As a boy, Job had been everything Gion wanted to be. He and Parson, of the Wood House were the only role models in Gion’s life. Heroic and honorable, people looked at them with respect and smiles. Parson had been the greatest man Gion ever knew. Wise and compassionate, he’d saved Gion’s life by just being there.
Gion’s parents had turned their backs on him when they realized he was a murderer. He didn’t really blame them or even miss them much. After he killed Addom on the playground, Gion never saw them, again. No great loss. Gion lived with the Wood Phases for the next hundred and twenty years and he’d been satisfied. Parson had been his father in every way that mattered.
But, Job would always be the ideal. In Gion’s mind, Job, of the Earth House represented the absolute epitome of Elemental manhood.
It was so damn easy to hate him for it.
Job glanced over when he sensed Gion behind him. Three more Phases went involuntarily jumping back to their own kingdoms, their eyes rolling back in their heads. “Have you seen Ty?” He asked in his perfectly modulated voice. The edges of his lawn green eyes looked tense, which, for Job, was an emotional meltdown.
“I’ve got Ty. She’s upset. She wants you out of the fighting.”
“When I’m finished.” Job sent four more unconscious men flashing away. “We also need to discuss you moving to the Earth Kingdom, Gion.”
“I’d sooner live with the humans.” Mostly because Gion wanted the battle finished within the next minute and a half, he asked, “Do you want help with this?”
Job really focused on him for the first time.
A Metal Phase in a Reprisal uniformed charged at Job from behind and then went zapping away, unconscious. Job didn’t bother to turn around. “Alright.” He said slowly and reached over to take Gion by the wrist. “Just don’t kill anyone.”
Gion sighed and released his powers for Job. The quicker they stopped the fighting the quicker he could get back to Ty. Gion didn’t love the idea of Job accessing his energy, but it didn’t actually hurt. He just allowed Job to use the weight of the Air powers. Job couldn’t control Air energy, but the force of it behind the Earth powers made the two of them pretty much unstoppable.
Together, their incredible powers exponentially increased. Not even Gion expected the energy to get so big, so fast. For a fraction of a second, they could do the impossible. Gion still couldn’t follow what Job did, but –somehow-- the Earth energy just detonated. Every Phase fighting in the Agora vanished back into their kingdoms.
The reverberating crash of power made Gion squint. “Fuck!” His head swam and he actually went down on one knee, close to blacking out.
Even Job staggered backwards. “Holy Gaia.” He looked pale. “Well,” Job swallowed, “that worked better than I anticipated.” He looked over at Gion. “You have a lot of power. More than I knew.”
Somehow Gion doubted that Job meant that as a compliment. He got to his feet, again, slightly nauseous from the whiplash of energy. All around them, dead Phases stared up at the flat sky. “I need to find Freya. Ty hurt her forehead. I need to make sure she’s okay and take her home.” Gion’s powers were too scattered, though. Breathing hard, he looked up at the theater.
Ty waved back.
Job followed Gion’s gaze and lifted a hand to her. “Thank God, she’s okay. So many aren’t…” He scanned the rows of fallen Elementals for a long moment. “So much waste. Why do we do this to ourselves?”
“It’s our nature.” Gion said flatly.
“Do you really believe that?” Job looked at him, again. “Do you believe it’s our destiny to mindlessly destroy? Someone just told me that you can be better than that.”
Ty.
Gion’s nose was bleeding. He absently swiped a hand under it. “She’s young.” Gion kept his tone even, even as his heart pounded. Job had been there when Addom died. Gion remembered sobbing in Job’s arms, that perfect voice assuring him that it wasn’t his fault. He glanced away. “What did you tell her?”
“I told her that most of your problems come from inside of you. I told her she couldn’t fix you, because you won’t let yourself heal. I told her to let you go.”
“What did she say?”
“She said you are a good man.”
Gion closed his eyes. Inside his pocket, his hand found the barrette he’d stolen from Ty, gripping it like a talisman.
