Dark Currents: Elementals, Book 1

by Mima

  The elf spoke in her low contralto. “Did Terra teach you this?”

  “Terra showed me the way. This is my realization.”

  “How will we capture Aqua and force her into this altered state without also waking up Ignis? We’d be creating another problem on top of Aqua, while we have no idea what this new blending will do to Aer.”

  “Ignis doesn’t have to participate. It just needs to be harnessed and used. Ignis feeds even asleep. Bring one to the other and let Ignis feed. As to how you will capture Aqua into a focused object in order to transform her, I am no High Mage. That’s work for Chamber staff.”

  They spoke for a while in Gaelic. Xia drifted, a sense of relief that her message had been relayed seeping through the numb shock.

  The dragon turned to her. “What did Terra specifically tell you about Aqua?”

  Xia stared at him. His eyes were still orange. She wanted to disappear. She wanted to scream and rage in his face.

  “Xia.” Markos covered her hands again. He was warm. “Try to remember.”

  Her voice emerged as a whisper. “Water is.”

  Robert stared at her. She could feel it, even though she couldn’t look at him to tell for sure.

  “And from that you extrapolated your little philosophy.”

  Xia licked her lips. Her throat ached from holding down the vomit. Her mouth was so dry. “It didn’t tell me everything. It showed me. It felt and remembered, in between moving and sleeping.”

  “Terra considers itself part of Aqua?”

  “It is a…piece. A relation. Not a child or a subsidiary, but close.”

  “Will Terra respond to Aqua? Defend her?”

  “No. I don’t know. It is aware, as your other morphi told you, that she is not to be loved.”

  The elf repeated her slowly. “Not to be loved. Fascinating. How I wish I could speak to the very elements, as you have, Morphi.”

  Xia stared at the bitch with burning eyes. If she’d been more herself she would have laughed in her face.

  Markos spoke. “That is naive, Nuwoe. You know the theory of subsumation better than that. She was not Xia when she learned these things. She was Terra.”

  The dragon in human skin began to pace again. “You are saying that Terra considers Aqua the master element. The source.”

  Xia considered that. “I guess. I don’t know.”

  He turned on her. “You knew enough to explode the world with your thoughtless words.”

  She was shrinking. If only the process would finish, so that she could fade away.

  “Focus. Get the information you need from her and avoid useless castigation.” Adam spoke in a clipped voice, unafraid of the dragon’s wrath.

  Markos prompted, “What else did Terra say about Aqua?”

  Xia closed her eyes and pulled at the terrifying memories. “Water is life. Water is all.”

  The elf murmured.

  Markos prompted, “Anything else?”

  “It is itself, and it is the other three.”

  He leaned his elbows on his knees, putting his face below hers to catch her gaze. “Terra said that it, Ignis and Aer are part of Aqua?”

  “No. That they are water. It was in images. Layers of rock, swirling lava, wind. Wind wearing away soil, Ignis burning away soil, Ignis gobbling up Aer, Aer taunting Ignis…” Aware the images in her mind were not translating into words correctly, she blew out her breath. “They all act like water. They follow the same patterns she does.”

  Markos sat up. “Ignis is the antithesis of Aqua.” It was a distillation of a much more intricate philosophy, but one that was held to be essentially correct.

  “No. Ignis is a mirror of Aqua.”

  “But Aqua does not have to be fed, like Ignis and Aer.”

  “I’m not sure. I don’t know.” The tears were back, just at the top of her throat.

  Adam spoke with his usual, short, matter-of-fact calm. “This philosophical discussion will need to wait for later. Xia can reflect on her experience, write it out and refine her understanding, which is so very new. At the moment, you need to work out if you are going to consider her idea.”

  “Terra’s idea,” Xia dared to correct. She stared at Adam, a tiny seed of hope in her heart at his calm support.

  “As you say.”

  What did that mean? She searched his black eyes, seeking answers in his deep.

  He held her gaze. “May we leave?”

  Was he asking her? Then the answer was Please, Lady, yes.

  “Anything else? Any other detail at all you can share, Xia?” the elf asked.

