Magic of the Wood House (The Elemental Phases Book 6) (12 page)

The
girl was going to get her talkative ass fried.

“Teja!” 
She shouted at the Not!Teja.  “What are you doing?!  Stop this!  You’re
attacking our kingdom for no reason!”  Too dumb to run and too smart for her
own good, Freya advanced on her target.  “No matter how angry you are, this is
going too far.  I have sick Phases in the hospital!  Did you even think about
them?  Or what about the Cold Palace?  You’re melting it!  Your father was born
here!  What are you thinking?!”

“The
girl never shuts up, does she?”  Satour muttered.

“Ten
bucks says Twin-Teja barbeques her.”  Djinn looked around.  “Any takers?”

Teja
closed her eyes in frustration as her relatives began placing bets.  Freya was
annoying as hell, but she was also Teja’s family. 
No
one
threatened
her family.  She sighed and glanced over at the others.  “I’ll be back in a
minute.”

“You
want help?”  Missy asked eagerly.

“No.” 
Introducing the
actual
Fire Phases into this mess would be like dousing
a campfire with kerosene.  “I can handle it.  Just stay put and call Job. 
We’re going to need to prove that this isn’t us.”

“I’m
not calling Job.”  Djinn scoffed.  “
Pele’s
my alibi.  Right Pey?”

Pele
shrugged.  “For a price.”

“And
who’s
her
alibi?”  Teja retorted.  “Do you really not see that we’re
all
going to be arrested?  Just be smart, call Job, and don’t kill anyone while I’m
gone.”  She turned to look at Qadesh.  “And watch Sullivan.”  She ordered.

“You’re
not leaving me here.”  Sullivan shook his head.  “No way in hell.”

Qadesh
arched a brow at her.  “He’s right, Tej.  The boy is your Match.  He has to be
trained, if you’re going to keep him.”  Qadesh was a huge advocate of training,
and then training, and then training some more.

“She’s
not
keeping
me.”  Sullivan snapped.

“He’s
not going with me.”  Teja shouted at the same time.  “Do you think I’d take a fragile
human into a fight?  Are you insane?”

“The
kid needs to develop some survival skills.”  Pele put in.  “Don’t be so
overprotective.  This is a good opportunity for Sullivan to learn some basic
battlefield stuff.  Plus, it’ll be a nice, romantic outing for the two of
you.”  She lowered her voice.  “You really need to try
courting
the
human, because he doesn’t seem ready to Phaze with you, yet.”

“Alone
time.”  Djinn agreed.  “Every couple needs it.  Let the boy behead some guys. 
It’ll get him in the mood for love.”

Teja
couldn’t believe she was having this conversation.  “Sullivan is not coming to
the Cold Kingdom!”

“You’re
not leaving me here.”  Sullivan repeated.

“You
don’t get a say in it and neither do they.”  Teja jabbed her index finger at
his chest.  “Stay!”  She ordered and jumped to the Cold Kingdom, before Freya
got herself killed.

…Which
meant that she didn’t get the chance to stop Sullivan from following her.

Siebel
: "Help! Fire! Help! Hell is burning!"

Mephistopheles
: (addressing flames) "Stop, Kind element, be
still, I say!”

Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe-
"Faust"

Christmas
Eve Evening

Goddamn
it, why did it have to be snow?

Sullivan
stumbled to his feet and looked around the frenzied scene.  He wasn’t sure what
had just happened.  He’d seen Teja leave and panic had filled him.  He’d known
that she was about to walk into danger and he’d instinctively… grabbed for
her.  Something inside of him latched onto her and it had dragged him to the
Cold Kingdom.  The glowy blue palace and the frozen landscape looked just like
they did on TV.

They
also looked like something out of
The Thing
.

After
spending his whole life in Florida, being surrounded by so much winter was even
more bizarre then Fire House’s volcanoes.  Except, this landscape also seemed
weirdly… familiar.

Like
he’d seen it before.

Which
was impossible, no matter what Djinn thought about those missing twelve hours. 
Sullivan would surely remember someplace so damn cold.  He hated the cold.  He
wanted to be back home in Florida, where people wore ski coats the moment the
thermometer hit seventy degrees.  He didn’t have much of a choice about
sticking around, though.  Teja was somewhere in this tundra and he’d never
abandon her.

Even
if she was a pyromanial lunatic.

“Teja!” 
He bellowed, trying to spot her in the rampage.

All
around him, people were running in terror and igloo buildings were collapsing
into water.  The Life Model Decoys of the Fire Phases dashed around the chaos,
shooting flames and giving each other high-fives.  Sullivan’s eyes narrowed. 
They were actually enjoying this.  Nothing pissed him off faster than criminals
who enjoyed themselves.

The
crowd rushed passed Sullivan in a blind panic.  Most of them were jumping out
of Ice Plant Hoth as the imposters approached.  Sullivan didn’t blame them. 
None of the Cold Phases seemed like soldiers.  Primarily, they were dressed in
lab coats.  What chance did they have against armed invaders?  The Cult really
needed a police force.

