The Essential Elements: Boxed Set

by Elle Middaugh

  The eight of us spent the evening taking turns cruising up and down the river on the three jet skis Holden’s parents owned. If we weren’t jet skiing, we were swimming or sunbathing or playing water volleyball. It was an awesome time.

  Holden was with me most of the evening, stealing kisses and finding excuses to wrap me up in his husky arms, but Chase was around, too, stealing glances and finding excuses to talk to me and make me laugh.

  It was flattering, I’m not gonna lie. I liked the taboo attention. The danger in the secrecy.

  Did that make me a bad person?

  I contemplated that question late that night, sprawled out atop the covers, staring straight at the ceiling of the spare bedroom in Aunt Marge’s house. Long after Holden had dropped me off. Long after the day’s high had subsided. Long after everyone else had probably fallen asleep.

  The problem with living in a men’s underwear catalogue, if there was such a thing, was that every guy I laid eyes on was sexy, ripped, and hot as hell.

  Correction: every Elemental guy.

  They were physically flawless, chiseled into an unnatural perfection, and that made it impossible to not be attracted to each and every one of them on some sick, irrepressible level.

  Personality was the only noteworthy differential between them, and that was basically just as difficult to manage. Cade, the conflicted heartbreaker from next door. Holden, the sweet and persistent jock at the top. And now Chase, the rugged and forbidden bad boy from the college league.

  Part of me felt like I was totally crossing some invisible line of trust and decency. The other part was like, Dude, this isn’t wedding bells and babies! You’re still young and free! And you should totally live that up for as long as you want!

  And, okay, maybe Chase wasn’t exactly an option on the table just yet, but for some reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about him, just the same.

  But I needed to.

  I had a closet-date with my friend, Cade, in a few hours.

  I glanced at the clock on the nightstand. Two a.m. on the dot. Yeah… I threw the pillow over my face and squeezed my eyes shut, willing myself to instantly pass out, but, of course, it never happened.

  Though that was mostly because, at one minute past two, I heard a tapping at my bedroom window…

  Chapter Nineteen

  I froze.

  I wasn’t sure who I thought it might be, but worse, I wasn’t sure who I wanted it to be.

  My heart was lodged somewhere in the vicinity of my throat as I slowly crept out of bed. I couldn’t see any silhouettes behind the glass, but the tapping flared up again, nonetheless. A soft knock, not hard enough to instill the fear of God, but not soft enough to be mistaken.

  I flat-backed against the wall beside the window and shakily asked, “Who’s there?”

  A male voice returned my question. “Valerie?”

  “Who the fuck were you expecting?” I couldn’t help it, it just sort of bubbled out of my mouth in my current state of nervous panic. I mentally kicked myself for giving my identity away.

  He chuckled. “Sorry, Val. I’m just glad I picked the right room! Listen, you wanna come out and chill for a while?”

  Cade? With a frown, I peeked through the glass.

  He stood there in the light of the moon, wearing dark denim jeans and a hoodie, looking like an absolute vision of sexy-casual. His high-top sneakers didn’t go unnoticed either, with their sleek white and gray color scheme and navy stripes. Damn, I was such a sucker for nice shoes.

  “What happened to meeting just before sunrise?”

  “Jeremy Clayton happened,” he said flatly. “Come on. Let’s have another Q&A under the stars…”

  He disappeared, and I was left with no other option but to follow him. By the time I reached the blanket he’d laid out in the backyard, he was already laying down and gazing up at the infinity of space.

  The night was damp and cold, and, as it was now October, it wasn’t going to get any warmer. Luckily, my thermal-weirdness went both ways. Couldn’t feel heat, couldn’t feel cold, either. I could sense it, though, and it had totally gotten down into the mid-forties.

  Clad in a pair of mesh athletic shorts and a lace-lined tank top, I wasn’t necessarily dressed for the weather. Cade noticed and tried to give me his sweatshirt, but I refused. I didn’t know what sort of genetic flaw I had that enabled me to tolerate all weather, but I was quite certain Cade didn’t have it. No sense in him freezing for nothing.

