The Tantalising Taste Of Water (Elemental Awakening, Book 4)

by Nicola Claire

  He did just that. One hand softly tapping on the back of my skull, the other offering a surprisingly - or not - hard pinch to my upper arm.

  “Ow!” I cried out, whacking him back. Hard.

  He jumped away and started laughing. “Still got it!” he shouted. Then proceeded to hop from foot to foot, limbering up like a boxer. “What you got, Aether? Show me your best moves.”

  I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest.

  Brothers.

  Then I let out a little sob.

  Mark stopped acting the fool and watched me with sad eyes. He felt my pain too.

  “You’re not alone,” he reiterated. “You’re fucking powerful. You got out of Atlantis and sent them the bill. So what, you haven’t got Nero yet? It’ll come. And if it doesn’t, Case, I know you. You’ll hunt its arse down and take it. Because I’ve never seen you not play to win.”

  “You make me sound like some ninja wannabe. I was hardly that growing up.” In fact, I was shy to the point of antisocial.

  Except with Mark.

  “You just needed time to grow into yourself, Sis,” he said simply. “You’re all grown up now.”

  I sighed and looked out towards Auckland City, then turned and looked towards Pyrkagia’s Pyrgos. Fire flared. Angry. Determined. Not natural.

  Which made me laugh. Because when had I started thinking communicating with the Elements was a natural thing to do?

  “Theo needs to know about this,” I muttered.

  “Then let’s go tell His Highness.”

  I arched a brow at Mark.

  “What? Should I have said, His High-And-Mightiness?”

  “Don’t start,” I warned.

  “Don’t tempt me, then,” he countered.

  “Brothers,” I muttered.

  “Sisters,” he snapped back.

  We clasped hands as if we’d done it a thousand times before.

  “Thanks,” I whispered.

  “No problem,” he whispered back.

  I rolled my shoulders and stretched my neck, and then let out a slow breath of air.

  Theo, I whispered inside my mind. Take me to Theo.

  I’d never asked Air to take me to a person before. I’d always envisaged a place. And I could have just pictured The Temple in Athens. But Theo was all I could think of. Theo was all that mattered. So Theo was what I had asked.

  Of course, Aether, Air whispered on the wind and in my mind. As you command.

  Lightning struck, the air froze, a chemical smell surrounded. Then I embraced Aeras, allowed it to pick me up and send me across the world. Allowed it to fuel me, love me, hold me. Support me. Save me.

  Earth trembled beneath our feet the second lightning struck. And for a moment I could have sworn Fire hissed a farewell.

  Which was immediately followed by a flare of superheated anger; a threat and a promise rolled into one.

  The Pyrkagia were fuming. And it was directed at me.

  Not just one Ekmetalleftis branch but two hunting me down. And who knew what the Aeras had planned. Or even the Gi.

  Chapter Seven

  Great, Just What We Need

  It was raining. Storm clouds hung overhead; dark and thick and roiling. The sea was pounding the coastline; waves pummelling rock faces, scouring out sandy beaches, washing up over water breaks, flooding what was left of Athens. The Temple of Aetheros stood on a hill, overlooking the carnage and destruction.

  Mark and I landed in amongst the heavy raindrops, our lightning strike hidden by the storm that raged overhead. I staggered a step, my grip on Mark loosening as tiredness hit hard and my body struggled to obey any commands.

  “I’ve got you,” Mark offered, gripping my shoulders and holding me upright. The sound of his voice made the others turn around, away from their vigilant observation of the hurricane approaching.

  Theo’s eyes met mine; a wariness there that felt foreign. Gold flashed in the hazel; the need to go to me quickly followed. I felt the Thisavros draw. I felt the desire to connect with him. I saw his pain at my earlier rejection, mixed with a profound sense of relief.

  “You’re back,” he said simply.

  “Thank Aetheros,” Aktor added.

  “Have a nice time?” Isadora asked archly.

  I blinked. Then swayed. And only stayed upright because of my brother.

  “Back off, freaks,” Marcus snapped. “Can’t you see she’s knackered.” Always so eloquent, my brother.

