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I screamed Not in pain or fear or surprise this time, but in sheer, undeniable fury, in raw eleic into that one pri anyone else that I loved Not now, not ever I didn’t care what I had to do to stop her-or what I had to sacrifice

Triggered by h the rubble and rocks around us, pulverizing and shattering theht this had all started It was like watching a row of doiants, the bounty hunters,in the courtyard stuered as the stone foundation under their feet literally disintegrated out fro collapsed with a collective roar, sendingdown, and shards of rocks zipped through the air, joining the angry swirl of snowflakes

The ele her concentration for the briefest second The Fire strea out of her hands flickered and dih to let ic didn’t stop with the stones of my ruined house It spread out farther and faster than it ever had before, leaping from one rock to another, until even the forest around us seemed to quake, mutter, and vibrate with it

I’d never known that I’d had this h my head just the way it had the last tiht that I’d collapsed my own mansion on top of everyone who’d been inside it Mab, her ic had scaredthat I’d killed Bria with it, I’d spent years using it in only the save myself over to it coic running through inable Stone, Ice, Ice, Stone-there was no separation anyether in me until there was just sheer power, just raw, furious force over the elements themselves So much power, so ers, toes, torso, I couldn’t even feel the throughspectacular-

My body burst into silver flames

I didn’t kno I did it or why it happened or even that it was possible in the first place But so ripped open deep inside ulfed hosts of my past come back to life to hauntwas that the flames weren’t hot-they were cold Colder than Ice And that’s when I realized what they were My Iceitself just the way that Mab’s Fire ic did A new quirk, a new extension of my elemental power in my most desperate hour Jo-Jo had always claiic would be the equal of my Stone power

The dwarf had just never told er

"Nice trick," Mab hissed, eyeing the silver flaust "But it’s not going to be enough to save you"

"We’ll see about that," I muttered back

And then we danced

The two of us stood there in the courtyard, our hands outstretched, ht, continuous waves Mab’s , hissing, and crackling with ash and heat My ether, whistling and whispering with cold and frost

Fire and Ice

Opposing eleing in this battle that had been so ether, sending up sizzling sprays of red and silver sparks, fireworks of an impressive andaround us like fog Sweat poured down , but I didn’t wipe it away-I didn’t dare do anything to interrupt my concentration I didn’t move, I didn’t blink, I didn’t even breathe

I don’t kno long we stood there, the two of us just throwing ourwith everything that we had

But eventually, I realized that I was going to lose

Despite all thethrough my veins, hell, despite the silver flah to drive back Mab’s Fire ulf her in Ice All the rumors that I’d heard over the years were true Mab did have more raer than any ele , I could sense the full extent of her power, and I knew that it was greater than h to end me Another minute, two tops, and I’d run out of juice Then Mab’s Fire would cut through my Ice, and she’d burn me to death, just like she hadto die the way they had wasn’t lost on hed at the bitter, bitter irony, if I hadn’t needed every bit of ain, I thought of Fletcher and what the old ht do in this situation The truth was that he wouldn’t have put himself in such a spot to start with He would have found another way to kill Mab, so that didn’t involve a face-to-face confrontation and an elemental duel It was far too late for that now, of course, but what really irkedher All I needed was another burst of power, just another sliver, hell, another fingernail of iven to me A thin silver-stone band with my spider rune staic into the silverstone last night before I’d gone to the country club to confront Mab With everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, I’d forgotten about the ring and the power that it contained-and that I was still wearing it onon that sliver of power Soic that nuainst er

And I knehat I had to do

I gritted my teeth and forced my feet to move forward The motion made my concentration waver, just for a second, but the lapse was enough to let Mab’s Fire blast through ic The fla ony onceshe’d finally won Her delighted cackle only -forever

Despite the searing pain and the stench ofcloser and closer to the endless Fire streaertips I wasn’t able to push back as ic, wasn’t able to coin to bubble, blister, and burn from the incredible heat But I didn’t care All thatMab

Maybe it was all that had ever really mattered

Five feet, four, three I inched closer and closer to the other eleh the flaure out what I was up to She’d know soon enough

I crept closer still, ht hand Despite Mab’s rip on the ers, butabout that Carefully, I reached for the IceThere was only a trickle of it, co at each other, but it was enough-h for what I had in mind