Treasure of the Fire Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 4) (21 page)

Let's
think of the human elements

Wadsworth
Camp- “The Abandoned Room”

Tessie,
Queen of the Earth House and Keeper of the Quintessence, missed getting her arm
hacked off by less than an inch.

“
Son-of-a-bitch!
” 
She scrambled backwards, ducking behind a statue of some guy getting pulled
apart by hungry wolves.  “Okay, I’m reconsidering this whole…
Shit!
” 
The sword sliced at her again, taking off two of her black curls when she
ducked a fraction of a second too slow.

“If
she was a Fire Phase, she would
so
not be winning the swearing
contest.”  Pele mused, watching the fight rage around the living room with a
thoughtful eye.  “I mean, the losing the sword fight was a given.  But the
cursing would
really
sink her.”

“It’s
all about self-control.”  Djinn agreed from his position on the arm of Pele’s
chair.  He reached down and grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl on his
Match’s lap.  “Can’t really blame Tessie for sucking at battle, though.  Who
would’ve taught her anything important?  Seriously, does that asshole Job even
own
a sword?  The guy thinks we should all settle of differences with hugs.”

“Can’t
say ‘asshole,’ D.”

“Fine. 
That ass-
wipe
Job.”

Pele
gave a “much better” sort of nod and munched on her popcorn.

Teja
was too distracted to even listen to their commentary.  Although it was
certainly easy enough to hear from the second she jumped back into the palace,
even over the pulsating girl group doo-wop that had been the soundtrack of
Frankie’s practice sessions since the 1950s.

Frankie
always trained to popular music, claiming the beats of love songs worked best
for counting off footwork.  When he’d trained Teja, troubadour ballads had been
in vogue.  Maybe one day she’d be able to sword fight without mentally humming
Greensleeves
.

She
automatically moved to avoid a flying vase, so immune to chaos that she didn’t
even glance in the fighters’ direction.  She vaguely processed Tessie and
Frankie’s training session as she stalked through the living room, but it
didn’t really surprise her.

When
Job’s Match needed training, there’d never even been a question about whether
or not Frankie would help.  The Fire Phases might refuse to let Job through the
door just on general principals, but they still liked the guy.

Kind
of.

Frankie
taught everyone in the family and Job was family.  Maybe not genetically, but
the Fire Phases didn’t worry about DNA when it came to claiming relatives.

There’d
also never been a question as to where the practice sessions would be held. 
Technically, Frankie was a Heat Phase, since his Match came from that House. 
But, he’d been born in the Fire Kingdom and he tended to spend about sixty
percent of his time in his homeland, destroying stuff or hiding bodies.  The
poor Quintessence looked like she just might wind up as his latest victim, if
she didn’t learn to guard her centerline a little quicker.

Teja
was way beyond giving a damn about the furnishings, her honorary uncle-in-law’s
murderous idiosyncrasies or the welfare of a certain Divine super beings in
flip-flops.  Inside she was so shaken up by Sullivan Pryce that it took all of
her willpower not to lock herself in a closet and just hide.

“This
is
not
what I signed up for.”  This time, Tessie heaved a TV remote at
Frankie to avoid a renewed attack.  She’d apparently prepared for this epic battle
by dressing in cutoff shorts and a tank top with the
Playboy
symbol
outlined in glitter.  Tessie’s all-too-human body would have been so damn easy
for Frankie to hack apart.  Teja distantly conceded that her uncle must’ve been
really
trying not to kill her.  That was a big step for him and one that
Tessie apparently didn’t appreciate.

Tessie
pushed her dark hair out of her face, violet eyes blazing.  “You’re supposed to
be teaching me to sword fight, Frankie, not slaughtering me!”

“You’re
learning by doing.”  Frankie retorted.  He was a huge man with a bushy black
beard streaked down one side with a red stripe.  Frankie was the only Elemental
whose facial air carried a House designation.  No one knew why, but most people
chalked it up to Frankie being a weirdo.  “Only way to learn
not
to die
is to get really
close
to dying and see where you went wrong.”

