Sher-sah’s roar, like a million crashing waves, ripped through the air again, rising above shouts and yells. A concussion of sound exploded, loud enough to make my eardrums shriek. My heart skip-tip-tapped out of rhythm for several beats, and a bolt of white-hot pain lanced through my chest. I bent over and gasped.
Gideon rushed ahead several steps and raised his hand, clearly demanding I stay in place. “Evie, let me check it out first.”
I swallowed my urge to protest, gritted my teeth, and nodded. While Gideon ran off beyond the wagon train’s perimeter to find the source of the disturbance, I focused on centering myself, calming my racing pulse, and tuning out distractions. Grandfather, get ready. I think it’s time to put our plan into place.
He said nothing, but already the air had taken on a heavy quality, as though filling with energy. In my mind, I reached out, searching for storms to call to my side. A huge thunderhead was waiting several miles out on the north end of Barsava. It had the potential to pack a huge punch, if I had the strength to control it.
“Evie.” Genevieve drew close to my side. Her face had gone pale, and her eyes were huge. “Are you sure this is going to work?”
“Yes, of course.” My confidence was a complete lie. I had no idea our plan would succeed, but our chances improved if we acted with calm heads and confidence.
Several dark figures emerged from the periphery of the wagon train. Like dark wraiths in cloaks and hoods, they silently approached. Their intent and focus felt like a hundred arrows pointed in our direction. I snarled. “It’s them, all right.”
A quiet sob escaped Genevieve’s throat, but she threw back her shoulders and raised her head. She’d donned the Thunder Cloak, and it rippled in the breeze around her as she took a fierce stance. She was a performer at heart, after all. If anyone could fake confidence and assurance enough to fool their adversary, it was this brave and daring princess.
I stepped further into the cook wagon’s shadows, remaining close enough to touch Genevieve, but far enough to evade the cabal’s notice. The same winds that played with the princess’s cloak toyed with my hair, tugging at the longs strands hanging loose beneath my top hat. The hem of my short, spangled skirt fluttered, and goose bumps rose beneath the thick hose covering my legs. I was dressed to deceive, to resemble Genevieve from a distance, outfitted for trick riding instead of combat. Good thing I intended to do neither.
Extending my will, I reached for the storm clouds and drew them to me. Energy collected in response to my commands, and a bolt of lightning formed, high in the atmosphere. Genevieve raised a hand, waved a dramatic flourish, and the storms appeared to respond to her.
“Evelyn!” A voice rang out above the commotion, amplified, if I had to guess, by Magic. One of the strangers dropped his hood, and my lightning flickered on his incandescent hair. “Stand down. There’s no need for a fight.”
His presence hit me like a fist of ice. My knees wobbled. The injuries on my chest blazed as if I’d been shot again. I gasped and slumped against the wagon.
He was here, my nightmare incarnate.
Jackie.
Chapter 26
Jackie and his fellow Magicians—five in all—raised their hands. The edges of the clearing, from ground to sky, undulated like the surface of a puddle disturbed by a breeze, and the air rippled with the sheen of a soap bubble. Then, everything and everyone inside that bubble disappeared, including the princess.
Stunned, I gasped and scanned my surroundings, searching for something, anything that might tell me what had happened and what I should do next, but the circus troupe had retreated the moment Jackie’s barrier went up. Only Falak remained, and he raced toward me, his dark eyes wide and brimming with fear.
“What now?” he asked, pausing to draw a breath. “This wasn’t part of the plan.”
I shook my head and stepped closer to where I’d last seen the princess. Another step forward, and my foot struck an indistinguishable obstacle. I pressed my hands against what felt like a wall of frigid air, but it refused to let me through.
Falak had caught on, and he too patted at the wall like a mime performing an invisible-box routine. “What is this?”
“Magic. Obviously.”
He rolled his eyes at me. “But what do we do about it?”
“Ask Svieta?” I fought the urge to panic. “I don’t know.”
Admitting defeat already? That’s not the Stormbourne way. I’m disappointed in you, girl.
My grandfather’s voice jolted me out of my bewilderment. “I’m not admitting defeat, but I don’t know what to do. Le Poing Fermé’s Magic is devastating. I’ve witnessed it firsthand.”
A Magician has never been stronger than a god.
“I’m not a god.”
You are so long as people worship you.
Falak’s brows drew together. He frowned as he tried to make sense my one-sided conversation.
No time for doubts, Evie.
I nodded and met Falak’s gaze. “Part two of the plan, ringmaster.”
His frown deepened as he contemplated my words. Understanding settled over him, and his grim expression lightened. He smiled. Skipping back several paces, he raised a finger. “Give me one moment, Evie. I’ve already explained to them what they need to do. I only have to give them the word.”
The ringmaster ran toward the big top while I turned my attention to the barrier before me. Already my bullet wound throbbed and ached. The pain of it weakened my knees, but I shoved aside my discomfort, doubts, and fears. Reaching deep, I collected my will and slung it like a broad net, grasping for the sky.
In my thoughts, I urged the ringmaster to hurry. This is going to take everything in me. You better be quick with the reinforcements, Falak.
Drawing energy together, I molded a bolt of lightning into a fierce missile and aimed for the Magical barrier. With a great mental heave, I sent it hurtling. The concussion of its impact threw me, and I landed hard. The back of my head struck the ground. Blinking, I struggled for breath as the sky spun overhead in a dizzying cartwheel. Blackness and stars sparkled at the edge of my vision, and the dark, hollow place in my mind roared, reminding me of how close I’d already come to dying.
“D-don’t know...how much of this...I can take,” I panted.
Jackie replied before my grandfather could. He appeared, standing over me, and gazed down with his familiar, hungry-wolf smile. A blue globe, similar to the ones Otokar had devised, bobbed beside him, casting his face in cold light. Apparently, my attack on the barrier had worked. Too bad I had nothing left for Jackie.
“What a prize you are, Evie,” he said. “Clever and strong. We’ve dampened your powers for months, and yet you’ve overcome.” His brows drew into a scowl as he lowered into a squat at my side. “I must know how you managed it.”
Ignoring the pain in my chest, I raised up on one elbow and surveyed my surroundings. The circus looked the same as before, except several wagon windows had blown out, most likely from the blast of my lightning. Genevieve stood alone, not more than two or three yards away. Her eyes flashed, but she remained silent. The spell Svieta had cast on the Thunder Cloak still concealed her identity, and she still looked like me, but my lightning assault had given me away. So much for hiding in plain sight.
I nodded at her. “Now, princess.”
