Shit. Shit. Shit!
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he muttered before spinning around and scanning the shadows.
He’d felt us. Even three Earth demigods weren’t enough to overpower his control.
“All seven of you?” he mused disdainfully. “You couldn’t even make it a challenge for me?”
Amelia followed his gaze toward the shadows, and she squinted. “Seven heat signatures…”
Fuck! Chase, Holden, and I should have been on that. Such a stupid, stupid mistake! This whole plan was stupid. We were fucking stupid.
“Get to the cave!” I hissed then lurched into a sprint, hoping the Earths were still covering me as I used my Fire to fade out our body heat.
“Draven! Erion!” Nicholai shouted. “Guard the cavern! Do not let them through!”
The Skyden brothers each took a few long strides and effectively blocked the entrance to the cave.
My sprint faltered.
Looks like this is it, I thought with an unnerving sense of calm. It ends right here…
Right now.
Chapter Thirty-Three
I opened my hands and charged up my wisps.
An angry blue fire blazed in my left palm as a furious geyser of water erupted from my right. I’d never seen my elements so aggressive before, so ready to break free and destroy shit, but I’d also never seen them so obedient, waiting patiently on me to set them loose. The realization of my control made my confidence soar.
I stared at the brothers. They were both Winds, so my elements could hurt them if I got close enough. Of course, that also meant they could hurt me, too. As Winds, though, they’d naturally be better at defense than offense.
As I quickly contemplated my strategy of attack, more Elitists joined the group and circled around us: Brad Rosenthorn, Adira—the owner of The After Dark nightclub—Loren Marlowe, and her mother, Chelsea.
One by one, the others fueled up their wisps.
Great. This many Elementals in such close proximity? It was basically a climatic free-for-all just waiting to happen. I threw caution and strategy to the wind, simply attacking the Skyden brothers as fiercely as possible.
I reached out, sending a wave of icy spikes at their chests, but they quickly formed power shields and eroded them into tiny ice shavings.
I jabbed my other hand out, throwing a stream of fireballs, but they tucked and rolled, narrowly avoiding getting scorched.
Not backing down, I charged closer, blasting them with a powerful surge of water. They merely spun in a circle, forming a mini cyclone, and sucked up my water into their funnel. When they abruptly stopped, all the water crashed to the ground.
Growling, I formed my nasty fire whip, snapping it at the ground by my feet. For the first time since the fight had begun, they almost looked nervous.
I lashed out, snaking the whip around Draven’s left ankle and pulling hard. He dropped to the ground with a thud, clawing at the ground as blue flames crawled up his leg. I reeled the whip in, slowly dragging him closer to me as he screamed.
Erion retaliated on his brother’s behalf. He sent a tornado of wind sailing right for me, spinning me off my feet and into the air. I kept my hold on the fire whip, though, so I ended up dragging Draven into the air with me.
From that height, I had a clear view of the rest of the fight. Every demi that had even an ounce of control over the Earth was focusing on Nicholai and Brad, and considering the two Elitists couldn’t kill them, it was an extremely smart move.
Holden was facing off with my mom, Xavier had taken on Adira—who was apparently another Fire Elemental—and Sienna was battling it out with Loren and her mother Chelsea. I had no idea who was winning, or if anyone was yet. It mostly just looked like a bunch of chaos.
When Erion realized his tornado wasn’t really doing much, he dropped me to the ground—a twenty-foot plunge, at least.
I gasped and prepared myself for the fall, accidentally letting go of my magical whip.
Remember parkour, I coached myself. Tuck and roll. It would help divert the impact of the hit and keep my body in motion. I did as I’d ordered myself, but fuck, it still hurt when I met the ground. It felt like half the bones in my body had compacted and crushed.
I stood, carefully rolling my neck out as quickly as I could, and turned my attention back to the cave. The brothers were slightly distracted—Draven crying out from the pain of his burn wounds, Erion desperately trying to pat out the flames—so the cave was momentarily unguarded.
