Buried Embers (Elemental Seekers Book 3)

by H. M. Sandlin

  Jordan’s lips thinned, but he didn’t say anything else. He knew I was right, even if he didn’t like it. I understood why he was upset. To him, we were only a bunch of kids. We hadn’t even finished high school yet, and everyone was counting on us to save the world. It sounded crazy when I thought about it that way.

  I didn’t think I was ready to save the world either, but I didn’t have a choice. “I know you don’t like it, Jordan, but it needs to be done, and we need to get in through this portal,” I said, pointing at the spot on the map where the portal and a large number of Pulhu were.

  “We better figure out a good plan to get you through all of them,” he finally said. I smiled. He was still going to help us.

  “What’s the plan?” Adam asked.

  “We are going to need a distraction,” I said. “Something far enough away that the Pulhu will be drawn to it, and we can sneak in.”

  “We could create an explosion farther down the trail. That might send them running to it.”

  “What about last time? Sievroth blew fire, and they all came running. They thought he was a fire elemental. Remember?” Abby asked.

  “That could work, but I don’t know if Sievroth will be able to get back to us in time, and I don’t want him getting hurt. I’m sure they put up more traps to catch anything trying to leave or enter the fire realm.”

  “Is he here? We could ask him if he wants to do it. You said he sometimes answers you back, right?”

  I knew Sievroth was close. I could always feel his presence when he was nearby. I asked him if he thought our plan would work, but I didn’t get a response. I tried one more time but still got nothing.

  “I don’t think he is ok with it. He isn’t responding to me,” I told everyone.

  “That’s ok. We will figure something else out. I think the explosion is the best idea. We can use the invisibility potions to keep them from seeing us as we sneak in. Do we have any bomb potions left? That would be great for distracting them.”

  “I have one,” Tider said. “Mr. Connor gave me his last one when we went on our last trip. He was worried and wanted us to have something to help if we needed it.”

  “Great. I can transport to whichever spot you choose and throw the potion before transporting right back out. I will make sure you get into the fire realm before I transport back to the cabin,” Jordan said.

  “No. You need to go right back to the cabin. If we end up having to fight, I don’t want to be worried about hitting you if you are hiding in the trees somewhere. If you are at the cabin, I won’t have to worry. We will be fine. As long as the Pulhu are distracted, we will be able to slip in.”

  Jordan agreed after another minute of arguing. I didn’t want to fight the Pulhu to get in, but we would probably have too. They weren’t going to leave the area entirely unprotected when they thought that was the entrance. I didn’t want Jordan getting hurt again. He wasn’t a fighter. We spent a few more hours going over our plans before taking a break.

  I slipped outside to enjoy the rest of the evening. We would rest here for the night before Jordan transported us. We didn’t want to go while it was dark. The fire I would need to heat up the rock that opened the portal would be too visible. It was better to sneak in during the day.

  Abby came out to join me, and we sat quietly together.

  “Do you think we will be able to get in?” she finally asked.

  “Yes. We will be invisible. They won’t have any idea that we are nearby until it is too late.”

  Abby didn’t look convinced. “Nothing seems to go the way we plan it,” she said.

  “I know,” I sighed. “I’m hoping this one will be better. We have a good plan, and Jordan is going to help us.”

  Tider sat down next to us. “It’s going to go fine,” he said, overhearing our conversation. “We need to believe that or it really will go bad. All we can do is keep trying.”

  “I’m worried about our families. If things are getting as bad as Chet says, what will happen to them? I just got my dad back, I don’t want to lose him again.”

  I didn’t know what to say to Abby. I didn’t want her to lose her dad again either. The curse on him had almost ruined their relationship. It was getting better now that he was himself. Abby spent as much time talking to him as possible. Since we left the school, she hadn’t been able to contact him. I hadn’t talked to my parents either. I knew they were safe for now, but it could change.

