season avatars 03 - chaos season (18 page)

Dorian announced, “Chaos Season is active in this part of Tradetown and extends toward the Selathen border.”

“I hope it doesn’t reach the border,” Kron said. “Salth could make it even stronger.”

“Let’s dispel it before that happens.” Gwen extended her hands toward Jenna and Kay.

As Jenna trudged through the snow toward Gwen, Dorian said, “This Chaos Season is small enough for me to manage on my own.”

Gwen raised her eyebrow. “But you can’t restore anything besides the weather.”

“I can still do a better job of that than you four will.”

Gwen narrowed her eyes. Kay lowered her gaze, and Ysabel touched her between her shoulder blades. Jenna wished she dared tell him to be silent. Every time he spoke, he made it harder for Kay to regain faith in herself and her magic. If he didn’t stop, his words might come true.

Jenna glared at him. “Just let us work. We’ll show you which quartet the Four favor.”

Gwen took her hand.
Less talking, more magic. We need to work quickly before he interferes.

He does have a lot of experience,
Kay said doubtfully.

So do you. And you have something more—us,
Gwen said.
We’ll make you stronger than him, Kay. Don’t worry about Dorian or anyone else, just send the winter back where it belongs!

Kay sent agreement, though the nightmares of her death still lingered in the back of her thoughts. But when she focused her attention on the snow and cold, her fears dwindled. Jenna and Ysabel anchored her, letting Gwen share their magic with Kay to make her stronger.

Kay studied the gray clouds above them before pushing them away as gently as a mother soothing a sick child. Warm winds swept in from the south. The snow around them melted, running into their boots. Kay turned her focus to the part of the storm brushing the border between Challen and Selath. A cold wind returned and drove off the warmth. The slush they were standing in froze, trapping them in ice.

Kay dropped the link, her complexion red. She squeezed her eyes shut as if they’d been frozen that way.

Jenna couldn’t help sighing and saying, “By All Four…”

Don’t say it,
Gwen sent. Out loud, she said, “It’s all right, Kay. Just warm up the air again.”

The clouds returned, blocking the sunlight.

“The wind, I need the wind,” Kay muttered. “Freeze it, why won’t it listen to me?”

Dorian walked on top of the snow over to them. “Having trouble, young Avas?” Amusement glittered in his ice-hard eyes.

Kay stared at the ice binding her feet, silent.

Gwen met his stare dead-on. “Do you happen to know anything about…Kay’s current difficulties, Avi?”

I’ll bet he does!
Jenna sent through the link.
Remember, he wants to keep using his power even though his quartet is broken. Give me a fighting stick and let me at him!
She wriggled her feet, trying to break free. The ice immobilized her boots. If she and the others didn’t obtain freedom soon, they’d freeze despite Gwen’s and Kay’s magic.

Dorian shrugged. “She’s out of practice. The weather won’t answer her.”

True words, but Jenna suspected there was more to the story. Gwen must have thought the same thing. She dropped the link and pushed her violet bracelet farther up her arm, then she extended her cursed hand toward Dorian.

“I’ll wager you can make sure the weather answers her, Avi,” she said.

“Perhaps.” He danced in place, sure-footed despite the slick ice, advancing until he was just out of Gwen’s reach. “And I bet you still require touch for your magic, young Ava.”

“What’s going on?” Kron took a few steps toward them through the snow, frowned, then lifted each boot in turn and touched it. He too climbed onto the top of the snow and walked over it as securely as though he was on land. “Ysabel? Are you all right?”

Dorian scowled and stepped back. A warm—no, hot—blast of air roared at them. Jenna’s face burned. At the same time, the ice holding her prisoner melted. Water flooded her boots, numbing her toes. She stamped her feet extra hard as she clambered over the rotting snow.

“Well done, Kay,” Gwen said.

Kay shook her head. “It wasn’t me.”

They all turned to stare at Dorian. The only sound breaking the silence was water dripping from icicles. Finally, Gwen stepped forward, toward the Avi Win. “Leave, Dorian. Go home. We don’t want you interfering with our magic.”

“I was an Avatar first, before any of you were born.” He crossed his arms. “You can’t take this from me.”

“I wish the Four would,” Gwen said. “Maybe then you’d let Kay work in peace.”