  I almost smiled.

  Then thunder cracked overhead, ceasing further discussion. Clouds boiled, darkening. The rain felt like little pellets; sharp, hard, unrelenting. The storm closed in, the temperature dropping. The air became dense with Water.

  Not good.

  “Nero are closing in,” Nico said, his voice laced with concern.

  We all took a second to look out to sea. Atlantis hadn’t moved as such, but its presence felt closer.

  “Will they follow us?” Sonya asked.

  I was sure she couldn’t see Atlantis itself, or if she could, it was just an island to her human eyes. I was also certain she couldn’t see the creatures who were thrashing and rolling in the waves between us and there, presumedly coming up with some excuse in her mind for the sea’s turbulence. But she would have seen the clouds, the approaching storm, and realised what it meant. Even if only human, Sonya knew all about the Nero and what they were capable of.

  Well, almost. I hadn’t told anyone but Mark about the monsters yet.

  Let’s hope they stick to the sea. My brother’s words echoed inside my mind ominously.

  “Nero can’t use lightning,” Nico reassured her.

  “They used it to take Casey,” she said defiantly.

  “It was borrowed,” I offered.

  “And it could be borrowed again,” she argued.

  She was right. Whoever was helping the Nero could help them again easily. I was fairly certain it wasn’t my grandfather as the Rigas had suggested. But I did agree with Mark; it was likely to be the Alchemists.

  The only other option was the Aeras. And although I could see the Rigas and Basilissa meddling in affairs to such a degree, I couldn’t see Hip agreeing. Not that he carried a lot of weight in Aeras. But his grandfather, the shaman, did.

  There was one way to find out, of course. Kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. The Aeras hadn’t been exactly welcoming the last time we were there. But they had left the door open. The Rigas had wanted to know when I had access to Air. As Genesis had destroyed all other forms of human communication and the Aeras weren’t capable of talking through Fire, that left only one option available to me.

  “If you can’t move the mountain…” I whispered.

  “What was that?” Theo asked, eyeing me carefully.

  I shook my head, moving toward the others, who had thankfully already broken camp while Mark and I had been in Auckland. I quickly grabbed the nearest hand and indicated to the others to do the same; linking us.

  Mark might have only been able to take a couple of people with him while using lightning, but I was an Ekmetalleftis; linked like this, we’d manage everyone in one hit.

  And then, before we had even a moment to think, the Nero screamed.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Pisces, and he wasn’t in the sea. The hooves of his horse’s body thumped down on the ground, making Earth cry out in agony. His fish tail had disappeared, but his glowing red eyes remained. And they were entirely focused on me. He raised a spear, opened a sharply toothed maw, and roared his impending victory.

  “Now would be a good time to leave,” Nico said levelly.

  “Cape Town,” Isadora announced, as though they’d already discussed it. And maybe they had, but Cape Town? I sniggered. The bitch-cow was in for a surprise on that one.

  Then lightning struck, making Sonya squeak, and wiping the smile off my face completely.

  Pisces threw his spear as monstrous forms flickered in ominous shadows, swirling, churning, getting closer and cl
oser. Making the Nero storm seem entirely too creepy.

  Panic clenched my heart in a tight fist as Theo squeezed my fingers, grounding me. Urgently, I whispered inside my mind, Hippolytos.

  My body bowed, Theo’s hand tightened to the point of pain, and then electricity sparked along our fingers. It arced and jumped from one person to the next, lighting up the broken Temple and sending whorls of smoke up into the air. Pisces screamed, his voice joined by Sagittarius.

  Taurus thundered. The crab-like form of Cancer scurried across the cracked stone towards us, the clack of his pincers sounding suddenly loud in the eye of the storm we were trapped inside of. Leo roared. Virgo swooped down on feathery wings. Libra swung her scales above her head, preparing to let them fly. And Scorpio arched his back, his stinger poised and ready.

  “Aetheros,” Aktor breathed out beside me.

  “Casey!” Theo yelled.

  And Air obliged.

