“We will need to be careful going this way. There is a lot of loose rock,” Abby said, looking up.
“We can do it.”
We started up the side of Mount Etna, being careful not to lose our footing. A few times, my foot slipped, and only a gentle push with my air powers kept me from falling. I had to boost Abby up a few times too, but we made it. I looked down the path and couldn’t see the group that had been in front of us. They were a reasonable distance behind us now, and we could start searching for the fire elementals.
I wanted to go right up to the craters to try to find them. It seemed like the most obvious choice, but Abby still thought we needed to look somewhere else.
We compromised. We would look at all the smaller areas on the way up to the crater.
Chapter Three
We were almost to the top and still didn’t see any sign of the fire elementals. I couldn’t even feel any magic from them. We had no idea where we were going. When I was looking for the air elementals, a dream showed me where I needed to go. This time I was on my own. We were almost to the largest crater when I heard voices again. I looked down the path, expecting to see the tour that had been behind us, but there was no one there. The voices were coming from ahead of us.
I put an invisibility shield around us as we walked closer. As long as I didn’t use it for too long, it wouldn’t take too much energy. We laid on our bellies behind a few large boulders. Walking out of the crater and around it were a few men and women. They weren’t dressed in the usual hiking gear. They didn’t even have backpacks with them. I felt a shiver crawl down my spine and pulled Abby back while digging in my pack. I pulled the potions out.
“Here. Take this. I think those are the Pulhu. We need to get in there, and I don’t want anyone sensing my magic.”
“How would they know about this place?” Abby asked.
“I have no idea, but they aren’t tourists.”
We both drank our potions and waited a few minutes to make sure they were working.
“What do we do?” Abby asked.
“We need to know what they are doing. The potion should last a few hours. We need to go down there and listen in to their conversations before it wears off.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“No, but we need to know if they found the fire elementals and why they are looking for them.”
We slowly walked around the rim of the crater, making sure not to disturb any loose stones on our way to the path leading down into it. When we came to the path, a large, burly man was standing in front of it. He stood as still as a statue. The scowl on his face scared me even though I knew he couldn’t see me. We would need to get past him. I carefully stepped to the side of the path taking small steps on the loose rock.
We were almost around him when Abby accidentally kicked a stone. It went tumbling into the crater, and the man spun to look at it, dropping into a crouch. The other members of the Pulhu stopped and watched, waiting for something. Someone walked forward with their hands up. I got a glimpse of his face, and my heart froze. It was the creepy guy, Mr. Damon. I hadn’t seen him since our fight a few months ago.
He was able to destroy my shields easily and would have captured me if not for Tider and Richard. I was terrified of him. I looked at Abby. She wasn’t even breathing. He used Abby to get information about me, telling her he would hurt her and her dad if she didn’t cooperate. I slowly reached out and grabbed her hand, squeezing it. She squeezed back and took a small breath.
After another tense minute, Mr. Damon put his hands down, “There is no one here,” he barked. “Continue your work.”
We took a few cautious steps forward, being extra careful not to disturb anything. Once we were all the way into the crater, I looked around. The Pulhu had equipment set up everywhere. I made my way over to a machine with a couple of guys in front of it. I was pretty sure I had seen something like this on TV once. It was supposed to read activity in the ground.
“This is a stupid mission,” the younger guy said. “We aren’t going to find them. I doubt they even exist anymore.”
“I wouldn’t say that too loudly,” the other guy replied. “We do what we are told. You know that. If he wants us taking readings to search for an anomaly to find the fire elementals, then that’s what we do.”
“But why? What does he want with them if they are alive? I doubt they will be happy to see us.”
“He said they will join us because the darkness has promised to let them live freely. They won’t have to stay hidden from humans anymore.”
“Yeah, and what about us. I doubt they will want to take orders from us,” he pouted.
“If you want to go tell him you think this is a bad idea, be my guest. Before you go, what do you want to be written on your headstone, because he’s going to kill you.”
I listened to them argue for a few more minutes but didn’t learn anything new, so I moved on. I kept an eye on Mr. Damon. I didn’t want to get too close to him. A woman was talking to two men, and I snuck as close to them as I could.
“I’m sure they are here. I can’t figure out how to get into their realm though,” she was saying.
“Didn’t the book tell you how?” one of the men asked.
“No. It only told us the location. It’s on Mount Etna. We have to find out where, but the readings aren’t helping. It’s as if their magic doesn’t exist up here. We were able to pick up trace amounts further down the slope heading this way, but then it disappears.”
“Maybe the entrance to their realm is down there.”
“We searched that whole area. There was nothing there. We even tried burning everything around that spot.”
“You don’t want to burn the portal,” the guy said, scowling at the woman.
“We will burn everything down if we have to. And if the fire elementals won’t join us, we will destroy them too,” she said vehemently.
I felt Sievroth move against my neck. His body started to heat up. He didn’t like hearing the Pulhu talk about destroying his home. I reached up and pet his body, trying to calm him. The last thing we needed was a loose baby dragon breathing fire everywhere. The Pulhu would try to capture him. As soon as he calmed down, I moved further away from the lady. I didn’t want her saying something to rile Sievroth back up.
