Broken Elements (Elements, Book 1)

by Mia Marshall

  Even in my private journal, secrecy was too firmly ingrained in me to openly recount recent events, but even using coded language was enough to clear my mind. The longer I wrote, the calmer I felt, until I imagined an aura of perfect control surrounding me.

  Hesitantly, I put down the pen and reached out to the river behind us, pulling it up and out, stretching it like taffy. I could see it perfectly in my mind, the circle I was forming, making it spin faster and faster. I formed it into a cone, a perfect tornado of water. I drew this toward me over the land, soaking everything in its path, until it stood before the living room window, spinning easily in place.

  Grinning at my success, I inverted the cone and produced small globes of water on its surface, creating an unseasonal liquid Christmas tree. It was perfect. For that moment, I felt perfect. I asked the water to form waves five feet above the ground and sent it flowing gently back to the river, all in absolute control.

  “Nice,” said Brian, quietly watching the show. “We all knew you could do it, of course.”

  I smiled, enjoying the sense of accomplishment. “Yeah, I’m awesome, so long as I don’t bother to feel any stressful emotions. You think I could get some elemental doc to prescribe anti-anxiety meds?”

  “You could meditate,” suggested Vivian. “Or do yoga.” I feared her suggestions were earnest.

  “That sounds suspiciously like exercise,” I said. I might want increased control, but anything that involved working out was just crazy talk.

  “Screw it,” announced Sera, ending her pacing suddenly. “We’re catching these mofos.”

  It might not have been a particularly original suggestion, but at least it was one we all agreed with.

  “We’re trying a stakeout again. We should have done it from the beginning. There are six of us this time, so we can cover more ground.”

  “Buddy system?” I asked. None of us should risk an encounter on our own.

  She nodded. “Mac and Simon, you want to be Team Shifter?” She barely waited for their nods before continuing. “Good. Vivian, you’re with me. We’ll head out as soon as I update my father. Everyone, cancel whatever plans you have, because we’re nocturnal for the foreseeable future. Let’s get our butts over to one of the parks, one he hasn’t hit recently. And Brian, keep her calm, all right? Cause if one of those assholes turns up, I want her to be able to ram that pretty Christmas tree of hers right up his ass.”

  Two hours later, I was feeling, if not calm, then extremely bored, which was close enough to fool my magic. Brian and I had been taking turns staring through binoculars at possible dump sites, and so far we’d seen nothing. Brian had been hitting the flask hard enough that I was certain I would need to drive home, and he was alternately texting and fiddling with the radio in his restlessness.

  It was another cold night. Few people would be camping in this weather. Even the animals were silent, still curled up in their nests, waiting for the thaw of true spring. The only movement came from the wind, alternately whistling and howling as it danced among the pines, caressing the needles gently before ripping branches free with no warning. A storm was on its way, and the air felt thick and full of promise.

  “Why aren’t there any air elementals?” Brian asked idly. It was his turn with the binoculars, and he was watching the wind’s exuberant movement.

  “Wind isn’t part of the landscape. It’s windy everywhere. You know that.”

  He shrugged. “Hey, some of us weren’t raised in some fancy shmancy elemental enclave where we were taught this stuff before we learned to write.” I stuck my tongue out at him, the only appropriate response. “Besides, look at this wind. You’re telling me it’s not part of the landscape?” He gestured at the world before us, his face dreamy.

  He was right. The wind affected everything it touched. Leaves and pine needles soared through the air, and trees shook from side to side. It was a moonless night, revealing only vague outlines of the trees. It made the shaking branches and leaves look ethereal against the midnight sky. “Well, you’re ice because of the glaciers, right? A proper element of the earth from its beginnings. Where would wind come from?”

  “I don’t know. But this is going to bother me, now.” A second later, he already had moved on. “So, you and Mac, huh?”

  “Me and Mac what?” I asked. I knew exactly what he was asking, but I wasn’t going to make it easy for him. Particularly considering that I had no idea what the answer was. When in doubt, delay.

