The Order of the Elements 01 - Breaking Point (62 page)

Phoebe pulled back from Dorian as Ethan explained. “What does the healing look like?” she asked.

Phoebe had already seen Shifting, but she didn’t think she could bear looking through someone’s memory to see exactly how bad she had looked while Ethan was healing her. Maybe someday she would be able to see it, but now was not that time.

“Just like this,” Evan said as he quickly pulled a knife out of his pocket.

Before Phoebe could blink, he dragged the knife from his elbow to his wrist, and his arm turned red immediately with blood. Phoebe was glad her Truth Seeking wasn’t quite working in full force yet, because she didn’t want to feel the pain he must have been in. He held his sliced arm across her lap, toward Ethan.

“Evan! Why did you do that? I just wanted an explanation, not a demonstration!”

Evan huffed impatiently. “Oh, calm down. This is the fourth time I’ve done this. It’ll be fine.”

“Of course it will,” Ethan added.

He pressed his hand to Evan’s forearm. His hand glowed gold, and the light seeped into Evan’s arm as his wound sealed itself and all the blood disappeared.

“Wow, so this really worked on me?” Phoebe asked in awe.

She looked up to see everyone roll their eyes. “Of course it worked on you. You’re here talking to us, aren’t you?” Cynthia said.

“Well, yeah I guess. And Sapphire?” Phoebe asked. She could feel the heartbeat, but she wanted to be positive that her companion was all right.

Dorian pulled on her right arm and pointed to her companion mark. “If anything would have happened to her, your mark would be gone. You should probably let her out, though, so Ethan can double check.”

Phoebe nodded and Sapphire immediately burst out of her arm and nuzzled her neck. Ethan looked over Sapphire carefully, but she seemed to be perfectly healthy as she settled into Phoebe’s lap.

“But what about you? Your mark didn’t fade. Well, not all the way.”

It was old news, at least to those in the room, that Dorian didn’t have a companion anymore. It had taken him weeks before he told them, but Phoebe had eventually talked him into it. And, surprise of surprises, no one had considered him imperfect because of it. Phoebe had tried to keep her “I told you so”s to a minimum that day. Dorian glanced down at the sleeve that covered his faded mark.

“No one is really sure why. Cassius doesn’t even have a theory for that one.”

Phoebe already felt like she was on the brink of information overload, but she still had a million questions. “Okay, so Power Shifting. How does that work?” She directed her question at Dorian.

“Finally,” Ethan muttered. Phoebe glanced at him curiously. “Dorian wouldn’t answer any of our questions while you were asleep,” he explained.

Phoebe nodded and turned back to Dorian as any noise in the room vanished. “Power Shifting is when one person gives up their magic to another person. It’s tricky, though. To give up your power to someone else requires full willingness of self-sacrifice, and you must be giving your power up to serve a greater purpose. It doesn’t necessarily have to be good; it just has to be a greater purpose. Otherwise, it destroys both the giver and receiver.”

“How could evil be a greater purpose?” Jared asked.

Dorian shrugged. “Theories of good and evil can be very subjective, and then when you add to that divine justice, which we can’t even begin to understand, the lines between good and evil can be blurred quite a bit, at least to us. But there always has to be a balance between the two. Without good, how do we define evil, and without evil, how do we define good? However, right now, things are definitely out of balance.”

Hector’s brow knitted together as he thought that over. “So, basically, serving the greater purpose means keeping the balance of good and evil in check?”

“Basically, yes,” Dorian said.

“That’s what we’re doing, isn’t it? Restoring the balance?” Ethan asked.

Phoebe could hear Dorian’s thoughts. Her talent was coming into sharper focus. “On a universal level, yes. On a personal level, we’re fighting to regain our freedom,” Phoebe answered for him. “It’s all about perspective.”

“How does that explain us having pieces of her memory?” Ethan asked further.

Dorian shrugged again. “Cassius has a theory that he’s researching. He believes that Power Shifting is a bit more complicated than we thought, and it’s actually like transferring part of you along with the power. In this case, it seems to be Irena’s memories that got transferred. It might further explain why death is part of the process.”

