Igniting Spirit (Gathering Water Book 3)

by Regan Claire

  Of course, I’d never had an entire frigging volcano pummeling me with energy, either.

  I was Gathering the energy faster than I was using it now, and even with shoving as much strength as I could into the Shield around me, it was only a drop of water compared to what I now had.

  It had been too much, and it wasn’t over yet. It felt like it would never be over, and soon it was difficult to stay upright, to stay conscious. I was more than drunk with the power, I was wasted. I collapsed to the ground and sat sprawl legged in the eye of my own storm. I needed to hold on a little longer and it would be over.

  It was too bright, I tried shutting my eyes but it didn’t help — where did the light come from? Too hot. Oh my god. The light was coming from me.

  I needed to do something, but there was nothing to do. I couldn’t stop pulling the energy. I tried and failed. It was too late, the power needed to go somewhere and I was the sponge stupid enough to offer itself. It would be over soon. It had to be over soon.

  Just had to hold on a little longer, but I couldn’t. I was too full, there was too much energy around me and too much was still coming and I couldn’t hold any more. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t be.

  And then I exploded, and the world went blissfully dark.

  Chapter Three

  Journal,

  Dad just told me the Elfennol have been in contact. He is supposed to meet with a representative from the Council this week.

  It’s about my Testing, I know it. They’ve finally scheduled it. Dad thinks so too. He said I need to get ready, but I am. I’ve been ready to take my place as Duxa for ages now, preparing for it my entire life. Of course, I’m nervous to take it on. Not that I’ll actually be making any decisions, not with Dad as Dux. I wish he would step down already and let Connor take over. He’s been hinting at it for a while now, and I know the responsibility would feel less scary if my brother were shouldering it with me.

  Plus, Connor doesn’t think I’m one big fat disappointment like Dad does.

  I wish Ellis was able to get a sitter tonight for the Cash-monster. The one she had bailed, and Connor’s working, so I can’t even make him feel guilty for not watching his own kid for a night. Maybe I’ll just stay in.

  Okay, maybe not.

  Crap, I’m late for work. Again.

  *****

  Tapping woke me. The kind that annoys the heck out of you because it somehow enters your dreams and wakes you up from a deep sleep.

  I was definitely annoyed.

  I cracked open one eye, then the other, and saw nothing but glassy darkness. At first I thought I was blind or something, but no. After Tempering Air to enhance my vision, I realized I was facing a wall… of obsidian?

  Sitting up, I saw that I was in a room made of the stuff, or at least the wall was. One curving wall that seemed to widen as it rose and formed a complete circle around me, about twenty feet wide and with no discernable way to exit.

  For some reason, I wasn’t afraid to be in this room even though I was essentially trapped. I trailed my hand along the smooth glass of the wall and could feel that it was infused with my energy — the entire structure was mine the way that the ring on Ezra’s thumb and my armlets were mine. The tapping caught my attention again and I realized it was coming from the other side of the wall. I stood up, walked over to it and placed my ear against where I thought it was coming from. Muffled voices accompanied the tapping. Ezra was there, and he sounded crazy. I figured he was the one tapping.

  And then it all came back to me.

  Holy shit, I exploded!

  That couldn’t be right. I didn’t feel exploded. I looked down at my hands to see if I looked like someone who just exploded, then realized with a start that I was buck naked.

  Awesome.

  “Uh, hello?” I half shouted, hoping it was loud enough for them to hear on the other side. Immediately, I had to place my hands over my ears, because the obsidian room had great acoustics.

  “Della? Della, are you okay? Oh my God, stay there! We’re gonna get you out!” I heard Ezra’s muffled voice calling through the wall and then an increase in the pace of tapping. It must have been a really thick wall, because it was taking a long time.

  Hold up, I didn’t need to wait for them to get me out, did I? No, no I didn’t. Exploding must have knocked some of the common sense out of me.

  “Hey, stop! I can get out on my own!” I was prepared this time, and already covered my ears to protect them from the sound.

