The Essential Elements: Boxed Set

by Elle Middaugh

  I couldn’t tell if he didn’t believe us or was just too bitter to care.

  I cocked my head. “I suppose I am, yes.”

  “There are only eight of us in the world,” Cade said, squeezing my knee beneath the bar, “so that makes us pretty special, I think.”

  Henrie pursed his lips as if processing our words for the first time. “You’re serious?”

  “When have you ever known me to be flippant?”

  He nodded in agreement and rubbed his chin. “If that’s the case, I’m going to have to talk to Exis.”

  “Why?” Cade asked immediately.

  Exis was the one currently funding the Traditionalist campaign, but she was also the leader of the Shadow Sect. Any mention of talking to her was obviously going to raise our hackles a bit.

  Henrie shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “She needs to know she’s supporting the wrong party.”

  Hope rose up inside of me. First, my dad supporting us, and now Cade’s? I could hardly believe it. If we had the support of the Modernists and Traditionalists behind us, we could win for sure.

  Cade sounded equally as hopeful. “Seriously?”

  Henrie nodded. “At this point, stopping your fiancée’s batshit crazy grandfather is the most important thing. If we need to unite the political parties temporarily in order to achieve that, then yes, I’m on board.”

  Cade smiled radiantly, but he seemed to be trying to dim it down. “Thanks, Dad. I really appreciate it.”

  Henrie chuckled. “Maybe you can tell your god friends about this and they’ll forgive me for some of the stupider shit I’ve done in my life.”

  Cade’s expression fell like his mind had just gone on a tangent.

  “Dad, there’s something else I want to tell you.” He took a deep breath and chewed on his bottom lip. “I talked to Mom.”

  Every feature in Henrie’s face locked down into harsh blankness. “What?”

  “She’s not alive, so don’t get carried away. I spoke to her in the afterlife. She’s doing really well.”

  Tears welled in Henrie’s eyes, and he didn’t even bother trying to hide them.

  “She said she didn’t want her death to consume you. She said vengeance wasn’t the answer, and that killing Nicholai would never calm your spirit. She asked Valerie to forgive you guys for what you did.”

  A half-smile crept onto his face as the first tear fell. “Sounds like something she’d say.”

  “And she told me to tell you…she loves you.”

  Henrie started sobbing then, gut-wrenching wails of pure anguish that set my teeth on edge. Cade quickly went to him and wrapped him in a sturdy hug, allowing his father the chance to completely fall apart.

  I’m not sure how long they stood there, clinging to one another in their grief, but I stayed silent, allowing them to have however much time they needed. I felt a bit odd at first, as if I were intruding on an intimate moment I had no right to be a part of, but I eventually slipped into a peaceful state of acceptance. I was honored to witness such a touching event, and I decided to be in awe of it rather than uncomfortable.

  Sometime later, Cade pulled away. “We have to go now, Dad.”

  Henrie sniffed and nodded. “You never did tell me where you’re going.”

  A lump formed in my throat, burning with emotion. He’d already lost his wife; what were the odds he was about to lose his sons too? Facing Nicholai was not going to be an easy task. The chances of death—even for demigods—seemed quite high.

  Cade seemed to be debating the same issue in his own mind.

  He sighed, apparently deciding to go with the truth. “We’re going to take Nicholai head on. We have intel on where his next target will be. We’re going to stop him once and for all.”

  Henrie’s watery eyes dried up almost instantly as determination pulled his lips into a thin line. “Then I’ll need to speak with Exis right away—today. If you’re planning on fighting that lunatic, you’re going to need reinforcements. I plan on sending every able-bodied Traditionalist we have to help you.”

  A smile touched my lips. He might not have been talking to me specifically, but it still made me happy that he was cooperating and supporting his son.

  “Thanks, Dad,” Cade said before taking my hand and leading me toward the door.

  “Wait!” Henrie called, a sheepish blush burning across his cheeks as he averted his eyes. Almost reluctantly, he dragged his gaze to me. “I’m sorry, Valerie, for everything. I never should have treated you so badly, and I damn sure shouldn’t have blamed you for your family’s mistakes. I’d like the chance to get to know you…as a daughter…if you’ll allow me to do so?”

