Elemental Unity

by Maddy Edwards

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Eighellie said, trying to brush him aside.

  Michael stiffened. I silently begged Eighellie not to push them too far.

  Averett was standing inside the door, and to my intense relief so was Rake. They were talking quietly, but they paused when the door opened to admit us.

  “Morning,” said Averett, her eyes skating over the four of us.

  “I hear there was some excitement last night. Sorry I missed it,” said Rake.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked him.

  “The vampires are under strict instructions to let me know if Hunters pop up. I’m the one appointed to search for the artifacts. At least for now,” he said.

  “Zervos doesn’t know, does he?” Keegan asked.

  Averett snorted. “Certainly not.”

  “Where is she?” I asked.

  Averett’s mouth sliced into a cruel smile. “Somewhere uncomfortable.”

  “Has she said anything?” I asked. “Can we see her?”

  “Yes, and no,” said Averett.

  “We can’t see her?” I demanded. “She broke into my dorm. She had that damned artifact that let her in. I have a right to see her.”

  Rake held out his hand, the artifact dangled from it. “She doesn’t have it anymore.”

  The coldness in his voice sent shivers down my spine. This was the Rake that could fight, this was the Rake that had lost Sip, one of his best friends. This was not the voice of my easy-going friend. This was the voice of a powerful vampire.

  “So we can’t see her?” I asked, taking the artifact Rake was offering.

  “Vampire justice is swift,” said a man’s voice as he stepped out of the shadows.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Vital, Consort to Queen Lanca, Ruler of the Blood Throne, was there in Cruor. He looked grave. His long hair was pulled back, and even wearing fine black velvet he looked like a fighter. He moved with a terrifying and unforgiving grace.

  “This is bad,” said Keegan as he shifted on his feet.

  “Who is he?” Ostelle asked, frowning. I thought she must have been living under a rock.

  “My cousin Vital,” said Averett evenly. “I’ve been slowing down so he could keep up for years.”

  “Hello everyone. Hello Ricky,” Vital’s voice was soft, and he spoke with a small lilt.

  For a moment no one moved. Everyone was waiting to see what I would do.

  I nodded in return.

  “What do we know?” I asked Rake.

  He pulled his fingertips through his hair. “Nothing good. What happened in the woods?”

  I swallowed hard. This was the part where I didn’t want to tell him what had happened. I remembered Lisabelle falling, then Trafton coming, his face grim and the demons going away in long streams.

  “Nothing good,” I said.

  “We haven’t heard from Trafton,” said Rake.

  “He’s with Lisabelle,” I said, making a snap judgement. Vital would have to be trusted. If I couldn’t trust him, I couldn’t trust Averett, because she clearly wanted him here.

  Rake swallowed. He wanted to ask more, but chose to keep quiet.

  “What can you make of it?” Vital pointed to the artifact in my hands.

  I held it closely to my face and sent just the tiniest lance of power into it. Fire burned and swirled inside the necklace. An old magic, but not exactly elemental.

  “I don’t know where it came from, but it isn’t elemental magic. My dorm was fooled once. I don’t think it will be fooled again.”

  “It won’t. What that artifact did was a cheap trick. The magic of Astra dorm is far stronger and more powerful than a mere amulet,” Vital said.

  “That’s a relief, at least,” said Eighellie.

  “One of the few,” said Averett.

  Tension hung in the air. “What is it? What’s happened?” I demanded.

  “Turns out one of the objects on the Counter Wheel was here,” said Averett.

  “In Cruor?” Keegan blurted out.

  “Exactly,” she said, her expression grim. “Buried in a hole.”

  “And is it no longer here?” Eighellie asked.

  “It is not,” said Vital. “I have informed my Queen. She is understandably furious. She doesn’t believe that the Hunters should be appeased any longer.”

  “How have they been appeased?” I said.

  No one else was really comfortable addressing Vital. I didn’t blame them. He cut an intimidating figure.

  “President Yeast has wanted the objects on the Counter Wheel found by any means necessary. She hasn’t cared about the cost. All along she has thought that the Hunters could lead us to the objects, and then we could protect them. The Golden Rod is of course particularly significant,” Vital elaborated.

  “That’s really stupid,” said Eighellie. “Like, are you kidding me?”

  “My wife is the one who makes jokes,” said Vital, staring at Eighellie.

  I felt confident that not even Averett could tell if he was kidding.

  “So, President Yeast turned a blind eye? That’s why our defenses were so easily breached,” I muttered.

  “She would deny it until her dying breath, but yes, it certainly looks that way,” said Vital.

  “What did she tell you about the Hunters?” I asked. They all understood that I meant Beatrice.

  “She wouldn’t talk at first,” said Averett, her emphasis on the words chilled by blood.

  “And once you made her?” asked Keegan, his voice never wavering.

  “She told us they were hidden in the woods. She wasn’t certain where,” said Rake.

  “So nothing new,” I said.

  “We’re going to form search parties and look tonight. We have to find out where the Hunters are hiding. Nothing else matters until we get them away from Public. If they have the objects on the Wheel, all the better. Destroying the Hunters’ place in the woods at Public is our only mission right now. We would like for the paranormals at Public to do it, but they aren’t interested. If we tell them what we know, we’ll only get into trouble,” Rake explained.

