Veils of Storm

37. Betrayal

When Kat came to her senses, there was sand in her mouth.

She spat it out as she forced herself upwards and away from the coarse pebbles digging into her skin. Everything was dark around her, and she could tell she was no longer on the ship.

Fear caught hold of her. What had happened? The last thing she remembered was her inner battle with fire, how she'd tried to twist it into water before it exploded into an avalanche of sharp ice. But that had been inside her mind. Or so she hoped. What had she done? Where were the others?

She focused on her surroundings. She was definitely on a beach, right at the edge of the water. The light of the moon made the still waters glow, and there were barely any waves washing ashore. The sea was clear.

She'd never been on a sandy beach before. The sound of the waves would have been soothing if panic wasn't steadily building inside her. She was not supposed to be here.

With a whimper, she glanced over her shoulder. A clump of tall trees with broad leaves towered behind her, leading into the unknown.

"Oh, thank the gods that you're awake!"

The voice has her jumping, and her heartbeat skyrocketed. Before she could force reason into herself, Leila wrapped her arms around her and hugged her tightly.

Kat allowed it, her mind reeling from the strangeness of the situation.

"What happened? Where are we? Are the others alright? Where are they?" Question after question filled the salty air between them.

Leila pulled back, her expression one of pure grief. Kat's entire body tensed, the fear growing with every second in which the girl didn't answer.

"I'm just glad you are fine," she finally said.

That didn't answer any of her questions. Kat leaned forward and grasped Leila's shoulders.

"Focus, please. Where are the others?"

Leila huffed. "Obviously not here."

Those simple words plunged Kat into a desperate search for her link to Cage. He couldn't not be there, or her chest would ache with his absence. She felt nothing. He had to be nearby and safe, or she would know.

"That's impossible. Cage has to be here."

Leila put her hand on her forearm in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture, but it only made Kat angry. She yanked her arm away.

"Don't toy with me, Leila."

Leila did not seem impressed with her hostility. "He's not here, Kat. They banished us off the ship."

"They... What?" That was impossible. She would've remembered something like that.

"After what happened, they all agreed that you're too dangerous and that the damage they claim you've done to Jinx and Trix couldn't be overlooked. The two of us were thrown overboard. We're lucky we were still fairly close to shore."

That made no sense. Not even Jazz, in all his rage, wouldn't have simply thrown them overboard. Kat pressed the heels of her hands over her eyes and hunched over, trying to force her mind to work and remember. The last thing she could pinpoint was her flames attacking Cecile, Cage trying to stop her, her burning him.

Cold sweat coated her skin, and she shivered. Yes, she'd done a lot. More than she could demand anyone to understand. She had no idea how much she'd hurt Cage, what had happened after she'd started the battle inside her own head. Had she really turned her fire into ice?

She lifted her hand and glanced at her fingers. The magic was still there, at their tips, so she forced it out. Frosty vapor danced around her hand. Trying to fight the panic overcoming her, she closed her fist and pushed the magic back inside. It obeyed at once, without any resistance.