He put the aviators on. “Don’t stand in my way,” he said, turning.
“Gideon, wait!” But he’d already made it clear he didn’t care what I had to say.
Puzzled, I turned and walked, then jogged, then ran the rest of the way to my car, where Raven was waiting.
“Jeez, Skye,” she said, looking pointedly at an imaginary watch. “Took you long enough.”
“We have to go,” I said, “right now.”
“Wait,” she said, running around to the passenger side. “Go where? What’s happening?”
My mom and I had a mental connection, because she’d manipulated my memories. I could see Devin’s memories, because he’d made me feel calm and peaceful. Gideon had taught me how to shield my mind from that kind of manipulation. But in the process, he, too, had worked a kind of mental magic on me. He had opened a portal, and now I could see what the Rebellion was planning to do next.
The clouds, the lightning, the rain. I had seen it all in a vision: a flash flood that threatened to drown Cassie and pull Dan under with her.
Take an umbrella, Earth had warned me. Just take one.
I can hear the sky.
My two oldest friends in the world were in danger right this very moment, and it was because of me.
“We’re going to Foster’s Woods,” I said.
18 
The first drops of rain began to spatter against the windshield as I sped down the road—so fast it felt like we were flying above it. Light, at first, then heavier, harder. In seconds, the rain outside was torrential. I had seen it before. I knew what was coming.
A hard rain began to pelt the asphalt, immediately soaking me. Rain ran down my hair in rivulets, into my eyes and mouth. The ground beneath my feet felt wet and spongy, and when I looked down, I saw that I was on the bank of the river.
I could hear my friends’ cries for help, still echoing in my mind from the vision, and I pressed my foot even harder on the gas.
As I drove us to Cassie’s house, I kept my focus on the sky above, willing the rain back, the clouds to dissipate. But it wouldn’t, they didn’t. I was fighting against some strong powers of the dark. Likely it was more than one Rebel, working in unison to destroy my friends and defeat me.
The entrance to the woods wasn’t far from Cassie’s backyard, and this was where everyone parked when we had parties out there. Sure enough, Dan’s car was in the driveway.
“Shit,” I said. “Shit, shit.” I threw the car into park, and jumped out. The rain immediately soaked through my T-shirt and made the black of my jeans even blacker. I pushed my soaking-wet hair out of my face with one hand as I ran in the direction of the woods and held the other to the sky, channeling my dark, elemental powers through my fingertips. I might not be able to stop the storm entirely, but with any luck, I could keep the flooding at bay.
“Skye!” Raven called, hurrying after me. “What’s going on?”
“It’s an attack!” I yelled back. “A flash flood!”
We ran down the hill to the woods. The rain beat down in huge, wet gulps, and the ground beneath us was slippery and saturated with water that continued to rise. I slipped several times before Raven grabbed my hand.
“Like this!” she cried. In the darkness I caught a flash of silver and saw that she’d extended her wings. I let mine loose as well, and we took flight. But even that was difficult with the torrential rain. It beat against our feathers and pushed us back toward the ground. This was no ordinary rainstorm. It was powerful. Otherworldly. The water was so thick that I could hardly breathe. I swallowed mouthfuls of it. It ran down my face and into my eyes, blurring the dark woods. Trees rose up around me on all sides like lines on a map you’re trying to follow in the dark.
“Cassie!” Dan’s voice rang out through the trees. “Hold on to that branch!”
“This way!” I motioned for Raven to follow me as I traced the sound of Dan’s voice.
“Dan!” Cassie cried, her own voice piercing the night. “I can’t reach it!”
I stumbled as I landed on the bank of the creek, slipping through the mud, swimming, basically, with Raven right behind me. The water in the creek was rising, fast and furious, and a spot of red stood out amid the rushing tide. Thank god for Cassie’s hair.
“Cassie!” I screamed. I couldn’t lose my best friend again. I couldn’t be the reason for it a second time. “Hang on!” You’re not going to die. You’re not going to die.
I kicked off from the ground again, swooping down, the rain beating hard against my wings, soaking them. I let the silver wash through me and summoned my own powers of the dark, the heat, the fire I knew was within me. A ball of light radiated from my body, enveloping my wings and Raven’s, keeping us dry.
“Skye!” Dan’s voice rang out in the night. “Over here!” I sent another orb of fire out in front of me, and it lit a path straight to Dan, where it hovered around us, illuminating the churning waters of the river below.
“What happened?” I cried, expanding the protective bubble so that it included Dan. “Where is she?”
He struggled to catch his breath. “A branch snapped from that tree and knocked her in!” Before I could say another word, he dove into the rising waters of the creek, surfaced, and looked wildly around for Cassie. She’d disappeared.
“Cassie!” he yelled. The water rose over his head in waves and he beat it back.
“Hold on!” I cried. “Stay still!” I focused all of my energy on the river in front of me. Come on, I pushed myself. You can do it. I had never tried to work so many different powers at the same time before, and the strain of it pulled at my mind and body. I could feel myself ripping apart.
Then, some last reserve of power surged up in me, pushing me onward, and the water where I was focusing my energy began to recede. As if a great wind was blowing on it, it curled back, and I spotted Cassie lying on the floor of the riverbed. Her red hair fanned out around her like a mermaid’s.
“There!”
Dan ran down the path through the water and kneeled beside her.
“Bring her back to us,” I struggled to say. “I can’t hold on much longer!”
Gently, he picked Cassie up, her arms and legs dangling. “Hang on, babes,” he panted as he stumbled to shore. Her red hair stuck to her neck, and it didn’t look like she was breathing.
With the energy I had left, I raised my hands to the sky and beat back the rain. It felt like hours, days—but it was only seconds, I think, before the rain began to let up, and before I knew it, the downpour had been sucked back into the clouds. They rumbled discontentedly above us. A threat that they could burst open again at any moment.
And then through the trees, I saw something move. It was human-shaped, I was sure of it. With hair and eyes so dark, I knew in an instant who it was.
“Asher?” I whispered. My heart pounded, and not just from the effort it had taken to fight the Rebellion’s powers. What was he doing here? First the fire—and now, this? I couldn’t believe that Astaroth was right—once a Rebel, always a Rebel—but then, I didn’t know what else could be going on.
I blinked, and the trees were still again. There was nothing there.
“Skye?” Dan nudged me. “Are you okay? Can you make it?”
“Yes,” I said hoarsely. Dark spots swam into my vision, and I knew I was only barely hanging on, myself. I tried to cast a ball of fire to keep Cassie warm. It was small and weak—but it floated around her head, drying her pale and goose-bumped skin.