Abby moved in closer to me. “What now?” she asked.
I looked on the far side of the crater near Mr. Damon. “We need to go over there. I need to see the equipment they have so we can figure out what they know.”
Abby visibly shook. “I can’t, Sally.”
“It’s ok, Abby. He can’t see or hear us.” She was still as pale as a ghost. I put my hand on her arm. “You stay here. I will go check it out and then meet you back here. Ok?”
“Ok,” she said quietly. Mr. Damon was terrifying to me, and I was never questioned by him. I couldn’t imagine what Abby must be feeling.
I slowly crept forward, careful to keep from kicking the stones as I moved closer. The potion kept us from being seen or heard, but if we kicked something away from us, everyone would hear it. Mr. Damon was standing next to a woman with a frown on her face.
“We are not getting the results I expected,” she said. “You told us this is where their entrance would be, but I have not found any traces of ancient magic.”
“It is here,” Mr. Damon said menacingly.
The woman frowned even more. “If it is here, we aren’t doing something right. Have we checked the other craters?”
“Yes. I have teams at each one. So far, there is nothing. You will find their entrance, Noreda. Do you understand me?” He lifted his hand and let a small flame emerge from his fingers. “Or you will face my wrath.”
Noreda paled. “I will find it,” she said.
“Good.”
Mr. Damon walked away from her, moving to another set of equipment. I walked closer to Noreda. She was mumbling under her breath. She was saying something about magic not being able to fin
d them, so why would technology be able to do it.
They must have been searching for weeks before we showed up. I got a good look at the equipment before heading back to Abby but didn’t learn anything new. We made our way back to the path to leave the crater, but we needed to get past the guard again. Thankfully, the tour group was coming. The guard saw them too and stepped a few feet away from the rim, holding his hand up to stop the tour.
“No one may pass.”
“I have the proper paperwork,” the guide said.
“No one is coming into the crater. We are in the middle of a scientific study that cannot be disturbed. You will turn back now,” I heard him say as we moved past him and the guide, dodging between the other people on the tour. I stopped a few feet from the back of the group. I couldn’t leave without making sure the Pulhu didn’t try to hurt any of the innocent people.
His nasty demeanor must have convinced the tour guide that it wasn’t worth arguing because he shrugged and turned back to the other people.
“That’s as far as we can go,” he said. “Scientists are here to take measurements, and we can’t disturb them.” Some of the people complained, but when the Pulhu guard cleared his throat, they all turned and walked away. No one wanted to mess with him.
Once I was sure all the people on the tour would leave, I grabbed Abby’s hand and hurried down the path in front of them. We quickly pulled ahead and slowed down.
“What do we do now?” she asked. “We still have a few hours until nighttime. Should we head back to where Jordan dropped us off?”
“Not yet. I want to check out the rest of the craters. Something isn’t right here. I’m sure the entrance is on this mountain, but I can’t figure out where. I didn’t see any rocks where I could use a fire handprint to open it like Adam told us.”
“What if it’s not all the way up here?” Abby asked. “The Pulhu are all over the craters and haven’t found anything. Think about the spot Jordan dropped us off. It didn’t have any caves, but there were some trees and large boulders that could easily have a place for a handprint. There didn’t look like there was anything like that at the top of the mountain.”
“I think you’re right, Abby. They are looking in the wrong place.” My shoulders fell. “That leaves a ton of places to search. I don’t think we will be able to do it in one weekend.”
We headed down until we reached an area where more boulders started to show up. We stepped off of the path, walking from boulder to boulder. We didn’t find anything that resembled a cave and didn’t see any boulders with a handprint on it. We made pretty good progress, but it would take months to search everywhere. We didn’t have that kind of time.
We headed to a cluster of trees when night fell. We couldn’t have a fire since the Pulhu were on the mountain too, but we did have a blanket to sleep with. I took the first watch. We wouldn’t be invisible for much longer, and it wouldn’t be good if the Pulhu stumbled over us in the dark. I watched as Abby laid down.
I reached out for Richard, feeling the connection between us. I tried to tell him everything that happened so far. He sent waves of worry to me, so I knew he heard some of what I said. The connection would get stronger the more we used it while we were so far apart. He knew that the Pulhu were here, and I was sure he would tell Mrs. Sullivan. Maybe they could figure out how the Pulhu found out where to look.
I dropped the connection after a few more minutes, and I watched the stars, thinking about how different my life had become in such a short time. Looking back, I wouldn’t change it. I would rather the Pulhu not be after my family or me, but I didn’t want to go back to living an ordinary life. I loved having my powers. I would have to find a way to stop the Pulhu and the darkness before it hurt anyone else.
I felt Sievroth move against me. “Hey,” I said when he appeared in front of me. “Aren’t you supposed to help me figure out where the fire elementals live?”
I felt him grumble against my neck.
“This isn’t funny. We need to reach the fire elementals before the Pulhu hurt them.” Sievroth unfurled his wings as I spoke and hissed, a small stream of flame coming out of his mouth, lighting up the darkness. “Sievroth, no,” I said. “They will see us.” Sievroth shook his head and pushed his face against mine, making small mewling noises. I stroked his back until he curled up in my lap. “Don’t worry, Sievroth. We will find a way to get to the fire elementals first and maybe find your parents too.”