  “What? Okay! Hurry up!”

  “Yeah, well, there’s this one little problem!” It was kind of a big problem, disguised as a little problem. I was thankful no one was there to see me blush.

  “What is it? Are you okay?” Ezra’s voice held a note of panic.

  “Well, I’m a little bit underdressed. Can you get me some clothes?”

  There was silence on the other side of the wall.

  “Is that it?” Ezra clearly didn’t understand what an issue this was. Hello, I was naked and there were people out there. And him.

  I heard a muffled conversation that sounded like a chastisement even through the wall.

  “I have a blanket here, Della. We’ll get some proper clothes as soon as we can,” Aahana’s voice called to me. At least she understood.

  Seems boys suck no matter what species they were.

  It took me a second to figure out how to get out. The idea of Gathering the glass into non-existence made me queasy. I was still pretty full from the volcano… But because the obsidian was already infused with my energy, I took my hand and wiped the place that I wanted removed and was rewarded with the clinking of glass chips and shards hitting the floor. About three feet of obsidian later, I could see light making its way into my little hall. I halted the work, very carefully made a little window at eye level and greedily grabbed the blanket that was shoved through to cover myself.

  Once I was decent and sure that the blanket was sufficiently knotted to prevent any slippage, I finished breaking through the wall and Ezra pulled me into his arms. Our auras melded more quickly than they ever had before. He smelled of smoke and sweat, and a nearly imperceptible shaking ran through his body.

  I knew how he was feeling, knew how scared he’d been that something more, er, permanent had happened to me. It’s how I would have felt if the roles were reversed. Losing him would be like losing myself. It wasn’t that we were in love or anything, but there was a connection between us that went deeper than anything I’d encountered before. He was more than family and romance and warm fuzzy feelings. And because I knew that he felt the same way, I held him as tightly as he held me, until his shaking subsided and he was assured I was safe and whole, and I was assured of the same.

  Slowly, he backed up and dropped one hand to my face, holding it like a precious gem. He was about to say something sweet, or kiss me, and I licked my lips in anticipation.

  “I can’t make up my mind if that was the craziest or stupidest thing I’ve ever seen,” he said instead. His face was cracked in an awed grin.

  Coming from the guy whose dad was literally a sociopath, I reacted the exact way I should have and smacked his chest — pushing him away from me — while he stubbornly held me close with a satisfied look on his face.

  “How about the bravest thing you’ve ever seen, child.”

  Ezra released me and stepped to the side so I could see Aahana, who’d been standing behind him. She was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with one of the Clades I recognized taking the lead earlier. Both of them looked significantly cleaner than Ezra. In fact, the dozen or so Clades around the entrance all looked quite a bit better, which made me think that Ezra hadn’t taken the time to care for himself before trying to save me from my fortress.

  “Della, this is Elder Peyton. Peyton, this is the dangerous fugitive who almost singlehandedly saved our people,” Ahana introduced us.

  Peyton walked close to me and placed a hand on either shoulder. I could see Ezra from the
corner of my eye jerk forward before he checked himself. An image floated in front of me, a rune, but the only one I recognized on sight was the one my father used to claim me in front of the Elfennol, the one meaning “daughter.” This one was different, but it felt like a strangely important moment, so I didn’t ruin it by opening my big mouth.

  “That’s enough, Peyton. Let the girl have some air. Come on, Della. They should have gotten you clothes by now. I’ll show you where.”

  The man, Peyton, released his grip on my shoulders. I looked into his eyes and wasn’t sure what I saw… Gratitude, respect, and something else I couldn’t name. I walked around him and followed Aahana through the few dozen people that had gathered since my emergence. They gave me a wide berth, but as I walked through the crowd they all gave me the same look that Peyton had, and each person created the same Rune over and over as I passed. Ezra was so close to me that our auras were still entwined. I grabbed his hand.

  Once we were past the crowd, I looked back, avoiding their stares while I gaped at the obsidian structure I’d created.

