The Essential Elements: Boxed Set

by Elle Middaugh

  I rolled my eyes. “You deserved it.”

  He glared and refused to concede.

  I sighed. “Fine. I’ll call Soren. Maybe he’ll be willing to help.”

  Holden’s glare intensified, shifting from stubbornness to what I was pretty sure was jealousy.

  “Who’s Soren?”

  “An extremely skillful Wind Elemental,” I said honestly, still hoping to rub it in a bit. “He’s one of the trainers for the Revolutionists—the head Wind teacher, actually.”

  Lilly waggled her brows. “Is he a hottie?”

  I smirked. “Of course. We all are, right?”

  “Sweet!” she sang out. “I’m ready for my first lesson. Let’s call him now!”

  “Let’s not call him now,” Holden decided, crossing his arms. “I’ll train her.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked, testing his resolve.

  “Completely. We’ll start right now. Let’s go.”

  He brushed past us and strolled toward the cathedral with determined confidence.

  Lilly whistled and stared at his ass as he walked away.

  “I knew that massive ego of his would get the better of him,” she said, shaking her head.

  So did I, girl. So did I.

  27

  Cade

  Voices echoed from far in the distance, sharp whispers I could barely understand.

  “…not part of the deal.”

  “You don’t make the rules, I do, and right now…”

  “But it’s not—”

  “You’ll have him when—”

  “No. Right. Now.”

  “Chelsea! Erion! Come and get your…I don’t want to see…again.”

  I cracked my bleary eyes open, and the darkened world spun.

  Pain ricocheted inside my skull and unconsciousness threatened to pull me back under, but I fought like hell to stay awake. As the blackness faded away, a light came into view, a fuzzy orange ball that slowly focused into the flames of a burning torch. I blinked and studied my surroundings, but it was difficult to make anything out in the dark. A hard, jagged wall stood tall and strong behind the torch. It shined in the dim light, making me think it must have been wet.

  Am I…am I in a cave?

  Something in the back of my mind told me I was right, but how the hell had I gotten here? And where the hell even was “here”?

  I tried to roll over so I could push up onto my hands and knees, but it was too fucking painful. My whole body ached. Everything hurt. I hadn’t felt pain like that since I’d taken a fireball to the chest.

  Had I somehow suffered another similar blow?

  I looked down, surprised to find myself shirtless and peppered with cuts and bruises. The yellowing of my skin suggested that some of these wounds were days old, possibly even weeks. Where had they come from? Why couldn’t I remember?

  “Ah, I see you’re finally awake.”

  The voice was much louder now, deep and smooth, like honey. I would have flinched or tensed if I’d had the energy, but I was having a difficult time even breathing without severe pain. I’d have bet money I had a few broken ribs in there.

  Turning, I finally laid eyes on the bastard the voice belonged to. He stood some distance away with his arms crossed. His face was hazy, but I still recognized him.

  “Fuck you,” I spat, but my words came out in a slur.

  He moved closer, and his lazy smirk came into focus. “Come now, darling boy, you must know you’re in no position to be dishing out threats.”

  I said nothing. I wanted to ask what he wanted and why I was there, but I already knew those questions would get me nowhere. If he wanted me to know, he’d tell me. He was cocky like that.

  Sighing, he slowly paced the cavern floor, his footsteps echoing loudly off the walls.

  My brain pinched. For some reason, it seemed like that wasn’t supposed to happen. I was sure his footfalls almost never made a sound.

  “I really had hoped you’d be out of here by now,” he said, feigning disappointment. “Perhaps we overestimated her feelings for you.”

  My eyelids squeezed shut. Was he talking about Val? Or maybe Loren? There really weren’t many people who cared about me. I’d made it too difficult over the years.

  “Then again, the fact that she thinks you’re dead is probably part of it.”

  What the fuck? Val thinks I’m dead? Who would have told her something like that? And why?

  “Oh well,” he continued with a lighthearted sigh. “I guess that just means we have more time to spend with you.”

