Belief is a tangible thing, my grandfather's words floated through my mind.
Was it that simple? Did I just have to believe that a Thisavros connection can never truly be broken and Theo would come back to me? Was that it?
I snorted, picked up a grape and rolled it around in my mouth, then squashed it between my teeth.
Then again, what had I seen this past year? Unbelievable things made real.
I closed my eyes, lifted my face to the ceiling imaging an all powerful Elemental god looking down at me and waited for a lightning bolt to strike. Something. Anything that told me to have faith. Believe.
Somehow I didn't think it would be that easy.
"Have I at least made things clearer?" Aktor asked, bringing my attention back to the room.
I offered a brave smile and then ruined it completely by saying, "Maybe just one more shot."
We were on our third one-more-shot by the time Nico and Sonya walked in. And I'd lost count by the time Theo, followed by Mark and backed up by the Bitch, joined us.
Things went downhill from there.
"We need to discuss Pyrkagia," Theo announced and then noticed the detritus of crackers and cheese, picked over fruit and nuts, and an empty ouzo bottle sitting next to a newly opened one.
His eyes swept slowly to my face.
"When I said eat," he said quietly. "I meant something nutritious."
"Since when has our national drink not been nutritious, cousin?" Nico countered.
"Tastes good to me," Sonya said, then hiccoughed.
A giggle swiftly followed.
"Are you well?" Theo asked, eyes still on me.
I'd be well when Isadora bit the dust, but saying that was probably not a good idea.
"I'm quite fine," I replied steadily, suddenly acutely aware that there was a limit to an Athanatos' alcohol intake before adverse effects could be felt.
I was sure I hadn't slurred. Kind of.
Theo sighed, moved around the table and with a nod of his head ordered Nico to shift to the next seat over, making the chair beside me available. He slipped into the vacated seat before pointing to one opposite for my brother to use. I was surprised to see Isadora sitting down beside him, but that could have been so she could keep him in line. Not because she wanted to be near him.
I was projecting, no two ways about it. And where I was projecting my thoughts was not necessarily an improvement on her wanting her hooks in my Thisavros. I could only assume any notion was better than that, and that's why I hoped she'd shifted her focus to my brother.
Oh, holy freaking hell. I clearly hadn't thought that through.
"I am preparing something more nutritious for dinner," Aktor advised. "We can either eat here or in the formal dining room."
"Here will be fine," Theo replied. "You need to be in on this conversation as well."
"Very well," the butler said, his voice heavy, his shoulders looking about the same.
"My father," Theo started, "has to be deposed."
My mouth fell open as Aktor slowly placed the butcher's knife he'd been using down on the bench and turned back to face the table. Astute and concerned eyes lifted to Theo's.
"It has been a long time coming," the ancient Ekmetalleftis said slowly. "But what has brought you to this conclusion?"
Theo turned golden eyes to my face.
"Need I truly list them?" he asked, his voice roughened.
"Pyrkagia is split," my brother said into the electrified silence. "I am aware of thirty who have agreed to converse with my brethren."
It felt like the room was spinning, or maybe it was floating on a choppy sea. Of course, that could have had something to do with the ouzo, but I was sure it was more the fact that my brother sounded old beyond his years. His choice of words to call the Alchemists was too close to what an Athanatos would use.
I realised, I really did not know him. A stranger sat before me. Someone comfortable in this world. So comfortable that he wielded two Stoicheio, not as well as an Ekmetalleftis could, but from what I'd seen it had been enough to hold his own against four. Luck may have contributed, but he'd still broken through a wall of Fire and come out the other side unscathed.
And here he sat advising the Prince of Pyrkagia on a planned coup.
I did not know him at all. It was hard not to feel betrayed at that thought, even though I'd begun to consider his actions not so much betrayal as protection and maybe a kind of survival. Both I could respect.
But still that realisation that he was not who I thought him hurt.
When would the aching stop?
