“I know,” Theo murmured. “I was angry too.”
My eyes found his; understanding and acceptance looked back at me. I let out a little sob.
“I can’t do this,” I gasped on a hiccough. “Please.”
“I think that’s enough for one night,” Aktor advised carefully from over Theo’s shoulder. “Miss Eden has been through too much; she needs to rest.”
“I’ll help you settle into our tent,” Theo offered.
“No,” I said on a burst of air.
Oh, sweet agony. How does it strike with such ease? So ruthlessly. Pain destroys. Just like me. It was what I was good at; hurting things. I hurt Theo with my rejection. I hurt the Nero with my rage. I hurt the world with my inaction.
But most of all I hurt me.
Darkness loomed. I couldn’t do this. I wasn’t strong enough inside. Lightning struck. The dark of night turned bright white. Ozone drifted on the damp air. And then my brother stood there. Tall, big, steady, broad-shouldered, blond hair rustling in the breeze. So familiar. So grounding.
“Casey!” he shouted, running towards me. “I’ve been looking everywhere!”
I stood up. So did Theo.
And it was to my brother’s arms I ran. The pain I saw so briefly, but poignantly, on Theo’s face nearly tore me in half.
I loved him. But I couldn’t be with him like this.
I was broken.
“I’ve got you,” Mark murmured, holding me tight. “I’ve got you, Sis.”
“Auckland,” I whispered.
“What?” Mark asked.
“Take us home.”
As you wish, Aether, Air replied sadly in my mind.
And then both Mark and I were gone.
And I felt everything; the weight of a world imbalanced; the agony of a heart torn apart; the rage of Athanatos hurting.
And the silence of a forgotten god.
Chapter Six
And It Was Directed At Me
Auckland had been decimated. Like the rest of the world. Nothing recognisable remained. Fires dotted the horizon. Whether they were Pyrkagia in origin or simply what was left of humanity, I couldn’t be sure. Here Fire snubbed me.
Mark cleared his throat.
“Case, we can’t stay here. It’s unsafe.”
I said nothing, staring out across a bleak landscape, the weak sun trying to brighten it.
Aether, Earth called to me. Help us, Aether.
Oh, Aether, Air moaned mournfully.
Fire hissed but said nothing.
“Something’s wrong here,” I said softly.
“Of course it’s wrong,” my brother agreed. “Genesis destroyed everything.”
Not everything. There were pockets of survivors dotted here or there. From our vantage point on Mount Eden, we could see what remained of Auckland’s people. I turned away from the former CBD and looked toward the Eastern Suburbs. Howick was too far to see clearly, but the pain of Pyrkagia centred there.
“The Pyrgos,” I murmured.
“There’s no fucking way we’re heading there,” Mark declared heatedly.
In the flare of his anger, I felt a brief touch of Fire. Then it whipped away from me as if just as riled as my brother.
“Why are we here, Casey?” Mark asked. “Why did you run? You have to know they can’t follow us. I’m the only other one of our group with Air.”
Air to use lightning. But that’s not the only reason why I’d reached for him. Taken him with me.
“I needed a moment,” I whispered.
“Why?”
I shook my head and turned back to the city.
Earth cried out in agony.
Marcus didn’t say anything for a long while, and then he moved to stand beside me, taking in the devastation silently for a moment longer. Finally, he sucked in a breath of air as if to speak.
“Something’s wrong,” I semi-repeated, cutting off his words before they had a chance to get going.
“You’ve already said that. What is it you feel?”
That’s what I’d come to admire about my brother; the Alchemist in him cutting to the chase quickly. I hadn’t been sure of what he’d become; betrayal had coloured my favour. Alchemists weren’t to be trusted. Gramps had lied to me. But Mark, even though he’d hidden truths too, had been there when I’d needed him most. I dreaded to think what would have happened during Genesis if my brother hadn’t been there connected to Water. Offering the fourth Element up when I needed a full house.
I wondered, though, if his presence had caused my Awakening to stall. There was no way to know, but it did seem a possibility. Without Mark there to use his Water, would I have reached for mine sooner?
