elemental 07 - lonely hunger (7 page)

“We’re probably not going to get all of them in one fell swoop,” Dylan said. Aira considered that and nodded. “But if we can get the most important people, we can seriously cripple them.”

“I just don’t understand why they feel like this is the hill they want to die on,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m the best possible ruler for air that there could be—aren’t I?” Dylan smiled wryly at the look of doubt on her face.

“That depends on what you consider ‘best possible,’” Dylan said. “I mean, from the perspective of ruling your element, doing what you can to keep people safe—both elementals and regular humans—you’re the best possible leader.” Dylan shrugged. “But if you wanted someone who would turn a blind eye or advocate for less secrecy, then you’re probably the worst.” Aira chuckled, rolling her eyes.

“The thing that disturbs me about this is that there has to be air elemental involvement,” Aira said softly. “If they’re holding Leigh confined—they have to be using water-aligned materials. None of them would be able to deal with that. The only people who could would be water or air elementals.” Dylan’s eyes widened. He hadn’t considered that. The water elementals that he knew were all on Aira’s side—not only because she was Lorene’s heir but also because of her policies. But there could be people of his own alignment who were arrayed against Aira, just as there had been people in her own element who had taken their stand against her.

“Well we know that there are air elementals who turned—and turned back.” Dylan chewed his bottom lip. “We might also have water elementals to contend with.” Aira’s eyes widened at the possibility of that as Aiden came back into the room.

“You’re right,” she said, shaking her head. Aira pressed her lips together. “I might have representatives from all four elements who want me deposed.” Aiden frowned.

“That just means there’s more reason to nip this in the bud.” Aiden sank down onto the floor next to Aira. “I mean, history doesn’t lie; any time someone comes into power there are these kinds of upheavals.” Aira sighed.

“Lorene had her own troubles,” Dylan reminded her. “She was unequivocally the best candidate for ruling water—but she had to contend with people who wanted someone else.” Dylan looked at his brother and sister-in-law and sighed. “For right now, let’s just rest up and get ready for what we need to do to get these people.”

“Okay,” Aira said, taking a deep breath and composing her face. “Let’s go upstairs.” Dylan saw the gleam in his brother’s eyes and laughed.

“Remember: we’re supposed to be sleeping and resting,” Dylan called after them as they stood and started up to Aira’s room.

 

That night, Dylan assembled what he needed to break through the track-blocking spell that the people holding Leigh were using. While he had been researching to find out the best possible way to nullify the block, Dylan had been thinking about the woman he’d met at his brother’s wedding. He had been so certain that Leigh was not part of the group that wanted to depose Aira; she had been there to observe, and the taste he had gotten of her essence had told him—limited though it was, and brief as it had been—that she was not inclined to violence. But he had to wonder what it was about her that had led the group actively seeking to punish Aira to hold onto Leigh; did she know something about the attacks? Did she know about the group’s plans? He had no idea.

Aiden and Aira came downstairs, looking—for the first time in days—as if they might have actually gotten rest. “When this is over,” Dylan said, raising an eyebrow at them with a smile tugging irresistibly at the corners of his lips, “I don’t want to hear from either of you for at least three weeks while you’re on your honeymoon. Just forget I even exist.”

“Done and done, bro,” Aiden said, looking at the configuration of materials that Dylan was assembling. “How is this going to work?” Dylan shifted one of the crystals into a better alignment. 

“Here’s the deal,” he said, stepping back to admire his handiwork. “We’re basically going to merge our energies through Aira. She has the projective ability, I have receptive. These materials will amplify our different traits in the merge—making it easier to break through the barrier that the group is using to block any and all trackers.”

“So basically it’s like elemental radar,” Aira said, smiling slightly. “A giant receiver for the information I’m going to be seeking out.” Dylan nodded.

“Essentially. We all get in the middle and Aira starts; I merge with her first, and then Aiden, you come in third. Between the three of us we should be able to bust through and find Leigh, as well as discovering anyone who’s with her.” Dylan gestured to a trio of mugs. “These potions are just about at their highest potency. We should drink them now and get started.”

