The thought that I was a water elemental, and therefore should be capable of saving myself, was nearly frozen out of my mind. I gasped for air and ordered my arms to paddle, first rubbing the water out of my eyes and pushing my soggy hair back from my forehead. I hadn’t gotten far before I heard a splash and felt water slop over my head, but I didn’t turn around. I just pushed faster. Now that I was looking around, I realized that I could see a dim light glowing in the distance, a fire flickering ahead. I could just make out the outline of a boat, but before I started toward it I heard a scream. Looking around in a panic, I saw Betsy trying desperately to keep her head above water. She was flailing like a cat thrown in a bath, only a cat’s will to live would have been stronger than Betsy’s. She just kept screaming, as if she expected Camilla or Daisy to help her.
I swam toward the noise, knowing I shouldn’t. If I were a good paranormal competing in the Ultimate Tactical, I’d just let her drown. But I couldn’t.
“Betsy?” I spit water out of my mouth.
I had to call her name several times before she calmed down enough to start yelling, “Charlotte? Help! Help me.”
I heard several more splashes, knowing they meant that both teams had started to jump in earnest. I wondered if they could hear our screams from above or if they’d looked on the magical Dash screens and seen that we had jumped and not died.
The Dash screens were giant stretches of magic imaging that allowed spectators to see the action from close up, even if they were far away. Each viewer could control his or her own view of the screen, even if from a distance it looked like one giant TV. If such a TV got out, it would totally revolutionize human households, Lough had joked. Lisabelle had demanded an explanation and Lough had told her that families fight over the TV all the time. Lisabelle had told him she wouldn’t put up with any of that.
Meanwhile, I was still trying to get to Betsy. “I’m coming,” I said, looking desperately around at the jumble of limbs in the water. I swam toward the fallen angel, but by the time I got to her she couldn’t really keep herself up anymore. She had started to sink into the black depths of the waterways.
I wrapped my arms around her prone form and kicked upward. Her arms were pointing at an awkward angle as I burst out of the water.
I had seen both boats while I was looking for Betsy, and I headed for those. One was sleek and black and looked brand new, the other was old, wooden, and, I felt sure, leaky. They were both tied to a great rock outcropping, and my plan was to leave Betsy on the outcropping if her teammates weren’t going to save her. At least then she wouldn’t be dead.
But just as I reached the outcropping, I saw a face appear in the sleek black boat.
Camilla was smiling down at me, her green ring sparkling and alive.
She gave me a dirty look. There was a maniacal glint lighting her eyes as she pounced, sending a stream of green dust swirling at Betsy and me. It thickened and solidified as it flew right at my face. If I ducked I would have to let go of the unconscious Betsy. If I didn’t I’d be unconscious right along with her.
I ordered the water to rise. If Vale was going to dump me in one of the four elements of my own magic, I was going to take advantage of it. The black water rose up greedily to swallow Camilla’s pixie arrow. She glared at me, but I ignored her.
I plunged forward and laid Betsy on the rock. Luckily, I didn’t need to perform CPR on a fallen angel; she was just unconscious from fright. I made sure she wouldn’t roll into the water if she thrashed around a bit, then darted back to the boats. Camilla had gotten to the nice boat first, which meant that the Glories would have a great advantage. Was it possible that we had lost the race before it even started?
“Charlotte, over here,” called Lisabelle, waving her arms from the other boat. It looked like someone had poked a million tiny holes in it. If it was still floating, it must have been by magic.
“Didn’t you jump after me?” I asked Lisabelle as I clattered over the side into the boat. Rake helped me, while Sip was busy trying to plug as many of the holes as possible. My friends’ faces were grim.
“I tried,” said Lisabelle grimly. “Vale held me back long enough to give Camilla a chance. She probably wouldn’t have let you make it to the good boat, either, so don’t feel bad.”
I nodded numbly, but I felt worse than bad. I felt like I had already let my team down. Trafton, wet and soggy as hew as, slung an arm over my shivering shoulders, and that gave me some comfort.
