So…there we all were.
Cade strolled into the foyer and crossed his arms, irritation practically radiating off the top of his dirty-blond head. He’d probably felt my footsteps through the Earth.
“And where the hell were you?” he asked, emerald eyes hard as stones.
Even after all these years, his presence still captivated me. He was perfect, with a gorgeous face and a killer bod, but that wasn’t what had ultimately ensnared me. Under that brooding glare and hard-ass attitude was a bleeding heart of gold. He had my back no matter what mess I got us into, and I had his. He was more than just my boyfriend; he was my partner in crime.
Which was why he was currently so angry. I’d gone out on a solo mission and tried to keep it from him.
Smiling, I reached into the interior pocket of my jacket and withdrew one of the old leather-bound books: Religions of Nature.
“Aunt Marge has been looking for this,” I said, avoiding his question.
His eyes softened a bit and he reached for me. “Val, you’re supposed to have Sienna and me with you at all times, remember? We’ve talked about this. You might have control over Water and Fire, but you still need us to help with the Earth and Wind part. It’s not safe for you otherwise.”
I sighed and leaned into him, relishing the feel of his arms wrapping around me.
We had talked about it, and he was right. I just couldn’t stand the thought of being a burden to the ones I loved. I wasn’t a child or an invalid; I was an Elemental, Gifted with two powerful elements to control. Surely I could manage going outside on my own.
“Sorry,” I muttered into his shirt.
He lifted my chin and kissed me. The gentle touch of his lips on mine had a tide of heat washing across my skin and through my veins.
“Don’t be sorry. Just…be careful. Speaking of, what the hell happened to your forehead?”
I groaned and touched it, realizing there was a lump and probably a bruise to go with it.
“I was attacked by a vicious dragon statue.”
“A statue?” He grinned.
“Yes,” I replied before quickly changing the subject. “What are you doing awake, anyway? It’s the middle of the night.”
He laughed and shook his head then reached into his pocket and withdrew his trusty tin of healing ointment, dabbing the salve on my wound.
“It’s five in the morning,” he said as he fixed me up. “Time to wake up, grab a quick bite to eat, and start training.”
I groaned and hung my head as he re-pocketed the salve. I hadn’t realized I’d been out that late.
“But I’m tired…” I moaned pathetically.
“You can sleep when you’re dead,” he said with a smirk. “Which hopefully won’t be for quite a long while. Maybe next time you’ll think twice about going out without us.”
“Where’d she go this time?” a tired voice asked from the stairs.
I glanced up to see Sienna hobbling gracelessly down the stone steps. Her straight black hair was draped halfway across her face, and her gray eyes were just barely cracked open.
“Morning, Sienna,” I said, sounding overly chipper in comparison.
She made a groaning sort of sound and headed for the kitchen.
I put a finger in the air. “One minute.”
I rushed upstairs to deposit the books and change into my workout clothes. By the time I came back downstairs, Sienna had a mini-tornado formed on the countertop and was banging cupboards open and rattling drawers. Eventually, three bowls and spoons swirled into the air, clanging into each other before clattering down to the center of the table. I sat down beside her, but I didn’t think she even noticed. It seemed like she was still half-asleep.
“Your control is improving,” Cade said casually, creating some oats and filling up our dishes.
She grinned and seemed to wake up a little. “You like that?”
“I take it training is going well?” he asked her, sitting down across from us.
With my left hand, I added some water to the oats. With my right, I heated it all up into thick, sticky oatmeal.
“If by ‘going well’ you mean getting my ass handed to me on a silver platter every day, then yes, it’s going well.”
“Good,” Cade said, completely ignoring the sarcasm in her response. He formed a plant in his palm and crushed it into dust. “Sugar, anyone?”
“Of course we want sugar,” Sienna said in disgust. “Who could eat this shit without it?”
Cade glared at her, and I failed to suppress a chuckle.
“I’ll take some, too, please,” I added.
Just then, footsteps echoed on the stairs, and a second later, Kendrick came bounding around the corner with a huge grin plastered onto his little face. He looked wide awake, despite the early hour.
“What are you doing up, buddy?” I asked, smoothing his dark hair before he moved to sit down beside Cade.
His brown eyes absolutely shimmered. “Cade said he would start training me today!”
I raised a brow. “Is that right?”
Sienna grinned and whirl-winded another bowl and spoon to the table.
I glanced at Cade, whose smile was warm and genuine. He busied himself with making Kendrick some oats. I silently added the water and heat, still waiting on his explanation.
Finally, after adding the sugar, Cade sighed. “It’ll be fine, Val. I promise. With the state of the world, it certainly couldn’t hurt for him to have some basic combat experience.”
“Combat experience? Seriously?”
“Just some endurance exercises, hitting and blocking, how to use a weapon without hurting himself…”
I trusted Cade; I did. We’d been in a number of scuffles together, and his skills were incredible. If he said Kendrick would be fine, he would be; Cade would make sure of it. It was just the principal of the matter. He was my little brother, and I wanted to keep him safe.
“Please, Val?” Kendrick begged through a mouthful of oatmeal.
“Yeah, Val,” Cade added, pretending to pout. “Please?”