  My gaze shot over to Cade, unable to believe what I was hearing. Cade and I had been forced apart at every turn for the past year. It seemed completely surreal that the tides had finally turned.

  I nodded once. “Yes, sir. I’d like that very much.”

  He smiled. “Good luck. Now, I have to go make a phone call…”

  “Love you, Dad,” Cade said as he led me over to his truck.

  “I love you too, son.”

  The front door shut, and I exhaled a massive breath I hadn’t even realized I was holding.

  “That went better than I could have possibly imagined,” I said, climbing into the passenger side.

  Cade heaved himself into the driver’s seat and started the vehicle. “I knew he’d get it together. He usually trusts my judgment. He just needed to know I wasn’t fucking around.”

  I stared down at the glittering ring on my finger. It was beautiful, but it would definitely take some getting used to. The cold smoothness of it against my skin, the weight and shine—it was all so foreign, but I adored it.

  Cade took my hand and brought it to his lips, kissing my fingers gently. “I love you, Valerie.”

  I leaned my face into the warmth of our clasped hands. “I love you, too, Cade.”

  He grinned and put the truck into drive, skirting around the winding roads of the West Woods until we made it to Marge’s just a few minutes later. It probably would have been quicker to simply jog through the woods, but I was in no hurry to rush our time together. The gods only knew how much time we had left together, anyway.

  We hadn’t even reached Marge’s driveway when Cade slowed the truck to barely a crawl. Tension lined his brows and sharpened his emerald gaze. His grip on my hand tightened.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked before quickly flipping to my infrared Fire vision.

  Marge’s house was just around the next bend, and I was able to make out her tiny heat signature in the distance. The problem was…there was another signature in the house with her. One body was pacing, the other barely moving on the ground. The scene instantly nauseated me. I had a very bad feeling that Marge was in trouble.

  “Violence,” Cade muttered, never relaxing the frown on his face. “Anger. Pain.” He shook his head trying to sort through the feelings and emotions the Earth was showing him. “Fear. Fading energy.”

  He suddenly slammed on the gas and raced toward Marge’s home.

  “We need to get to your aunt now.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  I watched the light of the signature on the floor dim.

  No! Hold on, Aunt Marge, we’re coming!

  I wasn’t sure why I didn’t assume Marge was the one alive, that she’d killed the intruder in self-defense, but for some reason, I was sure I was right, sure she was the one on the ground. Maybe I was getting better at my Fire abilities? Maybe I was learning how to differentiate between the glowing red figures?

  Blinking, I switched back to normal vision and burst from the truck just as Cade threw the beast of a vehicle into park.

  My feet flew across the pavement and up the narrow sidewalk that led to her front door. I didn’t even bother to knock, simply burst past the threshold with Cade on my heels.

  The scene before me was paralyzing.

  Marge lay on the floor in a puddle of her own blood. Her face
was bruised and swollen, and from the awkward position of her left arm, I guessed it was broken. Shards of shattered glass and porcelain littered the floor, cupboard doors were ripped from the hinges, and the table and chairs were upturned. There had clearly been a fight, and if the appearance of the oppressor was anything to go by, a pretty one-sided fight at that. This guy had beaten the fucking shit out of my aunt—one of the strongest Earths I knew—and hadn’t even broken a sweat.

  Snarling, I stalked toward the man whose features I instantly recognized.

  Brad. It was Brad fucking Rosenthorn from Adira’s club, the man with the shaved head, tanned skin, and dark liner around his eyes, the man who’d given me a half-assed healing salve to fix the cut on my face.

  Cade rushed past me to see if he could somehow heal my aunt while I got right up in Brad’s smirking, dick-bag face.

  “You’re going to pay for this, Rosenthorn.”

  His smirk widened, exposing a little dimple in his cheek. “Glad to see you remember me.”

  “I never forget an asshole when I see one.”

