“We’ll find something in the book. It will all work out. Now let’s get dressed and get started.”
She refused to meet his gaze, confirming that she didn’t believe him, but she accepted his answer instead of arguing.
A month ago, the fact that he and Emma had shared the same dream would have freaked him out. Now a shared dream was the least disturbing aspect of their situation. All of the players had been present, so they must have all had the same dream.
What bothered Will the most was Jake’s position. He was in the center, between the two groups. Did that mean he was the one that was overcome by that which had no price? Was Jake the key player in this game? And what the hell did overcome by that which had no price mean? Whatever it was, it didn’t sound good.
There had to be some significance to their placement in the circles, but damned if he knew what it meant. And who was the voice? He wished he knew if it was a good or bad thing that Aiden was no longer in charge. Did that give Marcus the upper hand? Or was someone else—something else—in control?
Will’s immediate impulse was to read the book again to find out what they could. But if the others were going to come looking for the book, defense seemed the first, most prudent order of business. The more familiar Will was with his new power and working with Emma, the better off they would be.
Emma was the biggest challenge at this point. He had to figure out a way to make her more confident with her power. Right now, she was unpredictable and, although he’d never tell her, that made her dangerous.
A half an hour later, they walked down to the beach. Will chose this section of the coast because it had always been fairly deserted when he was a kid. Of course, things changed, but the inlet cove was still uninhabited.
Emma walked to the water with one hand on her hip, the other shielding her eyes from the rising sun. She’d calmed down after her initial shock, although she’d only taken a few bites of breakfast, saying her stomach couldn’t handle it.
“Do you have any ideas what you want to try first?” Her hair was in a ponytail, but the wind whipped stray hairs into her face. She batted away the strands, a losing battle. “I think you should practice using water. I’ll practice with fire and later when you’ve gotten used to your power, we can try to combine them.”
He gave her a cocky smile. “I thought I was in charge of training.”
She lifted her eyebrows, shifting her weight to the side.
Thank God her fight was back. “I oversaw your training and we’re getting ready to fight for our lives, Emma. I was trained half my life for combat. I’m our best chance.”
She sighed, her smile falling. “I agree. I want Jake to survive and you’re more experienced. But I want to make it perfectly clear that Jake is our number-one priority. Do you agree?”
Will knew she’d accept no other answer. “Agreed.”
“Okay.”
He didn’t want to admit how nervous he was. He’d been in charge of a Marines unit in Iraq and faced the enemy more times than he could count, but the thought of bringing Emma into a mortal battle made Will queasy. Especially since the odds were against them.
“So general, what are your orders?”
He smirked. “You practice with fire and I’ll practice with water.”
She studied him for several seconds, shaking her head, before she turned away. He’d expected a sarcastic retort since she’d suggested the exact same thing.
He watched her walk along the beach, resisting the urge to tell her not to go too far. He doubted she’d leave his sight, more because she worried something would happen to him rather than herself. Especially after he’d been kidnapped. He wished he’d never left her that night in Farmington, New Mexico, but it had all played into their union. If Aiden hadn’t forced Emma to leave him, she’d never have freed him, releasing his power. They never would have joined. He never would have known what he was capable of.
Unless Marcus told him.
The thought of Marcus left a bitter taste in Will’s mouth. Marcus was an element, and he couldn’t be taken lightly. Every element was out for himself and Marcus had admitted that he had a plan for Will. And for Emma. The latter scared Will the most.
All the more reason to find out what Will could do now. Staring out into the ocean, he had to admit that his power was both exciting and terrifying. He felt as though everything in his life finally made sense. As though he were looking through a polarized lens, bringing everything into focus. Will had a purpose. He only wished James were here to share it.
If the thought of Marcus left a bitter taste, the thought of James was acrid. James’s betrayal was still hard to stomach. Maybe someday Will would get more answers. If James were even still alive.
Thinking about James was pointless.
Standing at the water’s edge, he closed his eyes. Energy flowed from the waves into his body, lapping through him. Was it like this for Emma? He didn’t think so. From what she said, she experienced a burning sensation with a surge of power. But this was the opposite of burning. Not exactly cold, but cooling. And the energy ebbed and flowed, along with the tide. That made sense. Water and Fire were polar opposites. It stood to reason they’d be opposites in power.
Will hoped it meant they had an advantage in the battle, especially if they could combine and share their powers.
He tried to remember what using his power had felt like when he’d saved Emma. He hadn’t even thought—the power just came to him. Automatic, like an extension of himself. Could he use it now, or did he need emotional distress like Emma needed in the beginning?
Opening his eyes, he lifted his hand toward the water and called to it. It amazed him that days ago he didn’t even know his power existed. Now the energy of the water lapped through him like the movement of the waves. The water six feet in front of him bubbled, then swirled, rising into a water-filled tornado. He couldn’t stop his grin. What else could he do?
Showoff.
Down the beach, he spotted Emma scowl and turn away.