I knew it might be the only chance I’d get.
Lighting myself on fire, I sprinted as fast as I could into the mouth of the cavern, and when I finally made it past the threshold…every last flame died.
I was out of breath and sweating like crazy, but now I was also insanely freaked out. I held up my hand and willed it to relight, but nothing happened. Swallowing hard, I looked at my other palm, hoping beyond hope that some water might gush out, but again, nothing.
Fear gripped my chest as I spun around.
The Skyden brothers were glaring at me, but they didn’t seem to have any desire to follow me inside. Was this cave the reason my powers weren’t working? I looked around at the dimly lit, damp hole in the ground and tried to figure out how it was possible.
Suddenly, Nicholai’s enraged voice echoed from within the fortress. “YOU LET HER GET THROUGH?!”
Then he shouted, screamed, roared. The noise alone could have shaken the building’s walls, but coupled with his Earth powers, he brought the entire structure to the ground. Chunks of roof and wall met the floor in a dusty pile of rubble, Elementals were buried alive, and the mouth of the cavern was quickly sealed shut.
Physically blocked from the rest of the fight, it was now eerily silent. A few torches hung along the jagged walls, but there didn’t seem to be anything around me. Had he tricked me? Made me believe this cave was important only to trap me down there forever with no Elemental powers to help me out?
My heart started racing, but there was no reaction whatsoever from my elements. It terrified me. My lungs pumped harder, and my breaths came in short, shallow bursts. This was no time to panic.
Scan the cave and check for Cade then find a way out of this freaking tomb.
“Cade!” I called out. I wasn’t sure if he was in any condition to speak, groan, make any kind of noise to alert me to his whereabouts, or whatever, but I had to try. “Cade!”
Aside from empty echoes, I was met with nothing but silence, pure and numbing.
Grabbing a torch, I followed the wall deeper into the cavern.
It was smaller than I’d originally thought, just a teardrop-shaped space in the ground with a narrow mouth and a wide bottom. Even at the broadest point, it was only about fifty feet or so across. I held the torch higher, trying to shed more light on the situation.
“Cade!” I shouted again, my voice echoing ominously off the cold walls all around me.
He’s either not here, or he’s already…
I closed my eyes and swallowed hard.
No. God damn it, NO!
I hadn’t come this far just to lose everything. I needed to find a way out of this anti-Elemental cave. Nicholai must’ve been keeping Cade somewhere else. That was it. There was no way he was down here—he would have answered me if he were—because there was no way he was dead. He’d survived so much; I knew he could survive this.
But that’s when I saw a body…bruised, bloody, deathly pale, and unmoving.
A sob tore from my throat, and I was running before I even knew what was happening. Crashing to my knees beside him, my fingers quickly flew to Cade’s neck. Dear Jesus, he was cold. If there was a pulse, it was too weak for me to feel it. I blinked back the tears flooding my eyes and held the torch closer to his face. The glow from the flames was warm and orange, but even still, I didn’t think he looked…blue or gray. It gave me hope that I might not yet be too late.
Even so, my time was running out.
I needed to
bust us out of there as fast as humanly possible, and considering I had zero elements to help, that was going to be almost impossible. Of course, if I could dig just a little way outside the anti-Elemental barrier then I might be able to get my powers back, and if that worked, I could blast a hole in the ground with a geyser or a giant ice spike, or I could suck the water from the dirt and cause it to crumble like sand.
And best of all, if I could get Cade out of this cave and back into his element, he could hopefully start to heal.
The sooner I did all that, the better.
I rushed back to the mouth of the cave, set the torch down, and started digging. Most of the rocks and bricks that blocked the entrance were large and heavy, not possible for me to lift, but I was at least able to push and pull them until gravity took over and dragged them farther down. I clawed and scraped at the rubble until my bones ached and my fingernails bled. Cuts from sharp edges and bruises from getting smashed one too many times littered my hands, but I couldn’t afford to stop, not with Cade’s life on the line.