  “You know. Your little walk of shame earlier.” He grinned at me, a playful smile, but his eyes were unfocused.

  “You’re drunk, aren’t you?” He held his finger and thumb close together, indicating a very small degree of inebriation. I snorted. “It wasn’t like that. Your mind just goes right to the naughty place, doesn’t it? Mac and I aren’t…” I found I didn’t want to define exactly what we weren’t. I didn’t want to commit to not being anything just yet. “We aren’t.” I ended firmly, saying absolutely nothing with utter certainty.

  He said nothing, merely held my gaze and smirked. The silence dragged out between us.

  “He’s nice, okay? He’s not bad looking,” I finally admitted. He continued to stare, and I felt something closer to the truth pass my lips. “Maybe, if I didn’t feel so messed up all the time, there’d be something to talk about. But until I put myself back together again, it’s not going to happen, and I don’t think I’m going to be able to fix myself before we catch this guy and this story is finally over.”

  “You’re not messed up, Aidan,” he said softly.

  “Yes, I am. But it’s okay. I think I finally want to fix myself. That’s progress, right? So I guess, no, you nosy bastard, there’s no Mac and me.”

  “Don’t you want all that, someday? A partner, a house, some tiny watery babies swimming around?”

  For a moment, I saw clearly the picture he was drawing and it was… nice. Unexpectedly nice. I let the image dissolve, knowing that future wasn’t mine, not for a very long time. “Maybe, someday. When we all finally have jetpacks and flying cars. For now, he’s a friend, and even having friends feels new and scary.”

  “What am I, chopped liver?” he asked in a bad approximation of a New York accent. The words were light, but he took another pull from the flask, avoiding eye contact.

  “No,” I said quietly. “You’re someone I never should have run away from. I was escaping Sera, and the memories, and you got caught up in it. I’m sorry, Brian. I’m so sorry.”

  His blue eyes were soft and serious, and there wasn’t a hint of a smile about his mouth. He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into him. I leaned my head on his chest and just relaxed, listening to his heart for several long moments. Finally, he spoke again, with none of his familiar teasing tone. “Everyone thinks they’re a little bit broken, Aidan. The trick is to find someone who accepts all parts of you, just as you are. Because you’re too freaking awesome to be single, you know.”

  Brian had a gift for saying exactly what I needed to hear, whether it was true or not. I squeezed his arm lightly and wondered how I’d ever gone so long without my friends.

  Hours later, I was feeling less sappy and considerably more snappy. My ass was numb from sitting still so long, and my shoulder muscles no longer seemed to move independently of each other. I’d been staring at the campsite for so long I was no longer certain what I was even seeing, in much the same way a word will turn to nonsense if you say it too many times. “I’ve got to get out of this car,” I announced. The interior light turned on briefly as I opened the door, ruining our efforts at stealth, but I wasn’t sure I cared anymore. I placed each leg in turn across a tree stump, stretching the muscles. Sensation returned slowly, and I jumped up and down, encouraging it to move throughout my body, washing away the pins and needles.

  I wasn’t ready to get back in the car. I walked toward the campsite, instead, staying away from the two tents that housed a couple of truly dedicated, and possibly insane, campers. Even tho
ugh the area was empty, I remembered caution, slipping as quietly as I could through the trees. The rubber soles of my boots made little noise as I carefully stepped among the pine needles. About thirty feet away from the water, I stopped, peeking around a trunk toward an empty campsite. Nothing moved.

  A hand suddenly clamped around my mouth. I jumped, feeling my arm scrape against the bark of the tree while my heart erupted into double time. Another arm came around my torso and held me tight. “Shhh,” said Brian.

  Pissed off, I stomped hard on his foot, suddenly grateful I was wearing boots instead of my sneakers. He grunted and held me tighter, breathing his way through the pain. “Look,” he gritted out quietly, removing the hand over my mouth to point to a spot far to our left, deep in the trees that marked the boundary of the campsite. I saw nothing at first, the darkness dulling my vision, but finally a figure detached itself from the forest and moved slowly into the clearing.

