Chapter 15: Lightning and Feathers

"Are you sure this is what we have to do?" Ludwig asks, standing on top of the highest hill we could find, balancing Claire on his shoulders.

I’m standing next to them, utterly confused.

"Yes, " Claire says. "This is how we’re going to draw out the lightning."

"And you’re sure that it won’t, you know, strike you?" I ask.

"Oh, it is definitely going to strike me, " she says. "But it’s going to be led away…"

"By my silver thread," Ludwig says. "Of course!"

He reaches into his pocket and hands it to her.

I’ve seen it before. It’s silver thread. They use it to make nets. Nets strong enough to capture mermaids.

I feel a knot form in my stomach.

Claire fastens a thread to the key around her neck and drops the rest onto the ground.

I just stand there, understanding nothing.

But hey, if those two want to do this, who am I to stop them?

Especially if they’re using silver thread.

"Now then, could you summon the storm, Leia?" Claire asks.

I nod and jump off the cliff, into the water.

I’m still thinking about the silver thread. So he’s had it with him this entire time.

Was he planning on using it on me? Why hadn’t he yet?

The guardian joins me and I’m reminded of the task at hand.

It’s incredible how powerful I feel when I’m connected to Guardy.

I reach out to the water. And feel it react to my every breath, my every whim.

"Leia, stop stalling!" Claire yells down.

Ludwig is starting to buckle.

"Really Ludwig?" she asks. His legs are trembling. "There’s no need to insult me like this!"

I rile the water and let them grow into waves. I make them chase me, forming a circle around the entire island.

It’s powerful. Intense. But it’s no storm.

The sky is still blue. The clouds are still fluffy and white.

This isn’t working.

"Leia, stop playing around!" Claire urges and Ludwig nearly slips.

Ludwig!

I would catch him. Of course I would. Even as he carries silver thread in his pocket.

I can feel something stir in me. Something that threatens to burn the ocean itself to smoke.

Rage.

The clouds above my head begin to darken.

Of course. That’s what I need for a storm.

Rage.

So I lean into it.

I think of how I tried to make him see, make him understand who I actually am.

And how he looked away.

How he chose to see me as a villain.

Despite everything he’s done to me.

The waves rage.

A storm is brewing.

How can he be so blind? How can he just ignore what he has done?

What he wanted to set right!

And then I think of losing Pia.

The worst feeling I’ve ever had.

A fear so primal that I would do anything, anything at all.

No matter what it would cost me or others.

My breath grows shallow. Quick. Because there is no time.

No time for anything but this. I need to save her. I have to.

Desperation claws at my heart and I claw at the water.

I have to get her out. There is no alternative. No second chance.

This is it.

And it’s my fault.

A wave throws itself onto the shore.

My fault.

Another wave rages even higher.

MY FAULT!

The next wave laps at Ludwig’s heel.

"Leia!" I hear Claire scream. "Leia, stop! "

I blink and the next wave crashes back into the ocean.

What was I doing?

I feel like I’m waking from a bad dream.

Wind lashes against me.

The storm. Right. I made a storm.

And then I hear the haunting screeches of birds.

***

Thunder rumbles. Lightning flashes across the sky but doesn’t strike.

The air itself feels electric.

"Leia!" Claire screams. "Help!"

I look up at the cliff.

Wings that look like they’re made of shadows descend towards them.

With claws so sharp they slice the air.

Birds?

No. Not birds.

A chill runs through me.

Aeros’s minions!

The water foams as I rise it.

I dive it forward.

It rushes towards them, about to strike a wing-

But the creature is fast. Too fast. Faster than cannonballs. Faster than I can think.

It dodges the wave, catching only droplets.

I force the water to turn. To strike at them again.

But this time, they don’t evade.

They face it head on. With wings that flap like a

The wind they generate tears through my wave.

It breaks apart into a shower of rain.

Which drenches Claire and Ludwig.

I stretch the water into tendrils.

I’m about to strike at them again, when I hear them.

Two feathered creatures are diving down towards me.

I redirect the tendrils.

Just in time!

One of their talons almost scrapes the top of my head.

But it’s held away by a watery tendril.

Then I drag both creatures away, into the ocean.

I hear Claire and Ludwig scream and my attention rushes towards them.

Accompanied by binding tendril.

The heads of the two I dragged into the ocean resurface.

They squawk at me.

But they’re unable to escape the water’s currents.

I lash at the birds that circle Ludwig and Claire.

And miss.

Over and over again.

Their haunted laughter cuts through the storm.

So I change my approach.

I let water climb up the mountain.

And encase Ludwig and Claire in a watery sphere.

The creatures screech. I wish I could cover my ears.

They flap their wings. They peck and claw.

But I hold it steady.

I can protect them. I can-

Thunder rumbles. Lightning will soon follow.

I can feel it.

In the crackling on my skin. In the way the feathers on my back rise.

So I make a small hole in the dome and protect it with lashing tendrils.

The bird’s screams grow more desperate, angrier.

Their talons slash at it. Their beaks slam against the barrier.

But I hold.

Lightning is gathering above.

This will work! It will actually-

Then I hear it. Shadowy wings. Descending towards me.

Protect them or myself.

I can’t do both.

Lightning strikes.

And hits the key.

Claws slice into me.

I scream.

The watery dome evaporates.

But I didn’t let go.

It was hit by the key’s forcefield.

A bright, turquoise light.

Which reverberates across the island.

Flinging the bird creatures near Claire and Ludwig into the ocean.

Clearing the sky of stormy clouds.

We did it!

I feel a claw at my chin, urging me up.

And look into Aeros’s haunting eyes.

