the side. Her legs were balancing on the arm of the adjacent chair. While not ideal, it would do.
Strapping herself in, Millie nodded. “Go get them, you two.”
Kiarra opened the side door and wind whipped through the small space. It was bloody freezing.
Squinting her eyes, Millie watched as Kiarra summoned a flame to her palm and shot it out the side. No sooner had she attempted to repeat the process when a mixture of rain and snow pelted sideways, into the helicopter. It wasn’t winter; something was off.
The helicopter rolled to the side for a split second before righting itself. Kiarra banged her head against the doorframe and Jaxton had to hold tight to keep from falling.
“Kiarra? Are you okay?” Millie asked.
Just as Kiarra was about to reply, the helicopter lurched again. This time, Jaxton’s ironclad grip kept them in place.
He poked his head outside for a second and quickly treated. “They’re switching positions again, love. It’s now or never. Are you ready?”
“As much as I’ll ever be.” Kiarra rubbed her temple a second before standing tall. “I wish there was another way to stop them. Regardless of who they are, I hate killing anyone.”
Millie understood the feeling. “But think of it this way—if you don’t, they’ll kill us. And then the whole world could die. I’d say it’s necessary in this case.”
Closing her eyes, Kiarra summoned a flame on each hand. As they dance, the light reflected off the metal bits of the helicopter.
A small part of Millie was jealous that she didn’t have any sort of magical powers. But then she pushed the feeling away. Having magic was both a burden and a curse, as she’d seen with both Kiarra and Millie’s eldest brother, Garrett.
The reflections vanished as Kiarra directed one stream of flame from her hands to outside the helicopter. A second later, another stream swam through the air, out of Millie’s sight.
Too bad she was strapped to the seat and couldn’t watch it make its mark.
Something finally exploded behind them and Millie’s helicopter veered off to the left, hard. Petra slid to the side, but Will tightened his grip and kept the woman in place.
As the commotion calmed down, Millie noted that the snow, rain, and high winds died.
Millie’s intuition said there was a connection.
Jaxton shut the side door and maneuvered Kiarra to an empty seat. While Kiarra was still conscious, the dark rings under her eyes and her pale face spoke volumes.
Looking to her brother, Millie asked, “Did you get both of them?”
“No,” Jaxton answered. “But as soon as Kiarra hit one, the other retreated.” He paused and put a finger to his ear. “The pilot confirms the retreat and is getting the hell out of here.”
As Jaxton put an arm around Kiarra’s shoulder and drew her against his side, Kiarra closed her eyes. Everyone fell silent; the whir of the blades above was almost relaxing in the aftermath.
Millie used the time to run through every Feiru legend and myth she’d heard from childhood to the present. There was something familiar about the sudden shift in the weather, but she couldn’t quite pinpoint it.
Whatever it was, Millie sensed it would cause DEFEND a major headache in the future.
Chapter Eleven
Two days later, Will sat inside a room in DEFEND’s infirmary in northern England and stroked Leyna’s hand. She remained unconscious, but he wanted her to know he was at her side.