“To the base of the mountain. My power and strength lie in the earth, so the more I have it at hand the better.”

I kept looking for the Sylph, wondering when he would come flying in. “Do you think the Sylph will attack with you here?”

Lark laughed softly with a bitter note to it. “I’m quite sure if I weren’t here, you would have got through fine. I’ve no doubt they’ve come to stop me.”

“Why?”

She took a deep breath and muttered, “Rylee said you asked a lot of questions.”

“How else can I learn?” I snapped at her, embarrassed that Rylee would warn her.

Lark held up both hands. “Easy, little witch. It is only that she wanted me to know that was your way. That you were hungry for the supernatural and all the knowledge you could gain. That is a good thing.” She paused and looked to the sky for a moment before answering my original question. “A long time ago, I was set apart by the mother goddess as her chosen one. It means I live outside the rules and stipulations placed on my people, on all elementals, really. It makes me dangerous because I can become the catalyst for change. And change is coming.”

I looked at her, then at Rylee. “You two really are related, aren’t you?”

Her mouth quirked up. “Yes—”

Lightning struck at our feet, exploding the hardened lava and sending chunks toward us at rapid-fire speed. I was thrown backward, and landed flat on my back, the wind knocked out of me. Rolling to my side, I looked up. Lark stood with her legs spread wide and her hands stretched out to the side. Her feet were sunk into the earth, and it held her tightly as the wind ripped around her, yanking on her. Peta stood in front of her, claws digging into the ground. She snarled at the Sylph above us.

He floated in the air, his long white hair swirling around his body. Like the Sylph I’d faced before, he wore all white, making him seem even paler than he truly was. The mountain shook beneath me, shivering as if it were going to leap up at any moment. I fought for air and gulped down several lungsful, the scent of ozone heavy. He was going to fry her. “Lark!”

“Deflect it, Pamela!”

I struggled to my feet and focused on the clouds above us. The rumble of lightning formed within the clouds. I lifted my hands and the magic poured out of me, sending the clouds flying backward. Lightning shot our way but missed by twenty feet, at least.

I ran to Lark’s side and she draped an arm over my shoulder. My feet sank into the ground and held as the earth firmed around them. “Don’t hold back. He will kill us if he can.”

“I’ve never let it all out.”

She nodded. “Only if you have to. You’ll know the moment when it comes, when there is nothing left but to unleash everything in you, every molecule of power you have left to survive.”

Although I didn’t need to, I held my hands up. The magic paused for a beat of my heart while I directed it to what I wanted. My idea was simple. Grab the Sylph and throw him to the ground so that Lark could cover him with dirt.

Simple.

Right.

The magic shot toward the Sylph and he dodged it, as if he’d seen it coming. But that wasn’t possible, was it?

“He can feel it, Pamela. He can feel the vibrations on the air like a snake feels the vibrations of a heartbeat,” Lark said. “You’ll have to outsmart him.”

Rocks shot into the air, flying hard and fast at the Sylph, and he batted them away like they were nothing before they ever reached him.

Changing tactics, I sent fireballs at him, one after another; left hand, right hand, left hand, right hand. Those slowed him down; the first thing that had, and I realized they ate the air. Fire was the key.

“Cactus, where is he?”

“Helping Rylee; we need to do this on our own.” She didn’t look back for him, though I could see the strain on her face in not doing so. Cactus was her friend, and yet she’d sent him with Rylee. Because Rylee was the one who needed to be protected at all costs.

The Sylph flew toward us and Lark tensed. “He’s going to steal our air, Pamela. It’s going to be now or never.”

I looked back for a split second to my friends, and almost threw up. The ogres had surrounded Rylee, Cactus, and Alex, and Blaz was flat out on the ground. Eve and Marco were above them all and were being kept at bay by several ogres with oversized crossbows. What had happened to Blaz?

“Pamela, focus. We have a job to do. We can help them when we are done.” Her voice was sharp and it spun me around. Lark was right. I had to do this on my own. I opened myself up to the magic and beckoned it forward. “Please be enough,” I whispered, and then looked at Lark. “I’m going to drop him. Be ready.”

She nodded and put a hand on my shoulder. The magic in me leapt at her touch, as if being called by an old friend. Lark gave me a wink. “A power boost, kid. Take him down and show him who’s in charge here.”

With renewed determination, I lifted my hands, and that’s when the Sylph made his move.

The tornado dropped out of the sky and spun toward us, ripping up chunks of hardened lava, any trees that were left, and all the dark gray ash. A maelstrom that would batter our bodies into oblivion if I let it catch us.

“Pamela, whatever you’re going to do, do it now. I can’t hold us against that,” Lark said, with more than a hint of anxiety in her voice. Peta roared her defiance into the wind, but there wasn’t much else she could do.

Squinting my eyes against the debris being kicked up, I braced myself. “I can do this. I have to.”