The Essential Elements: Boxed Set

by Elle Middaugh

  Suddenly, a sticky ball of snow smacked me in the side of the head. It shouldn’t have affected me, but it had. I reached up and tried to dust it off, but it strung between my head and my fingers like melted cheese.

  What the hell?

  Next thing I knew, Loren Marlowe’s smirking face was right in front of me.

  “Hello again, Valerie,” she said in a cocky tone. “Fancy seeing you here.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure it’s a total shock.”

  Her eyes slid to the cheesy snow entangling me and she grinned. “You like my evolved powers? They’re pretty amazing, if I do say so myself.”

  She moved her pointer finger in a circle, and suddenly I was being wrapped in a sloppy cocoon.

  Growling, I thrashed around, willing my Water to get rid of it, but my element seemed to be scared of hers. It didn’t want to challenge her.

  Fine.

  I called to the Fire within, and it erupted out of me in a searing hot dome of blue heat. The sticky snow melted further, dripping down my body enough to allow me to break free.

  Loren just laughed, and it pissed me off to no end.

  I’d just received an ass-load of extra power, and it was time to see how my own elements had evolved. Keeping with my Fire element, I reached out and created a whip-like line of flames. The core of the line was white-hot, and the flames that licked all around it were jagged and blue. It looked absolutely deadly as it stretched out and wrapped itself around Loren’s neck.

  Dear gods, what have I done? No one should have power like this. It made me wonder what sort of shit Nicholai and my mother must’ve had up their sleeves.

  Enough, I called to my Fire, but it simply hissed at me in return. It didn’t want to listen. This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, as my Fire was pretty defiant. Loren’s hair had caught on fire and she was screaming bloody murder, and as much as I wanted her gone, I really didn’t want to see it happen like this.

  I lowered my mental voice a few octaves and allowed my tone to turn compelling and seductive.

  Enough, I said again. Come to me.

  Slowly, it obeyed, but instead of retreating from Loren’s neck, it dragged her over to me with it. When it was close enough, I unwrapped it and tucked it safely back into my palm.

  Loren glared at me, but her neck was raw and blistered, and there was a healthy dose of fear cowering in her lake blue eyes.

  I licked my lips and tried to play it cool.

  “As you can see, my powers have evolved, too. I wouldn’t mess with me if I were you.”

  She sneered, turning bold all of a sudden, and her voice came out in a choppy, harsh whisper. “Oh yes of course—Valerie, the saintliest of all Elementals, the one so against killing and campaigning for power…has been killing and campaigning for power. You’re such a fucking hypocrite.”

  I glared at her, daring her words to bounce off me like rubber, but some of them stuck anyway. She was, unfortunately, correct. The difference was, my campaign was for the greater good of everyone; hers and the Elitists’ was only for the good of themselves. And, as far as I knew, the only people I’d killed were Elitists. I was probably doing the world a freaking favor.

  “What are you doing?” Jay shouted at me from across the forest. “Why didn’t you kill her?”

  My stomach churned and guilt settled back in.

  It was complicated.

  Loren had never been my friend, but she wasn’t just another faceless minion, either. I knew her from school, and killing her felt…I don’t know, maybe not wrong, because she’d obviously killed a number of innocent people and she was always trying to steal my boyfriend away, but I guess it felt…difficult.

  Ida must’ve been biting her nails up there in Euphoria. If I couldn’t even kill this bitch from high school, how was I supposed to kill Nicholai, a blood relative, and win the bet?

  Of course, it ultimately wasn’t about the bet. It was about getting the other gods to Gift more Elementals so that, together, the eight of us might stand a chance at ending the war—and Nicholai.

  Which meant we shouldn’t be wasting our time fighting these Elitists. We should have been searching high and low, trying to find the four other Gifteds and recruit them to our cause.

  I had no idea if the gods would explain to their champions what was going on or if they’d simply ift the power and let them figure it out on their own. Technically, even Ida had done that, though I certainly hadn’t figured it out on my own. It had taken an accidental trip to Euphoria to realize what had happened.