  “They are going to be ok,” Tider said, wrapping his arm around Abby’s shoulders. “I know it doesn’t seem like it sometimes, but look at everything we’ve accomplished. We saved the water elementals and the air elementals. No one even knew they were in trouble. If we keep working together, everything will be fine. Your parents are both in a safe place, and Chet will let us know if anything changes. So will Gary. We haven’t heard anything so I doubt there are any problems. If there was trouble with them, Jordan would know, and he hasn’t lied to us about anything.”

  Sometimes I forgot that Tider could tell if someone was lying by the color of the aura. He didn’t talk about it much, so it was easy to forget.

  “I’m worried about what will happen as the darkness gets closer,” Abby said. “Chet told us regular people were acting more aggressive. Will it eventually cause elementals to act that way too? Will our parents act that way? How do we help if it starts to affect them?”

  “I don’t have the answers, Abby,” Tider said. “I am going to stay positive. We will figure it out as we go. We are doing a good job so far. We will get the fire elementals on our side, and then we can go see your dad and Sally’s parents. I’m sure you will be sitting down with your dad within the week. We usually don’t take that long in the elemental realms.”

  Abby looked a little happier after that. She sat outside for a few more minutes before saying goodnight and heading to bed. Tider took off too. I waited for Richard to come out from around the house. He had been watching, keeping an eye on all of us while we talked to Abby.

  “Hi,” I said when he sat next to me.

  “Hi.”

  “Why didn’t you come over?” I asked. The only reason I knew he was watching was the connection we had to each other. I always knew where he was.

  “You and Tider had it under control. I’m not good at that kind of thing and didn’t want to upset her more. This has been pretty hard on her so far.”

  “It’s been hard on all of us, you too.”

  “I’m fine,” Richard said.

  “I know you are, but you are worried about your family. I know you are concerned about your sister. Remember, I’m in your mind as much as you are in mine.” I laughed when he elbowed me. “We will find a way to stop the darkness,” I told him.

  “And if we don’t?” Richard asked.

  “Then you don’t have to worry about the Pulhu trying to force your sister to their side. We will all be corrupted by the darkness.”

  He laughed. “Thanks, Sally. Not exactly what I wanted to hear.”

  “Yeah, but it made you laugh.” I became serious. “We have a lot to do, Richard, and I feel like we are running out of time.”

  “I do too. I don’t know what else we can do though. We are going as fast as we can. We will be able to go faster after this since we aren’t going back to the school. We won’t have to do everything in secret or worry about one of the other students spying on us. I’m sure wherever Chet has in mind for all of us to hide will be good. I bet he even has a practice area for you.”

  “Maybe,” I said. “I want this part over. I want to go check on my parents and make sure they are ok.”

  “Me too.” I stayed outside with Richard for a long time, gazing at the stars. We didn’t talk anymore. There wasn’t anything to say. We would be going into the fire elemental realm in the morning and hopefully convincing them to side with us.

  Jordan eventually called us in, telling us to get some rest. I walked inside slowly. I didn’t feel like sleeping even though I knew I needed some
rest. I laid down and quietly went over everything in my head. It took a long time to fall asleep.

  In the morning, I was awake before everyone else. I started to get all my stuff together before breakfast. Jordan made food. He had eggs, bacon, toast, and even some fruit on the table for us.

  “Where did you get all this?” I asked him. I hadn’t seen any of this in the fridge last night.

  “I popped over to town to grab some supplies. You need a good breakfast before you go into the unknown.”

  “What town did you go to? There weren’t any Pulhu were there? They might know who you are,” Richard said.

  “Don’t worry. I went to a town much farther away. I wasn’t anywhere close to Mount Etna. I don’t want to run into the Pulhu either.”

  We sat around the table, eating our breakfast and talking about last-minute ideas. When we finished, and it was time to go, Jordan stood up. “Please make sure you are careful. You all have my number if you need me. Let me know as soon as you are finished in the fire realm, and I will come and get you.”

  “Thanks, Jordan,” I said. I stood up, and we cleared the table while my friends got our stuff together.

