Raine (Elemental Series Book 2)

by M. M. Roethig

  Kaden scanned the area and found Camille at the crest of the falls with Isa’s former army dangling upside down in green tentacles that bound their wrists and ankles. Their faces still void of emotion, the men never fought back.

  “Kill him,” Elzar commanded and Kayla snapped out of her shock. She looked back at Kaden, still kneeling on the ground and flexed her arms to let the fire loose.

  In one swift motion, Kaden lunged from his knees and caught Kayla around the waist, throwing her to the ground with a thud. He felt her head knock against the rocks as her body went limp beneath him. The balls of fire in her hands dissipated into nothing.

  “Where is Raine?” Eryk yelled from the trees.

  “She’s in the water.”

  CHAPTER 29

  RAINE

  The moment Raine hit the water, Isa’s arms released as she scrambled to catch her footing. Raine felt the ring slip off Isa’s finger when she pulled her hands away from Raine’s chest in a panic to breach the surface. Raine gripped the ring in her hand and surprisingly felt calm as water seeped into every pore on her body, revitalizing her weak limbs and making her strong once again. She instinctively inhaled, astounded that she could leach oxygen from the water without taking the liquid into her lungs. She inhaled deeply.

  Raine closed her eyes and pictured a bubble like cocoon that surrounded her and lifted her out of the water. She felt her stomach lurch with sudden movement that felt so real she threw her arms out wide to brace against something. Her eyes flew open to find she was hovering above the water in a liquid sphere that continued to rise gradually until she was high above the water, looking down on the carnage around her. Her eyes burned bright blue, giving off a blue hue in the area around her. Her wrist burned with intense heat from her marking.

  She searched the area for Kaden and found him lying on top of Kayla’s limp body with a smear of blood on the rocks underneath her head. His skin was red and blistered and she could feel the pain he tried to hide from her.

  Around the falls, a medieval fight was in full force. Eryk wielded a broadsword against an army of men that Raine had never seen before. Some were dressed in black and others were dressed in green loincloths with tattoos covering the majority of their bodies. Their swords were mythical in appearance, with hooks and designs Raine had only seen in pictures.

  Camille stood at the crest of the falls moving her body in exaggerated Ti Chi poses as she commanded the vines around her to bend to her will. Isa’s armies of men dangled upside down, restrained in the vines at Camille’s side, their eyes still empty as they looked at her.

  The ring in Raine’s hand glowed bright as she watched the men at Camille’s side and she slipped the ring on her finger. Instantly a jolt of energy surged through her and the men screamed in unison. Streaks of white shot from their body and surrounded her as it did with Donovan, only this time it was sans the pain.

  She closed her eyes and let her head fall back as the energy seeped into her, causing her hair to blow wildly inside her water sphere. When she opened them, she looked back to the men held captive in the vines to find their faces no longer emotionless. Fear and confusion replaced their once hollow expressions.

  Raine scanned the area once more and found Elzar creeping toward Kaden where he knelt next to Kayla’s limp body, watching her. Elzar had a large rock in his hand. His intention was clear.

  Instantly, Raine brought her arms up in big swooping arches from her sides and the water at the base of the falls followed, creating upward tendrils of water that suspended mid-air. With a thrust of her hands, the water raged against Elzar, raining down on him with crushing force that swept him off his feet. Everything around was drenched, including the dying embers from Kayla’s fire, which instantly filled the air with smoke. It was difficult to see and Raine temporarily lost sight of Kaden, until the marking on his hand burned like a beacon through the dark.

  A sudden gust of wind swept over the falls and cleared the air. Raine saw Skye standing near the base. His eyes gave off a bright white glow, and his hair blew wildly in the wind. Raine turned to defend herself when she realized Skye’s attention now focused on Elzar. With sweeping motions, Skye pushed Elzar away from Kaden with small tornados that encircled him with violent gusts of wind. Elzar staggered backward before an icy burst picked his body up and flung him spread-eagle on his back.