So much happened at once during Genesis, it was hard to say. And trying to find answers wouldn’t change what had happened.
Nero had not Awakened.
“Fire isn’t talking to me,” I finally said. “It’s angry. But, then, all the Elements are. This anger, though, feels too similar to Gi’s. At least, to Gi’s when I’d been in the Amazon.”
“Corrupted?”
“Rotten, but not in the same way. Earth smells of vegetation to me. Sometimes sweet. Sometimes pungent. But in Brazil, it had been rotten. This Fire is stoked. A purposeful rage that feels…manipulated.”
I didn’t like that word. In fact, I hated it. My hands fisted as I stared out at nothing.
Mark digested that for a few moments and then said, “Pyrkagia was already a tinderbox waiting to explode before Genesis. The Alchemists were fuelling the flames. Perhaps it’s them.”
“You can’t tell if it is?” I asked.
He shook his head, turning around and looking toward the Pyrgos. “I’m rogue, Casey. As shunned as Gramps. If they got their hands on me…”
“They know about you?”
“By now? Yeah, they’d know. Gramps would have had to give them something, and we’d always said it would be me.”
Not Aether. Not me. My brother had sacrificed his anonymity for me. I wasn’t sure how to take that.
I scuffed my shoe into the dirt at my feet. Earth giggled playfully.
I smiled…and then burst unexpectedly into tears.
“Case?” Mark called. “Jesus, Sis. You’re an absolute fucking wreck, aren’t you?”
“Thanks,” I spluttered unattractively.
“Hey,” he said, wrapping a big arm around my shoulders, hauling me into his chest with the other hand. “What are brothers for, if not to call it how we see it, eh?”
I sniffed against his shirt. He sighed.
“I get it, OK?” he murmured softly. “Life’s shit right now. But, Case? It’s shit for everyone. Especially shit for you, granted. But everyone is suffering right now, too. To them, it’s the worst thing that could have happened. It’s the end of the world as they know it. They’re at their lowest. Never been lower. And I know your shit is bigger but is it any less important than theirs is to them?”
“Fuck you,” I said, halfheartedly.
Mark laughed, it sounded wounded. Not exactly amused, but not faked either.
“Casey,” he said. “You know when Sonya almost died back in Wellington?” He didn’t wait for me to nod; how could I forget? “I fucked up. Maybe it would have happened even if I’d been there. But I’ll never know. I made a mistake. I lowered my guard. I’m not perfect. And Sonya almost paid the ultimate price because of it.”
“Your point?” I asked, pushing upright again to look him in the eyes.
“My point, Casey, is that we’re all making mistakes, or fucking up, or simply being affected by what’s happening. All of us. You’re not alone. You’ve not got the monopoly on screw ups, OK? I know you. And I’m guessing you’re beating yourself up over something that happened in Atlantis. If I had to say what, I’d put my money on you getting all Aethered up and blasting their arses to get out of there. Am I right?”
I nodded.
“So, you broke a few things. Roughed up a few Ekmetalleftis. You know, those
Athanatos beings who have to have their heads cut off to actually die.”
I stilled.
“Did you take their heads, Case? Because if you did, hot damn, girl! You might just survive.”
I hadn’t taken any heads. Not intentionally. I hadn’t aimed for their necks as Aktor had advised. I’d simply brought their home down around their ears. Maybe some lost their heads; I don’t know. But it took a lot to kill an Athanatos. Mark was right.
The Nero were angry. But were they angry at me for killing some of their own? Or were they just angry because I’d redecorated? And then escaped their clutches.
“Huh,” I said on a soft expulsion of air.
“Yeah,” Mark murmured beside me. “I get it, though, Case. I really do. This whole world out of whack thing sucks. And what’s with those Ekmetalleftis? None of them wants to fix it and do their job.”
“They turned away from Aetheros,” I agreed. “Became too insular.”