  But, now that I knew, I could explain the situation to the other Gifteds—if we were ever able to find them, that is. Knowing Nik, he would purposefully choose a champion who was ten thousand miles away. Meg would probably do the same just for shits and giggles, and who knew what Eve or Taj would decide? Hopefully they’d be a bit more sympathetic.

  Loren grinned, looking from Jay back to me. “Yeah, Valerie, why didn’t you just kill me? Are you too scared?”

  “Right,” I deadpanned. “I got that kickass fire-whip by being ‘too scared’ to kill people.”

  Loren held out her hand, a necklace dangling from her fingers—my necklace, the fire opal I’d traded Madam Lucia in exchange for the spellbook.

  “Or maybe,” Loren began, watching me closely, “you just can’t control your Fire without this?”

  I swallowed hard. It was true that I worried about my control without the opal, and now that I had the chance to get it back, I didn’t want to leave without it.

  “What do you want, Loren?”

  “You think I want to trade?” She laughed out loud. “No, Valerie. I just want to crush you…like this.”

  I had no freaking clue how she did it—she surely couldn’t have been that strong—but with the squeeze of her fist, my beautiful sunset-colored gem slowly crumbled to the forest floor in a trail of glittering dust.

  I clenched my teeth against the urge to scream.

  Son of a bitch!

  I would be leaving emptyhanded after all. In fact, I would never get the stone back, would possibly never control my Fire so well again.

  Almost as if it sensed this, my Fire roared to life beneath my skin, igniting my entire body in dangerous blue flames.

  I stalked closer to Loren, who backed away just as quickly.

  “You will pay for that.”

  She glared at me but stepped back even farther. “We’ll see.”

  Her eyes scanned the remaining few Elitists with stoic resignation.

  “Move out!” she shouted as best as she could with her raspy voice. “We’ll try again once we get new reinforcements!” Then she turned her hateful glare on me. “And when we do, you’re as good as dead.”

  With that, they ran over the crest of the nearest mountain and disappeared.

  Chapter Fourteen

  As quickly as the fight had started, it was over, and all was dark and silent once more.

  I stood there full of roiling emotions, each hissing past each other like a pit of venomous snakes in my mind. My friends panted and clutched their wounds. Cade removed his tin of salve and began healing as many cuts and gashes as he could, and we all moved back together in a huddle of sorts.

  “Everybody okay?” I asked. They all nodded. “We need to get back home, now. I don’t know how soon they’ll attack again, but we have a lot of shit to sort out before they do.”

  “Agreed,” Sienna said with a determined glare.

  By the time we got back to Berwindale, the town was deeply asleep under the heavy veil of night. Tiny lights twinkled from windows and front doors, mirroring the stellar sky above. It was a beautiful sight, like something I’d expect to see on one of the islands in Euphoria. What a shame the human world was in so much turmoil that we couldn’t stop to enjoy things such as these.

  Sighing, we made our way home. Even Kale, who hadn’t yet moved in, camped out on the couch temporarily. We’d probably help move his stuff in the next day. We were
a team, and even I was beginning to appreciate that dynamic.

  At the top of the stairs, Cade released my hand and moved toward his own room, but I quickly latched on again.

  “Will you stay with me tonight?”

  We’d never had sex, and the gentle look in his eye suggested he knew that wasn’t what I was after. We’d had a long evening, full of way more information than a human brain could possibly process and a fight that even Gifted Elementals hadn’t come out of unscathed. I just wanted him near me, to feel the warmth of his soul next to mine. I knew that sounded kinda stupid, but after being in Euphoria, I felt I knew him on a spiritual level now.

  He smiled. “Yeah, I’ll stay with you.”

  I pulled him into my bed, and he curled around behind me, holding me tight.

  “I feel like this whole evening was just a dream,” I said, trying to recall everything that had happened and connect some sort of reality to each memory.

  “I know what you mean.”

