Jake grinned sheepishly and started to fumble with the buttons of his shirt. She had caught him mid-dress and he barely had time to throw clothes on when he heard her furious pounding on the door. “I take it Shay called you?”
“You think? You broke up with her in a text message? Who does that?”
“Not that it’s any of your business but I can’t exactly rush back to Westerlake right now to have a heart to heart with her. Not sure if you noticed but we’re a little busy here.”
“It is my business, Jake! You made it my business when you decided to hook up with my best friend and then treat her like dirt!”
She tried to read his expression which seemed to border between regret and gloating, unable to believe that he could be so heartless. When she finally got Shaylah to stop crying on the phone that morning the first thing she did was rush over to give him a piece of her mind. Liam was convinced it wouldn’t do any good, urging her to stay out of it but there was no way she could keep quiet. Not when her best friend was falling apart on the other side of the country. She’s never heard Shaylah cry, especially not over a guy. The more she thought about it the more she realized that she’s never known a guy to break up with Shaylah. It was usually the other way around. When it came to men, her best friend tended to get attached fairly quickly only to leave them in the dust when the next best thing came around. It caught her completely by surprise to see this reaction to Jake’s thoughtless text. Maybe it was the fact that the three of them were so close. Whatever it was, she was going to tear him to pieces for upsetting Shaylah.
“I didn’t treat her like dirt. I just didn’t want her getting the wrong idea.”
“And what idea is that exactly?” she asked, tossing a pair of pants from the bed his way.
His face reddened and he quickly put on the slacks, turning around to pour himself a cup of coffee so as not to face her. “The idea that this thing with me and her was going somewhere.”
“Maybe you should have thought of that before stringing her along all this time. Did you seriously think you could just have your fun with her and move on?”
“It’s not like that. I never told her it was anything serious. Which is exactly why I had to end it. Before things got too complicated,” he turned to face her, stretching out a cup in her direction. “Coffee?”
Ruby waved off his gesture, the look of disgust on her face deepening. “They already are complicated. I can’t believe you’d do something like that. I feel like I don’t even know you anymore.”
“Yeah, well, that makes two of us.”
“What the hell does that mean?” she raised an eyebrow his way.
“You know exactly what that means.”
“Please, enlighten me.”
“Ever since the whole peace treaty fiasco you’ve been a completely different person. You don’t even look the same anymore.”
He had her there, she had changed drastically in the last few months but she didn’t think it was for the worst. And she most definitely did not know what any of it had to do with him and Shaylah. “So?”
“So just because you’ve changed, doesn’t mean the rest of us did. It doesn’t mean I did.”
“Seems to me you’ve changed quite a bit. The Jake I knew would never do that to a friend.”
“The Jake you knew was in love with you,” he murmured, “he still is.”
Ruby tried to find his eyes, but he refused to look at her. This wasn’t an act or some heartless way to get out of the situation. He meant it. When Shaylah and him first got together, she wasn’t sure how to feel about it. It was an adjustment, but she truly thought he was finally happy. Happy and over her. Seemed like she couldn’t have been more wrong about him.
“So, what? You used her? To do what? Make me jealous?”
Say no. Please say no.
“Not at first. At first, I was angry, and she was there, and she cared. It just happened,” he sighed, “then I saw how you reacted when you caught us, and I guess I liked knowing that you might be jealous. That you might care.”
Goddammit, Jake!
“Look, I’m sorry I hurt her feelings. Honestly. I swear when we get back, I’ll fix things. I’ll get things back to how they were.”
“With Shaylah?”
“With everything.”
Her back sunk into the wall as she processed his words. He still thought there was a chance for them. After all this time, after everything she’d said to prove otherwise, he still wasn’t letting go. “Jake, things will never be how they were.”
“Maybe. But they can be something different.” He tried to smile but his lips barely parted, leaving his mouth half open, like he was about to swallow a gulp of air. “I will get you back, Rue. You’ll see.”
“Get me back? You never had me to begin with!”
She was tired of the back and forth. It was fine when it was just the two of them but now, he’d gotten Shaylah involved, and worse– broke her heart. He had to stop. Whatever delusions he had about her had to end. She wasn’t his property. He didn’t lose her in a bet, and he wasn’t going to get her back in one. She pulled away from the wall, dropping her weight to her feet and raised her palms in front of her. The scars on her arms bulged from the blood rushing into them, dark red blood that turned to black when it reached her fingertips. It coated each finger and swirled its energy around her hands, the molasses dripping from her nails all the way to the floor. Her attention drew to Jake, his eyes wide, a bead of sweat forming at the top of his brow. He was afraid. Of her, of what she could do. Good! Let him be afraid!
“I am not yours to get back! I am your AetherBorn! That is as far as our relationship goes!” she howled and let a bolt of plasma catapult in his direction. It hit the wall behind him just inches from his face, leaving him stunned and breathless. “If you ever hurt anyone else I care about again, you will answer to me!”