  For some reason, my heart raced, and my limbs started to shake. Sweat broke out across my forehead and trickled down my temple. I had a very bad feeling about the words he’d just uttered, like some foggy, suppressed memory was working hard to stay suppressed.

  Two more figures entered the cave then, and my heart thundered wildly in my chest. I needed to run, needed to get the fuck out of there immediately, but I couldn’t move. I was too exhausted and in too much pain.

  Nicholai smiled, flanked by a man on each side. “Draven and Erion have a few questions for you.”

  With that, he turned and walked away, leaving me alone with the psychotic Skyden brothers.

  Draven, the darker-haired older brother, sauntered over to me first.

  “Where are the other demigods?” he asked. There was no hint of emotion in his voice. No anger, no suspicion, no excitement.

  “I don’t know,” I said, speaking for only the second time since I’d awakened. And I really didn’t know. Val and the others could’ve been anywhere. Hell, I didn’t even know where I was. I also had no idea who the other four demies were. Nik, Meg, Taj, and Eve hadn’t seen fit to divulge that particular info. Assholes—not that it was a bad thing, considering the situation I was now in.

  “I think you do,” Erion said, following his brother’s lead and strolling closer to me. He looked so much like Loren. It made me want to spit in his arrogant face.

  I tried to call on the Earth, but nothing happened. It was like it couldn’t hear me.

  Draven chuckled. “Forgotten again? That’s the fifth time this week.”

  “The cave is element-proof, dumbass,” Erion sneered, removing a set of brass knuckles from the pocket of his jeans. “We’re stuck doing this the hard way.”

  “I’ll ask you one more time,” Draven said, squatting down so our faces were level. “Where are the other demigods?”

  I swallowed hard and braced for the impact. “I…I don’t know.”

  Erion chuckled and pulled back his armored fist.

  All I could do was close my eyes and wait.

  Please, Val. Hurry.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  No two weeks had ever passed slower.

  Eat. Train. Sleep. Repeat.

  It was almost like the safe house all over again, except this time, I cried myself to sleep for hours on end and dreamed of a place where Cade was alive, where we could exist together in harmony. Waking was the nightmare.

  I’d had my shit packed for days: clothes, weapons, food. I’d contemplated having Lilly craft us some armor but immediately nixed the idea when I realized enemy Elementals could use it against us. Fires could heat the metal into melting, causing third degree burns or worse. It wouldn’t affect me since I controlled Fire, but it would hurt my friends. Earths could manipulate it, maybe even use it as a magnet to draw us closer against our will or simply crumble the material away. In the end, it just wasn’t worth the hassle. We would have to use our own means of defense and have faith that it’d be enough.

  I hefted my duffle bag onto my shoulder and spun around the empty house, imagining the once smiling faces that had occupied the space. I saw Sienna, Xavier, and Kendrick playing video games in the living room. I saw Dad drinking coffee and watching the local news from his reclining chair. I saw Kale reading a book as he lounged on the couch.

  And in the kitchen, I saw Cade. He was staring at me with that look in his eye, the one that whispered I
was the only one he saw in the whole wide world. His expression was a smirk and an adoring gaze mixed into one. I reached for him, my fingers passing through his body, through the ghost of a vision he was.

  The tears started falling. I buried my head on the countertop and cried, my whole body heaving with every painful sob that escaped my lips. I cried until time was lost, until I couldn’t possibly cry any longer, and then I cried even harder. Legs buckling, I slid down the cabinet doors until I was nothing more than a puddle of salt, snot, and sorrow on the kitchen floor.

  I knew I needed to pull myself together, needed to be strong because the end was near, but for just a moment, I allowed myself to succumb to the sadness and doubt.

  Less than a year earlier, I had been a quiet loner simply looking for some friends. Since then, my family had been ripped apart. My friends had been killed and taken from me, or they had betrayed me. That would have been enough to make anyone want to crawl into a hole and recoil from the world. It was too much. Demigod or not, I was still just…me, Valerie Moore, a person who’d already been through enough. I was tired, alone, and cracking under the pressure.

