“We were in danger anyway,” Eva cut in sharply. “It would’ve been nice to know why.”
“I’m sorry,” Jamie said again, at a loss for any other words.
“Just trust us next time,” Pete said quietly, meeting Jamie’s eyes for the first time in a long while. Hazel eyes, soft with more faith and trust than Jamie deserved.
* * *
A few days later, when they were all recovered enough to try once more, they completed the Gem Nexus on the first try. Diamonds glowed, and their Gifts forged together—strong and powerful. Every link in the chain was tight and strong. They were whole.
Jamie stood, joined to Gemma and Eva and through them to Pete. A flood of emotion swept over him. Love, he thought. They were his friends, his family, and he loved them. He was made stronger by them.
Trust.
It was more valuable than all the gold in the world.
Chapter 16 – Allyra
The Atmospheric College was the location for the Second Final. It was set high on a plateau in the Atacama Desert, built in a series of low, sand-colored domes that blended seamlessly into the desert. There wasn’t much of anything around the Atmospheric College, and ironically, given the extreme altitude, there wasn’t even much Air around the Atmospheric College.
The fifteen remaining pairs weren’t given any time to acclimatize. They arrived at the Atmospheric College through the Shadow Causeway, and before they could catch their breaths in the thin air, an army of Cleaners materialized around them and wound iron cuffs around their wrists.
The iron was cool against her skin, yet paradoxically, it seemed to burn into her, sending trails of discomfort flashing through her nerves. If the thin air hadn’t already given her a headache, the iron cuffs certainly succeeded in doing so.
She glanced at Chi and arched an eyebrow at him. “See you on the flip side,” she said with a wry smile.
“I’ll save you a drink,” Chi replied with a wide grin.
He was the last thing she saw before a dark hood was thrown over her head. And in turn, she was thrown into a vehicle to be transported toward the start of the Second Final.
The driver of the transport made no concession for the shifting sand, driving at breakneck speed over the sand dunes. Perhaps he had a secret desire to be a rally driver, or perhaps he just took sadistic enjoyment in battering and bruising the occupants of his vehicle.
To call the ride uncomfortable would’ve been a significant understatement. The seats were no more than metal benches, and with her hands cuffed behind her, Allyra was thrown around the interior of the vehicle like a ragdoll. By the time the vehicle pulled to a stop after an interminable amount of time, it was almost a relief to be thrown out onto the hot sand.
There was a jangle of metal hitting the soft sand before the driver floored the accelerator and the vehicle roared away in a cloud of exhaust smoke and dust, the spinning wheels covering Allyra in a fine spray of sand.
Awkwardly, she fumbled around in the sand for where she thought the keys had landed.
“I’ve got them,” announced Jason’s disembodied voice, coming from somewhere to her left.
“Back into me and give me the keys. I’ll try and unlock your cuffs,” Allyra replied.
They both shifted toward each other and succeeded only in banging their heads together. Eventually, they managed to shuffle into position with their backs against each other, and Jason dropped the keys into Allyra’s hands. The thin air made her slow and clumsy, so it took a few tries and minutes before she found the keyhole, finally unlocking Jason’s cuffs. Soon after, her own cuffs fell into the sand, and she finally managed to pull the black hood from her head. She took a moment to breathe in whatever air she could and shake her hair free, which was already matted with sweat under the black hood.
A look around at her surroundings didn’t bolster her spirits. The desert stretched out, flat and barren, to the horizon in all directions. Just mile after mile of nothingness, as far as the eye could see. It was still early in the morning, but already the sun was bearing down with a ferocity she’d never experienced before, not even on the hottest of summer days in Africa. Allyra blinked against the white glare of the sun, but her vision refused to focus with the haze rising off the baking sand.
Jason took the words from her mouth when he said, “Well, this sucks.”
There was a backpack at her feet, and Allyra quickly rummaged through the contents, which were meager in the extreme. There were two apples, a canteen filled with water, and two baseball caps—one she put on, and the other she tossed over to Jason. Beyond that, there was only one other thing in the backpack—a map.
“What is it with these people and their maps?” she asked rhetorically. “If this is the advantage we won from our challenge, then I call foul.”
Jason held out his hand for the map and she handed it over. He passed his gaze quickly over it. “Well, this is just useless,” he concluded. “There are only landmarks on here, but there’s no way of knowing where we are relative to any of these landmarks.”
“Yup,” Allyra replied. She’d already glanced at the map and had come to the same conclusion.
She closed her eyes and reached for her Gift. The world collapsed in a complex tapestry of interwoven threads. She traced the brightest ones, trying to follow them back to the Wellsprings at the Atmospheric College. She had to fight just to keep hold of the threads as her head continued to throb violently. Allyra released her hold on the threads, trying not to retch as