  It looked like a giant, shining-black tornado. The surface was so smooth and glossy, you could easily see the reflection of the crowd on it, and tall enough that it melded into the top of the cavern, which I only saw because of my ability-strengthened vision. Then, when I let myself look at it with my True Sight, the way the Ethnos truly viewed the world when their spirit Shield was down and they saw the energy of the living world, it glowed so brightly with white flame that I had to quickly look away.

  The area around it, which used to be a cobbled town square, was empty. No buildings, no color, no anything. In fact, there was nothing at all in that direction. Just empty space and ash.

  Their home was annihilated.

  Having recently discovered the importance of a home, that fact struck me rather hard, and I had to fight the tingly-face feeling that meant tears were trying to well. Turning back in the direction that Aahana was leading us proved that not everything had been destroyed. Or, at least, they were already rebuilding, since there were a few smallish buildings, huts really, in front of us. I could see a small group of people making another one as we walked, pulling the materials from the ground and forming them with their will into the structure they needed.

  The hut that Aahana led us to was the closest to my obsidian cyclone, and inside was a roughly grown bed — the Ethnos grow their furniture from living materials — with an odd assortment of clothes on top. Clearly, someone had made a trip to the island above and purchased some human clothes. The Clades, so far, seemed to dress more humanlike than the Elfennol did, but the fabric they used was still stuff that no human could make.

  I grabbed the most appealing items, then made a sight-Shield — protecting me from the view of others — and changed into the slightly-too-big jeans and a men’s Hawaiian shirt. Hey, they might not have been the most fashionable clothes, but they were certainly the most comfortable.

  I dropped the Shield and looked at the two people in the room. Ezra was standing in front of the door, arms crossed and looking very much like a bodyguard. Aahana, a woman who I barely knew but was connected to a person I’d entrusted my life with, was standing a few feet inside the room emitting a deep sadness.

  “How long was I out?” It was important that I didn’t forget what I came here for. I needed to save Cash, and time was of the essence.

  “About twelve hours,” Ezra answered.

  I gaped. Twelve hours? No wonder everyone but Ezra was cleaned up from the catastrophe.

  “I have to get back home. Cash needs help Ezra, and I don’t know how to help him. That’s why I —”

  “Who is ‘Cash?’” Aahana asked.

  “The future Dux Neale, and Della’s cousin.” Ezra walked into the room to sit next to me on the bed, and took my hand. We were officially more touchy-feely than I’d been with anyone, including Dove — my kinda ex-boyfriend.

  “He’s my best friend, Ezra. Can you help me?” I was proud how strong my voice was, even though thinking about how desperate the situation was made me want to bawl my eyes out.

  “I don’t know…” His voice trailed.

  “What’s wrong with him?” This was from Aahana. I was glad she seemed to be taking it seriously.

  “In our fight yester — the other day, Cash’s Spirit was Gathered. I killed the guy before he could finish, but he’s not recovering. It’s getting worse. Clara said she has to anchor his spirit, or he’ll…” My breath hitched; I couldn’t finish the sentence. Couldn’t say out loud that there was a possibility that Cash might not bounce back from this.

  “He must have pulled a significant amount of energy if your cousin is still affected. Spirit energy multiplies naturally. Are you sure he wasn’t getting better?” Aahana sounded perplexed.

  “He was unconscious and the gold web of his spirit was crumbling. It was getting worse.”

  “You’ll have to ask some of the Elders. I wasn’t born among the Clades, and don’t know all the Spirit lore the others have.” She shrugged a shoulder. “Some habits are hard to rid yourself of, and I’ve avoided learning more about Spirit Gathering because of the stigma it holds among the Elfennol.”

  The Elfennol had purged themselves of a lot of knowledge about their abilities. They tried to keep the “evil” out of their ranks by forgetting the darker side of what they could do. I’d had no choice but to come to the Clades to find a way to save Cash. Many of them had become Clades just because they were curious about their abilities, and were then kicked out of their homes and families because they craved a better understanding of what they were capable.