  “I don’t think you’re very good at deciding which ones are assholes and which ones are good guys, I’m afraid.” He glanced at Cade with mild interest. “I take it this is the asshole who gave you the cut that day?”

  I rolled my eyes. “It wasn’t him and you know it.”

  He chuckled. “Still, you’d have done better with the Modernist boy. He has a gentler spirit.”

  “As if you fucking know me.”

  What was it with everyone and their dog trying to ship me with Holden? I knew he was an amazing guy, but that didn’t change the fact that I wasn’t in love with him.

  “No, silly girl. As if you know me.”

  Suddenly, Marge gasped and became conscious as Cade slathered his salve all over her wounds.

  “Stay away from him, Valerie!” she rasped through swollen lips. “He’s pure evil.”

  He tutted at her, mocking her fear. “Now, now, Margerie. That’s no way to talk about your daughter’s father.”

  Everything clicked into place.

  Brad was not only the jerk from the club, he was also Elise’s father, the putrid excuse of a man who’d forced himself on my aunt to further the Elitist agenda. It made me sick to even look at him.

  Before I knew it, I’d reared back and punched him right in his smug-ass face.

  Shock crossed over his features, followed quickly by bubbly laughter that leant him an air of insanity.

  “A punch? You’re an Elemental demigod and you came at me with a pathetic human punch?”

  Anger flared within me as I realized he was right. I should have gone for the big guns first.

  I let the Fire rip across my skin, blue flames that would blister his flesh in an instant, but he simply snapped his hands onto my wrists and smiled.

  What the hell? Why isn’t he burning?

  That was when I noticed his gloves—special, Elemental-proof gloves, if I had to guess.

  A dangerous intensity gleamed behind his dark eyes and his smile spread further. “Yes, Valerie, that’s right—your powers can do nothing to me right now.”

  Cade’s first instinct seemed to be to guard me, but he was suddenly rooted to the spot.

  “No, no, pretty boy. I wouldn’t try that if I were you. Remember what happened to Daddy? He split his shins right in half.”

  It terrified me to see Cade like that, powerless against his own element. He was the strongest Earth I knew, blessed by Leo himself, and still Brad overpowered him. How many souls had the man destroyed in order to attain that kind of power? Probably thousands…

  “Please, Brad,” Marge begged as she shook on the floor. “Leave her alone. Leave Elise alone. We’ll give you no trouble, I swear. Just go.”

  He threw his head back and laughed. “You never give me any trouble anyway, Margie. You’re a toy I like to play with, nothing more.”

  “Get the fuck out of this house,” I demanded darkly, though I was clearly in no position to be dishing out threats.

  He chuckled and brought his nose to my neck, running it slowly up to my ear. Sickness crawled through my limbs and I started to shake. I couldn’t move. He’d rooted me in place, just like he’d done to the others. Panic numbed my mind, blinding rational thought.

  “You’re scared,” he whispered in my ear. His breath was hot and sticky and made me want to puke. “Remember that fear. Don’t ever forget it. If you cross me, it’ll only ever get worse.”

  Then he brushed his lips across mine. The taste was terrible, something bitter and rotten and almost chemical.

  Cade snarled and ripped a leg free of Brad’s earthly hold.

  Brad blinked and his mouth fell open appreciatively. “Very good, little demi. You’re stronger than I thought.”

  While Cade tried mercilessly to unstick his other leg, Brad dragged me over to him, apparently not concerned in the slightest. He bent down and brought Marge’s busted lips to his mouth, kissing her too. “Until next time, Margie.” Finally, he brought his attention to Cade and smiled malevolently. “Don’t worry, pretty boy—I won’t forget your goodbye kiss.”

  Cade’s features hardened into a furious death-glare as he struggled even harder against the Earth’s hold, but it was useless.

  Brad bent down and kissed him as well before laughing uncontrollably. “I’ll see you all again very soon.”

  With that, he unleashed more of his power, splintering Marge’s cottage like kindling and burying the wreckage deep beneath the soil—Cade, Marge, and me included.

  After a while, I felt his hold on my legs slacken, and I assumed he was long gone.

