The murkiness that used to cloud my vision now opened up into a whole new world of underwater eyesight. I could see, in startling clarity, the river bottom littered with rocks and broken tree limbs. I could see algae and coontail pondweeds with sleepy fish hiding throughout to conserve winter energy. I could see for miles, it seemed.
Downriver, the town drifted away and became nothing but dense woodland. After a few yards I probably would have been safe, but I swam for about fifteen minutes just to be sure. At that point, I lifted myself up onto a rocky bank and smoothed down my tunic. It was dry as a bone, as was my cellphone, apparently, because it chose that moment to go off.
I answered quickly to keep the sound to a minimum. In that area, the trees blocked most of the wind, so there wasn’t even that for background noise. It was incredibly silent, but in a more peaceful way, not ominous like it had been in town.
“Hello?”
“Valerie! Did you see the news?” It was Holden, and he seemed absolutely euphoric. He didn’t even wait for me to answer. “I was on television this morning! Dad was occupied discussing business with Mayor Pitt and he knew I wasn’t satisfied with my current position so he had me fill in for him at the conference, and I did so well that he’s decided to promote me to Elemental Press Representative!”
In my mind, I watched the bodies of a thousand swooning women hit the floor in a synchronized fainting spell. I couldn’t help but grin at the ridiculous image, even if it did make me feel a little bitter. If Holden was going to be on TV regularly, many more people were going to be tuning in to the local news.
“That’s wonderful, Holden!” I said as I picked my way through the trees and underbrush. “You always did have a way with words, and I always knew you’d make a great leader.”
“Technically I’m just a face, not a real leader, but I know what you mean. I’m surprised to say I’m really liking this new position. I never dreamed I’d enjoy anything even remotely pertaining to politics.”
I laughed. “Well I’m glad you’re happy, Holden. You deserve to be.”
“Thanks, Val. That actually brings me back to the real reason I called. You see, there’s a new establishment opening up in town. It’s called Sol and Lune—restaurant by day, dance club by night. Same concept as Billy’s, only nothing like it, much more contemporary. There’s gonna be a big grand opening on Friday, including a red-carpet-type welcome for the more important members of local society. As the Elemental Press Representative of Center Allegheny, obviously I’m expected to attend, and I was hoping you’d be my date for the event.”
I blinked and cocked my head, simultaneously ducking under a branch.
“Are you asking me?”
Holden laughed.
“Yes. I’m sorry, I’ve been a barrelful of babbling since you answered the phone. It’s just that I’m so excited about the new direction my job has taken, and I really can’t wait to celebrate it with you.”
So…he really wasn’t asking. The hopefulness in his tone left little room for a refusal.
A mirage of Cade’s face appeared in my mind. What would he think if he saw Holden and me together so publicly? Would he think we were something we’re not? Would he be jealous? Angry? Frustrated enough to give up on the idea of him and me? He was always teetering so close to the edge of indecision as it was, I really didn’t want to push him overboard.
Yet, I couldn’t see how slighting Holden in his moment of glory would actually bring me closer to Cade. Holden was someone I cared about, someone who deserved much more than I’d ever been able to give. The least I could do was have dinner with him so he didn’t show up dateless. Besides, Cade would probably be too busy shadowing my grandfather to notice, and I was relatively certain Nicholai wouldn’t be on the guest list.
“All right, Holden, I’ll go.”
“Yes! Thank you, Val. The dress code is cocktail attire, so keep that in mind. I’m thinking—oh, hang on, I have another call.”
The line went dead as I continued picking my way through the trees. I had no idea where I was, but for some reason I felt like I was going in the right direction.
Unlike my semi-immediate future.
A sinking sensation swirled in the pit of my stomach, that feeling you get when you realize you might’ve gotten in over your head or made a mistake. Did doing the right thing ever feel like the wrong thing?
Holden clicked back over.
“Sorry, Val, I have to go. I’m technically on the clock and my father doesn’t like waiting, but can you do lunch today? Say, Bradford’s at one o’clock? We can talk more about what to expect at the opening.”
“Um…” I pulled the phone from my ear and peeked at the time: it wasn’t even nine AM yet. “Yeah, I should be free by that time.” As long as finding Elise didn’t take all morning.
From what I’d heard, Bradford’s had been constructed after the incident and was the only upscale restaurant Elementals had in Center Allegheny. I would need time to freshen up before meeting him there.
“Great! Good. I’ll see you then.” Then he was gone.
I sighed, ignoring that sinking feeling, and stuffed my phone back into my pocket.
The next moment happened so quickly I barely had time to process it. My head was yanked back by a fist in my hair and I was thrust into a headlock.
“Come to spy on me again, have you?”
I swallowed and my larynx caught on her arm.
The voice belonged to Elise, but I had no idea what the hell she was talking about.
Chapter Nine
“Why would I spy on you?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“Shut up. I’m asking the questions. Have you decided to join up with Nicholai?”
I thought about shaking my head, but there wasn’t much room to move.
“No.”
“The Modernists, then? We all know Curwen’s running the show in Center Allegheny. Do they have you keeping tabs on me?”
“No.”
“Who then?”