Ruby fisted her hands and shoved them in her sweatshirt pockets before turning to the door. The anger swam in her stomach, pushing the bile away to make room for something even more sordid. She took a sharp breath, settling the hatred that now filled her entire body. As she walked out of the room, leaving Jake speechless and shocked, she caught a glimpse of herself in the hall mirror.
Another girl she couldn’t recognize peered back.
This one had eyes filled to the brim with darkness and plasma.
Chapter 32
Est. 1926
The flash of anger slowly subsided as Ruby made her way back to her room. The further away she got from Jake, the less her blood smoldered and boiled in her veins. She could feel each cell as it cooled down. The rage she felt just moments ago dissipated next to the relief that she hadn’t actually hurt Jake. She had not lost herself like that since she first discovered her powers and it worried her that she was actually unable to rein herself in. What would have happened if she hadn’t left? What could she have done?
“Ouch!” Ruby yelped at the sudden sharp pain on her fingertips.
It was as though she got stung by a bee, a very large bee. Her eyes drifted to her hands, hoping to find the culprit and swat it out of existence. But there was no bee on them at all, no insects of any kind. Nothing bit her.
Instead, her hands were covered in a dense mixture of blood and black plasma. She followed the trail of sluggishly flowing and burning liquid to the scars on her arms, open now as if she had just endured the cuts. The plasma curled and twisted around her finger, the burn intensifying by the second. Every twist was tighter, squeezing her finger into submission, almost breaking it right off.
“No!” Ruby screamed, her voice catching before she could complete the word. She pulled at the bottom of her sweatshirt with her other hand, trying desperately to stop the blood that was now pooling from her wounded finger and dripping onto the cement beneath her feet. Slow drops,– the color of rust and dirt. Blood and plasma.
Her head spun.
She reached for the corridor railing, using it for balance. She was going
to pass out from the pain if she didn’t stop the bleeding. There had to be something around she could use. Her eyes wild, she scanned the corridor. Nothing. Not so much as a doormat. She could have sworn she passed a housekeeping cart on the way here. Where was it and where was the maid? Ruby’s attention shifted from one end to the other. Where was everyone?
The corridor was lifeless. Not just lifeless but entirely void of movement or sound. Even the parking lot on the other side of the railing was half empty aside from a few cars. It felt like someone had erased half of her reality and replaced it with a stagnant version of it.
“Of course!” she exhaled and let the echo of the place carry her yelp away. This isn’t real.
She looked back to her hand, expecting to see a shattered pinky, and laughed deliriously. The plasma was gone, and her hand was whole. She was whole. Stretching her fingers wide, she smiled and looked over the railing onto the lot. Except for the initial pain, this may be the calmest place she’d been to. Just as calm as–
Ruby gasped, realizing where her vision had taken her. The minimal details of the real world, the emptiness and quiet. This was the Aether Plane; she was sure of it! As soon as the realization crept into her mind the air brightened, filling with the glittery spark that she was accustomed to seeing in the plane. Her mind was filling in the details, starting with the glitter and ending with the row of doors on her left. Bravery grasped her and she walked over to the door closest to where she stood, eager to try the handle. Before she could pull it open, something on the door caught her eye. She raised her gaze to read the inscription burned into the wood.
‘Welcome to Coalfell. Population: 8592. Est: 1926.’
Chapter 33
A friend
“Pack it up dudes and dudettes, we’re going to Coalfell!” Zag shouted, lounging a little too comfortably on their bed and leaving the rest of them standing around awkwardly in whatever small niche they could find.
“And you’re sure about this, Ruby? There isn’t the possibility that your vision was wrong?” Elena asked.
“When have they ever been wrong?” she scoffed and shoved Zag’s feet off the bed so she could sit down. “It definitely felt like a sign. I’m sure that’s where Demas is heading next. Zag, can you check which Elementals live there? It’s not a big place, so maybe we can warn them on the way.”
Zag fumbled to sit up and offered her a halfway decent albeit mocking salute before reaching for his phone. “I’ll get Harvey to look into it back home,” he noted, his fingers moving fast to type a message. “Maybe we should get some more people?”
“To meet us there? You think we can’t handle it?” Jake asked.
She perked up, meeting the question with an annoyed glare. “He thinks that we almost died. Unless you’re willing to go up against Demas and Eros again? Because from what I can tell, you’re still limping from yesterday.”
“So, Ren and Elijah should come? Cool. I’ll text them.” Zag said cheerfully and continued to type.
“You guys okay with that?” she asked the group in front of her. Her gaze meeting Liam’s who had finally finished pacing back and forth. His restlessness since she told him about the vision was starting to make her dizzy.
No one answered. A few nodded in agreement only to look away when she saw them. She rolled her eyes, fixing her attention back on Zag. “Good to go, I guess.”
“I already asked, girlfriend. They’re in.” He grinned and shot a wink in Ray’s direction, “Ya know I got you!”
“Thanks. They’ll meet us there, then?”
“Yep. Said they’re bringing a friend.”
“Who?” She hated getting more people involved than was necessary.
“No clue. Someone hardcore, I’m sure. Ren wouldn’t mess around.”