Sullivan’s
jaw tightened, holding his ground as the hostiles drew closer

The
one who looked like Djinn stopped directly in front of him, momentarily distracted
from his terrorizing when Sullivan didn’t retreat.  “Hey, you’re that human.” 
He blurted out.

Sullivan
punched him.  He didn’t punch him
just
because he looked like Djinn,
although any jury in the world would’ve seen that as sufficient cause.  He
punched him because Sullivan hated bullies.  He’d spent eight years in the army
fighting assholes who brutalized the weak and his whole childhood enduring his
father.  The Cold Phases might have been some other species, but they were
still innocent people who needed help.

Djinn
2.0 hit the ground with a surprised yelp.  The Reflection Phases clearly
weren’t much more than civilians in their everyday life.  The guy didn’t react
like a trained fighter.  He sprawled there in a daze, shocked that someone had
hit him.

Sullivan
didn’t give him a chance to get up.  He slammed the heel of his boot into the
man’s head, knocking him unconscious.  He wasn’t sure if these bastards were
aiming to frighten people or to kill them, but he wasn’t taking any chances.  Not
when they were committing fifty felonies.

…And
not when he saw Teja heading straight for one of them.

“Stop!” 
Sullivan started for her, his heart in his throat.

Logically,
he should use this opportunity to wave good-bye to the kidnapping nut and hitch
a ride home.  He didn’t take kindly to being held hostage, no matter how
beautiful the abductress.  Leaving all the Elementals behind seemed like a damn
good idea, but it was impossible for him to just walk away.  Teja was about to
get killed and all the stupid instincts in his body were screaming at him to
protect her.

“Teja,
stop!”  He pushed his way through the crowd, his eyes fixed on her beautiful
dark hair.  “She has a fucking flamethrower!”

Teja
didn’t seem to hear that.  Or maybe she was just ignoring him, because she had
everything under control.  “Get the hell away from my cousin!”  She roared at
the Fake-Teja.

Fake-Teja’s
eyes widened in terror.  “What are you doing here?”  She blurted out.  “Stay
back or I’ll kill her!  I swear it!”  She waved the flamethrower in the direction
of a mystified blonde in a lab coat, who could only be Freya.

Freya
looked between the two Tejas for a moment, trying to figure out who was who.  For
someone who supposedly hated the Fire Phases, Freya did a hell of a good
impression of a girl thrilled to realize that her cousin wasn’t a homicidal
terrorist.

“Teja!” 
She cried in relief, looking at Real-Teja.  “Thank God!  I had no idea what was
going on!  I still
don’t
, but now I see that you’re you, and she’s
not
you, and what in the world…?”

“Shut
up and duck.”  Teja interrupted and blasted imposter with a concentrated
blizzard of power.

Freya
hit the ground, covering her head with her arms.  “Jesus!”

Fake-Teja’s
gave a screech of rage.  She tried to fire at Teja, but the flamethrower turned
into icicles in her hand.  Seeing it was hopeless, she attempted to drop it and
run, but the weapon was frozen to her skin.

“Help!” 
She screamed.  “Somebody help me!”

Teja
smirked.  “See, that doesn’t sound like something I’d say.”  She mocked and
used the strength of her energy to throw the other woman through the air like a
whiffle ball.  The Fake-Teja hit the side of the palace, her skull slamming
into the blocks of ice with an audible crack.

Written
on the wall were the words: 
Hey, Missy!  Wanna trade?

Sullivan
had no idea why.

From
the look on Teja’s face, neither did she.  Her eyes went over the phrase again
and again, as if she was trying to make sense of it.

Freya
had other concerns.  She winced at the sight of the Teja-clone’s crumpled body. 
“Well, that was possibly at little extreme.  I think you just broke half of her
bones, Teja.  Even in an Elemental, that kind of impact is going to leave
lasting…”

Teja
cut her off.  “Like I give a shit.”  She didn’t even glance in her victim’s
direction, rounding on her cousin instead.  “Why the hell did you go walking
towards
that bitch, Freya? You’re a doctor!  Doesn’t that mean you’re supposed to be
smart?”

“I
thought she was you!  I was trying to reason with her!  With
you!
”

“Does
either version of me seem like a reasonable person?”  Teja stomped over to drag
Freya to her feet.  “Come on.  Let’s find Eian and get out of here before you
get yourself killed.”

“Eian’s
in the Agora and I’m not going anywhere.  I can’t leave my patients!”  Freya
gestured towards ice palace.  “I’ve gotten most of them out, but one’s in a
coma!  What kind of doctor would I be if I just abandoned him to the Fire
House’s mercy?”

“That
is not the Fire House, you idiot!”  Teja waved a hand at the flame-throwing
imposters.  “They’re Reflection Phases dressed up like us for Halloween and we
have no idea what they’re planning to do next, so…”  She stopped short,
spotting Sullivan for the first time.  “How the fuck did you get here?!”  She
bellowed.  “Are you out of you mind?  It isn’t safe!”

“I
don’t know how I got here.  I just followed you.”