  Ripping her eyes from Adam, Xia wracked her brain. “Just that Aqua cannot ever be really stopped. It is uncontainable. It is. All you can do is redirect her into another form.”

  Robert the British colonial dragon growled.

  Adam stood. “Contact her via email, cell or spell. I need to go home.”

  The world narrowed to a tunnel. The panic attack was instant and full blown. Her breath wheezed loudly in the room. A high, thin keening wailed.

  Adam was on his knees in front of her, his hands gentle on her neck, his thumbs stroking her cheeks. “Us, Xia, we’re both going home. I’m still here, Morphi.”

  When she was able to focus on more than Adam and had breath enough to push back the black at the edges of her vision, she became aware that Markos was kneeling to her side, his arm around her shoulders, and the elf had come close.

  Xia nodded her understanding of Adam’s steady reassurance, and everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. How nice not to have to watch the morphi go crazy.

  “What is this, Rampart?” Markos turned on Adam.

  “We’re not sure. It’s barely been a day. Did you expect her to be untouched? I’ll send you a report.”

  “This has happened before?” the elf asked.

  “None of your business,” Adam said matter-of-factly. He stood, pulling Xia upright, but her legs didn’t work and he ended up catching her when she tumbled against him. He lifted her. Her legs screamed in pain as blood returned to them.

  “Markos, let’s go. Call Tasha.” He strode from the room, no goodbyes.

  Xia put her hands around his neck for balance, but it was wrong. She had no right.

  “I’m not your servant, selkie. Don’t order me.”

  “I’m not part of your team. Don’t order me.”

  The elf laughed. “Men are ever simple, in any race. Adam, a watcher will be assigned. It will be hard to contain this information for long.”

  “I know. Adieu, Nuwoe.”

  “Slán, my friend.”

  Markos stomped from the room. He called Tasha in the foyer. “We’re ready.”

  Were they? Xia wanted to cry.

  “Let me try to stand now.” Her legs were being eaten with pins and needles.

  “No.”

  He wouldn’t look at her. She was so tired.

  Robert came to stand with the elf in the doorway. “I’ll call you with the soonest available flight.”

  Adam didn’t look at him as he replied, “Tonight, Robert. Fly us anywhere, but get us out of Vienna within the hour. We’re going directly to the airport. Have someone send our bags.”

  “My passport. I didn’t bring a purse.”

  “Ballocks. All right. We’re going to the hotel, but then directly the airport. Still no cell reception from the meeting room?”

  Robert nodded.

  “We’ll hopefully be gone by the time you finish hammering this out. Call me when you dismiss. That’s when things could get tricky.”

  “Will do.”

  Markos’s cell buzzed. He opened the door, and the black car was there. The air was surprisingly humid. The world had gone on despite Xia’s little meltdown. He pulled open the sedan door and Adam set her on the seat.

  “Scoot over.”

  She did, and he came in next to her. Markos climbed in and Tasha closed the door. The gray stone around the white door with the red peacock fan window above wou
ld always be seared into Xia’s memory. It occurred to her that no one had tried to spell her into forgetting. Small favors.

  Markos spoke to Tasha briefly and they were all silent on the ride to the hotel’s car entrance. Eventually he addressed Adam, ignoring her. “She is tied to you now?”

  “Fuck, Markos. Let it go.” Adam sounded as tired as she felt.

  “What happens if you leave? How bad would it get?”

  “It gets bad. I won’t leave her, so let it the fuck go.”

  “Oh yeah? And what happens when you disappear into your fur?”

  Adam ground his teeth.

  “Xia, do you still have Smith’s number?” Markos leaned around Adam to see her.

  Smith. Good ol’ Dr. Smith, the woman who had helped Xia when she tried to form herself back into a functioning morphi again after her last ghosting into Aqua. “Somewhere. She’s still practicing?” Smith had been human.

  “For you, yes. Call her.”

  “This isn’t a desperate situation, Advocate.” Adam’s haughty voice drew Markos’s brown gaze. “Or at least, the separation anxiety isn’t. It can wait.”