“Why did she split it between the two of them?” Hector asked.

“To lighten the burden of her talent. Can you imagine being able to see everything in the past, present, and future—in addition to all their other powers? She knew that neither one of them would be able to handle it on their own.”

Phoebe’s mind was spinning from everything. More power? She didn’t think she could handle more power. She was going to have to let this all sink in. She absentmindedly stroked Sapphire as Bree appeared and also settled into her lap. There was still one last pressing matter that had to be dealt with.

“And the prophecy?”

Cynthia pulled out a piece of parchment and handed it to Phoebe. “We already gave it to Cassius, but he has no idea what the second half of it means. No one does. He thinks that we’re going to have to figure it out on our own. But he’s researching.”

Phoebe took the piece of paper and read over the completed prophecy.

On our most honored of days, one that none have ever called their own, five will be born. Four will be the Masters of the Elements, fierce warriors, and with talents of immeasurable greatness. The fifth will steal a substance by greed, jealous of the others’ talents, master it, and bend it to his will, but the effort will consume him with evil, and he will make himself king and plunge this world into darkness, taking another with him to be his queen. Three will be left to protect those who are still free and to search in the city of kings for the Elixir of Souls. They must travel down roads of hardship and loss. They will free the oppressed and suffer the pains of betrayal. A long forgotten power waits to be called upon by those who are willing to embrace it, and love will guide them to use it properly. Each Master has strength and power, but only united will they finish their journey.

Phoebe waited to see if a vision would come to her to explain it. When nothing happened, she looked back up. “What do we do?”

Dorian purposefully removed the parchment from her hands. “
We’re
going to make sure that
you
take some time to rest, and when
we’re
satisfied with
your
recovery, then we will start going over it. You’ve done enough for the moment. Let Cassius mull it over for a while before you worry about it.” Dorian handed the parchment to Cynthia, who smiled and gently put it back in her pocket as she nodded in agreement.

Everyone else nodded, and Phoebe scowled.

“And don’t even think about trying to tell us you’re fine. We’re not budging, sis,” Evan said firmly.

She stuck her tongue out at him. He smiled, and then she shoved him off the bed. He hit the floor with a loud
thud
and glared up at her.

“Looks like you’re budging to me,” Phoebe said with a shrug.

“If you hadn’t just woken up, you would so pay for that,” he threatened.

Everyone tried to suppress laughter. “Training arena, eight o’clock tomorrow morning. Be there,” Phoebe challenged.

Evan jumped to his feet. “Oh, I will be.”

Dorian rolled his eyes.

“Well, we made it through,” Lucy commented.

“Together,” Phoebe added.

“Although, mostly because of you,” Ethan said.

“No, mostly because of you,” she argued.

Ethan gave Phoebe a look that said he clearly thought she was losing her mind. “You’re the one who led us there, sacrificed yourself to save us, and came up with all our plans!”

Phoebe returned his look of incredulity. “You’re the one who saved my life and got everyone back here, and I had help on all those plans from Hector and everyone else!”

“Guys…” Hector tried to cut into their arguing.

“You’re the one who told me how to use my power for the first time, and I don’t know whose plans are whose if you don’t mention it!”

“Seriously, come on now.” Hector tried to break in again.

Ethan waved him off. “And besides, that doesn’t even come close to comparing to self-sacrifice. That thought didn’t even cross my mind, but it was the first one you thought of!”

“Ethan,” Lucy said soothingly, but she didn’t get any further than Hector.

Phoebe’s hands clenched into fists. There was no way anybody was going to give her credit for their lives, because she most certainly didn’t deserve it. “Yes, it was the first thing I thought of, and because I didn’t think any further, I could have killed you just as easily as saved you by turning into…that! If you want to thank anyone, thank Hector. If he hadn’t been able to stop me, you would all be dead.”