"There is unrest," Theo agreed. "Many have seen what we have suspected for so long. We need eyes and ears on the ground in Auckland before we can make an educated assessment, but my mind is set. My father cannot live to do what he has done again and again. For centuries he has ruled in a manner unbecoming our kind. He sealed his fate when he took my Thisavros and stole her from my memory. Aetheros may have other concerns, but mine are more visceral." He slapped his chest once to prove his point. "I must avenge Pyrkagia."
It was an impressive speech, and pointing out I wasn't considered Pyrkagia by his people was probably not appropriate right now. Theo looked like the world had come to rest on his shoulders. And who could argue that fact? He had just announced his intention to not only kill his father, but in the process place his head under the crown.
As much as I wanted to remind him of my Pyrkagia issues, my voice was unsurprisingly lost.
"This is a dark day," Aktor murmured. "But after darkness comes light. You have my allegiance. Always."
He bowed his head and then turned back to the meal he was preparing as though what was said was said. But the heaviness that invaded the room pressed down on my chest and made it hard to breathe.
Nico was the one to break the silence.
"And where does the Alchemist fit into this?" he asked, eyes on my brother, who was making a meal of the leftovers and following them down with a shot of ouzo.
Direct from the bottle.
Isadora frowned at his lack of manners, and from the quirk of his lips it was obvious he'd done it with the intention of exacting a response from her and no one else.
"He does not have a free pass," Theo advised. "And I will refrain from giving him one until I am sure all he has imparted is indeed correct. But," again Theo's eyes darted towards me, "he knows things about this upcoming Genesis that we do not. Perhaps a truce could be called for the time being."
Mark didn't stop stuffing nuts into his mouth and didn't make eye contact with anyone around the table, as though he was quite content to be the topic of conversation and at ease with Theo's veiled threats.
I wasn't as circumspect as Theo.
"I certainly don't trust him," I announced and every head, including Mark's, lifted to my face.
"Cassandra?" Theo pressed.
I held Mark's slightly widened eyes with a steely gaze of my own.
"Forgiveness is earned," I murmured.
"I'll earn it," he vowed immediately.
I didn't know what to say. Everything was changing. My world view. My memories of growing up with a loving brother. My love life. My future. It was all changing and the only feeling I had was chilled.
I felt deeply cold. Right in the centre of me. Right where my heart lived and my body drew strength from. The world was imbalanced to such a degree that disasters were occurring across the globe. And if that wasn't enough the man I loved more than life itself, who couldn't remember why he'd earned that love, was preparing to do battle with his family.
How do you stage a dethroning? How do you battle a powerful race of beings in order to replace their King?
My eyes flicked up to Theo's finally. I held his steady, weary hazel gaze. No matter what happened, I knew one thing to be true. I would follow this man into hell. Despite our unresolved issues. Despite the precarious position of our relationship. Despite everything.
I would follow him into hell.
Because even though this was not my Theo, deep down I knew my Theo must still exist.
How could he not? When I felt so drawn to him. How could he not? When I'd take whatever he offered, in any way, shape or form. How could he not? When to look at him the world disappeared and all I could see was that amber and jade in his eyes. All I could feel was the heat in his gaze. All I wanted was him.
It wasn't perfect. It wasn't, ultimately, what I wanted. I still wanted my Theo back.
But it was what it was... and I was his.
Whatever version of Theo this was, I was still his.
Even if he wasn't the version of Theo I craved.
"Oraia," he murmured, as the smells of whatever Aktor was cooking filled the kitchen and voices rose in quiet conversation allowing us a moment of privacy.
I could see his desire. I could see his intention to get me up to that bedroom and onto his bed. I could see the night before us as clear as day, and it was skin on skin, lips and tongues and teeth, and this man who called to me despite everything moving inside me, claiming me. Even if it was the me he knew now and not the me who used to mean everything to him as well.
It hurt still.
Remember me.
His eyes closed as though in pain. As though he'd heard my mental plea. His jaw flexed, a muscle jumped in his cheek. My heart ached.
