“Good enough for me,” Raven said.
I put a hand out to him and he took it. “In case I don’t survive,” he said, “will you forgive me for all I’ve done?”
I laughed. “Forgiveness was given the second you helped me escape Talan.”
His name echoed between us. A fallen comrade for the sake of giving me the power I needed, and even he had my forgiveness.
We all had done things that we believed were right, all with the same goal.
To stop Vivica.
I strengthened my resolve. “Move to the side when we approach Viv. Do not engage her. If Samara is there, go to her.”
“You want to face Viv on your own?”
I nodded. “I need to.”
Raven pulled me to him, and squeezed me in a hard hug. “You have always been the best of us, Lark. Of that, I have no doubt.”
I shook my head. But Peta laughed suddenly. “And the most stubborn.”
Bowing my head, I smiled. “I can accept that.”
“Wait, we can’t Ride Spirit with four of us,” Raven said.
I gave him a tired smile. “Impossible?”
His mouth hung open and he snapped it shut. “Point taken.”
I held a hand out to him. Ash and Peta tightened their hold on me.
I focused on where Viv was, seeing her face, seeing all of her… and let Spirit take us to her.
Raven’s memories… I did not want to see his past, and yet, it swelled around me in a wave of pain and grief. His training had been brutal at times, forced to develop his strength at a young age. Cassava had been relentless; even though she raised him as her own, he was not. And he knew it. He knew he was an outsider. Which was why he connected with me. We’d both been a part, and yet not a part, of our family. For different reasons, but it didn’t matter. More than all that, though, was a glowing thread that was… he loved me. He loved me not as brother and sister. I closed myself off from what I was feeling, blocking it like I’d never been able to block memories before. But that love was intense and it would not let me go.
The reality of it… explained so much about how he treated me. How he’d fought and yet held back. There had been times he could have killed me, or hurt me badly, and yet he’d always held back. I could argue it was part of the training they thought to foist on me, but I could see it for what it truly was.
Those few heartbeats where we floated through the ether took us inside the Eyrie. We went from the climate-controlled world of the humans to the snow-blasted mountains deep in the Himalayas.
I let Raven go and stepped to the side. Viv was in front of us, her eyes wide. “So you found a way to travel directly to a person? I thought that last was sheer coincidence.”
I arched an eyebrow. “What’s so hard about that?”
Raven moved off to the right, circling Viv. She didn’t look at him. “It is not to be done. Spirit does not like to be used in such a way.”
Both my eyebrows climbed. “No? Or perhaps you are just too weak, Viv.”
We spoke like old friends making a re-acquaintance. If not for the tension in the air that rose higher and higher, I would have believed it.
“You don’t really think you can kill me, do you?” Viv laughed softly. “I carry all five stones.”
I nodded. “I know you do.”
“You carry Earth and Spirit. And while you may be strong in them, it is nothing to what I can do.” She held up one hand. “I hold the original elementals’ lives here,” the stones glittered on each finger. “Kneel before me, Lark, and I will make your death easy.”
Peta leapt from my shoulder, shifting in midair. She landed between us. “Nothing Lark does is the easy way.”
Ash tightened his hold on my shoulder. He was with me, and when we were together, I could do anything I set my mind to.
Another time I would have laughed, but not now, not here.
“This is between the two of us,” I said. “I am the champion the true mother goddess has chosen.”
“I AM THE MOTHER GODDESS!” Her scream echoed through the valley, sending a slow growing avalanche down the hillside behind her. We stood, staring at one another. For I knew that once the battle began, there would be no turning back. There would be no second chance at killing her. There would be no chance to find Matarrah in the flesh, of that much I was sure. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t find a way to her element.
I only had to push Viv to use it on me, and in my heart, I knew I would find Mattie waiting for me within it.
I put a hand to my hip and pulled my spear off its ties, spun it loosely, and then pointed the tip at her. “As an Ender of the Rim, protector of the realm, I find you guilty of murder, treason, willfully endangering the world of the elementals, and manipulation of the vilest kind. It is my right and duty to end your life as I see fit.”
A low laugh rumbled from her. “Oh, please. You have no rights to my life.”
“I have every right,” I said. “And you will die.”
I knew all too well the consequence of engaging her with the elements. We could end up destroying the world, and that could not happen.
That left me one option. To face her in physical combat.
The moment was now.
I leapt up into the air with my spear raised. Ash burst upward taking himself high above our heads, a screeching call leaving his beak.
A battle cry I answered with a scream of my own.
CHAPTER 24
Vivica, false mother goddess, and wreaker of havoc, sidestepped my spear thrust as I knew she would. I didn’t slow my attack, though. Talan had been adept at using the weapon, but I had no doubt Vivica had never trained with anything other than her abilities. That was the truth of someone who thought they were too good, too strong: they didn’t realize there was always someone out there stronger. Meaner.
Better.
I kicked out at her upper thigh, grazed her and brought the haft of my spear around, aiming for her belly. A snap of icy cold wind cut between us and swept me into the air. Peta howled and I sent her a calming thought. This was what I’d been banking on. That Viv would use the deadliest of the elements to end my life.
