The Order of the Elements 01 - Breaking Point (12 page)

The last fact was difficult to process. Phoebe tried to convince herself that he would have done the same for anyone, but she wasn’t doing a very good job of it. He was very difficult to read most of the time. She didn’t try to listen to his thoughts; Cassius was right, that was not something she should be doing for her own personal reasons. But emotions were something she was already used to, and she didn’t really think trying to hone in on one particular person’s emotions was wrong. Some people could read emotions without her particular talent, maybe not quite as accurately, but she felt that it wasn’t quite an invasion of privacy to use it. She had spent a lot of time the day before trying to get a read on Dorian as he followed the group from a safe distance.

His emotions were so carefully controlled, so reined in; she could feel almost nothing from him, like he didn’t have any emotions at all. Then, when he had jumped in front of her, his emotions had come to life. Phoebe had been scared out of her mind, but she had managed to pick up on a few things even though she was distracted: a strong need to protect, anger, fear—not for his own life, but for hers. And there was another—it was incredibly strong, but before she could place what it was, he’d managed to suppress it. She had no doubt he knew what her talent was. When Syran had asked for his chance to prove his loyalty and Cassius had pleaded with Dorian to allow it, a battle had raged within him: his desire to keep her safe, his longing for a stronger protection to surround her, and the knowledge that it was her choice to make, not his. After it was all over, he had hovered, and eventually his constant concern and watchfulness had become so irritating that Phoebe had decided to go to bed to get away from it.

Would his concern have been as strong had it been someone else? Would he have cared so much what happened in that case? She wondered if he would be willing to die as he had been ready to do last night. Phoebe couldn’t answer for him, but she had a feeling that the answer would have been “no” to every one of those questions. She didn’t understand why; she could just tell that this was a concern he felt only for her. Dorian barely noticed anything else around him and looked like he cared about it even less, but then he had been ready to sacrifice himself for her last night. As strange as it sounded, she would have done the same for him.

Phoebe had fallen asleep confused and had awoken with no new answers. Perhaps Dorian would be different today and she would be able to figure it out. But for now, breakfast was sitting at the foot of her bed, and she could feel her stomach grumbling angrily. Lucy and Cynthia started to rouse as Phoebe grabbed her bowl and started eating.

She was too distracted to really pay attention to her food, so she was surprised when she tasted something she couldn’t quite identify but that was probably the most delicious thing she had ever eaten. Phoebe then tried to remember what she had been thinking about and felt her cheeks flush as she remembered that it was what Dorian had smelled like the night before—not quite identifiable but the best aroma in the entire world.

“What’s wrong?” Lucy asked, spotting her pink cheeks. Lucy was very observant.

“Nothing, just thinking,” Phoebe mumbled as she set down her half-emptied bowl and grabbed her stack of clothes to get in the shower.

By the time she exited the bathroom and Cynthia made her way in, Phoebe’s head had cleared and she was thinking of other things. She and Ethan were getting their companions today. She was excited about that, although Bree spent enough time with her that she already felt like she had one. The polar bear cub was incredibly cute and loveable, but she couldn’t understand why he wanted to spend so much time with her. Not that Phoebe minded, she just didn’t understand it. This place was turning out to be incredibly confusing. It was frustrating, and she hoped everything would come together soon.

Twenty minutes later, Cynthia exited the bathroom and Lucy took her turn. Phoebe was brushing out her dried hair when someone knocked at the door. Cynthia ducked into the bedroom to change out of her bathrobe, and Phoebe went to answer the door. She was somewhat surprised to see Dorian standing there.

She figured he was there to take Ethan and her down to receive their companions. His hard expression was once more in place, and she had a feeling that she wouldn’t be able to get much more from his emotions, either. She checked to be sure. Nothing. She was disappointed, although she could tell he was working very hard to hide whatever he was feeling, harder than he usually had to. His gaze softened slightly when he saw it was her who had opened the door.

“How are you feeling?” he asked. His voice had lost some of its roughness, but not much.