Job bent down and felt the still pulse of a Weather Phase. The boy couldn’t have been more than a hundred years old. Job sighed like the weariest man in the universe. “So, do you know why Parald did this? Why would he invade the Agora after all this time? Something must have pushed him.”
“Me.” Gion straightened. “He knows that I’m with Ty and he’s trying to get her away from me.”
“Why?”
“Someone probably told him that I’m in love with her.”
Job’s eyebrows climbed. “I see. And what do you plan to do about that?”
“Eventually, I’m going to kill that abusive, stalking asshole.” Gion’s energy was nearly back under control. “Right now, I have to take care of Ty, though.”
“You could be a help in this war. You could help us stop Parald, now, before he ruins more lives.” Job gestured around him. “Before he tries this, again.”
No one would harm Parald until Gion was sure that Ty was safe. Not even Job. “Or I could just keep Ty out of the Agora from now on.” Gion retorted. If the Reprisal and Air House butchered each other, it just meant fewer Phases Gion would have to deal with himself. “This is your problem, Councilor. All I care about is Ty.”
“Ty isn’t your Match. Have you thought about what will happen to her if she gets close to you and then you find your real Match?”
“Ty is my real Match. I don’t care what fate says about it. There’s no one else for me.”
Job shook his head. “If you disappoint that girl, I’ll kill you, Gion. I won’t have a choice.”
Gion looked at him sharply. Job didn’t make idle threats. The calm promise lay between them for a second.
“I’ve seen too much death and waste and misery.” Job went back to surveying the bodies, vainly searching for survivors. “We all have. Sometimes, the Water House was all that got me through. They’re my family. The best parts of our world. I won’t see them hurt.”
The Water Phases were Job’s favorites. He’d always been protective of them.
Gion wasn’t worthy of Ty and they both knew it.
But, it didn’t matter.
“I won’t give her up. Not for you or Parald or Nia or the good of the universe.” Gion waved a hand around at the fallen armies. Phases who had fought to destroy the only thing that he’d ever loved. “These deaths mean nothing to me. You want to see real destruction, Job, you try and keep me from Ty. I’ll bring creation itself to its knees before I lose her.”
“I won’t take her from you unless I have to.” Job said quietly. “Don’t force me, Gion. We both have enough enemies. Just be the man that she sees in you. Be what Ty deserves.”
Job might as well have asked him to be a palm tree. “How the hell could I possibly do that? You know what I am. I’ll never be what she deserves and I don’t fucking care.”
“Of course, you care. You’ve always cared too much. That’s what’s kept you broken for so long. Bury Addom or you’ll ruin your last chance.”
Gion barely stifled his flinch. He stabbed a finger at Job. “Just stay out of my way. I don’t feel like listening to Tessie bitch at me if I have to decapitate you.”
The Air powers swelled beneath him, lifting Gion away from Job, and the bodies of the dead, and towards the theater roof.
Up.
Towards Ty.
Chapter Thirteen
Whatever conditions belong to the elements before they are united,
must reappear in the offspring of such union.
Henry C Wright- ‘Marriage and Parentage’
“So, while I was heroically battling in the Home Depot, I t
hought I’d get some paint samples.” Nia taped the last one to the wall and stepped back. “What do you think?”
She and Cross stood side-by-side in the large, sunny space that Nia had already commandeered for her daughter. The baby would need a room here in the Water Palace and Nia wanted it to be perfect. It was never too early to start preparing for her little miracle.
Besides, the Fall taught most Phases the importance of distractions for mental health and focusing on the baby helped keep Nia from nervously pacing.
Nia was so worried about Ty. In the last few days, her normally introverted cousin had become the Water Kingdom’s wild-child. Ty suddenly liked Gion of all people. Gion! The man was living in their friggin’ House, now. Refusing to move out, doing some kind of evil Bob Vila impersonation, and wooing Ty towards his bed.
Nia was pretty much ready to let Cross Shadow-erase the bastard.
Except, when Ty needed him, Gion had jumped right to her.
He loved Ty.
Nia almost believed that.
Damn it.