  He shook his head and managed to get back on his feet moments before Skye sent another burst of wind his direction. Elzar jumped to the side to miss the burst and ran down the trail for Kaden.

  Kaden was now on his feet to brace for the attack. Elzar crashed into him, sending them both to the ground, narrowly missing the jagged rocks at Kaden’s feet.

  In a whirl, they rolled as one to the water’s edge where Isa managed to crawl out and lay panting. She grabbed hold of Kaden’s hair and held him with shaky hands as Elzar tried to pin him to the muddy earth with his body.

  Kaden wedged his knees between them and shoved Elzar back. At the same time he reached for Isa’s hand and twisted her arm for her to loosen her hold. She cried out in pain and shuffled away from him.

  Elzar, with rock in hand, advanced on Kaden once more. Rage built inside Raine.

  An image of moving earth filled her thoughts and she closed her eyes, stomping her foot in midair. That caused the earth beneath Elzar’s feet to shake with intensity. The ground split in two, creating a small crevasse beneath him and Elzar lost his balance. A small piece of earth lurched upward, catching him in the jaw, sending him to his knees. Raine stared in disbelief.

  “How is she doing that?” Kayla’s voice was weak, but audible. She had regained consciousness and sat with her hand on the back of her head watching the dying battle.

  “She can wield Donovan’s powers now.” Isa’s voice came from under Raine’s feet and she looked down to see Isa crawling on her knees in Elzar’s direction. Her hair was plastered to her head and her white gown clung to her withered skin.

  “Stop her,” Elzar screamed. Blood poured from his nose, his face covered in mud, his green eyes alight with rage. In response, she stomped her foot again and swooped her arms in a high arc. Another clod of earth flew upwards, narrowly missing Elzar’s face at the same time a flood of water rained down on all below.

  “The ring is gone,” Isa sputtered and coughed, her voice coming out as a faint whisper. “I lost it in the falls, it is gone.” Raine heard the anguish in Isa’s voice and it made her smile as she held her hand up. “The ring,” Isa gasped. “She has the ring.”

  Elzar looked to Raine before he scanned the area to find his warriors all but defeated, as they lay injured at the feet of Eryk’s men. The falls become eerily quiet as all eyes moved from Raine to Elzar and waited.

  “Elzar, help me,” Kayla pleaded.

  “Isa,” Elzar screamed in a rage. Isa, on her hands and knees, had made her way to Elzar’s feet and grabbed hold of his ankle, chanting words foreign to Raine. Swirls of wind surrounded them as a bright white fog lifted from the earth below and covered Kayla, Elzar, Isa, and all the warriors fighting against Eryk’s men. The blanket of white was dense and popped with energy.

  “No!” Skye bolted forward as he screamed out his plea, but it was too late. The fog dissipated, taking everyone with it.

  CHAPTER 30

  RAINE

  “Bring the injured to the water,” Raine said as her water sphere descended to the ground. Once it touched the earth, the sphere popped and Raine stood next to Kaden near the water’s edge.

  She took Kaden by the hand and he let her lead him into the cool water of the falls. Without a word, Raine closed her eyes and the marking on her wrist burned again as the water around them seeped under Kaden’s clothes and made a path to his face. The water seemed to have a life of its own, giving off a light blue hue and healing each cut, bruise, or mark on his body as it caressed his skin.

  When Raine opened her eyes, she found Kaden staring at her in wonder and something else that made his green eyes
glow.

  “I thought I’d lost you,” he said loud enough for only Raine to hear. “I—”

  “Raine, please help.” Eryk’s voice cut Kaden off as he helped one of his warriors to the edge of the falls. “He is the worst of us and the bleeding won’t cease.”

  Kaden dropped Raine’s hand and ran to help Eryk. The warrior’s arms draped over Eryk and Kaden’s shoulders as they gingerly brought him to the water’s edge. His stomach hung open with a large gash that spilled blood unceasingly. The warrior’s head had fallen forward and Raine realized he’d passed out from the pain.

