The Order of the Elements 01 - Breaking Point

by Jess Bowen

  Evan and Jared clenched their fists tightly. Evan even took a couple steps toward the door. His temper was probably about as unstable as Phoebe’s at that moment. Cynthia’s figure went rigid, and Lucy frowned.

  Cassius nodded. “Is that everything?” The tone he used indicated that he knew there was more she wasn’t saying.

  Phoebe sighed. “No, she was also thinking about…she and Dorian…celebrating my…demise. Again, very vividly.” Phoebe had worded her sentence carefully, but there was no need.

  If he hadn’t been supporting Phoebe, Ethan was positive that Dorian would have left right at that moment to kill Kali himself. His eyes flashed, and his hands started shaking. Phoebe took her hands from Lucy and Cynthia and held Dorian’s securely. “You’ll do no such thing,” she said firmly.

  Apparently Ethan was right. He knew Kali didn’t know Phoebe’s talent, but still, to imagine something so grotesque was unsettling. Was she so intent on Dorian that she would do whatever it took to get him? Was Phoebe’s life in danger? No, he was sure she would be safe. Dorian would never let anything happen to her. But what about the rest of them? How far was Kali willing to go? He glanced at Lucy. She looked very troubled. Would she be the next target of Kali’s one track mind?

  No, I don’t think so. Kali may be vile, but her focus is on Phoebe and Dorian. They’re the ones who need to be worried, Lucy thought.

  Even so, I won’t let anything happen to you.

  Ethan reached across the dais and took her hand. She scooted around until she was leaning against him with her head on his shoulder. He instantly felt better about her safety. She was where she was supposed to be, safe with him.

  Dorian shifted, and Phoebe looked alarmed. “Dorian, no. Please. I need you here.”

  Dorian looked down at Phoebe’s face. Apparently whatever he had decided to do had been put off. He settled back into his original position and pulled Phoebe closer to him. Satisfied, Phoebe turned to Cassius. “What happened?” she asked.

  Ethan could tell her reserve of energy was draining as she settled back into Dorian’s chest. Her eyes slid out of focus again, and she closed them, though she was still listening. Cassius explained his theory to Phoebe slowly. He answered all her questions, and her expression became more troubled as Cassius continued. When he finished talking, the room became silent for a few minutes.

  Phoebe sighed. “They all hate me now, don’t they, or are at least scared to death of me. How am I supposed to help if something like this is going to happen to me? Is there one part of my life here that Kali won’t destroy?” She spoke her last sentence so quietly that Ethan wasn’t even sure she meant to say it out loud.

  Cassius frowned. “Everyone is a bit uneasy, and unfortunately, I cannot completely explain what happened because that would mean telling everyone about your talent, which I do not think is a wise idea. However, there are ways to earn their trust again, and the time will come for that. And there is a way to prevent this from happening again without inhibiting your ability to use your talent.”

  Evan spoke up. “What do you mean? Is there a way to control her talent?”

  Cassius returned to his book. “There is an elixir in here that will prevent you from feeling emotions and hearing thoughts unless you are specifically using your talent to do so.”

  Cynthia looked confused. “Why didn’t you give it to her in the first place?”

  Cassius now looked ashamed of himself. “I thought I could help her to control it without the elixir, but it is clear now that was a mistake, and I have expected far too much. No one with this talent has ever been able to use it effectively without the elixir. With hers being so much more powerful, I should never have taken the chance. Phoebe is strong, but even the best of us fall now and then. I also failed to take into account Kali’s ability to bring out strong emotions in those around her.”

  “Dorian,” Phoebe warned in answer to some thought the rest of us couldn’t hear.

  Cassius sighed. “I will deal with Kali. Jared and Evan, if you are up to it, I would like to ask you to go to the infirmary and bring the witches here. I will need them to make the elixir. Phoebe, you will need to take this every six weeks to maintain its effectiveness. I know you are exhausted, so I want you to rest now. I have called off classes for the next week to give you all time to recuperate.”

