“We call on the power of the South, by the strength of summer and Fire,” Steven invoked, raising the power between us all the more, “to guide us this day.”
“We call on the power of the West, by the strength of intuition and Water,” I said in place of our missing fourth. “To guide us this day.” The air hummed with magic.
We called up the power of the Earth through the tree and into us while Jodi worked to fill the air around us with charged energy. It was hours later, with the sun heavy in the West and growing red with the ending of the day, before we were close to finishing. But as I breathed deep, feeling every cell of my body alive with magic and power, I felt surer of myself than I had all week, ready to face the water.
Chapter Eleven
Another hour later, having broken our circle and cleaned up, with stomachs full of food and bodies full of magic, we were in my car driving towards the beach. We usually enjoyed working magic at the beach, where the earth met the water, but where we had seen the water nymphs lurking was miles away from our usual place. We had even met a local man, who had given up all his worldly possessions and lived on the streets, who would sit as a look out for us in exchange for some food. But he never lingered near Rivermouth, so we would have no one to act as look out tonight. I tried to call Jensen, but he didn’t answer. I wasn’t really surprised.
Because it was night, the paid parking lot was closed and the two free parking lots were just much farther away than we wanted to be tonight. So I drove down the dead end road between the fairgrounds and the paid parking lot until it looped around in a cul-de-sac and parked against the curb. We climbed out silently and began pulling bags from the trunk before ducking under the metal bar that acted as a gate at the end of the parking lot.
I was very aware of the different flavors of anxiety pulsing around my companions; Jodi’s was a mix of excitement and trepidation, Steven’s was mostly fear. Riding the different waves of emotion was difficult because I couldn’t block them out now, even with the power we had built together and divided amongst ourselves; I had to keep an open link between us in order to work together successfully tonight.
I led the way down the soft sand that piled up high to the sidewalk and, once on the firmer sand of the beach, I slipped off my shoes and immediately felt the pull of Earth below the sand and sea. They each copied my movements and followed me around the curve of rocks, crossing through the cold fresh water that raced from the river into the ocean. We set our things down on the dry sand, far enough away that, should high tide suddenly come in, they would still be safe.
We stripped down to our bathing suits. I pulled out two rash guards from a bag and tossed one to Jodi, knowing just how cold the water was at night. I was not looking forward to going out there at all. I would have brought wetsuits with me, but I wasn’t willing to give up the mobility that you did while in a wetsuit. Steven exhaled loudly and I turned to watch him breathe warm air into his hands in a puff of white.
I held my hands out in front of his face, and Steven breathed a warm current of air over my tingling fingertips. We stood back in silence then and gave Steven a moment. He closed his eyes and turned his face up to the sky like a flower drawn by the sun and suddenly the air around us was much warmer. I touched his skin and nearly burned myself.
“Good,” I said, satisfied. “Now, if you don’t mind?” I asked, holding out a hand, and Jodi copied me. Steven took our hands in one of his own and closed his eyes again to concentrate. I felt my heart rate increase almost immediately and my forehead was beaded in sweat as my body heated up. I squeezed Steven’s hand gently, pulling him out of the trance, to let him know that was enough.
“Are we ready then?” Jodi asked, speaking for the first time since we left the house. I could feel her emotional signature spike in response to her own question; she was keen to get this over with quickly. I didn’t blame her one bit.
“As ready as I’m ever going to be,” Steven said a little sadly, and I kept hold of his hand. I had started feeding him calming energy as well as courage in the last few hours in the tree house and opened that same channel between us now. It earned me a scared smile, but he nodded bravely.
“Let’s go,” I said, taking Steven’s warm hand again, and started to walk out towards the water. I was impressed with Steven’s bravado as we walked; his steps were only slightly slower than my own, trying desperately not to show his reluctance to enter the water.