Aira picked up the mug that Dylan indicated for her and gulped down the contents quickly. Dylan picked up his own mug—an infusion of lemon, chamomile, thyme and lemon balm. He sipped it at first and then drank down swallow after swallow. It wasn’t terrible—but it wasn’t all that tasty either. As the potion went to work, he felt his energy flowing more freely, and he knew that Aiden—who had just finished his own potion—and Aira were feeling the effects as well. The air around them crackled and Dylan took a deep breath. They had to contain themselves, direct their focus outward. He gestured for Aira to step into the circle he’d formed.

Aira closed her eyes and Dylan—attuned to her only a little less than his brother from long association—felt her energy flowing outward, her focus driving forward through the ether. The wind outside picked up, just below a howl, echoing the potency of her focus. Dylan swallowed and stepped into the circle, sitting down next to Aira and closing his eyes. He felt the flow of her energy and slowly worked his way in, reaching out blindly and taking her hand, letting his energy suffuse her. It was not as violent as when Lorene had bequeathed her essence to Aira—but Dylan could hear the rain starting up outside and knew that the three of them had better find their targets quickly or risk coming under fire for the freak weather they caused.

Dylan felt along the lines of Aira’s projection, opening himself up. He overtook the merge slightly, directing her focus in the direction he knew they needed to look. They were looking to the desert—that was the only place where the fire and earth elementals would be equally safe. As Aira’s energy grew, her seeking projection magnifying, Dylan almost recoiled as he felt Aiden joining them in the circle, sinking down onto the floor and clasping both of their hands, closing the circuit. Dylan inhaled sharply, feeling his brother’s volatile, fiery energy surge through him and into Aira. How could she handle it? He forced himself to damp down his own discomfort, to be both conduit for Aiden’s energy and perception to Aira’s projection. This was why Aira was the ruler of her element, he told himself. 

Dylan’s fine-tuned perception began to register fleeting impressions and he opened his senses to their limit, focusing on the tiniest traces. There. There she was. Dylan felt the presence of Leigh’s energy like a thread brushing his skin, insubstantial but perceptible. He pushed Aira’s energy towards it and the signal increased. Leigh was angry—she was in pain. Dylan pulled in the essence he had found, breathing slowly and steadily to increase his focus. She was bound at the wrists, at the shoulders, at the knees and the ankles; her energy was at a low ebb, but she was still fighting. It had only been a few days—she wouldn’t be totally incapacitated, but she was completely unable to subvert the bindings that held her where she was. 

Dylan opened his mind up more. Leigh was in the deep desert, in a carefully concealed house—and she wasn’t alone. There were people there with her. Dylan counted six—not as many as Oriel said led the group, but they were all unstable—a morass of seething energies and conflicting feelings that rasped against Dylan’s perception enough to make him cringe. Dylan almost pulled away; it was too much. Instead he gritted his teeth and ceded control to Aira. He couldn’t locate the group as readily—he could only get impressions, feel the people there. Aira’s part of the focus moved in and out, and Dylan could feel her getting a sense of directions, of the precise location and how they would be able to find it. 

A loud boom of thunder cracked the air outside and Dylan relinquished his hold on both Aira and Aiden, shaking his hands at the wrists as lingering energy tingled under his skin. “Did you get it?” he asked her, hoping against hope that they wouldn’t have to do it again. Aira opened her eyes and for a moment looked disoriented; Dylan could appreciate the feeling. 

“I got it,” she said, sounding almost breathless. She reeled slightly and grabbed onto Aiden for support. “I know exactly where those assholes are. It’s not all of them, but we’ll nab at least a few. And we need to get Leigh out of there most of all.” Dylan smiled sadly. So she had gotten that perception, too. 

“It’s too late to get a start now,” Dylan said, looking outside at the gradually clearing weather; even without the storm, it was evening. They wouldn’t make it far before they all had to rest. “First thing in the morning?” Aira looked at Aiden and nodded.

“First thing.”

