by K W Quinn
“That Helio is a real spitfire too.” Art chuckled and took another sip of his coffee.
Marv’s eyes narrowed. “The who is what?”
“Andy. Good kid. Real solid head on his shoulders. Keeps the mood balanced and looks after everyone. Smart as a whip.”
Every word hit Marv like a hammer.
“He’s alive?” His voice cracked.
Art tilted his head and scratched his beard. “Yep. Very alive. Very good.”
Marv slumped in his chair and wiped his hand down his face.
“You OK?”
Marv nodded, hands trembling now. “I’m fine. I’m going to kill him, but I’m fine.”
Art nodded and continued drinking his coffee. “Not easy, the number of secrets it takes to keep things running safe and smooth. You’re doing just fine. Have some coffee.”
Marv would get himself a cup just as soon as his legs would hold him.
“It’s too suspicious. Suddenly, the entire poor side of town decides to go on vacation at the same time? Mass exodus over the mountains?” Min crossed his arms and pouted. Leaning back in his wheelchair, he stared at the ceiling. Explaining things was so tedious.
“It’s not just suspicious,” he continued. “It’s a logistical nightmare. We have to make preparations to keep people safe in town. I’m moving as many people as I can, but it’s still only a fraction. There are a lot of little towns around the Capital, and the Capital itself has a lot of innocent people.”
“Which is why we want to help them out.” Marv was arguing again. He was always arguing. Spoiled rich kid. “We can’t protect them if we can’t get to them. Sealing off the city is the whole point, so how are we going to—”
“Listen, you can’t move everyone,” Min barked.
“Then why am I here?” Dez asked. Min smiled at her. He’d argue with her all day. “You called me back to this house. My time is better spent out there with the people.”
“You’re here because of these: Elemental relics.” His hands moved over the objects on the table. Ordinary-looking objects, but each held a relic within, an ancient object of power to help focus and magnify natural talents.
This collection was a lifetime in the making. Seeing it all spread out in Art’s kitchen made him antsy.
“I can’t believe I let those bossy witches talk me into this.” He wanted this to succeed as much as the next person, maybe more, but giving up centuries of work to some kids still rubbed him the wrong way.
“I’m not an Elemental,” the Dragon said.
“Right you are, madam, but you’re the shadow of that one.” Min thrust his chin at the kid with the shaggy hair and goofy grin. The hope of the future. “So, here you are.”
“Juji is an Elemental too. I know lots of Elementals. Why aren’t any of them here?” Marv’s voice was rumbly and rich, which didn’t make it any less annoying.
“I didn’t drag myself all the way up here to get myself outed to the Conglomerate.” Min cracked his knuckles. “Smaller is better. One of each. I’m gonna help, but you have to respect the time I’ve spent behind the scenes.”
“So, we wear one of these, and we become mighty and powerful?” Andy asked, poking the air above each one. Marv stood behind him, hands on his shoulders like an overprotective brother.
“Not as simple as that, kid, but almost.” Min pointed at the gathered Elementals in turn. “You have to have a connection to the relic. Some are attuned to a specific element, some to a specific talent. Even if you have the right element or talent, you might not have the right aura or whatever to be able to use the relic.”
Marv reached for a pocket-watch-looking relic on the table, but Min slapped his hand away sharply.
“If you try to use the wrong one, you could hurt yourself. Or more importantly, me, because I’m right next to you. So wait a minute, and I’ll test each of you. Demeter’s tit, you’re gonna drive me to drink.”
“Since when do you need an excuse to drink?” Dez asked, leaning her hip against the table.
“How you’ve stayed sane and sober around these kids is a miracle,” Min mumbled.
“A miracle. I like that.” Dez smiled. “You hear that Andy? I’m a miracle.”
“That’s not what I—you know what, since you’re so eager, Mr. Rich Earth, come over here, and let’s get this over with.” Min jerked his head toward the table.