And then the Earth groaned, a mournful, desperate sound that preceded the End Of Days.
It hadn't begun. We'd been so wrong.
Genesis started with a rock and a roll, a thunderous boom, and the lights all going out.
And it swelled with a lurch and a stomach churning shift of tectonic plates and a shudder of the ground beneath the city, hell even the country, moving a meter or two on a rebounding wave.
The table hit the ceiling, screams rang out on the air, and every single window in the house shattered. Walls swayed, cupboard doors banged, and then with a high pitched moan the house began to crumble.
Theo yelled something. Nico screamed for Sonya. I couldn't see Mark or Isadora or Aktor.
Then as the ceiling caved in and the world turned upside down and Wellington city was thrown into a murky type of artificial twilight, I felt Theo's hand grip mine as he struggled to pull me toward a gap in the side of the kitchen that hadn't been there a second before, and led me out blindly into the depths of hell.
Smoke and sirens and screaming and wailing and thunderous booms and crashing bangs and screeching metal as it twisted... and the sky falling down.
Stop! I yelled at the Earth.
And then I knew true fear.
Because the Earth wasn't who answered back. The thunderous voice which did reply filled my body up and then pushed for more space inside my skull until I felt blood drip from my nose and ears, and my skin split under my hairline where bone pulled apart.
And in a resonant boom of authority and a chilling, body freezing type of terror-filled tone it said, Aether. Aether. Oh, my Aether. Now it begins.
Chapter 11
Make Me Remember
"Casey! Casey!"
The bed was rolling, like one of those waterbeds, making you feel vaguely seasick.
Or maybe that was the ouzo. How much had I had to drink last night?
"Casey, wake up!"
I tried to stretch but my entire body hurt. A moan escaped as I corrected my mistake and curled into a ball.
"Oraia, wake up."
"No," I mumbled, thinking I might just vomit if I opened my eyes. "Go away!"
"She always was a grouch first thing in the morning," I heard my brother say.
What was he doing in our bedroom?
"Well, it's not the morning and I need her to tell us what the Earth has to say," came Theo's snapped and borderline desperate answer.
"You just want to make sure she's not been lobotomised," Mark offered considerately.
"You're not helping," Nico chimed in.
"Is she going to be all right?" Sonya asked. "There was a lot of blood." Her voice trailed off on the last word.
"She's tougher than she looks," Isadora grumbled. "Believe me, if she was easy to..."
"Stop!" Theo yelled. "Or so help me, Dora."
"Yes, yes, you'll take her head," Mark remarked breezily. "Heard it all before, Your Uptightness."
"Are you not in the least worried about your sister?" Nico queried, with obvious disdain.
A short pause. "No," Mark said quietly. "She's immortal, isn't she?" The lie was in the delivery. I may have thought my brother had become someone I didn't know, but I did know his tones of voice and mannerisms intimately.
Right now he'd be reclining in some fashion, effecting a disinterested pose, and chewing on that bottom lip with frantic worry. I lifted heavy lids and searched until I found him, a vague outline of relaxed muscles and hard body, his eyes looking directly into mine as though he hadn't been able to look anywhere else until I woke.
"Hi," I croaked.
"Thank Aetheros," Theo murmured, running a hand down my arm and back up again. "Where does it hurt most?" he asked, voice strained.
"Someone hit me in the head with a two-by-four and someone else must have driven a cement mixer over my body to make sure the job was done right."
Oh, too many words. I gagged on the bile that surged up my throat.
"Easy," Theo whispered.
It took a minute for easy to register.
"Where are we?" I asked, noticing for the first time that the floor was hard and the walls had cobwebs and the roof looked like tin.
"The garden shed," Aktor replied. "Somehow it survived the earthquake when nothing else did."
Earthquake. Oh, it all came back to me. I sat up, holding my freaking agony-filled head and moaning.
