“For now.”
The tension drained from the room, leaving me exhausted and Adam’s shoulders slanted.
“I’m sorry, Gabby. I’ve tried to tell you about Hesterton a hundred times.”
I inhaled, trying to think. “Maybe we just need more time. In a day or two—”
“I don’t have a day or two,” Adam snapped. The air turned icy, and a glacial breeze cascaded over my skin. “Sorry,” he murmured, sliding into the shadows. “I just need the charter to be in place. I’m worried about Hanai bolting. Isaiah says you haven’t talked to him in days, and…I don’t wanna be controlled by the tattoo anymore.”
I frowned. “I talk to Isaiah. And Hanai isn’t going anywhere. And what do you mean ‘controlled by the tattoo’?”
Adam shivered in the cool air. I snapped my fingers and sent a ball of fire to warm it up. “Well?”
“Nothing. It’s gone now.” He turned to leave.
I lunged across the bed and grabbed his arm. “Is it? Is it really gone? Tell me the truth, Airmaster.”
He looked at me, his eyes the vacant, emotionless pools of a sentry. “Did you see it this afternoon?”
I wanted to scream in his face that I had seen it. That he was a liar, a sentry, a traitor. Instead, I released him and slid off the bed, my focus already out the window again.
“Try the dress on, Gabby.” He opened the door and left.
I noted that he hadn’t answered my question.
I tried on the dress, and it fit—a little too well. “Holy hot blazes,” I muttered.
I gaped at the girl in the bathroom mirror. That person looked so feminine. The navy fabric shimmered in the bright electricity, turning my dark eyes more blue than brown. Tiny straps stretched over my shoulders, revealing my pale skin.
And I had a chest. For the first time that I could remember, I looked like a girl. I stared at her, completely bewildered by what I saw. Was this how Adam saw me? Hanai?
She wasn’t me.
I scrubbed my face and neck, desperate to become myself again. When I looked up, the foreign beauty stared back.
Heaving a sigh, I ran my wet hands over my hair. It stood up in spikes but instead of giving me a boyish appearance, I somehow looked even more fragile. Delicate.
Beautiful.
My pulse raced along with a river of fire through my veins.
I couldn’t go to the chartering ceremony in that dress. Turning around to find something to change into, I almost slammed into Cat. She wore a gorgeous burgundy dress with white lace at the collar and cuffs. It showed all the right curves, but not too much. She’d always been pure girl and actually looked comfortable in the monstrosity of a dress.
“Gabby, honey,” she breathed. “Oh, you’re so beautiful. Is that what you’re wearing tonight?”
I laughed, but it wasn’t happy. More like maniacal. “No blazing way.”
“Why not? You look wonderful. The blue really compliments your skin.”
“Yes, it does,” Adam said from behind her. He wore black slacks with a starched white shirt. His tie—navy—hung loose around his neck. His eyes traveled over my body several times.
I squirmed. This sucked. I didn’t want him looking at me like that. Maybe yesterday, I would’ve liked it. Maybe I would have even wanted him to. But not today.
“It looks better than I imagined, Gabby. That bulky sweatshirt never did you justice.”
“Shut up,” I growled. “I’m not wearing it. It’s too tight.”
“That’s how it’s supposed to fit,” he argued.
“How would you know? Are you familiar with women’s clothing?”
He smiled. “I know what looks good. And you, my Firemaker, look good.”
“She looks beautiful,” Cat corrected, her voice dripping with disdain.
I glared at her too. Couldn’t she see she wasn’t helping?
“I mean, if you like it, Gabby,” she said. “I don’t care what you wear tonight.”
“Good. Because I’m wearing jeans. I can’t even breathe in this thing.”
Adam increased the airflow in the bathroom. “Better?”
“No,” I said, even though it was. I pushed past him.
“Come on.” Adam drew me into a tight hug. I let him because I thought it might give me away if I torched his traitorous hide. Hanai appeared in the doorway as I stood stiffly in Adam’s arms.
“What’s going on?” he asked, pausing in the motion of tying his necktie.
Adam stepped to the side, sliding his hand around my back. “Gabby doesn’t want to wear the dress.”