“Just remember,” Jodi whispered to him from his other side, “you only have to stay in the water long enough for me and Shay to catch her.” Steven just gave another curt nod in response. We weren’t going to get anything more out of him. I felt horrible about it, but he was our magical partner and the perfect opposite to the water element, so we needed to use him, no matter how much I might want to change my mind.
The water struck our toes, snaking up our feet and swirling around our ankles, so suddenly I felt all three of us jolt in surprise. But once that initial shock of cold and wet was over, we all calmed down just a little and continued resolutely forward, the water level reaching higher and higher up our legs. Steven hesitated once the water was lapping against our thighs and Jodi and I stopped with him, not wanting to force him.
Drake? I mentally asked, making sure my mind voice was soft. He blinked, staring out at the water; a wave was picking up a few yards out, but they were slow waves that turned into white wash almost immediately, foaming past us.
Drake? I heard Jodi’s yellow thoughts as she tried. He blinked again, and I suddenly felt the desire to rush forward, mixed with intense fear, and I realized that he was already feeling the magical draw of the nymph, but his innate fear of the water and our female energy was working against her powers. She can already feel him? Jodi’s thoughts were now directed at me. She was able to see Steven’s thoughts as well with the amplified connection we were sharing.
I guess so, I thought. Be ready. If she grabs him, we’ll need to act quickly. Jodi didn’t answer, but I felt her consent nonetheless. After a few more moments of hesitation, Steven took one step forward and then another, Jodi and I waiting to make sure he was going to keep moving before we started walking with him, each of us holding on to one of his hands. The next set of waves washed over us, and I was grateful for Steven’s heat and the rash guards I had brought. We were getting to the point where we wouldn’t be able to walk any further and would have to start swimming. Steven’s anxiety pitched as he recognized my surface thoughts and realized I was right.
I think we can wait here, I thought at him soothingly, my head and shoulders just above the water. Jodi was nothing but head and shoulders as well and she bobbed a little in the water on her toes out of habit, but Steven was only chest deep still, so he wasn’t as terrified as he could be. In this moment, he reminded me of a cat, desperate to keep its furry little head above the water.
I heard that, Steven’s red and orange thoughts came to me and I smiled, glad he was able to calm down enough to think again.
Can you feel it? I asked him.
Yes, he said and the lightheartedness was gone in a second with my question. It feels really intense, like she can tell something is keeping me from swimming out to her.
Then it’s working, Jodi thought, satisfaction making her thoughts a sunny yellow. We had worked in the tree house to link as tightly as we could to Steven, hoping that our combined female energy would help Steven resist the pull of the nymph.
She’s coming. Steven’s thoughts hit me like a hot poker, and I flinched under them instinctively. Both Jodi and I tightened our grips on his hands under the water and let our free hands float, concentrating on gathering our energies there. I felt the water shift in its flow and it suddenly didn’t feel so dense, knowing that Jodi was calling the air in the water molecules to her. I felt the rhythmic pulse of the Earth under us and the water responded to the new shift in the plates below.
She’s coming, Steven thought again and his anxiety brought with it even more heat, making th
e water around his hands almost boil, and it took what little concentration I had left not to let go. Oh God, he whispered in our minds and I felt him tense in my hand. I gripped even harder, knowing my nails were biting into his skin, but didn’t have the energy to spare to care about that now.
NOW! I mentally screamed at Jodi, just before I felt Steven’s body being tugged under the water. He screamed, swallowing a mouthful of water as his head slipped under the surface, pulling Jodi and me with him. Jodi unleashed her power, swirling the water out in a rush, creating a vortex. I called on the dirt of the ocean floor and it whirled up in a tornado, mixing with Jodi’s vortex, creating a cocoon around the creature.
She thrashed violently in the water and dirt, gnashing her razor sharp teeth, coming close enough to my face that I had to jerk back, nearly inhaling water as I did so. I felt the pain radiating off of Steven in waves, heady with a mixture of fear and panic as her black claws dug into his calf muscle, much like they had done to mine. Jodi was desperately clinging to Steven’s hand and was trying to swim to the surface, but Steven’s legs were caught in our trap and all of her effort was in vain.
