Winter Omens

by Trisha Leigh

  My voice chokes on the words, which make no sense given our conversation, but for some reason that one act feels like a bigger betrayal than his leaving. I avert my eyes from Cadi, embarrassed to be crumbling emotionally at this ridiculous time, when strength should be flowing through me.

  She takes two halting steps toward me then folds her sturdy arms around my waist. Only for a second, though, and then she pulls back and lifts my chin with a finger. “Here.”

  Cadi presses her palms together. When she pulls them apart, rainbow strands of thread—or something like it—twine together, braiding as they hover between her fingers. She secures it around my wrist, then sways back and forth, as though the effort has completely drained her. “Althea, I told you before I cannot leave for long. Because of their direct line into my mind, the Others would find me, and therefore you, too quickly. You need to go on your own.”

  “No. Not without you. I can show you how to build a wall, how to block their mind control at least for a little while.”

  “There are two things you must understand, child, so listen carefully. First, the ability to resist the mind control of the Others is unique to you four and your Elemental parents. As you said, it is flawed, but no member of any species that I’ve known has been able to resist, even for a time. Second, you Dissidents need one another. Without Lucas, Pax, Deshi, and you together—all physically together—nothing can be accomplished. You cannot save Earth yourself, or with two or three. Time is running out. Reclaiming Deshi is already going to be difficult, considering—”

  Cadi’s face twists, mouth open in an O but no sound emerges. Her dark eyes stare over my shoulder, wide and filled with sorrow. Tears stream down her cheeks and drip off her chin like a river. I whirl around and stumble backward as Kendaja’s finger stabs through Cadi’s chest from behind, the nail poking through her thin shirt. A fountain of golden blood spurts from beneath it, and Cadi drops as though all of the bones in her body have suddenly dissolved at once. She doesn’t move.

  Kendaja’s ravaged, blistered face and neck twist to me, and her smile raises the hair along my arms. “Fire is hot but I am not scared not scared, not scared of it,” she coos. “I’ll kiss the hot, Fire daughter.”

  It’s the first time she’s spoken directly to me without permission from her father, and the honeyed, happy voice spits nails into my ears. I look to the side of her, so she remains in my field of vision but can’t lock on to my eyes and start chewing on my mind.

  “Pretty girl, but not too smart, no, no not pretty smart.” She takes a step my direction, then another.

  “Althea!”

  The voice spins me around, its familiar tone and warmth not changed by the stress weighing it down. At first, it’s hard to believe the damage done over the last couple of days isn’t causing my brain to play tricks on me, but then Pax appears, too.

  He and Lucas stand inside the door of the black building, their faces grim, hands locked, eyes on me. And then they blow the place to pieces.

  CHAPTER 32.

  Glass rains down as all of the windows explode simultaneously, from ones at the top of the building that reach into the clouds to the ones at the same level as my face. I fall flat on my belly and cover the back of my head with my hands, which end up cut and bleeding by the time the deadly shower passes. Scents of pine and apples, cinnamon and fresh snow, infuse the endless room.

  Hands drag me to my feet, four of them, and I’m propelled toward the door, dragged between Pax and Lucas. Kendaja shrieks behind us, a sound more enraged than injured, and rushing feet crunch across the glass carpet.

  We burst out into the early evening, surrounded by Wilds.

  “Did you miss me?” Pax’s hand squeezes tight on my arm, his eyes guarded despite his teasing tone.

  “Took you long enough.”

  For now, we can tease. My feelings jumble into a hopeless knot at the sight of him. Lucas’s hand freezes mine, the sensation so familiar and like home that it weakens my knees. It’s as if I never let myself admit how much I’ve missed his steady presence until this moment, but now that I have, I want to curl up into a ball and cry for all of the days I’ve stayed strong.

  “Sorry. Winter here was hard to find.”

  “Shut up.” Lucas issues the hoarse command.