Hanai’s eyes widened, and he stared much too long. In all the wrong places. Stupid. Blazing. Boys.
He cleared his throat. “Um, yeah,” he squeaked. “You look great. You should definitely wear that.”
“Hanai!”
Adam laughed. “Right on.” He and Hanai slapped hands like brothers. When did they become best friends? Where was the I’m-freaking-out-because-Adam’s-soul-is-so-dark Hanai?
They laughed. Stared some more.
I barely contained the river of fire flowing through my veins. I stalked back into the bathroom and locked the door behind me. I paced, wondering what to do. Arguing ensued in the bedroom. A gust of wind rattled the door. Cat sang one high note.
Then, silence.
Cat knocked. “They’re gone.”
When I opened the door, she stood there in her navy blue robes, shoeless.
Perfect.
“I need a minute to change,” I said.
“The dress looks nice, Gabby. You’re the Councilman. You should wear it.”
I snorted. “Did you see the way those two animals were looking at me? Would you want them to look at you like that?”
She wrung her hands and studied the floor. “No.”
“Okay, I’m going to change into my Council robes too. Wait for me?”
“Sure.”
After I changed, I felt so much more like myself. My fire leaped before settling in my stomach. Cat linked her arm through mine, and we walked upstairs to Davison’s conference room. The table had been pushed to one end, and five chairs made a wide V in the center of the room.
Councilman Davison stood near the door, wearing his purple robes and a well-placed scowl. Susanna bowed to me as I entered the room. Jones brought his head down briefly, but Larry—the Unmanifested—dropped to one knee. Cat laced her fingers through Isaiah’s and together, they bowed.
“Stop it,” I said, embarrassed by their formality.
Adam smiled—genuine and fierce—and knelt, with Hanai next to him. They all wore the navy Council robes over their clothes.
Heat rose through my body, flaming in my face. “I mean it, get up.”
Hanai grinned and crossed the room in a few long strides. He hugged me, and I melted into his embrace. “You look wonderful. I’m so glad you didn’t wear that dress.”
Adam folded his arms and turned to Jones. The chatter in the room started again, and I allowed Hanai to lead me behind a row of couches to the window.
The snow drifted in lazy patterns, unconcerned about the chartering ceremony about to take place. I envied it.
I couldn’t quiet my heart as I twisted my hands around each other. Adam laughed, his head thrown back, his sandy curls falling away from his face. I leaned against the glass and closed my eyes.
I remembered the first time I met him, how he’d helped me climb out of the top of the cave, the way his hand felt in mine. I sighed and opened my eyes again. The glass had fogged over.
Hanai watched me, but I looked everywhere except at him. Everyone seemed to be here. Just as I cleared my throat to ask what we were waiting for, the door opened.
I stifled a scream and ducked behind the couch until I could barely see over the top of it.
Felix entered the room, his eyes darting right and left.
Hanai took a few slow steps away to put distance between us.
“Councilman Davison,” Felix sneered in
his bass voice. “I believe we have some items to discuss.”
“You thought wrong.” Davison’s response came as sharp as steel. “I shall ask you to leave just once, sentry. You will die if I have to ask again.”
Felix laughed without happiness. “I’m an invited guest to this ceremony. You cannot force me to leave. I will wait until the proceedings are over. Then I have some business with the new Councilman—oops, I mean Councilwoman. Where is she?”
Isaiah asked the question threatening to erupt from my mouth. “An invited guest?”
A smug smile marred Felix’s face. “Yes. My dear brother asked me here specifically. Didn’t you, Adam?” His words dripped with poisoned honey.
I expected Adam to swear, call his brother a hideous name, and summon the wildest tornado in history. Instead, he said, “I did.”
I ducked lower, closed my eyes, and tried to remember how to breathe through the betrayal.
“Where is she, Hanai?” Adam asked.
“Cat’s standing right there, next to Isaiah.”
“Don’t play games,” Adam growled. A sound of ripping cloth filled the room. Isaiah swore, and Cat cried out. “That’s right. I’m still a sentry. Hanai knew. I’m sure he told Gabby. Where is she?”
