TERRA (The Elements Series Book 2)

by Tracy Korn

  "Bale muffins today," she says abruptly in her regular voice, then narrows her round doe eyes at me before she lets them dart to Vita, who is putting little muffins into stone bowls. I shake my head just a little…confused, until I realize she's trying to avoid us being overheard. When she's sure Vita isn't listening, she leans in again and offers me a bowl. "He was already in the Origin Wall room when curfew lifted this morning…only Council members, Kora, or I can go in there so early, but when I tried to tell him that, it's like he couldn't hear me…he was talking to someone who wasn't there about you."

  "About me?" I ask. "What did he say?" I add, a little too loudly, apparently, as Arco walks up behind me and puts his arm around my shoulder. He kisses my cheek as he steals one of the little muffins from the bowl I'm holding, then looks around for one of his own.

  "What did who say?" he asks, popping the muffin into his mouth, and Myka stiffens. Arco raises a heavy eyebrow at her as he chews, then looks at me and raises the other.

  "It's OK if he knows," I say quietly with a nod to Myka, then watch her delicate shoulders relax as she exhales.

  "He was…angry," she adds under her breath, and I feel the wave of her fear push over me like a sheet of ice.

  "Who was angry?" Arco asks just after he swallows, concern spreading over his face and forcing a crease between his eyes. Myka looks at me apologetically as Vita gives her a steely sideways look and clears her throat.

  "Sorry, I have to go," she says, then takes a few bowls from the ground and helps Vita fill them with muffins. I blow out a breath, torn between excitement that Liddick must have been talking to Azeris somehow, and guilt because I know he was angry because of me.

  "Jazz?" Arco says, startling me out of my thoughts, then shakes his head impatiently when I don't answer right away. "What is she talking about? Did something happen this morning? You were gone when I woke up."

  "I fell asleep up on the Lookout Pier last night," I say, spotting Jove talking with Cal and Veece at the opening of the Swim. Arco starts choking on his muffin as I set my bowl down and get ready to head toward them. He clears his throat to stop himself from coughing, then catches my elbow.

  "Wait…" he coughs once more, then clears his throat again. "The Lookout Pier is open to the Rush, Jazz…to those zephyr things," he says, his brows darting in on the last words.

  "I didn't plan to fall asleep up there…"

  "How did that even happen when you'd already fallen asleep next to me?" he asks. I sigh as I turn back toward the Swim, knowing I'll just have to tell him about practicing…and about Liddick.

  "I've been getting up the last few nights to train with my fire after curfew," I say, turning back to him and stopping. His eyebrows jump as he opens his mouth to reply, but I hold up a hand to stop him. "I know, I know it's open to the elements and whatever else is airborne in the Rush; you don't have to the circle arena first, but General was posted out there with Jesse. They wouldn't let me pass," I explain, but Arco's expression doesn't change.

  "Well, no—not with that worm threat and the tunnel sharks. Why would you risk that?" he asks, shaking his head in bewilderment.

  "Because I have to be able to control myself," I say, turning from him to head toward the opening to the Swim again. "I can't go out there without knowing I can do that, Arco."

  "Jazz, will you wait?" he calls to me as I pass Jove, Cal, and Veece.

  "I can't get swept up and lose sight of everything," I add, then step over the threshold to the Swim chute.

  CHAPTER 37

  Threshold

  General and Jesse are still on watch when Arco and I climb out from the bottom of the dark chute. Jesse glares at us, making me stop in my steps until I realize he's actually looking at the two boys, one tall, blond Badlander and one shorter Vishan, who come out after we do.

  "Finally! You're late," he growls, looking down the narrow bridge of his nose at them.

  "Sorry, sorry," the tall blond one laughs, "but Wade was just—"

  "Why do you think I care?" Jesse says, pushing his hands over his face and into his short, brown hair before he fixes his dark eyes on mine, then gestures over his shoulder to the stone path that leads to the circle arena. "Jove said to wait in there until he comes to send you off. Should be any minute. Is there any food left up there?" he asks, but doesn't wait for me to answer before he turns to go, slapping General on the shoulder.

