“That’s what she said. Do you sense anything?”
He shook his head and moved to another tree. “Nothing.”
“Maybe it’s the wrong rain forest.”
“I don’t think that matters.” He stepped away from the tree and brought up his hands while closing his eyes. Suddenly, a whisper of wind danced through the branches. Clay lifted his chin toward the movement and dropped his jaw. “That’s not very nice. I like my beard and don’t think it makes me look like a lumberjack at all. Rude.”
We all exchanged glances. I asked, “Uh, Clay? Who are you talking to?”
“You guys didn’t hear that? The voices?”
“I have no doubt you hear voices.” Bryan’s comment earned him a glare.
“There’s a whole group of them laughing and making fun of the way I look. Oh, yeah?” Clay spoke louder, directing his comment to the breeze in the trees that had shifted back toward us. “Well, at least I’m not too embarrassed to show my face in public.”
A whirlwind of air came shooting down from the trees and spun around him, peeling his coat off him and lifting it into the trees. “Hey! That’s my favorite jacket. Give it back. Seriously? Challenge accepted, you little shits.” He rose into the air and chased the wind rushing through the trees, getting his ass handed to him when he came to a branch. It smacked him in the face, tore at his skin, and snagged on his clothes, tearing them. Each branch resulted in another assault and fresh wound.
“Should we help him?”
Rob shook his head. “I don’t think we’d be able to keep up, Reed. Look how fast he’s moving. I’ve never seen him do that before.”
He still looked like he needed help. He was getting shredded. “Are you okay?”
“I got this, Montana. You guys just be ready to catch these little bastards when I send them down your way. That’s right, I’m calling you a little bastard. What are you going to do about it? Holy shit!”
Clay dropped like a lead balloon and would have landed hard had I not called air to soften his fall. He still smacked the ground hard enough to cause the air to whistle from his lungs. “Ouch,” he moaned as he lay perfectly still, staring straight up. “Not cool, pixie punks. First you steal my jacket, then you steal my element. Jerks.”
“Insulting them is not going to convince them to join us.” I helped him to a sitting position. “Ask them to please talk to us.”
“Ask them yourself. They can suck my di—”
“Clay!”
“Fine, jeez. Stop yelling at me.” He groaned into the air. “Attention all you pixie people. The prophecy would like a word. Yes, you heard me. No, not me. Her.”
The wind picked up around me, swirling and lifting my hair. It whispered across my skin but wasn’t cold. It wasn’t warm either. It just…was. Was this a pixie tornado? A pixnado? Was I supposed to talk to them collectively? Or did they have a leader I needed to approach? I had no idea how to talk to pixies. I didn’t hear any of the comments that seemed to offend Clay. How was I supposed to hear them now?
“Hey, that’s my girl you’re talking about.” Clay jumped to his feet. “Say something like that again and I’ll kick your teeny tiny pixie ass.”
“What happened?”
“One of the little bastards thinks he’s being funny by commenting on certain parts of your anatomy. Apparently, your boobs are quite the topic of discussion.”
My jaw dropped, and I crossed my arms over my chest as heat engulfed my face. “Are you serious? That’s wildly inappropriate.” What the hell was wrong with these little monsters?
The pixnado slowed until the wind died away entirely. There was a sudden rush through the trees and then something that sounded like a bunch of squeaking.
And then silence. No squeaks. No wind. Nothing. The entire rain forest stilled.
A noise behind me caught my attention and turned me around. There, not more than ten feet away, stood a greenish-yellow hairless something not more than two feet tall and holding what looked like a walking stick. It had the body of a human, two legs, two arms, one head. Instead of fingers or toes, it had what looked like razor-sharp talons. Its eyes were huge, taking up most of its pinched face, and a wide mouth partially open as it studied me. It had translucent wings like a fly but shaped like a butterfly’s wings and were as big as the little creature.
“Are you the prophecy?” It spoke in a high-pitched voice as if it’d sucked helium.
I nodded, still in a bit of a shock over what I assumed to be the head of the air pixies appearing before me. Was it male? Female? Did pixies have genders? I had so many questions.
But first, I needed to answer the one posed to me. “I am.”
“The one whose destiny has been foretold?”
“Yes.” If it meant the part about being the one standing in the way of the Council destroying the world, at least.
“You understand the sacrifice and accept it? Willingly?”
It wasn’t like I had a choice in the matter. From the day I’d discovered my powers, I had dark elementals gunning for me. If only they’d take a day off, then so would I. Until that happened, I’d continue to sacrifice living a normal life to keep this world safe. “I do.”
“Come, prophecy. Sit with me. Bring the air elemental. The others will remain here.”
“Like hell,” Rob barked.
“No way,” Bryan added.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Leo shook his head.
“Guys.” I cut off their protests. “I got this. Clay will be with me. We won’t be long.”
They all fell silent, but didn’t look happy to do so. Clay, on the other hand, was all too eager to take a walk with a two-foot greenish-yellow butterfly thing with giant bug eyes. Once Clay and I were within the same airspace—if it even breathed air—it lifted the stick and brought it