Marv nodded, stepping forward to face Min. “My dad has one. A relic. A crystal rod that he calls a focusing wand,” Marv said quietly, eyes still fixed on the table.
Min nodded, then shook his head. “Always knew the Mountain was a piece of work.” If Jedrek Rowan had a crystal focusing wand, then this was going to be harder than Min had originally thought, and he hadn’t counted on a summer’s walk in the park. But the kids didn’t need to know that.
“Hands out, palms up,” he growled. Min reached his own hands out to hover over Marv’s. “Now be still, all right? Zeus almighty, what are these hands of yours? Pampered rich kids. I can’t believe it.” Min took a deep breath and concentrated on the lanky Earth, feeling for the depth and nature of his talent. It made his nose itch, like a vibration in his sinuses. Earth always made him want to sneeze.
He reached for the relics with the taste of the Earth talent in his mind, resting his awareness over each relic in turn, waiting for a sympathetic echo. One by one, he searched. If this kid was half the powerhouse of his father, they might have a chance.
Half the power would be great. A trickle would help. Anything at all would be better than the reality.
“No such luck, kid. Sorry. Go take your legs out of my way,” Min grumbled.
Marv stepped aside with only a brief sigh. “Seems to be my luck all over,” he said wryly.
“Helio, you’re up,” Min said. Andy stepped forward and assumed the same palms-up position that Marv had taken. Min shook his head to clear the tickle of Earth from his nose and breathed deep to get a feel for this talent.
Fire burned in the back of his throat, and he reached for the relics quickly. Fire hurt the worst. A chunk of amber, rough and unpolished, began to vibrate with the same frequency. Min sighed, but it turned into a cough.
“Here you go. Go somewhere else and see what you can do with it,” Min said and pointed to the relic.
“How?” Andy said, turning the amber over in his hand.
“Hold it, put it in your pocket, tuck it in your underpants. I don’t care. Just have it near you and see how far your talent stretches. Go. Figure it out,” Min said, waving his hands. Mountain Jr. may have been a bust, but at least the Helio had pulled through.
“Pretty Water lady, come give me your hands,” Min said with a smile.
Dez slid forward, presenting her palms in a delicate flourish. “Don’t try to charm me, muse. I know too much,” she said with a smile that took all the bite from her words. “I left those witches alone out there, so let’s make this good, all right?”
“Yeah, that is true. Let’s see what we can find for you.” Min smiled and searched Dez. Her talent sloshed in his belly, cold and clear. He held it gently, relishing the sensation as he hovered over each remaining relic. A cameo carved with a hummingbird trembled sweetly in response. He focused harder, trying to see if it was a match or an echo. Dez gave a shudder.
“I think this will help you,” Min said, wrapping his knobby fingers around Dez’s wrist and guiding her hand to the cameo. “Go play with the Helio and see how much stronger you feel.”
Dez nodded and clutched the cameo tightly. She followed Andy out of the room.
The kid stood there, chewing on his bottom lip and clutching the hand of the Dragon tightly. “Not that it’s not good to see you again, kid, but this is gonna be tricky.”
“You saved the best for last, though, right?” he said with a toothy grin.
“Of course. Exactly. Best for last. Not most difficult and potentially painful. Not at all,” Min scoffed. “Hands up, pretty boy.”
Cass moved forwar
d and presented his palms to Min.
“Let’s see what you’ve got,” Min said and cracked his knuckles.
He let his hands hover over the kid’s palms and braced himself. He’d never been comfortable reading dual talents. It was confusing and made him dizzy. He sucked in a breath through his nose, and he reached for the kid’s talents. Bubbles of Air tickled behind Min’s breastbone, and the chill of Water churned in his belly.
Unlike Dez’s gentle waves, this kid was a tempest of cold fury and determination. Destruction beat icy wings through Min’s stomach. His glittering, golden glow was glacial blue now.
The bubbles of Air became gusts that threatened to knock Min over. A rattling on the table helped him focus. Three relics were shaking. Three. It was unheard of. Two would have been lucky but more likely with dual talents, but three?
