Elements 2 - Shifting Selves

by Mia Marshall

  I joined the other two on the sofas, even as I continued to hold on to the water. So long as it hung in the air, it was a reminder that I was doing just fine, thank you very much. If I was visibly in control, Sera would have one less thing to worry about.

  Especially since we really should be worrying about the woman sitting in front of us, her expression nervous and confused but not even a little bit guilty.

  Since we were basically there to accuse her of being a nurse, perhaps she had good reason to look innocent. I opted for a direct approach. “You have access to medical supplies and other equipment,” I stated.

  She nodded, her expression cautious. She appeared to have no idea where I was going with this. “I’m a nurse, yes.”

  “So if, for example, shifters were being kidnapped and altered in some way—some medical way—you might be capable of providing the materials necessary for that to happen.”

  Her caution disappeared, replaced quickly by equal parts anger and exasperation. “I thought I’d cleared myself in your eyes. Is your short term memory really that bad?”

  “That was before I saw your shoes.”

  She nodded, pretending to take my concern seriously. “Ah, yes, the smoking gun. Many a killer has been unmasked due to their choice of sensible footwear. If only I’d switched to sneakers, like so many nurses have, I’d have gotten away with it, too!” She ended her fake confession with an eye roll that would have done a teenager proud.

  “It’s not the shoes. It’s the occupation. Whoever’s doing this has access to medical equipment, and considering you work at the local hospital, that moves you to the top of our suspect list. So, if you want to keep us from harassing you on a daily basis, I suggest you explain exactly why you can’t possibly be involved, and be really, really convincing.”

  She sat up and met our eyes directly, looking at Sera and me in turn. “The kidnapper messed with the brains, right? That’s neuro. That’s years of schooling, and no nurse would be able to do that. I’m an orthopedic nurse. I help set bones. I wouldn’t even know where to begin with the other. And finally, I have no magic, no understanding of how your magic works, and no freaking motive. I have no idea why you two have become so fixated on me, but it’s time to get a new hobby. I’m not the one.”

  I didn’t bother to respond to her annoyingly logical defense. “Tell us about your meetings with Brian.”

  She looked between us, wanting more information. “Who?”

  Her eyes didn’t offer even a hint of recognition. She’d need to be a sociopath to lie so convincingly, and while that option wasn’t off the table, I found myself, against my will, believing her.

  I so desperately wanted her to have information, anything that would point us toward Mac, but her words made sense, and there was no hint of deception in her voice.

  A family connection and a pair of white shoes weren’t enough to indict her, even if it was more than anyone else seemed to have. She wasn’t the only woman in Tahoe with red hair, and even brunettes and blondes had access to wig shops. Our lack of other options didn’t automatically signal her guilt, and I feared she was right. We’d become fixated because she was all we had.

  “Do you know of anyone else?” I asked, unable to just let it go. “Maybe someone who does work in neuro? They don’t even need to be a doctor or nurse. It could just be someone who wanted access to the equipment, maybe for another person.”

  She began to shake her head. “No, the equipment is locked down pretty tight, so that seems unlikely. And I don’t know—” She stopped speaking mid-sentence, her mind drifting somewhere unexpected. Sera met my gaze, certain Diane had just remembered something we really wanted to know.

  “Tell us,” she said, returning her black gaze to Diane’s face, looking for any sign of prevarication or avoidance.

  Before Diane could answer, my phone rang. I dug it out of my purse and saw Will’s number on the screen. I could only think of one reason he’d be calling me, and I felt a surge of hope. I indicated to Sera that I needed to take it and left the room, knowing she wouldn’t let Diane off the hook.

  “We need you over here, Aidan,” he said in greeting.

  “Is he there?”

  He paused, just for a moment, but that was enough. I felt my hope stutter and die, and something dark crawled into its place. The new feeling was hot and sharp, a panic that teetered on the edge of far more dangerous emotions. It was every emotion I’d been trying to avoid since Sera and I entered Diane’s home, everything I didn’t want Sera to see. I forced myself to listen to Will’s words and pretended I didn’t notice the heat creeping through my body.

