Elemental Betrayal

by Elle Middaugh

  The scene before me was paralyzing.

  Marge lay on the floor in a puddle of her own blood. Her face was bruised and swollen, and from the awkward position of her left arm, I guessed it was broken. Shards of shattered glass and porcelain littered the floor, cupboard doors were ripped from the hinges, and the table and chairs were upturned. There had clearly been a fight, and if the appearance of the oppressor was anything to go by, a pretty one-sided fight at that. This guy had beaten the fucking shit out of my aunt—one of the strongest Earths I knew—and hadn’t even broken a sweat.

  Snarling, I stalked toward the man whose features I instantly recognized.

  Brad. It was Brad fucking Rosenthorn from Adira’s club, the man with the shaved head, tanned skin, and dark liner around his eyes, the man who’d given me a half-assed healing salve to fix the cut on my face.

  Cade rushed past me to see if he could somehow heal my aunt while I got right up in Brad’s smirking, dick-bag face.

  “You’re going to pay for this, Rosenthorn.”

  His smirk widened, exposing a little dimple in his cheek. “Glad to see you remember me.”

  “I never forget an asshole when I see one.”

  “I don’t think you’re very good at deciding which ones are assholes and which ones are good guys, I’m afraid.” He glanced at Cade with mild interest. “I take it this is the asshole who gave you the cut that day?”

  I rolled my eyes. “It wasn’t him and you know it.”

  He chuckled. “Still, you’d have done better with the Modernist boy. He has a gentler spirit.”

  “As if you fucking know me.”

  What was it with everyone and their dog trying to ship me with Holden? I knew he was an amazing guy, but that didn’t change the fact that I wasn’t in love with him.

  “No, silly girl. As if you know me.”

  Suddenly, Marge gasped and became conscious as Cade slathered his salve all over her wounds.

  “Stay away from him, Valerie!” she rasped through swollen lips. “He’s pure evil.”

  He tutted at her, mocking her fear. “Now, now, Margerie. That’s no way to talk about your daughter’s father.”

  Everything clicked into place.

  Brad was not only the jerk from the club, he was also Elise’s father, the putrid excuse of a man who’d forced himself on my aunt to further the Elitist agenda. It made me sick to even look at him.

  Before I knew it, I’d reared back and punched him right in his smug-ass face.

  Shock crossed over his features, followed quickly by bubbly laughter that leant him an air of insanity.

  “A punch? You’re an Elemental demigod and you came at me with a pathetic human punch?”

  Anger flared within me as I realized he was right. I should have gone for the big guns first.

  I let the Fire rip across my skin, blue flames that would blister his flesh in an instant, but he simply snapped his hands onto my wrists and smiled.

  What the hell? Why isn’t he burning?

  That was when I noticed his gloves—special, Elemental-proof gloves, if I had to guess.

  A dangerous intensity gleamed behind his dark eyes and his smile spread further. “Yes, Valerie, that’s right—your powers can do nothing to me right now.”

  Cade’s first instinct seemed to be to guard me, but he was suddenly rooted to the spot.

  “No, no, pretty boy. I wouldn’t try that if I were you. Remember what happened to Daddy? He split his shins right in half.”

  It terrified me to see Cade like that, powerless against his own element. He was the strongest Earth I knew, blessed by Leo himself, and still Brad overpowered him. How many souls had the man destroyed in order to attain that kind of power? Probably thousands…

  “Please, Brad,” Marge begged as she shook on the floor. “Leave her alone. Leave Elise alone. We’ll give you no trouble, I swear. Just go.”

  He threw his head back and laughed. “You never give me any trouble anyway, Margie. You’re a toy I like to play with, nothing more.”

  “Get the fuck out of this house,” I demanded darkly, though I was clearly in no position to be dishing out threats.

  He chuckled and brought his nose to my neck, running it slowly up to my ear. Sickness crawled through my limbs and I started to shake. I couldn’t move. He’d rooted me in place, just like he’d done to the others. Panic numbed my mind, blinding rational thought.

