Page 50 of When Storms Ruin

“We will study it. We will find out if they are truly linked or if it is merely…a familial connection,” Tess offered.

“Good,” Isaac replied, pushing out from the desk and standing. “For now, Zion needs his rest. He has had a long journey from The Stone City.”

“And you’re sure you weren’t followed?” Nik asked, his eyes narrowing on Zion.

Zion might have helped us escape Donika’s prison, but if I had to hazard a guess, Nik didn’t trust him as far as he could throw him.

“I wasn’t followed,” Zion replied, meeting Nik’s gaze with a challenge in his eyes.

Nik returned his gaze with his chin turned up, his jaw set.

“Diana, I will see you tomorrow for our next session,” Isaac said, inclining his head towards me.

I nodded, following Tess and Nik out the door. I had so much on my mind between the Araneoch and the Noctani. What else was Donika conjuring up? We would need to attack her offensively once we were ready—once we had the numbers. Isaac estimated we were nearing close to four thousand members in the resistance, but I wasn’t sure if it would be enough. Maybe if we were only fighting her Nightshade soldiers…but her monstrous creations?

I needed to split my time between studying the grimoire and training with Isaac and Warrick. We needed to figure out why the spell with the key was missing, what spell was in the grimoire that Donika was after, and if Donika and I were magically linked. There would be no more time for shopping trips into town with Tess.

Donika was killing and experimenting on more innocents by the day, and we needed to put a stop to it. We needed to win this war, and that meant it was time to start acting like a queen.

Iwas tired when I met Isaac on the training field the next day, having not slept well that night. I hadn’t dream walked again, but Ididhave nightmares. I spent half of the night tossing and turning, throwing the bedsheets off when they were covered with sweat. My mind was racing with a million thoughts, unable to settle into a comfortable sleep.

I had come a long way with training my storm magic, but I hadn’t created any big storms yet. Isaac asked me to create an intense thunderstorm with lightning and rain, and to not only let it go, but reign it back in once I had.

That was always the hardest part for me.

He assured me the storm would be held within the barriers of the wards he set up around the training field, but I was beginning to feel as if our practice space wasn’t nearly big enough.

Isaac watched as I pulled the magic out of my core and through my fingertips, the sky darkening overhead. No onehad come to the training session today, and I was thankful to not have an audience. I always felt more pressure on those days, as if I didn’t have enough on my shoulders at the moment.

“Very good. Now create each element of the storm,” Isaac said, folding his arms across his chest as he watched.

Creating a storm of this magnitude would take quite a bit of magic, and I hoped I had the strength for it. The magic left my fingertips as the rain began to pour down, soaking through our clothing. There would be no protective air shield today. Thunder boomed overhead, a crack of lightning striking through the sky at the other end of the field.

I closed my eyes in concentration as I thickened the clouds with my magic, the rain turning into a torrent against my skin. The thunder sounded close, much closer than I had ever dared before. Lightning struck again, splitting a tree straight down the middle with a loud clap.

My eyes popped open, searching for Isaac. The driving rain didn’t allow for much visibility, but I could make out the shape of him a few feet away.

“You’ve driven enough power into the storm. Now let it go,” Isaac instructed.

Despite a little voice in my head telling me not to, I did as Isaac said, and I let go. The storm quickly intensified outside of the grip of my magic, the black clouds swirling angrily overhead. The rain pelted down so hard it bounced off the training mats. Thunder clapped loudly enough overhead that I could barely hear Isaac’s next instruction.

“Now rein it in.”

I easily found the center of the storm’s magic, having practiced this part quite a few times before. I took that center and imagined pulling it into myself, that the magic of the storm would now becomemymagic.

The magic began draining into my fingertips, but with a start it sputtered out, a zap at my fingertips causing me to draw back. I glanced at Isaac with alarm, but he remained impassive, his arms still crossed. I tried again, reaching out to the storm, but this time it actively pushedback.

It couldn’t do that, could it? It did have its own magic, but…mine was stronger. I imagined consuming that power, taking it into my core and melding it with the magic I already had. The storm reared back, lightning striking so close to my feet the ground sizzled. I could smell the faint burning of my rubber-soled shoes. The clouds darkened further, the loud cracks of thunder and lightning breaking my focus.

“Diana, you need to pull it in.Now!” Isaac bellowed over the violent stream of rain that fell between us.

“I’m trying!” I cried, marking the center of the storm’s energy once more.

The storm pushed backharderthis time, and I fell to my knees, the energy leaving me in a rush.

The storm…it had…no. No. It wasn’t possible. Isaac would have warned me. Unless…did Isaac not know?

The storm hadstolenmy energy. Stolen my magic.

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