Just Breathe Part 39

Jet glanced up to Scarlet. Her lids spread wide. She returned to the Dreamweaver's helmet and pawed at it with a vengeance.

"Byrn's not here right now. If you'd like to leave him a message, contact Incendius at your earliest convenience." Scarlet stepped out of Byrn's ashes. Her s.h.i.t-eating grin a.s.sured Gavin there was nothing left of his friend or the other Fyre. Scarlet had Firewalked into the inferno and torched them both.

Laughter a.s.saulted his ears with a hundred decibels of 'oh s.h.i.t,' and Scarlet came at him, demonic eyes casting flames from their surfaces.

A final squeal of resistance cried out from the metal screw Jet wrestled. The Dreamweaver's headgear popped free. Her eyelids fluttered. The unmistakable sound of tearing fabric emanated from her mouth, grabbed hold of the air, and ripped a hole in the Veil between Realis and the Dreaming.

So, this was the end.

Resigned to his fate, Gavin fixed an image of Zoe in his mind and caught a final breath.

And the world literally exploded.

Chapter Forty-two.

"Did you hear that?" Zoe cupped her hands against the Dreaming's transparent marble door and peered through.

On the other side in Realis, an earth-jarring rumble from Platypus Bay bowled into the sandy dunes of Fraser Island. The crowd of Waeter Elementals-Zoe's army-waiting for entry into the Dreaming collectively jerked up their heads.

Jack followed her gaze and frowned. "That didn't sound good."

Another rumble. This one closer. A line of jagged, white light forked through Realis toward the door.

"s.h.i.t." Jack threw an arm in front of her and guided her away from the stone portal.

's.h.i.t' was right. She stumbled backward as the white streak increased its speed, a shot of lightning with endless energy. The accompanying continuous crackle of thunder tagged along behind, growing louder by the second.

The screams she'd been tracking from the distant dream battlefield increased in volume as if in reply.

A tremor snaked up Zoe's spine. "What the h.e.l.l is that?"

"A disturbance in the Force," Jack joked, but his eyes weren't laughing. Muscles tense, he corralled her away from the dream ocean. "Come on."

The line shot like a bullet aimed at the door. A deep rumble chased behind, shattering the sound barrier. Zoe covered her ears. Aftershock tremors shook the ground and hacked open the air.

She stole a look back, and her jaw dropped.

Oh G.o.d.

Whatever this thing was, it laid waste to everything in its path on its collision course with the door. Jack grabbed her elbow and shouted, "Run!"

Her heart took off at full gallop, and her legs followed. Trying to keep her face pointed forward and holding onto Jack like a lifeline, Zoe told herself to keep her s.h.i.t together. If this was the kind of c.r.a.p she'd have to deal with tonight, she certainly didn't need a side of panic attack to go with it- But curiosity got the better of her. She skidded to a stop and turned around. What greeted her defied possibility. The magical lightning collided with the marble door she'd stood behind only moments ago.

All h.e.l.l broke loose.

Bodies from the outside were tossed in. Spinning like tornadoes, flotsam and jetsam from structures on the mainland in Realis were sucked into the vacuum created by the Dreaming's sudden loss of pressure. A brick crashed at Zoe's feet; a cloud of ash mushroomed in protest.

For as far as she could see, a great gash ravaged the dream ocean and air, almost like someone had taken a panoramic photograph and ripped it in two. The hewn Veil bore a gaping white wound through which the contents of Realis spilled into the dream world. The place was eviscerated.

And the fault line continued quaking.

Shadowy creatures danced along the edges of the hole where the door had stood. Realis's sea flooded the Dreaming's sand. Corpses washed up alongside the a.s.sorted detritus of razed human architecture, twin testaments to the infinitesimal impact Wyldlings had in the face of the four all-powerful Elements.

Gavin and the Elementals must've found the Dreamweaver and opened the door. Except, this was not a simple matter of pushing open a portal and stepping through. This was total, violent annihilation of the barrier between two worlds. No way anyone standing near an explosion of this magnitude could survive.

"Oh, my G.o.d. Gavin."

Grief flooded her, and Zoe fell to her knees. "Gavin!"

"Gavin can't help us now." Jack clamped a hand on her shoulder and shot his gaze to the ravages before them. "We have to get to the battle. He'll be okay. He's a tough little s.h.i.t."

"If he had anything to do with this, he's not okay." And she had no doubt he had been involved. Tears distorted her vision. She blinked them away. "Gavin..."