  “I just got a call from Celeste. It’s your mother,” he said. “Fiona was working with James, trying to find the barrier that’s stopping him from shifting, to see if it was different from Pamela’s. Something happened. She passed out. They can’t revive her, Aidan. She’s completely unresponsive.”

  “I’m on my way.” The words were terse and direct, and I hung up the phone without noticing what I was doing. My mind was already several steps ahead, considering the many things that were going wrong and what they all had in common.

  Shifters were being kidnapped, their memories erased and their magic blocked. A full-blooded elemental tried to fix it and now seemed to be in some sort of magic-induced coma. Confused teens and innocent children, my mother and the man at whose side I wanted to spend every cold night for the foreseeable future were all being affected, and the only leads I had were a dead former friend with access to drugs that blocked magic, his regular meetings with a redheaded woman, and a vague thought I’d just seen cross Diane’s face.

  At least I didn’t need to wait to pursue one of those leads.

  I knew the cost was high, but I didn’t care. Mac was still missing, and now my mother was unconscious. Some things are worth the cost.

  I sat directly before Diane, holding her gaze, and I let the fire loose. I knew that my grey eyes constantly shifted, as alive as the water that flowed through me, and they told every thought that crossed my mind. Now, I found the emotional core within and hardened it, turning my eyes to slate. I let my water side slip away without a fight and called on the fire to burn away all sympathy and kindness that might show in my eyes. At that moment, I didn’t care how dangerous it was.

  “You just remembered something.” It was a statement of fact. I gave her no room to argue with me. Even so, she hesitated. “I’ll make this simple. We’re not playing that game where you pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about, and eventually I find some threat or promise that convinces you to tell me what you know. Shifters are in danger. Something is wrong with my mother. You will do the right thing and tell us what you know, or I’ll assume you’re guilty and will have no compunction about slowly burning this house down. Perhaps I’ll use your body as kindling.”

  Diane looked over my shoulder at Sera, perhaps hoping to see a bit more control on the face of the fire elemental. She assumed Sera would do the actual burning. She had no idea I could incinerate this entire block if I was so inclined. Right then, I felt very inclined.

  “Ade.” Sera spoke my name quietly, an attempt to ground me. She was still sacrificing herself, giving up her own anger to control mine. It was wrong. I knew I shouldn’t let that happen, but I saw no solution. I couldn’t stop the fire crawling through me. I didn’t want to.

  Sera rested one hand on my shoulder, trying to remind me of our connection, of my need for calm. Her words were even. “I can do this. Let it go. You don’t need to do this to yourself.” Diane looked between us quickly. Perhaps she was drawing conclusions no one should ever make. I found I didn’t really care.

  “And let you have all the fun? Hardly.” I spoke the words with a small smile on my face. If one was going to become unhinged, one ought to do so in style. There aren’t many times one has an excuse to play the villain.

  Sera said my name again and placed herself at my side. I knew she was trying to distract me, but I refused to
let her. I kept my eyes locked on Diane, watching the array of emotions that crossed her face when confronted with an unstable elemental.

  Finally, she made the wise choice. “There’s one thing, but I don’t know what it means. I’m sure she’s innocent, and there’s no way I’m siccing the two of you on her until I’ve had a chance to talk to her. And for all that you’re surprisingly good at this whole threatening thing, we both know that if you burn me, you’ll never learn what I know. I need an hour. Two, tops.”

  I pretended to consider her offer. If I hadn’t been lighting a houseplant on fire at the same time, I might have been more convincing. “No,” I told her, my voice eerily calm. “This isn’t a negotiation. Tell me what you know.”

  Sera pulled the fire to her, leaving the ficus burnt but unlit. “Aidan!” This time, she put the entire force of her personality into that single word, leaving behind the subdued, calm impostor I’d seen a moment ago. It was too late for calm.

  Full-strength Sera was impossible to ignore, much as I might wish to. I whipped my head toward her, a snarl on my lips and a fireball already in my hands.

