I had no idea what to call someone so holy and powerful.
“Promise me this,” Cade said, lifting my chin so our eyes were lost in each other’s gazing. “If we do somehow make it out of here alive, you will never, under any circumstances, keep shit like this from me again. Can you do that?”
It seemed simple enough to nod and say yes, but…if I hadn’t kept this from him, if he’d convinced me not to do it, we wouldn’t be floating along in Euphoria right now. In a way, me keeping this shit to myself had been exactly what I needed to do. What if I needed to do something like this again? What if keeping it from him was the only way for it to come to pass?
Ida chuckled and gazed at me over her shoulder. “Valerie, my sweet Fire child, Leo chose this man as his champion, just as I have chosen you as mine. As such, you can and should trust and rely on one another completely.”
Then Leo glanced over his shoulder and grinned at Cade. “Even if that means giving her free rein to do reckless things you don’t necessarily agree with, such as bestowing Elementals with extra powers.”
“They needed it,” she insisted, curling closer into his side. “And when Nik meets them, he’ll agree that we need a few more. They all will.”
Leo lifted her hand up to his lips and laid a kiss on it. “I hope you’re right, my love, for their sakes.”
Fear pooled in my belly and rushed through my limbs, making my fingers and toes go numb.
“Excuse me?” Jay said, claiming the gods’ attention. “Will we ever be able to speak to the dead? That’s the whole reason I’m here, and if not, I’d really like to just go home.”
Leo smirked. “I think Dru will appreciate his…spirit.”
Ida giggled. “I’m sure you’re right.”
“This is Euphoria, little Water boy,” Leo said. “No dead souls reside here. I also cannot simply let you leave. My wife has plans for you. So, kick back and relax, as you might be here for quite some time.”
Jay glowered while I gasped.
“But we don’t have that kind of time,” I protested. “If we don’t get back as soon as possible, Nicholai is going to attack another human city.”
“Trust me, child,” Ida trilled, sounding like she didn’t have a care in the world. “Time in Euphoria doesn’t work like it does in your realm. It essentially stands still, ceases to exist. If you’re returned home, it will be as if nothing ever happened.”
I swallowed hard and accidentally looked beneath us, stunned to find myself strung out across a void of pure baby blue sky. We were currently hovering between islands as Leo’s vine led the way to…wherever. I had a feeling if I fell, I’d be falling forever.
Leo pointed to an island in the distance. It was a beach with tall rocky cliffs in the background and pure white sand in the fore. Waterfalls cascaded down, dropping off the edge of the island, the mist eventually fading away. A bonfire blazed at the shoreline, surrounded by crystalline rocks.
The closer we got, the more detail I could see.
A net had been strung up across the sand, and there were six people—gods—playing with some sort of ball, three on three. They seemed to be using whatever powers they possessed to keep the ball in motion—gusts of wind, plumes of fire, waves of water, and curling vines. The ball must have been made of something extremely durable to endure all the elements like that.
Ida smiled wide and waved her hand above her head. “Kya! Meg! Eve!”
Three female heads turned to stare at us.
Ida waved again. “Nik! Dru! Taj! Come meet our new guests!”
The three males turned to stare at us, too, and the ball they were playing with dropped unceremoniously to the ground on their side.
One of the goddesses shouted and pointed across the net. “Ha! We win!”
“Bullshit. That’s cheating,” a god replied with a scowl.
Leo turned to us and smirked. “Gods are very competitive. That’s part of the reason Ida is having such trouble convincing them.”
“Convincing them of what?” Jay asked, taking the words right out of my mouth.
“To Gift anyone extra power, of course. They’re opposing her simply because they can.”
Sienna frowned. “Why would they need to? I thought only Ida had the Gift.”
Leo chuckled. “Is that what they’re telling you these days? Shit just keeps getting farther and farther from the truth.”
Our vine touched down on the edge of the beach, just beyond the waves that lapped at the shore, and we carefully stepped off.
The other gods and goddesses walked over immediately, looking both impossibly beautiful and dangerously guarded.
“What the hell is this?” asked a god with jagged auburn hair while gesturing in our general direction.
