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Her face was streaked with tears and she was holding her dusty robe high so she wouldn't trip.
"Wait!" she screamed. "Silas! Wait!"
I hesitated, every second weighing heavily on me while I held the door open. But I couldn't leave her out there. Then again, the thought of her coming aboard this ship, coming face-to-face with the storm, made me shudder. She shouldn't be here. She should be downstairs with Ember and the others, safely tucked away.
She threw herself at me in the last few steps, tumbling forward into my arms and letting me haul her aboard as I slammed the door closed behind her and jammed the handle sideways to lock it.
"What are you doing here?" I demanded, running my hands through my hair anxiously. "You can't be here, Anya. You can't."
"I had to come warn you," she panted, bent double and holding herself up on her knees.
Our pilot stood at the console staring at the pair of us in confusion.
"Get us out of here!" I bellowed before turning back to her. I took her hand in mine and led her to one of the only seats in the little ship. She sat and I waited for her to pull the straps over herself and buckle them. If she was going along for this ride, I was going to do everything I could to make sure she was safe.
We were moving. I braced myself on the wall beside her and tried to find some grain of calm within me. Kiango was counting on me. I had to get out there and help him.
"Imrys set a trap for Kiango. He's trying to draw the two of you apart."
"With the orb?"
"I don't know how he did it, but you need to make sure he doesn't know who is who!"
"How do you want me to do that?"
She looked at me like I'd slapped her. "You have to protect him. Imrys won't touch you. You're pure. You just have to trust me."
I didn't have anything to say to that. I didn't even know what it meant to be pure or why Imrys cared. And I certainly didn't believe that Imrys would think twice about hurting me if I got in the way of his bigger plans. Whatever he was doing to call these storms in, he had the power to direct them at his will.
"Stay back here. Do not take that harness off, no matter what. Got that?"
She nodded vigorously, even as her eyes filled with tears all over again. She stayed put as I went to talk to the pilot.
We were off the ground and circling the palace in a wide arc. The storm bubbled and twisted overhead, folding in on itself over and over. I kept an eye out the window, but I couldn't see anyone or anything else out there. I hoped that Kiango was down there somewhere, trying to get to me. But as I scanned the sky, I couldn't find any sign of Imrys either.
Desperate to do something, I went to my place on the ship and raised my hands overhead, falling into the prayer with ease. I felt outward for Re'Utu's energy and called to it. When I opened my eyes, it was right there. But when I welcomed it in, it didn't come. I took a deep breath and tried again, moving slowly, building power with each successive line.
At last, I managed to grasp one tiny tendril of the storm, bringing it toward me, redirecting it through my body. It was hardly a sliver of the storm brewing before me, though, and as soon as I had it under control, another flare burst from its place, taunting me.
I reached out for a third time, pulling harder now. If I was going to take this thing down, I had to do more than pick off the stray flares. I needed to get to the heart of the storm, and fast.