Djinn
and Pele nodded in agreement.

The
Quintessence didn’t look convinced.  She shifted position so she was behind the
sofa, panting for breath.  “That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard.  In fact,
this whole ‘you training me deal’ was a big mistake.  Job was all freaked out
because so many people don’t like me and the damn barriers are down.  He asked
me to give this a shot, but I think I’d rather take my chances with crazy
assassins than with you.”

Frankie
tilted his head.  “Wow.  Ya know, those were my mom’s last words.”

Tessie
stopped her rant, her eyes widening “Oh shit, I hope he’s kidding” style.

A
lot of people got that look around Frankie before they realized that he was
never
kidding.  He was just… eccentric.

Or
possibly insane.

“Ah,
mom.”  Frankie grinned reminiscently.  “Now,
she
was a lady who could
put up a fight.  Let me tell you.  Dad never saw it comin’.”

The
point of Tessie’s blade tipped towards the ground as she goggled at him.

Pele
tossed a popcorn kernel into her mouth.  “So how’d it go, Tej?”  She didn’t
turn around in her seat to ask that non sequitur, so Teja wasn’t sure how Pele
even knew she was in the room.  Pele was always saw too much.

“Hey,
Tej.”  Djinn glanced over at her and arched a brow.  “You save Alder from the
humes or do we need to go down there and jailbreak him?  Please, say
jailbreak.”

“Jailbreak?” 
Frankie’s expression lit-up.

“
No
jailbreaking.  I got Alder.  He’s fine.  End of story.”  Teja did
not
want to discuss any of the rest of what happened.  Not until she figured out
what to do about it.  “Did Hope show up, yet?”

Djinn
and Pele shook their heads.

“Hope’s
fine.”  Frankie gave his sword a jaunty twirl.  “That girl was born under a
lucky star.”

The
music switched from the Patience and Prudence singing
Tonight You Belong to
Me
to the Crystals’
He’s a Rebel
.  Teja ground her teeth.  She had
to get out of here or she was going to snap.

“Family
meeting!”  Alder burst into the living room with his typical subdued energy. 
“I texted the others and told them to come, too.  We’re having a family
meeting, right now!”

Shit!

Teja
flashed him a deadly look.  “No, we’re
not
.”

“Oh
yes, we are.”  His expression was resolute.  “You know we have to, Tej.  I told
you if you didn’t do something about that guy, I would have to tell the family
you were screwing up your life.  You didn’t listen, so…”

“
My
life.”  Teja interrupted furiously.  “Not yours.  Not theirs.”  She waved a
hand a Frankie, Djinn, Pele and the rest of the world in general.  “
Mine
. 
And
I
will decide how I live it.”

“Only
you don’t always make such good choices, so sometimes we gotta step in.” 
Frankie put in casually.  He leaned against his sword like it was a cane, his
head moving in time with the “he’ll never, ever be any good” part of the song. 
“Remember what you did after the Fall?”

Everyone
turned to stare at him.

The
Fire Phases didn’t mention Teja’s actions after Oberon’s death.  Not ever.  As
with all rules, written or unwritten, Frankie ignored that fact, though.

Teja’s
mouth thinned.  “You guys wanna have a meeting? 
Fine
.  Have fun.  Take
votes.  Make speeches.”  Turning on her heel, she started for the stairs. 
“I’ll be in my room.”

“The
meeting’s about you, though.”  Alder complained.  “You
have
to stay here
while we do an intervention.  Didn’t you ever see that TV show where the humans
agree to go to rehab after their families read them letters that are all ‘you
ruined your life in the following ways’?”

Djinn
frowned in annoyance.  “Oh man, we have to write letters?”

“So…
do
I
have to stay for this meeting or can I go?”  The Quintessence
asked.

Satour
jumped into the room before anyone could answer her.  “Alright.  I’m here.”  He
was carrying a spear and what looked like the greenish leg of some kind of
unidentified creature.  He dropped the oozing mass of flesh onto the carpet. 
“Seriously, I was sort of in the middle of something, so this had better be
good.”

