"Now it's one-on-one," Os tells me, and I steal a quick glance, surprised to see he's still pinned under the rock. I'm not sure how he reached one of the wind spikes, but I'm grateful for the help. I can't afford to waste any more time.

The Storm carrying Solana races away, and I chase after them, cursing every second this is wasting as I go back to my other crazy plan. I sneak up on the Storm's blind side and hold out my bad arm, shouting at Solana to grab on when I pa.s.s.

It takes two tries, but she manages to snag my hand. My elbow screams from the pain, but I grit my teeth and bear it, knowing it's only the beginning as Solana tangles our fingers together and I warn her to get ready. When I feel her get a firm hold, I raise my wind spike and slash it through the Storm's wrist, severing its hand and pulling Solana free The Storm screams and howls, and I do the same as Solana's weight-light as she is-rips my elbow back out of joint.

"Hold on," Solana shouts as the sickly yellow fog explodes around us, making me want to gag.

She wraps her legs around mine and shimmies up my body until she has a solid hold around my waist. "Are you okay?"

I can't answer.

It takes the last of my energy to order the drafts carrying us to fly as fast as they can toward the Maelstrom.

I hope it's fast enough.

"Got any winds left in you?" I ask when I glance over my shoulder and see the wounded Storm chasing after us. The rage seems to have given it a burst of energy, and I'm guessing we only have about a minute or two before it's right on top of us, unless we get a boost ourselves.

Solana shakes her head. "I ran out in the first few minutes of the fight, after we realized the spikes you gave us wouldn't work. If Os hadn't tried breaking those drafts, we'd all be dead."

I want to shout, You hear that, Westerlies?

But I honestly get why they're angry. Just holding the spike, I feel the broken Northerly's pain, and dang, is it intense.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, wishing the draft could understand me. "If there's a way to fix this, I will."

I didn't expect the wind to actually listen. But three Westerlies wrap around us out of nowhere, boosting our speed just in time to launch us the h.e.l.l out of the valley and leave the creepy Storms in the dust.

I hope the rest of the Gales will be able to handle them.

And I hope this means the Westerlies have forgiven me-but no matter what, it's time for a change.

No more slacking in my training.

No more fighting to have a normal life.

The only thing that matters is stopping Raiden.

And Audra.

I clutch my chest, realizing our bond is gone.

Not faded.

Gone.

I try to tell myself it's because she's inside the Maelstrom. But everything inside me feels very, very cold.

We pa.s.s crumbling dead palms in Desert Center, and the winds carrying us start to panic. I know they're freaked out by the pull of the Maelstrom, but I beg them to keep flying. They hold out as long as they can, but one by one they pull away until all we have left are the Westerlies.

I guess it's a good thing they forgave me.

The desert is hauntingly empty. Just a few vultures and some footprints in the sand. And when we touch down in front of the rock piles, all my nerves tangle into knots.

Audra's trace is everywhere-but somehow it's nowhere, too. It's like it's her but it's not her, and it can't tell me where she went or what she did. Only that she was here. And that she was in a lot of pain.

Gus's trace makes even less sense, so weak it's like he wasn't even alive. And there are other traces in the air too. . . .

A lone Easterly swishes around me, and I focus on its song, searching for some clue to what happened.

It's only singing one word, but it knocks me to my knees.

Sacrifice.

"No!" I scream, stumbling to my feet and tearing into the Maelstrom.

She wouldn't do that.

She wouldn't give up her life that way.

I won't believe it.

There has to be another explanation.

"Hey!" Solana shouts over the screeching, grabbing my good hand as we stumble into the spinning tunnel. "I don't know what's going on, but I'm here if you need me."

I know she is. And it's nice to have something to hold on to.

But it's the wrong girl.

The wrong girl.

Please tell me I didn't save the wrong girl.

Especially since I'm the one who sent Audra here. If I'd listened to her . . .

I stop myself from finishing the thought.

Right now I need to focus on finding her.

A dim glow finally appears ahead, and I take off running, racing straight for Arella's cell.

She doesn't respond to my call, and when I peer through the mesh curtain, I can see her collapsed on the floor. Her skin is a freaky gray-blue and her arms and face are all twisted with pain and when I try to shove the curtain aside it won't move, no matter how hard I try.

"Stop!" Solana tells me as I pound and kick and scream all kinds of things my mom would kill me for saying. "Os told me a word when we were up in the mountains and the Storms were closing in. He didn't tell me what it meant or was for but . . ."