  “I think that’s for Xia to decide.” Markos looked out the window, miffed.

  When they got to the hotel, Xia went to the room with Adam. He hadn’t unpacked, and he stood by the door as she quickly gathered her toiletries. Leaving the bathroom, she stood before him, stomach churning. “Adam—”

  “Not here.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I’m sure.”

  The cold answer was like a slap. She actually raised her hand to her face. Her cheeks burned with the force of his blow. She finished packing and took up her purse. As they rode the elevator down, she asked, “Will they come for me?”

  “If we move fast enough, I hope to be on our own territory. We’ll talk later.”

  She stood, the sinking of the elevator nothing to do with the sinking of her stomach.

  He spoke again a few floors later. “You won’t be alone. When they come, they’ll face a Chamber watcher and me. You are protected, Xia. We’ll practice some offensive magic.”

  She looked up at him, his face staring at the blinking numbers as they descended. He would defend her even now. Because she was his duty.

  Tasha waited by the car, a still but deadly doll. She opened the door, and they climbed in. The airport ride felt even longer this time, with the roiling atmosphere in the car.

  At the terminal, Xia hugged Markos. “You haven’t nagged me for a report.”

  He stared at her, her joke falling flat. His thick finger traced her lips. “Stay alert. I’ll be in touch.”

  Adam finished hugging Tasha. To Markos he said, “I have an idea. I’ll call you.”

  Markos nodded.

  The flight was to Madrid. A baby cried the whole way, scraping down Xia’s last nerve. In Madrid, they were able to get a flight to Glasgow with only a small layover. She finally lost the battle with her exhaustion and slept. Moving through the airport like a zombie, she couldn’t believe it when Adam packed her into the Rover with determination.

  “Don’t you need to sleep?” He’d had even less than she, over the course of many days.

  “I need the ocean more.” The whirl of roundabouts at dawn contributed to Xia’s ongoing nausea. Soon they were parked at a hotel and Adam was out of the car. He strode across the parking lot, through a strip of grass and went straight down an embankment to the water.

  Because her vision got spotty to see him so far from her, she followed. Right down to the water. The dawn light was pale yellow, the air cool. The water hung in the air, the sea once again thick in her throat. He stripped down to his underwear. Turning to her as she stood weaving on the shore, arms tight around herself, he said simply, “Watch.”

  He moved into the water. She heard him breathe harshly as it came up over his waist. Without his fur, she bet it was nippy. He dove into the water. Her heart stopped, but he emerged immediately. He swam along the shore, and she paced with him. He swam back to where he’d entered, and she trotted alongside. He floated on his back, and a huge, wide smile cut through his tan face. She treasured the private glimpse of that rare smile.

  He stood and his hair darkened and slicked back. His arms raised to smooth the water from his face took her breath. Standing ankle deep, his underwear transparent, he motioned her forward. She inched to him.

  He held out his hand and she took it. The tiny bead of hope rattling around inside her hollow self thumped once, gaining a heartbeat.

  “I was angry.” He didn’t apologize. He simply acknowledged. And he used the past tense. Hope took another heartbeat.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “You were foolish to challenge so boldly like that without a plan or a care.”

  “I see that now.”

  “You didn’t use me or Markos. You had allies and you blindsided us.”

  “I didn’t think it through.”

  “Why ever not, Xia? I know it’s been a whirlwind since you woke, but you had time on the plane, if nothing else.”

  His hand was cold, his flesh firm beneath the wet. “I—I don’t know. It was just a truth I knew. It was complicated, and I knew it would be hard to explain, but it never occurred to me that I shouldn’t.”

  “This will remake our world. Your reckless courage takes my breath.”

  Dread, down to her very toes. “I’m sorry.”

  His thumb stroked over the back of her hand, as his black eyes ate into her soul. “Storm cloud, you have to stop being sorry, and afraid. You have to start being strong, and angry. They asked this of you. Now they have to face what they wrought. When you go poking questions at the very elements, then you might not necessarily like the answers.”