I let go of Steven’s hand, much to his dismay, and swam over to Jodi. I grabbed her face in my hands to force her to stop and look at me. Help him breathe, Fae, I commanded, making her hear me. She stopped trying to pull Steven out of the trap and turned to face him, still holding his hand. She brought up her free hand to her face, covering her mouth and nose, and I felt the magic pitch in the water around her as she took a long and deep breath. Lowering her hand, she grabbed Steven’s face, brought hers close to his, and locked her mouth over his as if in a very intense kiss. She blew the fresh air, free of the hydrogen molecules, into his mouth, filling his lungs to capacity.
You both have to calm down, I commanded, letting my magic fill my words, and directed them at Steven in particular. He stopped struggling to get away from the creature and her cage. Take both his hands and be ready, I thought at Jodi specifically and she nodded, seeing the plan I had in my mind without needing me to explain. She took both of Steven’s hands in hers and kicked her legs slowly to keep herself in place. I waded in the water, letting my arms float out from my body like tendrils of seaweed, drawing in the power and energy of the ocean and the Earth below me. With one last mental breath, I pushed all of the stored power I had into the area of the swirling cocoon that was around Steven’s trapped legs, forcing it to open ever so slightly.
Jodi pulled desperately at Steven’s body, kicking her legs frantically, and her head broke the surface of the water, dragging Steven’s legs free of the trap. But as he came free, so did the creature’s arm as she held onto him. I let go of the force I was using to hold open the cocoon and let the wall crash down on her arm, and I would have sworn I heard her wail in pain, but I couldn’t feel anything from her behind the wall. Yet still she wouldn’t release Steven’s leg, letting her nails sink deeper into his skin, piercing the muscle underneath. I cringed at the pain of the wound as the saltwater stung and started to make the skin around it red and angry.
I swam up to the surface, whipping my hair out of my face as I took in a deep breath. “Drake, you have to make her let go,” I said, staring into his eyes that were too wide and showed too much white around the deep brown.
“How?” he asked, sounding very much like a terrified child.
“You know how, damnit!” I yelled at him, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him roughly. “Do it now! Be Fire, Drake!” He blinked suddenly at the force of my words and I felt the water around us begin to warm and his skin seared my hands, forcing me to let go. I ducked back under the water and watched as the bubbles rose in a stream from his leg and the creature’s hand. Finally, unable to keep a grasp on him any longer, she snatched her hand away, letting him go, and Steven kicked wildly, putting distance between him and the nymph. I had a moment to see the usually gray skin of her palm was pink with blisters before she pulled it inside the cocoon, presumably to tend to it. Jodi stayed with me, but Steven swam to shore and we didn’t try to stop him.
I felt the pull of the cocoon we had created as it swirled around our captive; it was already beginning to drain us of the magical reserves we had worked all day for. Jodi swam closer to me, and we felt more than saw Steven finally get close enough to shore that the water only lapped at his knees and he doubled over, his breathing ragged and muscles twitching.
Once Steven had caught his breath and summoned up his courage, he turned back towards the sea and the horizon and began walking slowly back out to us. I took Jodi’s hand in mine and we allowed ourselves to sink back under the water. I faced Jodi and she covered her own mouth again. The water around us shifted as she drew in the air that was available to her, and then embraced me as she had with Steven, and I felt the rush of air fill my lungs as she pressed her mouth to mine.
When we broke apart, I found that I didn’t feel the need to breathe and almost gave into the involuntary urge to sigh in relief, but I caught myself before I broke Jodi’s charm. As one, we turned back towards the cocoon that swirled in the water before us, a current of air bubbles and loose dirt, looking like silt. Every so often, a break in the curtain of dirt allowed us to see the water nymph and all her terrifying beauty glaring out at us from her cage.
