“Wow.” My brows rose. “You act like he’s nothing more than an item on a shelf, one you already have on layaway.”
She shrugged. “Interesting analogy, but sure, I suppose I do. My father is a very powerful man, so I always get what I want.”
“You won’t get me,” Cade assured her darkly.
“Sure I will,” she said, smiling.
I was pretty sure we were supposed to be escaping by that point. Cade had already begun inching toward the hole, but now that I’d gotten her talking, I was too curious for my own good.
“I don’t recall hearing about any important Marlowes in my crash course of Elementals 101,” I said sarcastically.
She sneered and rolled her eyes. “You wouldn’t have. Marlowe is my mother’s maiden name. It was too dangerous for me to take my father’s name.”
Cade whispered from behind, just loud enough for me to hear. “Skyden.”
Now, that name did ring a bell—a loud, shrill warning bell.
The Skyden brothers, Erion and Draven, were the original founders of the Elitist party, superior even to Nicholai, at least back in the day. If one of them was Loren’s father, then she was probably more powerful and more evil than I’d ever guessed. Just the thought of it made my skin crawl.
I shivered, suddenly becoming more aware of my surroundings. The crowd of Elementals had gotten closer, tightening the semicircle around us. Cade was on his toes, fingers fidgeting, seconds away from fight or flight. The burnt electrical taste of adrenaline crept onto my tongue and I backed up, blood pressure rising.
Loren laughed. “There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.”
At that, the hole in the cave wall sealed shut—an Earth on Loren’s left had seen to that. His smile was smug, and I wanted to slap it right off his face.
“Just get back in the cage,” she all but sang, “and no one will get hurt.”
Cade, of course, wasn’t having it.
He leapt into the air, his eyes hard like stones, lips set in a thin line, fists clenched tight. It was like a scene from a videogame, slow motion and totally badass, but still unreal. When he landed, the cave floor ripped in half. Loren and her minions scampered backward, knocked off balance. The thunderous vibrations dizzied most of us.
“Jump!” Cade shouted, nearly pushing me into the gorge. Suddenly we were falling. His arms wrapped around my waist and constricted like a snake. I was grateful for the near asphyxiation, though, because even with his tight grip, I nearly slipped from his grasp when we hit the bottom.
“Move!” he cried, clasping my hand as he quickly led the way—to where, I had no idea, nor did I care. My feet stumbled as I trailed after him.
The walls of the gorge must’ve been fifty feet high, and I could barely see a thing. Light shined above like a jagged tear in black fabric, but it didn’t reach the narrow bottom where the shadows shrouded our path. Dust hovered, tickling my nose and throat. Shouting and stomping echoed off the cavern walls, a frazzling reminder that we needed to move swiftly.
Ahead, the path moved uphill. Tree leaves peeked down from above and white winter sunlight became the new backdrop. The ravine reached its end, delivering us back into the thick forestry of Black Walnut State Park.
We weren’t far from the Elitist encampment, not nearly far enough.
The wind picked up, pushing against us until tears streamed from our eyes. Ice spikes flew past our shoulders like spears. Saplings darted past like arrows. Cannonballs of fire exploded around us, spraying dirt and smoke. I’d have been lying if I said I wasn’t scared.
Loren and her minions were hot on our heels. We needed more cover, but I couldn’t ask that of Cade. I was pretty sure that after all he’d already done—concealed himself and me from other Earths, chiseled through the cave walls, smashed a ravine into the rocky floor—his reserves were probably running low. It was my turn to pull some weight.
I glanced around, my white-blonde hair whipping across my face, but saw nothing immediately available to use to help us, no rivers or volcanoes to hide in—because, yeah, what else could a Fire use as cover? I supposed I could make a river by melting the snow…or…I could create an avalanche. There were plenty of mountains around, plenty of snow. It wouldn’t keep the Waters from following us, but stopping three-quarters of our pursuers in their tracks seemed like quite a decent advantage.
