She nodded absently and watched him walk from the sparring room, closing the door softly behind him. Exhausted, she pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes, trying to rub away a budding headache. She had to get past this mental block—by all accounts, Evanesce would be an integral part of the Fourth Final. And with the days slipping by, she’d need to figure it out soon.
With her mind filled with anxious thoughts, they dragged her down the slippery slope into the past.
Alex was standing in the middle of the room, his posture drawn stiff and tense. He looked tired, pale skin bruised beneath feverish eyes. Her chest hollowed at the sight of his grief, and she felt a sudden, desperate need to go to him, to hold him close once more.
As if he could feel her watching him, Alex turned to her, his clear blue eyes flashing with momentary recognition before dissolving into something harder than granite and just as lifeless. He was standing over someone tied down to a chair, and with a closer look, she realized that she recognized the boy. She searched her mind for the name… William something… William Reilly—the angry boy who Alex had suspected of working with the Rising. William’s situation had mirrored her own, and as the Elemental High Master, Alex had voted to send him to the Terra College for training before the Elemental Trials.
Mandla was standing next to Alex, his face hidden beneath the golden mask that hailed him as the leader of the Cleaners. He looked unusually grim, his lips tightened into a thin line.
The boy’s breathing was quick and labored with fear, heavy with the weight of what was to come. Blood was pouring from a cut above his eye, streaking down his face like cracks over a porcelain mask.
“Tell me where to find the Rising.” Alex’s voice was empty of emotion. When William remained stubbornly silent, Alex drew his fist back and slammed it into William’s face. The sound of the blow was simultaneously hard with bone meeting bone and soft with flesh giving way. It reverberated in her ears, and she wanted to look away but found she couldn’t.
William’s head snapped back with the force of the blow, blood exploding from his mouth in a fine spray.
Mandla grabbed Alex’s wrist, stopping him from delivering another blow. “Alex!” Mandla said, his voice filled with warning. “Enough. He’s just a child.”
Alex stared at Mandla, his eyes swirling with darkness. “You will address me by my proper title, Golden Mask. Remember that I am the Elemental High Master and you serve at my pleasure.”
“Alex—”
“If you can’t follow my orders, then leave this room. I’ll deal with your insolence later.”
In a moment that seemed to stretch into eternity, Mandla hesitated as if waiting for Alex to change his mind. When Alex remained still as a statue, Mandla bowed before him and swept from the room, his footsteps silent on the smooth stone floor.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop with Mandla’s departure. Alex stared at the door, and a look of regret passed so swiftly over his face that Allyra wondered if she’d imagined it. When Alex turned back to William, his expression was stony once more. William’s eyes filled with feverish panic.
“Your resistance is admirable, but you will tell me everything you know,” Alex said softly. He straightened and stepped back from William.
“They tell me you’re a talented Inferno.” Alex’s voice was conversational now, and it sent a shiver crawling up Allyra’s spine. “The ability to control Fire is useful but limited. Now, I’m an Elemental, and being able to control all four Elements means that my range is so much more extensive. Combine that with an imaginative mind, and the possibilities become endless. I could make the blood boil in your veins, peel the flesh from your bones, or perhaps just suck every drop of fluid from your eyes. And I could do it all so slowly that you’ll be begging me for death.”
This wasn’t the Alex she knew; he was twisted with grief and anger. She couldn’t stay silent any longer. She stepped forward. “Alex. Stop.”
He ignored her and flexed his fingers, pulling moisture from the air until it was a snake of silvery liquid floating above his hand. With a deft flick of his wrist, he sent the stream of water down William’s throat. The boy choked and spluttered, desperately struggling against his restraints.
Allyra reached for her Gift, trying to pull the Water from William’s throat. But it wasn’t her time, and her Gift had no sway here.
“Alex!” she screamed. “Please!”
He turned to her, and with a bored look, he called the Water back to his hand, leaving William gasping behind him.
“This isn’t you,” she begged. “He doesn’t know anything.”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
To William, it must’ve appeared as if Alex was speaking to thin air, and he redoubled his frantic efforts to clear his restraints, clearly convinced that the Elemental High Master had lost his mind.
“Please,” she repeated. “If you continue, I can’t help you. You’re going down a road that I can’t follow.”
“I don’t remember asking for your help,” Alex shouted, madness coloring his voice. “Get out!”
And suddenly she felt the memory being ripped from her grasp, the power of Alex’s Gift overwhelming. She found herself back in the empty sparring room, her cheeks wet with tears she hadn’t realized she was shedding.
Chapter 29 – Allyra
The darkness was absolute. Allyra stared up at the ceiling but saw
