Buried Embers (Elemental Seekers Book 3)

by H. M. Sandlin

  “We could go through the woods on this side, so we don’t have to stay here,” Richard whispered, knowing I couldn’t hold the shield forever.

  “Good idea,” I said. “Let’s go.” We walked to the other side of the road and slipped into the woods. I kept the invisibility shield up around us until we were deep in the woods. I sent a thank you to the trees and felt an answering warmth coming from them.

  “Stop talking to the trees,” Tider hissed quietly. “We don’t want them to know you are in the woods, and they will figure it out if the trees keep responding to you.” I looked down, embarrassed. I wasn’t great at hiding from people.

  I pulled my magic back from the trees, and they stilled.

  Chapter Thirteen

  We made our way through the woods heading in a diagonal line toward the town. “By the time we get there, we should be on the edge of town and be able to skirt around it with no problem,” Richard said, using GPS on his phone to help guide us. We walked for a few hours before stopping.

  “I think we need to make camp here,” Richard said. “We still have a few hours hike tomorrow to get to the other town.”

  “How far have we walked?” I asked.

  “We are past the town at this point but only barely. We can’t make a fire, or people might see it.”

  “We are that close?”

  “Yes, and I’m sure Mr. Mitchel has the town under surveillance. He might have the next town under surveillance too, but I think I have a way past that.”

  “How?”

  “I will show you tomorrow. Right now, let’s get some shelter set up.”

  “Why don’t we do the same thing we did in the water elemental realm. I can raise the ground and make a little underground room for us. It worked well there.”

  Richard nodded, and I looked around the tiny clearing we were in.

  “It’s going to be pretty small,” I said as I put my hands down to the ground and called the earth to rise up, leaving a space for us to sleep. It reminded me of a hobbit house, except not as pretty. I used the roots of the plants to create a barrier once we all squeezed in. It would keep the cool air out, but it was easy to move if we needed to get outside.

  We went through our packs, divvying out food and drinks. It wasn’t much since we left so quickly, but we each had a granola bar and an apple. We even had enough water bottles for everyone. We would need to refill the bottles in the morning, but that was easy. I could pull water from the air around us and let it fill the bottles. So could Tider.

  I took the first watch, waking Adam after a few hours. In the morning, we had a quick breakfast of granola bars again, and I pushed the earth back down. We continued heading for the next town. We walked for half of the day before Richard told us to stop.

  “We are close. We need to turn south here, and we will come to the main road in about thirty minutes. I will go in first and find the hotel. Once I check us in, I will let Sally know, and you can all come to the hotel one at a time. They are looking for a group of us. We should be able to get through the town unnoticed if we aren’t together. Keep your heads down and act naturally on your way to the hotel. Sally, you will need to use your invisibility shield. They will be keeping an eye out specifically for you.”

  No one argued with him. What he said made sense. We continued through the woods until we came close to the town. Richard said a quick goodbye, and we sat down to wait. I opened our connection and stayed with him as he maneuvered his way through town. It was surprisingly busy as he got closer to the center.

  It wasn’t as small as the town near the school. He told me about it as he walked through the streets. He stayed on the main road most of the trip, only turning right at one point to get to the hotel. He didn’t have any trouble checking in and getting a pair of keys to use. Mrs. Sullivan gave Abby the reservation name before she went missing.

  The front desk clerk told Richard he could use the entrance on the side of the building and take the elevator up to the third floor. Richard told me it was six floors when I asked. He thanked the clerk and made his way to the room, checking it over to make sure it wasn’t tampered with. It looked ok, and he told me to have Abby come next.

  I gave her directions, and she left. I told Richard to let me know when she arrived. I sat back against a tree and relaxed. Abby didn’t have any trouble, and neither did Adam when he left. Tider looked at me and asked if I was ready. He wouldn’t let me go by myself, so I would stay invisible, and he would walk slowly so I could keep up. If I needed him to stop, I would reach out with our connection and let him know.

  No one bothered Tider as he walked through the town, but I did catch a few people look his way more than once. When I caught a mean-looking man glance at Tider a few different times, I reached out, letting him know to pick up his pace and lose the guy.

  I would keep heading to the hotel, and we could meet back up. He didn’t want to leave me, but he couldn’t lead the guy right to the hotel we were staying in. He left and took off down an alley as I continued along. A few people almost ran into me without Tider to walk behind, but I made it to the hotel safely.

  Tider arrived a few minutes later, and I followed him to the door. Abby was waiting for us and showed us where the room was.

  It was a big enough space for all of us, and I took my invisibility down and sank onto one of the couches. Holding the shield for so long was draining.

  “Our room is through here, Sally,” Abby called, pointing our door out to me. I thanked her and closed my eyes, listening to Tider tell everyone about the guy that followed him. Once Richard was sure he wasn’t followed to the hotel, they all relaxed too.

  There wasn’t much to do in the hotel room except watch TV, which got boring pretty fast. I slipped away with Abby to go down to the pool for a quick swim. We wore shorts and tank tops since we didn’t have bathing suits. It was indoors, so I didn’t think it would be a problem until I heard Richard’s voice in my head.

