The Essential Elements: Boxed Set

by Elle Middaugh

  At once, Holden, Sienna and I were thrust into chairs and restrained with element-proof rope—the same bindings that had kept me tied to the stake, despite being on fire, and the same concept as that element-proof cage he’d used on me and Xavier. I didn’t know how it worked, but there was no denying its effectiveness.

  Loren smirked as she shoved a handkerchief into my mouth and pulled it into a tight knot behind my head. The corners of my mouth burned as my skin stretched. She made damn sure to pull strands of my hair in the process, too.

  I growled and allowed a quick wave of blistering heat to slide across my skin. Yelping, she hopped back and cradled her hands. I smirked, and one of the twins knocked it right off my face.

  Pain exploded within my skull and the room started spinning.

  “Erion!” Nicholai chided. “That’s enough. Your daughter had it coming.”

  Ah. Erion and Draven, the Skyden brothers. No wonder they looked like twins.

  Nicholai sighed then carried on as if nothing had happened. “Let me start with the backstory.

  “A few days ago, you all found out about—and half-thwarted—my plan to bomb the new restaurant in town, but that was never my main intent. It was merely a diversion. You see, while you were all busy searching furiously for the plethora of bombs placed in that one building, I had my followers planting bombs all over town.”

  I couldn’t help it—my eyes fell shut at such an obvious mistake on our part.

  “As Elementals,” he continued, “we can easily destroy buildings with our own power. We have no need to use bombs. It will be as if humans did it all, but why would they blow up their own town, one might ask? Simple: because Elementals live there. They hate Elementals. They want to wage war against us—at least, that’s what the world will see. And if they want war, we’ll give them war. We’ll show them who the superior species is.”

  It was the perfect villainous plan. He would get the domination he so desperately craved, and he would somehow manage to look innocent while doing so. When he ultimately won, the world would almost believe he deserved it. He was boiling the frogs alive, and they didn’t even notice the water was getting hot.

  Dad thrashed angrily in his chair and the wooden legs screeched across the old marble floor.

  “Now, now,” my mother said, cooing and stroking his silvery light brown hair.

  It only made him thrash harder.

  While the Elitists’ focus was on my father, I tested my restraints. I had to do something. There had to be a way to get out of the bonds. Aside from their special anti-element properties, they were just ropes. If I could somehow get a hold of something sharp, I could try to saw my way through…but there was nothing.

  Besides, the rope was smooth and heavy, not brittle and frayed. It would not be easy to cut through. Perhaps I should work at slipping my hands free, instead?

  “Oh, give it a rest, Jameson,” Nicholai said in a bored tone. “You look pitiful. I have no idea what my daughter ever saw in you.”

  Something flashed behind her eyes before quickly disappearing—anger? Maybe she didn’t want to be reminded of her poor life choices? It certainly couldn’t be because she cared; she’d made it abundantly clear that she didn’t.

  Nicholai leaned against a study table with a small lamp in the center and crossed his arms.

  “The bombs will be going off any minute now,” he mused. “I do so wish you could see the display. It’s going to be phenomenal.”

  Suddenly he leaned forward and pulled a gun from behind his back.

  “I lied earlier. I don’t really need witnesses. I just wanted to gloat, and of course, see the looks on your faces as I killed you one by one.” He paused and aimed the gun at one of the female hostages.

  “Goodbye Lira.”

  He fired twice. The sound echoed deafeningly, leaving my ears with a strange ringing that was both silent and piercing at the same time. Blood and bodily tissues sprayed the nearby bookshelves. Two dripping red circles appeared, one at her forehead, one over her heart. Her body slumped to the side, unmoving.

  I instantly felt nauseous, like my mind and eyes were spinning and my stomach was sloshing around trying to keep up.

  “I’m nothing if not thorough,” Nicholai said, flattering himself.

  Then he pointed the gun at the other woman.

  “Goodbye Mirabella.”

  Boom, boom! Same scene, different victim. Bile rose in my throat, threatening to gag me. The sickening smell of bloody iron tainted the air.