Adding to Nia’s concerns, the Air House was stepping up their attacks against Ty. Dozens and dozens of Phases, more than they could afford to lose, lay dead in the Agora, victims of Parald’s fixation on Ty. His cruel and demented desire to reclaim her would just never stop.
Then, there was Chason…
Nia actually didn’t want to consider Chason too closely. She had a horrible suspicion what they’d need to do about him and it would be one of the saddest days of her life.
Cross surveyed the little blocks of color for a long moment. “They’re all pink.”
“I know, they’re pink. Girls like pink.”
“But, how do we know it’s a girl?”
“Of course, she’s a girl.” Nia said absently. She tried to envision the inch long pieces of paper as entire walls full of color. She’d never actually painted anything before. Color Phases usually got hired for that. They could create such beautiful, magical shades. Most of the Color House’s artists had died in the Fall, though, and the rest weren’t exactly huge Water House fans, so Nia was painting this room on her own. Decorating took a lot of work.
For the nursery in the Shadow Kingdom, Nia had already settled on underwater mermaid décor. In this one, Nia wanted something a little more… shadowy. That way the baby would always remember both her Houses.
Unfortunately, the shifting mists and shrouded moors of Cross’s homeland didn’t give Nia much to work with in the way of cheerful baby room themes. Maybe something sort of medieval, Scottish princess-ish would be best. The Shadowland always looked medieval and Scottish-y. That seemed like a good compromise. Princesses lived in big grey castles, didn’t they? She remembered endlessly reading Ismena, the Elementals’ most famous fairytale, to Ty when she was baby. Ismena lived in a big gray castle.
Nia squinted in deep concentration.
Did medieval Scotland have a lot of pink, though?
Cross gave up on the paint selection process. He moved behind Nia, his hands coming down to caress her stomach. “You’re positive that you’re okay, baby?” Cross was always protective, but, since she’d become pregnant, he was on constant alert for Nia to spontaneously drop-dead or something. He kissed her temple. “You sure you don’t want Freya to look you over?”
“I’m fine.” Nia craned her neck back to smile at him. “Don’t worry about that. Chason didn’t get within ten feet of me.”
Thanks partly to Gion. Nia wasn’t sure what to make of that.
“Fucking Reprisal.” Cross’s voice rumbled with Shadows. Nia loved the sound of them, even when Cross was swearing out death threats on people. “You and Job always want to play nice with them and offer them grief counseling for their sad little lives. Meanwhile, they’re trying to kill you.” One large palm stretched out over her abdomen, cradling their baby inside of her. “It’s over, Nia. They have to be stopped.”
“It’s not about the Reprisal. It’s Chason who I wanted to help.” Nia knew most of the Reprisal soldiers were vicious, amoral, sons-of-bitches. At this point, their festering hatred had turned the vast majority into something nearly as bad as Parald himself. Putting down individual members of the Reprisal didn’t bother her a bit.
But, Chason was different.
Once upon a time, Chase had been the kindest, most admirable Phase in the world. He could be that, again. Nia knew it. He’d recently saved her life against one of his own Reprisal soldiers, in fact. Nia remembered the honorable Chason, and she believed that that man was still trapped, somewhere, inside this mad Chason’s gaunt, bitter shell.
Now that she had Cross, Nia actually understood Chason’s bottomless sorrow. Losing a Match must be the worse pain in the universe. She couldn’t go on without Cross. She wouldn’t want to.
Mara had been Chason’s soul.
Nia had seen them together. She’d attended the party that the Magnet Kingdom threw to celebrate Chason and Mara’s Phazing Day. Usually, the Magnet House made Sparta look frivolous and carefree. That night, though, the entire dreary place had been alight with fireworks and music.
I’ll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time played while Chason danced with his Match, smiling down into Mara’s animated face as she talked to him. When Nia thought of Chason, that was still the first image that came into her mind. The Andrew Sisters singing and Mara’s purple robes floating around her, while Chason’s love for his Match shone from his eyes.
It broke Nia’s heart.