  24. Realization

  It was clear that they were being dismissed from Cassius’s office for the time being. Phoebe nodded in acknowledgment of Cassius’s instructions before Dorian shifted quickly and stood with Phoebe cradled in his arms. Evan and Jared each wished her well before heading back to the infirmary. Dorian walked with Phoebe to a wing of the Annexus Ethan wasn’t familiar with.

  “Where are you taking her?” he asked as Dorian walked away.

  He didn’t stop walking, so Ethan matched his pace to keep up with him. He heard Lucy and Cynthia fall into step behind him. “To my room. I would like to keep an eye on her,” he replied.

  “Why?” Ethan pressed.

  Dorian turned his head. He looked irritated. “I would like to make sure she rests and remains safe.”

  “Are you sure that’s advisable?”

  What’s wrong with you? She’ll be perfectly fine with Dorian, Lucy asked, breaking into his thoughts.

  “What do you mean?” Dorian asked roughly. He was clearly not happy about Ethan’s line of questioning.

  “Well, you are the source of a fair amount of stress when it comes to Phoebe. Perhaps it would be better if she were with us.”

  Oh, I see; this is bringing out your family protection instinct. But I don’t think it’s a good idea to provoke him. He really will keep Phoebe safe, Lucy said as she sifted through his thoughts.

  Dorian stopped and turned to glare at Ethan. Perhaps Lucy was right; provoking Dorian was probably not a wise idea. “Don’t think for one second that I do not blame myself for what happened. I should never have allowed them so close to each other, but everyone insisted on a regular tournament.” His expression became fierce. “I will keep her safe, no matter anyone else’s opinion.”

  “So will I.”

  “Ethan,” Phoebe said softly. “I’ll be fine, really. Go get some rest.” He could barely hear her by the time she quit speaking.

  She needed to rest, so he let her go with Dorian. Before he even walked away, Ethan was sure Phoebe was deeply asleep.

  “Can we come see her later?” Cynthia asked before Dorian rounded a corner.

  He nodded. “When she’s up for visitors, I’ll send someone to tell you.”

  Dorian turned and continued on with Phoebe. Ethan watched the empty hallway anxiously for another minute before Lucy broke into his thoughts.

  “She’s going to be fine, Ethan,” she said softly, her voice a low hum.

  Cynthia shook her head. “I don’t know about that. Kali is being more difficult than I could have imagined possible, especially for a daughter of a Guardian.”

  “I don’t get it. Why can’t she just give up on Dorian? I think it’s pretty obvious who he prefers, isn’t it?” Ethan asked as Lucy finally steered him in the direction of their rooms.

  Cynthia shrugged. “I know people from the Cove can be difficult, but she’s going above and beyond the normal air of superiority that everyone is used to. She almost acts like Dorian is her property or something, like she owns him.”

  “So what are we going to do?” Lucy asked.

  “We’re going to keep them apart, of course. I’m sure Dorian will maintain, if not widen, the gap between the two of them, so it probably won’t be too difficult. Who knows, maybe he’ll even pull Phoebe out of the training arena completely and train her one-on-one,” Cynthia suggested.

  That was definitely a possibility. It probably wasn’t a bad idea, either. Ethan didn’t think Phoebe and Kali could get along even if they actually tried. “Knowing Dorian, he may do just that.”

  They headed back to their room to sit out the rest of the day. The storm was still a
wful outside, so there wasn’t much else to do. Jared and Evan returned a little over an hour later. On the rare occasions that they had both free time and the energy to do anything, Lucy, Cynthia, Jared, and Evan liked to pick Ethan’s and Phoebe’s brains about everything in the Realm of Non-Magic. Phones and televisions had already been thoroughly covered, and they were now interested in cars.

  Lucy never really said much during these times because she could see all the images in Ethan’s thoughts, and therefore, it was easier for her to figure out how they worked. Even so, she usually paid attention, but for the rest of that evening she seemed distracted. Ethan would have explored her thoughts, but everyone kept him very busy with questions, and he couldn’t concentrate long enough to catch the drift of what she was thinking about.