  “You’re scared,” he whispered in my ear. His breath was hot and sticky and made me want to puke. “Remember that fear. Don’t ever forget it. If you cross me, it’ll only ever get worse.”

  Then he brushed his lips across mine. The taste was terrible, something bitter and rotten and almost chemical.

  Cade snarled and ripped a leg free of Brad’s earthly hold.

  Brad blinked and his mouth fell open appreciatively. “Very good, little demi. You’re stronger than I thought.”

  While Cade tried mercilessly to unstick his other leg, Brad dragged me over to him, apparently not concerned in the slightest. He bent down and brought Marge’s busted lips to his mouth, kissing her too. “Until next time, Margie.” Finally, he brought his attention to Cade and smiled malevolently. “Don’t worry, pretty boy—I won’t forget your goodbye kiss.”

  Cade’s features hardened into a furious death-glare as he struggled even harder against the Earth’s hold, but it was useless.

  Brad bent down and kissed him as well before laughing uncontrollably. “I’ll see you all again very soon.”

  With that, he unleashed more of his power, splintering Marge’s cottage like kindling and burying the wreckage deep beneath the soil—Cade, Marge, and me included.

  After a while, I felt his hold on my legs slacken, and I assumed he was long gone.

  Cade’s legs must’ve been released too, and not a moment too soon. He and Marge might’ve been able to survive being buried alive, but I was not an Earth, and I was quickly running out of oxygen. As soon as Cade was free, he opened a tunnel to the surface, allowing me to suck in deep gasps of air.

  “He poisoned us,” Cade said as he came over to help me up. “And it wasn’t a natural poison, either. He must’ve attained it through violence and the mutating of power. I don’t know what it is or how to counter it.”

  Fear crawled up my throat, but my aquamarine crystals kept the ice from spreading. Instead, blue flames licked across my skin, feeding on my fear and anxiety.

  Cade hissed and jumped backward, cradling his hands.

  “Shit! I’m so sorry! It was an accident.”

  I quickly snuffed out the flames, but the damage was already done. I needed to get my hands on another fire opal necklace.

  “Can you make me a fire opal?” I asked him, remorse and a touch of hopefulness in my voice.

  He smiled but shook his head. “I can make one, but you need to understand something, Val: the stones in and of themselves are nothing special. They’re catalysts, channels through which your power can travel, but ultimately, your control is up to you. You might not want to hear this, but you’re getting too dependent on them. What happens if they’re broken or taken away again?”

  Anger welled up in my chest, making it ache. “And what happens if I lose control and hurt you even worse? Or Marge? Or more innocent people like before? I need that stone, Cade. I can work on control after the war is over. Right now? Better safe than sorry.”

  He glared at me, clearly wanting to argue but fighting the urge to do so.

  This was our first fight since the engagement, and it’d barely been an hour. Hopefully that wasn’t some sort of bad omen.

  “Fine.”

  He didn’t even bother healing his palms before the twisting wisps of smoke appeared, morphing into a sunset-colored stone before our very eyes. Then the stone shattered, spinning into a handful of miniature orbs that threaded themselves onto a bracelet just like the one he’d made for the aquamarine crystals. When he was finished, he handed it to me rather than placing it on my wrist li
ke before.

  I swallowed the nervousness swirling in my gut and slid the bracelet on. Immediately, the Fire within me calmed to a gentle flicker. I sighed and smiled.

  “You already have all the control you need,” he muttered. “These are nothing more than placebos. That’s all I’m going to say.”

  A twisted smile sprang onto my lips. “Good, because I’m done arguing about it. My aunt is nearly dead, curled into a ball in the bottom of a pit that used to be her house. She has nowhere to go, and she’s definitely not safe. We need to take care of her, not bicker about stones.”

  Cade’s lips thinned. “Let’s take her to my dad’s.”

  “Why wouldn’t we take her to our house in Berwindale? There’ll be more people to watch over her.”

  “More targets for Brad, you mean? No, I won’t risk Kendrick’s life or the lives of our friends. Besides, no one would expect her to go there. Our families are not exactly friendly.”