Ida smiled. “Nik, this is my champion, Valerie, Leo’s champion, Cade, and their friends, whom I hope you’ll all get to know better and possibly even sponsor yourselves.”
A goddess in a grayish-lavender gown threw her head back and groaned. “Ugh, not this again, Ida.”
“They need us, Meg,” Ida insisted. “The balance is already upset.”
The balance? Thoughts of the Shadow Sect instantly filled my mind. Hopefully the gods and the Sect weren’t related in any way…
“We’re not,” Leo murmured under his breath, giving me a knowing look.
I blinked and my blood went cold. The gods can…read our minds?
His smile brightened. “Gods can do whatever they want, little champion.”
Great. Just great.
“It is, isn’t it?” the auburn-haired guy replied with a wicked grin.
“You chose a relative of your previous champion,” another goddess noted, looking right at me. She, like Ida, had dark wavy hair, but her skin tone was a deep tan, and her dark eyes angled upward at the outer corners. Her dress was a sparkling dark blue.
Ida nodded. “Yes, but she’s one of yours, Kya. Water was her base before I Gifted her with Fire.”
“I can tell,” the goddess, Kya, said with a tiny grin.
“Wait, so…I’m a Water Elemental first and foremost?”
Kya nodded. “You are.”
“My two elements aren’t equal?”
Kya put a hand on her hip, eyeing me thoughtfully. “That very much depends on how much Fire Ida decided to give you. She’s very…liberal in that way.”
“I gave her enough,” Ida said with a wink. “Now, let’s get to some proper introductions, shall we?”
Leo lifted his hand, and trees sprouted right out of the sand. They bent and contorted, shaping themselves into a sort of outdoor furniture with leaves and flower petals for cushions.
Cade and I sat on one, Sienna and Jay sat on another, and Xavier and Kale on yet another. The other gods and goddesses did the same, and before I knew it, we were all in a circle staring at one another across the bonfire.
Ida gestured to the auburn-haired man. “Nik, God of Fire.”
No surprise there. Aside from his hair, he was also wearing red swimming trunks. Red apparently equaled Fire. I glanced back at Ida, admiring the delicate red dress she wore that sparkled in the Euphoric sunshine like thousands of rubies.
Then she pointed to the woman beside him. “Meg, Goddess of Wind.”
Meg waved at no one in particular, jostling her long brown hair. She was the one dressed in the grayish-lavender gown, and I deduced that gray equaled Wind. I turned to find her male counterpart and caught sight of a super-tan guy whose curly brown hair had golden tips. His swimming trunks were silver, so I assumed he was the Wind god.
After Meg, Ida pointed to a goddess in a breezy green dress. “Eve, Goddess of Earth.”
I nodded. It made sense and was easy enough to remember. I turned to Leo, who was sitting with his arm draped casually around Ida’s shoulders. His robe was brown, which made sense, too, as it was another color closely associated with Earth.
Next to Eve, a brown-skinned man with the clearest blue eyes I’d ever seen sat with his elbows on
his knees. His shorts were as blue as his eyes with white accents.
“Dru, God of Water.”
He nodded to us, and Ida moved on to the next set of seats.
“Kya, Goddess of Water.”
Kya, whom we’d already sort of met, grinned and crossed her tanned legs, which were visible through the long slit in her dark blue dress.
Next to her was the guy with the gold-tipped curls, the one I assumed was a Wind.
“Taj,” Ida said, “God of Wind.”
Bingo.
Then she gestured to herself and Leo. “And, of course, you know us. Leo, God of Earth, and Ida, Goddess of Fire.” She smiled at me. “Valerie, if you wouldn’t mind introducing us to your companions, please.”
I blinked, completely caught off guard, though honestly, I should’ve seen that coming. Clearing my throat, I gestured to Cade, who sat on my right. “Cade Landston, Earth Elemental.” Then I pointed to myself. “Valerie Moore…”
I hesitated. Up until a few minutes earlier, I’d always just assumed I was inherently Gifted with both elements. Now I knew otherwise.
“Water Elemental, Gifted with Fire powers.”
