Chapter 789

Roger nods once and the four of us fall into a line, moving out towards the front to join the fight.

"Here's the deal," Roger murmurs, glancing down at me from my right. "Cora's got a storm coming in from behind the Atalaxian front that should do a great deal of work towards distracting them. Plus, they won't be able to get many aircraft off the ground with what she's got brewing."

"Oh," I say, my eyebrows going up as I consider that that is, indeed, going to be help. I think the stars again that I have a powerful weather goddess as an aunt.

"What we need from you," Roger continues, shifting his eyes to the wide front of Atalaxian forces before us. "Is to take out as much of this as you can. We've managed to enter after the battle has already started, so hopefully no one has taken note of one transport truck delivering four soldiers."

"But considering that they always seem to have eyes on us," Rafe murmurs, also glancing at me, "who knows. So, we need to move fast."

Roger nods as he taps his own earpiece. "I've got your dad right here, Ariel, to direct the battle. But mostly we just need you to...take 'em out, in whatever way works for you. We're here for guidance and for cover. But...whenever you're ready, kid."

"Oh," I say, my eyes going wide. Because...I just...go? I think I was expecting more preamble than that. I glance up at Jackson, anxious, and he takes my hand, looking steadily down into my eyes.

The power begins to flow between us, itself a powerful encouragement, making me feel full of energy and ready to blaze.

"You ready, baby?" I whisper.

His face bursts into a smile at the pet name - the first I ever called him, the one I think he likes the most, though he'd hate it if others knew it.

"Ready when you are, tiny," he murmurs in reply. And I watch as he physically restrains himself from leaning down to kiss me.

Because we're at war. And there's no time for that.

But still, the impulse makes me grin, and I exhale a long breath. "Okay. Let's go."

I step forward and join the battle.

I press all the thoughts and worries from my mind - all of my sadness about Tony, and my worries about Juniper, and my horror for both Jesse and Daphne. I tuck it all away, as Roger has done, and instead just look for something to burn.noveldrama

Because a girl's got to start somewhere.

My eyes catch on a plane soaring high above the Atalaxian forces, heading right for our troops, probably to drop some bombs and steal away even more Moon Valley lives.

"You good if I start there?" I murmur to my uncle.

His eyes move upwards. "The plane? Um. Sure."

"Cool." My mouth turns down into a frown as I concentrate, pulling on Jackson's power. It's only a moment before the plane bursts into flames above the Atalaxian lines. I smirk, imagining the way that surprise must have made them all flinch.

But my joy is short-lived as I begin to I concentrate, pulling on Luca's sputtering wind and Jackson's raw power to grow the fire in the air even as the debris of the plane falls to the ground.

Slowly, the flaming whirlwind forms in the sky above the Atalaxian troops. Even as I miss Jesse and his shadows,

magnifiere is something so...so

magnificent about the bright flame

against the dark sky that thrills within me. I take a moment, not destroying anything else, just... letting the conflagration hang in the air, a clear message to the enemy that reflects all of the rage and pain in my heart.

That I'm here now. And their time is short, because the fire is coming and I'm going to burn them all to ash.

But there's only so much time I can dedicate to a message. And so I begin.

The inferno lengthens, reaching to touch the ground for the first time, and then begins to move. I allow it to tear through the forces closest to it, moving westward in my vision and destroying everything in its path squeeze Jackson's hand as I concentrate, wanting his comfort as well as his strength, because...the magic is wilder than it was before. I'm just not used to the way the wind moves now. It's not a dance

anymore, but a furious rampage.

I loose a shaky breath, working to manage the flames even as the destruction continues forward.

Jackson squeezes my hand right

back and his confidence fills me. A perverse joy sings through my veins as I direct the fire to move,

consuming everything it touches net

and fueling the fire of my rage, my pain, my desire to destroy this horrible army that seeks to take everything from the people I love.

"Holy fuck," Roger murmurs beneath his breath.

"I told you," Rafe says back, sighing in a satisfied way.

But I barely hear them, concentrating as I am on the firey path that I'm blazing through the Atalaxian foe.