  His new defense exploded the seed of hope into a trembling flower inside her. “Thank you, Adam.”

  “Don’t keep things from me. I can’t keep you safe if you hide.”

  The flower withered. Dedication. Obligation. Cursed duty. “I’ll try.”

  “Any more bombs you decided to hold back? Something I should know?”

  I love you. She blinked at the idea. It was just her psychic need of him, wasn’t it? Some sort of neurotic hero worship tied up in sex and a perverse interest in his wild nature? “Not that I can think of.”

  “Here’s my idea. We need to set you up in the media, and we need university contacts. It needs to be big and clear that you are questioning what you learned, and reflecting, and not some new messiah of Aqua.” His brows drew together in a scowl. “Are you?”

  “No!”

  “All right. I’m thinking of a published series of essays, or letters, between leading philosophers and High Mages and training instructors. Maybe an elemental of each can weigh in.”

  “Not you?”

  He gave her a quelling look. “What do you think of the plan?”

  “It reminds me of Einstein writing Gandhi and that ongoing discussion they had.”

  The small smile curled his lip. “Einstein, huh?”

  “So I’ll work it out and send it to them, and they’ll work it out and publish about it. Now it’s not coming from me. It will be like a new discovery or something.” He was brilliant.

  “Yes. Some of them might want to come interview you in person, especially since we can’t lose any time on this. My people are guarding my house, but Robert called just before we landed to tell me the meeting was over. Word will be out.”

  “Your people, Prince Adam?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Aye.”

  “I didn’t know selkies had royalty.”

  “Like Charles, the Prince of Wales, I’m a figurehead.”

  “Will you be king some day?”

  “I’m fifth in line. I hope not.”

  “You have four brothers and sisters?”

  “Eleven, actually. I want you to meet them all.”

  The thought was chilling. Hello, Adam’s family. Yes, I’m the woman who publicly decried the Four, endangering my
self when Adam was in charge of me. Thank you so much for guarding our backs ever since. “How sweet. I’m not sure you should meet Antonia. She’s a strong personality.”

  He nodded. “Aye. She’s likely a fire elemental trapped in a magicless shell.”

  Adam let go of her hand and stepped onto the mucky beach. He began to dress. “What do you know of Tony?” How had he gleaned a secret belief of hers without ever meeting her sister?

  “Let’s talk as we drive. Time to go home.” The utter yearning in his voice stopped Xia.

  As he stuffed his feet back in his boots, he casually mentioned, “You did well. You were able to come down to the water’s edge. Your panic was mild.”

  “Panic sounds so pathetic.”

  “I’ll have you swimming within the week.” He moved up the hill to the car.

  Xia stopped. “That’s not funny, Adam.”

  He kept walking. “Aye.”

  Xia hurried after him, scowling. “Was that yes, it is funny, or yes, it’s not funny?”

  Chapter Twelve

  Xia slept for the long drive through some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet. She roused enough to shuffle into Adam’s house. For a moment, her grandparents were sitting at the long, sturdy table in the center of the room, playing cards. Adam steered her into the bed, connected to her astral self, and then she knew no more.

  At one point, she knew she was wrapped in Adam. At another, her stuffy nose woke her up. She was crying in her sleep. Rolling to her back and sniffing was as much as she dealt with that, and soon she was asleep again. Her cell phone sang out with “Turkey in the Straw”, and she opened one eye, but Adam rolled from the bed, ropes creaking, and took it from her purse. She was gone again, listening to the rise and fall of his quiet Scots accent.

  When she woke, she felt battered and rested and hollow. In the cozy valley her body had made in the bed, among blankets smelling of the sea and Adam, she almost closed her eyes to drift away again, to hide. But coffee’s rich aroma filled the room, and the scent of cinnamon. She sat up, which took serious effort in the deep feather mattress. The room swirled and settled.

  Adam was by a small enamel stove in the corner. It had to be from the early forties. A matching, rounded fridge with a long latch handle was next to it. He looked up when her head emerged from the mountainous mattress. He was wearing a dark gray T-shirt with one arm ripped off. It was sexy.