  “Where are you?” he yelled.

  I flinched. Hearing screaming in my own head was incredibly irritating. “I’m swimming with Abby. We are still inside.”

  “What if someone sees you?”

  “We checked to make sure no one was in here first, Richard.”

  “You need to stay in the room,” he said. “It’s only for a few days.”

  “We are almost finished anyway,” I told him. I was irritated that he yelled at me. “We will head up there as soon as we dry off. I think you are overreacting. I doubt Mr. Mitchel or the councilmen will stay here. This hotel isn’t fancy enough for them.”

  “Yeah, but they might look to see if we are staying here.”

  He had a point, so I didn’t answer. I felt his satisfaction at winning our argument and gave him a light mental slap. His amusement at my irritation seeped through, and I frowned, which caught Abby’s attention.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “Richard says we need to go back to the room. It isn’t safe enough here.”

  Abby fell silent, but I could tell she wasn’t happy either. We trudged back to our room sullenly. The guys took one look at our faces and turned back to the TV. After we changed, we ordered room service and relaxed for the rest of the day.

  I was going stir crazy by lunch the next day, but Richard didn’t want me leaving. He went out that morning to see if people were watching the town still. Within a few blocks of the hotel, he ran across three different guys who all looked like they could be Pulhu. We stayed inside again that evening. We only had one more day until Jordan was supposed to meet us.

  It was incredibly boring, but I got through another night. I played cards with Abby while Tider and Richard watched TV. Adam sat on the couch, reading a book from his grandfather.

  Mauevene appeared in front of us the next morning while we were eating breakfast.

  “You need to leave now,” she said hurriedly.

  “What’s wrong, Mauevene?”

  “They’ve released some sort of poison
in the hotel. It’s making its way up from the first floor. We need to get to the roof.”

  Everyone jumped to their feet, grabbing their packs and shoving their feet into shoes. We didn’t even take time to tie them. We ran out of the room.

  “Wait, what about the other people here?” I asked. There wasn’t an alarm going off to let everyone know something was wrong.

  “I don’t know,” Mauevene said. “I don’t know what kind of poison this is. I haven’t seen it before. I was in the lobby, keeping an eye on the front doors when a man walked in and set a vial down. He left quickly while the hotel clerk tried to ask him what he was doing. As soon as he stepped outside, the vial exploded, and a mist started to spread through the lobby. When it touched the clerk, he fell over and didn’t move. I flew up here as fast as I could to warn you.”

  “We need to save everyone else too. What if it kills them?”

  I looked around, finally spotting what I wanted. I ran to the fire alarm and pulled it. I used my magic to create small fires in the lobby. I made the smoke rise quickly. I couldn’t see what my magic was actually doing down there, but I felt it and hoped it was doing what I wanted. The smoke seeping up the stairs moved quickly. I was hoping anyone trying to get out would think there was a massive fire down below and head for the roof.

  People came running from their rooms, and we yelled for them to move toward the roof, that there was smoke below us. They all listened and ran up the stairs. We were all using our magic subtly to keep people from getting hurt. If not for a burst of wind here or a spark of fire there people would have run each other over in their panic.

  We got to the roof and watched as more people came pouring out from another roof entrance. A few stragglers came up the stairs after us, and I held the door for them. When it looked like everyone was out, I walked back into the stairwell.

  “What are you doing?” Tider asked.

  “I need to stop the poison. It could hurt all these people,” I said, looking around.

  Children were crying in their parent’s arms. I wasn’t going to let them get hurt. I could hear sirens in the distance, but they wouldn’t make it in time. I could feel the poison magic moving closer. I tried stopping it with a barrier, but the hotel was too big and spread out. The mist just moved around it. It couldn’t be blown away either. My magic didn’t want to work on the mist. Whatever spell they had used was powerful.

  “What do we do?” Abby asked when she realized I couldn’t stop it.

  “There must be a way down,” Adam said. He started walking around the edge of the building. We could all get down using air magic, but the ordinary people on the roof would still be stuck.

  “Here,” Adam said to us. We followed him along the edge of the roof. “We can get over to the next building.” There was a gap about eight feet wide to the other building.

  “These people can’t get over that.”

  “We can help them. Look, there’s a piece of wood and a ladder on that roof. If we keep everyone’s attention focused on the other side of the roof, Sally or Richard can float the wood and ladder across the roof to this side. Then they can say they found the piece of wood, and we can all move it, so it lays across the gap.

  “It won’t be long enough,” I said.

  “That’s what the ladder is for. It can go across first. It’s one of those ladders that get bigger.”

  “An extension ladder,” Richard said, thinking through the plan. “It could work. It’s our only choice right now.”

  “Whatever we are going to do, we need to do it now. The poison is almost to the level below us.”

  “Let’s go,” Adam said to Abby and Tider. They ran to the other side of the roof and started pointing and yelling, saying they may have found a way down. There was already a crowd of people around the hotel, so I tried making the ladder and wood invisible before moving it.

  “Sally, I can’t see it now,” Richard said.

  “I know, but those people will see it moving. It needs to be invisible. I will move it.”