  They waited for a message from Dorian to arrive. Ethan wasn’t very hopeful. Jared and Evan had said that Dorian wouldn’t even let them wake Phoebe up to give her the elixir. He had promised that he would give it to her when she woke up, and he was sure that wouldn’t happen before morning. Lucy remained quiet and thoughtful the rest of the evening, and when she left to go to bed, she was so focused on going to sleep that Ethan couldn’t get anything more from her.

  He was mystified. He had no idea why she was being so quiet. She wasn’t usually very vocal, but she spoke to him quite a lot through their connection. This was the first time he could remember her keeping her thoughts to herself. There were some things he couldn’t hear in her thoughts due to the ban—those were the things she wasn’t allowed to tell him—but she had never before intentionally kept him out.

  He wasn’t able to ponder it for long. The long hours of the day caught up with him, and he fell asleep quickly. Just like any other night, he spent a few minutes in the darkened and empty garden. He traveled the familiar pathways to the fountain in the middle and sat down on the bench. The blond haired woman wasn’t there, and he fell deeper into sleep.

  The next morning, Ethan was surprised to wake up and find the sun streaming in through the window in the sitting room. He ran over to look out, and sure enough it was dazzlingly beautiful outside. He then realized that the reason he had woken up in the first place was clinging to his arm.

  “Sorry about that,” he muttered as he gently took the gnome from his arm and set him on the table.

  The gnome looked very relieved to be back on his feet. Ethan had to sit down on the chair in front of the table to be able to see the tiny visitor properly.

  “Oh, no, sir, you do not need to apologize. I am the messenger Link. I should have waited until you were awake to deliver my message!” the wide-eyed little gnome squeaked in a thick accent Ethan couldn’t decipher.

  “Link, huh?” Ethan said. “You have a message?”

  Link didn’t move. If anything, his eyes went wider still. Ethan panicked for a minute. “I’m sorry, did I say something wrong?”

  Link shook his head quickly, which caused his ears to flap from under the little plaid beret he was wearing. Ethan would have laughed, but he didn’t want to offend the tiny creature. “No, sir, not wrong. You are only the second human to address me by name, sir. I am honored!”

  “Only the second human? Who was the first?”

  This gnome didn’t look that young; surely someone had been kind enough to call him by his name before. Although, now that Ethan thought about it, this was the first time he had ever spoken to a gnome. As far as he knew from what Jared and Evan had told him, gnomes couldn’t even talk. Not in English, anyway. They had their own kind of communication system but they never spoke to humans. So the fact that one was speaking was enough to surprise Ethan into stupidity.

  “Miss Phoebe was first, sir. Miss is very kind to me. Always asking me how my day is and how I am doing. Miss was not happy at all about my errand. Miss says I need a break. I don’t mind, though.” Link spoke of Phoebe with reverence befitting that of a god.

  “Phoebe sent you? Is she awake, then? How is she doing? Can we go see her?” Feeling a little overly enthusiastic, Ethan nearly headed out the door right then.

  Obviously Kali couldn’t have had that bad of an effect on Phoebe if she was not only awake, but able to calm the storm and worry about the tasks of a gnome, perhaps even teach it English.

  Link shook his head. “Sir Dorian sent me with the message. Miss insisted that she was fine to walk, but Sir made her stay. Sir told me to tell you that you are allowed to see Miss Phoebe now.”

  Of course Phoebe would insist on walking. Was there no end to her stubbornness? Ethan internally sighed. “Thank you, Link, for the message. It was very nice to meet you.”

  Link’s face turned beet red, and he jumped off the table and disappeared out the door in less than a second, holding on to his beret as he ran. Gnomes were able to move extremely fast. Jared and Evan both jumped up as the door slammed.

  “What’s goin’ on?” Evan said, tensed for battle with his eyes still closed.

  Ethan rolled his eyes. “Nothing. Dorian sent us a message saying we were allowed to go see Phoebe now.”

  Lucy? he added in his thoughts.

  She was still half-asleep. Got it. We’ll be ready to go in an hour, she replied.

  Evan shook himself awake and stretched. “Let’s just hope none of us run into Kali at the festival later.”