“Can’t you hear her mind?” Hanai asked, his voice even. “You have gifts you haven’t divulged.”
Hear my mind? Meaning…?
At that moment, I understood what Adam meant about the air thickening with tension. I choked when he peered over the couch, his beautiful face twisted into a sick smile.
“Come out, Gabriella. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Flames erupted in my palms, and I clenched my fists to quench them. Sweet smoke wafted up, but it couldn’t calm my rage.
Because Adam now wore his black sentry clothes. The ripping sound made sense when I spied his torn Council robes on the floor. My fury increased at the sight before me.
Davison and his Council had gathered together in a tight bunch near the door. None of them looked remotely afraid. Probably because they knew their deaths had consequences, and that their chartering bond had already increased their powers.
Adam sauntered across the room and stood next to his brother. “I insist the ceremony continue.”
I shook my head, my jaw clenched. No blazing way I’d accept his pledge.
“You will accept my pledge, Firemaker,” Adam said. “You all will.”
Felix laughed. “You’re too noble, brother. Let’s kill them now; no one will dare—” His remaining words were washed away in a torrent of water as Cat unleashed a high note.
I leaped over the couch and ran toward Hanai. I grabbed his hand, and then latched onto Isaiah.
“You with me, Earthmover?” I asked as the water ran off the two sentries.
“Yes,” he whispered, his unseeing eyes wide. “What’s Adam thinking?”
“I think he’s been thinking for all of us, for a long time,” I whispered back. “Stay with me, okay?” His tight squeeze didn’t ease my panic.
Felix dripped water onto the floor, but Adam was bone dry, his hair steaming as he dried it with his Element. “Please, Gabriella,” he begged, his voice small and desperate. “The charter is all I can offer you.”
“I don’t want anything from you.”
“Oh, come on, you idiot girl,” Felix sneered, splashing water as he waved his hand. “He’s offering you protection by chartering the Council. It was his only stipulation. It seems my brother has gone and gotten himself involved. He’s—”
“The charter offers me protection as well, Felix,” Adam said, his voice now as sharp as his knives.
I watched as they glared at one another, silently battling through some old sibling argument I didn’t care about.
Felix turned back to me. “Well? Are we continuing or not?”
“We need a minute,” Hanai said, stepping in front of me and forming a huddle. “Okay, as much as I hate to say it, he’s right. We should complete the charter. Members can be replaced, bonds rebuilt, choices remade. So…what do you think?”
“Pledge to Adam? Are you insane?” I shot a death look over Hanai’s shoulder to the traitor in black. “He’s been using us.”
Isaiah sighed. “Yeah, but Hanai’s right. We’ll be protected with the chartering. I’ve experienced it; all our powers will be enhanced.”
“Cat?” I asked.
“I don’t want to die,” she said.
A small part of me did. The part that belonged to Adam. Not the sentry-Adam, but the kind, sweet guy who helped me survive, dodge through the woods, and hide my gender.
“Okay, fine,” I snapped. “Let’s be a blazing Council.” I stepped in front of Hanai and faced Adam. “Did you hear that, Airmaster? We’ll accept your pledge.” I thought some really rude things about him, knowing he could somehow hear my thoughts.
Surprise colored his eyes for only a moment before he smothered the emotion under his sentry mask. I tensed, thinking about what Adam must’ve heard inside my head. My opinions of him. How I felt about Hanai. What I thought were secrets really weren’t. Nothing had ever been private.
“Please, Gabby.” Adam stepped forward, something like regret shining in his eyes. It only served to ignite my anger again.
“Don’t talk to me,” I spat through clenched teeth. I wished I could communicate with my Council mentally. There were only two sentries, and four of us + Davison’s Council. Maybe we could—
“You can’t,” Adam said, reading my mind. “True, there are only two sentries in this room….”
His implication caused the anger boiling in my stomach to recede. See, I’d seen Adam use a knife—and his Element. Felix was certainly no amateur.
“Councilman Davison, we’re ready,” Adam purred. “Where do you want us?”
He directed Hanai to a chair at the end of the V-shaped line of chairs. Cat sat next to him, while I moved with Isaiah to the other side. Adam sat next to him, which left the front chair—the leading chair—for me.