I turned to my left and went right down the line. “Sienna Aeris, Wind Elemental. Jay Walsh, Water Elemental. Xavier Landston, Water Elemental. And Kale Ashton, Fire Elemental.”
They all waved on cue, and once the introductions were over, I had no freaking clue what to do. The silence was strange. I felt self-conscious and unsure, but the gods all sat there with peaceful yet contemplative expressions on their faces.
“So, why are you here?” Nik finally asked, eyeing us one by one.
A nervous smile raced across my lips. “That’s an interesting story, actually. You see, Jay and I were trying to complete a dark ritual that would enable us to speak to the dead, and needless to say, it went incredibly wrong.”
“You used too much power,” Kya said with a grin. “No other Elemental would have been able to do what you just did.”
I glanced at Ida. “Not even Nicholai?”
Nik’s expression hardened. “Who’s Nicholai?”
Ida sighed. “I really wish you’d have paid closer attention to the human realm all these years.”
“Are we all just going to sit here,” said Meg, the goddess in the purple-gray dress, “and completely ignore the fact that this girl and her friend were using dark magic to summon dead spirits?”
Everyone’s gaze turned to me, dark and unreadable. I stole a quick peek at Jay as my blood ran cold. His expression mirrored mine. I supposed this was the moment of truth.
We were about to face the wrath of the gods.
11
Nik suddenly burst out laughing. “You think I care if humans or Elementals dabble in light or dark magic? I’m a god, not some holy beacon of purity. I have powers, but I also have a life of my own, you know. I can’t be bothered with the human realm.”
Ida glared at him. “That’s the whole problem. Just because you’re a god, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t care about lesser beings.”
Nik rolled his eyes. “Honestly, I don’t think it’s a matter of should or shouldn’t, Ida. It’s a matter of do or don’t. Do I care about the human realm? No. Should I care about it? I have no idea, but like I said, I don’t. So, this is pointless.”
What was something this god might actually care about? I was beginning to realize if we wanted his help, we’d have to make it worth his while. We’d have to change his mind, and that wasn’t going to be easy.
Leo’s voice suddenly echoed in my head: Competition.
Shit. I’d forgotten they could read my mind, and I’d had no idea I could read theirs, too.
You can’t, Leo mentally told me in an amused tone. I’m projecting my thoughts into your head. There’s a big difference.
Okay… Like that wasn’t totally weird.
I cleared my throat and tried to get back on track. Competition. Nik cared about competition. If I could play to that, maybe I could get him to care. It certainly couldn’t hurt our case to have the original Elemental gods on our side.
Then it clicked. Ida had called me her champion, the one she’d personally chosen to sponsor in the Elemental war. She wanted them all to choose champions, and maybe they’d be more inclined to do so if it was a competition.
“I have an idea,” I blurted out.
Just like before, those dark and unreadable eyes turned to me.
I cleared my throat. “Why don’t we make this more interesting?”
Nik chuckled. “Euphoria isn’t interesting enough for you, little girl?”
“Not Euphoria—the Elemental war.”
Nik rolled his eyes and turned away as Meg smirked at his side. Taj and Kya grinned while Dru, Leo, and Ida studied us intently. Eve kept her gaze on the ground.
“Yes?” Ida asked, encouraging me to continue.
I licked my lips, hoping some bubble of courage would float to the surface, but it didn’t.
“Let’s make a bet. You all choose a champion to represent you and your element. Whoever personally kills Nicholai wins. So, if I kill him, Ida wins. If Cade kills him, Leo wins, and so on.”
There was a long moment of silence as the gods contemplated my deal.
Taj shrugged. “I think it sounds fun. Are there any rules?”
I nodded. “There would have to be, yeah. Like, no Gifting an unnatural amount of extra power, and no interfering with fate. You simply choose the best champion you can find and watch to see how it all plays out.”
Meg pursed her lips. “I am intrigued…”
Kya crossed her arms and smirked. “I’m sure I can find an Elemental capable of winning such a bet.”
“As can I,” Taj said, his grin spreading into a broad smile.
Leo’s eyes lit up with pride, grateful I’d figured it out, and he winked at me.