  "Right behind you," General says in a low voice that reverberates all around him. His golden eyes flash, and again, I'm reminded of Mr. Tark. "Good luck out there," he adds with a smile to us that stands out against his dark skin.

  He adjusts the wide leather strap across his broad chest, the V-neck opening of his dingy, white knit pullover stretched beyond buttoning, and a long, wooden club shifts behind his back. He's even bigger up close, I think as he nods to us, then follows Jesse through the fissure at our side.

  "Thanks," Arco says, returning his nod, then looks back at me. "What's going on with you? What was all that up there about not losing sight of everything?" he asks, the greenish torchlight casting shadows over the sharp angles of his face as we head down the stone path to the circle arena.

  "Nothing," I say, already having forgotten our conversation as the reality of finally leaving for the Rush hits me even harder now that I can hear the winds crashing against the other side of the dark rock face all around us. "Do you hear that? The opening to the Bale field is just up there," I add, looking behind us at the rise that climbs up and out into the grain stalks.

  "Should be interesting heading out," he answers, darting a glance over his shoulder at the source of the sound. "But Dell said the zephyrs would be less likely to see us in the storm," he adds pushing an overgrown lock of sandy, wavy hair out of his eyes. "Anyway, what's wrong?" he presses, and I blow out a breath.

  "I told Liddick. I told him that I love you," I say abruptly, then feel a tingle run down my spine and through my fingertips as I say the words again. "He read it in me, actually, and he didn't take it well…I still feel like someone shoveled a scoop out of my chest," I add, bringing a hand to the base of my sternum as I take in another breath. Arco nods slowly and tries to hold back the smile that threatens to break free at the corner of his mouth, but he can't keep it from touching his eyes, which flicker with the green-gold light of the torches all around us when he presses his lips together.

  "I imagine. That would wreck me to hear if things were reversed," he says after a pause, his voice low and soft. "What are you worried about losing sight of, though?" he asks again, then pushes hair from my shoulder and lets his fingers brush my cheek. I bring my hand to his and interlace our fingers, then try to gather the nerve to tell him what I should have told him several days ago as we walk toward the training circle.

  "Arco…it's harder to separate from Liddick now," I finally say, then clear my throat and take another breath as my stomach and chest suddenly tighten, and I know this is in response to how he's now feeling.

  "What does that mean?" he asks without looking over at me.

  "Ever since the treatments we've been able to, um…to feel how the other one is feeling. Physically, I mean. He felt my treatment like his was happening all over again," I say, but now Arco stays quiet, keeping his eyes forward as we walk between the long stone countertops of the Bale processing room, the walls showing dark, broken lines of the vein rock that run the length of the walls in the arena and the small corridor that precedes it.

  "So, you're even more connected to him now?" Arco finally says, his jaw muscles jumping as he presses his teeth together when I look up at him. I feel him fight to keep the accusation out of his voice as he lowers his chin, then turns to face me. His heavy brows pull in, and the dancing flecks of gold in his eyes that were just there have faded into the muted backdrop of dark green. "And it's been like this since your treatment?" he asks, which only increases the tightening in my chest.

  "I'm sorry I didn't tell you," I say. "I knew I could figure out how to untangle fr
om him—but I had to figure it out. I had to do it without being distracted by you worrying in the background because I didn't want that to be a crutch. Does that make sense? I didn't want feeling guilty about how you might react to be a reason I pulled away from him," I say, looking up at him and tightening my hold on his hand. He swallows and nods again after several more steps.

  "No, I get it," Arco says after a second more, but the heavy feeling in my chest all of a sudden tells me that he really doesn't get it.

  "Arco…it's not like that. How you feel matters to me, but I had to be sure there was nothing that I was burying," I add, and he pauses for a long time before responding.

  "Sorry…I shouldn't be so close to this edge—so afraid you'll decide it's just easier with him or something," he forces a chuckle and lowers his chin again.