A blue-flecked rock, worn smooth with a hole in the middle, trembled. An ivory pendant carved with geometric patterns shook. The pocket watch, tarnished and dull, quivered.
Min dropped his hands to his lap and sighed, rubbing his palms against his knees. “You’re gonna be armed to the teeth, kid,” he said, pushing three relics toward Cass with his elbow. “Try not to get us all killed.”
Power
“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Andy said, holding the relic lightly in his hand.
“You should be used to that by now,” Dez said with a smile. She had tucked the cameo into her shirt and was standing with her eyes closed, turning in a circle and stopping at random intervals.
“Is that helping? Do you feel anything?”
“I feel a little annoyed,” she said dryly.
“Sorry. I’m trying to make sense of this. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to make the sun brighter with a rock.” Andy had chosen the sunroom. If any place was going to help him have stronger magic, it was here.
“Stop thinking. Stop talking. Just hold your relic and feel your own power.”
“You make it sound easy,” he grumbled.
“It isn’t easy, love, but it is simple.”
“Do Waters get handed a cryptic phrase book when they reach maturity, or is it just you?” Andy arched his eyebrows.
“Stop talking,” Dez said, her eyes snapping open. “Stop thinking.” She stepped over and placed her hands on Andy’s shoulders. “Just feel.”
Andy swallowed hard. He was used to being in close proximity to Dez. Dancing was sharing space and breath and movement, but this was something new. He closed his eyes and tried to do what she asked.
He emptied his mind of all thoughts. He pushed aside the feel of her slender fingers against his shoulders and the way her eyes burned into his when she was serious.
He tried to feel the Light, trapped behind the clouds Cass had made earlier. He felt the crisp beams of light that would break through as the clouds shifted, creating shadows on the pine-needle-covered ground. He felt the Light, felt it swell in his chest with every breath.
Suddenly, the relic in his hand felt heavier, like the amber was sucking him in and pulling him down, and the Light was all around. Not just beams in the clouds but shining in him and through him. He was Light and Heat.
He struggled to pull himself free of the amber, to let go, to drop it and be free, but it was a part of him now. The light raged inside him, burning and pulling him apart. He wanted to scream, but his mouth wouldn’t move.
His mouth wouldn’t move, he couldn’t open his hand, and his legs were stuck. He couldn’t move. His mouth—
His mouth was no longer only his mouth. It was Dez’s mouth, too, somehow. He blinked, dropped the relic, and tilted his head. Dez stepped back and laughed.
“Well, I’m glad something finally worked,” she said, ruffling her hair.
Andy raised his hand to touch his mouth but was distracted by a stinging sensation all along his cheekbone. “Ow,” he said, touching the area gently.
“Sorry, love. I slapped you a few times before I tried to shock you out of it another way. You were about a heartbeat away from spontaneous combustion.”
“I should try to set myself on fire more often, then,” Andy said with a smirk, but he was staring at the relic on the floor with ice in his gut. “What happened?”
“No idea, but if I had to guess, I’d say you got overwhelmed when the relic activated or whatever it is they do.” Dez placed her hand over her heart where her relic rested.
“I’m glad you were here.” Andy didn’t want to think about what he almost became.
“Me too.”
“Did you get yours to work?” Andy wanted to shift the focus away from his own near failure.
“Best I can tell, it gives me a little boost. Nothing like the immolation your relic is offering.”
Andy nodded. “Not much good if the only thing I can set on fire is myself.” He picked up his relic and tossed it lightly in his hand.
“Looks like you have training of your own to do,” Dez said.
Cass grew stronger, and Reyah could almost keep herself distracted. She had very little time to think about a future beyond the revolution. Eventually, she was going to have to tell Tarone that she couldn’t be a Dragon anymore.
Once Cass had given her his soul, she couldn’t take anyone else’s. Her soul lived with him now, which rendered the blade she’d worked so hard for nothing more than a pretty knife.