  We went through our packs, making sure everything was set up before meeting Jordan by the door. We took our invisibility potions and grabbed hands. Jordan took a potion too, so he wouldn’t get caught and then transported us back to the woods as close to the entrance as we could get.

  Since it was surrounded by trees, we were almost on top of it. I peeked around a tree looking for the rock with the indent on it. The Pulhu hadn’t moved it, but they were standing around the entrance, pointing some sort of equipment at it.

  They were closer to opening the portal than I thought. We needed them to move now. I nodded at Jordan, and he disappeared. A few minutes later, I felt the ground shake and heard the explosion. Many of the Pulhu turned and raced through the trees toward the sound, but a few stayed behind.

  “Let’s go,” I whispered. We crept forward, trying to come up behind each of the Pulhu. Before we got to them, one turned around and pointed at us. Somehow they could see us. The invisibility potion didn’t work.

  “Watch out,” he yelled, his companions turning toward us and throwing up shields. “It’s her, call the others,” they shouted. One of them pulled out a phone, and I sent a stream of air at him intending to knock the phone from his hand, but my magic hit a wall of resistance. I heard him tell someone to come quickly. He put his phone away, as we all tried to get past their barriers.

  This wasn’t going the way I expected. They could see us, and we couldn’t even touch them. I tried to scoot around them and get to the entrance, but they blocked the way. I tried fire next, shooting small streams at their barriers. It worked, and the barriers started to come down. Adam noticed and used his power over fire to help me.

  As the barriers fell, the Pulhu started throwing their own magic at us. Two of them used air, and one used fire. I left my friends to deal with them, knowing they would be ok. I ran to the stone and placed my hand on it. I sent fire magic around it, but nothing happened. I tried again, using the ancient word for open. Still, nothing happened.

  “Sievroth,” I yelled. “I need you.” I felt heat sear my cheek as flames came from behind me and engulfed my hand and the stone. Before I could pull my hand back, shimmers around the edge of the pile of stones appeared. The flames continued hitting the rock, but my hand didn’t burn. I felt Sievroth talk to me.

  “It’s almost open. Be prepared. The Pulhu are coming, we can’t let them in.”

  “Sally,” Abby yelled, and I turned my head. Pulhu were pouring from the trees. They had gotten the message that we were here, and they planned on stopping us. I threw a barrier up around my friends and myself as the entrance glowed. Sievroth stopped blowing fire, and the portal started to open.

  I didn’t get to watch it open the rest of the way before the Pulhu started flinging power everywhere. I sagged as my shield took multiple hits. I needed my friends to get closer together, so I would only have to control one shield instead of multiple. They tried to get to me, but the Pulhu cut us off from each other, surrounding each shield with multiple people.

  “Sally,” Abby screamed, and I watched in horror as Mr. Mitchel emerged from the trees. He headed toward Abby. I refused to let him hurt her. I threw a stream of air at him to knock him back. He recovered quickly and laughed.

  “You know I will take her, Sally. Unless you do as I say, she will be mine. So will the rest of your friends. You can’t protect them all. I will destroy them.”

  “I won’t let you touch her,” I said, as he held his hand up.

  I staggered as he placed his hand on the shield causing it to start turning grey. The shield started to fail everywhere the grey color touched. Mr. Damon had done this to my shield too. I didn’t know what magic they were using, but I couldn’t fight against it. Abby screamed and moved a few steps back, but she couldn’t go anywhere. The Pulhu were surrounding her too.

  I pulled all my power together and shot a burst of wind at the Pulhu around Abby, causing them to be blown back a few feet. Abby ran toward me before they could stop her. I sent wind at the Pulhu around me too, opening a path for Abby to take. She ran to me, grabbing my hand and shaking. She was terrified of Mr. Mitchel after what he did to me.

  I was scared of him too, and I wanted to put more distance between us. I felt Richard in my head. “We need to attack, Sally. Otherwise, he will destroy all the shields, and we will be captured.”

