Chapter 17
Ash
The wind woke me, whispering in my ear that something was wrong.
I sat up and looked around.
Seph’s bed was empty. My gut dropped.
I yanked the next door open without knocking. Dev was reading by the light of a small lamp.
The other bed was empty.
“Where is Jess?”
“Gone,” Dev said. “She moved into Sable’s room earlier.”
“Ok. Get up. We’re leaving.”
“We are?” Dev asked, sitting upright.
I stared at him. “Seph isn’t here. I have to find her.”
“She’s probably walking the halls,” he said, but he pulled on a shirt. “This could be nothing.”
The wind brushed my ear again.
Hurry.
I was already bounding out the door before Dev had his shoes on.
I charged into Kieran’s room without knocking and swept his side table clear until my hands closed on something metal.
Keys.
“Ash what the fuck-” Kieran growled from his bed.
I ignored him and ran for the garage. Dev followed close at my heels.
“What the hell has happened?” Kieran asked, stumbling behind Dev.
“Fucked if I know,” Dev said. “He thinks Seph is in trouble.”
“Seph?” Kieran said, picking up the pace.
I flung open the garage door and saw the heavy-duty Jeep first. I jumped into the cab. Dev scrambled into the back.
“No!” Kieran yelled, snatching the keys out of my grip. He shoved me over to the passenger seat. “I’ll drive! You tell me where to go.”
I wound the windows down and closed my eyes and called the wind.
Tell me where, friend.
The air tugged at me, pulling me forward, whispering its secrets. My eyes flickered beneath my lids as images of water flooded my mind.
“The Aurelion…” I whispered.
“What?” Dev demanded. “Why would she be near the Aurelion?”
A roar echoed on the breeze.
Sy.
“They fell. Hard. Fuck, K.” I looked at him with wide eyes. “Sy’s hurt. Seph was with him.”
Kieran opened the garage door and gunned the engine.
We took off into the night, down the long empty highway.
I pushed my head out the window, using the winds to guide me. “That way!”
We drove until the river came into view, but we were still too far from the banks.
“Fuck!”
“How the hell are we supposed to find her? The river goes for miles!” Kieran exclaimed.
The wind screamed in my ears — sharp, insistent.
Not miles. One place.
My pulse spiked.
“Slow down,” I said. “She’s close. The wind can feel her.”
I had my head practically hanging out the window, as if the air was an extension of me. But the land was so dark.
From the car I could see the rapids of the Aurelion racing downstream.
If Seph fell in there –
“Seph can’t swim,” Kieran said, his face pale.
I was already moving.
I tore the door open and launched myself from the car while it was still rolling. I hit the road hard, rolled, came up running.
“Ash! You stupid—” Dev yelled behind me. Brakes screamed.
I crashed through the trees, branches whipping my face, mud sucking at my feet. I lost my shoes. I didn’t care.
The river roared ahead.
Then I heard it.
A roar.
“Sy.”
I ran downstream, lungs burning, heart trying to break out of my chest.
At the bend, I saw him.
The dragon thrashed at the river’s edge, water churning white around him. An iron bolt pinned his wing to the riverbed. Every movement tore the wound wider, locking him in place.
And Seph was nowhere to be seen.
“Stay there!” Dev shouted behind me.
Sy roared — furious, pained — his golden eyes snapping to us like we were the idiots here.
I didn’t hesitate.
I hit the water.
Cold slammed into me, stole the air from my lungs. The current dragged at my clothes as I fought toward him.
When I reached him, my hand closed around the bolt.
Sy snarled, snapping toward me in pure, blinding pain.
“I know, I know,” I gasped, bracing my feet against the riverbed.
I yanked.
It didn’t move.
The current shoved at it, packing mud around the iron, locking it deeper with every second.
“ASH — STOP PULLING!” Dev shouted, splashing in beside me.
Kieran was already scrambling up the bank, boots slipping in the mud. “I’ll get leverage!”
Sy thrashed, the movement tearing the wound wider. Blood clouded the water, dark ribbons twisting downstream.
“Hold him still!” Dev yelled.
“HE’S A DRAGON, DEV!”
Sy roared again, twisting, his jaws snapping toward the iron like he could tear it free himself — but the movement only jammed him deeper into the roots beneath the riverbed.
And I still couldn’t see her.
“Ready?” Kieran shouted from the bank.
Dev and I locked eyes. No room for doubt.
“Sy, we’ve got to get this out. Don’t eat us, yeah?” Dev yelled.
Sy snarled — then forced his head away, bracing.
“One—two—”
YANK.
The bolt tore free with a sickening sound, and Sy collapsed backward into the water. His wings flared on instinct, beating wildly—
—but they wouldn’t catch air.
“Change back! We can lift you!” Kieran yelled.
Sy thrashed instead, trying to force himself skyward, water exploding around him.
And then I understood.
He wasn’t trying to escape.
He was trying to search.
My blood went cold.
I grabbed his horn, forcing his gaze to mine.
“SY!” I shouted. “Where is she? WHERE THE FUCK IS SEPH?”