“Yeah, they don’t play nice with others. Boohoo! Cry me a river. But sooner or later, they’re going to have to wake up to what’s going on. And it’s only going on because of them.”
“So, you think the Alchemists had nothing to do with it?” I demanded.
“Oh, don’t start with me about that, Sis.”
“They’re as much to blame.”
“Maybe. Never said they weren’t.”
“But even though they’d probably kill you on sight, you still feel obliged to defend them.”
“Pot meet kettle. What the fuck are the Athanatos doing to you?”
I sighed. He was right. Again.
Mark ran a hand through his already roughed up hair and stared out across the CBD. After a long stretch of silence, he said, “Do you think they’ll survive?” He nodded towards what was left of the city.
“Not everything was flattened,” I pointed out. “Maybe they’ll find shelter and food in amongst the rubble.”
“Survival of the fittest,” my brother said. “That includes you, too, you know.”
I couldn’t form a reply. It was too big. Too hard. I wasn’t up to this.
“No Nero, huh?” Mark eventually asked.
I shook my head.
“So, they didn’t miraculously help you Awaken their Stoicheio.”
“Much was promised which they failed to provide.”
“Guess they regret that.”
I smiled, sort of. It was hard to smile when everything felt so dark and heavy. Like an emptiness that weighed a thousand tonnes.
“I feel wrong, Mark,” I whispered. “I’m not sure if it’s because out there things feel wrong. Or if it’s in here.” I thumped my chest.
“You’re an Aether with only three Stoicheio,” he pointed out. “You’re gonna feel incomplete, no lie. But that doesn’t mean that things won’t right themselves, Case. Just give it time.”
“We don’t have time.”
“Maybe we don’t. Maybe we do. But whatcha gonna do about it? Nero will Awaken when it Awakens.”
“Then why did the Nero Rigas insist I needed their help to reach Water?”
“Ever consider that he had an ulterior motive?” Mark asked. “He did leave Theo behind.”
“He said that was because the borrowed power only allowed for the two of us to use lightning.”
“Bullshit. I can take more than one with me, and I’m borrowing Air as well.”
When he put it that way, it made complete sense. Alchemists could manipulate Stoicheio. But they didn’t become Ekmetalleftis when they did. They just used the Elements for a while. They were still human afterwards. Longer-lived humans, but still humans all the same.
Could the Nero Rigas using Gramps’ affinity to Air have been a type of Alchemist power?
“He lied about so much,” I said quietly.
“He could have easily lied about you only reaching your Stoicheio with their help,” Mark finished for me.
“How do I know for sure?”
“Your Nero Awakens.”
“Great,” I said, sarcastically. “That really helps.”
He shrugged his shoulders and only smiled.
“The bottom line is this,” Mark said, “you felt compelled to escape them, and they riled you enough to throw a tantrum. Why, Case? What made you react that way? It’s not like you, at all.”
And there was the reminder that I had changed.
“I’m not who I was, Mark. You’d better remember that.”
“I know,” he said softly. “What happened, Case?”
I let out a harsh breath of air.
“They wouldn’t let me have Theo.”
It sounded so petulant when I said the words aloud. But basically, that’s what had fuelled my anger. That and the fact that once again an Ekmetalleftis branch was trying to manipulate me.
“Damn, remind me not to get between you and your Thisavros,” Mark quipped.
“It was more than that,” I said softly. “They did have an ulterior motive.”
“How so?” he asked quietly. Suddenly all business.
“They tried to give me a Hataera.”
“A what?”
“A concubine.”
Mark burst out laughing. I smiled.
“They don’t believe in Thisavros connections,” I explained.
“How can they not? It’s part of being an Athanatos.”
“They’ve been separated from other Athanatos for so long. I don’t think they’re the same beings as those we’ve met.”
“I’ve never come across a Nero before,” Mark offered.
“Atlantis was a sunken island. Hidden for centuries. Perhaps millennia. They’ve evolved into something else entirely.”
“In what way?”
“I think they can become monsters.”
“Sea monsters?”