“No one, Elise. I haven’t been spying on you. This is the first time I’ve been out here since our group split up.”
“Bullshit.” She spun me around and backed me into a tree so we were face to face. Branches reached forward and tightened around my upper body, securing me in place. “I’ve seen you out here at least three times in the past two days.”
Chase appeared out of nowhere on my right.
“And I tracked you back into town each time,” he said. “So don’t lie to us.”
“I’m not lying! Whoever you’re talking about, it wasn’t me.”
The usual panic that normally overcame me was surprisingly absent. I felt defensive, but relatively calm. Perhaps I was getting better at this Elemental control thing after all?
Elise smirked.
“Why would someone disguise themselves as you in order to spy on us? What would be the point in that?” She paused, then took a couple steps back and thought about her own words. “What would be the point…?” she muttered, absently tapping her chin.
“The point,” Chase interjected, “is that if she’s telling the truth, then someone’s fucking with us, trying to confuse us—maybe even trying to split us all up. We can’t let that happen.”
Elise eyed me sharply. “It really wasn’t you?”
I shook my head. “No.”
The branches released me and I rubbed at my arms gingerly.
“Sorry about that,” she apologized.
“It’s fine,” I said. “I actually understand why you did it. I just can’t believe there’s someone running around the woods impersonating me.”
Elise shook her head and chuckled.
“I should’ve known it wasn’t you. This person was highly skilled in stealth. I almost didn’t notice them at first, whereas you, you come into the woods blabbing on a cellphone. Anyone within a mile radius could pinpoint your exact location.” She raised a brow. “Didn’t I teach you better than that?”
My cheeks flushed.
Of course she had. She’d taught me tons of specialized survival tactics, I was just apparently horrible at following directions.
“No Elemental outbursts, though,” she mentioned casually. “Good job.”
“Thanks,” I muttered.
Chase plopped down on a log and immediately set it aflame.
“So why are you here, Val?” he asked.
With a sigh, I began reeling in the smoke from his fire. He never seemed to make his flames hot enough to avoid the haze, and he never seemed to care who saw the evidence.
“Would it be too uncanny if I said I was here for an info exchange?”
“Yes, it would,” he decided immediately, just before a thin branch snapped down onto his head. He rubbed the spot and glared at Elise. “What?”
“It’s not an issue, because she’s not the one spying, remember?” Then she smiled at me. “You’ll have to forgive him, he’s not the brightest flame in the fire.”
I laughed, cautiously glancing between the two of them. Chase grinned, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He and Elise seemed to be more annoyed with each other than usual, and not in the typical teasing sort of way. As jealous as I usually was of them, I didn’t even feel vindicated about it. It was more unsettling than satisfying.
“So, anyway,” I began, tucking a loose piece of hair behind my ear. “I’ll go first. Holden was just appointed Elemental Press Representative.”
“Potentially not good,” Elise said, chiming in absently. “Not if we’re trying to lay low…unless we distance ourselves from him.”
“Which wouldn’t be right,” I said. “We can’t just stop being friends with Holden because he’s a small-town celebrity.”
“What if he became a national or global celebrity?” Chase asked. He seemed to be playing devil’s advocate.
I pulled my lips in, but I didn’t need to ponder.
“No. Even then, it would still be wrong to abandon him over his popularity status.”
“Not abandoning,” Elise clarified. “Distancing.” She nodded, gesturing for me to continue.
I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
“Anyway, Dad thinks Nicholai is about to make a move, one that involves numerous human casualties. He said Nicholai won’t be happy about the relative success the Modernists have been enjoying with the Elemental incorporation project, and that he’ll soon start pitting us against each other.”
“Makes sense,” Elise agreed.
Chase shook his head. “I think if he had the means, he’d have done something already. His campaign is running out of steam.”
“All the more reason to make a last-ditch effort at a comeback,” Elise said.
“If he had the means,” Chase stressed. “But I don’t think he does. I’m seriously more concerned about the Traditionalists.”
“Why?” My brows furrowed. “They’ve pretty much stayed out of it so far.”
“Exactly.” Chase played with the log’s flames, twisting them between his fingers like a coin. “And when have we known Traditionalists to sit back and do nothing? As I recall, they’re usually the ones making brash and brazen decisions that get them in trouble and nearly kill people.”
I thought back to my unfortunate experience with being burned at the stake, and I couldn’t deny his words. It had, in fact, been Traditionalists heading that particular war party—Cade’s parents, to be precise. My personal experience with the rashness of Traditionalists ended there, but I knew they’d stop at virtually nothing to keep Elementals off the radar. So why weren’t they doing something?
Or were they?
Elise and I shared a worried look. Maybe Chase was right. Maybe we should be more concerned about the Traditionalists and less concerned about Nicholai and the Elitists—or, at the very least, we probably needed to start aiming some of our efforts at them instead of none.
We talked for a while longer about what I’d been up to since moving back into town, and I continued to keep secret the bits about Cade, Nicholai, and the mystery man. I wasn’t entirely sure why; I just had a gut feeling about it. It was something I needed to figure out on my own.
“What about you guys?” I asked, keeping the discussion moving forward.