  I flung the fire at her, a pointless exercise. If I’d been thinking logically, even a little bit, I’d have known that.

  If I’d been thinking logically, I wouldn’t have tried to burn my best friend.

  But logic had already lost this battle. Diane needed to answer our questions, and nothing else mattered.

  The fire hit Sera’s body and was instantly absorbed, leaving nothing but a warm glow on her skin. “Stop this.” The words were a command. Her black eyes tried to pull me into her, to hold me in her grasp and remind me who I was. She stared at me and tried to return my sanity through pure force of will.

  She still saw the same woman she’d known for years, a water elemental and her best friend. The woman I was, most of the time.

  Right now, I was not that woman. If I went looking for her, I imagined I could pull her to the surface and let her have control again, but that wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted this power. I wanted this certainty. I wanted things to burn.

  “I’ll stop when she tells what she knows,” I told her. It seemed a fair bargain. “So, you can help, or you can delay me and watch me set the room on fire. Your call.”

  Sera didn’t show emotion the way other people did. Most of the time, she kept her vaguely sardonic mask firmly in place. A small twist of the mouth or a raised eyebrow spoke volumes.

  At that moment, she was unable or unwilling to hide what roiled below the surface. Her normally impenetrable black eyes burned, lit by fierce emotions desperate for release. Her bronze skin glowed and her fire magic reached outwards, seeking an outlet.

  I grinned, recognizing it. I stretched my own towards hers and let them mingle, her magic against mine. They were the same.

  “I’m doing this because I need you to come back, Aidan. That is the only reason, and this discussion isn’t even close to over.” She didn’t wait for me to reply, flinging a fireball of her own toward the ottoman.

  It was a modern fabric, the kind that’s been coated in flame retardant, and it was frustratingly slow to light. Sera focused all her energy on that flame, feeding life and magic into it. I joined my magic to hers, and the small flame instantly exploded toward the high ceiling, sizzling and crackling with eager life.

  “How’s your homeowner’s insurance, Diane?” It was an idle question, the same way I’d ask her which cable provider she used. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she wasn’t as calm.

  “You insane... what are you doing?” I glanced toward her with raised eyebrows, feigning confusion, then lit the end table on fire. The wood was instantly alight. “Stop! Please, stop. I’ll tell you.”

  “So, speak,” I said, watching the bonfire on the ottoman swoop and dance through the large living room.

  “Put it out first,” Diane said, a desperate attempt to assert control.

  I laughed, and eased the flames closer to the drapes. I used extravagant gestures, making sure Diane knew I was controlling it and was therefore the one she needed to satisfy.

  “Fine. Look, if you hurt her, I will kill you both. I don’t care how powerful you are. You’ll still fall as easily as a deer.”

  “Is this the part where you’re appeasing me, Diane? Because you may want to work on that a bit.”

  She dropped her head, ashamed. Not of her knowledge, but of her cowardice. Of fearing for her own safety enough that she was willing to share what she knew, despite its cost. “It’s Dana, okay? She was asking a lot of questions about the hospital. She said she was interested in becoming a nurse, and I told her whatever she wanted to know.”

  I felt Sera instantly withdraw her magic. I grasped at it as it slid away, reluctant to let it go. It was so warm, so sustaining. Without it, everything seemed a little flatter, a two-dimensional painting in a three-dimensional world—a representation of reality, rather than the rich, vibrant truth.

  “You too, Ade,” she told me. I made a face at her, but some distant part of me knew I needed to keep my part of the bargain. It was still Sera, and while I would do anything for my mother and Mac, I would also do anything for her. I slowly extinguished the fires. “I think you need to put them out,” Sera said, her face fixed on mine.

  “I did. The fire’s out.” I played dumb, not wanting to do what she asked. An embarrassing pout formed on my lips.

  “You know how fire can hide in upholstery. Put it out, Ade.” She kept using my name, insisting over and over again that I was still that same woman. I was Aidan. Aidan Brook. The daughter of an old one, possessor of one of the original surnames. I felt that woman within me, stirring. She was worn and battered, and more worried than I ever wanted to be, but she was in there.