  The world turned a vibrant white, matched only in intensity by the red of Nero’s fury.

  “Gi!” Pisces roared.

  “Aether!” Aquarius pleaded.

  “We will find you,” the Rigas promised.

  And Pisces’ spear arced through the space between us, directly for me.

  “No!” Theo roared, pushing me backwards while he rushed forward.

  No, my heart cried out; fracturing.

  I let go of Aktor’s hand, refusing to relinquish Theo’s, and threw an arm up and out, making Air redirect the projectile. Our limbs twisted, our breaths stilled, and electricity coursed through our bodies. I lost consciousness for a second, but I didn’t lose my hold on Theo.

  I’d never lose my hold on Theo.

  Except when we crashed to the ground and were flung apart violently.

  A groan escaped me, and then I rolled over onto my bruised back. I blinked up at brilliant stars in the sky, so close I could almost reach up and touch them, and then had my view of the Milky Way obscured by a wizened face and toothless smile.

  “Aether comes. Aether goes. Aether puts on quite the show.” The Aeras shaman started cackling with gusto.

  “Great,” I muttered, unable to say anything further.

  “Casey!” Theo called, he sounded just as battered as me.

  “Here!” I offered, waving a hand around as the shaman danced beside me. He could certainly move for an arthritic geriatric.

  “Aktor!” he yelled next, met only with silence. “Nico!”

  “They’re not here,” I said on a sigh. “I let go of Aktor’s hand to fend off Pisces.”

  “That was Pisces?” Theo appeared beside the shaman, who cackled with renewed delight at the sight of him. “The actual Pisces of mythology?”

  I shrugged. It hurt. “If the Pisces of mythology was based on a Nero.”

  “Pardon me?” Theo queried.

  “Ah,” a new voice said. “I see you’ve met Nero’s children.”

  Theo spun around to face the threat. I didn’t have it in me to point out the shaman had already been one. The shaman was spooky, no kidding. But he was spooky with a freak-load of power to back it up.

  I was counting on that.

  “Hippolytos,” Theo said, bowing formally.

  “Prince of Pyrkagia,” Hip returned the greeting.

  And then with eyes devoid of any colour - all white and entirely creepy - he looked directly at me.

  “Aether,” he said, voice booming. “You trespass!”

  And then he struck me in the centre of the chest with lightning.

  The last thing I heard was Theo’s roar of fury.

  The last thing I thought was, Great, just what we need.

  Chapter Eight

  Dance With Me

  I woke to silence. My body ached. My head throbbed. For a moment I was sure the silence was being punctuated by drumbeats. Until I turned my head and cymbals clashed with the movement. I sucked in a breath of air and tasted nothing. No sea salt or brine coating my tongue. Only the crisp, cool, high altitude air of Machu Picchu.

  I willed my eyes open, blinking back the brightness of the sun as it streamed in through a window; so much harsher up here atop the Andes. I licked my cracked lips, tried to swallow past a dry throat, then started coughing.

  It hurt.

  Everything hurt.

  The coughing subsided. The pain became familiar; dulling. I rolled over to a sitting position, my legs falling off the side of a bed, dangling. I stared at my bare feet, at the pale skin, chipped toenail polish. At the bruises that dotted my shins. I stared for longer than was strictly healthy. The will to stand up all but left me.

  I let out a sigh, and the door opened.

  Hippolytos stood at the entrance, a guarded look gracing his handsome features. Aeras had dark blond hair and pale blue eyes, but they resembled all other Athanatos closely. That Greek heritage was never far beneath the surface.

  Except, of course, when they called on their Stoicheio, and their eyes turned pure white. They looked completely alien then.

  But not as alien as the Nero.

  “You’re awake,” he stated simply, walking into the room, and closing the door quietly.

  I said nothing. I was unsure if I could form words yet.

  “Your Thisavros is being well cared for,” he offered, behaving like a host when his welcome had been severely lacking in that department. “You are comfortable?” he asked, not unkindly.