I flinched as I sat down. The lemony smell of Adam, once so comforting, now punched me in the gut. I stared straight ahead and tried to block everything out. My fingertips smoked, and that helped clear Adam’s scent from my nose.
The ceremony passed in a blur of words and colors and the delicious smoke. Only when Hanai said, “Yes, sir,” did I snap back to attention. Something sharp tugged in my gut.
“Catherine Browning, do you pledge to serve the Firemaker, your Councilman, Gabriella Kilpatrick with your Element of water?”
“Yes, sir,” she said in a loud, clear voice. When the pull happened a second time, I realized it was the magic, binding us together. I looked at Hanai, and his face was radiant. Cat glowed, her eyes filled with friendship. I felt strangely more connected to them than I had previously.
“Isaiah Hawking, do you pledge to serve the Firemaker, your Councilman, Gabriella Kilpatrick with your Element of earth?” Davison’s voice sounded like it came from underwater.
“All the way, Gabbers.”
A rushing noise filled the room; I felt a pulse of power coat my skin. I took a deep breath, smelling flowers and mud. The sensation in my core grew taut, pulling me toward Isaiah, toward Cat, toward Hanai. Deep inside, my fire felt refreshed. Brighter somehow.
Davison watched me, his eyes seemingly asking if I was okay. I nodded.
“We all know this is meaningless,” he said. “But the ceremony is not complete unless I ask. Adam Gillman, do you pledge to serve the Firemaker, your Councilman, Gabriella Kilpatrick with your Element of air?”
“Always,” Adam murmured. This time the tugging became painful, almost drawing me up and out of my chair. I closed my eyes, allowing the magic to pulse and chase through the room. I felt like I could control air, and earth, and water, and fire, and spirit. I felt untouchable.
Davison recited the pledge that finished the chartering. Hanai joined his voice to the words on the second time through. By the fifth time, my voice vibrat
ed through the room, not just through my throat.
“We pledge to serve each other honorably, following the rules of the Elements, and supporting each other in word, thought, and deed.” As the pledge echoed through the room, I knew that my Council would protect me, their Firemaker, even at their own cost. I knew my fire couldn’t hurt them, that Adam’s Element couldn’t harm any of us.
As quickly as the chartering magic had arrived, it fled, leaving me gasping for breath in my seat.
Davison’s voice shook as he said, “I declare you an Elemental Council of five, with the rights, powers, and privileges of the Supreme Elemental. Good luck to you all.”
Hanai appeared at my side in the next moment, pulling me away from Adam. “Isaiah, here,” he called.
Adam gripped Isaiah’s forearm as he tried to pass. Felix hauled Cat screaming over to Adam. “Right, we’re leaving,” Adam said. “We’ve got some business to take care of. Felix, I’m taking the hovercraft.” Adam shoved Isaiah out the door and held a knife in Cat’s face. “Shut it, kitten. This’ll be easier if you just cooperate.”
Tears poured down her face when she looked at me. My fire consumed me in my rage, leaking from my fingertips in uncontrolled wisps.
“Gabriella Kilpatrick, you’re under arrest for the murder of seventeen Elemental students in the city of Crylon.” Felix’s grimy fingers clawed at my wrists, securing them with metal rings.
Elemental cancellers.
What I felt: My very soul being sucked away. I shivered as my firepower faded.
“By order of the Supreme Elemental, Alexandra Pederson, you are ordered to appear before the Elemental Council in the city of Tarpulin three days from now, on the twenty-first day of the third month.”
I squirmed away from his touch, my Element shooting to my extremities where the cancellers absorbed it. I bit down hard so I wouldn’t whimper at the loss.
Felix smirked, a glint of danger in his eyes. “Adam, take them away. I’ll meet up with you in Cornish.” His chauvinistic gaze left me hollow inside.
I tore my eyes from his and looked toward Adam. Davison’s Council had been flanked by men in black, a silent swarm of ants who had suddenly crawled from the walls. Cat’s mouth was taped, same with Susanna’s. Neither of them struggled; their hands hung loosely in cancellers.
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