“All I need is one strike to kill you. Let’s see if they can protect you in time,” the blonde said as currents of blue electricity covered both of his muscular arms.

  “The storm is unmatched. Use it,” Typhon said.

  The churning inside my gut intensified, spreading up into my chest and down into my legs.

  Nix shoved me aside as the male champion raised his right arm. A jagged blue bolt of lightning crackled in his hand. Before he could use it, chains of dark energy appeared around both of his wrists and ankles. The lightning in his hands faded along with the currents of electricity running along his arms. The chains on his ankles and wrists forced him to stand bolt upright, with his arms at his sides. He looked like a soldier at attention. Another chain of darkness appeared in the air above him and coiled itself around his torso and legs. He fell over sideways onto the asphalt, powerless.

  “Damn, they move faster than I thought,” he said with his head only inches off the ground.

  I looked over at where the shrouded figures sat, and there was an enormous book hovering in the air in front of them.

  “Pact breaker,” they said in unison.

  “Yeah, cram it!” he called out to them from the ground.

  “Calm down, Atreyu. We cannot defeat the monsters if we become them ourselves,” Delores said while staring at me.

  She wasn’t going to let us leave without a fight, and it looked like she was at an acceptable tier to challenge us. Without knowing exactly how powerful she was, I needed a way to be sure I could give her a fight. I gave in and accepted half of the power churning inside me.

  I felt amazing as the churning turned into a rush of excitement. I felt like I could do anything. In my head, I heard thousands of snakes hissing in a language I understood. They wanted blood and destruction, and dominance. My mouth salivated as I realized I wanted that as well.

  “Stormie, what did you just do? Your divine presence just exploded.” Nix asked. She was on one knee trying to stand back up.

  “Every knee should bow before the storm,” Typhon said.

  I looked over at Delores. Panic passed over her face for a second before the confident facade returned.

  “He’s becoming the storm. The hearth must be defended at all costs.”

  Her hair ignited into red and orange flames as a dagger made of flames appeared in each of her hands.

  Nix looked at me with concern in her eyes.

  “Stormie, please don’t let her turn you into the monster she wants you to be.”

  She spread her arms out in a wide arc. The parking lot and bowling alley around us faded as a dome of star-filled darkness encircled us. We were encased in a world of endless night where it appeared only the three of us existed.

  “Where are we?” I asked, staring wide-eyed at Nix.

  “I locked us in a tiny pocket dimension. That way, little Miss Hot Temper won’t start killing random people as they leave the bowling alley,” Nix said and dropped her hands.

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  “He’s the threat. I am protecting these people. If you aid him, then you must be dealt with as well.”

  Delores rushed toward Nix so fast she was just a blur of color and appeared in front of her. The two of them dashed around me. Flames chasing darkness. Delores slashed, the flame dagger only inches away from Nix’s throat.

  In a flurry of movement, Nix landed a knee to Delores’ gut and a right hook to her jaw. Delores stumbled away from her holding her face. Nix dropped to one knee, clutching at her side. Blood dripped from the stab wound.

  Delores rushed back in and landed a roundhouse kick to the side of Nix’s face, knocking her face down onto the ground. She moved toward Nix’s back with her flame daggers ready to strike again, and I jumped in to stop her. I sent a stream of electricity at her back. When it landed, I expected it to hurt her. It didn’t. She turned around to face me. Now the electricity was hitting her in the chest. She looked down at it as if she weren’t sure what she was seeing. She walked toward me, as my attack did nothing to slow her at all.

  “This is the power of the hearth. No storm can harm it.” Delores said when she got within arm’s reach of me.

  “The storm does not hold back. Use all your power,” Typhon called to me.

  I looked at Typhon’s coil on my arm. My reminder of what happened when I became too greedy. The extra power tempted my senses. I wanted to use it, but what would I become afterward? I didn’t want to become someone Nix didn’t recognize. That was a sacrifice I wasn’t willing to make.

  Delores waved one of her daggers through my electricity and severed the stream.

  What the hell? I thought as I backed away from her. My electricity couldn’t hurt her. Electricity isn’t my only power. Let’s see if the hearth melts. I sent a stream of acid at her. She didn’t wait to see whether she could withstand it. In a blink, she was in the air above me, plunging both of her daggers at my face. Shocked by her overwhelming speed and power, my brain short-circuited. I froze.

  “Back up, bitch,” Nix said, appearing in front of me.

  She blocked Delores’ attack with a staff made of the same starlit darkness the dome was constructed out of. Delores hovered in mid-air with her daggers buried in the staff. Starlight traveled out of the staff and engulfed the daggers. Delores let go and back flipped away before the starlight touched her skin.

  “Too slow!” Nix said as Delores twirled away from her.

  Dozens of tiny needles of starlight shot out of the staff and pelted her. Delores landed awkwardly with her side slamming into the ground as the needles opened tiny cuts everywhere they touched her. She jumped to her feet, and a starlight needle sliced her left cheek open. A thin trickle of blood ran down her face. She spun around in a pillar of flame and vanished. Nix stopped attacking and lowered the staff. Breathing heavily, she collapsed into my arms.

  “She’s still here somewhere,” Nix said through gritted teeth.

  I looked at her side. It was completely soaked in blood. She needed help soon. Her skin was paler than mine.

  “The storm is absolute. Accept it and live,” Typhon whispered again.

  Looking around while doing my best to hold Nix made me want to give in. She was slipping away. Her skin was cold, and her breathing had become shallow. I couldn’t live with myself if she died, and I didn’t do everything I possibly could to save her. Typhon’s coil prickled, reminding me that I still had options. I glanced down at it.

  “No, Stormie, that’s what she wants,” Nix said, placing a weak hand on my arm.

  The sound of fire raging behind us caught our attention, and we turned around. A massive wall of flames sped toward us. Again, Nix pushed me aside and took the brunt of the attack alone. The fire hit her like a speeding van and sent her unconscious body flying backward into me.

  “Nix,” I screamed as her smoking body slammed into me.

  Her skin was so hot it burned my hands. I laid her gently on the ground and looked for Delores. She stood a few feet in front of me, bloody and tired-looking.

  “This is the cost of storm chasing. Lives are wasted.”

  So Nix was just collateral damage to her. That realization sent me over the edge. I let the power overtake me as hatred for Hestia’s champion guided it through all of my cells. The snakes hissed again, louder than before. This time they sang a melody of welcome and praise. It was intoxicating. My legs dissolved into a swirling vortex of wind. I floated up into the air as a pair of black wings sprouted from my back. The only thought on my mind was kill Delores.

  “You are more than the storm, my son. It’s time for us to talk, Telion,” a woman’s voice said, cutting through the sound of snakes and rushing wind.

  Everything faded to white.