Tessie’s
eyebrows climbed.

“Alder!” 
Missy skipped into the room, wearing an
Alice in Wonderland
style dress
and combat boots.  “The humans didn’t execute you in their jail, after all.” 
She smiled the wide, off kilter smile favored by serial killers and lunatics. 
“Yay.”

“You
left me there to get arrested!”  Alder stabbed a finger at his little sister. 
“I was holding
your
fucking torch and I couldn’t even kill the stupid
human handcuffing me because then I’d have Job whining…”

“Uh-oh. 
You said ‘fuck’.”  Missy sing-songed.  She shook her dark curls.  “Too bad.” 
Cinderella blue eyes danced with madness and glee.  Missy was without a doubt
the scariest person Teja had ever met.  “Looks like
I’m
still in the
game today, but
you’re
disqualified.”

“That
doesn’t count!”  Alder bellowed.

Tessie
edged towards the door.  “I really have to go, so…”  She backed right into
Qadesh.  “Jesus!”  She leapt away from him in panic.  “Don’t sneak up on people
like that!”

Qadesh
ignored her.  He excelled at ignoring people.  He wore a black trench coat,
accented with villainous chrome weapons.  His eyes were a flat, opaque
turquoise and they skimmed around the room taking a headcount.  “Where’s Hope?”

Hope
was his favorite.  Hope was
everyone’s
favorite.  That feeling of unease
whispered through Teja’s mind again, louder than before.  Hope meant
everything
to the Fire House.

Where
was she?

“Still
haven’t found her.”  Djinn ate some more popcorn.  “She probably jumped into
somebody’s basement and got locked in, again.  Frankie says she’s fine.”

Teja
rolled her eyes.  “Yeah, I’m sure she’s
super
.  When’s the last time
that girl stayed out of trouble for more than an hour at a time?  Huh?  And
she’s been missing all day, but –Hey!-- I’m sure there’s no reason to worry. 
Let’s have a meeting about
me
instead.”

“We’re
having a meeting about you?”  Satour demanded.  “Why?  What did you do, now?”

“Nothing. 
That’s why this is all so stupid.  I did
nothing
.”

“She
did nothing.”  Alder agreed.  “It was unreal how much nothing she did.  Let me
set the stage for you guys.  We’re in the police station in Mayport Beach.  It
was me, Ty, and Gion in the cop’s dungeon, right?”

“Oh
God, you attacked Guy and Sully?”  Tessie groaned.

They
ignored her.

“I
was
totally
being interrogated.”  Alder nodded.  “The human was trying
to break me and make me confess to everything.  I’m pretty sure he had a
chainsaw.”

“Ooooooh.” 
Missy smiled eagerly, liking this story.

“Of
course, Gion was being a dickweed.”  Alder continued.  “He probably would of
either cracked under interrogation or been brutally killed by the human if I
hadn’t a been there.  Don’t even get me started on what morons he and Chason
are.”

Tessie’s
head dropped into her hands.  “Oh geez…. And Chason was there, too?  Poor
Sullivan.”

“No,
Chase wasn’t
there
there.  But the cops have him on
America’s Most
Wanted
.  Like I said, don’t get me started.”  Alder waved a hand.  “Where
was I?  Oh right.  So I was about to battle the human to the death.  He had a
gun.  I think it was a bazooka.  And you know humans are poisonous, too.  It
was all coming down to  –like-- something out of
Rambo
. 
Rambo II
probably.  Or that one where he’s in the jungle with the arrows.”

“That
was
Rambo II
.”  Djinn said as if precision on that point was of
the upmost importance.

“Right. 
Right.  So then Teja comes in,” Alder swept his arms out, “and that’s when it
happened.”

“You
killed poor Sullivan, didn’t you?”  Tessie accused.  Violet eyes flashed
towards Teja.  “How
could
you?  You just wait until I tell Job!  Sully
was a totally helpless little…”

“I
didn’t do a damn thing to that human.”  Teja snapped, her gaze still locked on
her nephew.  “Alder, drop this. 
Now
.”