Chapter 14 · The Weight of Secrets

"You’re not walking out of here with the brat," the one in the center spat. He didn't just talk; he leaked electricity. Blue arcs snapped between his knuckles, smelling like ozone and burnt plastic.

Kaelen didn't even look at him. He was too busy keeping Mina tucked behind his legs, her small hand gripping the fabric of his coat so hard it was starting to rip.

"I'm not asking for permission," Kaelen said. His voice was flat, bored.

Suddenly, the floor vanished. Or rather, the gravity did.

One second they were standing on reinforced concrete; the next, they were drifting. Kaelen felt his boots leave the ground. Mina let out a sharp gasp, her body floating upward like a balloon.

"Zero-G zone," the sparky one laughed, his body rotating mid-air. "Hard to play the big bad warlord when you can't even find your footing, isn't it?"

Beside him, two others moved in. One had skin like frosted glass, radiating a cold that turned the drifting moisture in the air into jagged ice needles. The other was a walking furnace, heat waves blurring the air around his fists.

Lightning, ice, and fire.