Eventually, though not nearly as soon as I’d have liked, I started to feel my power stirring, a weak buzz of energy humming deep within my skin. I wasn’t yet able to tap into it so I knew I hadn’t gone quite far enough, but at least I knew I was almost there.
Digging faster, I yanked even harder on the rocks, scrambling through the wreckage with shaking limbs. As I dug, I came up with a plan. Getting Cade back in touch with the Earth was the most important thing, because I needed him to heal. Once I carved out enough room for him, I’d have to start digging again somewhere else nearby. Obviously, I wouldn’t want to blast that first spot with Water or Fire with him so close and so vulnerable.
My body ached at the thought of starting all over again, but my heart and mind were already set in stone. Cade first, deal with the aching in my bones later—much later, like after we were finally out of the cave later.
When I finally had a small nook whittled into the rocks and I was able to access my powers once more, I hauled Cade over by the armpits and tucked him into the crack. Instantly, a bit of color burst into his cheeks and his lungs took a deep drag of oxygen. He was still unconscious, but the fact that he was alive was everything to me. Everything.
I hugged him gently, careful not to damage his body even further, and cried tears of relief for…I don’t even know how long. It felt like ages. I kissed his cheeks, his forehead, the tip of his nose, his fingers. I stroked his hair and traced the features of his gorgeous face. I whispered to him how much I loved him, told him I was there and was going to get us out of there. Over and over I repeated those words, like a mantra, a prayer, a promise—just in case he could hear me.
Then I checked his body for injuries, doing my best to cauterize the wounds in his arms so they could heal without bleeding and dripping some water into his mouth to combat the dehydration he’d no doubt suffered. I ran a soft mist of water across his face, arms, and bare upper torso, gently scrubbing away the dirt, grime, and hardened blood that had accumulated there.
Only once I was satisfied that I’d taken care of him to the best of my limited buried-underground-in-a-cave ability did I allow myself to resume digging.
I cried the whole time I mined, too, going through the motions in a numbing sort of disbelief as I tried to get my head back in the game.
Nicholai had done this to him, had tortured the man I loved nearly to death, and he was going to pay for it with his life. I needed to embrace my inner darkness for that particular task, and I had a feeling it wouldn’t even be all that hard.
It took much longer to burrow the second hole in the rocks, but eventually I made it. As soon as my power came back, the real work started. I syphoned as much water from the soil above my head as I could muster, breaking the bonds that held the little specks of dirt so tightly together. Sand trickled down in loose waterfalls, and I took a few healthy steps back.
Time for the next phase.
I aimed my hands at the crumbling dirt and blasted the ever-loving hell out of it with an intense gush of water. The sand was immediately caught up and displaced, rushing to the cave floor in a gritty wave much like you’d find at the beach. The result was a huge gouge in that section of the cave ceiling. The destruction gave me hope.
I didn’t know for sure how far underground we were, but I didn’t think it was very far. After all, the cave had been level with the fortress floor before it crumbled. It would probably only take one more round of syphoning and blasting before we were out.
After rolling my neck and shoulders, I suctioned the tiny beads of water from the earth once more and watched as sand yet again drizzled from the ceiling.
One more blast, I assured myself.
And sure enough, when the water was done pouring out of me, a glorious ray of sunshine filtered down diagonally into the cavern. It wasn’t bright as the clouds were still swirling violently above, but it was enough to make my spirit soar.
We were almost out!
And Nicholai was almost gone.
Chapter Thirty-Four
I rushed over to Cade and grimaced when I realized I’d have to lift him up and carry him. Not only was he solid muscle and therefore much heavier than me, he was also severely injured, and I didn’t want to make his wounds any worse.
Unfortunately for us, we really didn’t have a choice.
Or maybe we did?