I was very aware of Steven’s presence again as he stood behind us a few feet back so that his shoulders and head were still above the rolling surface of the water. Grateful he had braved the water again, Jodi and I were able to turn our full attention to our prisoner and the task at hand.
I know you can hear me, I spoke to her, mind to mind, and let my words hold all the sting of the anger I was feeling towards her. She didn’t answer me, but I caught the flinch in her face that assured me that she did, in fact, hear me.
We’re prepared to kill you, Jodi added with the calm of a practiced serial killer that would have given me chills if we weren’t underwater. I felt the nymph’s skepticism.
Oh, don’t think we won’t. You don’t have a problem killing off people, I said, making sure my thoughts were still angry and painful. Why would you think we wouldn’t kill you?
You want their souls back, don’t you? the water nymph asked.
If we can get them, I replied, yes, we do, but if we can’t, we’ll simply kill you so you can’t steal any more souls. We heard her mental laugh and it pricked at my skin like stickers in the grass.
If you give us back the souls and leave this place, we’ll let you go, Jodi bargained just as we discussed and she was careful to layer her thoughts in sincerity. The nymph stopped laughing and floated closer to the wall of the cocoon, almost pressing her face against it as she studied our faces.
I give them back to you? she said and we both waited, sure that wasn’t the end of her questions. I give them back to you to save those two pathetic boys and kill two of my kin? I tried very hard not to show any sign of surprise at this revelation, but it wasn’t something I had counted on; how were we ever going to get the souls back now if she didn’t have them?
What do you mean, kill two of your kin? I asked, careful to make my thoughts sound exactly the same as they had through the rest of our exchange.
What is happening to those two boys right now? she countered.
They’re dying, Jodi answered, and I wasn’t sure if we should have given her that bit of information.
Exactly, she said and crossed her thin arms over her chest and floated back again, looking very much at ease in her trap.
Why did you steal them in the first place? I asked, trying a different tactic.
To stay alive obviously, she replied scathingly.
Weren’t you already alive before you started stealing souls? I asked, making sure my thoughts dripped with disdain.
Yes, but to stay alive, we need immortal souls, and two of my kin were on the brink of death. I was surprised at how much information she was offering, which made me trust her even less.
Why are you telling us all of this? I asked b
luntly.
Because you have me in a cage, she snapped, and I knew she was embarrassed.
But you’ve just said you won’t kill your two kin to give us back the souls, so why give us all this information? Jodi pressed for me.
I’ll tell you what, the nymph said a little more brightly than anything she had so far, I will strike a bargain with you.
What kind of bargain? I asked.
I’ll give you those two souls back.
In exchange for? I asked again.
Your two souls, she said simply and smiled hugely, flashing her razor teeth in the dark water. Jodi glanced at me, anger plain on her face, but I refused to take my eyes off of the face of the nymph in front of me as the water and dirt swirled faster around her with the spike in our emotions. What’s the matter? Is that not fair? Two souls for two souls?
I was under the impression you could only take male souls. I wanted to keep her talking, hoping we could get useful information out of her. She had already admitted that she didn’t have the two souls, that she had already given them away, so her death wouldn’t ruin our chances of getting them back.
Oh no, she said with a shake of her head. Female souls are just as welcome, just not so easily obtained. Women do not answer our call.
So only men can hear your call? I asked, and she nodded in answer. And a female doesn’t need a female soul?
An immortal soul is an immortal soul, she said with a shrug of her right shoulder. It does not change the physical shell, so what does it matter if a female has a male soul? Or if a male has a female soul? We do not place such strict lines on gender as you humans do. She said humans like it left a bad taste in her mouth. Now, do we have a bargain? she pressed again.
You’re asking us to make a fair trade for something you stole, I said with a shake of my head that made my dark locks drift in the water around my face. You didn’t obtain those two souls fairly, so why should we deal fairly with you?
Elemental Series Omnibus Edition Books 1-4 Page 70