I awoke the water within me, quickly stirring it into a hissing whirlpool of ire. Then I set it free. As the power erupted out around me, the forest floor beneath us began to shake. The static rumbling of something large and terrifying filled the air. Loren and her lackeys backed off, cocking their heads to decipher the sounds. I grabbed Cade’s bicep and pulled him on. We would not want to be standing there in another few seconds.
“Avalanche!” an Elitist Water bellowed, and the others scattered wildly.
Not two seconds later, the first tufts of raging white snow breeched the caps of the nearby trees. It sprayed like a heavy wave, snapping branches and whole trunks alike.
I glanced over my shoulder and pushed my legs harder. We weren’t moving fast enough. The snow wouldn’t dare to hurt me, but Cade…
My mind ticked like a clock as I got an idea. Cade had somehow been able to spread his power outward to share with me. Could I do the same?
The rumbling was almost deafening. With it came the rushing stampede of snow, gaining on us by the second. Powdery snowballs spewed out ahead of us like saliva off of hungry teeth.
When a few of them landed on my shoulder, I immediately realized something was wrong. It was strange. Though the snow didn’t affect me outright, I could sense that it was heavy, much heavier than any I’d ever shoveled, even wet snow.
Was this my power evolving further? Had I killed people during the blaze, like I’d feared?
In a last-ditch effort to safeguard Cade, I pulled us to an abrupt halt and wrapped myself around him. His breath was ragged at my ear, his cheek freezing against my hair and scalp.
Please, I begged the water within and without, help me protect him.
The next second we were swallowed whole, packed into the snow like grains of salt.
I could see clearly, though, and breathe easily. For me, it was like swimming in a bright white sea and riding a cascading wave. As for Cade…I squeezed him tighter and looked up into his face.
Let him breathe, I commanded the water. Let him see. Bar the cold. Lift the weight.
He suddenly took a deep, harsh breath, and anxiety drained out of me from every pore. His emerald eyes, once squeezed shut, burst open. He looked at me, fear and awe swirling in the green, and then he looked all around us.
Woodland scenery rushed by; it was like peering through frosted glass.
“I’m alive…” he said in a whisper, like he couldn’t quite believe it. “This is amazing.”
We rode the frozen surf until the snow ran out.
Waiting in its place was soggy soil, littered with walnut shells, pine needles, and decayed leaves. Cade immediately kissed the earth then pushed himself onto his feet.
Thank you, I whispered to the water. Immediately, I felt its presence sink back down into the depths of my being. Just after, Cade shivered, stuffing his hands into his assassin jacket.
“Come on,” he said. “We’re not out of the woods yet.”
Literally.
“Where’s Xavier?” I asked as we kicked our jog into a run.
Cade looked over his shoulder and grinned. “Hopefully at the truck, but he’s never been very good with directions. Couldn’t find his way out of a paper bag when we were kids.”
I chuckled then quickly looked behind us. My unnaturally heavy snow should’ve temporarily stopped even the Waters, but I was still afraid to relax my guard. Laughter seemed almost too careless of an action.
“By the way,” Cade said, “that was awesome back there. You saved our asses.”
I smiled to myself then guilt soured in my stomach. Odds were, people had died in order for me to
have gained that kind of power. First, I’d gotten an icy force-push, and now an extremely heavy snow. Was it worth it, their lives in exchange for ours?
“Thank you,” I said. There was nothing else I could say.
“No, thank you.”
When we reached the truck, Xavier was nowhere to be found. There weren’t even footprints in the snow—but then, there wouldn’t be since he was a Water. The only tracks were of cloven-hoofed deer, trudging up the service road.
Cade cursed and kicked the driver’s side tire. “Can you feel him?” he asked me.
“Huh?” It sounded absurd. I wasn’t an Earth or a tracker or whatever.
Then I remembered back to my training with Jay, how, during water drills, I could feel him enter the lake when I was underwater, even from hundreds of yards away.
Perhaps if we were both touching a connected source of water I could actually locate him?