I woke Abby up halfway through the night and took my turn lying down. Everything was silent. I hadn’t seen or heard anyone else. I figured the Pulhu probably left for the night. I closed my eyes and fell into a nightmare. I was standing at the top of a volcano as it burped noxious black smoke into the air. Giant balls of fire were being thrown from the crater, landing far down the mountain, some hitting a town in the distance. Ash covered the ground and continued falling through the sky.
I knew immediately that I was in a dream. It was the same as the other two dreams I had when I was looking for the air and water elementals. It would help me find the way to the fire elementals.
I could feel the ground beneath my feet trembling as the smoke became even thicker. I turned to run down the mountain, hoping to get away before it completely blew. Instead, as I started down the path, a massive boom shook the mountain and lava was thrown into the air. It shot from the top of the volcano and ran down the sides in rivers. I looked around, trying to find a way to escape, but everything was blocked. The path was gone. I could hear screams coming from the town as the lava moved closer.
I turned back to the crater, watching it fill with lava and spill over the sides. The craters in the distance erupted too, and more ash was thrown into the air. Below me, the townspeople ran and panicked.
They would never make it out in time. There had to be something I could do. I pulled my fire magic to me, trying to think of something that might help, but fighting fire with fire would only make it worse. Instead, I tried using water, but I couldn’t get enough to help cool the lava before it hit the town.
The heat from the volcano sucked all the moisture out of the air. There was nothing for me to work with. There were no lakes or rivers nearby. Because of the volcano, there was no river of water underground that I could pull on. I yelled in despair, knowing that I couldn’t do anything. I watched as the lava surrounded me.
I didn’t know if it would hurt me or not. Because of my fire element, I could walk through my own fire without being hurt, but I had never tried getting close to lava. I didn’t really want to try now, but there wasn’t anywhere to go. As the lava crept closer, I could feel the heat from it singeing my eyes. It looked like I wouldn’t be able to withstand the temperature after all.
A noise above me caught my attention, and I glanced up. Flying toward me with a great burst of speed, was a large bird. It reminded me of a huge eagle. It lowered its legs and gripped me by the shoulders. I could feel one of its claws rip through my shirt and tear my skin. It carried me away from Mount Etna, skimming across trees that were now covered in fire.
When we landed, we were at the base of the mountain on the other side, away from any towns. We were in a clearing surrounded by trees. The eagle turned and put his beak to my chest. Immediately, images bombarded me. Behind the eagle was the cave I was looking for, the boulder off to the side and another boulder covering it so no one could see the palm print.
“Hurry,” the eagle yelled into my mind. “You must hurry.”
Before I had a chance to reply, a group of people with their hands up and ready to throw magic, emerged from the trees. The eagle slid in front of me protectively, as the leader of the people shouted, “You will serve the Pulhu.”
They drew their magic to them and shot it at the eagle, hoping to take him down quickly. Right before the magic hit, my eyes opened. I was staring at the stars, Sievroth on my chest, gently head-butting me.
“Are you ok?” Abby asked.
“Yes, and I know where we need to go.”
I looked around. “At least I know the general area where we need to go. I saw it from the sky.”
“The sky?” Abby asked.
“Yes, a giant eagle was carrying me.”
“You have the weirdest dreams,” Abby said, “but they do help us when we need it.”
I agreed. We would need as much help as we could get. Usually, only the darkness came after me in my dreams, and the animals helping me were calm. This dream was different. The eagle wasn’t expecting the Pulhu to show up. They were getting too close and somehow changed the dream. At least that’s what I thought.
I looked down when I felt pain shoot through my chest. Blood was slowly seeping through my shirt. I moved it to the side to see what was wrong. I could see the puncture marks left by the eagle, but this time it wasn’t healing as quickly. Usually, I recovered in seconds unless it was a horrible wound.
Even if this had been really bad, a few minutes had passed. I should have been completely healed. One of the positives of having magic was that we healed fast, and I healed quickly, even for an elemental. I called Abby over to look at it. She laid her hands on me, and her soft yellow magic slid around the wound, stitching the skin back together. I wiped the blood away. If not for the blood, I wouldn’t be able to tell I had been wounded at all.
“Good job, Abby. You are getting much better at healing in non-life-threatening situations.” Abby was a great healer, but she doubted herself too much. When it was an emergency, and she didn’t have time to think, she could heal some of the worst injuries, but when it wasn’t life-threatening, she had a tendency to doubt herself.
“I’ve been practicing a lot. I’m glad I was able to help you.”
“I knew you would be able to heal it. I’m surprised it didn’t heal on its own though. It wasn’t too bad.”
“Maybe it was worse than you thought,” she said. “Or maybe your ability to heal is still glitchy.” Most of the time, my body healed itself quickly, but every once in a while, it didn’t. There was no reason for it, no pattern that I had noticed. Sometimes I just didn’t heal.
Buried Embers (Elemental Seekers Book 3) Page 3