Before tonight, I hadn’t known I could do something like that, and while I marveled at the ability, it also unnerved me a little. The woman clawed at the light as she screamed until her eyeballs erupted from her head.
Feeling sick over what I’d done, I released my hold on the woman. The lightning whipped back and coiled around me to join the rest as Ryker struck down the last guard.
When the screaming and clashing steel ceased, an eerie hush fell over the deserted encampment… except a strange crackling remained. It took me too long to realize it came from the lightning surrounding me.
Closing my eyes, I tried to rein the power back in, but I couldn’t concentrate and was too rattled by the electricity still coursing through me to focus on controlling it. My hands trembled, and lightning shot between my fingers when I lifted them to my face.
My fingers fell on the soft material of the hood. It was then I recalled the material covering my features and eyes.
A strange disconnect ran through me as the world lurched, and nothing felt right.
I’m not real. None of this is real. It’s not me beneath the hood but someone else.
It was someone who could rope people with their lightning until their eyes exploded. Someone who was rapidly spinning out of control.
As panic built inside me, strangled noises escaped; I tore at the hood but couldn’t pull it free. Ryker’s bloody sword hit the ground with a clatter as he stalked toward me.
I pawed at the string keeping the hood in place; I was desperate to get it free and unable to do so. Unable to breathe, I couldn’t see as I became increasingly certain I was coming apart.
This power would take me over and destroy us all. I’d killed far too many tonight; I’d done what was necessary to save those I loved and to fight for Tempest, but so much blood stained my soul, and more would spill as the lightning flashed higher.
CHAPTER FIVE
Ryker
As Ellery’sterror beat against me, my pace picked up until I was running when I reached her. Clawing at the hood, strange sounds issued from her as the lightning intensified, and she tore away the mesh covering her eyes.
White light encompassed us both when I stopped before her, my fingers falling on the rope keeping her hood in place. I was as eager to free her of it as she was to have it off, but when her head tipped back, her eyes froze my movements.
When I used my lightning, my eyes turned black and lightning bolts shot through them. The same thing happened with Ellery; I’d seen it numerous times before, but not tonight.
Tonight, not only did a white light surround her, but her eyes were entirely white too. There wasn’t even a black pupil in the center, yet it didn’t seem to affect her vision as she focused on me and her hands gripped my wrists.
I’d never seen anything like it before. It was as if the lightning had completely taken her over, and, for a moment, her panic became mine.
As swiftly as it rose, I buried my apprehension. I had to break through, calm her, and make her see she would be okay… I hoped.
Her fingers bit into my wrists. “Ryker.”
“Easy,” I whispered. “It’s okay. I’m going to get this off you now.”
The power oozing out of her crackled against my skin, but unlike with others, it didn’t hurt. Whereas it would kill almost anyone else, it felt pleasant as it moved over me.
The strength of it teased my power to the surface, and while it called me to let my lightning go too, I kept it suppressed. I suspected if I let it out now, she might spiral further out of control… and take me with her.
It would be easy to be swept up in the lightning; it was a rush of power more thrilling than almost anything in the realms. The only thing more exciting was…her.
With deft movements, I untied the string binding the hood. “Easy,” I whispered again. “I’m here. It’s okay. You’re fine.”
When I pulled off her hood, she gasped in a breath. The color had drained from her sun-kissed skin. The unhealthy shade of white had caused the smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheeks to stand out more.
“Ryker,” she croaked.
“Shh,” I soothed as I drew her into my arms and cradled her against my chest.
She released my wrists, and her breath billowed against my chest as she leaned into me. Her fingers dug into my back, and she shuddered while burrowing closer.
Everything in me ached to take this away from her. To pick her up and carry her somewhere safe, preferably in a realm far from this one, but that was impossible.
