Callie stirred and mumbled, “Is that … a storm?”
Ridley’s attention turned to Callie as she lifted her head and squinted at the window through one half-open eye. Abruptly, Ridley was human again. “They’re coming,” she said. “We have to go!” There was no time to explain further. She rushed to the window and opened it.
“Hey!” Callie yelped. “What are you—” But the rest of her words were lost as Ridley dove headlong into the stormy night, her air form tangling with the gale-force wind. She thought of the emergency bell a moment before realizing the wind was already carrying her that way. Cabins rushed by beneath her, then trees, a playground area, the school, and then she was whirling down toward the stone arch where the weatherworn bell hung.
Someone was already there.
Ridley released her magic, and her feet, clad in nothing but socks, stumbled across the uneven ground. Rain pummeled her from every direction, drenching her almost immediately. “Saoirse?” she gasped, her heart pounding as if she’d run all the way here.
Saoirse stopped, her hand inches from the rope. Her expression puckered, confusion and fear flashing across her face. “Ridley?”
Ridley’s words tumbled from her mouth: “The Shadow Society is coming. Magic told me. Did you hear the warning too?”
“I—yes.” Saoirse blinked through the rain beading her eyelashes and streaking down her face. “It—it told you too?”
“Yes. We have to tell everyone. Wake everyone. We have to ring the bell. Now!” She rushed forward, launching past Saoirse for the rope because it seemed the older woman had frozen. She grabbed the rope and tugged downward. For a second all she could think of was telling Archer that this bell was probably too rusty to move. But it did move. A loud clang issued forth. She tugged again and again—clang, clang, clang—while all around her, the gusting air let out a sigh as it stilled. The thrashing rain slowed to a drizzle, and the repeated flashes of lightning became distant flickers.
But the urgency thrumming through Ridley’s veins remained. She dropped the rope and turned back to Saoirse. “The backup home. That’s where we have to go, right?” Behind her, the metal clapper knocked once more against the inside of the bell. Then again, quieter. Then … silence.
“Yes. Grab whatever you can. Grab whoever you can. Anyone who isn’t elemental. Most of us know where to go, so you can—”
“Sense where you are and follow you. I know.”
With a single nod, Saoirse vanished, leaving a small whirlwind of leaves in her wake. A second later, Ridley did the same. As she raced on the breeze back to her cabin, she heard shouts and spotted movement below. People running. Flurries of leaves as others vanished into the air.
The bell had done its job.
She spun back down toward her bedroom window and slipped inside. Releasing her magic, she skidded across the floor just as Callie straightened from tugging on a pair of shoes. “Oh, it’s just you,” she gasped, pressing a hand to her chest. “What’s happening? That bell was a warning, right? We have to—”
“Run. We have to run.” Ridley was soaked, but there was no time to change out of her wet pajamas. She grabbed her hooded jacket from the small wardrobe in the corner and shoved her arms into the sleeves. “I mean fly. As air. Go!” she added a little more forcefully, when Callie did nothing but stare at her with wide eyes. “Follow the others. Tanika, Saoirse, whoever. They know where to go. I’m going to get Archer.” She snatched a pair of sneakers from the floor, tugged them on, then raced toward the window, becoming air between one step and the next.
Within moments, she’d reached Archer’s cabin. She blew through the tiny loft space that belonged to him, but it was empty. She was so sure he would still be here—barely any time had passed since she’d rung the bell—that she hadn’t even thought to reach out and ask the magic around her where he was. She turned back toward the window, casting her thoughts out.
But she couldn’t sense him.
A sound caught her attention, and she swirled around, her first thought that it must be Archer. But it wasn’t him. The man’s face was cast in shadow, so Ridley couldn’t tell whether she recognized him, but the fact that he was inside some type of hazmat suit was a good indication he wasn’t on her side. There was also the fact that he held a canister in one hand and a gun in the other. He swung both hands up—
Ridley spun around and shot away through the gap at the top of the window, hearing first the spray of the canister and then, as she whirled up into the night, the crack of a gunshot. She knew the man hadn’t seen her, but perhaps the curtains had billowed or the sheets had rippled as she spun around, giving away her presence.