She couldn't find the will to move.

Jack dropped before her, grasped her upper arms, and focused his intense gray eyes on hers. "Listen to me, Zoe. People are dying. You heard the screams. You see the bodies." Nostrils flaring, he gestured to the raging ocean waves crashing into the Dreaming. "This s.h.i.t is real, babe. The way I see it, you have two choices. You can lie down here and let the Water cover you as you pine away for him, or you can stand up, get your army together, and do what you came here to do: save the Dreaming by killing every motherf.u.c.king Fyre you can get your hands on."

Zoe pushed up slowly, wiped the grit from her palms, and surveyed the devastation. Glowing blue bodies bobbed on the ocean not far offsh.o.r.e. The Waeters.

Jack stood beside her. "What's it gonna be, Zoe?"

She inhaled a full breath and met her father's pleading eyes. He was right. There was no time to play the panic-attacked damsel in distress while the world flew apart around her. Loss and grief would be dealt with later.

Zoe had been the key to saving humanity from the Fyres before, and she still was.

She lifted her chin and slapped away a tear. "Let's take these f.u.c.kers down, Dad."

A proud smile eased across Jack's features, and he nodded. "That's my girl."

Facing the ocean, she waved her arms wildly over her head, motioning the Waeters ash.o.r.e. The sea churned with radiant blue as they stormed the sand. Thirty...thirty-five...forty anxious Elementals looked to her for guidance. Zoe shivered.

There were Westbrook and his friends. Several others she recognized from weeks of pleading for help on the Zodiac and in her dreams. But the three she needed most were nowhere in sight. Without the Tongans, the battle would be over before it began.

But like the time she faced cruel whalers in the Southern Ocean, odds stacked against her, staring failure in the face, she would not back down.

Never.

Jack stood tall beside her, arms crossed over his chest. Her Sentinel protector in Gavin's stead.

She sniffled away another storm of tears and addressed the Elementals. "The Fyres are over those dunes. They've killed a lot of people. The Wyldlings will appreciate all the help you can give. Do what you must to-"

The Waeters collectively turned their heads to the sea. Splashes churned the waves, followed by thuds of heavy feet marching across the packed sand. Gasps rose. The Elemental circle parted and revealed...

The Tongans.

A rush of breath escaped Zoe's lips, and goose b.u.mps pocked every inch of her skin. Thank G.o.d.

The trio of dark-skinned Waeter warriors came to a stop before her and lowered their blue-haloed heads. Zoe bolted forward and hugged each one in turn. She couldn't help it. None of them returned her embrace, but their expressions revealed muted respect.

Body tingling, Water flowing in full spate, Zoe resumed her post next to Jack and swept her gaze over the crowd. "Looks like all the guests have arrived. Now, let's get this party started."

When Gavin came to, he tried to sit up. The debilitating throb from a mangled and presumably broken arm warned him to lie back down.

s.h.i.t. Where was he?

Sand crunched between his teeth. He spat it out. Hearing came back online with crashing clarity, and shrieks of terror greeted his ears. Rolling his head to the side, he scanned the environs.

Smoke. Running Wyldlings. Fyres.

The Dreaming. How did he get here?

Pushing to a sitting position with his good hand, he begged his memory for answers. He'd been in a warehouse with Jack's friends. Whetu. Scarlet.

The Dreamweaver. When her helmet came loose, the pin holding the Veil together did, too. The explosion must've dumped him here- Byrn. s.h.i.t. Byrn was dead. He didn't like the Fyre, but he certainly didn't deserve to be eaten by Scarlet.

Gavin twisted his body around and met more pain. b.u.mps, bruises, cuts. He winced as a Wyldling stumbled by in a daze. As he reached for the man, his gaze fell upon Jet, dusting herself off.

"Are you hurt?" Sadness laced her voice.

She'd just witnessed her friend's murder. Gavin wondered how close she'd been to Byrn.

"I think I broke my arm." He spat more sand from his lips and glanced at his dangling appendage. f.u.c.k, that hurt.

She nodded and squatted beside him. "Let me see."

Without giving him notice to brace himself, she snapped the two pieces of bone back into place with a gut-churning, excruciating pop. He clenched his jaw so hard, he almost broke a tooth. "A little warning next time?"

She laid her fingers over the break, and healing Earth energy flowed into his skin, weaving the tissues beneath back together. "You'll be okay."

"Thanks."