  He then aimed the gun at Curwen.

  Holden yelled and screamed frantically, but his words were muffled and disjointed because of the gag. I knew he was pleading for his father’s life; I also knew it wouldn’t matter.

  “Goodbye Curwen.”

  Two more shots rang out, sounding quieter this time because my hearing had already been affected. Two new holes appeared, clean and circular in the front, an ugly chaotic mess at the back. Holden’s face was almost purple from all the shouting. Wide rivers of tears streamed from his eyes.

  “And goodbye Curwen’s assistant.” He paused and looked at Jay. “What’s his name?”

  “Boone Crawford,” Jay said quietly.

  “Goodbye Boone.”

  Boom, boom! Then he, too, was gone.

  Dad’s face was painted red with blood that wasn’t his own. That meant only one thing: my father was next. This time I was the one incoherently screaming.

  Amelia stepped from behind his chair to the front.

  “You might not want to kill this one,” she said.

  Nicholai cocked a brow. “Oh?”

  “If you want my daughter’s cooperation, you probably shouldn’t kill her father.”

  Interesting concept, considering he’d gotten her cooperation despite killing her mother.

  “Oh Amelia, you have much to learn. Valerie is a fiery one. The only way to control her is to slay her spirit. We do that by breaking her down, bit by bit, killing the ones she loves. If we don’t, she’ll have hope. If she has hope, then she has rebellion. There is no other way.”

  Amelia nodded solemnly and stepped out of the way.

  I immediately resumed screaming. Loren yanked on my hair until I thought it might tear out, but I couldn’t stop. It felt like my vocal chords were shredding themselves apart.

  Nicholai pointed the gun at my father. “Goodbye Jameson.”

  No! No, no, no! Thousands of incoherent words swarmed in my head, but that was the only one I could grab on to, just no repeated over and over for what felt like an eternity.

  One shot fired and echoed through the room.

  Nicholai cried out and cradled his hand. His gun clattered across the marble floor.

  “Seize their weapons!” Elise shouted. “We bring them back alive.”

  She stood off to the side as the mouth of our secret tunnel began spewing out what I assumed were Shadow Sect soldiers. They were outfitted in black military uniforms with scaly camouflage patterns that made them look like serpents. Tinted lenses covered their eyes, and each one carried an automatic weapon of some sort.

  I exhaled a huge sigh of relief. Elise! I’d forgotten she was tracking me. She must’ve showed up just in time to surprise and disarm our grandfather. I was suddenly grateful she’d been assigned babysitting duty.

  Chaos broke out as the Elitists retaliated. Fierce winds suddenly funneled all around us, kicking up decades of dust, ripping books off of shelves and slamming them into walls and other Elementals. My hair whipped into my face hard enough to draw tears.

  “We need to go!” Elise shouted over the gale. She ran behind me and cut off my bindings, including the gag. Then she moved on to Sienna, Holden, and my dad.

  The ground rumbled ferociously as Nicholai’s power surged. My mother added fire to the whirling winds, setting the room ablaze. As old and dry as the books were, it was easier than lighting matches.

  “We need to go, now!” Elise repeated adamantly.

  She led the way b
ack into the secret passage with Holden and Sienna on her heels.

  I hesitated. Rather than running, Dad had joined the fight. I was the one with extraordinary power—shouldn’t I have been doing something?

  Dad looked over at me, and in one quick glance he seemed to know exactly what I was thinking.

  “Go!” he shouted. “Save as many people as you can from the bombings!”

  I glanced over to see Nicholai being tied to a chair by four Shadow Sect soldiers using the element-proof rope. It wouldn’t keep him forever, but it would at least keep him temporarily contained.

  I turned back to my dad and nodded.

  Determination poured through me like a flood. If we could somehow get to Center Allegheny in time, we could save countless lives. There was just one thing I needed to do first.

  Enough! I thought as I strangled my mother’s fire. It fought viciously, writhing like a snake in my grasp, but I eventually pinned it down and snuffed it out. Smoke and steam filled the room then the raging winds swept it away.