  Raine gathered water into her hands and blew into it, causing it to expand like a balloon, before she placed it against the wound on his stomach. The water seeped into his gut, fizzing with energy as it worked to heal his wound. Raine cupped his limp head in her hands and pressed her forehead to his as she closed her eyes.

  The water at her ankles slowly drifted up the warrior’s legs, taking the weight off Eryk and Kaden as it lifted him in the air and tilted him on his back as if he were lying on a bed. Bright blue water encased his body while he lay suspended mid-air. It circled and swirled around him with such speed the warrior’s body became invisible in the blur of blue until it finally slowed and lowered the healed warrior back to the ground and laid him on the bank.

  Eryk ran to his friend to help him to his feet as the warrior touched his stomach where the gash once was. The only evidence of the wound was the stained loincloth around his hips.

  “It is great to see you again, my friend,” Eryk said as he clasped him in an embrace.

  “All injured, please come,” Raine said as she held out her hands to the amazed faces surrounding her. “Step into the water.”

  Raine closed her eyes and let her power flow into the water, causing it to glow bright. Each injured warrior stepped into the water and felt the magical healing powers as the water ran up their bodies, healing every wound in its path.

  “That was freaking amazing.” Camille’s voice sounded from above. “What shall we do with these creatures?” she asked from her place at the top of the falls. Her vines still held Isa’s wind warriors dangling in the air.

  “Bring them here,” Kaden said as Raine walked from the falls to stand by him. There was indecision in her eyes, she knew he could see it, but he said nothing to her as Camille’s vines brought the men to water’s edge. “Who are you?”

  For several moments each man remained silent and Kaden took a step forward, his face near the closest man held suspended upside down in front of him. The confusion on his face gave Raine pause and she put a hand on Kaden’s shoulder.

  Kaden, don’t. At Raine’s plea, Kaden turned to her and she saw the fury in his eyes. It immediately dissipated when the thought of fear passed through her mind, and he took a step back.

  “Who are you?” she asked the stranger staring at her.

  “Chance,” he replied.

  “Do you know where you are, Chance?”

  “Not really. The last thing I remember is heading to a party with my buddies when we found a young redhead and her grandmother on the side of the road. We stopped to help, and I don’t remember what happened next.” Chance looked to his friends and they all nodded. “I swear, I don’t know anything.”

  Slowly, Camille commanded the vines to upright the men, loosen their hold, and set each one on the ground.

  “Do you remember anything else? Anything at all?” Raine asked as she looked from one to the other. Chance shook his head, then stopped.

  “A bright light. I remember a bright light that told us to do things.”

  “Do what?” Kaden asked.

  Chance looked at him and took a step back before answering, “I don’t remember.”

  Raine brought her hands up to her chest and played with the ring on her finger. It was no longer glowing, but the skin around her finger looked red and blistered. She slipped the ring from her finger and placed it in her pocket before she turned back to the sea of eyes watching her.

  “We just really want to get home,” Chance said when Raine’s eyes met his. She nodded.

  “I’ll make sure they get where they need to go,” Camille assured everyone.

  “Autumn,” Skye said. “She’s still up there.”

  >*< >*< >*<

  The Inn was quiet when Raine, Kaden, and Skye arrived. Eryk stayed behind to clean up the area around the falls and fix the damage to the forest while Camille took the college men back to Portland where they belonged.

  The screen door of the cabin lay in pieces on the porch where Kayla splintered it earlier. The inside was dark as Skye cautiously led them to the back room.

  “Autumn,” he whispered as he opened the door. Autumn lay on the bed, her wrist and ankles still chained to the bed, the skin red and raw from the iron touching her. A small tear trickled down her cheek when they walked in.

  “I thought you wouldn’t come back for me,” she said and her voice cracked.

  “I promised I would,” Kaden replied from behind.

  Skye grabbed the iron shackles in an attempt to free her. His skin burned on contact and he dropped the chains immediately. The palm of his hands showed signs of blistering. He reached again for the iron shackles when Kaden grabbed his arms.