  I glanced around the room, noting it was the same one Theo and I had stayed in the last time we had been here. Ornately decorated, Inca artwork dotted here and there, a sumptuous four-poster bed providing heavenly respite.

  And then it hit me. Genesis had not struck here.

  “Your village is still standing,” I said, my voice beyond scratchy. I cleared my throat. It sounded too loud in the silence.

  “We hid,” Hip eventually replied. “The atmosphere,” he offered with a self-deprecating shrug of his shoulders.

  I nodded my head; the movement took too much effort. But despite the clang of cymbals inside my skull, I remembered; Aeras manipulated the atmosphere to hide the rebuilt Machu Picchu village from prying eyes. Clearly, there was much that could be accomplished using the same method to hide from a world out of balance.

  It begged the question, was this how the Alchemists survived Genesis? Because Mark had been certain that they would have. They’d been prepared. They’d not forgotten history. They’d lived through a Genesis before and had survived it.

  The Alchemists were more of a threat than any of us realised.

  “You weren’t attacking,” he said eventually.

  I shook my head gently. Gently was all my skull could survive.

  “We have been waiting for other Athanatos to arrive,” he explained. “We assume we’re the only civilisation standing.”

  “You haven’t left the mountain?” I asked.

  “Our Scouts have. The news is grim.”

  “You can’t continue to hide.”

  He stared at me; I watched him carefully.

  Then he arrogantly announced, “This battle is not ours.”

  It shouldn’t have surprised me. All Ekmetalleftis are arrogant. Immortality seemed to imbue them with that character trait over time.

  “Since when has your grandfather turned his back on what is happening?” I demanded. “The last time we were here, you agreed with us. You spoke of the imbalance. You even guessed at the reason why. You questioned Aetheros’ retreat from our world. You knew why he had done it. Don’t tell me now that it isn’t your concern.”

  “Genesis saw to that,” he snapped back.

  Gone was the fun-loving young man we’d first met all those months ago. Gone were the smiles and clapping hands and irrepressible enthusiasm I’d come to admire.

  In its place was a wary shell. A mirror image of his Rigas at a guess.

  “Does the shaman agree with you?” I asked.

  “All Aeras feel the same way. We protect what is ours. Now even more so.”

 
“Because you’re the last city standing?”

  “We’re hardly a city, Aether. We’re a small village, high up a mountain, only able to sustain ourselves.”

  I shook my head in disgust and pushed up from the side of the bed. The room spun, but I ignored it. I walked over to the window and stared out at a scene that should not exist, for so many reasons. Children played in the crooked streets. Balls rolled down the steep steps. Washing hung out of open windows. Housewives talked to one another across narrow lanes. The sun shone down on their picture-perfect existence.

  Up here, storm clouds couldn’t reach.

  But the Aeras didn’t look down the mountain. They didn’t see where the thunder raged and the rain lashed, and the earth trembled.

  They were blind.

  “Your atmosphere won’t work forever,” I said quietly.

  “It’s worked for millennia. It’ll work for millennia more.”

  I lowered my head and stared at the dust motes that floated through the warm air. My hand lifted and flattened against the window-pane. The coldness of altitude seeped into skin. I embraced it.

  “Nero has not Awakened,” I told him. “Pyrkagia rage. Gi suffer. The Alchemists grow stronger every day. Will you not aid your sister?”

  I turned to look back at him and saw the moment my words held meaning.

  “You have Air,” he said simply.

  I nodded.

  “This changes everything,” he murmured.

  To the Aeras, I had been an outsider. I had been a promise and no more.

  Until Air Awakened.

  “Take me to the Rigas,” I said. He shook his head. “He will want to see me,” I pointed out. He’d said as much the last time we’d been here.

  “He won’t be open to your suggestions,” Hip argued. “He won’t even listen to a word out of your mouth.”

  I felt frustration boil up inside me. The Aeras were so insular. Rather like the Nero, I thought. One had sunk themselves beneath the ocean. The other had hidden themselves in the sky.

  A humourless laugh escaped me. But nothing about this was funny.

  “Where’s Theo?” I asked.