 

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

 

THE TRIP WEST SEEMED INTERMINABLE. Dylan hadn’t been able to get a flash—even a glimmer—of Leigh since the massive effort he had made with Aira and Aiden. He kept opening his mind, trying to home in on her subtle, faint energy, but to no avail. He was starting to become truly worried; if the people holding Leigh had caught wind that he, Aiden, and Aira were on their way, they might have decamped. 

It had been relatively easy to get a flight to Nevada; now that they were in the state itself, it was a question of homing in on the location itself. Dylan and Aiden took turns driving—Aira insisted that she was more than capable, but they didn’t want to take the risk that would come up if anyone was tracking them, interested in taking Aira out. The desert was a difficult climate for Dylan to adjust to; he knew that it was easiest for Aiden—with his innate heat tolerance, he was doing the best out of the three of them. For Aira, it was easy enough though she kept steadily drinking water. The lack of water in his environment made Dylan feel more than slightly disoriented. He was so accustomed to his element being all around him that it was difficult to gain his bearings. 

“Are you getting anything, Dylan?” Aira asked, glancing at him. She had volunteered to take the back seat—though Aiden had been slightly disgruntled at the fact that she wouldn’t be in easy physical contact while he drove. Aira was homing in on the location they would find Leigh at, using her air-aligned abilities for finding—it was easier, she said, without the distraction of Aiden’s energy nearby. Dylan was seeking the woman who had begun to consume his thoughts in a different way, trying to feel his way through the little bit of water energy that the desert contained, trying to seek out her ephemeral and flickering energy. 

“No,” he admitted with a sigh. What was it about Leigh, he wondered? He had responded to her right away—even before they had kissed, he had been intrigued by her. Dylan knew that he was treading on dangerous ground; if Leigh had been involved in any way with the group of elemental terrorists who had decided to kill other people in order to get to Aira, she was not someone he should place any trust in. But the fact that she was bound, that she was clearly a captive, seemed to indicate that at least at the present moment, she was not on the extremists’ side. “I’m not getting even the faintest trace.” Aira smiled ruefully, running her hands through her hair and picking up her bottle of water again. 

“We’re getting close,” she said, her eyes slightly unfocused. For the first time, Dylan almost envied Aira the skills and traits that came along with her alignment. He wished that he had as great a certainty that they would find the isolated house in the middle of the desert that Aira had. He wished that he knew exactly where Leigh was, how she was doing. He shook his head. He had been able to locate the earth elemental first. He had been crucial to breaking through the blocks that the group holding the younger woman had established. If the three of them hadn’t worked together, they would still be trying to find a way to locate the group. 

“I think that’s it,” Aiden said, pointing to a dot on the horizon. Dylan closed his eyes and followed the direction with his mind, seeking out any sign of the woman he had started to become obsessed with. 

“A surprise attack won’t work—it’s too open,” Aira was saying. Dylan opened his eyes. He could—dimly—feel the flicker of a familiar essence. Leigh at least was still there, but the faintness of the imprint on his mind troubled him. She had been in the keeping of the extremists for almost a week; if they had kept her bound the whole time, that would explain a great deal of her failing energy. 

“Get ready, then,” Aiden said firmly. They were moving closer and closer to the house. Dylan could see that it was barricaded around the outside, with earthen ramparts ringing the property. Dylan bit his bottom lip; there was so little water in the air around him. There was almost nothing that he would be able to use to attack the outside of the building. As they approached, there were a few people coming out of the house—obviously alerted to the arrival of strangers. Dylan felt the crackling in the air as Aiden and Aira both focused down on their energies. The wind picked up, propelling the car forward more quickly than simple acceleration would provide, blowing sand towards the people who were standing on the other side of the ramparts. 

Dylan watched as the ramparts grew in size, climbing up slowly to almost obscure the house, and certainly the people within it. There was not a lot that Aiden could do about it—not much that Aira’s wind could do either. Aira opened a window in the air-conditioned car and whistled out, trilling and letting out a few eerie calls. In a few moments, as they came to the limit of the property held by the elementals and to a stop, a flurry of activity surrounded the car. Vultures, owls, desert birds of all kinds and sizes hovered in the dusty air, calling out to Aira in response to her command.

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