  He turns, putting one hand out toward our pursuer and leaving the other wrapped around mine. A strange sensation washes through me, like nothing I’ve ever felt before in my life. My power leaves, flowing from my core and out through my hand, like always, but this time it goes into Lucas. Instead of feeling drained, it’s doubled as more swishes back in the same way, into my center and back out, like a current in a river.

  The hand held toward Kendaja fills with a jagged piece of ice, which Lucas flings at her. She dodges the projectile, but then the evening fills with them, winging at her like arrows loosed from a bow, and she dives behind a boulder to avoid them. The frozen daggers of ice smash against the rock, shattering into pieces on the dead, brown grass.

  Lucas isn’t done.

  The sound of rushing water climbs into the air. A river emerges from the Wilds, wide and deep, running left to right through the clearing and right over Kendaja’s hiding place. The rock must be smooth on the back side, and with nothing to hold on to, the coursing river carries her lithe frame from the clearing. She chirps shrill laughter, trying to twist her face to us and make eye contact until she disappears from sight.

  Lucas doesn’t lower his hand or turn my power loose for at least five minutes, until Kendaja has been ferried far enough to ensure us time to escape before she can find her way back. He drops his hand, turns to me, and crushes me in his arms.

  They’re cold, I’m hot, and his cool breath and pine scent swells my heart until it might burst open with the happiness of having him here. My arms heat up and squeeze tight around his neck, trying to merge our bodies into one being so we never have to be apart again.

  “Ahem.” Pax clears his throat, reminding me that he’s here, too.

  Lucas and I break apart, grinning like fools. Then his smile slips away, and he reaches out a finger to explore what is likely a horrific scar slicing down the side of my face. He starts to say something but I shake my head, biting my lip and holding his cool hand against my cheek.

  I turn so we’re both facing Pax, whose expressions march across his face too quickly to capture. Relief that we’re okay. Anger at the damage I’ve suffered. Irritation, perhaps at having brought Lucas. Worry that I’m not going to forgive him for leaving, even though it does seem now that Greer’s suggestion that he had a plan might turn out to be right.

  “What happened? The short version, because we need to leave.”

  “I took your bracelet and Griffin helped me travel to Atlanta, where I figured Lucas was since he wasn’t in Danbury or Iowa or here. It took me longer than I thought to find him, since he was hiding, and then we came back. We couldn’t take on a building full of Others, so we created a distraction.”

  “Created a distraction? By unveiling and probably Breaking half a city of human beings?! What were you two thinking? My life isn’t worth that!” It’s too much to believe, that more people will die to save me. Us.

  “It was Griffin’s idea.” If Pax thinks that’s any kind of defense, he’s wrong.

  “You mean you still haven’t learned your lesson about listening to Griffin? After he started all of this by helping you grab Nat?”

  “Who in the universe is Nat?”

  “Could you two stop arguing for two seconds?” Lucas snaps. “This isn’t helping anything. Althea, we didn’t mean for things to get so out of hand. We were going to stir up a windstorm, maybe bust open the water filtration system, cause some trouble like Pax said you two did outside of Danbury.” Lucas pauses, his calmness in the face of catastrophe working to slow my breathing, too. “But it didn’t work. And then people seemed to really see us, so we wondered if Ko and Cadi were still alive. The humans got all agitated about our presence, and then
Pax and I tried telling them to calm down, then I tried the talking in their heads thing, but there were too many to control. It didn’t work.” He runs his hands through his blond curls, poking my heart with memories.

  Then something he said pushes through my muddled emotions. “Cadi!”

  I limp into the Observatory Pod, the boys on my heels. When I get to the place where Kendaja dropped Cadi, she isn’t there. The entire room is full only of echoes. In fact, the whole building could be deserted for the lack of noise.

  “Althea, we’ve got to go.” Lucas says softly, as though not to upset me.

  “Cadi…she was here. Kendaja stabbed her in the chest. And…and they killed Ko yesterday. Because I wouldn’t talk.” My voice sounds faraway and flat, even to my own ears.