41. Perspective

Phoebe’s last thought had burst out of her mouth before she could stop it, and she clapped her hand over her mouth in horror. She hadn’t meant to tell her friends that she’d been about to kill them in the midst of her fury. Any reply got lost in Ethan’s throat as he stared at her in surprise. How could they not have realized how dangerous she was when that happened to her? She wasn’t just a danger to enemies; she was a danger to everyone.

Knowing that she could have killed them rather than saved them wasn’t a pleasant thought. She didn’t like knowing how close she had come to killing Hector. It was something she had been thinking about since she had seen Evan’s memory, but she hadn’t meant to voice her fears aloud.

Dorian and Hector both sensed her discomfort. Dorian laced his fingers into hers, and Hector spoke. “All right, guys, I think Phoebe needs a break.”

Everyone gave her curious glances, and Phoebe felt heat creep up into her cheeks. She let go of Dorian and buried her face in her hands. Hector ushered everyone out, and she felt a few hands press on her shoulders as they left. The door closed and footsteps faded away. Dorian let her sit in silence for a while. She could hardly bear to think that in trying to save lives she could have ended them just as easily. They were lucky, all of them, to have made it out in one piece.

“Phoebe.” Dorian reached through her hands and tried to coax her chin up.

Her throat was constricted so tightly that she wasn’t even sure she could move her neck. When Phoebe’s head didn’t budge, Dorian slid around to her side and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

“You wouldn’t have done it. I know you wouldn’t have,” he whispered in her ear. “Even if I would have been there, with how angry you were at me, you would have been able to stop yourself.” His voice was filled with guilt.

“How do you know?” Phoebe croaked.

“Hector told me what happened. How you stopped long enough to consider who was fighting rather than just killing them both. I think you have more control over it than you realize. Still, I owe Hector everything for saving you, and Ethan too.”

Phoebe dropped her hands from her face and leaned against him. “I owe them too. Several times over. But how can you possibly know that I wouldn’t have done that? It’s not something I can control.”

Dorian stroked the side of her face softly. “Faith.”

That simple word triggered the memory of the voice that had whispered in Phoebe’s ear. But it hadn’t been Dorian’s voice. It had been, very distinctly, that of a child. Phoebe didn’t mention it. Even with her talent of hearing just about everything, she didn’t think that hearing a disembodied voice was a good sign. And she didn’t need to give everyone more reason to fuss over her.

She leaned against Dorian as the passage of time caught up with her. If she had really been asleep for five and a half days, meaning it was about noon right now, then it was now officially January, the Wind Season. The stone on her necklace was silver, confirming her thoughts. After everything that had happened, June thirtieth seemed like a whole other lifetime. Any vestiges of her former life seemed completely gone, and she was now fully assimilated into this world and this life. She still missed her mother and father and the friends she had left behind, more than words could describe, but to be fair, she no longer wished that she could have them with her. She knew it would be selfish to place them in unnecessary danger when they were somewhere free from care and, well, free.

Dorian started humming softly, and the sound reverberated through his chest and soothed her sadness. She still couldn’t get over the fact that she had almost died. Did the fact that she had accepted her death interfere with her ability to accept that she was still alive? Maybe having Dorian back was what made it seem too good to be true. Maybe it was knowing that all her friends and family were still safe and healthy.

It seemed so surreal that the fears they had left with could be replaced by safety and security. Dorian twisted her hair around his fingers, and she wondered how she had earned all that and him too. She didn’t have anything to be angry with him about; it hadn’t been his fault. If anything, she was feeling more elated that he loved her so completely that even Kali’s most extreme plans had gone awry.

“Why didn’t you try to explain yourself when I woke up rather than offering to leave?” Phoebe asked, remembering her question from earlier.

Dorian stopped humming and considered her question. “Phoebe, you are a Truth Seeker.”

“And?”

“And that meant one of two things. Either you knew what happened at the ball because you read my mind, but it didn’t matter because you thought I should be stronger than that. Or you didn’t want to check at the ball because you were afraid of what you would find, meaning you didn’t know the truth yet. I wasn’t going to force it on you. I knew you would figure it out when you were ready.”

And Phoebe thought
she
over-thought things. “Has anyone told you that you might be too perfect?”