  "I don't think easier is the word I'd use to describe any of this with Liddick," I say through a laugh that outruns my discretion. Arco's smiles broadly, then slows our pace and studies the ground for another second before finally looking up.

  "I guess part of me still doesn't believe you chose me," he nearly whispers, muffling another small laugh as we walk.

  "I didn't," I answer after another beat, then immediately feel a wall of ice push through my chest as his eyes dart to mine and his expression falls. I smile up at him. "I chose me."

  His lips quirk, and after a second more, the freeze in my chest melts away. He stops walking and brings his hand to my face, then pushes it through my hair as he brings his mouth to mine, his full lips warm and soft. His other arm moves around my waist and pulls me closer to him as everything inside me feels like it has been cut loose from the tethers that held it all in place. The sensation of it floating away makes it seem like I'm falling, but his arms are strong as I move my hands over the hard curves of his shoulders and let my fingers run through the curls at the nape of his neck. I feel him growl from somewhere in his chest as he pulls me even more tightly against him, which sends a jolt through me like it does every time he makes that sound.

  His hands move to my hips, his grip tightening as he pulls me closer, deeper into the kiss, but then he stops himself and holds me back a little, resting his forehead against mine as we both catch our breath. The muscles in his chest twitch under my hands, and when I let them slip to his torso, his stomach is also tensed and quivering.

  All at once, I want to see him, to feel his skin under my fingertips and hear his breath catch like it did when I was examining his ribs for injury when we first surfaced in the air bell cave a few weeks ago. The memory of his eyes following my every move sends a wave of heat through me, and the second I feel it, he takes a deep breath and tightens his hold on my hips again.

  He exhales slowly, controlled, and takes in another deep breath. I feel him wrestling with his restraint and watch his chest expand as another explosion of heat radiates through me, and in nearly the same moment he brings his mouth to mine again. I slip my fingers into the dive suit rigging loops around his hips and pull him toward me. His fingers wrap around my waist and push up to my ribs as he presses me against the wall and kisses me again, harder this time, until I feel him consciously slow down and relax his grip. He draws in a quick breath and brings his hands gently back to my face as his tongue coaxes mine...crite, he's a good kisser, I think absently as my stomach leaps and dives. In the next second, from nowhere, it feels like everything that had been floating away inside me crashes fast and hard into the stone ground, then shatters into a million pieces that tumble end over end, scattering into all the dark corners of the rock corridor. I break the kiss abruptly and stare up at him. His eyes are wide, reflecting my own confusion as well as his.

  "What happened? What's wrong?" Arco says, worry spreading over his face as his thumb strokes my cheek, searching for some external cause of my sudden shift. "Crite, Jazz, what is it?" he says more intently, raising his eyebrows in helplessness, and I remember his Empath Receiver latency…how he can pick up on strong feelings like this, though he can't tell the cause. "Are you…hurt?" he asks.

  Yeah, Liddick says in my mind, and it's so soft I question if it really is one of my own thoughts. I turn then and see him in the short corridor just before the circle arena several feet in front of us. He meets my eyes, his, a stormy sea gray in this light as they seem to be fighting collapse under the weight of his brows. He presses his lips together into a hard line and clenches his jaw. "Sorry…" he adds aloud, but under his breath, then clears his throat.

  "Liddick—" I start to say, but he just closes his eyes in a long blink and shakes his head a few times to stop me from saying anything else as he holds up a hand, which is electric with crackling static flashes of red flame that die as soon as they appear. He clenches both hands into fists as soon as he notices it, then drops them to his side as his knuckles turn white.

  "We're leaving as soon as Cal and Jove get here. We can't miss the storm," Liddick says when he opens his eyes again, then makes his way past us without looking at me. The empty feeling in my chest spreads and sharpens the closer he gets, then dissipates as he moves farther and farther away. Arco lets out a deep breath once he's sure Liddick is out of sight.

  "That came out of nowhere…that shift…the second he appeared," he says, looking down the corridor after Liddick. "I don't like him being able to transmit feelings like that to you…even I felt it that time. Are you OK?"