Sienna chuckled. “You’d better let them. I can’t take this cuteness overload so early in the morning.”
I grinned but continued playing hardball. “Don’t you have some seriously intensive Revolutionist training to do?”
Cade swayed back and forth, contemplating how to answer. “Yes…but I can multitask.”
“And who will be watching Kendrick while you’re doing other things?”
“Xavier.”
I glanced at Sienna. The smile had dropped right off her face. Cade’s older brother was a bit of a touchy subject for her. Good thing he lived with us, making the situation all the more awkward.
“Xavier has his own training to worry about,” I argued.
Cade sighed heavily before softening his tone. “Calla won’t mind, Val, and this is important.”
Calla was in charge of all Earth Elemental training. When I’d decided to form the Revolutionist party, I’d scoured the entire country to find the strongest Elementals willing to teach us. Turned out, no one was stronger than Cade or me, but we still hired a skilled coach for each element—just to be safe. Calla coached the Earths, Tom coached the Fires, Miranda coached the Waters, and Soren coached the Winds.
I sighed, knowing I’d lost the fight against Cade and Kendrick a long time ago. “Fine.”
“Yes!” Kendrick shouted, pumping his fist. He shoved away from the table and ran for the door.
“Whoa, buddy!” Cade said, chuckling. “Finish your breakfast first. You’re gonna need the energy.”
“He’s six, Cade,” Sienna deadpanned. “He has an infinite amount of energy.”
I smirked. “She has a point.”
Cade just smiled and shook his head. “All right then, let’s go.”
As they walked out the door, I glanced at Sienna. “You ready to go get our asses kicked?”
She snorted. “As always.”
Chapter Two
O
utside, the sun was just rising, casting ribbons of yellow and orange across the summer sky. We crossed the street and met up with the rest of the people who’d gathered out back on the cathedral’s lawn, stretching their quads and hamstrings under the shade of wide oak trees. They were Elementals who, like us, wanted to be the change they wished to see in the world. Their eyes locked on us as we silently found a place in the crowd.
Calla stepped up onto a wooden box and everyone turned in her direction. She was tall, fit, and tatted, her edgy haircut lending her an even more commanding air. Half of her hair was shaved off, the other half French braided and draped over the front of her shoulder. A single streak of green was woven into the golden blonde like a vine. Then again, she was an Earth, so it might’ve been a real vine for all I knew.
“All right,” Calla barked, her militant voice booming loudly over our heads. “Two-mile run for a warm-up. Let’s go!”
Sienna and I tied up our hair then kicked our feet into a jog, bringing up the rear.
“So, where’d you go last night?” she asked me.
I sighed, knowing there was no way out of this conversation. “Radford.”
Her eyes widened and her brows lowered. “That’s a little far for an overnight trip. What was so important?”
“Another book for Aunt Marge,” I said, keeping it simple.
“Right, but why’d you risk going so far by yourself?”
Damn. She was good.
As I jogged, I tried to think of an acceptable answer. I hated lying, and I tried to avoid it whenever possible. The fact was, I would’ve loved to tell Sienna, Cade, and whoever else about my shady dealings, but they wouldn’t understand. They’d say it was too dangerous and not worth the risk. They’d keep me from going, and I couldn’t have that.
So, I told a lesser truth.
“I don’t like feeling like a burden. Sometimes I need to prove to myself that I’m capable of doing these things alone.”
“An unnecessary hazard,” she said, side-eyeing me with suspicion. “No one taken by the Shadow Sect is ever seen again, and the Elitists want you dead. If you were caught, this whole organization would crumble. There would be no Revolutionists, and no revolution.”
After a silent moment, some of the tension left her face.
“And you’re my best friend, Val. I don’t even want to imagine a world without you in it.”
I smiled wide. “I love you, Sienna.”
She snorted. “Love you too, biotch.”
Xavier fell into step beside us then, a warm and hopeful smile lighting up his face. I could see the affection he had for her sparkling in his dark blue eyes.
“Morning,” he said, grinning crookedly.
Sienna kept her eyes forward. “Hi.”
“You look nice today.”
She glanced down at her plain white tee and black athletic shorts as she ran.
“Thanks.”
Xavier licked his lips and stared at the passing ground. “There’s a movie playing at the theater tonight. A couple of guys from the Fire group figured out how to run the projector machines. Wanna go with me?”
Her brows lowered and she swallowed hard. “I don’t have time for watching movies, Xavier, and you shouldn’t either.”
He pursed his lips and nodded. “Fair enough. See ya later, then.”
He jogged ahead and disappeared into the crowd, leaving me with an aching heart. I stared at my best friend, wondering for the thousandth time why she kept pushing him away. I knew she cared about him. Thankfully, he was persistent, but she was so stubborn. I’d yet to figure out what had started her self-destructive cycle of non-commitment, though it wasn’t for lack of trying. She just refused to talk about it.
I sighed and took a deep breath, sweat beading along my hairline. It hadn’t taken the sun long to turn the pavement into an oven of wavering heat. I used my power over Fire to tone it down a bit, at least until the run was over.
