Elementris, Exposure, Eruption Box set: The Vangeretta Curse Series

by Christina Mobley

  “Um, yeah. I think so.”

  “No! That’s a horrible picture of you. Your hair was all like,” She threw her hands up, “Blahh, everywhere.”

  “Beside the point!” Ava said.

  “Okay, fine. It really was an awful picture though.” Brea smiled. “So cool, the bond does more than we first thought. I wonder what else you can do.”

  “No clue. At least I know he is okay now.” Ava paused and smiled at Brea, “I really am happy to see you’re okay too. I’m so glad you’re finally here.”

  Brea smiled, “Well you’ve got me for four weeks. You should feel privileged.”

  “Whatever,” Ava shook her head. “Come on; let’s go for a swim or something. I’m tired of being cooped up in this castle.” Ava kissed her finger tips, touched them to Alec’s picture on the nightstand, and followed Brea to the closet.

  …Lyssa…

  “Zack must really be mad at me. He didn’t tell me about the letter and he had to know how important it might be. Everything is such a mess.” Her legs burned and her heart was still pounding from all the running she had done. All she wanted to do now was rest. Lyssa carefully placed one foot on the stump by her bedroom window and pushed off the ground with the other. She slid in head first and the window sill dug into her stomach as she wriggled her way inside her room.

  Her bedroom door swung open and slammed against the wall. She looked up, halfway in and balancing herself in the window like a see-saw.

  “What in the world are you doing, Lyssa?” Dana asked.

  “Um,” she shifted, trying to scoot the rest of the way in, “Nothing.” She fell, and turned over quickly. “I was, um…,” she stood up, “talking to Zack.”

  “Well, close that window and pack your stuff!” Dana tossed her a bag, “We can’t stay here!”

  “What!?!” Lyssa caught the bag and put it on the floor so she could close the window, “Where are we going to go?”

  “The Hilton,” Dana smiled that thin-lipped smile Lyssa had grown to hate.

  “How?” Lyssa shook her head, “We don’t have any money.”

  “I’ll tell you when we get there,” she said. “We’ll wait until two or three this morning to leave. Those freaks can’t stay out there all night.” She paused like she wanted to add something else but with a curt, “Hurry up,” she left the room.

  Lyssa started to chase after her, then stopped. “It’s no use trying to talk to her,” she thought. She looked around the room, feeling overwhelmed by everything. Just packing a bag felt like an impossible challenge. “What the hell is Dana doing?” Suddenly she heard a tap on her window. “Zack!” Relieved, she went to open the window but the face looking back at her was definitely not Zack’s.

  “What the…?” Lyssa stumbled back and froze.

  “Shhh, don’t scream, Lyssa. It’s okay, I’m a friend.” He stepped into the light and Lyssa thought her heart would stop. She was so stunned she never gave a thought to whether or not she should run. If you could call a guy beautiful, this would be the one. He was seriously hot!

  He ran his fingers through jet black hair with one hand and gripped the window sill with the other. “Lyssa, please listen carefully. I just want to talk to you. I’m not a reporter.”

  “Who are you?” She whispered, totally distracted by his deep green eyes.

  He reached his hand out to her through the window, “I’m Alec.”

  Chapter Three…Back home

  …Ava…

  Brea inched into the water and spun around, “Do you ever miss it?”

  “What?”

  “Home, the river,” Brea bent and lifted a palm full of water and let it fall between her fingers. “It’s been a long time since you left there.”

  “It feels like forever,” Ava inched deeper into the water. “Don’t get me wrong, I love it here. I just…” She paused, “It still feels like a dream. It’s not so bad with you here and it’s actually amazing most of the time, but when Alec’s gone I worry about him. I feel like I don’t have anyone to help me with all of the decisions and stuff. I know he’s trying to protect me. I just don’t want anything to happen to him.”

  Brea shook her head, “Alec is tough, Ava. There has to be some reason he hasn’t come back yet. If something had happened to him, the other Clutch guards with him would have come back to tell you. You know he is okay right now and he’ll be back before you know it. I’m sure he took the best of the best with him.”