Phoebe was surprised to discover that it upset her to see him like this, trying to pretend he didn’t feel anything, like he didn’t care. “I’m fine, and you?”

He nodded curtly. “Fine, thank you. Are you ready to go down to the Pool of Companions?”

All this formality, hadn’t this been erased in the near-death experience of the night before? “Not just yet. Lucy is cleaning up. We got a late start this morning.”

“I’m sure yesterday evening drained your energies. I’ll make sure the boys are up. If the three of you will join me in the hall when you’re ready, we’ll then go down to the Pool.”

Phoebe nodded stiffly. It felt like nothing had changed. He turned to walk across the hall, and she shut the door with a loud snap and sighed.

“What was that about?” Cynthia asked, stepping back in, fully dressed.

“Dorian’s here. We’re going down to the Pool of Companions after Lucy finishes up,” Phoebe explained.

“Humph, he’s such a drill sergeant. He needs to lighten up,” Cynthia said, scowling. She then launched into a long rant about Dorian and why he was being so bland and boring and what he needed to do to rectify the situation.

Phoebe didn’t really pay attention. However, the comment “Maybe we could push him in the lake the next time we’re close enough” caught her attention and made her laugh. She was sure, though, that would make him angry rather than entertained.

Another twenty minutes passed, and the three girls were ready to make their way out into the hall. Phoebe had barely opened the door when Bree jumped up in her arms. She smiled. Evan was going to feel left out if Bree kept this up.

The boys were leaning against the wall and pushed away as the girls walked to join them. Evan smiled and motioned to Bree as he shook his head. Phoebe smiled in return. Sebastian stood off to the side again. Phoebe wasn’t really sure what purpose he served. She had never once seen Dorian ask him to do anything. Other than the one time he took her and Ethan’s bags, she had never seen Sebastian do any more than look nervous and jumpy, either.

Phoebe avoided Dorian’s eyes altogether, knowing she wouldn’t like what she would see. Instead, she focused on the cub in her arms as he lay back and batted at the strands of hair hanging over her shoulder. Having Bree near always made her feel better. Evan stood just off to her side, and Ethan and the others followed behind her.

Dorian spoke in his hard, indifferent voice. “I am taking you to the Pool of Companions. I don’t want you to feel alarmed, but a few people have shown up to watch. Just pretend they aren’t there.”

Phoebe had a feeling that he was trying to make it sound like a lot less observers than there actually were. They all walked down to the entrance hall, and she discovered she was right in assuming there were more than a few people there. It looked like the entire village had crammed themselves into the hall.

There were groups on stairways and along hallways that led off the large room and many more still looking down from the balconies on the upper floors. The sun poured in from the domed ceiling, and light danced off the wings of creatures floating in the hall so that it looked like there were prisms floating up above. Phoebe momentarily forgot everything else that had been in her mind and suddenly felt very nervous.

Cassius stood by the pool, waiting for them to join him. When they moved closer, Phoebe realized that it wasn’t so much of a pool as a shallow puddle. It couldn’t be more than a foot deep in the middle, although its diameter had to be at least ten feet. There were golden animals inlaid into the ivory stone beneath the water, and each animal had a jewel glittering where an eye would be. Cassius and Maya greeted them beside the pool.

“Now, before you step in, you should know that Masters receive far more powerful and rare companions.” Cassius was trying to speak quietly to them, but the hall seemed to echo with his voice. It felt as though everyone had leaned in closer to listen to him. “All you have to do is step into the pool and the right companion will find you. Now, Phoebe, if you will,” he said, looking at her and indicating the pool.

She had been trying to stand out of sight so as not to be picked first, but stepped forward reluctantly when called upon. She handed Bree over to Evan, who smiled at her encouragingly. She removed her shoes and socks and rolled up the pants she had been given to wear that morning. She looked cautiously around the hall to see that hundreds of eyes stared at her, and she stepped into the pool.

Her heart raced as if she was preparing to give a speech rather than stand silently. She suspected that the water would be cold but was pleasantly surprised to feel it was as warm as if it had been sitting in the sun for hours. Wading into the middle of the pool, she waited for something to happen.