  “The more you touch them, the less help you are. Let us free her,” Kaden said, the empathy in his eyes for Autumn’s pain evident when he gave Skye a knowing stare. Skye backed away, gingerly rubbing his hands together to ward off the sting.

  “Raine,” Kaden said. “Try to hold her hands still while I break the chains off of her. Skye,” Kaden turned his attention to Skye and pointed to the hallway. “Bring Raine a large container of water.”

  With a nod, Skye left the room.

  Raine sat beside Autumn on the bed and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she said as another tear trickled down Autumn’s face. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you sooner.”

  “I’m just so relieved you came back for me.”

  Raine placed a hand on the iron shackles and tried to keep them steady while Kaden took a large screwdriver he found in one of the drawers and tried to break the lock free. The lock around her ankles snapped under the force, but when Kaden tried to break the shackles around her wrists, Autumn screamed out in pain as the iron bore into her skin, causing them to bleed.

  “Stop!” Raine screamed and Kaden backed away. “We can’t do it that way, it hurts her too much.”

  “We’ve got to get these off of her before the iron poisons her blood.”

  Autumn flinched under Raine’s hands and she turned her attention back to her pale face.

  “He’s right. I’ve been shackled for a long time now and I’m getting weaker by the minute. Do what you have to do.”

  Autumn squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her teeth to prepare for another round of pain when Skye walked in with a large container of water. His face dropped when he saw the blood trickling down Autumn’s arms and went to kneel beside the bed.

  “Can’t you do something else?” he asked.

  “I have an idea.” Raine stood and took the container of water in her hands.

  She closed her eyes and pictured a healing balm of liquid as the water in the container began to glow. Tendrils of water snaked out of the container and danced through the air to rest on Autumn’s arms. The water moved in tendrils that slithered under the shackles at her wrist, forming a protective barrier, giving an instant reprieve as the blood flow stopped. Autumn sighed with relief.

  Kaden drove the screwdriver back into the lock hole and tried to jar it open, but the water barrier underneath spilled out and the iron, once again, burned her skin.

  “We need the key,” he said in frustration.

  “Let me try one more thing.”

  Raine dipped her hand into the water and brought out a round, dense sphere. She placed it on the shackles and watched as the water covered each part of the shackles. She closed her eyes and let out an icy breath of wind, feel
ing the energy she leached from the college boys race through her.

  The cold blast from her breath froze the iron at an alarming rate, but the protective barrier around Autumn’s skin kept her wrists safe from the cold.

  Kaden whacked the chain and the iron fell away in tiny pieces on the bed. Raine swiped them as Skye lifted Autumn from the bed and cradled her in his arms.

  “How did you do that?” Kaden asked in disbelief. “And how did you move the earth earlier at the falls?”

  “It’s the ring,” Skye answered for her. “It drains powers from other Elementals and gives them to the owner of the ring. Isa is the only one who it has ever worked for, until Raine.”

  Skye sat on the bed and held Autumn in his arms as he looked at her blistered wrists. She winced at the pain, but they were no longer bleeding because of the protective barrier Raine provided earlier.

  Raine noticed the pain on her face and used the remaining water in the container to heal her wounds and Skye’s hands. When Raine was finished, Autumn looked young and beautiful again.

  “Better?” she asked. “How are your ankles?”

  “Yes, much better. Thank you. My socks kept the iron off my skin. My wrists took the brunt of the pain.”

  “I still don’t understand how the ring works,” Kaden said.

  “When Isa put the ring on Raine’s finger, she expected it to drain her powers. Instead,” Autumn explained, “the ring pulled powers from Donovan until he was nothing but a shriveled body on the floor. Then, it turned on Kayla. They got the ring off before it drained too much, but she received some of Kayla’s powers.”

  “That’s why Raine can move earth like an earth Elemental. She now has Donovan’s powers?” Kaden repeated. “What about the icy breath?”

  “When Raine put the ring on at the falls, I saw the power from those college boys transfer to her. They were not true Elementals so once the power drained, the ring stopped. I don’t know why it stopped, but it did,” Skye explained as he set Autumn on the bed next to him and pulled her close to his side.