“Try all you want,” Daisy’s gleeful voice shot out of the darkness, “but you aren’t going to get anywhere saving paranormals who are better off being allowed to die.”
“She referring to her teammate?” Rake asked, shocked. “How do they know they won’t need a fallen angel in the next rounds of this game?”
“They don’t,” said Sip. “And I hope we don’t either.” She gave Vanni a sour look. Our own fallen angel was curled in on herself in a corner, rocking back and froth.
“Why didn’t we get any pixies on our team?” I asked, remembering Camilla’s attack. We’d be much better off fighting Camilla with another pixie.
Rake snickered. “None wanted to be on our team.”
“Oh, and I suppose you had something to do with that?” Sip asked.
“A little light, maybe?” Trafton asked me, ignoring the banter. I nodded. The other boat might already be pulling away, but their light was awkward. My powers had the advantage down here. I could control the wind, the current, and the fire.
I called to the fire up ahead. It was much easier to use existing fire than to create my own, especially since we were in a wooden boat, but the fire wouldn’t come. Sighing, I tried again and again. Still nothing. Sweat had now broken out on my brow.
“Just leave it,” said Lisabelle, “and get us moving. They’re almost out of view.” I had been concentrating so hard on calling the fire that I hadn’t even noticed that the other boat wasn’t there anymore.
I called again to the black water and the still air. Power flowed through my ring and out, gently nudging each element into movement. Our boat started to make a strange rocking motion. The winds and water tried to get us moving, but the boat didn’t want to budge.
“More,” cried Lisabelle, who was sitting with an oar in her hand. “More and more and more.”
I closed my eyes and raced to the side of the boat. My teammates got out of the way as I plunked myself down and stuck my hand in the water. Direct contact shouldn’t have been necessary, but I suspected that the water would move faster if I touched it, and I was right.
It surged forward, carrying our boat along with it, and as we raced along I heard the sounds of splashes and voices coming from up ahead. The use of my magic had made me hot, but my pink clothing was still soaked through. And now, blasts of heat were hitting our faces.
“Careful going around this turn,” Sip yelled to Lisabelle. “I have a bad feeling about it.”
Lisabelle cast her eyes forward. This was no time to argue with her roommate, and when we rounded the bend we saw that Sip had been right. A ball of black fire hurtled toward us, screaming through the air just as we reached the curve. Vanni whimpered as Sip and Trafton cried out. I held fast, urging us forward as the fireball surged directly over our heads, throwing sparks into the boat.
“That wasn’t part of the course,” Sip panted, once she was in a sitting position again. “They threw that at us.”
“Is that the best you can do?” Lisabelle yelled up the tunnel. We could no longer hear voices or the splash of oars.
“They’ve gone into stealth mode,” Trafton joked. “How very sneaky of them.”
“Sip,” said Lisabelle, her voice as calm as ever. “Do you smell smoke?”
I heard more than saw Sip sniff the air. We really needed light.
“Yeah,” she cried. “Must be some of the sparks that landed.”
I heard my friend scramble to her feet and start stamping out various places on the boat that had started to smol
der. I didn’t pay much attention, confident that she could deal with it. I was more curious that the other team could call fire, while I couldn’t. How rigged was this game, anyway?
“I think another fireball’s coming,” Lisabelle cried. We’d rounded the bend and there was a little more light now, though I couldn’t see where it was coming from.
We were in a large passageway, basically an underground river. All around us were black rocks and water that looked just as black. The air was close and stale and smelled like dead fish.
“Gross,” Sip muttered, covering her too-sensitive nose.
The water was rocking gently from the passage of the first boat. Far ahead, but about to disappear around another bend, were the Glories. Camilla turned around to stare at us, then said something to Daisy, who was standing next to Faci. Dobrov and Adver were in the front of the boat, but neither of them looked back at us.
Daisy smiled and came to stand next to Camilla. The two joined their ring hands and started to say something.