She didn’t know what else to do. She’d only ever trained for one thing. She was strong and sneaky and trained to deliver justice. A solitary soldier following orders.
Now she was part of something bigger, more destructive, and more complicated. It was still justice, Cass had argued, and he was right. Her nagging conscience had nothing to do with lawlessness.
Tarone was going to be so upset. She had made her choice and knew it was the right one. It was her life, and she was so alive, but the price of that was steep. Every day she worried about it, and every day she set it aside to help Cass train.
Watching him come into his talent was plenty to consume her time, not only in the wonder of seeing him pull storms out of clear skies but also in watching him feel more confident. She liked the goofy, self-deprecating Cass, but Cass in his element, commanding the forces of nature, was very compelling as well.
Her days were full of training and focus, denial and avoidance. A full schedule. The evenings were for laughter. Andy and Cass told stories of their childhood, each trying to outdo the other with the most embarrassing antics. Reyah didn’t have much to contribute, but watching them laugh together made her feel at home.
She’d never had a best friend. There was always too much competition among the Sharks, and once she’d been singled out to train as a Dragon, she had been more alone than ever. Cass and Andy competed for her amusement. She felt homesick for something she’d never known. Family.
Tarone had raised her well, and she loved him. He was the only father she’d known, but it was just the two of them. Tarone had never confided in her.
She was angry and jealous that her absentee mother knew her father figure better than she did. She was also grateful to have the knowledge and experience of another dragonkin. With Lerae popping in and out of her life now, something like friendship was starting to grow.
She had a soulmate, a mission, and something like a family. Dez and the witches, Art and Lerae. And of course, Andy. They had begun to have daily competitions with everything from chores to working out. He was the kind of friend she’d always wanted.
Cass, though. Cass was more than she bargained for. Without the hiding and the secrecy, she found herself overwhelmed by him. He was loud and ridiculous and passionate. Everything was a celebration with him. His smile was infectious, and he made her heart pound with something as simple as a quirked eyebrow. It was completely unfair.
The only thing that made it bearable was knowing that if she smiled at him, he turned into a blushing, bumbling, gangly pile of flailing limbs.
“What are you thinking about, my scaly beauty?” Cass said, flopping down
on the couch next to her. He was sweaty and smiling. Must have been good training. Guilt tickled in her throat for not being there, but she knew she needed a break to try and sort her mind out.
“Life. The universe. My role in a budding revolution. How to feel about dismantling the institution that I’ve worked for and the people I’ve lived my whole life with.”
“Long live the revolution?” Cass asked, squirming his way around until he could rest his head on her thigh.
“Yes. I didn’t feel guilty doing my job because I could see the corruption in the souls I was collecting. It was a contract. They paid their souls. I gathered them up and passed them on. It was fair and just, and it never bothered me. I trusted Tarone, and I’d never had a job that made me question things until I met you.”
“I’m delightful, aren’t I?”
Reyah poked him in the ribs. “You’re something. I don’t know if delightful is the word I would use.”
“Delicious?” he asked, leering at her comically.
“Delusional?” she countered.
“Devoted.”
“Demented.”
“Deliriously in love?”
“That I can agree on,” she said, running her fingers down to tap his nose.
“Everything is changing so fast,” Cass said, reaching for her hand.
“And yet, somehow, this feels like the longest winter of my life,” Reyah said, giving his fingers a gentle squeeze.
“You’re right. What we need is more hot cocoa and snowball fights.”
“Or less oppression and genocide?”
“That too. But first, let’s start with hot cocoa. Everything’s better when you’re full of marshmallows.”
Reyah found herself unable to argue with that logic.
Strategy
“We want to use the spring thaw to gain momentum. All those full rivers and lakes will make it easier to flood,” Andy said, gesturing to the map Art had taped to the wall. So much was riding on this presentation, but he knew he was right. “The Conglomerate chose King’s Canyon for the protection the mountains give. Lucky for us, that will funnel all the water down. Every side of the city will have water pouring in from above.”