Teja
swore in some language he didn’t recognize.  Little Miss I-Don’t-Have-Emotions
looked seriously pissed.  “You shouldn’t be able to do that.  How in the hell
can you do that?”  She glowered up at him like it was somehow his fault.  “What
kind of powers do you have?”

“I
don’t
have
any powers.  I told you, I’m just an ordinary human caught up
in your weird circus.”

“Bullshit! 
Ordinary humans can’t jump between Houses.  Even with our connection, it
shouldn’t be possible.”

Sullivan
rolled his eyes.  “Because you’re the reigning expert on ‘possible’ and
‘reality’ and everything that’s
not
straight out of Comic-Con, right?”  The
woman was unbelievable.  “For the last time, I don’t have any mystical energy.”

“Except
you
do
.  I can feel it and you’re somehow tapping into it, even though
you shouldn’t be able to.  Not yet.  Not when we haven’t Phazed and you’re
mostly just a human.”  She shook her head.  “Sullivan, how powerful
are
you?”

He
didn’t even bother to dignify that with a response.

“Is
he your Match?”  Freya scanned Sullivan up and down.  “Parson’s grandson?  The
human?  Eian’s been nagging me to go see him, but I haven’t had the chance.” 
She looked back to her cousin.  “Oh Teja… I’m so happy for you!  Finally, you
have your other half.  I think this will make you a nicer person.  And he
doesn’t seem at all feeble, so maybe his human genes are recessive.  That’s a
good sign.”  She was clearly one of those people who said everything she
thought.  “I heard about the warrior’s mark, but it’s just amazing.”  She
squinted up at his scar.  “What sort of battle did it come from?”  She turned
to Teja, without waiting for an answer.  “He really shouldn’t be in battles,
you know.  You’ll have to take better care of him.  He’s mostly just a regular
human and humans are so fragile.”

“He’s
not just a regular human.”  Teja muttered.  “Sullivan, stay behind me.  We’re
getting out of here as soon as I get my moronic cousin to shut-up.”

Sullivan
rolled his eyes at that idea, automatically checking the positions of the other
assailants.  “Just give me my gun back.”

“I’m
not giving you that gun.  What if you accidently shoot yourself?”

“Guns
are very dangerous for humans, Sullivan.”  Freya agreed in the exaggeratedly
slow voice of someone talking to their misbehaving toddler.  “You mustn’t play
with them.  Just let us handle the bad men.”  She gave him a fond look and then
smiled at Teja.  “Isn’t he just adorable?”

Sullivan’s
jaw ticked.  This whole family drove him crazy.  “I know how to use a gun in
combat.  I was an Army Ranger.”

“What’s
an Army Ranger?”  Teja asked blankly and then swore again when she realized
Freya was heading towards the Cold Palace.  “Where are you going?”  She
demanded.  “You can’t go in there.  Half of it’s on fire!”

“I
know.  That’s why I have to hurry.  I told you, I have to rescue my patient.”

Teja
stormed into the rapidly burning palace after her.  “Freya!  Damn it, am I the
only one here with a brain?”

Sullivan
followed them, because where else was he going to go?

Freya
headed for the stairs, taking them two at a time.  All around them, the walls
were dripping like waterfalls.  The icy building was melting as the furnishing
and roof burned.  The heat was just too high for the glowing blue blocks to
withstand.  Sullivan guessed they had about five minutes before the whole place
was a scenic lake.

He
raced up the slippery steps behind the cousins.  “Teja, now would be a good
time to that ‘Flame On!’ thing in reverse.”

“What?”

“Put
the fire out!”

“I
can’t.  I’ve tried.  They’ve done something to flames and I don’t have time to
figure out what.  I can’t douse them with my Cold powers, either.”

They
reached the top of the stairs and ran down a carpeted hallway.  The rug was
soaking wet, squishing like a sponge when they stepped on it.  As the palace
was eaten away, the melted ice poured over the flames, but the fire still
wasn’t being extinguished.  Like an oil slick, it kept burning through the
water.

Sullivan
had a seriously bad feeling about this.  He was all for helping Freya’s
patient, but not if it meant risking Teja’s life.  His instincts were
clambering in alarm.  “Teja,” he said sharply, “this isn’t right.”

“I
know.  It’s gotta be one of those damn Tablets of Fate screwing with the fire. 
Someone’s been playing around with them and they’ve discovered a new trick.”

“I
don’t care
why
it’s happening.  We have to get out of here before we
burn to death as we drown.”

“We’re
almost there.”  Freya yelled and slammed through a set of double doors that led
to some kind of hospital waiting room.

Sullivan
gave an agitated sigh, scanning the sterile space.  Short of dragging Teja out,
he didn’t have a choice but to go along with this.  “Sixty seconds.”  He warned,
jabbing a finger in her direction.  “Then, we evac if I have to carry you,
understand?  I feel this going south.”

His
instincts had kept him alive in a warzone and kept shouting that Teja was
his
. 
Sullivan didn’t believe in magic, but he trusted his instincts implicitly.  In
fact, they were the only thing he trusted.