  The boys exchange a glance, but I don’t care. Cadi’s gone. Even though she said she couldn’t come with us, I was going to make her. It takes a minute, but I bury my grief for the millionth time in the past three days, take a deep breath, and face Lucas and Pax. Lucas looks worried, like I might fall apart any second. Pax is more wary, as though his main concern is that I don’t blow up at him for his part in all of this.

  Lucas takes a step toward me. “Griffin has a place we can hide while we figure out what to do next. We’re supposed to meet him.”

  “No. We’re not taking any more help from him. And we’re not leaving until we fix what happened in the city. We can fix it.”

  “There are too many of them,” Pax argues. “It won’t work, and the place is teeming with Others. They’ll catch us. We’re stronger together, yes, but they took the Elements with them, too, and there’s no way we can fight them, Summer.”

  There’s a look on Lucas’s face as though someone struck him. I grab his hand, begging him to understand. “Lucas, we can. You know we can. We fixed Leah, and earlier this winter I unveiled Brittany, remember her?”

  He shakes his head slowly. “I agree with Pax, as much as it pains me. We have to leave, now, if we want to escape.”

  Anger hammers me like a dozen stones all at once. I jerk my hand from his, glaring at them both. “You two can do whatever you want. I’ve been here fighting to keep our secret from these people. I watched Ko die yesterday, and do you know why? So we could do what they think we can—help save this planet. I will not hurt it instead!”

  The last sentence tears from my lips in a shriek, backing the boys up a few steps, and I march around them and outdoors. My feet find the direction I came from when looking for Pax, and the sound of the boys following me weakens my limbs with relief. Because we need one another, but also because I want to believe that deep down they agree that our job is to protect the humans, not to make their lives worse.

  The trek back to Portland takes over an hour with Pax leading the way and me trying to hide how much walking hurts my ribs and collarbone. The gate into the park slides open at the push of the black button. Lucas grabs my hand again, forcing me to look at him. My jaw aches from clenching it so hard.

  “Althea, think about it. If we go in there and start messing with people’s minds, they’re going to know what we’re capable of. And everything you went through these past couple of days will be for nothing.”

  He’s right. He’s so right, but leaving them all confused and Broken and being sent off wherever people like that go strikes me as opposite of right. The weight of the decision of whether to save a few people or save them all on my shoulders—on our shoulders—sags me to my knees. It’s too much responsibility. An entire planet, a race of people. I can’t do it. Because of my silence, a race called Spritans was eliminated today. I don’t want to be the cause of any more deaths, even if it means the Others know our secret. “I don’t care. We have to try to help, no matter what it means for us.”

  Lucas nods, and after a moment, so does Pax. Something that might be love for them both warms me from the inside, like slurping hot soup on a cold winter afternoon.

  In the end, our bravery means nothing. We skirt the edges of Portland, staying under the cover of trees or using buildings to block our presence, but there’s nothing to see with the exception of a few riders and maybe three patrols of Wardens. They’ve contained whatever happened, carted off the Broken, or reset everyone’s veils.

  “We’re too late.” I can barely hear my own words.

  “Let’s just go meet Griffin and get out of here, Summer. We need to regroup.”

  “No. No Griffin.” I hold out my arm and touch Lucas’s wrist, adorned by my old bracelet. “We can travel on our own and stay together.”

  Lucas catches my fingers in his before I can pull away. “Griffin showed us a place that will be safe, at least for a while. And your dog is waiting there.”

  Wolf. I can’t leave him alone because of my pride. If I really loved him I would, because the dog would certainly be better off without me, but my selfish need to let his fierce loyalty and soft, sweet face offer me comfort makes up my mind. I nod. “Fine. But we are done with him after this. We can’t trust him. And he’s infuriating.”

  They don’t say anything, which I’m not stupid enough to assume means they agree, but sudden fatigue keeps my lips sealed. Fighting with them both takes too much energy, and to be honest, having a place to rest for a few days sounds better by the minute.

  In the park, we find the gate into the Wilds standing open.

  And our parents, all four Elements, stand guard.