  “So, what happened with Mr. Clayton?” I asked as I lowered myself onto the blanket.

  Cade glanced my way and gave me a lopsided smile. “He came back bitching about some Valerie girl.”

  “Is that so?”

  “It is,” he confirmed.

  “Well, what about me?”

  Cade shrugged and scooted closer. “He’s afraid you know things you shouldn’t.”

  I gasped theatrically. “Oh, no!”

  “It’s terrible…” Cade continued with a grin.

  Wind whistled through the trees, carrying with it a freezing chill that rattled the leaves like maracas. It made me uneasy for some reason. Who knew if that wind was natural or not? “Seriously, though. That’s an actual problem, isn’t it?”

  He sat up, suddenly more interested in his shoes than my face. “Yeah, it’s not the best news I’ve ever heard.” He peeked down at me. “I don’t know what they’re gonna do, Val.”

  “What do you mean?” I sat up, too.

  “I mean, things are going to get complicated.” A half-smile tugged at his lips. He looked…regretful. “I really did try to keep you out of all of this, you know.”

  “Cade,” I demanded with a no-nonsense air. “Just tell me what’s going to happen. I’m working myself up over here.” The panic was already starting to flow freely, like a wave through my system. I hugged my knees to my chest and felt my heartbeat pounding into my legs.

  Staring at his shoes again, he sighed. “Well, my parents are going to have to meet with Holden’s parents. They’re like, the local leaders of each side of the dissention, and I can already guarantee you, they’re going to want to know who told you.”

  I shook my head. “I can’t.”

  And I wouldn’t. Not if it meant protecting my family, and my family’s secret.

  “You have to,” he replied softly.

  “I can’t!” I reiterated in frustration, wringing my fingers to further demonstrate my exasperation.

  He grabbed my hands and squeezed. “Don’t be like that, Val. Please.” He allowed his gaze to meet mine, searching my eyes for who knows what. “I know about your aunt.”

  My blood froze solid in my veins. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, I’m not stupid, Valerie. I can put two and two together.” He smiled, as if to prove he wasn’t offended. “It wasn’t Holden who told you about Elementals, and it wasn’t me. No one from the West Woods would have told you. I guess an East Ender could’ve told you, but that’s unlikely, because they would’ve also mentioned the dissention, and you knew nothing about that.”

  Emerald bled into blue as he continued to stare into me. “Who else does that leave? Someone extremely detached from current Elemental politics, and from society in general. Someone who was crazy enough to risk telling you.” Cade grinned and hooked a thumb behind us. “Someone with a garden a hell of a lot nicer than my family’s used to be, and that’s saying something.”

  I looked at Cade’s sneaks, which was apparently the place to go when you didn’t want to look someone in the eye. I didn’t know what to say. Any confirmation of his theory would feel like I was stabbing Marge in the back. Any denial would be such an obvious lie that I’d be too embarrassed to utter it.

  Regardless, Cade continued, sparing the need for my response. “I know your aunt is your mother’s sister, because you told me yourself that first day we walked home.”

  Damn me and that vulnerable outpour of personal information!

  He sighed, but continued sm
iling. “So, if your aunt is an Earth, and she’s your mother’s sister, then that means your mother was Elemental, too… Am I right?”

  I looked up, despite myself. There was no sense in insulting his intelligence. “Fire.”

  “Fire…” he echoed, intrigued. His eyes skimmed curiously along my underdressed body, then back up to my face. “Are you Elemental?”

  I shook my head sadly. “No. My father is human.”

  Cade laced his fingers in mine and smiled kindly. “I know you want to protect your aunt’s secrecy. So, I have an idea.”

  “Let’s hear it,” I said, and I sat up on my knees, eager to somehow fix this mess.

  He licked his lips. “When they ask you who told you—and they will ask—tell them it was your mother, okay? I don’t know how much it’ll help you, but it should at least help your aunt.”