The night air, which had been so crisp and clear earlier, was now heavy with arxium. Ridley struggled to hold onto her elemental form, wishing someone had given her that gas mask Nathan had been talking about earlier. Too late now.
Where are you, where are you? she thought as she pictured Archer again. He had to be close by, so why couldn’t she sense him? She thought of Dad instead, and the answer came back almost immediately. She whirled down toward him as he ran between two cabins.
“Oh, Ridley, thank goodness,” he gasped the moment she materialized. He grabbed her hand. “We have to go now. They’ve—”
“Have you seen Archer?”
“Uh, I saw him a few moments ago, coming out of your cabin.”
“I can’t sense him. That’s weird, right? What if he’s—”
“He must be gone already if you can’t sense him.”
“But then—”
“Some of the others can move really fast. He’s probably beyond your reach already.”
“But he wouldn’t have let someone else take him if he didn’t know whether I was—”
“Ridley, we have to go!” Dad insisted. “Someone probably just swooped by and took Archer without stopping to have a conversation about it.”
“Okay, okay.” Ridley didn’t want to leave without knowing for sure, but she had to get Dad out of here, and he was probably right about Archer. She took a deep breath—then coughed and retched. Had these monsters brought one of their arxium machines with them? Is that why the suffocating particles were filling the air so quickly? Thunder growled overhead, and rain drops began to spatter the ground.
“This way,” Dad said, tugging her between the cabins. “Hurry. We need to get away from the arxium. The river, maybe? Water should be easier for you. Hopefully it isn’t full of arxium like the air.”
They rounded the corner of a cabin—and stopped mere inches from tripping over a body on the ground. Ridley saw the colorful scarf first, then the pool of blood, then Tanika’s lifeless gaze.
Horror crashed into her. “No,” she whispered. “No. How is this … this isn’t supposed to be happening!”
“Keep moving,” Dad said, steering her past Tanika. “We have to keep moving. Just keep moving. Just—” His voice caught, but not before Ridley heard the intense emotion in his words.
She followed him blindly. Suffocating smoke and the flickering orange glow of flames filled the air. Rain pattered down in fat droplets, but it wasn’t enough yet to quench the fires. They seemed to burn brighter with every passing moment, sending more and more smoke into the air. It was just like her dream. How many other bodies were lying in pools of blood, hidden by smoke, about to be consumed by flames? What if Archer—
“There it is,” Dad said, tugging her forward a little faster. She blinked and looked ahead. He was talking about the river. “Can you shift? Is there less arxium here?”
“I … um …” She tried to push aside the image of Archer lying dead somewhere and instead pushed her magic outward. It made her feel ill, but not so terrible that she couldn’t handle it. Water, she thought as they reached the river bank. Water, water, water, water—
She felt herself fall, heard herself splash. A moment later, she released the magic, rising fluidly back into her human form. A muffled shout met her ears, but before she could look behind her,
Dad said, “Quickly! Now, Ridley!” He threw his arms around her just as she moved to throw herself around him. They became water together, slipping easily into the river and racing away on the current.
Once Ridley judged they’d put some distance between them and the reserve, she arced out of the water in a stream of droplets and became air instead. Her mind reached out for Nathan. Sensing the general direction he’d gone in, she followed.
Time lost meaning as she flew over hills, ravines, lakes, and then finally, the mountains she’d seen in the distance every time she and Saoirse went out to practice magic together. She dove downward, listening to the magic around her, reaching out toward Nathan.
And suddenly, there it was. An enormous structure of stone and glass jutting out from the side of the mountain. A great many conjurations must have assisted in the construction of this building, which was situated far above the ground and was at least ten stories tall. Simply getting all the materials up here must have involved a lot of magic. Ridley could see how it would be extremely difficult for anyone without magic to access this place. At the same time, it was probably a terrifying home for anyone who had a fear of heights.