  I heaved a deep sigh and studied his uncompromising face. “Why are we doing this?”

  He crossed his arms. “Doing what, Val?”

  “Fighting! I’m so mad at you right now I can hardly see straight. We just got engaged—aren’t we supposed to be blissfully in love?”

  His lips pursed and he thrashed his head in irritation. “It might be the poison.”

  Shit. I’d almost forgotten about that.

  “Well, what are we supposed to do?”

  He glared at me like I was a clueless child. “Take her to my dad’s, like I already said.”

  “Then what, jackass?”

  He shrugged theatrically. “I don’t know, Val. Can’t you come up with your own plans every once in a while?”

  My blood boiled despite the fire opal bracelet sitting on my wrist.

  “You bet your ass I can,” I spat. “And my latest plan? It doesn’t involve you.”

  “Good,” he retorted. “I’d hate to be there when it crashes and burns.”

  “Fuck you, Cade.”

  He scoffed. “No, fuck you, Val. Fuck you for never letting me take care of you or protect you. You’re always too independent to let me help.”

  I gritted my teeth as a rosy shade of red colored my vision.

  “If this really is the poison talking,” I said with what little mental clarity I had left, “we need to split up and cool down before things get worse.”

  Cade shook his head again, like he was fighting the strange poison and losing. “Okay. I’ll call my dad and tell him to pick up Marge. We’ll meet back up at home when the effects have worn off.”

  I nodded. “Fine.”

  He nodded. “Fine.”

  I huffed and spun around, marching into the woods on the right. From behind my back, I heard him growl and do the same.

  Stupid Brad and his stupid mutant poison. Stupid Cade and his stubborn, opinionated ass.

  The more I entertained my anger, the more furious I became. It seethed beneath my skin like a fever, coursing through my veins in boiling waves.

  Suddenly, the rosy lens of my vision darkened, and the world blurred. Trees rocked from left to right as I stumbled through the trunks, tripping in the undergrowth. I landed in a briar bush but never even felt the sting of the thorns. It was like my whole body had gone numb. My head rolled and I tried to push up onto my feet, but I merely crashed back to the ground. The rose veil was getting darker, slowly fading into pure black.

  The last thing I remembered thinking was that I was no longer mad.

  I was terrified.

  18

  Consciousness stirred, but I couldn’t seem to open my eyes.

  I was moving, but my legs weren’t. My body bounced, as if carried on a cart, and my head throbbed with a pain strong enough to split my skull in two. My eyelids fluttered, cracking open only slightly to let in a vicious beam of blinding sunlight. I jerked, squeezing them shut once more as a new wave of pain assaulted my head.

  Someone laughed in the distance.

  It was a familiar laugh, one that scratched at the back of my mind, demanding I remember.

  I peeled my eyes open once more. Forest floated by, seen through the bars of a cage.

  I’m in a cage?

  Water filled my vision as the pain became too intense, and I was forced to close my eyes again. Tears streaked down my cheeks, but I could feel myself becoming more aware, more awake, and more alert. A few more tries and my eyes would likely stay open without watering.

  I blinked a few times to clear my vision then peered ahead as far as I could.

  Fucking Brad Rosenthorn was pulling the cart. He’d apparently kidnapped me and was most likely delivering me right into the awaiting hands of my psychotic grandfather.

  Great.

  I built up a blaze and tried to melt the bars, but it was no use. They remained cool as steel. Clearly, they were element-proof.

  Extra great.

  My memory was fuzzy, but I strained to remember what had happened before I woke up locked in the cage. Snippets of pictures and colors cut in and out of my mind, images of gems, trees, and faces…Cade glaring, Henrie crying, Marge bruised and bloody. I shook my head to try to rattle the crazy images into making some sort of sense, but it was difficult, like trudging through sludge.

  Where did Brad fit into all of this? I knew finding that answer was an important key to unlocking this mystery, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

  I licked my lips, instantly regretting it as the bitter tang of chemicals clung to my tongue.

  Poison. I couldn’t drag up the memory, but for some reason I was certain it was true. I’d been poisoned, probably by Brad.