Phoebe stayed in place for a full minute before she started to feel silly and wonder if anything was going to happen at all. She looked around the room again and worried that perhaps someone was going to start laughing at her. As her gaze circled around the room, she realized that something
was
happening.

Water was starting to rise up and swirl around her, beginning at her ankles and working its way slowly up the rest of her body. White lights burst out over her head and blended with the water going in the opposite direction. She could feel her hair as it caught and was swirled in the water, but it didn’t get wet. It felt as if it was blowing about in the wind instead of water.

Phoebe was soon surrounded by water and lights. She supposed she must look like she was in some swirling vortex from everyone else’s point of view. Then the water and lights started going into her arm at the same spot where the others carried the mark of their companion. After a minute more, the water fell around her and the lights disappeared. Her arm glowed so brightly she had to raise her other hand to shield her eyes.

She felt like something was settling right beside her heart. There was another heartbeat drumming away along with her own, like there was another life being born right inside of her. It was amazing. Another consciousness became aware right next her own. She could feel it—this heartbeat, this consciousness—was connected to her, and she loved it, and it loved her.

When the light had gone, Phoebe looked down at her arm to see a mark the looked like a unicorn with wings. It was hard to tell, though, because it was black in color. She also realized that there was a black ring around each of her wrists. The heartbeat that had been beside hers started to fade, not completely, but she realized that her companion was now emerging from the mark on her arm.

It was indeed a small, white, sturdy-looking foal with tiny feathered wings and a small knot on its forehead. It made itself to the size of a loaf of bread and then it settled into Phoebe’s arms. The watching crowd ooh’d and ah’d as the foal started stretching out its new wings.

Phoebe looked up with a smile on her face before realizing that she no longer needed to be standing inside the pool. She hastened to walk back to the edge where everyone was waiting for her. Cynthia and Lucy both squealed at the foal and held out their hands to pet her a few times. Evan reached over to pet her, and the foal sneezed just as his hand reached her.

Sparks shot out of her nose when she sneezed, which promptly caught Evan’s sleeve on fire. He waved his hand over his arm and water poured out, drenching his shirt and putting out the fire. Jared laughed at him, and Evan then shot water at him, soaking most of his front. Phoebe barely noticed; the tiny being in her arms held all of her attention. Beautiful. Nothing would ever hurt this animal, she was sure of that. She would not let anything hurt her.

Cassius and Dorian stepped over to examine the foal.

“Ah, a winged unicorn of the Fire Element! It is indeed rare. There has not been one for over three centuries,” Cassius said with excitement in his voice.

Phoebe looked at him quizzically. “But she hasn’t got a horn.”

“Not yet. Unicorns don’t grow their horns until they are older. See here,” Cassius said as he indicated to the bump on the foal’s head. “The horn will grow in there. Highly useful they are, too. A unicorn’s horn can counteract any poison and is a deadly weapon. Now, Ethan, you are next,” he added.

Dorian said nothing. Phoebe only noticed because he seemed to be the only thing to draw her attention away from this new life in her arms. Dorian continued to hide his emotions well, better than anyone Phoebe had ever met.

Ethan took off his shoes and socks just as Phoebe had done, and the hall became resolutely quiet again. He stepped into the water, walked to the middle, and, just like Phoebe, looked around uncertainly when after a moment nothing happened. Then the water started to rise and lights appeared above his head, once again swirling into the water in the opposite direction. Phoebe knew it was incredible to experience, but it was also quite amazing to watch. As the water fell, she closed her eyes against the bright light Ethan’s arm was now giving off.

When the light disappeared, Phoebe looked at the strange mark on his arm; she wasn’t sure what animal it was. She was spared having to guess; as it crawled out of his arm, she saw that its head and front legs were those of an eagle, and it’s hindquarters were those of a lion. It too had tiny feathered wings that it stretched out. The hall burst into excited whispers as Ethan made his way back out of the pool.

“A griffin!” Cassius exclaimed, not bothering to try to keep his voice down. “Indeed a powerful ally and status symbol.”