Dozens, maybe more, are injured or worse, though water and plant healers have already reached them and are quickly trying to heal those who can be saved. Fionn and Silene slowly make their way toward us through the running and screaming, but their progress is slow. Another explosion shakes the ground, this time from right beside us. Laurel is ripped from me, and the mating bond explodes in fury. I roar, and my light is so bright across the sky it’s blinding. Lightning crackles in the sky above, though I won’t allow it to strike the ground until I know where Laurel is, too afraid I’ll hit her in my heightened emotional state.

My eyes frantically scan the ground around me, and I finally spot Laurel twenty paces away, still lying prone on the ground. With a single step, I’m by her side. Nothing will keep me from her, not the rebels and not the limitations of my magic. I offer my hand, and she grips it tightly as she stands. For a second so quick I almost miss it, she looks up at me with confusion, brows furrowed in deep thinking. But with another round of screams from a smaller explosion, she shutters it away behind a look of pure venom. Laurel is gone, and in her place is The Witch Queen.

We turn together to survey the scene. The valley is in absolute chaos now, and people are panicking as they try to escape, running over one another as they look for a safe route out. Royal Guards have unsheathed their hidden weapons, and some are trying to quell the chaos while others make their way toward their monarch. Around the ring of the festival, shadowed figures appear.

“It must be the rebels,” Laurel whispers, true fear in her voice. “I knew this would happen. We have to protect these people.” Without warning, Laurel jerks her hand out of mine and aersteps away, reappearing in the very center of the valley, her body lit up with an ethereal glow. Something in my chest breaks open at her disappearance, and I break into a run, desperate to be by her side again. “Silence,” Laurel commands with the strongest aether-voice I’ve experienced yet. The valley around us goes completely still as her words ring in my head, and I’m taken to my knees along with everyone around me. “You will not harm the innocent here today. If you’re an air channeler, gather as many with you as your magic will allow and aerstep to safety.”