  Keep it together, I begged myself. Just a little bit longer.

  A light knock sounded at the front door, and I quickly wiped my tears with the backs of my hands then pulled myself up to stand.

  “Just a minute!” I called out, giving myself a few extra moments to get rid of the redness around my eyes. I fanned them with my hands and blinked a few times before opening the door to find Lilly on my porch.

  “Morning,” she said with a soft half-smile. It was like she already knew I’d been bawling.

  I swallowed back another round of tears and smiled. “Ready to go?”

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  “Is Holden here?”

  She shook her head. “Not yet.”

  “How about Pax? Is he ready?”

  “Yep.” She pointed to the cathedral steps across the street where he sat waiting.

  I readjusted the strap of my duffle and followed her over. We’d no more than sat down on the steps when Lilly paused and announced that someone was coming. Sure enough, a few seconds later Holden’s silver truck rounded the corner and pulled up to the church.

  He lowered the window and, for once, wasn’t wearing a cocky expression.

  “You guys ready to go?”

  I raised a brow. “Are you?”

  He nodded. “I have the latest intel on Nicholai’s location, and the address is already plugged into the GPS.”

  “Good.”

  I threw my bag into the back and started climbing inside then Lilly grabbed my arm.

  “Wait.” She paused, and I was pretty sure she was sensing vibrations in the Earth that I couldn’t feel. “Someone else is coming.”

  I shared a nervous glance with Holden. Who the hell would possibly be coming?

  We both climbed out, and the four of us made an Elemental wall across the street, waiting.

  My heart hammered. My elements pushed on the inside of my skin, dying to come out and play. After a quick, half-assed debate, I opened both palms and let them stand at the ready. I felt safer that way, anyway, and they were finally appeased.

  The others followed suit. Lilly tried her damnedest to keep her newfound Wind abilities from sneaking out, but a strong breeze still blew through the air, tossing my hair off to the side.

  I switched to my infrared Fire vision and scanned the horizon, fully expecting to find an army of Sect soldiers marching through the streets. Oddly enough, I only found one heat signature, and it was moving fast, right at us.

  My first thought was that it was a wild animal, but it was too tall and thin for that, so I knew it was definitely a person. The flame grew in size until it rounded the corner and I switched back to normal vision. The person was wearing the all-black, serpentine attire of a Sect soldier, but without the head gear. Her long blonde hair was whipping fiercely in the air behind her.

  Elise!

  Adrenaline surged through my bloodstream, firing me up for fight or flight, but I wasn’t sure which reaction to go with. Was she coming to recapture me? It seemed a little odd that she’d be doing the job solo. Fighting my instincts, I squeezed my fists and stood tall, trying not to react in the slightest.

  “We need to move! Now!” She shouted the words because she hadn’t yet reached us, and more nervous energy bubbled inside me. Flames crawled up my arm and ice spread out across the ground in front of me. It felt different, though, less like it had gotten the better of me and more like it was simply protecting me.

  As much as I wanted to obey her command, I still stood firm.

  “We’re not going anywhere until you explain yourself.”

  She slowed down, and when she finally reached us, she pulled me into a startling hug. I wasn’t sure what to do, so at first, I just stood there stupidly. Eventually I patted her shoulder and hugged her back.

  “You’re too damn stubborn,” she said when she finally pulled away.

  I snorted. “It’s a family trait.”

  Pax stared nervously between the two of us. “You two are related?”

  Lilly shot him an incredulous stare. “Seriously? They could pass for twins. Wait—are you twins?”

  “Cousins,” I clarified. “This is Elise. Elise, this is Lilly and Paxton.”

  She nodded. “I know them. They’ve been captives of the Sect since before I even started.”

  Lilly’s gaze drifted lower, skimming Elise’s outfit with a curled lip and scrunched nose.

  “Yeah, I know,” Elise said, gesturing to herself with a sigh. “That’s why I left.”