  Holding Sera’s gaze, I finally freed her and let her float back to the surface. She stretched through my entire body, reaching to my fingertips and down through my legs, fitting herself back into each cell. The water magic gasped with relief, finding itself back in charge, and with almost no effort I was able to pull water from the air. The fire had eaten plenty of the water molecules, but the clouds outside hung heavy and low. The water came to me willingly.

  I drenched the ottoman and the end table, and then I simply sat for a long minute, feeling the madness fade, much as a nightmare vanishes in the light of day. It may be gone, but a vague memory remains, a reminder of what lurks in the darkest depths of the subconscious.

  Sera and Diane watched me the entire time, their eyes wary. I surprised them both by being almost reasonable. “Thank you. I’m sorry we had to do it this way, but we need to know everything that might help us. I promise, we won’t burn Dana to a crisp or terrorize her too much. And if she’s innocent—if you’re both innocent—we’ll replace your furniture. Ethan Allan okay?”

  Diane nodded mutely, obviously not trusting the words of a walking, talking emotional roller coaster. I couldn’t really blame her.

  I stood slowly and headed toward the door, Sera directly behind me. I knew she was studying me closely, looking for any sign I hadn’t entirely returned, that part of my sanity had burned up along with Diane’s living room set, and I knew I needed to find a solution to her worry before my best friend became my caretaker.

  I had no idea what Sera saw. I felt like myself again, but that didn’t mean I felt whole.

  I turned in the doorway to look at Diane. She was hunched over, fear and grief on her face. She didn’t want to be the sort of woman who’d rat out her niece. “We’ll let you know what we learn,” I told her, as gently as I could. “And after that, if all goes well, you’ll never see us again.”

  She raised her face, and something new crossed it, something more than her fear and concern. It was calculating, and it held more than a bit of anger. Sera tensed beside me. She’d seen it, too.

  “You controlled that fire,” Diane said. “And the water. You have two elements.”

  There it was, the secret that could cost my life, spoken by a gun-crazy suburban deer hunt
er. She was not someone I’d have chosen to hold my life in her hands. “I suggest you keep it to yourself,” I said. I could hear the exhaustion in my voice. “No one would believe you, anyway.”

  “Plus,” added Sera, “if anyone finds out, I’ll handcuff you inside your own gun cabinet and see how flammable your bullets are, one at a time. Look at me, and tell me if you think I’m lying.”

  Diane stared at Sera for a long time, looking for any sign that she didn’t mean every word. Though I couldn’t believe she would actually do what she was suggesting, Sera’s face was cold and hard, as immoveable as I’d ever seen it. Finally, defeated, Diane looked away with a single nod. “Go,” she said. “And never come back.”

  We went.

  CHAPTER 20

  Sera drove us west on 80, and for once we didn’t argue about music. Without a word, she turned the dial to the Americana station I favored, apparently believing Alison Krauss would be more soothing than the Sex Pistols.

  I tried to lose myself in the bluegrass, letting the fiddles wrap themselves around my agitated mind. Genuine peace might elude me, but I needed to find some approximation of that emotion. I closed my eyes and focused all my attention on the sound of a bow sliding across strings, blocking out thoughts of my mother, Mac, and my own actions at Diane’s house.

  There would be a price to pay. I knew that. I could already feel something within me shifting, the various parts of my magic repositioning themselves. Whatever I’d started, it wasn’t over—but it wasn’t time to face that. Not yet.

  As we neared Truckee, Sera turned to me, face stoic and voice quiet. “Where are we going?”

  I heard the question underneath. The shifters, including Mac, needed us to visit Dana first. I still couldn’t believe she was our criminal mastermind, but it seemed likely she knew the person who was. I knew talking to Dana was our highest priority, if we considered the big picture.

  But I couldn’t see the big picture. All I saw, every time I closed my eyes, was an elegant woman with pale gold hair and eyes the same as mine, lying broken and damaged.