“Isolde, look out!”

But one moment of distraction was more than long enough. Isolde just barely manages to twist away so the knife slams into her bicep instead of her chest. She screams, falling back as her hand goes to the injury.

I could have expected the rush of feelings at the raw pain in my sister’s voice.

What I don’t expect is the rush of magic.

Power flows through me, coursing with my anger and fear to the rhythm of my speeding heart. That pull under the surface of my mind fills my blood with a bubbling feeling, rolling over me and within me.

And this time, I let it. The rain pours down harder, drenching all four of us down to the skin, and the wind picks up. I bring my hands down in a sharp gesture, tapping into everything I’ve been too busy to really feel. I haven’t used magic in so long that I almost don’t know what to do. Panic builds up quickly with all that undirected power.

And then something sparks. I don’t have to think about it at all, once I let my instincts take over. I’m a storm cloud, and what I do next is as natural to me as breathing. My hands rise on their own. I don’t know what I’m about to do, and I don’t care.

With a long exhale, I release a burst of lightning. It tickles my skin as it rolls over me, but there’s no pain, no burning, nothing that I should have felt. Olani throws a hand up, but it’s too late for whatever she was going to do. She and Raze are both thrown back, landing hard in the mud several yards away.

I don’t pause to watch what happens or wait to let the price of the enchantment catch up with me as I sprint to my sister’s side.

There’s no way to tell how much she’s bleeding. Cursed black clothing.

“Are you okay?” Shaking, I reach for her, gripping her back and her uninjured arm.

She groans, pulling the blade out of her own arm. I’m relieved to see it isn’t buried deep enough to damage the muscle. Just enough to hurt like hexes.

An ugly hiss escapes her lips. “I’ve been lightly stabbed,” she says through her teeth.

“Lightly,” I repeat, brushing wet hair away from her face. But she doesn’t seem to be weak or in shock. I’ll have to patch her up later. I try to pull her, but she resists. This is still a fight we can run away from. We just need to get to the Destiny before Raze and Olani can form another attack.

A clatter from behind me. The sound of a door slamming.

The Destiny’s mechanism roars to life. It picks up speed quickly, splattering mud everywhere as it swerves from where we skidded to a stop and takes off down the road.

Without us.

Isolde and I both cry out together. She breaks into a jagged run, uselessly trailing it until it’s so far in the distance she gives up and slows to a stop. I just watch our home disappear into the gray smudge of horizon.