  The man was hard to see, covered in head to toe black, and while he might have been stealthy, he was also very relaxed. He glanced lazily about the campsite, scanning the trees and the nearby lake. He seemed to take everything in at once, as if he was looking for something. Simon had removed the cameras after they’d proven so ineffective, but I thought this man was looking for them. That possibility, coupled with the man’s average build and the balaclava covering his face, told me everything. It was him, standing mere feet away.

  I didn’t think or plan. I knew that I was powerful enough to take this guy, but only if I didn’t allow any emotions to interfere. I didn’t give myself time to allow any doubts or fears to grab hold. I simply pulled water from the air and sent it flying toward him, envisioning his nose and mouth and asking the water to enter him and replace all his air with wet death.

  Though part of me believed he deserved to die, that wasn’t my intention. At least, I don’t think it was. Underneath all my snark and regret, I hoped I still had a merciful spirit. Even so, at that moment I found no such kindness within me. I merely reacted, doing the only thing I could think to do that would immobilize this man. I might have tried to save him with chest compressions, or I might have let him drown. I’ll never know.

  He saw the water coming toward him, but he didn’t move an inch. He turned his face toward us, easily able to pick us out in the dark, and he smiled slowly. The water instantly stopped. A wall of ice hung in the air, and as the liquid crashed into it, it simply dropped to the ground, harmless.

  He laughed, seeming delighted with his accomplishment. With no warning, he broke the ice wall into hundreds of tiny pieces, then sent the jagged shards flying toward us. He didn’t act cocky and self-assured, the way he had at the warehouse. Rather, I saw a pure, childlike wonder that felt even more menacing as he sent bullets of ice toward us.

  Brian knocked me to the ground. I landed on my stomach, and he immediately fell on top of me, protecting me with his body. I heard soft thuds as several pieces landed on his jacket, then silence.

  I was almost immobile, but I still tried kicking him awkwardly with one leg. I did not want to be protected. I wanted the freedom to fill this bastard’s lungs with the entire contents of the lake.

  Brian grunted and moved off me. We rolled to standing position and scanned the campsite. Again, it was absolutely quiet. Using hand signals, he indicated we should move in opposite directions and meet on the other site of the clearing. His face and neck were scratched and bleeding from the ice pellets I had escaped, thanks to his protection. I immediately felt guilty for stomping on his foot. I touched his cheek gently, a silent thank you. He placed his hand atop mine for a moment, and then he smiled and disappeared into the trees.

  I stepped softly, and what little noise my feet made was covered by the wind’s howling song. I moved as quickly as I could from tree to tree, trying to be as stealthy as our prey.

  Every moment, I expected him to jump in front of me. I waited to feel the chill of his magic snaking through my chest, reaching for my heart, and fear crept into my mind. I fought against its intrusion, needing to maintain the concentration that allowed me to access my magic. I stopped behind a tree and took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm myself and find equilibrium.

  A voice rose above the wind, a voice so horrible and piercing it could cut through any storm and dance its way into my very nightmares. It was a voice I remembered with perfect clarity. “Aidan Brook! Where are you, Aidan Brook? Don’t hide from me. There is so much I want to tell you.”

  I didn’t want to respond, to encourage him in any way. I didn’t want to ever hear that voice again.

  I felt the words slither into my ears and take up residence in the darkest part of my soul. As much as I wanted to plug my ears and whimper helplessly, I needed to know where he was, and there was only one way to track him. Unfortunately, it was the same way that he could track me.

  “I’m here. Tell me.” I instantly moved ten feet to the left, eyes scanning the campsite the entire time. Only the trees moved, but each waving branch appeared to be an arm stretching toward me, magic at the ready.

  “So impatient. I need to see your face when I tell you. I want to see the look in those big grey eyes. I want to see your joy.”

