The first time Kess had ever been hit, she’d felt a sense of disbelief—a disconnectedness that was hard to shake. It was a moment of shock that had given even Kess pause, before she’d slammed her fist into the other girl and knocked her out cold.

  This time, with Fulminancy, it happened all over again.

  Snap.

  Pain and shock. Disbelief. The air whooshing past her ears. Then, a tiny spark of something else—her Fulminancy, stuttering to life, just before—

  Crack.

  Kess’s flight through the air stopped short as pain erupted across her back. She fought against blackness that had nothing to do with the night, and dug her hands into something soft. Dirt, she realized. It took her a minute to piece it all together. She’d slammed into one of the trees in the square. As it was, her Fulminancy might have saved her life. Groaning, she got to her feet as the Councilman spoke, his voice echoing across the square.

  “That’s who I get out of all this?” he asked. His voice was odd and garbled. Kess blinked stars out of her vision and realized why. Fulminancy crept around the man’s neck, as well as his face, disguising his voice somehow. “A Downhill runt brand new to her powers?” he continued. He shook his head. “Draven, I thought you were a well-connected man. Where are your guards? Your army of Fulminancers? I thought you had better than this, at least—certainly the supplies Forgebrand’s been stealing would indicate you’re hiding someone.”

  “I have nothing to hide,” Draven said, trying to wipe at the side of his bleeding face with his shoulder. “You won’t find an army here.”

  “Of course,” the man said, sounding bored. He glanced at Kess as she stumbled towards Draven, determined to see her task through to the end. “You might as well leave,” the man said, watching her limp. “It’s not really polite for me to spar with someone who can’t even play a game of Stormclap without blowing the room sky high.” He shooed at her with his other hand. “Leave us be.”

  “I’m not leaving without him,” Kess said. The strength of her voice shocked her. The man regarded her for a few moments, and though Kess couldn’t see facial features beneath his hood, his body language seemed to suggest genuine disappointment. It was easy to read him somehow, like he was familiar. But I don’t know anyone on the Council, Kess thought, watching the man. The ones who minded me are dead now, and the rest…

  They could have been anyone. And yet, Kess couldn’t quite shake the feeling that she’d spoken to this man before.

  “Well, I tried,” the man said, sounding resigned. “We’re going to have a very long chat—one that ends, I’m afraid, with you in an Uphill prison for wearing the wrong sash—assuming your blossoming powers keep you alive that long, that is. Nasty business, that. Can’t have people pretending to be someone they’re not.”

  “Fulminancy isn’t yours to police,” Draven said, spitting blood to the side. “It’s for the people. Mariel—“

  “Is dead,” the Councilman finished. “And her ideals with her.” His voice snapped as he said it, but then he sighed and waved his hand a little dismissively. “Or so everyone says. Personally, I find the whole thing hard to believe, considering the army of Fulminant soldiers being built right underneath our noses. Who else would lead those soldiers? You, Draven?”

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  Draven closed his eyes, looking exhausted. “There are no soldiers, lad. Just me and a few craftsmen. It’s the honest—“

  “If you’re so honest, Draven, then why did we find you acquainting half of Dawnring with weapons? Fulminant weapons.” As the man spoke, Kess inched forward, using the darkness to move closer to Draven. “I’m afraid your recruitment program is at an end, though perhaps your protégé over there can tell us more about it when I’m done with her.”

  Kess froze, and the man simply arced another bolt of Fulminancy at her. By inching closer to Draven, she’d moved into his range. Still, this time, Kess was ready. Her Fulminancy flared to life in the night, brighter and stronger than the Councilman’s.

  He flinched almost imperceptibly and took a tiny step away from Draven, though his knife remained at Draven’s throat. Kess didn’t think. Where the Councilman’s Fulminancy had been controlled and focused, Kess’s writhed around her like a tentacled creature, questing for more. Kess did her best to steer it away from Draven, though doing so nearly brought her to her knees.

  It was wild and uncontrollable, but in that, Kess had a tiny advantage. She stepped towards the Councilman. This time, instead of moving away, he swore under his breath and simply plunged his knife into Draven.

  The world froze. Kess no longer felt her aching leg, or the Lightstorm snapping above. She no longer felt the cool mountain breeze against her back, drenched in sweat. She no longer felt anything besides a numb sort of prickling in her fingers as dread lanced through her spine.

  Draven made a strange sort of croaking noise. He reached towards the wound, and his hand came back drenched in blood even as the Fulminant knife crackled away. The Councilman shoved him over, and he crumpled to the ground.

  Blood on the stones. A twinkling gold locket. A Lightstorm crackling overhead. There was a blur of color, light, and screams as Kess was forced back to that night so many years ago.

  It was happening again.

  Somewhere far away, Kess heard her own scream—an anguished, deep growl that tore out of her throat like gravel. She charged towards Draven, no longer paying attention to her Fulminancy—or to the Councilman.

  Time moved again.

  A glowing blue light snapped into life between her and Draven, and Kess leapt back at the last second. As it was, she nearly found herself burnt to a crisp by the attack. The acrid stench of Fulminancy filled the air and mingled with smoke, the metallic scent of blood wafting towards Kess on the breeze.

  She gritted her teeth as the Councilman put himself between her and Draven, his actions casual and relaxed. The message was clear: she wouldn’t be able to save Draven without going through this man first. Though Kess despaired at the odds of her survival, something still felt different from the last time she’d stared down one of these monsters.

  She wasn’t afraid.

  She didn’t feel much of anything, in fact, besides a raw sense of fury coursing through her veins, bringing numb limbs back to life as it washed away the pain. Fulminancy itself wound through her body, sparking new life where it touched, responding to her agony.

  Maybe I can’t win, Kess thought. But I can at least buy Draven some time. Several sets of eyes peered out of Stone Market in the darkness. If Kess could hold off the Councilman long enough, then perhaps Draven, at least, could get away.

  Kess held her anger close to her breast, took a deep breath, and simply released the damper on her powers.

  Thunder loud enough to make her ears ring boomed overhead, and her Fulminancy crackled out on all sides, reaching far from where Kess made her stand. It twined through the air, dancing, exultant in its release. The Councilman gasped, wide-eyed beneath his Fulminant mask as Kess’s Fulminancy arced towards him at a distance that shouldn’t have been possible.

  He jumped as her blow hit nearby, barely clearing the ground where chunks of stone were blasted into the air. Kess smiled despite herself, settled into a nest of uncontrollable and wild magic, tangled and fierce as it cracked nearby.

  “Fight me for him,” she shouted over the wind. “A fair fight for his life.”

  “If he survives that long,” the man said with a glance at Draven. Kess refused to look and simply nodded.

  The Councilman charged.

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