The only element I did not hold.
I didn’t fight, but instead surrendered to the hammering of the wind as it drew itself out of my lungs. My eyes closed and the sound of Vivica laughing, Peta roaring, and Raven yelling, filled my ears.
Matarrah. Mattie. You were Talan’s favorite. He sends his love. You are near this place. You are near here.
I am.
Her whispered reply was weak and I knew why. She was dying, as Frost had been dying. As Talan had died. As Olivisha and Realm had given up their lives before Vivica could get to them. I could see her in my mind’s eye, lying on the snow, a blade just like the one that had dug into Frost’s chest sticking out of her own.
Viv was in a hurry. She wasn’t making sure her victims were dead before she left them.
Will you give me your strength to stop her? To stop the humans?
Matarrah was silent, and my heart slowed its beating. I let myself sink into that loss of air, knowing she was the only one who could save me.
You knew me as Samara. I broke free from the oubliette and hid in plain sight for many years. She has destroyed my world, corrupted my people. You knew me for who I was when you named me queen. Take my power. Take it and use it to save yourself and our world.
Samara. My heart shattered. No, not her.
There was no time for grief as the power of Air ripped through my body, lighting up my nerve endings. More than Air, the power of the storm rumbled through my blood, showing me how very deadly it could be.
The air that had swept away from me came rushing back as I breathed it in with no effort. The darkness that had held me faded and I forced myself out of the fog that hovered near death. I was on the ground, face down in the snow, the hot breath from my mouth melting the ice below me. I pushed to my hands and knees and spun around to see Raven fully engaged wi
th Viv. The power on them both exploded like fireworks in the sky. Flashes of red, blue, green were predominant, but then the power of Air slid through them and they were above my head. Neither had noticed I was not dead.
I looked for Peta.
She was on her side, her chest heaving.
I ran to her. “Don’t you dare die on me.”
“Lark, you want to warn me next time?” She tipped her head and I pushed a flood of energy into her through our bond, healing the wounds. It looked like one lung had burst from the air Viv had forced in her. My jaw ticked.
“I didn’t want her to pick up on what I was doing. I needed you and Raven to react truthfully for it to work.” I stood and faced the two elementals just as Raven was blasted from the sky. He went end over end, his black cloak trailing him as he fell to the ground.
From the sky, Ash dropped toward Viv’s head, his talons outstretched.
The moment slowed.
He slammed into her face, screeching and pecking, tearing at her face.
I ran, as I called all five elements to me. I would weave them into a unified thread of power and drive it into her heart. A single ending blow. Except they did not want to come to me like that. They fought one another, bucking away so I could not grasp them easily unless it was one at a time.
I was too slow.
She reached up as Ash clawed at her, and grabbed either side of his body. Pink lines of Spirit flowed over her, the intent on them—and in her—clear. She was going to pull him apart, taking away his eagle form, giving back his human shape.
Without a witch, there was no chance he’d survive. She was going to kill him.
“NO!” I screamed the word, my thoughts scattering as he arched away from her, wings spread and trembling, the crack of bones and the tearing of muscles heavy in my ears. His body shifted from bird to human as he hit the ground hard.
Her laughter chased me as I slid to my knees beside him. I grabbed his face, pushed my power into him. He could not die. I would not let this be the end of the one man who’d always loved me for who I was. Not for what I could do.
“Ash.”
His golden eyes blinked up at me and he smiled. “I love you, Lark. I always knew you would free me somehow.”
His heart was slowing, and Vivica was behind me. I could feel her power ramping up. I had to let him go and face her.
Ash’s life was gone. I knew it, felt it as if my heart had been filleted.
And it left me dead inside.
I spun on my knees and stared at Vivica. So many ways to kill her, so many ways to end her life.
A whisper in my mind. Olivisha, holder of the flame.
She will run now; she is a coward at heart. The flames always scared her, Lark, use them.
Viv smiled at me as her whole body lit up with a pink light and I saw her intention echoing Ollie’s words. She was making a run for it.
Not if I could stop her.
I sent a blast of fire straight at her, super heating it so it sucked all the air from around us in a whoosh that tugged me forward. Viv’s eyes went so wide I could see the whites around the irises.
I ran for her, pushing the flames ahead of me, tightening them around her, forcing her to deal with the flames. If she was truly afraid, then I could use that against her, use her fear to make her falter.
Burn her. Ollie’s voice urged me onward and I put more into the flame, feeding it with Spirit, Ollie’s power and my hatred. That combination overwhelmed Viv like nothing else could have.
Vivica screamed and I could feel the flames lick along her skin, charring her, before she got a hold of them, and doused them with her own connection, though I felt her struggle to do even that much.
Through the dying flames, I saw the pink power of Spirit flare around Viv once more.
“Worm shit.” I didn’t have time to grab Peta or check on Raven. There was no time for a goodbye to Ash.