“Uh oh,” said Sip. “Is that an incantation there’re trying to perform?”
“Incantations are sooo Starter,” said Lisabelle smugly.
My stomach was in knots as I watched the two Glories prepare to attack. From the look on her face I could tell that Sip wasn’t feeling much better about it. But I forced myself to concentrate on keeping the boat moving.
Camilla and Daisy suddenly raised their rings and pointed directly at us, shooting balls of power at our boat. As the orbs hurtled toward us, Trafton came over to stand next to Lisabelle, his eyes intent on the rushing shots of power. Right before they crashed into our boat and splintered it into a million pieces, Trafton put up a dream giver shield. I’d seen Lough use the same defense a couple of times, a multi-colored tapestry of many dreams, not very strong, but effective once or twice in any given battle. Trafton staggered backward as the shots of power bounced off the shield and plunged into the water, sparking and creating a small tidal wave.
“Hold on,” Lisabelle yelled as the wave rocked our boat. I tried to hold on, but it was hard to do that and keep my hand in contact with the water. Just when I thought I was failing, a small pair of hands steadied me. Even through my stupid pink uniform I could feel them shaking, but they held fast. I looked gratefully at Vanni.
“Thank you,” I murmured, “Now sit down before you get sick.” She smiled gratefully and sat down right where she had been standing, again pulling in on herself. Her skin was sallow and green, almost like a pixie’s, and her whole body was shaking. She stayed very close to me, almost touching.
“Is that the best you got?” Lisabelle yelled.
“That was pretty good, wasn’t it?” Trafton muttered, panting. I could see that fighting off the shots had tired him. Dream givers were not known for their shields.
I watched the Glories convene together as their boat disappeared around another bend. I wondered what they would come up with next.
“Charlotte?” Rake said. “We could really use some light.” It was clear that the Glories had a light source, while we were still in almost total darkness.
I nodded and tried again. This time I didn’t bother with the lights coming from the walls, I created my own, plunging deep into my ring to do it. I felt Sip’s fingers close around mine, giving me her strength to work with, and with that renewed shot of energy I pushed further into my elemental magic. There, in the depths of the stones, I saw a blue fire start to blaze, and I smiled. As I pushed it through my veins to the surface I saw it turn to orange and red, blazing in my mind’s eyes. Come on, I thought desperately, just a little more and then, ahhhh, there it was.
“You can stop now,” said Sip gleefully. I opened my eyes to the blazing ball of fire over our heads, covering us like a heated canopy. I smiled.
“How’d you give me power?” I frowned. “That’s not supposed to be possible.”
Sip grinned, her white fangs flashing. “I didn’t. I just gave you support.” I smiled in return. “It’s tricky, but if we’re careful I think we can get away with it.”
“Sip, I barely know you anymore,” I told the werewolf gratefully
She beamed at me.
“No matter how touching all that self-congratulation is,” said Lisabelle dryly, “we have some Nocturns to catch.” It was the first time Lisabelle had called them by the name the demons allied with Malle were going by. The naming put a stark outline around our situation.
“Dobrov’s not a Nocturn. His dad might be, but not him yet,” I pointed out, moving to sit next to Lisabelle in the front of the boat. Lisabelle narrowed her eyes. “If he’s with them, then he’s not with us.”
“I don’t think it’s his choice,” I pointed out. She didn’t reply.
Meanwhile, delicious warmth spread over us as the fire blazed.
“Good going with the portable heater,” Trafton said, sitting on Lisabelle’s other side. “Can you do the same for my room?”
“Sure,” I said. “I’ll get right on it.”
“I thought this course was supposed to be challenging,” Lisabelle snarled. “What’s going on?”
“What are you talking about?” I said. “I feel challenged. I feel very challenged.”
Lisabelle’s eyes flashed, but it was Rake who explained. “We’ve only been attacked by the other team. Nothing has happened on the course. It’s a boat trip, which, although a miserable experience in general, is not terribly challenging.” His eyes flicked to Sip to see if she was proud of him, but she was busy examining our fire blanket. I gave him a rueful smile.