Cade was an Earth. He wasn’t negatively affected by it; he was replenished. I could probably drag him up my recently excavated tunnel. It’d be easier on me and probably safer for him too. The more contact he maintained with the Earth, the better.
I grabbed him under the armpits and pulled, hauling him most of the way up the tunnel before pausing. The sounds of battle filtered back into my ears—shouts, strikes, destruction…death. I swallowed hard. I couldn’t tell if my heart was racing from the exertion of carrying Cade or from fear of what I’d find above.
As soon as we showed our faces up there, we’d immediately become targets once more. Cade in particular would be extremely vulnerable. I’d need to get him to the forest, away from the battle as soon as possible so he could continue healing without the imminent threat of being murdered.
I quickly erased our heat signatures and called on the stormy clouds above. Rain suddenly pelted down in a misty sheet of gray, obscuring most of the battlefield. Grabbing Cade, I shuffled as quickly as I could out of the tunnel and across the muddled terrain. There were chunks of rock, branches, and bricks all over the place. Worst of all, they were covered in splatters of blood and interspersed with fallen bodies, most of which were dead. It was horrendous.
I tripped over someone’s lifeless leg and crashed to the ground.
Don’t think about it, I ordered myself as I stood, avoiding making eye contact with the body, and hefted Cade up by the armpits once more.
But before I could take another step, a scream tore through the air and a fist landed with a bone-shattering crunch on the side of my face. I went down like a sack of bricks.
Black spots clouded my vision as I fought to remain conscious. Pain rattled through my head like a freight train, and my cheek seemed to already be swelling. When the dots finally cleared, I saw Loren dragging Cade away from me through the wreckage.
Oh hell no.
I hopped up and sprinted after them, but instead of busting my fingers on her face, I threw a fireball into her shoulder. She screeched and instantly dropped him, patting the flames on her shirt until they snuffed out. While she was distracted, I swooped in and pulled him back to my side.
“You bitch!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. It wasn’t the first time in my life I truly wondered if she was a little psychotic. “He is mine! And you will never ever take him from me!”
Loren latched onto Cade’s feet and pulled hard.
“Are you kidding me?” I asked, astounded. “Cade is a person, Loren! He’s not some toy you can fight over with me. You’re going to hurt him!”
She snar
led, and her eyes were alight with madness. “Now that he’s out of that godforsaken cave, he’ll heal. He’ll be fine, and once you’re out of the picture for good, he’ll fall back in love with me.”
“He was never in love with you!”
She shook her head and sneered at me. “We dated before, you know, during the years you weren’t around, and we were happy together. I know we can have that again.”
I swallowed hard and remained silent. I hadn’t realized they’d dated, but it didn’t matter. Her words sounded exactly like Holden’s, and if Holden and I could date and fall apart, I knew it was possible for Cade and Loren to do the same. Cade had probably realized that, while he and Loren might’ve had fun together, the love factor was just…missing. And just like I knew I could never be with Holden again, I knew in my heart that Cade would never be happy with Loren.
Besides, he’d already asked me to marry him, and I’d already said yes. Our connection was too strong to be broken, especially by our crazy exes.
My eyes drifted downward to where my engagement ring sat perched on her finger.
That unimaginable bitch…
Heat boiled inside of me and my Fire roared, dying to be set free. It wanted to scorch and ruin her, leave her in a pile of ashes at my feet, never to inflict her personal brand of crazy on anyone ever again—but I held it back.
“Give me my ring,” I demanded calmly, dangerously.
She smirked. “Oh, this?”
She tugged it off her finger and held it in the palm of her hand. I knew what was coming next. Just as she’d done with my fire opal necklace and bracelet, with my aquamarine crystal bracelet, she was planning on crushing it into dust.
I lashed out with my flaming blue fire whip, wrapping it around her wrist and up her forearm. Her fingers tensed and she screamed in pain, but instead of demolishing my precious ring, she accidentally dropped it.
The Essential Elements: Boxed Set Page 80