  “Yeah, Shawn’s with him. Bianca too, but I don’t really trust her yet.

  “Wait!” Brea’s eyes widened, “Bianca is with him!” She shook her head, “Why?”

  “She joined the Clutch.”

  “But she’s a girl!” Brea exclaimed.

  “Yeah.” Ava looked up, “She’s the first. She passed all of the tests, and went through all the training. She’s actually really good. Alec said she can hang with most of the guys with no problem.”

  Brea tilted her head, “Doesn’t that make you a little jealous? I mean, she always sort of acted like...,” Brea stopped.

  “What?”

  Brea looked up, “Like she had a thing for Alec.”

  “No,” Ava shook her head, trying to convince herself as much as Brea, “I don’t think so. They’re just friends. I mean, she saved us when she let Alec out of his cell and everything, she wouldn’t…,” Ava stopped, trying not to consider that.

  Brea shrugged, “Just keep your eye on her, Ava.”

  Ava felt the color drain from her face. She couldn’t bear the thought of Alec with someone else, especially Bianca. She was beautiful; in a completely different way than Ava. She was tall and model thin. She had this bad girl thing that a lot of guys liked. Ava shook her head and stared off at the clear blue water as the waves rolled in. A white cap broke and swooshed over her bare feet and she felt a chill worm its way up her spine. She couldn’t even think about another girl going after Alec.

  “Don’t worry, Ava,” Brea said. “Alec loves you. Even if she did try him, he wouldn’t go for it.”

  “Yeah,” Ava said really low. She used every muscle in her face to force a smile, “Tell me more about college. What were you trying to tell me in your last letter? I could barely read it. Who is Macy and what does she do with a baboon?”

  Brea laughed, “Maybe I should type my letters from now on.”

  “Yeah,” Ava smiled. “Maybe you should.”

  “Macy is my roommate and she’s dating this baboon. He sneaks in our room all the time and he makes a big mess and he’s loud. He’s a total jerk and he’s always hitting on me when Macy isn’t looking.”

  “Have you told her?”

  Brea looked down, shame replacing her normally bold stare, “No, I don’t know what to do. You know how it always turns around when you try to tell a girl that her boyfriend is hitting on you. Besides, Macy and I don’t know each other that well. Our class schedules are different so we don’t see each other that much. I don’t know what to do. I did tell him off of course, threatened to give him a John Donner.” Brea smiled.

  “I think you should tell her,” Ava said as she walked out of the water.

  Brea followed behind her, “I knew you would say that.” Brea folded her arms, “Would you really want to know?”

  Ava’s throat tightened, “I…,” “Would definitely want to know! No, I wouldn’t!” She swallowed, “I don’t know.”

  “See,” Brea ran her fingers though her hair and then pointed out across the water “What’s that?”

  Ava turned around quickly to look,. “Alec!?! No.” “It’s this shipwreck hunting company. Actually that guy I told you about, the one that washed up? That’s his boat. I just released him. I’m surprised they’re back already.” The white boat floated along the horizon only a few miles away from the island.

  “Can they see us?”

  “No.”

  Brea smiled a devious smile, grabbed the sides of her bikini bottom, and stuck her tongue out. “We should moon them.�
��

  “Don’t you dare, Brea!”

  Brea laughed, “Come on, it would be fun.”

  Ava laughed, “I’ve really missed you.”

  “I know,” Brea teased. “They really can’t see us though?”

  “No.” Ava reached down and grabbed her shoes, “But we have to be really careful coming and going from the island while they are out there. The last thing we need, with this Lyssa thing, is someone getting suspicious.”

  “Why would they get suspicious?”

  “Wouldn’t you? Seeing a bunch of different boats, coming from nowhere or disappearing suddenly, way out here?”

  Brea shrugged, “Yeah, I guess that might be a problem.”