"Ready to go to Atlantis?" he asks and gently claps Gaurdy.

***

"Aeros, " I stammer. "How did you find me?"

"Find you?" He laughs. "You’re the one who called."

"What do you mean? I didn’t call you," I protest.

"Oh, but you did," he says. "The wind is my domain. There is not so much as a breeze that caresses your hair, that I’m not aware of. And a storm of this magnitude…"

I shudder.

"Pia didn’t go to find you, " I say. "You came to her."

He nods, pleased.

"Because I created a storm…"

"That called me, yes," he says.

I feel sick.

"But of course she is still the one who made the deal," he says. "Such things cannot be forced."

"But coerced! You-ow! " I wince at the pain in my shoulder. His claws cut deep.

"I admit, I might have played up your plight a bit," he says. "Made her feel like she couldn’t waste even a second if she wanted to see you again." He shrugs. "But hey, a guy has to make a living."

"You’re despicable."

"And you’re lovely."

I shudder and another bout of pain shakes my shoulder. It feels strange. Wrong. Like something is pressing through my flesh.

And then I realize what’s happening.

Feathers are sprouting from the wound he inflicted.

He smirks. That’s why he thinks I’m lovely.

Because I’m turning into something like him.

"How do you feel?" he asks. "Knowing that you’ll soon belong to me?"

"I’ll never belong to you."

He tsks and wags his finger.

"Leia, " he says. "Why would you say such a thing?"

He begins circling me like a vulture.

"If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you don’t want to be in the contract anymore, " he says. "You know, the one that protects your sister?"

I grit my teeth. "You know I’d never try to break it."

He nods approvingly, then rubs his clawed hands together.

"Now then, are you ready to set off?" he asks. "I would love to get the trident before dinnertime."

"I’m not going anywhere with you."

I raise my hand, trying to raise the ocean. But it doesn’t respond. It keeps swaying with its gentle waves.

I try again. Nothing.

"What?"

He is blocking me. I don’t know how, but he is. I can feel it. It’s like he’s raised an invisible wall that I can’t get through.

He grins. "Did you really think you’re the only one the guardian responds to?"

The guardian groans.

With a wave of his hand, clouds glide into a cluster. With a snap of his fingers, the puffy white clouds switch into dark stormy clouds.

Thunder angrily rumbles through them.

"No…"

"Oh yes, " he says.

Then he motions to the top of the hill.

"Don’t! " I say, reach out and stop his wind.

I can feel it. A wall of humming power.

I can block him too!

But he was in the process of lifting Claire and Ludwig to us.

And they start to plumet.

"No! " I reach out but once again, the water won’t obey.

Now Aeros is once again restraining me.

"Please! " I beg and let go.

It’s the only thing I can think of. The only thing that might work.

He takes over. Regains the wind.

And catches them both in a gust a mere second before they hit a cliff.

"You really love to make things difficult, don’t you?" he says.

Clair and Ludwig struggle against his windy constraints. They shouldn’t.

He has brought them close to us. Close enough that I can see into their eyes, As he dangles them over a sharp rock.

"Now," he says. "Let’s try this again."

Claire glares at him.

"Who do you think you are?"

"Aeros, " he says.

"Is that supposed to mean anything to me?" Claire scoffs.

Ludwig tenses at the name.

He looks at me.

I nod.

It’s him. He’s the monster I am trying to escape.

Ludwig clenches his jaw.

"You’re the one who-"

"Made a DEAL, with Leia, yes, " Aeros says.

"Of course, " Claire says and rolls her eyes. "Why wouldn’t she make a deal with the giant chicken of doom?"

"Giant chicken? " Aeros exclaims, dangling her in the air.

"My bad, " she says. "I meant overgrown, malformed pipit."

"Claire, you shouldn’t-" I start.

Then Aeros drops her.

"Claire!" I scream, try to reach out but can’t. The sea stays silent. Watching.

Claire is silent too. She doesn’t give a single sound, doesn’t even whimper.

She stays so still too. Doesn’t even shield herself.

She is about to hit the cliff-

But then a gust of wind floats her back up again.

"Was that supposed to scare me?" she asks Aeros, arms crossed.

Where does she get this courage?

"That was a warning," Aeros explained.

"Ah warning?" She chuckles. "For what? You won’t hurt me, " she says.

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Because you still need me."

"Is that so?"

"If you want to enter Atlantis, yes."

He eyes the key around her neck.

"What makes you think I can’t just take the key?"

"Because I’ve deciphered the grimoire," she says. "I know exactly what you need. As do you, I presume."

He hums, not answering directly.

"But… I don’t need him for that, do I?"

He turns to Ludwig.

"Don’t hurt him! " I say.

"I won’t," Aeros muses. "If he…OW"

Ludwig kicked him. It has taken enormous strength. I can see him panting. Sweat soaks his face. And he is paler that I’ve ever seen him before.

But somehow, he did it.

He kicked him. Right in the chin.

"You really shouldn’t have done that," Aeros growls.

"No!" I exclaim.

Aeros throws him against the stones.

"Ludwig!"

He bounces off the rock and lands on hard stone.

"No!"

For a moment, he just lies there. Then, his hand twitches. He is getting up. Trembling. Shaking.

He tries to stand and falls back down. He slides on his knees.

But he holds his head up.

"I want to make a deal! " he exclaims.

We all stare at him.

"Don’t do it," I say. "Ludwig, please…"

"Oh? " Aeros says. "A deal for what?"

"Leia’s freedom! " he demands.

Aeros laughs. "I doubt that you have anything equal to exchange." His eyes dance with mischief. "But out of curiosity… what is it that you would offer me in return?"