Igniting Spirit (Gathering Water Book 3) (19 page)

Journal,

We’ve just gotten back from my Testing and I’m exhausted. I don’t think I have ever been this tired in my life, but I wanted to write this down before I go to sleep.

I’ve been around Elfennol a few times now, and I stand by my opinion that they’re all a bunch of weirdos. The undercurrents there are just so different than anything I’ve experienced before. I am really curious to know why Derek seems so… human.

When we got there, Derek and Alexander were both part of the welcoming party. I saw Alexander’s eyes widen in recognition, but Derek just smiled at me. He already knew who I was, had known since our first night together, but didn’t tell Alexander because he knew his friend would disapprove. I know this now because after the Testing — which included grueling exercises and then a barrage of entirely too personal of questions — Derek was able to talk to me. There was a banquet in my honor after I passed, and while we did talk publicly for a moment, we couldn’t share that we knew each other. There were too many other people around, and it would definitely be suspicious if I’d created a sound-Shield in the middle of a party. I was so disappointed that he hadn’t found a way to send me a secret message I could barely respond when my father tried to make small talk while we were led to the small building our family typically used when visiting. Dad gave me a proud smile when he showed me my room and said goodnight. When I turned around and took in the room, I couldn’t even appreciate how beautiful it was, made of living vines and dark stone. But once I made my way to the bed, the vines on the far wall started moving of their own accord until they framed a doorway that had been invisible before.

Derek walked in smiling, and immediately the vines went back to their previous place. We stayed in each other’s arms until morning after talking ourselves to sleep. Derek woke me up with a kiss on my brow and sweet words in my ears, and left me only seconds before my father knocked on my door. What I would give to wake up each day like today!

*****

“He’s lasting much longer now.” I was standing outside next to Alexander, watching Ezra and Cash grapple on the floor. Cash was pinned, again, and if I hadn’t seen this happen dozens of times in the past few weeks, I’d be worried. The meeting with the Council was months behind us, and life had settled into a new routine of chaos.

“Yes, but he is still overcompensating for his new leg,” Alexander told me. Ezra pulled Cash to his feet, where Dove rushed over to heal him. It was the only way that I would allow them to fight — I understood that Cash needed to practice fighting Ethnos. He needed to get stronger, faster, better. But he got pissed when Ezra was holding back his blows to keep from hurting him. Dove being there was a natural compromise, especially since he came over everyday anyway. Cash’s physical therapy had quickly turned into practice fighting once his prosthetic came in, and Dove had been helping my cousin understand the best way to move with his new limb. Luke was there coaching Cash while he wiped the sweat from his brow.

“Della.” I felt Laurel’s tentative touch on my arm to get my attention.

“What’s up?”

“Reports,” she answered.

Of course it was reports. The first month after the Council meeting, I’d been inundated with updates from all the different factions of people. My father was mostly at the base or tracking down all of Kaylus’ known associates. There’d been several casualties from random skirmishes, and it was becoming ever more important for more Dunamis to join the fight. Uncle Connor had gone to Europe with Aunt Ellis right after the New Year to recruit, and Toby had done the same with the North American families. This left me as the closest leader. Everyone had something to tell me —  from how the Ethnos were faring at the Clade city, to sightings of Kaylus and his possible allies, and even just the protective rotation for those guarding my family, and I had been doing my best to take time to listen to it all.

Unfortunately, listening to it all meant I didn’t have time to sleep.

It took longer than it should have to realize I didn’t personally need to handle every detail — or hear about it, for that matter. Laurel had already taken over her old position as unofficial secretary for me like she’d done back in Eurybis. She organized all the messages so that less important stuff was only reported weekly, and made sure only the pertinent stuff was relayed to me. Lunchtime each day was spent with her updating me on all the goings on. The hour or so was much easier to handle than the constant barrage it had been.

“Okay, start with the important stuff,” I told her as we walked inside to the dining room table — a huge twelve person seater that we’d pulled out of the spare room to use when our place had become headquarters on the island. Lunch was laid out already, and I’d stopped trying to keep track of who was doing the little things like that each day. Frankly, I didn’t even want to know who was doing my laundry at this point. I knew it wasn’t Cash, and Ezra was easily as busy as I was, so I doubted it was him.

We sat down and started eating. Or, I ate while Laurel talked. Fueling up was becoming more and more important for me, since I’d been using my abilities far more than I ever had before. It’d been a few weeks since I took part in one of the fights nearby — things had quieted down — but I’d taken to roughly Shielding a rather large area as of late.

Most of the island where my family was congregated, no big deal.

The constant overuse burned a lot of calories, since Gathering enough energy
used
a lot of energy in its own right.

“Have you given more thought to collecting Ezra’s foster mother?” Laurel asked, finally putting the little clipboard that she had decorated with Hello Kitty stickers in her lap. She liked doing
human
things, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her that particular habit was only done by little girls.

“Oh, Penny?” We had to make sure everyone we cared about was protected to keep them from being used by Kaylus against us. Ezra had referred to the old Vodun woman as his foster mother, and no one blinked an eye at adding her to the list of VIP’s. “I’ll ask Ezra again, but he doesn’t want to frighten her. He says the Loa are keeping an eye on her, and with the security we have watching her, he thinks that should be enough. He’s quite certain that Kaylus doesn’t know about her anyway.” I had my doubts about that, but Ezra was adamant that his father would never have permitted him the love that Penny provided if it had been discovered.

“Okay. That’s all for today then. I have you scheduled for a meeting on Saturday with the representatives for the Leoht and Clades.”

“Sounds good.” I started to stand, when Laurel got a glazed look in her eye. I knew she was receiving new information. “Wanna go ahead and tell me now, or wait for tomorrow?” I asked. When she received something directly like that, it usually meant it was important enough to pass along to me. Usually messages were left in her gems, like an answering machine.