He understood her irritation. Using her power hadn’t come naturally to her, and she’d struggled every step of the way. It had to be frustrating for her to see him do things with little effort. Hopefully, she’d appreciate it since they had so little time to prepare. Especially if it saved her life. And Jake’s.
For the next hour, he controlled the waves, exhilarated from the energy of the water and the power, astounded what he could do.
“That’s amazing, Will.” Emma sat behind him on a rock, knees tucked beneath her chin.
He glanced over his shoulder. “How long have you been there?”
She’d snuck up behind him. He hadn’t even realized she was there.
“About five minutes.”
He’d been concentrating so hard on his progress that he’d ignored his surroundings. When Emma had practiced, she’d been completely absorbed in the task at hand, while Will kept watch. Now he wondered if he should have her to do the same.
“I didn’t know you were there. My carelessness could have gotten us killed.”
“It didn’t. I was watching.”
He couldn’t dismiss it so easily.
“I know what you’re doing.”
His eyebrows rose. “Do you?”
“Right now you’re beating yourself up because you were concentrating so hard you lost track of what was around you. But you forget something, Will.” She walked toward him. “You’re not the only one here. And although you tend to treat me like a fragile flower, I’m not. I can watch over you just as easily as you watch over me. You want to be in charge of planning strategy and attacks, fine. But we’re a team, not a military unit. You’re not my commander.”
Her words burned, mostly because they were true. “Emma, I don’t think you understand my strong need to protect you.”
“I’m completely aware of your need to protect me, and I appreciate it more than you know. Did you ever think that it goes both ways? But you know, deep in here—” she poin
ted at his chest, “—that we’ll never win that way. We have to trust each other and work together. It will never work if you’re just issuing orders.”
“I know,” he sighed. It was harder than she thought. The thought of losing her filled him with terror.
“So you’ve got a good handle on working with a large body of water, but what about when a water source isn’t available? Like on the cliff two nights ago? You pulled water from somewhere. Where did it come from?”
“I have no idea. I only knew I needed to save you and somehow I just knew what I had to do.”
“Lucky you,” she grumbled.
“I don’t know why all of this is coming to me so easily. And although I wish it had come easier for you, thank God it is for me. If nothing else, to save Jake.”
She nodded, a grim look on her face as she looked down the beach. “Visitors.”
Will’s heart lurched, surprised someone had found them so quickly, but it was a man walking his dog along the shore. The sun had been up for a couple of hours and although their spot was secluded, it was still a public beach. They needed to find somewhere more private.
She kept her eye on the man, her arms crossed. “So where are we going to go next?”
“That’s a good question. Got any suggestions?”
Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “It’s obvious that a large body of water is a piece of cake. Maybe we should go head to the mountains again and find somewhere with a creek and see what you can do.”
“You’re liable to catch the forest on fire.”
“After you master that, which of course you will, then we’ll head back to the desert. Maybe that will be a challenge for you.”
“Okay, the mountains it is.”
Chapter Seven
Aiden had been furious all morning, and although he didn’t say why, Jake knew it was because of the dream. Aiden was worried and that made Jake happy. He hid it, of course. The satisfaction of gloating wouldn’t be worth the punishment. Instead, Jake pretended like nothing had happened, even though the dream had scared him. He hid his fear too.
Today Aiden wanted a storm. Jake gave him one as they stood on top of the hill, overlooking the valley. The clouds swirled overhead and a fierce rain pummeled Jake’s shoulders, but he concentrated on the raging mass of chaos over his head. The wind tumbled and he pushed more energy into it until the beginnings of a funnel cloud appeared.
“Keep going.”
The funnel whipped wildly as it extended from the sky, touching down to earth. Debris scattered into the air as the funnel ripped trees from the ground and tossed them around like they were sticks.
“Move it in a straight line toward us.”
While Jake had some control over the air, the funnel had an energy of its own. He focused on moving the destruction toward them, but the tornado broke free of his hold and swerved to the right. His head pounded as he tried to pull it back on course.
“Don’t control the tornado itself. Control the air around it to push it where you want it to go.”
Jake eased his concentration from the twister to the molecules around it. The pain in his head decreased and he moved the pressure from one side to the other to keep the tornado in a straight line.
“Beautiful.”
A house came into view, near the funnel. Jake pushed the vortex to the side.
“No. Keep going.”
Fear swamped Jake’s senses.
“Do it.”
The funnel moved back into its original path. Jake knew there were kids in that house. He’d watched them playing from on top of this hill, wishing he could play with them too.
“Do it.”
Fire burned Jake’s skin. Aiden was warning him of the punishment for refusing.
Jake’s conscience warred with his fear. Aiden’s punishments had become more severe, moving from abusing the servants to punishing Jake directly.
The funnel began to lift off the ground, the dense mass thinning as it moved toward the house. The burning sensation increased.
Tears blurred Jake’s eyes, rolling down his cheeks and blending with the rain that coated his face. He shoved his fear away and sent energy into the clouds above, giving strength to the funnel. It veered off path because of the refocus of power.
“The house.”
