Balor nodded. “I doubt that, but you will slow them down; it is all I require of you little queen.”
The Banshee Queen snapped her fingers. “You are close, that close to Chaos? Why do you not just let them fly away, far from us?”
He answered her as he turned, and walked into the forest. “I made a promise.”
Another hiss from the Banshee Queen, and then I was back in the helicopter, the metal struts screeching around us.
“She’s breaking apart!” The pilot yelled over the radio.
The helicopter jerked forward, and the air around us went silent as the rotors whined to a stop. One last shudder and the only thing between us the ground below gave up the ghost.
We were spinning as we fell, the wind ripping at the metal sheeting that covered the helicopter. The pilot screamed, and I caught a glimpse of him being sucked through the open door, his body spinning out like a rag doll.
We have a problem. A very, big problem. Cora said, anxiety filling her words even though they were only in my mind. I couldn’t stop the scream that burst out of me. What was left of the helicopter flipped upside down, and I found myself staring at what lay below us: rocky, hard ground.
We were going to miss the water by a mere three or four feet. The tide was out and the jagged, rock-strewn coastline rushed towards us in spits and starts. Apparently the Banshee queen wasn’t in a hurry to let us drop; the wind continued to spin and toss us about, like a child with a ball.
I let out a groan, wishing the water was closer. But I had learned long ago you couldn’t bank on wishes. My heart, already hammering, seemed to stutter. Or could wishing save us?
Reaching for that part of me that held my powers, I put everything I had into bringing the water closer. I had nothing to lose; no one would even know I’d tried if I failed.
The waves didn’t seem to move at first; then the water began to rush forward, the tide coming in with a speed that just might keep us from being smashed on the rocks below.
What are you doing?
The wind slammed us, shooting us towards the rocks. It was too late; we were too close to the ground. I pulled on everything I had, commanding the water to meet us. A geyser burst upwards and the ocean met and encompassed us while we were still thirty feet up. The wind buffeted uselessly against the helicopter as it bobbed on the surface.
For a split moment everything froze; and then the water rushed in the broken windows, and open door spilling into the cab.
The water quickly filled the interior of the helicopter. I pinched my eyes shut as it rose above my head. I felt cradled by the ocean, the water still warm from the shallows and tide pools. Opening my eyes, I saw the interior of the helicopter was outlined in stark relief. Luke had Darcy by the arm and was swimming towards the surface, out through a smashed window. Cora swam towards me and curled around my right arm.
Lower the water, Quinn.
With a few strokes I exited the sinking helicopter and reached the surface, slowly releasing the power as I swam. Blinking, I tread water, as I searched for my companions. The water was still, as if contained by walls, though I could see by the horizon that it was receding, lowering us to the ground.
“Luke?” I called out, unable to see him.
He waved, his head bobbing above the water at the far edge of my sight, Darcy cradled in his arms.
“We’re here. What the hell just happened?”
Cora loosened her grip on me. “That’s what I’d like to know.” Her black eyes were staring straight at me, but there was nothing really for me to say.
I loosened my connection with the water further and it picked up speed, flowing quickly back into the ocean until our feet touched the sand and the tide was once more where nature intended.
“Quinn, what did you do?” Cora asked.
Before I answered her, I looked up and down the shoreline, stumbling forward. Was the Banshee queen still here, or had that all been in my mind?
A glance over at Darcy was all I needed to confirm that what I’d seen had been real. She wouldn’t meet my eyes and she still had one hand covering an ear. “Is she gone?” I asked.
Darcy nodded and then caught herself, her eyes flicking up to mine for one horrified second.
Luke and Cora said nothing, only watched the exchange. Again Cora questioned me. “What did you do?”
I cleared my throat. “It was like when I called for Ashling in the mirror, I just . . . wished for it. I wanted it bad enough that I made it happen.”
Luke limped towards me; blood trickled down his leg. “Here’s the thing, Quinn. Calling on Ashling, that is something all Tuatha can learn to do, it’s one of our abilities.”
I nodded, wiping my face. The saltwater was drying fast in the summer heat and already my skin felt sticky and my clothes stiff. “Okay. What has that got to do with this?”