Chase leaned back and stretched his arms up to the sky.
“Not much, other than dealing with your spy-tastic doppelganger.”
Elise rolled her tropical blue eyes.
“Unfortunately, he’s right. We’ve learned only the obvious bits about town, and nothing about our new pursuer, except that she looks like you. I haven’t felt any strange vibrations through the earth, or heard any rumors about enemies being near.”
“Speaking of which…” I crossed my legs and leaned on my thigh. “Since you can manipulate the earth, Elise, why weren’t you the one tracking my double?”
She sighed. “Like I said, I haven’t felt any strange vibrations. I couldn’t feel her moving at all, not even when she was right next to us.”
“So she’s an Earth, too?” I assumed.
“More than likely, or she has an Earth covering for her.”
Another question popped into my mind.
“How did Chase track her, then?”
She glared at him. “He is unnaturally fast, and so is the double. I’ve been rigorously trained, but I couldn’t keep up. Once they got too far ahead, there was nothing I could do, and the earth wouldn’t reveal anything to help me.”
She knelt down and began scraping away at the snow on the ground. When a small patch was laid bare, she put a palm down on it. After a few moments, she slowly lifted her hand upward, and a plump carrot pulled from the dirt. Its leafy cap appeared magnetized to her palm. She then created and harvested other vegetables.
As I watched her work, I took a moment to think about what she’d said. I had two theories. One: Elise was much more skilled in espionage than she was in Elemental power, meaning she probably wasn’t a very strong Earth, at least compared to other Earths. Or, two: Elise was a skillful Earth, but my double was just incredibly powerful. That would not be good news.
Elise formed a large chunk of sandstone, holding it out with both hands, except neither of her hands actually touched it. Her power over the earth kept the rock hovering where she wanted it as the outside eroded into a deep semicircle. The inside hollowed out, forming a large stone pot fit for stew. Once finished, she dumped the veggies in and piled on some snow.
“After I catch this asshole spying on us,” she said, “and have a little chat with her, I plan on changing locations. There’s just not enough activity in this area. If there’s no useful information to garner, there’s no reason to be here.”
She then glanced at Chase and stabbed a finger at the pot. “Do you mind? It’s lunchtime, and I’m starving.”
Chase threw some fire at the kettle and a few loose sparks dropped onto Elise’s shoe before fizzling out. He stood purposefully and crossed his arms.
“When were you planning on telling me we were moving locations?”
“I wasn’t, because we aren’t moving locations. I am.”
His brows rose dangerously high, blending almost seamlessly into his jagged mess of dirty blond hair, his electric blue eyes practically bugging.
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“And what if I won’t let you go alone?”
Elise scoffed. “Are you gonna try to stop me?”
“Maybe.”
I busied myself with making lunch, trying to stay out of their spat. At my touch, the pot filled with water. At my command, a fire started underneath it.
Elise’s eyes narrowed into suspicious slits.
“Why are you so hell-bent on staying with me?”
Chase shook his head and pointed a finger. “Don’t. Don’t give me that look. We’re a team. We’ve been a team for the past three months, and we should continue being a team. It’s safer that way.”
“No,” she said. “I’m not part of a team, yours or anyone else’s. I work
alone. I answer to my people, and that’s it. When they tell me to move on by myself, I move on by myself.”
“I don’t believe you,” Chase said, moving closer to her. “You’ve been out of communication range for months—or so you’ve said. If that’s a lie, how’d you make contact with your base?”
“That is absolutely none of your concern, Theron.”
Chase laughed, a haughty sarcastic sound.
“Oh, I see we’re using last names now? Well then, Prett, what’s the real reason you’re trying to ditch us? You know something we don’t?”
My eyes went wide. Us? We? I wished he wouldn’t drag me into it. I’d been silently watching the argument unfold like the final of a grand slam tennis match—back and forth, back and forth, a real nail-biter. Now it seemed like the spotlight was on me, and I felt like a wide-eyed doe.
“On the contrary,” Elise said. “I think one of you knows something you’re not telling me.” Her hardened eyes dodged from Chase to me.
I blinked. “Me?”
Her returning grin was acerbic.
“I’ve got a theory about you, Valerie Elaine. I think you’ve been keeping a very important secret for a very long time.”
I was thoroughly bewildered, but I kept my words carefully clipped.
“Elise, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She turned back to Chase. “Or maybe it’s you keeping this secret from both of us.”
“What secret!?” Chase yelled. “You’re really losing your shit right now, Elise, you know that? You need to calm down and be rational. Stop being so damn crazy.”
I rolled my eyes before letting them fall closed. When would men realize that telling a woman to ‘calm down’ would only ever have the exact opposite effect? Calling them ‘crazy’? God…hell hath no fury.
Elise took a step forward until she and Chase were practically chest to chest.
“You want to find out just how crazy I am? I want you to do exactly as I say.” Near madness lent a vivid brightness to her eyes and smile. “The next time Miss Valerie Lookalike shows her face, you sit your ass down on that flaming log and you stay there. I’ll chase her into town, or wherever the hell she actually goes. You stay completely, one hundred percent out of it. Understand?”
The Essential Elements: Boxed Set Page 38