I looked around, shaking my head. The snow in the vicinity was too patchy. Still, I had to try. I bent down and placed a palm to the glittery powder. Energy surged out but remained connected to me, following the snow piles like a maze. Many of the energy trails dead-ended, some reached out beyond what I could see, but none of them led me to Xavier.
I shrugged my shoulders and stood back up. “Can you feel him?”
Cade bent down and palmed the earth. After a moment, he sighed. “No.”
Great.
“What should we do?” I asked. I didn’t want to leave Xavier wandering in the woods, especially after we’d just risked our lives to rescue him, but I didn’t want to chance our own recapture by sitting around and waiting.
A puff of breath escaped Cade’s lips as he ruffled his sandy blond hair, and his hands remained at his head. He was irritated. “I don’t know.”
“Well, what time is it?”
The Elitists had confiscated my cell, but Cade at least had a black metal watch.
He glanced at it. “A little after ten in the morning.”
Shock rang through me like a discordant key. I’d been knocked out cold all night? I couldn’t believe it. If I came across those two assholes again, I’d be sure to return the favor.
I scratched a brow and thought. “The grand opening of Sol and Lune isn’t until dinnertime. That gives us about seven hours, max, maybe less, though I’d prefer to get there with enough time to actually prevent the bombing.”
“Agreed,” Cade said with a nod. “So what are you saying? That we have time to search for Xavier?”
“We do, but do you think it’s necessary?”
His brows furrowed in surprise. “You don’t?”
I took a deep breath. “I mean, he evaded everyone for months before he was finally captured…even your dad. I think he’s actually quite skilled at this sort of thing.”
Cade bit his lip as he thought, and it gave me heated butterflies. “The southwest branch of the Allegheny River isn’t far from here,” he mused. “It’d make sense for him to gravitate there if he got lost—it’d be a straight swim right to Center Allegheny.”
My lips pursed into a smile. “I bet that’s exactly what he did.”
“Can we check?”
My smile tugged wider. “Sure.”
We wandered around for a few minutes, guided by Cade’s topographical memory and my fledgling Elemental instincts. Eventually we found the river. It was wide and slow moving, a beautiful shade of winter green. Ice clung to the outer edges and snow-laden evergreens lined the riverbank on each side, perfuming the air with their spicy scent.
I dropped to a knee and dipped my fingers into the water. Like my previous attempt, I let my power loose, and tendrils of energy streamed out in search of what I was seeking. There were no dead-ends this time, just the long length of the Allegheny River for as far as my power could stretch.
My brows furrowed.
“What?” Cade asked nervously.
I shook my head but my frown deepened. There were two signatures in the river; one was Xavier’s. “He’s here.”
“But…?”
I looked over my shoulder at him. “I’m also picking up Jay in the water, but he’s much farther away.”
Cade licked his lips, eyes a little too wide. “You think you reached the whole way back to town?”
I shook my head skeptically. “I don’t know.”
“Maybe you’re more attuned to him because of all the training you had with him?”
I stood up and crossed my arms. “Maybe.”
I wanted it to be that simple. I wished that there was some totally unrelated, logical explanation, but it was so uncanny that I simply couldn’t dismiss it.
Navigation had never been my strongest suit, but I was pretty sure my power hadn’t reached town; that would have been miles away. The signature felt closer than that, but why would Jay be anywhere near the state park? It didn’t make sense.
As I mulled it over, Cade glanced around warily. “Let’s get out of here.”
Back at the truck, I climbed in, clicked my seatbelt, and kept quiet. There were about a hundred questions floating around in my mind, and I needed to sift through them before I said something stupid. Cade backed the truck out onto the road, and when he put it in drive, my mind wandered further.
Aside from the newfound questions involving Jay, there was Loren. Why did she believe Cade was hers? Was there something going on that I didn’t know about? Had their parents planned a betrothal? The practice of arranged marriages seemed archaic, but it definitely still happened. Was that how Cade had known Loren was actually a Skyden? Because he was fated to marry her someday? Just the thought made my heart sink.