  I started to raise both objects, moving them toward our roof. It didn’t take long before I dropped them on our side and let the invisibility shield drop.

  “Hey, everyone, over here. We can use this.” Smoke was now coming out of the roof door, and the people were panicking even more. Richard tried to move the ladder himself, and a bunch of guys came running up to help him. They managed to position it between the two roofs and get the wood on top of it. I used air to keep it steady without anyone knowing.

  Some of the guys got across easily and held the other side. We tried to get the mothers and children over next. It wasn’t easy. The kids didn’t want to let go of their parents, but they couldn’t carry them all. I scooped up a little boy and soothed him, slowly walking across the wood. I turned back and stood in the middle of the wood.

  The kids would be able to reach me without their parents, and I could help them to the other side this way. I coaxed the next child to me, Richard holding them by the arm as they scooted out onto the piece of wood. It worked, and the other kids moved faster.

  Once the kids were over, the parents came. The rest of the people started screaming, and I looked over. The mist was creeping toward them.

  “What is that?” one of them screamed.

  “Hurry up,” Richard yelled. “Get across.”

  I put a barrier up between the mist and the people, but within seconds it was seeping around the edges to get to us. The last of the people crossed, and Abby and Adam ran across, not worrying for a second that I would let anything happen to them.

  Tider came next and then Richard. As I stood up to move to the other side, the mist picked up speed. I jumped to the other side and let a blast of air dislodge the ladder and wood from the rooftop. The mist stopped at the edge of the roof. Whoever had done the spell had confined it to one building. They didn’t think we would find a way out.

  People were already running down the stairs, and we joined them. As we came through the door and onto the street, I noticed two men watching us. I stayed close to the other people, watching the men to make sure they didn’t try anything. I didn’t think they would in a crowd this size. I let my friends know about the two men.

  We walked away from the buildings with the rest of the group as the firefighters tried to check us over. The paramedics hadn’t arrived yet, but I could hear them getting closer. A low whistle caused me to turn my head, looking for the sound. I saw Jordan hiding in an alleyway only a few feet from us.

  I looked back. The men were still watching and trying to get closer. I grabbed Abby and Tider and told them to grab the others. “On three,” I said, looking at Jordan. He nodded.

  “One, two, three.” We all ran forward, holding hands. Jordan stepped back behind a dumpster, and we ran to him, grabbing his hands as we all ducked down to hide. I looked back before we bent down. The men were running toward us. I closed my eyes and felt the world spin away from me. When I felt steady again, I opened my eyes. We were standing in a wooded area, but I could see a mountain far ahead of us through the trees.

  I looked at Jordan questioningly.

  “I thought this would be better for now. We need to talk before you go up on the mountain. It’s crawling with Pulhu. Activity has increased in the past two days, but I’m not sure why. I haven’t been able to get in contact with Mrs. Sullivan.”

  “We think she has been kidnapped along with Mr. Merrem and Mr. Connor. They are all missing, and Mr. Mitchel is awake. He probably has been for a few days. We think he remembers everything and is trying to get rid of anyone who is helping Sally. Someone fed Mrs. Sullivan false information. He almost got us too,” Tider explained.

  “I’m glad you are all safe. I don’t know if you should go to the mountain. It is too dangerous.”

  “We have no choice, Jordan,” I said.

  “I know. Mrs. Sullivan filled me in on everything. I’m here to support you, whatever you decide to do, but I don’t like you putting yourselves in
danger like this.”

  “Can we take a few hours to rest and then decide how we are going to get in?” Abby asked.

  “Is there anywhere nearby we can rest and get something to eat?” I asked Jordan.

  “Yes, come with me. I’m staying at a house through these woods. It belongs to a friend of Mrs. Sullivan’s and is safe. I have been watching the Pulhu, so I can help you with their movements.”

  We followed Jordan to the house and started to prepare.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The house was more of a small cabin with two bedrooms. The kitchen was stocked with food, and we sat around the table, eating while Jordan told us what he found out about the Pulhu on the mountain. Their numbers were increasing again. At least another twenty people had arrived and were scanning the mountain, looking for something.

  “They keep bringing more people in,” Jordan said. “They are going to find what they want soon. Almost all of their people must be here.”

  He pulled a map of Mount Etna out. I found the area we had been at last time Jordan brought me. I traced it up to the spot where the fire elemental realm entrance was. There were black dots all around that area. More black dots were scattered throughout the rest of the mountain. A few spots had larger concentrations of dots but none as large as where we needed to go.

  “What are these dots for?” I asked, dreading the answer

  “The number of Pulhu in that area,” Jordan replied.

  “I thought so. It is going to be hard to get past that many and get into the fire realm without them seeing us.” I looked back at the dots. Around fifteen dots were in the area where we would be going.

  “Maybe there is another entrance into the fire realm,” Jordan said. “I doubt they only have one. They would be trapped easily.”

  “They probably have another portal, but I don’t have a clue where it is. This is the only one I know about, and we don’t have time to waste trying to find a different one. The Pulhu could break in any time now. Then they would be able to control the fire elementals. We need the true elementals on our side. We will have to find a way through this portal.”