  “Are we really demigods?” I asked, turning my head to catch a glimpse of him out of the corner of my eye.

  He nodded. “Yes.”

  “And there are eight of us.”

  “Yep.”

  I shook my head. “And we have to find the other four, convince them to join us, and somehow defeat Nicholai, Amelia, Loren, and all the other Elitists before they destroy the entire human realm.”

  Cade chuckled. “That pretty much sums it up, yeah.”

  I went silent for a moment. “I’m sorry for keeping the dark magic stuff a secret. I don’t want to keep anything from you.”

  He squeezed me tighter. “It’s all right, Val. I understand why you did it. But, now that we’ve experienced virtually everything in the universe together—from fighting and killing to cutting openings between realms—I hope there’s nothing more to hide.”

  I grinned, recalling my train of thought from earlier. “Well, we’ve almost experienced everything…”

  He froze for a moment before running his hand down my side, over my hip, and across my thigh. “Is that why you asked me to stay?”

  “No.” My answer was honest but breathless. “Not at first.”

  He slid his hand back up, fingers lightly caressing my ribs and the side of my breast through my shirt. “And now?”

  My breath shallowed and heat flooded through me. “Now…I think I’d like to share my entire universe with you.”

  He leaned in and kissed my neck, moving upward to my jaw before I rolled over and met his mouth with mine. We quickly became a tangled mess of desperate touching and uncontrollable desires.

  I grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head.

  Strangely, he halted and gave me an uncertain glance. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

  I could’ve laughed.

  “Of course I’m sure. I’ve wanted this for so long. Is it not what you want?”

  He grinned and kissed me again. “No, this is exactly what I want.”

  He hopped up and locked the door then moved back to the bed, climbing over top of me. His fingers slipped beneath the material of my shirt, and he slowly lifted it away. My skin burned where he touched me. The excitement was practically palpable, a force that drove us deeper into uncharted territory.

  He trailed a line of smoldering kisses down my neck, chest, and stomach. Then he kissed his way back up, tantalizing me with every brush of his skin.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  My eyes went wide. No way was this possibly happening right now. Whoever the hell dared to disturb the most glorious moment of my life would most definitely be on my shit list.

  “Valerie?” a tiny voice whimpered.

  My face immediately softened. “Kendrick? Is that you, buddy?”

  “Yeah. I had a bad dream.”

  I bit my lip and closed my eyes. This was the only thing I’d allow to interrupt us, this little boy who’d stolen our hearts. Cade kissed me and quietly moved to get our clothes. I pulled my shirt back on and took a deep breath to steady myself. Then I walked over to the door and unlocked it.

  Kendrick stood in the hallway, clutching a floppy stuffed bunny to his chest. Tears welled in his big brown eyes and spilled down his tan cheeks.

  “Can I sleep with you?” he asked, so pitifully I immediately scooped him up and hugged him tight.

  “Of course you can, buddy,” I cooed, feeling Cade slip in behind me to hug us both.

  “We can make a Val sandwich,” Cade said playfully, coaxing a giggle out of Kendrick.

  I walked to the bed, lowered him down, and curled up between them.

  “What was your dream about, anyway?” I asked, tucking us all under the covers.

  He sniffed and his bottom lip popped out once more.

  “I dreamed there was a great big fight,” he said, wiping the tears from his eyes. “And you and Cade both died.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The next morning, I woke up feeling like shit. Nightmares had plagued me all night long.

  I eventually snuck out of bed before dawn and tiptoed downstairs to make a soothing cup of tea. It was what Aunt Marge would’ve done, and she usually had the right idea about things, oddly enough.

  When I’d added the milk and sweetener to the cup, I quietly slipped out back onto the deck, watching the sun slowly rise as I tried to clear my head.

