Sember (Forestfolk, Book 2)

Chapter 21a

I set my pack next to Jastin's frozen form. Both hands ablaze, I scanned the trembling shadows for Vill. Crevices and rocky outcroppings offered numerous places to hide. The crystal formations were no longer beautiful. They were treacherous.

"Vill? Why don't we talk some more?"

"So talk," he screeched from somewhere on my left.

Good. He was still here.

"Why don't you feed off animals?"

"Animals bland. Vill like people."

I crept toward a cluster of crystals. "You don't think killing people is wrong?"

"People want to kill Vill. That not wrong?" His disembodied voice had moved to my right.

"You have a point. But those people aren't around anymore."

"All people want to kill Vill."

I spun around to follow his voice, just in time to see his elastic chest puffed with air. I formed a fireball in my hand.

But I never got the chance to throw it.

The gust blew me off my feet and doused me in darkness once again. Irritation sparked within me.

Reigniting my hands, I scrambled to my feet and took two steps before I was assaulted by another blast of wind. I threw a fireball in the direction of its source. It exploded harmlessly against a boulder.

"This Vill's home. You not kill Vill here."

I threw another fireball at the voice. The cavern lit up briefly as it fractured a large crystal. Tittering laughter bounced around me, disorienting me.

The heat within me seethed at the thought that this creature was toying with me. "You think this is fun?"

Another gale pushed me forward. "Yes, yes. Very fun."

My fists clenched and my jaw tightened. I felt the pressure—red hot—building in my chest, spreading to my belly, aching to be released. I held it in a few beats, straining against the ache, letting my fury take over.

I was no one's plaything.

In one quick movement, I threw out my arms, opened my fists, and released a pulse so big, it blinded me. The shattering of crystals and their subsequent crashes to the ground deafened me. For several moments afterward, all I heard was the delicate tink sounds of shards as they tumbled.

And then it was silent.

My own labored breathing seemed too loud. I blinked as my vision slowly readjusted to the dim light of my hands. The floor glittered with millions of shattered crystals.

Did I get him? I held my breath to listen.

Scrape. The sound was close, and I hustled toward it. Vill lay on his stomach, arms reaching ahead, skinny legs pushing him forward. Scrape. Tiny red lines marred his pale skin, shards poking out in places.

When he saw me standing before him, he pushed himself onto his back and looked up at me. Thin tendrils of blood snaked down from his nostrils. His light blue gaze reminded me of Siena's, and for a moment, I felt conflicted. He was an Iceling, like Siena. Like Jastin.

Defeat lined his sallow face, his pale eyes pleading for mercy.

Killing him felt wrong.

"Vill, so many people are dying because of you."

An unexpected grin spread slowly across his face, and the fleeting pity I had felt for this creature dissipated like smoke. He was nothing like Siena and Jastin.

His eyes now churned with untamed hunger. It was a hunger I suspected would never abate.

I had to end this.

My hands curled into fists of gathered heat. "I'm sorry, Vill." My voice was just above a whisper.

"You are monster, like Vill," he rasped. "All Aberrations are monsters."

There was that word again. I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat.

Monster.

I steeled against it, looking away. I'm a hunter, not a monster.

But destruction was my legacy. I was good at it. The Forestfolk had always been kind to me, but they never were all that comfortable around me. One wrong word, and they might find themselves scampering home with singed hair. Did that make me a monster?

I glanced back at him, just in time to see him inflating his frog-like air sac.

"Oh no, you don't!" I stomped my foot onto his chest, and the air whooshed out.

He coughed and sputtered, then dissolved into the low laughter of insanity.

"What's so funny?" I ground my foot a little farther into his chest.

He didn't answer. He continued laughing and gasping for air as he turned his head to stare pointedly at something.

I followed his gaze across the cavern.

Jastin lay sprawled on the ground, his icy cocoon shattered around him.

"Oh no." I sprinted to his side, Vill momentarily forgotten, and crouched down next to him. Melting ice and shards of crystal surrounded his body. My blast had decimated his protective shell and flung him to the stony ground. A growing pool of blood spread from his wound, a gaping hole now that the crystal no longer plugged it. "Jastin?"

I shook his shoulders, causing his head to bob about. He remained still, his face deathly pale. My heart thumped wildly. He couldn't be dead!

No, no, no! That ship was sailing! It can't sink now! What happens next? Voting??