  A drumbeat of excitement and anticipation coursed through the room.

  “What do you want us to do?” Eighellie asked. She looked almost breathless with excitement. I felt certain that swimming before her eyes was a montage of magic and swords and battle.

  “Be careful,” said Vital. “There will be a battle with the Hunters tonight. All hands on deck. Everyone but Ricky,” he said.

  “No! Way!” I growled, my fists clenching into painful balls. “I’m not staying on the sidelines of this one!”

  “Look, if they get you and Charlotte they won’t need the Counter Wheel or much of anything else, and they’re dangerously close to having both. Charlotte is safe, but you were almost captured. It took Lisabelle sensing that something was wrong to prevent a disaster, and her intervention was not without cost. On top of that, we have a suspicion that one of the objects on the Counter Wheel is already hidden in Astra.” Rake raised his eyebrows at me.

  My friends turned to look at me.

  “Might be,” I said.

  “What?” Averett yelled. “You have an object on the Counter Wheel? YOU?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean? Why are you implying that Ricky’s an idiot?” Eighellie shot back.

  “I don’t know if that was exactly what she was implying,” I said, my face coloring.

  “Kind of was,” said Keegan with a shrug.

  “You have to defend Astra. This isn’t a joke assignment,” said Rake.

  “It sounds like a joke assignment,” I shot back. “You can’t expect me to hang out at Astra while my friends risk their lives to find Hunters.”

  “Ricky, we’re out of time,” insisted Rake. “If they don’t have all of the objects on the Counter Wheel, they will by tomorrow morning. They only need two more, and we think they know where the Cup is.”

  That changed my perspective.

  “
They know I have the Cup?” I whispered.

  “We think they do,” confirmed Rake. “We think the only object whose whereabouts they’re still entirely uncertain of is the Golden Rod,” he said.

  Vital was giving me a cold and assessing look.

  “We need you and the Cup safe. We can’t stretch our resources so thin that you’re somewhere where the Cup is not,” he said.

  “I’m going to be babysat?” I felt numb. No one said anything for a few heartbeats.

  “You know he isn’t going to stay here,” scoffed Averett.

  The two vampires in charge exchanged looks and Rake gave a big sigh. “Just don’t tell the ladies I let you.”

  I knew which two ladies he was referring to.

  “If you’re, coming you’re not going to be alone,” he said.

  “Who?” I asked.

  Rake shrugged. “You don’t have a choice in the matter. You’ll like him. I promise.”

  “Someone should loop in Dobrov,” said Vital.

  “About the searching out the Hunters’ nest and then destroying them? Love it.” Rake grinned like a werewolf.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  We spent all day prepping. The battle of the night before was a sign of what we could expect tonight. Lisabelle against Hunters was far different from all of us against Hunters. We wouldn’t have the strongest paranormal in the world this time. Whoever was willing would be going out into the thick forest surrounding Public, looking for a fight. If we found a pack of murderous Hunters we would have done our job.

  The cost was likely to be high.

  We knew what we were up against in a return to the woods: countless Hunters with powerful artifacts.

  Rake had artifacts of his own to gather. Keegan had packets of defensive magic to prepare. The vampires didn’t say what they planned to do, but that was probably for the best. Eighellie went to the Long Building to gather any research she could find on the Hunters and to retrieve her own weapons.

  Rake’s information was devastating. Tonight there would be war.

  The Hunters had been gathering artifacts, and now we’d seen why. The had amassed a collection of the most deadly and powerful artifacts to use against us. They would attack us with magic that they shouldn’t have, that no one should have. The artifacts would stretch beyond normal reach and far into the realm of destruction.

  Keegan went to his treehouse. He felt certain that he should be able to make some headway on finding the Hunters’ location from there. To his surprise, and maybe a little bit to hers as well, Averett volunteered to go with him.

  That left me and Ostelle. I kept trying to drum up the courage to say something to her about what had happened in the lounge. Had she meant anything by the touch? But I couldn’t bring myself to ask, and when we got to work fortifying Astra, a knock at the door deflected my thought train for the time being.

  I thought the knock might be from whoever was coming to help me that night, but when I opened it I just found Greek standing there with Candace, two impossibly beautiful fallen angels.

  “Hey. Rake told me to come over,” he said, peering over my shoulder as if he were excited to come inside.

  “Hey,” I said back. “I really don’t have time to talk about Cornerstone right now.”

  My mind was heavy with my plan for that night. Rake wanted me guarded, but I knew I had to get away. There was more to do than just find the Hunters and drive them off of Public grounds. I thought the Digger might have been up to something, and all day I had been eager to see if my theory was correct.

  “We heard that Hunters might be on campus,” said Candace.

  “And you came here? What, do you think I’m a Hunter?” I asked.

  Greek flinched a bit. “No. Of course not. Just because some fallen angels act like they’re superior to your sister and don’t approve of her marrying Keller doesn’t mean we all think that. We aren’t stupid. We know what would happen if there were no elementals left.”

  “There are hardly any elementals left,” I pointed out.