  Ethan groaned. He had totally forgotten that the Earth Festival was today. He couldn’t even imagine facing everyone after what had happened.

  Jared smiled. “Got to go, mate. It’s all for you now.”

  Wonderful. If there was one thing Ethan was looking forward to less than having to go to the festival today, it was having to go to the festival and be honored or whatever it was they would do. He briefly wondered if he could upset Phoebe enough to get a decent storm going. Dorian would probably kill him, but… No, he decided, nothing would be worth causing Phoebe more distress.

  Ethan slowly got dressed and ate breakfast before everyone was ready to go. Shade was irritated at being pent up for so long, so Ethan released him. He was just finishing growing in his golden flying feathers. They shimmered in the sunlight as he stretched. He was positively the most beautiful companion, or wild animal for that matter, that Ethan had ever seen.

  Ethan, Jared, Evan, and their companions all headed out into the hallway to meet with the girls and their companions. Upon seeing one another, all five creatures flitted off to race each other to their destination.

  Lucy was still very distracted. This was getting out of hand. Ethan quickly searched through his memories of the previous day for what he could have done that would make her quit speaking to him. The only thing he could think of was their match. He was going to have to challenge her to a rematch even though he didn’t really want to. Seeing her like that, thinking of her as the enemy, was very difficult. She was too beautiful, too perfect, and he loved her too much to be able to see her that way. But if it would get her to speak to him again, he would do it. That was ironic, considering how yesterday he would have traded the match for the silence. Now he was planning a rematch to end the silence. Whatever made her happy—happy and safe.

  Ethan could not handle the distance between them. She was only two feet away, but it seemed like much more. He wound his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Her thoughts moved even faster, and she didn’t even look up at him. He had no idea what was going on.

  Jared knocked on Dorian’s door. As soon as it opened, Cynthia edged in the door, as did Bree. Both headed for the large bed in the middle of the room, and Phoebe smiled widely. Bree jumped and shrunk to land on the bed next to Sapphire. Cynthia bounced on the bed and hugged Phoebe tightly. Dorian huffed impatiently.

  “Oh, lighten up, Dorian. I’m fine,” Phoebe said as she peered around Cynthia.

  Dorian didn’t say anything, but sat on the bed next to her and pulled her against his side. Phoebe settled herself there. She still looked very weak. Her skin was pale, and she had black circles under her eyes. Her movements were slow, and when
she leaned against Dorian, she very much looked like she needed the support. Ethan smirked at the thought that she’d told the gnome she could walk. The rest of them settled along the edges of the bed, and Lucy leaned up to hug Phoebe before settling back into Ethan’s chest.

  “So, how are you feeling? Did you get to take the elixir? And don’t tell me you’re fine; you can barely sit up,” Ethan said quickly.

  Phoebe smiled. “I really am fine; I’m tired, but no lasting damage. The elixir helped a lot. I can’t feel anything, unless I try, of course, which is really nice. I don’t feel like I have a soap opera playing in my head anymore. Although, it tasted awful.” She shuddered at the memory of the foul-tasting liquid.

  Ethan rolled his eyes. Evan opened his mouth, undoubtedly to ask what a soap opera was, before Jared cut him off. “So, that’s it then? That can never happen again? Or is it just less likely?”

  Phoebe looked up at Dorian.

  “It can if she lets it. Or if she quits taking the elixir and gets angry enough, it can happen again. The problem is we don’t know if it’s more likely to happen again after it’s happened once. Nobody has any experience with someone who’s been brought back as successfully as Phoebe has.” Dorian’s arm tightened around her.

  “What happens now?” Ethan asked.

  Phoebe frowned and Dorian replied. “She’s being pulled out of group training, of course. You all are. We have the scout coming out of isolation in another week or so, and I’m going to have him help me with your training.”

  “I told you that’s not necessary. I don’t want special treatment, Dorian. I want to go back to regular training,” Phoebe said stubbornly.

  Ethan immediately protested, and he wasn’t the only one.

  “No,” he said.

  “Are you kidding?” Evan exclaimed.

  “Absolutely not,” Jared said firmly.