Cade sighed. “What are you thinking about, Val?”
I forced a smile and laced my fingers tightly. “Nothing.”
“You’re thinking very intently about something.”
There was no way I would tell him I’d been thinking about marriage—he was skittish enough about our would-be relationship without me mentioning that word. I also didn’t want to seem as jealous as I felt. Constantly dragging Loren into our conversations wouldn’t help matters.
I didn’t want to lie, though, so I hedged. “How did you know about the Skydens?”
“That’s what you’re worried about?” He gave me a pointed look that said he didn’t believe me, but he answered anyway. “I didn’t know about them until I started following Nicholai. He has secret conferences with people all the time. I only have theories about who he’s contacting at The After Dark, but I’m certain of who he’s been meeting up with back home—Chelsea Marlowe, Loren’s mother.”
“But why would Nicholai meet with her?” I blurted out. “Why not the Elitist husband?”
“Erion,” Cade said, confirming the younger brother’s identity. “It probably wouldn’t have been wise. Everyone still thinks he and Draven are dead.”
I was sure they’d wanted to keep it that way.
“Will they come out of hiding and run the show again if Nicholai can gain enough momentum for the Elitists?”
“No.” He adjusted his seatbelt and glanced in the rearview mirror. “Nicholai’s, uh…more powerful now. Unless the brothers have been on a killing spree since disappearing, they can’t beat him anymore.”
I frowned down into my lap. “But…” It didn’t make any sense.
Nicholai hadn’t been stronger than them before; how could he have gotten so powerful that it would take a killing spree to match him? Alana—his wife, my grandmother—had tried to permanently share her Gifted powers with him, but it had backfired, leaving her dead and him even weaker than before.
Had he somehow secretly committed genocide? Crumbled buildings and blamed it on terrorists? Made earthquakes and blamed it on fault lines?
“Valerie,” Cade said softly. “He killed your grandmother.”
“It was an accident. I’ve read the Carving Earth history book—Aunt Marge insisted.”
He shook his head and placed a hand on my knee. He never took his eyes from the ro
ad. “No, Val…” The softness in his voice was so out of place. It made me uneasy. “It wasn’t an accident. It was murder.”
I swallowed hard and tried to breathe. “But the rituals of shared power they’d tried—”
“Never happened. You can’t give your power away, but you do lose it when you die. Normally it just dissolves back into the universe, but if your life is taken, your power is taken, too.”
It felt like cinderblocks were piling on my chest. Pain, sadness, betrayal, anger, and hatred took turns swirling around in my bloodstream.
“He killed her and took her power,” Cade said. When he looked over at me, his eyes were worried. “He’s the most powerful Elemental alive.”
I looked away quickly. Tears threatened to spill down my cheeks, but the anger had ignited the fire within. Before the salty drops could fall, they steamed away with a quiet hiss.
Aunt Marge was right about him. Elise was right, my father was right, everybody was right…and I should have trusted them. Now, I’d all but sealed my fate. I had refused to cooperate and be his marionette. I had defiantly escaped and made him look weak. Add that to the allure of gaining my power, too, and killing me would be the cherry on top of this screwed-up cake.
My eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.
Nicholai Prett might’ve been the most powerful man alive, but I would make his life a living hell. I would ruin all he strived to achieve. I would save all he endeavored to destroy.
Starting with Sol and Lune.
Chapter Seventeen
Back at Center Allegheny, Cade and I squealed into the driveway of my riverside house. Finding my dad was my new top priority, so of course, his sleek black car wasn’t there. He was probably with Curwen at the Modernist headquarters in the courthouse.
I sighed to myself.
We still needed to locate Xavier, though, so I hopped down from the truck.
Cade followed me out back, down to the bank of the river. His footsteps crunched in the snow; mine didn’t make a sound. I smiled down at my camo flats—they weren’t the reason for my soundless steps, but any gift from Cade would be one I cherished.
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