Hunted

don’t forget that Dragon has stationed himself at the school gate. He will cut down the Raven Mocker who is sentry there as soon as he hears hoofs approaching. Shaunee, when you’re ready, set the stall on fire. When I see the flames, I’ll free the rest of the horses. They already know that they are to stampede around the school grounds and create as much havoc as possible.”
    Shaunee nodded. “I got it.”
    “Then refocus flame on these horses’ hoofs.” Lenobia paused and reiterated, “I mean the horse shoes on their hoofs. I’ll tell Persephone when to go. All the rest of you need do is to hold on and follow her lead.” She patted my sorrel mare affectionately. Then she looked up at me, “Merry meet and merry part, and merry meet again, High Priestess,” she said. Fisting her hand over her heart, she bowed to me.
    “Brightest blessings to you, Lenobia,” I said. As she began to walk quickly away, I called after her, “Lenobia, please reconsider leaving here. If we don’t get rid of Kalona, you and Dragon and Anastasia have to get underground—the tunnels under the depot, the abbey, or even the basement of one of the downtown buildings. That’s really the only chance you have of being safe at all.”
    Lenobia paused and looked over her shoulder at me. Her smile was serene and wise. “But, Priestess, you will succeed.” And she hurried away.
    “Jeesh, she’s stubborn,” Shaunee said.
    “Let’s just be sure she’s right,” I said. “Okay, are you ready?” My friends nodded. I drew a deep breath and centered myself. We were pointed north, so I kneed Persephone to the right so that we were facing east. There was no time for flowery words or inspiring music; there was only time for action. Quickly I invoked each of the elements, feeling my nerves steady as they filled the air and created a glistening circle that bound us. When spirit swelled within me, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing aloud.
    Still sounding giddy, I said, “Damien, Erin, put your elements to work!”
    I felt Damien raise his hands behind me, and watched Erin do the same. I could hear Damien whispering words to air, asking a freezing wind to swirl and blow, toss and tussle, everything around us. I knew Erin was asking something similar of water—commanding that it increase the sleet and drench the world around us.
    I braced myself to help them channel and control their elements so that we would (in theory) be moving inside a little bubble of calm in an otherwise elemental maelstrom.
    Both elements responded instantly. We looked out to see the night in front of us erupt into a storm that probably knocked Doppler 8 on its butt.
    “Okay,” I yelled above the wind. “It’s flame’s turn.”
    Shaunee lifted her arms, tossed back her head, and like she was throwing a basketball, hurled the fire that glowed between her palms at the empty, straw-filled stall Lenobia had told her to destroy. The stall burst into angry flame.
    “Now the horses’ hoofs,” I cried.
    She nodded. “Help me keep it up.”
    “I will, don’t worry.”
    Shaunee pointed down at our horse’s hoofs. “Heat up their shoes!” she yelled.
    Persephone snorted. Her head bowed, and as the sawdust of the stable yard began to smoke under her feet, she pricked her ears at her hoofs.
    “Oh, man . . . We need to get out of here before their feet burn everything up,” Damien said. He was clutching me so tight it was a little hard for me to breathe, but I didn’t want to say anything that might cause him to topple sideways.
    I was just thinking that we really might light the sawdust on fire when I heard a huge commotion behind us that I knew must be Lenobia freeing the horses to bolt around the main grounds of the campus, as if they were utterly crazed by the stable fire. Persephone tossed her head and snorted. I felt her muscles bunch and had just enough time to squeeze hard with my thighs and yell back at Damien, “Hold on! Here we go!” And then the mare lunged out of the stables and into the raging night.
    The three horses, side by side, galloped through the corral and out the gate Lenobia had left open. They turned hard to the left, circled around behind the main school building, and sooner than I would have imagined possible, there was steam hissing and mist rising in waves around us as heated hoofs met the ice that covered the asphalt of the parking lot.
    Behind us I could hear the screams of panicked horses and the terrible cries of the