  I jerked my head back. “I’m sorry, what? You don’t know how much it’ll help me? Like, what the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  He rubbed his face for a few frustrated seconds. “I told you, Val. I don’t know what they’re going to do about this. I’ve honestly never seen a case of leaked information before. I don’t know the protocol, but it can’t be good.”

  I stood and began pacing. “What do you mean, ‘it can’t be good’? Like, how not-good are we talking about? Am I even safe here? Should I be packing my shit and hitting the road? Seriously, I have no idea what you mean!”

  He ran his hands through his hair, then pulled. Quickly, his legs yanked him up and he immediately grabbed my arms and halted my pacing. It must’ve been gnawing at him. “Calm down, Val, please. I know I can’t give you the answers you want, but…these are my parents, all right? These are my people. They’re not murderers. You’re at least safe, okay?”

  I wasn’t sure if I could actually believe that. He’d admitted himself that he had no idea what was going to happen, so how could he possibly promise me safety? I felt so small, and scared, and trapped. These people, who could kill me with some freak natural disaster and never get caught, wanted to question me and guarantee my silence as to their existence. I wasn’t big on television, but I’d watched enough shit to know that there was only one way to ensure total silence…

  But I seriously couldn’t think about that. It was too insane to be entertaining those thoughts in the first place. How does a girl find herself in the middle of a supernatural shit-show, anyway? And how does said girl manage to claw her way out of it?

  Helplessly, I leaned into Cade’s chest. My legs were shaking and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to hold my own weight along with the weight of this conversation. I felt like the very sky was now bearing down on my shoulders, and the stars were piercing like knives. He held me tightly, momentarily lifting the cross of knowing.

  What if I had never even spoken to Cade? What if I had just left him alone when he’d told me to? What if I’d never given Holden a second chance? What if I had never gone to his party in the woods? What if I had never conned Marge into telling me her secrets? What if my father had left the navy years ago? What if I’d been present during the car crash that killed my mother?

  Would any of those outcomes be any less terrifying? I was a relatively firm believer in the butterfly effect of chaos theory: everything happened for a reason, and any change, however small, could drastically alter the aftermath. Who knew what my life would be like if I had made different choices? Maybe I could have been happily dating some semi-attractive normal boy? Maybe I would have taken a walk and ended up dead somehow? Hell if I knew.

  The point was…I was here now, and there was nowhere else to go, nothing else to do but make more choices that I’d never be able to take back or change. And that’s life. I didn’t know how long it would last, though I guess you never do.

  Cade pulled back and shot me a serious—and dangerously sultry—stare. “What if…we aren’t just friends?” he whispered.

  I couldn’t breathe. My mind suddenly flashed back through the years to every inconsequential memory I’d ever stored of Cade: how he smiled so cautiously, the way he gripped his pencil so tightly, how he never raised his hand, the careful way he walked through the halls, how he silently studied everyone, his disheveled dirty blond hair, his vivid emerald eyes, his mouthwatering scent, like spicy cypress and evergreen.

  One hand slid up my back as his other moved to stream through my hair. “Valerie?”

  My lips parted as I stared at his. “Yes Cade?”

  He inched closer and touched our noses together. “Can I finally kiss you?”

  I thought lust was the closest thing I was ever going to feel to fire. It crawled through me and fanned out across my skin in waves. If I let him kiss me, I was afraid it might consume me, burn me up and scatter my ashes on the wind. But so what if it did?

  I ran my palms up his torso and onto his chest. He sighed, thinking I was going to push him away. But I didn’t. I continued gliding my hands upward until they passed his shoulders and linked around his neck, drawing him closer to me. Just before our lips met…

  “Valerie!” My aunt gasped as she poked her head out the side door.

  Well, that was just…perfect. Leave it to Marge to make the whole thing awkward.

  “Valerie, you need to get inside now!” she whispered harshly. “You too, young man! It’s not safe out here. I can feel it.”

  Cade froze and stared off into nowhere. Then he snapped his gaze back to me. Wide emerald eyes met mine and I could suddenly taste the fear in the air. He rushed me to and through the door, locking the deadbolt behind us.