  "I'm fine," I nod, taking a deep breath as the suffocating pain in my chest starts to subside. "Except…Arco…we're the ones who made him feel like that. What you felt…what I felt was the backlash of him seeing us. It was because of me," I say as my throat starts to close, and I'm confused all over again when my eyes start to burn and blur with the threat of tears, which rise up in response to the shock of the last three minutes and also to the aftermath of the pain I know Liddick is still feeling. "I don't want to hurt anyone," I say, hearing my voice crack.

  Arco's arms wrap around me as he sighs.

  "It's not your fault. Liddick needs a hard line," he says into my hair as another gust of wind howls and throttles the rock face that separates us from the storm. "Better he sees it now than out there, too. Come on…"

  Arco pulls me in as we walk through the small, dark corridor and into the circle arena where Dell and Zoe are strapping on packs with everyone else from our group. Zoe angles her head at two more packs on the dark ground at her side, then meets my eyes and whispers.

  "Ready to go?"

  CHAPTER 38

  The Rush

  Jove, Veece, and Cal enter the circle arena a few minutes after Arco and I put on our canvas packs, which are full of small pouches that I didn't investigate, and a corked glass jar of foaming white water from the hot spring—this must be for us to what, pour over ourselves? To put on the bugs from the spring that Zoe said will help us get past the Bale field stalks? I scan for Liddick, but don't see him anywhere.

  We're all wearing our black dive suits, but Cal, Dell, and Zoe have long-sleeved brown leather shirts over the worn thermal ones they normally wear, as well as two straps around their legs, which hold a knife and a small leather pouch. Jove wears the same light colored tunic he wore the night of the Gathering for the younger Vishan when Liddick and I first arrived. His piercing blue eyes are narrowed, and my stomach clenches as he scans us all. I watch him cross to the center of the arena as a loud crash from beyond the walls makes everyone jump…the storm is getting worse.

  "At the behest of Cal and Dell, the Council began assembling your packs as soon as the storm started this morning," Jove starts, letting his eyes narrow just a little more as he darts a glance at Cal. "Inside them, you will find Avo paste for wounds, food, spring water to assist in passing the Bale stalks, and a Cycle stone to help you keep track of the days and nights, which are not reliable in the Rush," he adds, then lets his eyes fall to the ground as Tieg huffs a laugh and wrinkles his wide forehead.

  "Days and nights aren't reliable?" he asks, and Cal quickly looks up at him.

&nb
sp; "No," he says in a firm, even voice, locking eyes with Tieg. Jove takes a breath and raises his hands to stop any further exchange between them.

  "Understand, the biomes of the Rush are the templates for the surface world. They are concentrated and ungoverned…the original essence of everything you know, and everything you do not know yet," he says, folding his hands at his waist as he raises his chin to Tieg, then scans the rest of us again. I find Jax, who is already looking at me, his brown eyes focused and intense as he mouths the word breathe to me just like he did when we stood across from each other the morning of our interviews, lined up with our teachers on opposite sides of our school hallway. I nod back to him and take a deep breath. "We are not a confrontational people, so we will not stop you from going, as we did not stop Vox, but you must be aware that you are not simply entering a place of varying climates. the Rush is a living thing. It is the divine garden of the Motherland, the raw materials of the world above." Jove takes a step toward the rest of us like a lecturing teacher, and Myra feverishly begins twisting the tips of her long reddish-blonde hair around her fingers. "Enter it peacefully, or it will purify you," he nods once more to Tieg, and I feel the reverberation of the warning ripple over us as he turns the floor over to Veece. He's wearing the same lightly colored woven thermal as the rest of the younger people here wear—no leather shirt. He does not have a pack, and now I remember that he is not coming with us.

  "What is that supposed to mean?" Tieg speaks up again, this time with an irritated edge in his voice rather than mockery. "Purify us how?"

  "The Council does not think you will come back," Veece says, squaring his shoulders and lifting to his full height, which puts him at eye level with Tieg. "And while what my father just explained about the Rush is true, we have two reasons to believe you will make it," he adds, gesturing to Cal and then to Dell.