“You’ll have to kill me.”
“That actually makes no sense. If I kill you, you can’t tell me a damn thing. No, I think I’ll keep you alive.” She had the power to call earth, air, and very weakly water, so I stole her weakest element so she couldn’t counter my call. I then danced fireballs around her, closing them in until she winced and whimpered from the way they licked at her skin. “Tell me where she is.”
“I-I’ll never—ahh!” She cried out when one of the fireballs jumped on her. “She’s in the trees!”
I killed my fire and glanced up. That was why we couldn’t find her, why the battles bounced around. The dark asshats took her to the trees. I pulled my attention to Brooks, who nodded and brought his ECAD to his lips. “Check the trees.” He then turned to Clay. “Get a healer here. We don’t know what kind of shape she’ll be in.”
He nodded and immediately popped out.
“You’d better hope they find her,” I told the dark elemental spewing venom at me through her glare.
“It’s already too late. She’s dead.”
I refused to believe that. If she was dead, this dark elemental was next.
It seemed a lifetime later before an anguished cry sounded in the air, sending a race of fear up my spine. I spotted someone running toward me through the trees, a body in his arms. My heart sank.
“Stace?”
“Someone help me! She’s so cold. I called fire, but it burned her skin. It actually burned her!” His voice shook as much as he did. “I-it doesn’t make sense. Fire shouldn’t burn her, not like that.”
Unless it was already too late.
Clay popped back in with Syd Franklin. He took one look at Stace and rushed into the middle of the chaos and spread some sort of shiny blanket on the ground. “Set her on this.” He then covered her in another shiny blanket.
Syd ordered everyone back. I refused to move as I stared at her pale, motionless body, her usually neat hair ratty and full of twigs and leaves. Her usually warm expression still, lifeless. “No.”
“Montana.”
“No. Oh, God. Clay, I can’t feel her. I can’t feel any type of life, any power at all, coming from her. W-what’s that mean?”
Clay took my hand and led me away before pulling me into his arms. I held him tight, fighting back my emotions. Stacey Layden was yet another parental figure in my life to leave me.
“We have to get her core temp up,” Syd stated in a tense voice. “I need fire.” He turned and looked to me.
“No,” I said and shook my head violently. “They tried that, but it didn’t work.”
Syd adjusted his glasses as he returned his attention to Stace. “I need everyone to stand way back. I don’t know how much it’ll take.”
A white glow illuminated from his hands. Clay staggered and leaned against me. I didn’t feel anything. The call wasn’t strong enough, so I rested him against a nearby tree before kneeling next to Syd and placing my hands on her. She was so cold, so still, and had a sickly gray color to her.
“Is she already gone?” I asked Syd under my breath.
“I refuse to believe she is.” When he regarded me, I spotted the trickle of blood trailing out of his nose. “Th-third call today.”
“Let me help.” I concentrated on the light flowing from my soul and into Stace. Her color returned, if only slightly. My heart rate spiked as hope flooded me and surged my power.
“Focus your call on her torso,” Syd instructed, now too weak to maintain a call of his own. “Feed her heart with the light.”
I did, scared I’d give her too much, while also scared of not giving her enough.
“Enough.” Syd placed his hand over mine. I pulled back. “That should do it until I can get her to the infirmary. Let’s get her out of here. Who can teleport us?”
The elementals all exchanged glances and shook their heads. My light call had shorted them all out. I took a breath to volunteer when Brooks popped in and pulled Stace into his huge arms. “I got this.”
“My call shorted out everyone’s powers.”
“I teleported to the other side of the forest since I figured light would be involved. Doc, grab my wrist. Let’s go.” They popped out.
A maniacal laugh caught in my ears and whipped me around. The dark elemental I’d had trapped in a cage of roots gloated. “Told you. She’s as good as dead.”
A rush of cold raced through me, charging me and making me hyper focused on my task. This woman needed to die. They all needed to die. Fury blinded me as that cold took over. Anyone in my way of being the supreme elemental needed to be removed by any means necessary.
I didn’t slow as I marched over and grasped her around the throat and squeezed, her pulse pounding against my fingers and thumb. I pressed my fingers deeper into her throat. She coughed as her eyes bulged. I smiled, enjoying her pain and suffering. “If I squeeze just a little longer, you’ll lose consciousness. If I twist my hand just a little to the left…” I paused and did exactly that, stopping before I snapped her neck. “Bye, Felicia.”
“Killing me won’t bring her back.”
“But it sure will make me feel better.” I tightened my grip, drawing in a deep breath as pleasure raced through me. I wanted nothing more than to torture this weak elemental before killing her. She didn’t deserve to walk this earth. I’d eliminate all weak elementals once I ruled this world.
And I would rule this world. It was my destiny.
Grinning, giddy from the power coursing through me, I squeezed and twisted. The thought of snapping her neck, watching the life drain from her body, exhilarated me. A blast