“No one is going to beat my champion,” he said, referring to Cade. “He’s had his powers for a while and has superb control over the Earth.”
Ida touched Leo’s face. “Sorry, my love, but Valerie is going to win. She’s the strongest Water and Fire Elemental around, plus she’s emotionally invested in the cause—all excellent traits to help her win.”
“She won’t be the strongest Fire Elemental for long,” Nik muttered.
“Or Water,” Kya agreed, rising to the challenge.
I looked around the group excitedly. “So, it’s a deal? We’re doing this?”
Nik smirked. “Oh, it’s a deal, all right, and my champion is going to wipe the floor with the rest of you.”
Ida clapped her hands excitedly. “Yes! Now, you’re all going to have to work together if you want to overpower Nicholai. He’s been killing and taking power for a long time, and the body count increases every single day.”
“Work together? Fine,” Nik said in a commanding tone, “but when it comes to making the killing blow, it’ll be my champion who wins in the end.”
“No, mine,” Meg argued.
“Mine,” Kya said.
“Mine,” Dru joined in.
“A hundred jewels says my champion wins,” Taj said.
“Ten hundred,” Nik countered. “I still owe the Norse gods from that game of cards. This’ll be how I pay them back.”
“Norse gods?” I blabbered out loud. “Like…Thor and Loki and all that?”
Kya chuckled and shook her head. “That’d be them.”
“They’re real?”
“Are we real?” Taj asked with a sarcastic grin.
“Of course we’re real,” Kya answered for me. “So are the Greek gods, and the Egyptian.”
“And the Chinese and Mayan,” Eve added.
“Yes,” Nik agreed in frustration. “The gods are real, and so is money. If you want us to join this little game of yours, you’re going to have to pay up.”
“Hold on,” Leo said, raising both hands in the air. The ground rolled beneath us, and the sand shifted in a gentle wave. “You haven’t even chosen champio
ns yet. You need to officially name your choices before any jeweled bets get placed.”
Nik cocked his head. “Fine. Where’s this Elemental map you use to keep track of the human realm, Ida?”
“A few islands over in the cave of crystals.”
“Perfect,” Meg said, standing and getting ready to leave. “Send these champions and Elementals home and we’ll choose ours while you see them off.”
“You don’t want to choose any of them?” Ida asked, curious.
Kya pursed her lips then pointed at Sienna. “I’ll choose this one. She’s feisty, if her thoughts are anything to go by, and Wind and Water could make a lethal combination.”
Kya strolled closer, and Sienna held her ground with a tight-lipped half-smile.
“Do you think you’d be brave enough to kill Nicholai if you were given the chance?” Kya asked.
Sienna’s features darkened. “He killed my parents, my aunt and uncle, and some of my best friends. Yes, I’d kill that bastard in an instant.”
Kya’s smirk widened into a devilish grin. “Perfect.”
She reached her hand out, not quite touching the skin, and Sienna’s forehead glowed blue as the magic passed into her body.
When the glow dimmed, Sienna held up her palms and stared curiously at them. One hand formed a wisp that quickly funneled into a whirlwind. The other wisp formed an oversized droplet of water, wavering in the nearby breeze.
“Holy shit,” she muttered. Her face was expressionless, and I had a feeling she was in shock.
“Anyone else?” Ida asked, gesturing to my friends with an encouraging smile.
The remaining gods and goddesses studied Jay, Xavier, and Kale with critical eyes.
“No,” Nik said, shaking his head. He pointed to Jay. “This one was on Nicholai’s side. I don’t trust him to actually kill the guy when it comes down to it.” Then he pointed at Kale. “This one is too timid and soft. I don’t know if he has it in him to kill.” And finally, he pointed at Xavier. “And this one…” He shook his head, like he wasn’t quite sure. “I don’t know if he could handle Fire. No, I’ll choose a champion from the map.”
Dru eyed Jay for a long moment. “It’s a shame this one was once aligned with the wrong team. He would have made a hell of a champion.” Then he turned to Xavier. “I’ll sponsor this one, instead. Double Earth seems to be working well for his little brother. Maybe double Water will work well for him.”
Elemental Betrayal Page 8