“Even Job’s on my side, now.” Cross insisted, still holding her against him. “Chason’s gone too far. I don’t care that he used to help cute animals and little old ladies. He went into the human realm and put on a lightshow in a hardware store, for Christ’s sake. He’s completely deranged. He’s targeting Ty. We need to help Gion kill him. Now.”
Nia and Job had both retained hope that Chason might return to the man he’d once been. Cross was right, about that. The Council did give Chason a lot of rope, because many of them thought that he might eventually come out of his grief and rage. That he might eventually exit the tunnel and return to the light. Now, it looked like Chason intended to die in the tunnel and use the rope he’d received to hang himself.
It annoyed Nia that Gion had made a legitimate point about Chason earlier.
Chase had lost his mind.
He genuinely might be capable of hurting Ty.
Chason might threaten to capture Ty. Hell, he had captured Nia, once. And Chase constantly had some scheme against Parald. Everyone knew that. His plans to destroy the Air House just went on and on and on. But, Nia never thought that Chason would actually hurt Ty or endanger the world.
Not for real.
He’d never outright threatened Ty’s life, until now. Mara had used to babysit Ty, for crying out loud. Chason plotting to kill her was flat-out insane. Not just because Ty was a gentle, sweet, brilliant woman who deserved so much more than she’d been given in life. Nia was willing to concede that Chason was too far into his dark hole to realize that, anymore.
No. He shouldn’t want to kill her, because Ty was one of the last three Water Phases alive.
The Water House was one of the most important pillars of creation and Ty supported a third of it. Without Nia, Tharsis, and Ty, the world imploded. No matter how much he wanted to hurt Gion, even Chason should know better than to target Ty for death. It would sink all of creation that much closer to extinction. How could he honestly want to end the universe? How could he really be capable of that?
He was totally out of control. Nia could see that now, like never before. Chason wasn’t getting better. He was getting worse. In a choice between Chason and Ty, Nia wouldn’t hesitate. Her beautiful, loving cousin had to survive. Nia couldn’t bear life without Ty, so there was just no alternative, really.
Very soon, they’d have to kill Chason.
Nia closed her eyes against the thought.
“Nia?” Tharsis came into the room. “We got a weird email.”
She turned and looked at him, trying to shake herself out of her depressing thoughts. “If it’s a Nairobian prince asking us to give him ten thousand dollars so he can free his billions from the bank, I told you…”
“No, it’s not another entertaining internet scam, sad to say. It’s from the Air House.” Thar handed her a printout and thoughtfully studied the paint samples. “I like that middle one.”
“What about the Air House?” Cross demanded, reading the page over Nia’s shoulder. “Damn it, if Ty lets any more of them in here, I’m gonna get seriously pissed. I don’t want my unborn son corrupted by their asshole-ness.”
“It’s our unborn daughter.” Nia corrected and scanned the email Tharsis had given her.
Writing to you endangers my life, so please be discrete. I ask permission to enter your lands for a short meeting this evening. I will come unarmed and in peace. I wish to speak with you about Gion. He cannot stay in the Water Kingdom. – Amarna, of the Air House.
Nia glanced over at Tharsis. “Amarna?
“She was Seneca’s niece.”
“You remember, baby. The other king Gion betrayed.” Cross rolled his eyes. “Shit. This is all we need.”
Thar shrugged. “Amarna’s harmless. I talked to Job and he says that she’s okay… for an Air Phase, anyhow. She’s Bryony’s cousin.”
Nia frowned down at Gion’s name. “What does she mean, he can’t stay here? Do you think Gion’s plotting something?”
“Guy loves Ty. I’m sure of that.” Tharsis sounded confident. “But, I’m kinda concerned that the Air Phases are up to something. Maybe Amarna knows what Parald’s next move is.”
“Or maybe she’s trying to Trojan Horse us.” Cross offered in his normal optimistic way.
Nia shook her head. “I’ve heard of Amarna. If Parald was gone, she’d be Queen of the Air House. I don’t see her loving the guy.”
“Rumor has it she’s the Princess Leia of the oh-so-underground Air House rebels.” Tharsis volunteered.
Nia blinked. “How do you know that? Job?”
Exile in the Water Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 3) Page 19