She whispers something I can't understand, and the curtain of metal slides to the side.

I scan the small s.p.a.ce, desperately searching for Audra or Gus. But no one's here. Not in the other cell either.

"I think I feel a pulse," Solana tells me, her legs shaking as she crouches beside Arella. "But it's really weak. . . ."

"We have to get her back to the winds."

Arella weighs almost nothing, so I could probably carry her even with my b.u.m arm. But I let Solana help me, grabbing Arella's feet while Solana grabs her shoulders and we haul her outside and stretch her out on the sand.

I didn't expect her eyes to pop open with her first breath of air- though that would've been nice. But even when I wrap her up in Westerlies, she's still not getting any better.

"Come on," I whisper, crouching down beside her. "You have to wake up. You have to tell me what happened."

I stare at her cracked gray-blue lips, trying to work up the courage to do CPR. But as I'm leaning down to try it, the Easterly from earlier tangles itself around Arella and starts to spin so quickly that it lifts Arella's limp body off the ground.

Solana and I both back away as the wind spins even faster, turning Arella's form to a blur "I think it's helping," Solana says.

I'm trying to figure out what she's seeing when the wind unravels, streaking into the Sky as Arella drops back to the sand, coughing and hacking.

"Liam," she screams, flailing her pale arms as she pulls herself up. "Liam, I . . ."

Her voice trails off.

The wind is gone.

"Where are Gus and Audra?" I ask, grabbing her shoulder so she'll look at me.

"It's so much worse than I remember," she groans, hugging herself and rocking back and forth.

I don't have time for her games. "Where's Audra? You called her here and now she's gone-and Gus is too. Tell me what happened."

"I called her here?" Arella asks, staring at the sky. "I don't remember. I don't . . ."

Shadows settle into her features.

"I had no choice," she whispers.

I tighten my grip, feeling my fingers sink into her skin. "What does that mean?"

"Raiden."

"What?" I scream, lunging for Arella's throat. "I trusted you! I-"

Solana blocks me, and I'm shaking too hard to resist.

Audra was right.

I never should've asked her to come here. And now she's . . .

"Where is she?" I whisper, afraid I already know the answer.

Arella stares at the sky. "Raiden took her-but I didn't have a choice! He told me to call Audra or he'd . . ."

"Or he'd what? Kill you?" I ask, wishing Solana would step aside so I could strangle Arella myself. For once I think I'd be able to. "Looks like he tried to do that anyway."

"There are some things worse than death, Vane. And I knew Audra had the power of four. I thought she'd be strong enough to fight Raiden. I didn't think he'd be able to take her."

"Take her where?" I yell as she closes her eyes, shivering again.

"I'm not sure. It feels like he built a pipeline right there"-she points to a dent in the sand about a hundred yards away-"and launched her and Gus somewhere very far away. I'm guessing his fortress in the mountains. That's where he always took the others."

I want to cry, scream, punch something really hard. But I don't have time for a meltdown. If Gus and Audra are in Raiden's prison, I have to go-now. "Where is his fortress?"

"You can't go after her, Vane."

"Tell me where it is!" My scream echoes off the foothills, but Arella doesn't even blink.

"I can take you," Solana offers quietly. "I know the way to that city better than anyone. We can leave as soon as you're ready."

"I'm ready."

She touches my wounded arm-her fingers barely brushing the skin-and a sharp pain ripples through my body. "You're hurt, Vane. You need to get treated."

"I need to get to Audra."

"She might not be in as much danger as you think," Arella interrupts, and I swear if I had the energy I would drag her back down to her cell.

"She's with Raiden!"

"Yes, but . . . I don't think she has what he wants anymore." She closes her eyes, waving her hands through the air. "Don't you feel it?"

"Feel what?"

It almost looks like she's smiling as she tells me, "She broke your bond."

I clutch my chest, trying not to believe her.

But I don't feel any sort of pull.

And is that why her trace feels so weird in the air?

A tear streams down my cheek before I can blink it away, and I realize I'm leaning on Solana way more than I want to. "Why would she do that? Why would she . . ."

But I know the answer.

"To protect the Westerlies," I whisper.

Audra would never let the fourth language fall into Raiden's hands. So if she was afraid she couldn't protect it, she would just get rid of it.

"Does it even work that way? Can she forget it completely?" I whisper, not sure what answer I'm hoping for.

"I don't know," Arella admits, closing her eyes. "I didn't know bonds could share languages. But it feels like it."