I nodded, then shuddered, remembering Pisces’ red glowing eyes, and long, sharp teeth.
“Let’s hope they stick to the sea, then,” Mark said helpfully.
Fear skittered down my spine. I even looked over my shoulder.
“You know, the Nero Rigas had to have borrowed that lightning from someone,” I commented. “He said it was Gramps’. That’s why I went with him, really.”
“Another lie?”
“Possibly. Aeras will want an update; it could have been them.”
“Nah,” he said with a shake of his head. “Unlikely. They’d just come and get you themselves.”
“Maybe Machu Picchu has been destroyed. They were particularly paranoid about protecting their people. Maybe they can’t divide their attention right now.”
“Maybe. But my money is on the Alchemists.”
It made more sense. The Alchemists were everywhere. Manipulating Pyrkagia. Infiltrating the Gi. What’s to say they weren’t controlling the Nero too?
“Regardless,” I said. “The Nero would have had to come out of hiding to receive the borrowed Stoicheio. They really wanted me.”
“Why?”
I wasn’t sure, but they had lied and manipulated me. When I’d been waking from that drowning the Rigas had subjected me to, something had been said. But right now, I couldn’t remember what. Only a sense that I was missing something. Something important. Something that might just explain the Nero.
Maybe explain even more.
I shook my head. It was close, the thought, but not quite there. I wasn’t operating at one hundred percent.
“Well, either way, they can’t be trusted,” Mark said casually. Too casually. And then he hit me with the big guns. “And you’ve just left our friends to face their wrath. Is that how you want to play this, Casey? Go it alone and damn the consequences?”
“That’s harsh,” I bit back.
“It’s the truth. You want sugar coating; you should have brought Sonya.”
I’m not sure Mark could have said anything better. I was angry at the Athanatos. Hollowed out by Elemental manipulation. Sonya hadn’t factored into any of that.
Damn. He was right. Agai
n.
“You don’t have to do this alone, Case,” Mark murmured softly. “You never did.”
“The Aeras shaman…”
“The Aeras shaman is barmy. And, from what you’ve said, talks in riddles. When have riddles ever been meant to be taken literally?”
“I hate you,” I said without conviction.
“There’s the sister I know and love.” He patted me on the back. “You’re lightning or mine?”
I closed my eyes. “Just give me a moment longer.”
“They may not have a moment longer, Case.”
“Please.”
I was exhausted. Numb one minute. Volatile the next. Part of me thought I’d never be able to shed another tear ever again. Part of me wanted desperately to sob. I was so mixed up, and everything seemed so dark and cold and lonely. And yet I knew my brother would always be there, no matter what. I knew Theo loved me. Always. I knew my friends had risked everything to find me.
I was a mess.
“I’m broken, Mark,” I whispered. “Everything feels wrong.”
“Yeah,” he said quietly, nudging me with his shoulder in support. “I get it. I really do. And, maybe, until you receive Water, you’re gonna feel like this. But getting depressed about it won’t change a thing. It’s OK, though, you know. To feel down. To feel overwhelmed. But you’re stronger than you realise, Casey. Always have been. As a kid, you used to fight like the devil, even if it was just a game of Scrabble. God, the number of times I came away from a scrap with you with pinch marks on my arms and body. You could fight mean, sometimes, you know that? Because you refused to be anything less than the best.
“You can do this, Casey. I know you can. Ignore the shaman. Ignore the Rigases. They’re all fucked in the head. And trust in us. Your family. The ones who will walk through hell to get you out of this mess.”
“I love you,” I whispered, tears filling my eyes when moments before I’d felt bereft of enough emotion in order to weep. I was on a rollercoaster, up then down, then up again. Then crashing to the ground.
I was as imbalanced as the world.
“But I still don’t think I can do this,” I felt compelled to say.
“Then think that, if you must. For a while, anyway. And when you’ve wallowed enough, I’ll slap you across the back of the head and pinch your arm to wake you the fuck up.”
The Tantalising Taste Of Water (Elemental Awakening, Book 4) Page 6