Ridley spotted a wide opening on the lowest level. Heading closer, she could see a large, high-ceilinged space filled with people. She swooped inside a few moments later, reaching out with her mind toward Archer once more. As had been the case the whole way here, her question went unanswered.
She pulled her magic back inside herself and let go of Dad, feeling panic begin to tighten her chest and steal her breath. Archer couldn’t be … dead. There had to be another explanation. Maybe … maybe the arxium she’d breathed in earlier had muddled her senses. Maybe some of it was still in her system, so her magic wasn’t functioning properly. He had to be here somewhere.
She began pushing her way through the crowded space, her eyes scanning the area for anyone male and tall and dark-haired. It seemed almost everyone from the reserve was squished into this entrance room. Clearly no one knew where to go yet.
She passed Nathan and Cam, Saoirse’s husband. “… didn’t make it,” Cam was saying to Nathan.
“That makes three so far,” Nathan replied. “That we know of for sure. Dammit. We’ve been safe for so long. How did this happen?”
Ridley continued past them. Right now, it didn’t matter how this had happened. All that mattered was figuring out who was left. Her damp pajama bottoms flapped around her ankles as she went. Hopefully the supplies Nathan had referred to included clothing, since she’d brought nothing aside from her jacket and shoes with her. But she could worry about that once she’d found Archer.
She saw Saoirse next, sitting on the floor near the edge of the room with her daughter Bria. Bria spoke quietly to Saoirse as she wrapped an arm around her mother’s shoulders.
“Saoirse!” Ridley hurried over.
“Oh, what a relief,” Saoirse said on an exhale. “I was supposed to get you a mask, and I didn’t, and with all the arxium gas in the air, I was so worried maybe you’d—”
“Hey, I’m okay.” Ridley took Saoirse’s hand and squeezed it. “I’m glad you’re okay too.” She was about to move on when Bria glanced up with fear-filled eyes. Ridley paused. “Is she okay?” she asked Bria, nodding toward Saoirse.
“I think she’s having a panic attack,” Bria said, her voice high-pitched.
“No, no, no,” Saoirse said. “I’m—I’m fine. It’s just …” She took a deep breath. “It was like before. The smoke and the flames … I didn’t realize it would be the same.” She shook her head. “I mean I—I used to have nightmares. After the last time they found us. This was like the nightmare.”
Ridley almost said it was like her nightmare too, but that wouldn’t have helped. She crouched down in front of Saoirse. “But we got away. Magic warned us they were coming, and we got away. Well, most of us.”
“I know, but people died, Ridley.” Saoirse wiped moisture from beneath her eyes. “We should all have been able to get away in time, but we didn’t.”
Ridley nodded, tears pooling in her own eyes as she pictured Tanika. Then she pictured Archer in exactly the same position—and immediately wiped the image from her mind. Don’t think like that, she instructed herself. “It could have been worse,” she whispered. “It could have been so much worse. If magic hadn’t warned us.”
Saoirse took another deep breath and nodded, straightening a little. “I have to keep telling myself that.”
“Wait, magic warned you?” Bria asked as Ridley was about to stand.
“Um … yes,” Saoirse answered.
“Oh. I didn’t know … Why didn’t it do that before? The last time the Shadow Society found us.”
Saoirse shook her head as she stared at the ground, her brow furrowed and her gaze far away. “I don’t know. I didn’t realize until tonight that it could communicate so clearly with—with us. Maybe … we were too deeply asleep that night? The last time, I mean, when we had no warning. I don’t know. I …” She inhaled shakily, wringing her hands together.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Ridley asked.
“Yes, yes, I’ll be fine.”
“Okay.” Ridley stood, glancing to the side and spotting Malachi a little further away. Relief eased a tiny fraction of her anxiety. “I really need to look for Archer.”
“Yes, of course. I think I saw him …” Saoirse looked around. “No, I’m sorry, I can’t remember.”