  It was almost impossible to pinpoint the source of the words. The wind instantly caught the voice and carried it through the forest. I wasn’t even certain I wanted to find him, considering how easily he’d thwarted my earlier attack. At this point, I only hoped Brian and I could reach him at the same time and just plain tackle him, and maybe Brian could counteract his magic just enough to keep our hearts from freezing. It lacked finesse, but it was marginally better than cowering up a tree.

  “You’re such a tease. What could you know that’s so important?” Again, I hopped behind another tree. We were moving closer to the road and to the other campers, a potential danger I needed to avoid.

  “I know many things, Aidan Brook. Many things others do not, but wish they did.”

  “Give me a hint.” Great. I was playing games with a megalomaniacal, insane killer. This seemed unlikely to end well. I moved in the direction I guessed the voice had come from, ten feet closer to the road, and only hoped Brian was heading the same way.

  “A hint? Very well, Aidan Brook. Who’s your daddy?”

  I froze. He was right here. His last words had been whispered, so quietly he couldn’t be more than two or three feet away.

  The wind chose that moment to rush through the clearing. I turned slowly, peering into every shadow, feeling my heart stutter with every movement it caused. The wind’s howls and whistles covered all other noise. Long moments passed, and I stood in silence, waiting to be attacked by an unseen man. Time stretched, and still nothing happened.

  Finally, a figure detached itself from the trees not four feet away from me. I instantly pushed the largest wall of water I could gather toward him, and this time there was no barrier. The water crashed directly into him, and only my last second realization kept it from flowing into his nose and lungs.

  “Mac?” I said quietly.

  He gave me an exasperated look and shook his head, spraying freezing water everywhere. He might have been annoyed, but he certainly wasn’t an idiot. Instead of roaring at me, he indicated the surrounding area and mouthed, “Is he here?” I nodded, and a moment later he vanished into the trees. He was surprisingly quiet for his size.

  I waited another five, ten minutes, my entire body on alert and waiting for the next attack. Nothing happened. “Hold your fire,” called Mac. “It’s just us.” Mac and Brian joined me, making no attempt at stealth. “This is the only person I found out there. Whoever was here before, he’s gone now.”

  “You’re sure?” I asked, continuing to turn in circles, desperately looking for any glimpse of peering eyes or a telltale puff of warm breath against the cold air. There was nothing. We were alone.

  We had ended up too close to the road. With Mac’s arrival, the killer must have known the odds were turned against him. It would have bee
n a simple matter to cross to the pavement and disappear in a waiting car. I groaned, loudly, expelling the tension that had built progressively higher, and sank to the ground, overcome by a combination of relief and frustration. I was safe and alive, but I’d let him get away again. The now unnecessary adrenaline coursed through my body, leaving me shaking and gasping.

  “I don’t suppose you’ve got anything left in that flask?” I asked Brian.

  He gave me a scornful look and drew a second one from his pocket. “What do you take me for?” I gulped down several slugs of whiskey, then hesitantly offered it to Mac.

  “It’ll warm you up,” I said. He shook his head at me, the way someone does when they have no other polite response, but he still took the flask. “Why are you here, anyway? Weren’t you manning the next park down?”

  “When you didn’t respond to Vivian’s text, I got worried. You didn’t get it, did you?”

  I shook my head, thinking of my phone sitting in the bag on Brian’s back seat. “What is it?” I asked warily, fairly certain that nothing good would have brought him here. Whatever he was about to tell me, I knew I didn’t want to hear it.

  “Vivian’s at the police station. Sera’s been arrested.”

  Chapter 15

  I wanted to crash into the jail, a punishing storm of righteous anger flowing into the building on white-capped waves, freeing Sera and running as far away from this mess as we possibly could. This felt like the final straw. Nothing we did made any difference. Bodies continued to appear with disturbing regularity. Our attempts at private investigation seemed, at best, to amuse the killer and provide him a welcome diversion. He taunted us at every turn, and we were no closer to identifying him than we had been when we’d begun this investigation.

  And now, arguably our best asset was locked up, accused of murders she wasn’t physically capable of committing. I was ready to end this charade of us accomplishing a single damn thing and just get us all the hell out of town by any means necessary.