When we arrived back at the old church about half an hour later, all four coaches were at the head of the group.
“All right,” Miranda said, waving a hand in the air. “Waters are with me at the combat and mixed martial arts area!”
Xavier and the other Waters followed her over.
Soren stepped up next. “Winds at strength training!”
“Oh, thank god,” Sienna muttered. “I’d much rather lift weights than get my ass handed to me trying to use a weapon.”
I tried to hold back my laugh as she and the Winds followed Soren to the dumbbells.
Then Tom addressed the group. “Fires with me at weapons!”
And finally, Calla. “Earths are on parkour with me. Everybody move out!”
I was never entirely sure which group I belonged to, Fires or Waters, so I mostly just hopped back and forth between the two. On this day, I figured I’d join the Fires and brush up on my recently acquired skills with a blade.
Kale, one of Cade’s friends who’d recently joined our cause, met me at the weapons area and waved.
Picking up a dagger, I smiled. “Hey, Kale, how’s it going?”
He grinned. Hours of practicing in the sun had made his tan skin even darker. It contrasted nicely against his buzzed light brown hair.
“It’s not going too bad. But hey, I’m supposed to tell you your dad called.”
“Oh. Thanks.”
I took a deep breath, set the dagger down, and started toward the cathedral. If Dad needed to talk to me, he would probably be bearing bad news.
My father was the head advisor to the Modernists—in other words, the head advisor to Holden. As much as he loved and supported me, he believed too deeply in the Modernist cause to change political parties. He was one of those ‘blend seamlessly into human society’ junkies.
At first, it had kind of hurt my feelings that he didn’t just change to my side, but in time, I’d gotten over it. Like all his years with the navy, he was simply doing his job. His commitment to duty had always trumped everything else, and rather than letting myself get salty about it, I recognized his loyalty as a strength. If I ever won him over to the Revolutionist cause, it’d be because he damn well believed in it.
I entered the communications room, which had probably once been the office of a bishop or a priest. Bookshelves covered the walls, and an ornate wooden desk stood strong in the middle atop a scarlet rug. A man with jet-black hair and pale white skin sat reclined behind a laptop. When his eyes met mine, he immediately snapped upright.
“Valerie,” he said, almost reverently. “Jameson called a few minutes ago. He has news regarding the Elitists.”
Great.
I sighed. “Thanks, Dave.”
He handed me the phone then pretended to busy himself with watching the local news.
I dialed Dad’s number, and he answered on the first ring. “Hi, sweetheart.”
“Hey, Dad,” I said casually, even though none of this crap could be taken lightly. “What’s up?”
He sighed. “You know how Holden amped up the intel department when he took over as Modernist leader?”
“Yeah…”
“Well, it finally paid off. We have some new information regarding your mother, grandfather, and—”
“Don’t call them that,” I practically spat. They had done unforgivable things in their immortal lifetimes, like intentionally killing innocent people and aggressively pursuing world dominance, just to name just a couple of the bigger ones. I had no desire to associate myself with them.
Dad took a deep breath and sighed. “Fine. We have information on Amelia, Nicholai, and the other Elitist who managed to escape the Shadow Sect that day—Loren Marlowe.”
I leaned a hip against the desk and crossed my arms. “What about them?”
“I can’t tell you over the phone. Holden has forbidden it, and for good reason—phone lines are easily tapped. He wants to meet and discuss it with you himself.”
“Of course he does,” I muttered, more to myself than to my father.
“When and where?”
“He said it’s up to you, though there is a festival going on in downtown Center Allegheny this week. With the commotion of the festivities, I’m sure it’d be difficult for anyone to overhear.”
“Seriously?”
We were dealing with out-of-control Elementals hell-bent on enslaving humanity, and the Modernists were having a freaking festival? Why weren’t they training their damn asses off like we were?
Dad picked up on my condescending tone. “Yes, Valerie. Holden understands better than his father did that people crave distractions. Happy followers are much more likely to stay followers.”
I bit my lip. I had a feeling he was aiming that statement at me. Glancing out the office window, I watched Revolutionist fighters training in the sweltering heat. None of us had unwound in months…
“Fine. I’ll meet him by the river tonight,” I said. “At the State Street Bridge around nine o’clock.”
“Okay. I’ll let him know,” Dad said. Then he paused. “What are we having for dinner? I assume we’ll eat before you head over there.”
I laughed loudly. “I’ll have to ask Cade.”
Dad and I had never been good at cooking. I didn’t know how we’d survived as long as we had. Sienna and Xavier sucked at it too, and Kendrick was too young to be terribly proficient. Basically, if Cade hadn’t moved in, we all would have been living on takeout—assuming anyone was still around to run a fast food chain. I was pretty sure no one was, so we’d probably just be dead.
I smiled, though he couldn’t see it. “Maybe we can con him into making homemade pizza.”
“Sounds delicious.”
I laughed, and he sighed.
“I have to get back to work now, sweetheart, but I’ll see you later. I love you.”
“Love you too, Dad.” I hung up the phone and immediately looked at Dave reclining behind the desk. “I need you to do me a favor.”
The Essential Elements: Boxed Set Page 59