The density of fear in the room was impossible to ignore. Ruby looked around her, trying to gauge their emotions but the only one that dared look back at her was Liam and she wished he hadn’t. The concern on his face was paralyzing. Even Leah was obsessively tugging at the chipped polish on her nails and she was the cheerleader of the group.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” she said, trying to sound convincing.
Zag’s eyes darted her way but lowered when they met hers. “Are you serious? There’s literally everything to be afraid of.”
“So, what? We run away and hide like cowards? Would you like that better?”
“Ruby, honey, there’s no need to shout. No one is running away, we’re just worried.” Elena rested a hand on her shoulder but jerked it away quickly. She hadn’t noticed that she had raised her voice let alone the fire that built up in her body in a matter of seconds.
“It sure sounds like you’re too scared to fight.”
“That’s not fair, Rue.” Liam’s arm tightened around hers, oblivious to the heat. “We’re all on the same page.”
She lowered her gaze, stretching her palms open and closed until the blood in them ran cooler. They weren’t on the same page at all; this she was sure of. Whether they admitted it or not they were scared, she was too but unlike the rest of them, she wouldn’t give Demas the satisfaction of seeing it.
“So, we should pack?” she said quietly, “catch the next train if we can?”
They filed out of the room quietly, trailing mixed emotions in their wake. Ruby couldn’t help but wonder what she was getting them into this time. She waited until Liam closed the door behind them and the shadows of the group’s slow-moving bodies passed by the curtained window. Sinking into the pillows on the bed she let out a sigh, feeling like she could take a breath now that it was just the two of them. “Are you worried?”
“About Coalfell?” Liam sank into the mattress next to her, “A little. You?”
“A lot.”
She flipped her hair to one side and sloped her head onto his shoulder. The scent of him filled the room and she inhaled his cologne, letting the spices of musk and African violet fill her nostrils.
“I’m more worried about the rest of the group. If we get there in time and it’s not just Demas and Eros–” she trailed off.
“I think it might be worse if we don’t get there in time.”
He was right. She knew he was right but a part of her felt rigid at the implication. A very small and selfish part that wished to be too late. To arrive in Coalfell after Demas and his band of deities had already passed through. To avoid any more damage to her people, to her family. Selfish! She cursed herself. They couldn’t be late. Demas was using these killings to taunt her, and if they were even one step behind, more innocent Elementals would be hurt. His savage brutality was escalating with each kill and her conscience couldn’t handle another vicious murder with a pathetic note at the scene.
She shot a brief glance to her finger, suddenly remembering the vision.
“Does it hurt?” Liam asked and raised his chin in the direction of her hand.
“The finger? No, not really.”
“What do you think it meant?”
The tension in her hand lifted as she squeezed her fist open and closed. “I don’t know if it meant anything, but it was super strange. I felt like I was hurting myself, you know? Like my blood was bad or something.”
“Maybe all that time you spent in the plane is starting to affect you somehow. Ray did say that the longer you stay there, the more the effect lingers.”
“Yeah, but why now? It didn’t happen before, and it’s not like I had black veins and eyes when I snapped out of it. Why would the effect appear in a vision?”
“Who knows, Rue. We’re kind of dealing with a bunch of guesses here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, growing up, I didn’t even think AetherBorns were real and now we have a center full of them. Then we get hit by deities of all things. Stuff just keeps dropping from the sky, and we deal with it. You could tell me tomorrow that the earth is actually flat, and I’d believe you. There’s no such thing as normal anymore. If this otherworldly plane you get to visit
is suddenly having some weird side effect, well, as far as I can tell, that’s the most normal thing to have happened so far!”
A smile sneaked its way to her lips, and she reached over to graze his stubbled cheek with it.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“For putting things in perspective.”
“Ha! That’s me. Perspective Liam!”
“I’d work on the nickname if I was you,” she teased and dropped her head back on his shoulder allowing her eyes to close.
Even if it was just for a moment.
Chapter 34
Coalfell
The view from the waiting area in the Coalfell train station offered about as much interest as an empty warehouse. The flat plains stretched for miles and even though Ruby could feel the chilled breeze from the lake on her face, she couldn’t squint her eyes tight enough to see the shore. This place made Sherfield feel like a metropolis, and she wondered if perhaps they got off at the wrong stop. When the announcement for the station buzzed over the speakers, they had been the only ones to leave the train car. She had hoped to find a small shop at the station to keep herself busy while they waited for Ren and Elijah to arrive from Dalhurst, but at this point, she’d be glad to settle for cell reception.
It was as if they had stepped foot in a silo. No people. No sound. Just the eight of them and the vastness of the fields outside.
She reached her hand into her backpack, finding the edge of the dagger hilt to make sure it was still there. Not that she couldn’t feel its energy revving up when they settled on one of the benches. It seemed the dagger was even more on edge than she was.
“Is anyone else bored out of their skulls right now?” Nola rolled her eyes, finally breaking the silence. “These guys better get here fast. This is some mental torture crap right here.” She stretched her arms over her head and yawned to prove her point. Any other day, Ruby would have snapped back at her, but she couldn’t exactly disagree. They were all bored to tears waiting for the train from Dalhurst to come in.
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