“Be careful what you wish for, young Ava. Someday you’ll find yourself facing your replacement. You won’t want to give up your position either.

“Jenna! I say, come round here!”

Everyone fell silent as Charles approached them from the side of the house. He must have gone to the front while they were busy with Chaos Season.

“I think I found the deathbushes you told me about,” he said. “By All Four, they do look nasty.”

She felt ready to wilt. “Deathbushes? They grew back?”

“Come take a look at them and tell me.”

They tramped through more snow to the front of the house. Sure enough, the scent of thyme greeted her. Four deathbushes, spaced as far apart as possible, guarded the front of the house. Withered branches between them showed where other deathbushes had grown. These plants weren’t as tall as the ones Jenna had first grown, but they bore more thorns. Their branches trembled as the group of Avatars approached them.

“These are the plants you’re so worried about, Jenna?” Gwen tilted her head as she studied them. “Are they poisonous too?”

“The thorns carry some sort of toxin. I’m not sure how strong it is or what it does.”

“Well, don’t try to test it without me.” Gwen’s warning made Jenna feel warm inside. Even if she just wanted to be close by if Jenna required healing, Gwen still cared for her.

Gwen continued, “We need to finish taming Chaos Season first before dealing with the plants. Other people might be facing hunger or cold if we don’t restore the weather. We can funnel the magic from Chaos Season into Jenna so she can kill off the deathbushes.”

Taming the weather was their most important job—if they could do it without interference. Jenna and her three sister Avatars turned in unison to Dorian, glaring at him with enough force to send him back to the One Oak. He simply stood there, arms crossed, radiating coldness.

After a few heartbeats, Gwen sighed. “Charles, please?”

The Avi Summer stopped studying the deathbushes—not touching them, Jenna noted—and took Dorian’s arm. “By the Four, Dorian, there’s nothing for us to do here. Let them work in peace. We have to stand together against the Selathens.”

“The Selathens. Yes. Maybe we should go find them right now.”

Ysabel glanced around nervously. “Shouldn’t we stay together?”

“It’s still daylight here,” Gwen said. “If we’re recognized in the streets, more Selathens might attack us. I’m not sure I can handle a mob, especially if they have pistols.”

Before Dorian could taunt them again, Lex said, “Perhaps Kron, Dorian, and Charles could find Ysabel’s father and create a portal back here. I can stay here and guard the young women while they work.”

Gwen nodded. “That seems to be the best solution. The less time we have to spend here, the better.”

After Ysabel gave the men the directions to her father’s store, Jenna and the rest of her quartet retreated to the back of the house so they would be less visible. Lex remained out front, prodding a deathbush with a polearm. Jenna supposed it was actually his dagger in a different form.

“Once we clear this Chaos Season, we can officially be recognized as Season Avatars,” Gwen told them as they gathered around her. “So, let’s do our best.”

At least then Dorian would have to leave them alone. Jenna wished she’d been able to bring part of her tree with her to enhance her magic. She could use another weapon in her fight against the deathbushes.

They joined hands, and Gwen took control, funneling all of their magic to Kay. Slowly, then with greater assurance, she warmed the air and melted the rest of the snow. Jenna sighed with bliss as summer heat returned.

The herb garden’s overgrown,
Ysabel said.
And the sunflowers for my songbirds aren’t blooming.

I can fix that.
Kay shunted magic from Chaos Season to Jenna and Ysabel. While Ysabel gently healed half-frozen baby birds and encouraged the insects to crawl out of their shelters, Jenna revived the plants. Scents of rosemary and mint reminded her of the thyme-smelling deathbushes. She still had to destroy them, but she focused first on restoring the Lathatilltins’ garden and all other affected areas before returning to the deathbushes. Cursed plants.

Cursed plants…Gwen, is there any way we can use your cursed shard against the deathbushes?

You’d risk that? Are you sure?
Gwen’s mental voice turned bitter.
What if it makes them worse?

Freeze it, she’d been using that same argument to keep Gwen from learning…

Learning what?
Gwen, Ysabel, and Kay all asked at once.

Panicking, Jenna tore out of the link. Her body still thrummed with extra magic from Chaos Season, so she raced to the closest deathbush.

