Rootbound

“I am my own hero. I will slay the dragons. I need no one to save me.”

The world heaved under me, Peta cried out . . . and I lost control of my power.

CHAPTER 2

y power took on a life of its own as it ramped up, increasing in leaps and bounds. I closed my eyes and mentally reached for both Spirit and Earth, doing all I could to draw them to me, to calm the raging powers. Like grabbing at wet reins on a runaway horse, the hold I had was tenuous, at best.

Sweat poured from me as I struggled, fighting to pull it together.

Spirit was completely out of control, writhing around me, almost as if it were an entity all its own. And it wanted the power of the earth to rise and destroy things, to break free of my hold on it, to shatter the land.

Worm shit and green sticks, goblin shit and goose guts. This was not what I’d been planning. Not that I’d thought much about what I was doing. I’d been so filled with rage, I couldn’t hold back. I needed to let it out.

The sweat droplets rolled down my body in tiny rivers. As the sky opened up, rain joined the sweat, soaking me through as the edge of the ravine trembled under me. The rain chilled my skin, and sent steam curling from me. I gritted my teeth and with my eyes still closed, I focused everything I had on bringing my powers to heel.

The sound of rocks falling, the crack of stone, the steady trickle of pebbles sliding over the edge were all I heard. The earth beneath us groaned and tipped, as if it would buck me off into the abyss.

What the hell was happening? Why couldn’t I control my elements?

If I didn’t do something soon, both Peta and I would fall to our deaths.

The thought of Peta dying spurred my efforts. I took a stranglehold of Spirit and drew it to me, calming it, whispering that I would learn, pushing it back. Earth was easier once I had Spirit under control.

I opened my eyes, and realized I’d fallen to my knees at some point. I slung an arm over Peta’s shoulders. “That was too close.”

She shuddered. “I thought you had more time, but it looks as though you are closer to the edge than I thought.” Her green eyes blinked up at me and she pointed with a paw at the ravine. “No pun intended.”

“What do you mean . . . you thought I had more time?” I panted for breath around the words.

“Spirit needs to be trained. That is what I learned in my studies. Until it does, it will do this to you: steal your control and make you fight to do what you wish.”

I frowned and wobbled to my feet. The rage had burned out with the power and fear, a combination that left me exhausted beyond what I thought possible. “Are you sure?”

She nodded. “Yes. You had no control. I felt it through the bond. Spirit is gaining strength and until you understand it, it will make your life . . . difficult. Not impossible, just harder.”

“And if there is no training?” Because who the hell would I ask to show me the ropes? Cassava? I think not.

“You will burn out your powers, leaving you an empty husk.”

“Oh, well if that’s all.” I drew a breath and brushed a hand over my face, wiping off rain and sweat.

“Do not take this lightly,” she chastised.

I held a hand out to her. “I’m not. I just . . . I’m exhausted.”

Cactus stumbled up to us, his brows drawn in two deep slashes. He raised his voice to be heard over the howl of the wind. “Why did you do that? You could have killed someone.”

His unsaid words were that I could have killed him too.

“But I didn’t kill anyone. Did I?” I put a hand on my spear, balancing myself against a particularly hard gust of wind, the rain slapping at us—at this elevation, more ice than rain. Around us branches snapped in half and were flung with a violence that seemed as if the trees were attempting to spear us. Several landed at my feet, plunged into the ground like fallen arrows. From above, a squirrel chattered incessantly as if that would somehow slow the pace of the frenzied storm whipping around us. Or maybe he was thinking the same thing as me. That Cactus talked when he had no idea of what he spoke.

“Didn’t think about humans, did you?” Cactus stood and scanned the horizon, the accusation clear in his voice.

I narrowed my eyes. “Nothing happened, Cactus. And even if I had dropped off that edge, anyone foolish enough to risk being in a storm of this size deserves what they get. In particular the humans.” Anger coursed through me again, lighting a flame I thought I’d banked by throwing my weight around.

His eyes flicked to me and then away. “You won’t scare me from you, Lark.”

I threw my hands in the air, fully and totally exasperated. Making my way to the deck, I ducked under and sat against what I thought of as my pillar. Peta didn’t ease off the side of my leg as I crept through the short space.

Cactus ducked down, and I pointed a finger at him. “No. Go up to the house. I don’t want you in here.”

His jaw ticked and he spun on his heel, a flick of pebbles spraying out behind him, he moved so fast.

His feet on the deck pounded a steady thud that was gone swiftly. I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around Peta, burying my face in her thick fur as a sigh escaped me. The warmth of her body and the steady rumble of her purr soothed me enough that I rested.

The storm raged, lashing the deck until it creaked and the wood sounded as though it held on by mere splinters. None of that mattered as fatigue rolled over me, pulling me under its spell completely. For the first time in days, I let myself sleep, falling into a place I feared like no other, and only because I clung to my familiar.