  “You’ve gone rogue?” I could hardly believe it. The Sect was all Elise ever seemed to care about. Well, that and Aunt Marge.

  Wait…

  “Why are you here?” I asked, needing to know the answer despite how rude it sounded.

  Her turquoise gaze slid onto Holden. “Why is he here?”

  He glared at her. “One question at a time, Prett. Answer Val’s first.”

  “Okay. I’m here because the Sect was planning to kill my family: my cousin, my mother, my aunt, and my grandfather. The last two, I can honestly do without, but the first two…” She shook her head. “I thought I could follow orders and bring you in, Val, but the whole time you were captured all I could think about was busting you out. I felt guilt like I’ve never known. I realized you and Mom are more important to me than my job, and when I found out what they were doing to Cade, I knew I couldn’t wait. I needed to leave immediately and help you.”

  My heart freaking flatlined. My voice was barely a whisper. “What…what did you say?”

  “Your fiancé,” she clarified. “The Landston guy? Nicholai is torturing him for information.”

  “Fiancé…?” Holden asked in confusion.

  A massive lump formed in my throat, and my stomach churned like an agitated pit of vipers.

  My stare locked onto Holden. “You said he was dead…”

  “Ha!” Elise almost laughed. “He’s the one who handed Cade over to the Elitists. So, I’ll ask you again, Michaels: what. are. you. doing. here?”

  I stepped back, staring at Holden in pure horror. “Is this true?”

  “No,” he replied quickly.

  “Liar!” Elise snarled, pointing a fantastical blade at him. It was an opaque crystal that shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow, and instead of being flat, it looked more like a multidimensional wedge.

  Holden shook his head and backed away slowly. “It’s not like that.”

  My chin quivered and tears streamed down my cheeks from out of nowhere. “Then what is it like?”

  His expression caved in on itself, revealing turmoil, sadness, and regret. “I made a deal with Loren…Cade in exchange for you. That’s how I got you out.”

  My hand shot to my mouth and I turned away. I couldn’t stand to look at him. Cade had been alive all this time? He was alive and being tortured?

  I paus
ed and stared intently at my cousin. “Is he really still alive?”

  She nodded. “Last I heard, yes.”

  Oh my god! I could hardly dare to believe it. All the pain and grief and misery…gone. Cade is alive! It was like I could finally breathe deeply for the first time in two weeks.

  “Val,” Holden added quickly, “I never would have done it if I knew Nicholai would take him. Loren wanted to be with him, and I wanted to be with you, that’s all.”

  “That’s all?” I screamed, whipping around and facing him as rage consumed me. “I’ve told you a thousand fucking times that I don’t want to be with you! Can’t you take a hint? I wanted to be your friend, Holden, but now you can go to hell!”

  “Valerie, please, I’m sorry,” he begged, and he at least had the decency to start crying.

  I pushed his chest, knocking him backward a few paces. He was lucky I didn’t push him with my power. “Go away! I don’t even want to see your pathetic face right now.”

  “Val…” Lilly said, putting her hand on my shoulder. “I need him to help me with my Wind.”

  “So do I,” Elise admitted reluctantly.

  I slowly turned around as the meaning of her words clicked into place. “You have Wind powers?”

  She nodded and held up her hands. A twisting, Earthly wisp sat in one palm while a swirling funnel of Wind struggled in her right, blowing everyone’s hair around.

  “I got them when I was fleeing the Sect. Just another reason why I can never go back.”

  I shook my head, trying to make sense of this whole thing. Taj had chosen Elise; I could work with that. What I couldn’t work with was Holden. Not anymore.

  “Let’s just get in the truck and go,” I decided. “You two will be fine until we reach the Revolutionists. Sienna will be able to help you then, or Soren. Maybe you can even create some sort of anti-Wind gemstones or something? You’re both Earths, after all.”

  “You can’t just take my truck,” Holden said, but his tone sounded uncertain.

  “We can,” I threatened, stomping across the pavement and jabbing a finger into his chest, “and we will.”