"No problem. I'm not sure what happened to the Dreamweaver. I'm going to find Vexx and Whetu and get them out of here. They've done their part." Lips set in an unwavering line, Jet stood and walked toward a patch of burning trees. Dots of blood oozed through the back of her shirt.

Strange. She didn't seem injured. But he had other things to worry about at the moment.

Gavin flexed his arm, wiggled his fingers. Much better. He got up and jogged to a Fyre bearing down on a cl.u.s.ter of cowering Wyldlings. Without a thought, he hosed the f.u.c.ker into soggy ash.

Zoe. He needed to find her.

Shouts and cries from the other side of a monster dune drew Gavin's attention. He clambered to the top and looked down. A hundred or more flying red Elementals darted across the matching crimson sky, dive-bombing unsuspecting Wyldlings. b.a.l.l.s of flaming Fyres detonated like bombs, taking humans with them. The few Sentinels sprinkled into the mix did little to stop the explosions.

Gavin's heart clenched, paralyzing him. This was f.u.c.king hopeless.

Under the Fyres' attacks, people faded out of existence like snuffed candles, leaving nothing behind but trails of wispy smoke.

Someone had to stop these f.u.c.kers.

His pulse kicked into gear and shook him from the momentary daze. Gavin channeled Water to his hands and tore down the hill, pausing only long enough to shoot any Fyres in his path. He landed several hits, but none took any Elementals out. The havoc they'd been wreaking in Realis had fed them well. Another blanket of despair descended like a murder of crows.

But when he reached the bottom of the dune, his dark mood lifted. Blue lights shone from about fifty bodies storming onto the battlefield. They blended with the red sky, tinting it purple.

Zoe's army of Elementals.

Gavin grinned. She did it.

As the Waeters closed, the Fyres issued a collective gasp. The few who turned tail and ran were promptly caught by bigger Fyres and dragged hissing and spitting to the front lines.

Random vortexes kicked up, powered by Shadows, Fire, and chaos. Burnt emotions scorched the atmosphere. Warring reds and blues snuffed out every other color in the Dreaming. No place for coherent, yellow thought or green physical healing here. The auras, the land, the air itself oozed Fire and Water.

As the Fyres diverted focus from Wyldlings to Waeters, some of the humans got smart and woke up. But many remained-probably too shocked, scared, or panicked to leave. The Waeters' arrival took a little pressure off the Sentinels and allowed them to help Wyldlings back to Realis. Even with that break, the slaughter continued.

A river of bodies, the Waeters gushed toward the Fyres, their blue limbs targeted, Water blasters powered up. Gavin picked through the group until his gaze stumbled upon his beautiful blond muse, right up front, leading the Elemental charge.

Pride welled in his chest, replacing worry for her safety as he sprinted to her side.

"I gotta say, blue is definitely your color."

Her head jerked to face him, and she puffed a laugh. "Oh my G.o.d. I thought you were dead!" Zoe tossed her arms around him.

Water surged between them, stifling the Fire spluttering in his chest. d.a.m.n Scarlet. Gavin broke the hug and tugged Zoe out of the ranks. He nodded to the Elementals. "Looks like they have the Fyres covered. What say you head back to Realis where it's a wee bit safer? I'm sure you'd-"

"I said I'd see this fight through to the end, and I will. Besides, I'm just getting warmed up."

d.a.m.n. Could he respect this woman any more than he already did?

Jack appeared on Zoe's other side and slapped the back of his arm. "Gavin. I'm glad you made it out, man. Where are the others?" He glanced around.

"Jet's grabbing Vexx and Whetu now. Not sure about Xanthos. Byrn...uh...well, he didn't..." Gavin scratched the back of his head.

Jack's chin tilted up. "Byrn's dead?"

"What?" Zoe's eyes widened.

Screams rose around them. Chaos blurred the scenery into nondescript chunks of blue mixed with dancing red and orange flames. Steamy sulfur tainted the air. The Waeters were crushing the Fyres. "I'm sorry, Jack. He's gone."

Jack's top lip quivered. He nodded once, and his gaze fell to the soot beneath their feet before returning to Gavin's. "I've had enough. Let's finish these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds off. For Byrn." The determination in his voice wove a contagious spell.

Gavin's Water tattoos lit up, shooting beams of light everywhere. "You don't have to tell me twice." Liquid energy channeled from his heart, down his arms, to the tips of his fingers. Fire cowered inside his chest. Good.