Jake swallowed his horror and narrowed his eyes, pushing the funnel toward the structure. It’s just a house. It’s just a building. For a split second, he considered turning it away, but the skin on his arm began to blister. Jake forced his anger into the storm overhead and the funnel grew denser and widened, smashing into the structure. The house became lost in the darkness and when the tornado moved on, there was nothing. The ground was completely flat, no debris left behind.
The funnel began to thin, but the burning on Jake’s arm returned.
“Keep going.”
For ten more minutes, Jake manipulated the air to destroy several more houses before Aiden allowed him to stop. He collapsed in exhaustion.
Aiden’s face glowed with approval. “Well done, Jacob. I think perhaps you’re ready for the next step.”
Afraid to ask what the next step was, Jake looked at his burnt and blistered arm, biting his lip to keep from crying. It had been easy to ignore the pain while he concentrated on the storm.
“I could take that away from you, but I think I’ll leave it as a reminder that defying me is folly.” Aiden turned sideways, taking a step toward the path down to the house. “Stay here and observe what you have done. I’ll send someone for you in an hour.”
The rain continued to fall as Aiden walked away. Jake no longer controlled it. Maybe the sky was crying for him.
Jake’s face scrunched into a scowl as he watched Aiden disappear down the hill. No one cried for him. Not even Mommy.
Closing his eyes, he called out to her, again hitting nothing. Before he at least knew she was out there, but now it was emptiness. He’d been terrified that the emptiness meant she was dead, but Aiden would know. Jake had heard him on the phone with someone about Mommy and Will. They had gone to the ocean in Oregon, then disappeared.
Mommy had talked about Oregon once, when she and Jake were on the run and figuring out where to go next, but she worried their old car wouldn’t make it that far.
Jake remembered tracing the path from Oklahoma to Oregon with his finger on the atlas Mommy had bought. It hadn’t seemed that far with his finger, but Mommy had insisted it was at least two days of driving. Jake had studied the states around Oregon and he remembered that California was right below Oregon.
Jake was in California now.
Aiden hadn’t told him where they were, but he’d found out from one of the staff members. They hadn’t told him, of course, Aiden would have killed them for telling him anything. Instead, Jake had found out himself, in a servant’s head. He’d begun searching their heads, getting whatever information he could about Aiden, about Raphael. About Marcus. He’d found little about the elements, but he did discover that Aiden’s house was in Napa Valley, California. At the time, he thought that information was worthless.
Now he wasn’t so sure.
Could he sneak away from Aiden and find Mommy? Would Mommy want him now that she had Will?
Yes. Mommy would always want him.
She’d kept him safe from the Bad Men until she’d fallen down the hill in Colorado. Will had been the one who kept her from saving him. The Bad Men might have killed her if she’d tried. Will had saved Mommy’s life. But lost Jake’s instead.
Jake knew that was wrong. He’d seen it all in his head before it happened. Jake knew that the Bad Men would finally get him. He’d known it for a long time although he kept it from Mommy. But what if Will had let her climb the hill? No, Will was supposed to keep Mommy from trying to save him. But what if this one time things could have changed? Jake shook his head, choking back his sobs. The bad things in his head never changed. But was he with Aiden because that’s where he was supposed to be or because Will didn’t
help him?
Will would always pick Mommy over Jake. Jake needed to remember that.
He lay on the hill, his head resting on his right arm as he looked at the destruction he had caused. He knew he should feel bad about what he’d done and he did, but not as bad as he thought he should. This wasn’t his fault. He had no choice. Besides, the people had seen the storm. They would have gone to their basements. No one was hurt.
I didn’t hurt anyone.
No, Jake was the one who was hurt. His left arm stretched out in front of him, the skin blistered and black from his wrist halfway to his elbow. His cuts and scrapes usually healed fast, but this burn didn’t seem to be healing. Aiden must have done something to make it stay. Who knew what Aiden would have done if Jake hadn’t obeyed him? Now Jake was the one suffering.
A shadow inched toward his left hand and Jake reached out a finger toward it, pain shooting up his arm.
Ever since Marcus had visited several nights before, Jake was more curious about the shadows. Marcus was right. They seemed to like him, following him wherever he went. The only time they stopped was when Aiden was around.
They had grown bolder since Marcus’s visit, as though they had gained permission to play with Jake. Or maybe it was because Jake was more open to them. Jake didn’t care which one was the cause; he loved the result.
He had friends.
Splaying his fingers into the mud, Jake watched as the shadow touched the tip of his middle finger. Icy coldness stabbed his fingertip and Jake sucked in a breath as he jerked his hand backward. Pain shot up his arm and he cried out as he sat up and grabbed his wrist. The burn throbbed and fresh tears blurred his eyes.
The shadow scurried backward, settling next to a bush.
“I’m sorry,” Jake whispered. “I’m not scared of you. You just surprised me. I didn’t expect you to be so cold. Come back.”
Jake extended both arms in front of him, pressing his palms into the earth. Spreading his left hand shot a fresh wave of burning pain up his arm, but he ignored it. “See, I want to be your friend. It’s okay.”
Redemption (The Chosen #4) Page 7