  “I don’t think I can handle anything else right now.” Ava sighed. “Come on, let’s get back” She looked up at the clouds and their puffy white bottoms darkened and lightning flashed behind them. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her emotions. Sometimes being so connected to everything was hard. She had learned control for the battle, and somehow found her connection to the elements, but she had never realized what being connected to the elements would really mean.

  “You coming?” Brea asked. Concern laced her suddenly soft tone as a deep rumble of thunder rolled across the sky.

  “Yeah,” she said.

  …Lyssa…

  Lyssa paused before taking his extended hand, “Yeah, but who are you?” She watched him like she might watch a poisonous snake at her feet as she shook his hand. Beautiful or not, he was a stranger after all.

  “I’m…,” he hesitated and then brought his other hand up quickly to get a better hold on her hand through the window, “a Clutch guard in Ava’s Clutch.

  Lyssa threw a sharp, fiery glare at him and her breathing quickened as she pulled her hand free and got ready to run. She jumped up and headed towards the door.

  He was through the window and had tackled her to the floor before she could take her second step. He clamped one hand over her mouth and held her against the floor with the other.

  “Get off me!” She tried to sound commanding but the sound was muffled by his big hand. “Let go.” “I should have known they would come after me. Crap, crap, crap!”

  “Calm down,” he whispered. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

  She went still.

  “Are you going to be quiet now and stay still?”

  She nodded, eyes fixed on him.

  He slowly released his grip, “I just want to talk to you.” He paused, as if waiting for her to argue and then continued when she didn’t. “Actually, I want you to talk to someone else.”

  Chills raced up her arms, “Who?”

  “Ava Vangeretta, the True Elementris.”

  Lyssa skittered back from him, “No way, dude! I’ve heard about the island and about the prison. When people like us do bad things, we get locked away there!”

  “Lyssa,” he touched her shoulder, “calm down. You’re not in any trouble. I just want to take you to the island, let you see what you’re exposing.”

  “I can’t leave!”

  “We can help you. I don’t know why you’re doing this but whatever your reasons are, we can help you. There has to be another way to do whatever it is you need to do.” He stood and extended his hand, “Trust me, Lyssa. I only want to keep you and everyone else safe.”

  Lyssa looked at him, unsure what to do. “I can’t leave. People know about me now. I can’t just disappear.”

  “I can have you back by tomorrow. You’ve put yourself in danger, Lyssa. I’m trying to help you.” He extended his hand again, “Let me do that.”

  She looked down at his hand, wondering if she could really trust him. She had almost decided she could when someone else appeared at her window. It was a young guy. His eyes were a warm golden color and he had the same tattoo that Alec had. She instinctively moved closer to Alec as the guy came through the window.

  Alec took her hand again but this time his grip was hard. She tried to pull back as the other guy came over to stand beside her. She opened her mouth to scream as he reached out and touched her forehead, but before she could a warm feeling washed over her. The new guy was murmuring something. “What is he saying?” Whatever it was, it was definitely making her feel all warm and fuzzy. Then her eyes closed and she went to sleep.

  She woke up on a boat. She didn’t feel like she had been drugged. In fact, she felt pretty darn good, except for the fact that she was on a boat in what appeared to be the middle of the ocean. Looking around, she spotted Alec and immediately sat up. She was seriously pissed and ready to let the whole world know it. She scrambled to her feet. He would have to do instead.

  Seeing she was awake, and livid if her expression was anything to go by, Alec moved towards her, “Calm down, Lyssa.”

  “Calm down!” She shouted. “Are you kidding? What did you do to me?” She looked around realizing that there was a second boat just ahead of them. There was no sign of land anywhere. Her heartbeat thumped in her ears. “What the hell did you do to me? That guy; he’s one of you.”

  “He is a Clutch guard and he has the spirit element. He didn’t do anything to hurt you. He just put you to sleep.”

  “I’m not an animal. How is that possible?” She asked, trying to keep her footing on the fast moving boat.

  “Whoa.” Alec said as he helped her to sit, “You really need to calm down.” He waited patiently, “You are an animal.”

  “What?!” she tried to get up.

  She was so confused.