"Cassandra," Theo pleaded, reaching for me and pulling me back against his body, so I was semi-reclined.
It did feel better.
"Earthquake," I managed to get out on a hiss of pain as my body resettled. But at least I was facing everyone else. Who on closer inspection didn't look nearly as bad I felt. "Why do you guys look unharmed? Did something fall on me?"
"No," Theo whispered, kissing the side of my head softly, while his hand kept up a soothing rhythm up and down my arm.
It helped.
"We all got out," he explained, "but you fell unconscious not long after and had what looked like a seizure. Do you remember anything?"
I closed my eyes and although I just knew it was going to hurt like a bitch I called out to Earth.
Are you there?
Aether, came the whispered reply. And thank you, God, it was not the chilling one of before but my favourite, sometimes riddle-loving Stoicheio. Although, it sounded wounded.
Not good.
My eyes opened again to the strange dimness in the shed. It held a sort of orange glow, but no one was calling forth their Fire.
"Earth is injured," I stated simply.
"Fire is not much better," Nico replied.
I hadn't even tried to reach for Pyrkagia, it took it out of me to search for my Gi. I wondered how Air and Water had fared.
"Mark?" I asked, before forcing myself to check on Aeras.
"Nero is harmed as well," my brother announced.
OK. I had to do this, but the ringing in my head had intensified and it was all I could do not to pant.
Closing my eyes again, I sucked in a breath of air and...
"Don't you dare," Theo growled low, hand on my chin, tilting my face up to his.
My eyes opened.
"It's obvious all Stoicheio have been compromised, we don't need you to confirm Air has been as well."
The breath I'd sucked in left me in a relieved rush.
"So, what happened?" I asked, once my pulse had settled somewhat.
"Genesis happened," Mark advised.
"How bad?" I pushed.
"From what we can tell," Theo answered, "the city has been practically levelled."
Silence followed those words. Deep, tragic, heavy, frigh
tening silence.
Oh, freaking hell. End Of Days was perhaps an apt description.
"Just us?"
"All communications are down," Aktor advised. "Even the Civil Defence radio channel hasn't activated, but we are sure it will do so in due course."
"Humans will need time to scramble their defences," Isadora added. "It is Pyrkagia that I am worried about."
You can exile the Pyrkagia from Pyrkagia, but you can't stop them loving the place to death.
"So, what do we do?" I asked, the all important question.
"Night is upon us," Aktor said. "Tomorrow we head out and see what state the world is in."
"For now," Theo announced. "We take watches in shifts."
"Watches?" I asked, dumbfounded.
"Great times of tragedy bring out the worst in some," Aktor replied. "How often have we seen looters on TV screens when tornadoes hit cities, or atrocities performed when the authorities are dealing with life and death elsewhere? We must be prepared."
This wasn't happening.
Earth? A whimper was all I got in reply.
How the hell did we fight this? An unseen enemy that compromised us.
"Shhh," Theo murmured against my skin. "We are alive. We are together. Tomorrow we take stock of our surroundings and provisions, and only then do we confront the battle ahead."
Because it was going to be a battle. Somehow I knew that already, despite having never had to face a challenge like this before.
And suddenly it put everything into perspective.
Theo was holding me. Kissing me, soothing me with a soft stroke of his hand. My brother was here. Sonya, my best friend was safe. Even Aktor and Nico were still breathing. And, I told myself, that there would be ample opportunity in the days ahead for Dora to get whacked on the head by a stray looter. So, all in all, we were OK.
But more than that. The struggles of the past few months seemed insignificant. The Rigas' pursuit of dissecting me; figuring out what made me tick. My ill treatment at psychotic, butchering hands. The unfairness of losing what Theo and I had once had. And the realisation of what had taken its place was harder to accept than it should have been. It was insignificant in the scheme of things now.
I could love this Theo. I could let him love the me he knew. As long as we were both alive.
The Chilling Change Of Air (Elemental Awakening, Book 3) Page 11