Viv disappeared and I followed her, knowing she could not escape now.
I followed, knowing my chance at killing her would be to keep the pressure on her.
Riding Spirit, following Viv, took me to the Rim.
My home before me, my family sprawled out across the ground like some violent massacre had happened. Bodies, limbs, blood, viscera. What the hell was this?
“Do you fight me, or save them?” Viv laughed, her face raw from the flames as she spread her hand out at the death around me.
I threw my spear instead of any of the elements, and caught her in the left shoulder, spinning her around. “I will kill you and save them.”
I wove the earth around her feet, and she broke it away.
Frost’s voice pressed against me. This is your truest strength, Lark. Hold it, use the other elements first.
She threw fire at me and I caught it, absorbing it easily.
Water came next from her and she wrapped me in its embrace, not unlike Finley had done.
Lovely girl, Realm whispered to me, his voice a caress, the water in her veins can be controlled.
I blinked and stared down at Viv from where she held me above the ground. I focused on her body, and found the water in her… so much water.
I could either push more water into her or I could take it out.
Realm laughed. Either will slow her.
With a flick of my fingers, I took the water from her, drawing it out drop by drop, and she went to her knees slowly.
She switched gears and called up Air to push me away in the bubble of water that I was still in.
Samara’s—Matarrah’s—voice came to me next. Air against Air, you can hold her down. But if you can use two elements at once, you will have her.
Two elements.
I called Earth to me, under Viv’s feet. She laughed and I struggled to hold both Air and Earth at the same time.
“Mattie, Frost, help me.” I bit the words out through gritted teeth.
The push and pull of the two powers eased along my veins and I could breathe freely, bending them to my will.
The ground swallowed Viv to her hips even as I drove air into her lungs, doing all I could to blow them up like a child’s balloon. Exploding her lungs would kill her as surely as stealing her her breath away.
Rage fueled me, and I let it carry me into a reckless abandon that brought power cascading out of me in waves, and I lost control of the two elements.
Viv clutched Spirit to her and sped away from me.
I fell from the bubble of water that held me and hit the ground, rolling to ease the fall. I was up and took a step to follow her, calling Spirit around me before another heartbeat passed.
“Lark, wait! Mother is hurt! She’s dying.” River, my niece, called to me, and I kept my back to her.
“I am saving her the only way I can.” The words were torn from me as I broke my promise to my beloved sister. I would not save her body this time, but I would save our world.
I wove Spirit around my body and took off after Viv.
We stood in front of the Pit, where the lava burst out in waves like the earth itself was vomiting.
The Salamanders were there, their eyes blank as they stood in ranks in front of me. Viv was at the head of them her eyes aglow with more power than ever.
“You do not have it in you to stop me.” She grinned and the burns in her face cracked, oozing blood.
Remember she is afraid of this element, more than any other. Her fear will be her undoing of it. You can take it from her. Ollie’s words were a comfort, even if I didn’t understand how I would take the power from Viv. The other original elementals didn’t seem so sure, and their murmurs of uncertainty might have undone me if not for Talan’s voice.
She is her mother’s child. She can carry this burden like no other.
I let the heat of the flame inside of me rise to the surface until it felt as though I stood on the lava myself. The burns along my arm and back where the lava whip had bit into me lit up, sparkling red and gold as I embraced the element fully.
&n
bsp; “I’m not only going to stop you,” I said, “I’m going to strip you of the powers that are no longer yours to use.”
She laughed, her head thrown back, and the Salamanders mimicked her. Tied to her through the element. I took a step, and then another and another, slow and steady, pulling on the power of the Pit with each breath until my body was full to bursting.
“What will you do, run away again?” I spoke softly, but my words carried across the distance between us. Viv snarled, flicked her hand at me. No fire came, but the Salamanders did, rushing me in a group, Flint at their head.
Her connection is through them. Touch them and I will help you, Ollie said.
As Flint reached me I held up a hand and caught his arm, spinning so his momentum would not take me down.
The connection between him and Viv was a dull, pulsing thread and something in me cut through it. Olivisha cut through it.
He went to his knees, breathing hard, but I had work to do. I took each of the Salamanders as they came at me, cutting through the connection between Viv and them. It was no longer Olivisha doing it, but me.
The last of them went to their knees and I was surprised to see Viv still there staring at me. Sweat rolled down her face, and the heat around her radiated, pinking her skin.
“You cannot take it from me!”
I held my hand out and called the ruby stone to me, as though calling home a stray dog. It fled from her hand and straight to me. I held it up, and fed the power of Fire through it, melting the stone until it dripped down my fingers.
Viv screamed and was gone in a flash of pink lines.
“Bella?” Flint asked me, and I turned from him, I couldn’t answer.
I had to go after Viv.
She went next to the Deep, to its center, right in the throne room.
Only this time, she was being chased not only by me, but by the demon I’d set on her.
The creature was slashing at her with its wicked claws, driving her back to a wall even while she blasted it with air and water. The black hunched-back was not giving up.
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