Windburn (The Elemental Series #4) (11 page)

He slid a hand through my belt loop and I reached up and twisted the armband counter clockwise. We had to go back to the Traveling room in the Rim before we could Travel to London.

The memory that washed over me as we Traveled was not Cactus’s this time, but Peta’s.

Her body was tiny, she knew, but already she’d been chosen for an elemental. Her first charge! How exciting. Wouldn’t her mother be proud . . . no, her mother was a simple snow leopard. Yet she, Nepeta, had been chosen to become more. To become a familiar who could talk and teach and help an elemental.

How wonderful! Her purrs grew with each step the mother goddess took toward wherever they were going. It didn’t matter, she knew it would be good. That she would belong. She trotted beside the adult snow leopard who resembled her own mother, the deep snow making it difficult.

“Nepeta, your life is going to be different from other familiars,” the mother goddess said. Her voice was kind even though the words were a little concerning.

“But I will have my charge, and he will love me.”

“He will love you, that is true. But he will be the only one to truly love you for a long time.”

Nepeta frowned, her lips turning downward. How could that be? Would she not only have one charge? Rare was the case where a familiar outlived their charge, or was handed to another elemental.

“Whatever you wish for me, Mother, I will do,” she said as they trotted through the belly-deep snow.

“I know. That is why I must ask this of you.” There was a thread of sadness in her words but there was no time for more questions. They stopped at the bottom of the mountain where a young man waited for them. His hair was a deep brown, but his eyes were blue, so blue they made her think of the sky high in the mountains after a storm. So blue they pierced. Yet on closer inspection the blue was rimmed with a pale gold edge.

The mother goddess nudged her forward. “Go to him, he is the first of your charges, and only one other will know your heart better.”

She trotted forward, eager to meet him. He crouched down and held his arms out to her.

“Peta. My very own snow kitten.”

With a leap of both body and heart, she jumped at him. They tussled in the light dusting of snow until they both were short of breath. He grinned at her as they sat side by side, and the sun dipped down behind the mountains.

Contentment rolled through her. Here was safety, here was her heart and the place she’d longed for since the moment she’d been brought into the world. Not that long perhaps, but her whole life still.

“Talan, what will we do first?” she asked as the night fell around them.

He leaned back in the snow and stared up at the sky. “There is so much to do, Peta. So much. In the morning we will talk about it.”

I opened my eyes and stared at the interior of the Traveling room. I wanted to think about what I’d seen but I didn’t have the luxury. Unless Vetch was a fool, there would be a guard—or guards—on the door.

Cactus’s hand still gripped my belt. I put a finger to my lips. The interior of the globe glowed softly so there was no need of light. I lifted a hand and positioned the globe over London. Peta sat on top of my right foot, a light shiver running through her body.

Almost there. I lifted my finger to touch the spot over London.

“Why is that door shut?” Vetch boomed from the hall.

Cactus jumped, which yanked me off balance and away from the map. We thumped to the floor in a tangle of limbs far too loud to be missed even through the thick doors.

We were so screwed.

“
et that door open now!” Vetch yelled.

I lurched, dragging Cactus with me. Peta dug her claws into my leather boots and I fought to get to my feet. The door swung open and three guards stared at us, shock on their faces. One was my ex-lover Coal.

He gave me a strange look, his eyes a mixture of longing and frustration. He shook his head. “Take her. She can’t make the jump if more than one person is touching her.”

I couldn’t stop the scream that ripped out of me as the first guard put his hands on my shoulders. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

The guard laughed. I snapped my elbow into his throat, cutting off the laughter, dropping him to my feet. He writhed but I ignored him and his gurgled attempts to breathe. From behind the men, a hand snaked out and grabbed the second guard, yanking him backward; Ash was doing what he could to help.

Vetch glared at me and Coal approached from the other side. I lifted my hand and touched the armband, twisting it forward. Ash had bought us enough time, but we wouldn’t be able to come back to the Rim after this.

At least, not without Father.

I yanked the armband clockwise, which would take us to London. The world started to dissolve and a hand clamped around my leg.

Pain danced up through my nerve endings and arched my back. My mind felt as though it were being pulled in two directions. I fought it, but the enormity overwhelmed me.

“Lark, use Spirit to pry him off! You must!” Peta’s voice cut through the pain, and I latched onto her words. Spirit flowed through me. In the distance Ash’s voice rose up and I knew he was fighting for me, for all of us. I slammed Spirit into Coal. There was no attempt at delicacy, no way to be gentle; I grieved I had to do it at all. But it was not only my life I felt drifting on the lines of fate, but Cactus’s and Peta’s. They were attached to me, and if I died, they would too.

I couldn’t lose either of them. With a final shove of Spirit, I pushed Coal away.

Coal’s heart burst with the power, and his hand dropped from my leg. The armband sucked us through the globe, like an elastic band held too long and finally released as we were catapulted. Yet a memory hovered, thoughts fleeting even as their owner died.