  “We know,” Candace glowered as Ostelle appeared at my elbow.

  “Ricky?” Candace was looking at me.

  “What?” I said.

  “We came to help,” said Greek.

  “With what?” I asked.

  “With whatever you need,” said Greek.

  “Make way! Coming through! Tree Sprite here!” Keegan shoved past the fallen angels carrying several telescopes. Without so much as looking at them he said to Ostelle and me, “What are they doing here?”

  “Came to help,” I said.

  Keegan snorted, then paused and looked down at the telescopes in his hands.

  “They can hold my bag while I fight,” he offered.

  Candace made a move at him. He stepped back, eyeing her.

  “Okay, fine. If you’re serious, I might have something they can do. It will be dangerous, though,” he said.

  “We can handle it,” said Greek, stepping forward and glancing at the other fallen angel.

  Her eyes were slits and she was still glaring at Keegan.

  “I hope so. That might just give you a chance,” said Keegan.

  “Let’s get going,” said Candace, cracking her knuckles.

  Anticipating battle made me jittery, and my palms sweaty. We might just get all the objects on the Wheel back tonight. If we managed to do that and drive the Hunters out as well, Charlotte would no longer be at risk of arrest. We had found the amulet that mimicked elemental magic, but that on its own wouldn’t necessarily be enough to get Charlotte out of trouble with the government.

  The Hunters being dealt with in one fell swoop might just do it.

  After a few more last minute details I was ready to depart. But we had a little time, so first I went to the kitchen to eat a sandwich. Greek also wanted one, but Candace just rolled her eyes.

  Once we were finished eating, we headed out.

  Everyone was waiting outside of Astra. Averett stood with her cousin and Rake. My friends had gathered along with Dobrov, but since he was the president of Public, he stood a little ways apart. We were all dressed for battle.

  We headed deep into the woods as a committed band of fighters. But what no one else knew was what Sigil had told me: about the old cemetery, the place that the Digger had cared about. It wasn’t close to school, but that didn’t matter. If I could get away from everyone else I could use wind to get me there faster. Yes, I had been there once already, but now I wondered if there was something more to be found.

  I didn’t want to put my friends at any more risk.

  This was no longer about the Counter Wheel objects. I had to assume that the Hunters now had all but two. I only had one.

  No, this was about making certain that Public was safe.

  Despite my best efforts, my friends refused to leave my side. Rake and Greek flanked me at all times as we marched in a line into the woods.

  “Dobrov thought their hideout might have been near the cemetery,” Averett had whispered to me.

  I was breathless with anticipation. After their battle with Lisabelle, the Hunters would be in a weakened state. We just might be able to capture them and retrieve the objects on the Wheel. This might all be over soon.

  Finally, what we’d agreed to at Cruor was set in motion. Everyone who would be searching was there. Besides Rake and Greek at my sides, Eighellie, Averett, Ostelle, and several other vampires, Oggles, and other Paranormal Strange came with us. Candace was on one end of the line. At the last moment Professor Korba fluttered up, muttering something to Rake about not wanting to miss the fun.

  The moon kept peeking through the trees and disappearing. I couldn’t help but think of werewolves.

  There were no werewolves with us tonight.

  We crashed into the woods. Going in a line meant we’d miss less, so everyone spread out except Rake and Greek, who stayed close enough so that they could grab me out of harm’s way if necessary.

  “This might work out,”
Greek whispered to me. “Candace was so pleased we were coming to help, she actually said so. To me.” He beamed.

  “That’s great,” I whispered.

  Women made no sense, but I wasn’t going to tell Greek that.

  I glanced at the darkness mages. My heart squeezed again as Ostelle brushed a strand of hair away from her face.

  My thoughts were interrupted at that point as the world exploded around us.

  Blinding white light ten times more powerful than whatever Ostelle had shot into the sky slammed into the air.

  The line came to a stop.

  If we thought we’d have more time to search before we found a battle, we were sorely mistaken.

  And then the Hunters attacked in earnest.

  Dark figures slammed into us, trying to split the lines. They wanted to isolate each and every one of us, and though I couldn’t tell yet, there might have been enough of them to do it.

  Frantically I tried to see where the light was coming from. The paranormals with me tried to guard themselves and shield their eyes at the same time. Eighellie started to spin darkness, and Greek took a fighting stance in front of me.

  There! Between the trees! As if a high-beamed floodlight had been turned on. I called to earth to block it. Keegan had a similar idea, because at the same time he moved a tree.

  We glanced at each other and grinned.

  Then a Hunter barreled into Keegan and the two of them went flying backwards.

  “Keegan!” I screamed, and rushed forward.

  We fought through the woods, in the darkness. The Hunters were identifiable because many of them wore amplifying artifacts, giving them new and deadly powers or strengthening powers they already had.

  In periodic breaks in the fighting I would try to come back to awareness to see what was happening with the others. I’d pulled the Hunter off Keegan, and now the two of us fought back to back.

  Rake had two artifacts all to himself. With the extra power they supplied, he was beating back waves of Hunters as they swirled and attacked.

  In the confusion, I knew this was my chance. Without a second thought I called the wind.

  And then I was gone.