  Alec placed his hand on her arm again, effortlessly keeping her in her seat, “You are an animal. We all are. We are mammals. The spirit element works on us the same way it works on animals, just with less strength.”

  “Where’s the guy who put me to sleep?”

  “He’s on the other boat. We have a few spirit wielders with us. We don’t want to hurt you, Lyssa. I just need you to trust me.”

  “Fat chance.” She crossed her arms.

  A young, blonde haired boy, laughed behind her.

  She turned around and glared at him.

  He smiled.

  “That’s enough, Reid.”

  The boy shut right up, but his face turned red like he was mad.

  Alec spoke to Lyssa again, “You need to talk to Ava.”

  She looked around at the ocean and then looked back at

  Alec, “Fine. It’s not like I have much of a choice apparently.”

  Alec simply smiled, “Thank you, Lyssa. You’ll love her. She is amazing.”

  “We’ll see.” She bit her lip.

  He turned away and started talking to the blonde girl at the front of the boat. She had one of those tattoos too.

  The young boy took the seat Alec had vacated. “What’d you do?” he whispered.

  She rolled her eyes, “Nothing.”

  He nodded his head. “I joined the Waevern, but I think I’m going to give Clutch Guard a go.”

  Thinking he looked pretty scrawny compared to the guards she had seen so far, she laughed. “Don’t you have some more growing to do first?”

  “Dynamite comes in small packages.” He flicked his hand out and a flame burned around his fingertips. He rotated his hand back and forth, playing with it.

  Lyssa wasn’t impressed, “So, did they put you to sleep too?”

  “No, I got to see it all first hand.”

  “See what all, first hand?”

  “How the Clutch works. When the leader of the Waevern found out I had been talking to them he locked me up in the basement of the Waevern headquarters.”

  He lifted his chin towards the front of the boat. “My buddy, Alec, and my girl Bianca broke me out.” He looked up and winked at Bianca. She rolled her eyes and looked away. “They came in there ‘kicking butt and taking names.’ It was awesome. Alec got cornered by three of the Waevern and didn’t even flinch when he got that slice down his cheek. It was so cool. I looked right at him, when they pulled me out of there and said, ‘Teach me.’�
�� He lifted his chin, trying to look manly.

  “So what’s your story, sweetheart?” he asked.

  “I’m not your sweetheart. You’re like what, eleven?”

  “Thirteen and a half.” He said defensively.

  Lyssa laughed.

  “Look, there’s the storm.” He said pointing ahead.

  Lyssa looked up. The skies ahead appeared black. Lightning flashed through them and thunder boomed all around them. The horizon looked like a solid wall of gray as the rain fell from the sky to join the sea. Their boat was headed right into it. She swallowed hard and braced for the storm.

  …Ava…

  Ava woke up crying. She’d had a horrible nightmare. It wasn’t the nightmare that had haunted her since she was five. This was different. It had seemed so real. It had started out fine. She had finally reached Alec again. She really hoped not though. What she had seen had broken her heart; Alec, cradling Bianca in his arms. Ava wiped her tears away and rushed to the balcony hoping with all her might to see Alec’s boat coming on its way to the island. She needed reassurance, needed to know that she had simply had a bad dream. She saw the white boat floating closer to the island now, but there was no sign of Alec. Her shoulders slumped.

  “You’re finally up!” She heard Brea behind her.

  Ava spun, “Hey.”

  “We have so much to do,” Brea said excitedly.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The First Summer Moon Festival.” She shook her head, “Your birthday!”

  “Yeah, I sort of forgot.”

  Brea reached over and pulled Ava’s hair.

  “Ouch, what the hell was that?” Ava touched the sore spot on her scalp and rubbed it.

  “That was me waking you up. You have to snap out of this crap. I can’t stand it. Miss half-full cup and pocket full of sunshine, moping around. Not cool, girlie.”

  “And you thought pulling my hair would help?” Ava lifted a brow.

  “Yep.” Brea shrugged, “I learned it in my child psychology class.”

  “You’re learning to pull little kids’ hair?” Ava laughed.