I loved her. I hate her. I loved her again. She took my hand. Yet I still loved her. I hate her. Damn her. I want to save her. She doesn’t want me.

She broke me and now she is my end.

The words were echoes of all the things Coal had said to me. They swirled over and over in my mind as we were taken across the world. I couldn’t escape them, or the feeling of betrayal that came with them.

Coal had loved me still.

With an audible pop, we split the air and landed on a soft, mossy turf.

A hard, throat-tearing gasp wrenched through me. My legs wobbled as I tried to get my footing on the grass, yet it was as if I were learning to walk again. Coal’s emotions stung, biting at me even as I knew he was gone.

I’d killed him.

Perhaps I was the monster so many thought I was.

I stumbled to a stop, my hand coming to rest on a gravestone, forcing myself to put Coal away for a moment. The etched name and date in the stone blurred and I used them to help center myself once more, focusing on the details.

Brittany Ann, beloved daughter taken too soon. 1912

I looked around. Night darkened the sky here. A slow circle showed me we were in a human graveyard. In the distance was a church with a high steeple. Where were Cactus and Peta? “Peta?”

“Dirt Girl, that was not a ride I want to repeat,” she said as she stumbled out from behind another tombstone. I crouched and picked her up, burying my face against her neck.

“I killed him.” My words were a bare whisper. “I didn’t want to hurt him, Peta.”

“I know.” She licked my cheek, and it was only then I realized I was crying. Coal was not the man I’d thought him to be, but he had been the one I’d thought I’d marry for a long time. For me to be the one to end him . . . my heart lurched and with it my stomach. Biting down on the roll of nausea, I took a step. “Cactus?”

A groan led me around to the back of a stone winged angel. Cactus lay face down with his hand over the back of his head. “Lark. Remind me not to Travel with you anymore. I have a headache that could split stones.”

Anger snapped through me at his callousness. How could he think only of himself when we were lucky to be alive? When we were lucky it was only Coal who’d had to give up his life? “May I remind you I could have left you there, which would mean Vetch would have killed you? I killed Coal to save us, and you’re lying there complaining you have a headache? Grow up, Cactus.”

I spun on my heel and strode away. My emotions ran with me, and at the forefront of them, grief.

No, I would not cry any longer for Coal. A strange twist began in my gut, like an uncoiling serpent.

Coal didn’t deserve my tears. Not only had he tried to manipulate me during our relationship, he’d been a bastard afterward and tried to make me think I was weak. I strode through the cemetery. Peta kept up easily. “You can’t blame Cactus. He didn’t know what you had to do.”

“Doesn’t matter. I have to find the Tracker. We need to look for something chaotic near the Tower of London.”

Peta bobbed her head. “That would be the easiest thing to do. Though you might want to calm yourself.”

I swallowed hard, struggling to do what she suggested.

We’d been walking for ten minutes before Cactus caught up. “Want to tell me what the hell that was all about? I thought we couldn’t Travel with more than one person?”

I opened my mouth but Peta spoke for me, bless her. “Coal grabbed Lark as we started to make the jump. She was forced to use Spirit on him to make him let her go and it killed him. She felt him die.”

Cactus grabbed me and spun me around so fast I didn’t even try to stop him. He wrapped me up in his arms and held me tightly. “Mother goddess, Lark. I didn’t know. I wasn’t trying to be flip back there.”

His apology was all I needed to let the anger go. I hung onto him. “I know. I . . . we have to go, Cactus. We are running out of time. I feel it.”

Though I said the words to hurry him, the moment they slipped from my mouth I knew they were true. We only had so much time, a countdown of minutes and hours we couldn’t see before something terrible would happen. What and where, I had no idea, which only made the sensation of impeding doom that much worse.

I pulled back from him and started down the street once more.

Across from us, a building seemed to beckon and I followed my instincts. The word “Police” was etched into a plaque over the door. “Like guards, if I remember right.” I knew enough about humans and their world to get by, enough to be dangerous.

I crossed the street and ran up the steps of the police building. As I lifted my hand to knock on the door, it was jerked open and a redheaded man stepped out. He looked to be about my age though he was a few inches shorter than me.

“Get the fuck out of my way, woman,” he snapped as he pushed past me.

“He’s a Tracker, grab him!” Peta yelled.

I didn’t hesitate. I grabbed his arm and spun him to face me. His fist came up and caught me under the jaw, dropping me to my knees. I didn’t let go. “Stop, I need your help.”

“I don’t fucking well help anyone. Piece of shit police are dumb fuckers who should just—”

“Stop!” I held up my free hand. “Please, I’m not police.”

“Of course you’re not, blondie.” His voice softened. “Damn, sorry about the shot to the jaw. That’s going to bruise.” He put his hands on my arms and helped me to stand, then grinned at me. “You are a tall drink of beautiful. Fuck me.”