  Amelia’s eyes found mine. Identical, pale blue eyes—the exact opposite color of the dark blazing power we commanded. For a moment, I wondered if she would attack me, but a Sect soldier got between us and wrestled her to the ground.

  Finally, I tore my gaze from the fight and kicked my legs into gear, running like hell after Elise.

  We had lives to save.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  I ran as fast as my feet would carry me, nearly tripping with every step as I surged onward. For the thousandth time, I thanked my lucky stars Elise had trained me so hard. I caught the others right at the mouth of the opening to the surface.

  When we reached the cars, Holden hopped in with Elise and Sienna jumped in with me. My tires squealed and smoked as I chased my cousin out of the lot. I’d never floored a car like that before. It gave me a dizzying rush of adrenaline that coaxed the pedal farther downward, which was good, because Elise wasn’t messing around.

  We left Northland and made it back to Center Allegheny in half the time it was supposed to take.

  The thunderous sound of bombs echoed over the mountains long before I could see the devastation. It rattled the car like a freight train, shaking me to the core. How many people were already dead? How many people were trapped in crumbling structures, screaming for help?

  We came to a stop on the outskirts of town, where rubble from a fallen building had completely blocked the road. I opened my door and clung to it to steady myself.

  Thick, jagged chunks of concrete and brick were haphazardly scattered everywhere. Smoke and dust billowed through the air, cutting visibility down to a mere few blocks. It was enough, though—enough to twist my stomach and see that not a single building had been left unscathed.

  Another explosion erupted somewhere off to the right. Just the sound of it made my insides clench, let alone the sight of a wave of rocky debris coming our way. All I had time to do was gasp and curl down to my knees. I braced for the impact, an icy dome instinctively arching over me, but the sky suddenly rained down sand. The little glassy beads tapped lightly on my element.

  Elise had reduced the debris to dust.

  I took a deep breath, reined in my water, and stood back up.

  “Next time,” Elise said, resting her palms on her thighs, “everyone needs to be more prepared. If I hadn’t crumbled those rocks in time, you two would have been dead.”

  Sienna looked at the ground, ashamed. Holden nodded, soaking up his orders like an eager recruit.

  Elise gestured to where the bomb had just gone off. “Let’s check it out.”

  We carefully made our way through the rubble until we reached the mouth of a crater. It was about fifty feet across and twenty feet deep, and steam hissed from within. Whatever had been there before, it sure as hell wasn’t there anymore.

  I looked to Elise with wide eyes. If every bomb Nicholai had planted was of this magnitude….we were screwed.

  “Come on,” I said, circumnavigating the crater. “Let’s keep moving.”

  As we got deeper into town, the sound of rushing water met our ears. Wide puddles spanned entire roads. Pipes jutted into the air like snapped twigs, water gushing from their rusted ends.

  In some places, buildings had miraculously retained a decent amount of structure. In others, they’d been completely obliterated.

  We came upon Mario’s Pizzeria. The entire roof had been blown off, but only half of the building had been destroyed. I could see tables and chairs through a giant hole in the left-hand side of the wall.

  I moved past a utility van and slowly approached the hole, rather than using the door. Fallen bricks and slabs of checkered flooring covered the ground. No lights were on—I assumed the electricity had gone out long ago—and no voices were calling for help. Either the place had been empty by the time the nearest bomb had gone off, or the people inside were dead and buried under a layer of dust and debris.

  “Hello?” I shouted. “Is anybody in there?”

  The building responded with nothing but silence.

  Farther up the street, Holden had veered left toward a minimally destroyed bookstore. The glass front was shattered and the shelving had collapsed, scattering books into a jumbled heap on the floor, but the walls were still standing. It’d probably only been affected by shock waves.

  Sienna headed right, toward a grocery store. Mints and gum littered the doorway like hail. Candy bars and chips formed a second wave. Beyond that, cereal, noodles, canned goods, and a thousand other things covered the floors.

