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11JAIDE
The familiar soundof Parris’s disapproving grunt reminded me of just how far I’d fallen behind the rest of the group.
“Would you stop playing around, please? We have a lot of ground to make up.”
“Who's playing around?” I asked. So it was suddenly a crime for me to test out my wind power while we were hiking in endless, unforgiving mountains? “Sorry if I'm trying to sharpen my skills.”
“Every time I look around, you're practically miles behind me, hovering above the ground and giggling to yourself,” Parris said.
“I'm sorry. I never figured you would be jealous of my super amazing flying magic,” I said.
“Jealous?” he said, clicking his tongue and shaking his head. “Darling, what would I have to be jealous of?”
“Here. You can join in too.” I stretched out my hands, imagined gathering the wind into a ball and wedging it under Parris’s feet. If I live a thousand years, I will never forget the look of pure shock that washed over his smug face when I lifted him into the air.
“Put me down, now!” Parris shouted.
Garret, meanwhile, barely turned his face to hide a laugh, but his shaking shoulders betrayed him. Elliot made no such effort, laughing openly as Parris flailed in the air.
“Don't distract me,” I warned with a grin. “I might drop you.”
“I don't care if you do! Put me down!”
“You asked for it.”
In my mind's eye, the wind ball thingy dissolved, and Parris landed with a thump. He was still on his feet, though, but that didn't mean he didn't look a little sheepish as he brushed non-existent dust from his clothes.
“That will teach you,” Garret said. A second later he pitched forward as if an invisible hand had hit him square in the center of his back. He whirled on me, eyes flashing, and I shrugged. “Nobody likes a know-it-all.”
Elliot boomed with laughter. “Now, imagine her wielding those powers when we need them the most. She'll be unstoppable.”
“Easy for you to say. Wait until she throws you around,” Parris said.
“Forgive me,” I said. “I can't help it. It's like having a new toy and wanting to use it all the time. I wonder what else I can do.”
“Do me a favor and leave me out of it,” Paris griped. Then, as usual, he took the lead, climbing up a rocky embankment.
One of many. Just how any of them knew where we were going, I had no idea. To me everything looked the same. Rocks, mountains, trees. For all I knew, we were wandering in circles instead of heading to Biryg, where the Witches had been banished after Healynas separated them from their Synian Alphas.
“How much longer—” Before I could finish my question, Elliot blinked out with a brief rush of wind. “Damn disappearing cock monster!” I shouted in frustration.
He really needed to stop doing that.
It wasn't three seconds before he popped back again, this time closer to where Parris led our little group. “We're almost at the edge of this range, so I went up to get a better look.” He pointed to the sky. “The forest beyond is thick but flat.”
“Thank the moon for that,” I said.
My poor legs were about to disconnect from my hips and stage a protest after so much climbing, but floating around was supposedly too dangerous and too risky. Honestly, what was the point of being able to fly if I couldn’t take advantage of it? It was amazing I hadn't broken every bone in my body, especially given how clumsy I was.
Yet as excited as I was to get the hell out of the mountains, I couldn't move. The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and a tingling sensation started at my feet and worked its way up my legs, hips, and torso. It was only then I found my voice: “There's trouble.”
The trouble revealed itself before any of them could ask what I was talking about. From the trees around us and the peaks above us, a small army of silver-haired warriors rushed at us carrying spears, bows and arrows, and clubs.
It was a Fae army, and they were on the attack.
“Get back!” Parris and Garret both shouted, placing themselves close to me, like fleshy shields.
We were surrounded, Fae advancing on all sides. They must have been watching, waiting for us to reach a point where they could attack.