  Damn it! I wished I could remember…

  I grabbed the bars of my cage and squeezed, accidentally drawing my gaze to the glimmering ring on my finger. More memories came flooding back: Cade proposing to me under the willow tree and making a new bracelet to help me control my Fire, him telling me we’d all been poisoned…

  If he’d been poisoned too, where was he?

  I scanned the woods all around, but Brad and I were the only people in sight.

  “Ah, you’re awake,” he said with a chuckle. “Glad my poison didn’t knock you out for too long.”

  I swallowed hard, wishing I could piece together the entire puzzle, but I couldn’t.

  “You’re an asshole,” I croaked, surprised to find my voice so raw. Had I been screaming?

  He shrugged. “I’ve certainly been called worse.”

  I didn’t doubt it.

  I growled in frustration and yanked at the bars. The element-proof rope could be cut with a knife; perhaps these bars could be destroyed by a natural means too? It was a stupid question, really. What sort of tools did I have that could saw through metal? Exactly none.

  “Where are you taking me?” I demanded, changing tactics.

  He scoffed. “Where do you think? Nicholai is going to reward me handsomely when I show up on his doorstep with you.”

  Of course.

  I had to escape before it was too late, but I felt so helpless. I was trapped with no physical means of escape.

  I shakily stood and began pacing. My stomach rolled at the movement, making me want to puke, but I swallowed down the urge.

  What would Cade do? He was always so resourceful. The first thing he’d probably try would be picking the lock. I had nothing, though, not even a bobby pin that would help me, not to mention the fact that I’d yet to truly master the skill.

  I could probably jam the wheels with something. It wouldn’t stop us for long, but maybe it’d be long enough for Brad to come back and attempt to dislodge it. If he got close enough and I could grab hold of him, I might be able to negotiate my way out. I glanced around the cart and beyond it into the woods, but there was nothing close enough that would help.

  I growled and paced faster. Think, Valerie, think!

  I wished beyond anything I had some sort of superhuman strength. If I could only punch my way through, or spread the bars apart with my bare h
ands…but no. I was just screwed.

  Suddenly, the cart stopped. Brad cocked his ear toward the woods. Glancing through the trees, he narrowed his dark eyes.

  I followed his lead and scanned the horizon, but I saw nothing, heard nothing strange. I wasn’t an Earth, though; it didn’t speak to me like that. Leaves blew peacefully on the breeze. Shafts of light drifted down through gaps in the canopy’s ceiling. Birds chirped, squirrels played, and nothing seemed out of place.

  I spun around to the other side of the woods, and a face suddenly materialized out of nowhere. Only eyes were visible through the black serpentine outfit. More eyes appeared a few feet to the right, then more—at least a dozen sets of determined eyes staring right at me.

  Sect Soldiers. Shit!

  I backed away from the bars and fire erupted across my skin, an involuntary reaction. It was strange, because Water was usually the element that took over in the face of fear. In frustration, I tucked them back in. They’d do no good from within the cage, would just weaken my power reserves.

  A soldier stepped toward me, but Brad immediately threw a whole tree trunk at him. The guy staggered backward, and at least five others went down with him, pinned to the ground.

  The remaining soldiers scattered gracefully, unfazed by the attack. They moved quickly, surrounding Brad in one fluid motion.

  But he seemed to be prepared. He widened his stance and grew long, whip-like vines from his palms. Flinging them intimidatingly, he waited for anyone to get too close. A soldier lunged at him, but his vines snapped at the guy’s legs and dropped him to the ground, where he was promptly swallowed up by the soil.

  My eyes widened. Brad was apparently no man to piss off. He didn’t play to win; he played to annihilate.

  The next soldier moved in, and as he did, another soldier used the moment of distraction to attack. The sound of ice shattering like glass chimed through the air before I even saw him launch the spike. It didn’t get anywhere near Brad, and that Elemental was quickly sucked into the soil as well.

  Fire plumed with a loud hiss as the other Sect soldier struck. The scent of smoke touched my nose as the Elemental went down, wrapped in a heap of burning vines.