  “Ezra, do you know how to heal him?” I asked, trying hard not to let my hopes up.

  “My father only taught me the taking aspect of what we can do, none of the giving.”

  “But I saw you heal that tree! It was dead, and you fixed it! The Elfennol don’t know how to do that.” The first day we met, when Ezra took me to the clearing I’d later call “ours” in my head, there had been a dead tree standing guard over the peaceful place. I watched him pour life back into it, with the type of peace on his face that could only be described as “beautiful.”

  Aahana jerked her head to look at Ezra. “Is that true, Ezra? Did you heal a dead tree?”

  His hand tightened around mine, not painfully so, but enough to let me know he was worried about something.

  “Yes.” His eyes were downcast.

  Aahana grew a small chair and sat in it, plopping down as if she couldn’t stay on her feet any longer. “You Gathered Death?”

  A nod of the head was his only reply.

  “Wait, what?” Whatever they were talking about must have been a big deal, a really big deal, because Ezra refused to meet anyone’s eyes, and Aahana looked like she’d just been punched in the bread basket.

  “Long ago, before we came to this realm, the most powerful among our people had the ability to Gather Death as well as Spirit, or life. We called them Thanatos. But they were often the most corrupt among our people during a time when all Ethnos were corrupt. Instead of using their power to help heal our land, instead of taking Death and infusing Spirit, they would just Gather Death for the power it gave them. It is a dark power, capable of infecting Spirit and eating it away like a mold on bread. None would stand against them, for fear of being infected with their power.

  “But that wasn’t the worst of it. When all the life is taken from something, what is left is death. Take the death away as well, and what is left is nothing. That nothing would breed unnatural creatures, the stuff of nightmares that feeds on that which it lacked — energy — until our world was barren, all the while multiplying the nothingness it created. We left, and that is why we can never go back. Our world was already crumbling, but given enough time it would have healed itself. Now, it is a world of monsters. The Thanatos were all killed in the hope that our past would never repeat itself. Entire families were destroyed for fear of the power in their genes.”

&
nbsp; Unnatural creatures? Nothingness? Shouldn’t I be riding around on a luckdragon or something?

  “Why have I not heard any of this before? It seems rather important.” The only time I could remember death mentioned was in a conversation I’d had with Laurel, and she simply said that you can’t remove death from something. Either she didn’t know this particular history lesson or she lied to me. I really hated being lied to.

  “The Elfennol don’t speak of it. I’m certain most of them don’t know it. My grandfather walked through the portal and helped build our first city in this realm. He told me of the Thanatos and the danger they present. He told me why we must never go home, because to go home is to become worse than dead. It is to be taken away from the natural cycle of things. In secret, I told my own children. The Elfennol fear the past, and would rather forget things as a method in preventing their recurrence.

  My fingers were going numb from the vice-grip that Ezra had on my hand.

  “You inherited this ability from your father, did you not?” Aahana asked.

  He silently nodded his head, and I could almost feel the shame radiating from him. He looked up and met Aahana’s gaze for the first time in this conversation. “Are you going to tell the Elders?”

  She nodded.

  “Hold on. What will they do when they find out?”

  She didn’t answer.

  I pulled my hand free and stood up, not at all liking what the silence implied. “Well, then they aren’t going to know! You just keep your mouth shut, problem solved.” I hovered over Aahana, not trying to seem threatening, but knew I did anyway since the air started to shake around me.

  Control was not my best attribute.

  “It is likely that they already figured it out. Kaylus used that ability to kill poor Arthur. If they have not already pieced it together, they soon will. They might not know Ezra has the same ability, but all of Kaylus’ blood will now be considered tainted. If they have not figured it out, we need to warn them of what Kaylus is truly capable, because it is far worse than we thought.” Aahana spoke in the calmest voice I’d ever heard, and I finally knew where Alexander got his stoicism from. It annoyed me so much I started pacing.