The flame of hope that had flickered briefly to life died a quick death. Ridley turned around just as someone almost barreled into her. “Callie?”
“Ridley, I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Callie swiped her tangled hair out of her face. “I … I saw Archer.”
Ridley’s heart sped up. “Where?”
“I saw someone tackle him back at the reserve. They knocked him out. A man and woman were forcing him into one of those hazmat suit things, and I was going to try to be fire, to attack them and stop them, and then there was so much arxium in the air I almost passed out. I was on my knees, and I couldn’t see him anywhere, and then someone else grabbed my hand and suddenly we were air, and then we were—Ridley, wait!”
But Ridley had spun around and begun forcing her way back through the crowd toward—toward what? Who? Who would be able to help her if the Shadow Society already had Archer? Fear gripped her. The same fear that had stolen her breath when magic snatched Archer away in the wastelands outside Lumina City. Only now it was worse. This wasn’t a confused, undefined feeling of not wanting to lose him. Now she knew just how much she cared for him.
She had to go back. She had to find out if he was truly gone or if he’d managed to escape and was waiting for her—
“Ridley?” Someone caught her arm and pulled her to a stop. She tugged free—a little too forcefully—before realizing it was Dad.
“They took Archer,” she said in a single breath.
Dad frowned. “Are you sure he isn’t just—”
“He’s not here, Dad. Callie saw someone take him. I have to go back and—”
“No, no, no.” Dad took hold of both her arms.
“I have to!”
“Stop, Ridley. Just … just wait. You can’t go racing off without a plan. You have to think.”
“I don’t have time to think, Dad. If he’s not an elemental, then they don’t care about him. They might be about to … to kill him.” She could barely get the words out.
“If he’s not an elemental,” Dad said, his steady gaze holding hers, “he’s more likely to survive. It’s your kind they want to kill, not people like Archer and me. He’s a Davenport. He’ll be fine.”
“What does being a Davenport have to do with it?” Ridley demanded, her voice shrill.
“Because that name means something. He can negotiate with it. Offer them a small fortune in exchange for his freedom. Even the Shadow Society needs money, right? Or contacts, or favors. Maybe that’s why they took him—because they recognized who he is.”
> “But—he—” Ridley shook her head. “That makes no sense. The Shadow Society already has influence over … I don’t know, pretty much everything, right? The mayor of Lumina City is one of them, for goodness’ sake. They have contacts already.”
“Okay, but maybe … maybe they want to bribe Alastair Davenport. He does control almost all the arxium in the world, so—”
“Dad, stop. You’re only saying these things because you don’t want me looking for Archer and putting myself in danger.”
Dad pressed his lips together before answering again. “Yes. But what I’m saying could very well be the truth anyway. I’m not letting you go.”
“You can’t stop—”
“Just think.” Still holding onto her—probably so she wouldn’t be able to shift form without taking him along with her—Dad reminded her of the danger she’d be putting everyone else in. He pointed out that the Shadow Society might catch her and torture the new location out of her. They may have invented some way to follow her back here while she was in her elemental form.
Then he dragged her to Nathan, who freaked out almost as much as Dad had about the idea of her returning and putting everyone in danger. Nathan promised that within an hour or two, a small, select team of elementals would return to the reserve and covertly check things out.
An hour or two.
There was a not insignificant part of Ridley that wanted to scream. But knowing that there were more lives at stake than just Archer’s, she managed to keep herself from racing off immediately. That didn’t mean she had to be still, though. She changed into the dry clothes Callie brought her at some point, then started pacing.
The giant receiving room slowly emptied of people, and she continued to pace.
As the moon inched across the sky, she paced.
After the team of elementals left—a team Nathan flat-out refused to allow her to be part of—she finally grew too exhausted to continue pacing and sat down against the wall. With every passing moment, her insides wound tighter.
Elemental Heir (Ridley Kayne Chronicles Book 3) Page 5