Alexander walked over and sat down across from me. It was clear he’d received the same message, so I knew it was something important.

“We have discovered a few more disappearances among the Dunamis in North America,” he said after a respectful nod towards myself and Laurel.

“Was that Toby?” My grandfather was traveling with his own group of Ethnos, just as my Aunt and Uncle were in Europe. For protection and communication, though picking up a phone was just as easy in my opinion.

“Yes. The former Dux has some alarming news. There have been six disappearances now.” Alexander said. Laurel, who I knew had the same information, was letting him explain. He had more information, since he also had a network of his people following up on each disappearance we heard about.

“Do we know if they joined up with Kaylus?”

“That is not what is so alarming, though it is a concern. Each Dunamis who has disappeared has some degree of power over an element,” Alexander said. “We do not know if they volunteered, though there is no evidence of that. There is also no evidence of their being abducted.”

“Every Dunamis who has gone missing is an elemental?” This was not good. “Can he use them to open the portal?” I’d been so focused on my own family and our talents with all four elements, I hadn’t stopped to think about all the families who had abilities over one.

“We did not think so, since other Elemental families only have partial control over a single element. You, your cousin Cash, and Ezra of course, would be the most ideal for his purposes, with the rest of your family being close seconds. But it is possible that Kaylus has found a way to piecemeal what he needs from the group that has gone missing. We are not sure how, but Kaylus would not take the time to abduct — or recruit — these people if he did not have a use for them.”

I had a thought. “Have there been any disappearances elsewhere? Ezra inherited his abilities from someone, and they don’t match the North American Elementals.” If there had been other disappearances, it might be a big clue as to Ezra’s maternal family. I knew it bothered him he didn’t know where he came from. It had bothered me, too. So far, my father hadn’t had the time to focus on the search as promised. He was too busy tracking Kaylus and his ever growing group. Ethnos who had gone missing centuries ago were popping up. The Elfennol assumed they had gone Clade, and if they didn’t the Clades had no way of knowing they were expected to be among their ranks.

Alexander shook his head. “Not that I have heard of. It is a good thought, though. There are several factions we have not yet contacted. I will make sure the Dux Neale is asking while he is overseas. Perhaps he can discover things that my people can not.”

Ezra, Cash, and Dove had finished their sparring at this point and joined us by the table, Cash and Dove immediately digging in to eat while Ezra assessed the mood in the room.

“What’s happened?” he asked, reading that something was happening in our faces.

I let Alexander fill him in while I contacted my father through the gems. I’d finally learned how.

*Dad, have you heard about the missing Dunamis?

It didn’t take long for a response.

-Yes. I’ve spoken with your grandfather already. He’s calling the other Elemental families and warning them to keep watch.

*Do we have enough people to send and help guard?

-We’re already stretched thin enough. I’ve been in contact with Etta, and she’s sending some scouts inland to the most populated Dunamis areas. I’m not sure how much good that will do now, though.

*What about Richard? Any luck convincing him to help?

There was silence for a minute.

-No. Last messenger we sent didn’t come home. We believe he was killed.

I dropped the line of communication and let that last tidbit absorb. Richard was insane, and I wasn’t really shocked that he had stooped to that level. Our people had been targeted by his a few times, now. I even had to fend off an attack a few weeks back the last time I traveled to the base to meet with what I called the “war council’ — the Clade Elders, my uncles and grandfather, and the generals among the Leoht. Even Cash had made that trip, though he was forced to boat over with the rest of our family. It was easily fended off, but was irritating to be fighting people who should be allies.

“Lord Derek has been informed?” Alexander asked me once he stopped talking to Ezra.

“Yes. He’s spoken with Etta about the matter, as well. I believe she’s about to be a much more active participant from here on out.”

“That is good. We could use the extra manpower.”

“Does Dad know yet?” Cash asked. He’d been listening when Alexander had been explaining to Ezra what was happening. Despite the moisture from sweat still clinging to his hair, he seemed energized. He limped over to sit next to me, and I knew the prosthetic was hurting. Once he was seated, he took it off to let his stump air out. Dove had to be careful not to heal away the pain from that area, since it was important that Cash’s skin get used to it, but I knew it hurt a lot — and knew that he did entirely too much. Much more than he should be doing physically, while still getting used to it.

“I’m sure he does. Toby is the one who alerted everyone, I don’t see him skipping his own son,” I told him.

“I’m going to call a meeting with the families here, let them know,” Cash had taken on a huge role in keeping the families on the Island informed. With Luke’s help, he’d also organized a little self defense for everyone — fighting an Ethnos was very different than fighting your typical mugger. They were all horribly outmatched, but the point was for them to keep themselves alive long enough for help to arrive.

“Where?” I asked. I needed to be there, too. It’d been awhile since I’d made an appearance at one of Cash’s meetings. I needed to stay anchored with the Dumanis, or I forgot I was one as much as I was Ethnos.

“Here. We’ll call it a potluck.” Cash grinned. I opened my mouth to argue, but decided not to. It made life easier if I didn’t have to travel elsewhere, even if I wasn’t a huge fan of having a house full of people. I looked around, and realized it was already a house full of people. So it really didn’t matter at all.

I checked the clock that hung over the table, though I didn’t usually need one to know the time.

“I’m going to go change. Ezra, you joining today?” After lunch, on the days I had time, I tried to practice. My fighting skills had increased a lot since the last time I went against Kaylus, but I only came out on top then due to his underestimation of me. He was too smart to make that mistake again, and next time I went against Kaylus would be the last. One of us would die, and I had too much to live for.