  CHAPTER 33.

  Pax, Lucas, and I stop in our tracks. We’re silent, and so are the Elements.

  The Prime steps around his most valuable assets, a grim smile stretching his face into a ghoulish mask. “You injured my daughter. That angers me.”

  It’s on the tip of my tongue to mention that the damage done to Kendaja amounts to a fraction of what they’ve inflicted on me over the past twenty-four hours, but I bite back the commentary.

  “Did you have anything to do with what happened in this City?”

  The boys look away from the Prime, a smart move that I don’t copy, though I do keep my eyes from meeting his. We can still protect our secret.

  “It’s your fault, what happened in Portland. Pax and Lucas came to rescue me, but ended up in town instead of in the Wilds. Since you had Ko killed, our invisibility was weakened. People realized they didn’t belong and started to panic.” My explanation has holes, but he’s never dealt with a situation like this before, not on this planet, so what I’m proposing has to at least be considered.

  “We will decide what happened later. In the meantime, the three of you will come with us.”

  I step back, sliding my right hand into Pax’s as my left joins with Lucas. Power, strangely hot and cold, heady, flows between us. A maelstrom of pine, jasmine, apples, snow, cinnamon, and burned leaves lifts my hair into my face and coats my tongue.

  The Prime’s smile slips from his face. “Have it your way.”

  He nods at the Elements, who also join hands. They turn their heads simultaneously to face us, and I hold my breath.

  Nothing happens.

  “I said get them!” The Prime’s shrill command sounds like a child not getting his way.

  Pamant turns to his brethren. “You dare defy him?”

  Are they not working together?

  My mother shakes her head, frowning. “Do not do this, Pamant. I know what happened with your boy has changed your outlook, but—”

  Pamant shoves a hand into her chest and Fire flies backward toward the electrified fence. She somersaults in the air, landing hard on the soles of her feet instead of crashing and getting zapped, but it still looks as though she’s having trouble catching her breath. Before we can figure out what’s happening, or who we should be fighting, Deshi’s father pushes both hands our direction.

  What feels like a solid granite wall slams into my chest, lifting me off my feet, sending me flying backward through the air. With none of my mother’s grace, my back slams into a giant redwood trunk, knocking the oxygen from my lungs. The ground feels a
lmost soft when my legs smash into it. Through my blurry eyes, Lucas appears, rocking on his hands and knees. I finally suck in a full breath as the earth quakes and rolls beneath my body.

  Lucas and I crawl toward each other as the rumbling grows louder, until it sounds like a hundred riders race toward us at high speed.

  “Where’s Pax?” I shout over the din.

  He looks around wildly, and when I follow suit it feels as if my spine twists into ten separate pieces. When I spot him, the pain from the torture and the tree fade into the background. “Oh, no.”

  The wall threw Pax farther than us, all the way to the center of the park and into some of the playground equipment. His body lies crumpled beneath a seesaw, and red blood pumps from a gash on his forehead.

  Lucas grabs my hand and we stand, but another rocking quake knocks us back to our knees. Nearly screaming at the pain in my back, I swivel my head. A scene that can only be described as madness greets me.

  Pamant continues to hold out his hands toward us, sending waves into the earth, commanding it to break into cracks. He’s having a hard time keeping steady contact with his element, though, because the rest of the Elements obstruct his path. Fire, Air, and Water block his attempts successfully about every third push, even though when his power hits them they shudder and groan. Their hands are at their sides, like they’re unwilling to use their abilities against one of their own, who they must love in spite of this current disagreement. Our parents haven’t chosen our side, are not actively assisting us, but they are giving us the chance to escape.

  The Wardens stand agape, watching the scene with the same horrified fascination coursing through my blood. Until the Prime yells something incomprehensible at them, forcing them into action. Our parents have no aversion to using their powers against the Others’ enforcers, it seems, because the first ones to join the fray turn into fireballs. Clouds blot out the clear sky, accompanied by misty rain, the beginnings of a storm.