  The bodies of fallen customers were interspersed here and there, just random limbs that stuck out amongst the groceries. My stomach sank to my feet in despair. Were we too late?

  Elise climbed onto the top of another utility van to gain a better vantage point. She put her hand up to shade her eyes and surveyed the mess all around us. After a moment, she hopped down and kept moving.

  I licked my lips and took a deep breath.

  “Hello?” I shouted again. The silence was unbearable. All I could hear were the broken water lines spurting in the background.

  We moved farther into town.

  I tried to think of the most populated locations, the spots that would likely be our best bet for stumbling across survivors. Like a glittering gem, the local gym stood, partly crumbling, right up ahead of us. The faint sound of moaning sent my heart skipping erratically. Survivors!

  “Elise!” I yelled, pointing to the gym. She nodded and ran up ahead.

  Sienna glanced at me from across the street. “What’s up with all the utility vans?”

  “Huh?” I said, frowning stupidly.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know, it just seems like they’re everywhere.”

  I looked left—a white van was wedged in a side street beside a doctor’s office. I looked right—another van was parked way down the road by the old bowling alley. One was even sitting in front of the gym.

  Holden gave me a worried look then strode over and pulled on the van’s back doors. They were locked, of course. I moved closer and heated the handles until they dripped like lava to the ground. Since they were still scorching hot, I also did the honor of opening them.

  I didn’t know what I’d been expecting—a mountain of ticking time bombs packed the whole way to the roof?—but gardening supplies wasn’t it. I nearly laughed as relief washed over me.

  Elise ran back outside. “Come on! There are people still alive in here and I need your…” She trailed off and slowly walked our way. “What are you guys doing?”

  Sienna rolled her eyes. “Making fools of ourselves, apparently.”

  “How so?”

  “We thought the vans were suspicious,” she said, explaining. “Turns out they’re only carrying fertilizer and shit.”

  Elise’s eyes went wide. She backed away, eyeing each peacefully parked van with growing terror.

  “I know you’re not Earths, but did none of you take chemistry? With the proper additives, fertilize
r will explode. If I know Nicholai, the mixture is already perfect. These vans are literally car-sized bombs.” She then turned to me. “Be prepared to contain some serious fire damage.”

  I closed my eyes and tipped my face up to the sky. Light filtered in through my eyelids. I was pretty certain I couldn’t do this. I’d failed to contain all the teensy tiny bombs at Sol and Lune; how on earth was I supposed to contain multiple vans-full?

  Regardless, I quickly came up with a game plan.

  “I’m gonna need some cover from debris if these bombs do go off, so Sienna, will you stay with me?” She nodded and a smile spread across her face. “Elise, you take Holden and get as many survivors out of the gym as you can. Take them to a crater where the bombs have already gone off—that’ll probably be the safest place.” She nodded and they tore off.

  I took a deep breath and spun around, wondering which van would blow first.

  Minutes ticked by. Each second felt like an hour. Every nerve in my body was on edge, waiting for the moment to strike.

  Sienna kicked up dust and small rocks with a nervous wind.

  I grabbed one of the rocks and glanced at her. “Deflect this, okay?”

  I threw it at her, and she blocked it easily with nothing but air. It rolled across the ground to her left.

  I grabbed a heavier one and threw it. Again, she blocked it.

  It made me feel a little better, but these were infinitely smaller than what would be flying through the air when a bomb blew. Problem was, we couldn’t practice for something like that, because I couldn’t heave anything that heavy.

  Elise and Holden emerged supporting the weight of four injured victims.

  “Closest crater’s there, by the bridge!” I shouted, pointing a couple blocks down the road.

  She nodded and yelled back, “Move this van before it explodes, will you? You’re a Fire, so you should be the one to do it. If not, the rest of the people in the gym will be dead before we can even get to them.”

  Shit.

  She was right, but it made my insides quiver just thinking about it. I was the only one there capable of surviving a close-range explosion, but that didn’t mean I wanted to.