“So, what do you think’s going to happen?”
“Well, that, for starters,” said Lisabelle, pointing in front of us. The Glories had started to cry out, and now that we had light I could see why. Up ahead the passage narrowed, not just a little bit, but so much that I felt sure our boat wouldn’t fit through the opening. At the same time, the current was rushing faster, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get our boat to slow down as it shot forward.
“Can’t you slow us down?” Lisabelle yelled.
“I’m trying,” I said desperately. Trafton’s jaw was clenched tight, but he didn’t have any suggestions either.
Suddenly the air was broken up by howling and slurping. Our light had illuminated the walls, and now I could see that they were lined with black-looking werewolves and strangely colored lizards.
“Those aren’t real,” said Rake, staring over my shoulder.
“They’re not real in that they’re not really werewolves,” Sip agreed. “But they’re most definitely real in that they want to attack and kill us.”
“Are those hellhounds or werewolves?” I asked.
“What difference does it make?” Rake demanded. “Look at those teeth!”
The difference it made was that Vale had promised there would be no Nocturns, which meant no hellhounds or demons. If those were hellhounds that she’d sent down below to attack us, then that was most certainly bad.
“Hellhounds,” Sip breathed. “Don’t worry, I’ll deal with it.”
Just as she finished speaking, one of the hellhound-looking creatures sprang toward us. Sip transformed into a werewolf in the blink of an eye and jumped onto the hellhound just as it landed in our boat. The rest of us were forced to grab the sides as we careened from left to right.
“Hang on,” I cried to Vanni, who was panicking again, but my eyes never left Sip.
I didn’t have to worry; Sip was using her fury at our being attacked to fuel her fight against the demon. The poor thing was trying in vain to protect its sides and flanks, but Sip just kept coming. She would spring forward and zip at its sides, then spring away before the hellhound even knew she was there. This continued as we moved inexorably toward the narrow passageway. The hellhound was clearly growing tired.
But so was Sip. There came a moment when Sip zipped at the creature’s flank but didn’t pull back fast enough. The hellhound saw its chance and darted forward, trying to bring its jaws
around Sip’s neck. Rake, who was tired of watching, simply stepped forward, wrapped his arms around the hellhound, and heaved it over into the water.
The werewolf Sip paused mid-snarl and gave Rake a questioning look. The big vampire shrugged. “I gotta be good for something here. You can’t do everything all the time, you know.” I was pretty sure that if Sip had been in her human form she would’ve laughed.
“Something’s wrong,” Rake muttered. The first boat, which didn’t look like it would fit at all, had just squeezed through the opening and disappeared into the tunnel. It shouldn’t have been able to. The sides should have slammed against rock and the boat should have splintered into a thousand pieces. Instead it slid through and out of our sight.
As we continued to surge forward ourselves, the water continued to rise.
“We’re going to be smashed against the roof,” Vanni cried, her voice filled with fear.
“Oh, look, it speaks,” Lisabelle muttered. It sounded nasty, but she said it low enough so that Vanni didn’t hear. I knew the darkness mage was just releasing some of her own pent up frustrations, so I didn’t think the comment needed a response.
The passage continued to close, and I gasped as it looked like we were going to smash right into it.
To make matters worse, a ring of fire had sparked around the edges and we were now careening right toward it. If one of us didn’t do something fast, it looked like we were in a race to see if we were going to be burned alive before we could be smashed into tiny bits, or vice versa.
Trafton stretched out his hands and closed his eyes. It didn’t even really look like he did anything, except that suddenly we were no longer underground in a dank passage about to be smashed to smithereens on a bunch of black rocks. Instead, we were floating on a beautiful lake, with water lilies dotting the spotless blue water as the sun shone down. Trees lined one side of the lake, providing a comforting shade, and the breeze kissed our skin.
Elemental Fire (Paranormal Public Series) Page 17