  “Ok,” I sent back to him. “On three.” I let the others know the plan and then counted down. On three, I dropped the shields, and we all threw our hands up, allowing our powers to hit the Pulhu closest to us. Tider created a wall of water that swallowed a few of the Pulhu. Adam used small flames to light some of the Pulhu’s clothes on fire. It wasn’t deadly, but it would keep them distracted.

  Abby stayed with me, her greatest power was in being able to heal us if we needed it. I used small tornadoes to pick up the Pulhu nearest to me and fling them into the woods. Mr. Mitchel watched the whole thing without a word. He held his hands out, moving toward me. I tried to stop him, but my magic was flung aside. He continued walking toward us.

  I looked around trying to find a safe place for Abby. More Pulhu were still coming into the clearing, and the guys were busy trying to keep the Pulhu off of themselves. Air began to swirl around us, picking up speed. I focused and saw Richard’s magic surrounding the entire clearing. I used earth to make roots burst from the ground and entwine themselves around our legs as Richard’s power increased.

  The wind was howling as Richard let his full powers out. The Pulhu were lifted into the sky and slammed back down. I grimaced as one close to me hit the ground, and I heard a crack as his arm landed under him. I turned my head away from the sight.

  Mr. Mitchel wasn’t moving any closer to us. He was trying to keep himself from being sucked up into the whirlwind Richard was creating. He threw his hands out, and a stream of fire hurtled toward Richard. I pulled water from the air to smother the fire, and Mr. Mitchell looked back at me.

  The air was losing its ferocity as Richard used up more of his power. Tider was keeping as many Pulhu down as possible by smothering them in a blanket of water, and Adam was still trying to light a few of them on fire.

  It looked like we might win, but then Mr. Mitchel sent his magic around the clearing. A dark cloud swirled around Richard’s whirlwind, and each time it touched one of the Pulhu, they regained their strength and were able to stand up against Richard’s attack.

  As his wind died down completely, Mr. Mitchel smiled cruelly. “Now, you are all mine. You will do as I say, and the Pulhu will rule beside the darkness.”

  “Never,” I said, shooting a blast of fire at him. He easily swiped it to the side and moved toward me.

  “You are overpowered,” he said. I looked behind him to see my friends barely holding the Pulhu off. They were almost out of energy. There were too many Pulh
u and not enough of us.

  I put my hands out and said the spell for the fog. I told my friends what I was doing and cautioned them to put up their own shields if they could. I let the fog slowly drift toward the Pulhu. I moved it around Mr. Mitchel, not wanting him to dispel it.

  He laughed. “Do you think a little fog will stop us. There is nowhere for you to run. I have people stationed all over this mountain to catch you if you escape here.”

  “I’m not trying to escape,” I said. The fog wrapped itself around almost all of the Pulhu, and I raised my hands, eyeing Mr. Mitchel warily. I needed him distracted for a minute so I could add fire to the fog.

  “Why are you doing this?” Richard yelled, causing Mr. Mitchel to turn toward him.

  I sent a quick thanks to Richard and let the fire magic connect with the fog. The Pulhu immediately started to yell and run. The fog was burning them, allowing my friends a break. I threw a shield between them and Mr. Mitchel so they could get to me.

  When we were together, Richard put his arm around my shoulders to help support me. Immediately my power started to return. If we stayed touching, we would eventually both succumb to energy exhaustion, but it would give us a fighting chance. I leaned into Richard pretending to still be depleted. Abby grabbed my hand, giving me even more energy.

  I could see power coalescing around Mr. Mitchel. Whatever he was going to do would be huge. When he raised his hands and sent the magic at us, it was the same black form of the magicus that had come at me in the dome back at school. I tried to make our shield stronger, but his power ate right through it. I kept throwing shields up to keep the dark monster away from us.

  We couldn’t fight it. It would absorb our magic. “Sievroth,” I yelled. “Help me.”

  I felt Sievroth next to us, and I dropped the shield as his fire slammed into the magicus, blasting it backward. It didn’t explode like the one in the dome though. Mr. Mitchel must have made it stronger. Sievroth blasted it again, but it still stood before us. I felt the portal behind me shift as a group of people in armor came rushing out.