  Marge stood in the hallway carrying a shotgun. A shotgun! I imagined it was loaded and ready, too. She looked almost feral.

  “What the hell, guys?” I cried, glancing nervously between the two. “What’s going on?” Their fear was fueling my panic.

  Cade shook his head dazedly. “I don’t know. I could just feel the vibrations in the ground. Someone was out there, right?”

  Marge nodded. “An Earth. Powerful.” She shook her head. “I could barely feel his steps.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” I asked quickly. My back was against the wall, and already fearful chills were crawling up my spine.

  “May I?” Cade asked Marge, and she nodded her consent. He explained, “Earth Elementals can sense disturbances in the ground. The more skillful you are, the more sensitivity you have to such vibrations. The more powerful you are, the less the earth will reveal about you.”

  “I’m surprised you felt it, actually,” Marge said to Cade approvingly. “You must be quite an exceptional youth.”

  He shrugged, eyeing her shotgun. “I’ve had extensive training.”

  “Training can’t replace innate ability, dear boy.” She suddenly tensed and lifted the gun up to her shoulder. “They’re getting closer,” she whispered before flashing me a wary glance. “Let’s hope it’s not who I think it is…”

  There was only one person I could think of that she might be referring to: her father, Nicholai. The one she’d refused to speak about.

  “Who do you think it is?” Cade asked curiously as he shielded my body from the outer walls using his own.

  “Don’t move,” she warned us, effectively ignoring his question. Buddy, I didn’t so much as breathe. Even Cade, who knew less than I did about my grandfather, refused to budge. Marge exhaled slowly, releasing a nervous breath. If Nicholai scared her that badly, I was certain I never wanted to meet him. Not here, not now, not ever.

  I risked a question because it was eating me alive. “What’s he doing?”

  “He’s weighing our power,” she said quietly.

  Right, because that was just totally normal. Weighing power? What the hell did that even mean? And how might one go about actually doing something so absurd?

  I held my breath. The tick of the kitchen clock sounded too loud over the dead silence in the hallway. The nervous rushing of blood in my ears was nearly loud enough to drown out the rest. My heart was pounding ferocious
ly; I hoped Cade couldn’t feel it beating into his back muscles.

  How might other Elementals handle this situation, I wonder? How would a Wind, like Holden, react? Would he be able to sense disturbances in the air like these Earths could sense in the ground? Or Chase, a Fire Elemental, like I should have been; was there a way for a Fire, or even a Water, to have the upper hand in this situation, at all? Or would they be just as sitting-duck-like as I was, unable to see or feel anything beyond these walls?

  Something told me that Earths and Winds were more defensive powers, while Fires and Waters were most likely offensive and therefore not quite as a fine-tuned in the delicate art of discernment. I didn’t know much about Elementals at all, so I wasn’t sure where those ideas might’ve stemmed from. In all reality, they probably all had well-rounded, unparalleled skills.

  Marge lowered the shotgun slowly and took a deep breath. “I think he’s gone.”

  Tension released in tiny bursts through my body, slowly deflating me.

  “Who was he?” Cade asked, finally unpinning me from the inner wall. I’d been more appreciative of his protectiveness than I realized, because I now felt mildly exposed.

  Marge rubbed a weary hand across her face. I could tell she didn’t want him to know, but if Nicholai was back, I thought we all deserved to understand what we were in for. The battle continued to rage behind her pale green eyes, but rather than finish it, she postponed it. “Another time, perhaps…”

  Cade snorted. “Whatever.” He headed for the door.

  Alarm stabbed through me like a spike. “Wait! Where are you going?” He couldn’t possibly be considering going outside right then, not after all that!

  He raised an eyebrow like I was missing something. “I’m going home?” It came out as more of question, but only because I’d made him feel like he had to defend it.

  “No!” I cried stupidly. “You can’t leave! You can’t go out there!” I rushed to him and buried my face in his hoodie. “Stay. Please.”

  Hesitantly, he slid his arms around me and rubbed my back carefully. “I have to go. There’s no way I could get this around my parents.”