  Nothing in this life had been what I’d expected. Things that used to matter seemed trivial now. Things that had seemed impossible before were now just an average part of my day. I’d gone from a quiet human girl just trying to make friends to an Elemental demigod trying to save the world. It was a lot to wrap my head around, and yet it was already starting to feel like…nothing…normal, almost. I didn’t want my life to change yet again, and I sure as hell didn’t want to die. I was already warming up to the idea of living forever in Euphoria once all was said and done—if the original gods would allow it, and not any time soon. There were many friends and loved ones in the human realm I wanted to spend time with for as long as I could, but when and if those people ever died? What would I have left?

  The scary thing was, death was a very real possibility for us all, even us champions. Elementals might’ve been immortal, but we were most definitely killable.

  I took a sip of my tea as the sun shifted higher over the horizon. Beautiful hues of red and orange bled like watercolors into the fading purple sky. Early birds were chirping and hopping from branch to branch in the trees. Such a shame a world so beautiful should be full of so many evil things.

  By the time I finished my tea and went back inside, most of the house was already awake.

  “Wait a second,” my dad said to Sienna, scrubbing a hand across his face. “You mean to tell me you’re all demigods?”

  Sienna took a sip of her coffee. “Not all of us. Just Val, Cade, Xavier, and me.”

  Dad’s eyes locked onto me as I quietly made another cup of tea.

  “Is this true?” he asked.

  I nodded. “We found out yesterday, from the original gods themselves.”

  Dad flopped into a kitchen chair and ran his hands through his salt and pepper hair. “How is this even possible?”

  I sighed and shot him a sympathetic smile. “It’s a long story, and one I’m not particularly proud of, so I’d rather not get into the specifics. Let’s just say I accidentally created a portal to Euphoria.”

  “Euphoria?” Dad repeated, confused.

  “It’s like heaven,” Sienna told him. “Heaven for all the gods.”

  Dad pursed his lips, seemingly thinking everything over. “There were eight originals, right?”

  Sienna nodded. “Yeah, but there are more than just them. Nik told us he owed the Norse gods money from a card game he lost.”

  My poor father’s face slipped even further into confusion and disbelief. “Who’s Nik? And you mean to tell me the Norse gods are real too? As in Thor, Loki, Freya, and Odin?”

  I smiled to myself as she replied. “Yep, and also�
��”

  “The Greek gods,” Cade said.

  “The Egyptian gods,” Xavier added.

  “The Chinese gods,” Kale said.

  “And the Mayan gods,” Jay threw in for good measure.

  Sienna rolled her eyes at them then turned back to my father. “Seriously. All of them.”

  “Holy shit,” he muttered. His fingers had a death grip on his hair. “And you’re their proteges?”

  “Champions,” Sienna corrected. “They gave us extra power in order to defeat Nicholai.”

  “You four?” he asked, pointing to each of us in turn. “You were blessed by the Elemental gods themselves, to do their bidding and rid the planet of evil?”

  I dunked my tea bag a few times and shook my head. “You’re making this sound way more epic than it feels.”

  “Val,” he said, his voice cracking. “If this is true, it is epic. I need to tell Holden we were wrong, that Modernists and Traditionalists alike need to join forces with the Revolutionists because it’s the will of the gods.”

  “Oh my god, Dad, no. This isn’t some holy war. We’re not freaking crusaders or saints. We’re just trying to stop Nicholai. That’s it.”

  “Okay, fine,” he agreed while somehow simultaneously disagreeing, “but even still, you need the added support of the Modernists and Traditionalists. The Elitists are strong—stronger than they’ve ever been before.”

  I crossed my arms and leaned back against the counter. “If you can somehow work that out, fine, I’ll graciously accept the extra help, but if not, I’m not going to stress over it. The only thing I care about right now is finding the other four champions and convincing them to join us.”

  Dad eyed me knowingly. “Don’t forget what Holden told you the other day.”

  Shit.

  Wellsfield. Parker Center. One week.

  How on earth was I going to find four Gifted Elementals—who could be lurking anywhere in the world—convince them to join us, and somehow manage to get back in time to stop Nicholai from bombing another city to the ground…all in less than a week?

  Maybe we’d need more help than I’d thought.