  Cade’s legs must’ve been released too, and not a moment too soon. He and Marge might’ve been able to survive being buried alive, but I was not an Earth, and I was quickly running out of oxygen. As soon as Cade was free, he opened a tunnel to the surface, allowing me to suck in deep gasps of air.

  “He poisoned us,” Cade said as he came over to help me up. “And it wasn’t a natural poison, either. He must’ve attained it through violence and the mutating of power. I don’t know what it is or how to counter it.”

  Fear crawled up my throat, but my aquamarine crystals kept the ice from spreading. Instead, blue flames licked across my skin, feeding on my fear and anxiety.

  Cade hissed and jumped backward, cradling his hands.

  “Shit! I’m so sorry! It was an accident.”

  I quickly snuffed out the flames, but the damage was already done. I needed to get my hands on another fire opal necklace.

  “Can you make me a fire opal?” I asked him, remorse and a touch of hopefulness in my voice.

  He smiled but shook his head. “I can make one, but you need to understand something, Val: the stones in and of themselves are nothing special. They’re catalysts, channels through which your power can travel, but ultimately, your control is up to you. You might not want to hear this, but you’re getting too dependent on them. What happens if they’re broken or taken away again?”

  Anger welled up in my chest, making it ache. “And what happens if I lose control and hurt you even worse? Or Marge? Or more innocent people like before? I need that stone, Cade. I can work on control after the war is over. Right now? Better safe than sorry.”

  He glared at me, clearly wanting to argue but fighting the urge to do so.

  This was our first fight since the engagement, and it’d barely been an hour. Hopefully that wasn’t some sort of bad omen.

  “Fine.”

  He didn’t even bother healing his palms before the twisting wisps of smoke appeared, morphing into a sunset-colored stone before our very eyes. Then the stone shattered, spinning into a handful of miniature orbs that threaded themselves onto a bracelet just like the one he’d made for the aquamarine crystals. When he was finished, he handed it to me rather than placing it on my wrist like before.

  I swallowed the nervousness swirling in my gut and slid the bracelet on. Immediately, the Fire within me ca
lmed to a gentle flicker. I sighed and smiled.

  “You already have all the control you need,” he muttered. “These are nothing more than placebos. That’s all I’m going to say.”

  A twisted smile sprang onto my lips. “Good, because I’m done arguing about it. My aunt is nearly dead, curled into a ball in the bottom of a pit that used to be her house. She has nowhere to go, and she’s definitely not safe. We need to take care of her, not bicker about stones.”

  Cade’s lips thinned. “Let’s take her to my dad’s.”

  “Why wouldn’t we take her to our house in Berwindale? There’ll be more people to watch over her.”

  “More targets for Brad, you mean? No, I won’t risk Kendrick’s life or the lives of our friends. Besides, no one would expect her to go there. Our families are not exactly friendly.”

  I heaved a deep sigh and studied his uncompromising face. “Why are we doing this?”

  He crossed his arms. “Doing what, Val?”

  “Fighting! I’m so mad at you right now I can hardly see straight. We just got engaged—aren’t we supposed to be blissfully in love?”

  His lips pursed and he thrashed his head in irritation. “It might be the poison.”

  Shit. I’d almost forgotten about that.

  “Well, what are we supposed to do?”

  He glared at me like I was a clueless child. “Take her to my dad’s, like I already said.”

  “Then what, jackass?”

  He shrugged theatrically. “I don’t know, Val. Can’t you come up with your own plans every once in a while?”

  My blood boiled despite the fire opal bracelet sitting on my wrist.

  “You bet your ass I can,” I spat. “And my latest plan? It doesn’t involve you.”

  “Good,” he retorted. “I’d hate to be there when it crashes and burns.”

  “Fuck you, Cade.”

  He scoffed. “No, fuck you, Val. Fuck you for never letting me take care of you or protect you. You’re always too independent to let me help.”

  I gritted my teeth as a rosy shade of red colored my vision.

  “If this really is the poison talking,” I said with what little mental clarity I had left, “we need to split up and cool down before things get worse.”