“Jenna, wait!” Kay called after her.

She wasn’t ready to link with the others just yet. She had to do this on her own. Jenna grabbed a couple of leaves and pushed the magic from Chaos Season into the deathbush, willing it to die.

Two things happened so quickly she wasn’t sure which one came first: thorns bit into her hands, and hail pelted her head.

“By All Four!” Jenna released the plant and stepped back, inspecting her palms. Blood streamed from the holes where she’d been pricked, and her hand throbbed with poison.

Frowning, Gwen hurried over to examine Jenna.

“I’ll be fine,” Jenna said. Already the throbbing was fading as her plant magic helped her neutralize the poison.

“Let me decide that. Besides, you’d like to use that hand again, wouldn’t you?”

Gwen clasped Jenna’s injured hand between her own. The throbbing vanished. Jenna’s skin tingled as Gwen healed the wounds.

“All better.” Gwen rubbed her hands as if trying to remove the blood. “That poison would be dangerous to a normal person, though.”

“Did any of you notice Chaos Season returned?” Kay asked. “It was a small one, and it’s already faded, but it happened when Jenna used Chaos Season magic on the deathbush.”

Jenna flexed her healed hand. “Maybe it was a fluke.”

“You’ll have to try it again to be sure,” Gwen said.

They linked again, with Jenna too worried about this new problem to accidentally divulge her secret. Once again, Gwen passed her magic from Kay. The heartbeat she attempted to use it against the deathbushes, the temperature around them dropped to freezing.

“I think these plants are resistant to our magic, Jenna,” Ysabel said. “Too bad they’re not useful.”

“Does that mean we’ve failed to tame Chaos Season?” Kay hung her head.

“It’s not your fault, Kay.” Gwen released Jenna and Ysabel to pull Kay into a sisterly embrace.

Jenna watched the two of them.
It’s not her fault. It’s mine. I should be able to handle these frozen plants. And I will, no matter what.

She let her cloak slip to the ground. With a growl of frustration, Jenna strode forward, grabbed the closest branch—this time trying to avoid the thorns—and pulled with all her strength until part of the branch broke off. She shifted her grip on the branch until she held it like a fighting stick used at a soltrans. “In the name of the God of Summer, ruler of all the plants in Challen, I command you to die. Die, you frozen weeds, die and never sprout again!”

Jenna lashed out at the deathbush, whipping it until leaves and twigs flew like snow. Its branches reached for her, but she hardened the staff in her hands and bashed them. Her human reflexes were faster than theirs, and although they outnumbered her, she was able to block several at once.

One by one, she broke branches off of the plant, stomping on each of them as hard as she could. Before she could close in on the main stem, something poked her in the back. “Look out!” Gwen shouted.

Jenna turned awkwardly as cloth ripped. Another deathbush had stretched out toward her and snagged her dress. She doubted the plant wanted to dance with her. How could she destroy both plants at once?

The first deathbush leaned over toward her. That gave her an idea. She grabbed the tip and touched it to a branch of the second deathbush, trying to make each plant think the other one was its best target.

The trick worked better than she had expected. The deathbushes entwined around each other. The one closer to her leaned forward, its roots coming free from the soil. High-pitched squeaks prompted her to look down. Mice, moles, and other small burrowing creatures dug through the ground quickly enough to evade the deathbush roots while loosening the soil.

“Well done, Ysabel!” Jenna said. They might be able to conquer these plants yet.

“More are sprouting behind you!” Gwen called.

“What?” Jenna checked for herself. A half dozen sprouts poked out of the ground and shot first knee-high, then past her head.

“There are some on the other side too!” Kay pointed behind Jenna.

Gwen stalked up to the line of deathbushes. “What do you want us to do?”

“Have Kay pull as much water out of the soil as possible. Even magic plants need water to grow.”

Jenna dropped to her knees and put both hands on the ground. All the grass in the lawn was dead, more victims of the deathbushes. What could stop them? If she attempted to make the soil itself unfit for plants—something that went against her very nature—would that be enough to kill them?

She scraped away the top layer. It crumbled easily, especially as Kay wicked moisture out of it. The deathbush roots plunged deep within the soil, longer than Jenna herself. She didn’t have the strength to drain it that far down.