Breakwater

I thought about the ring Cassava had worn, how it had allowed her to control people by using Spirit. What would have happened if Requiem had gotten his hands on that? A full body shudder wracked me and I put my mind away from that. I’d hidden the ring myself in a place no one would look. A place that would remain hidden.

Still, the thought crossed my mind that if there was one ring, would there be another; maybe there really was one for each elemental family. The legends said there were, but . . . I stuttered to a stop as my mind latched onto the idea that maybe Requiem wasn’t a half-breed. Maybe he’d had a ring like Cassava. “Wait.”

Belladonna and Ash turned around to stare at me. She raised an eyebrow. “We are leaving.”

I touched my armband. “Not without this, you aren’t. Wait here, I have to check something.” I bolted the way we’d come, weaving through the courtyard and back into the throne room. Most of the Undines had dispersed and those left were pointedly not looking at Requiem’s body.

He hadn’t been moved and lay face up, eyelids closed and blood over his chest and neck. I approached him carefully, hoping my hunch was wrong. Which was a funny thing because if he was a powerful half-breed, he should have been more frightening. Yet the idea of multiple rings that could control the elements terrified me. In the wrong hands, they would become weapons by which the wrong people could take power with ease.

Like Requiem.

Like Cassava.

I crouched by his body and lifted up his left hand. No rings. I scooped the right hand up, no rings there, either. A sigh of relief escaped me and I bowed my head.

“Lark,” Belladonna said. “What are you looking for?”

She stood there and I stared up at her, at the stone hanging from her throat, the gray flecks within the smoky diamond that matched her eyes so well. I stood, unable to take my eyes from it. “Did Requiem . . . give you that?” I pointed at the necklace and her hand rose to it, fear lacing her eyes.

“No, I took it. It’s the least I can have for . . . what happened.” Defiance mingled with the fear, and I closed my eyes, searching for the right words.

I opened my eyes and held out my hand. “May I see it?”

Frowning, she slipped it off her neck and placed it in my hand. I clenched my fist around it and thought about a breeze that would wrap around my body. Maybe nothing would happen; I felt no different.

The warmth of the wind curled around me in a twist that tightened, pressing hard against my skin. I gasped and loosened my hold on the stone. “Take anything else, but you can’t have this.”

Belladonna’s eyes widened then narrowed just as fast. “That stone is mine, Ender.”

Ash shook his head at me. “Just let her have it, Lark. A stone like that can be found anywhere.”

Worm shit, he didn’t understand. “No.”

A burst of laughter across the room, and they looked away from me. I raised my hand and twisted the armband, hoping with Requiem’s death, the ban had been lifted.

The world swirled around me and I was sucked through to the Rim in the space of two heartbeats. Far easier when I wasn’t submerged in someone else’s memories. It was still dark in the Rim. The morning hadn’t yet broken. The Traveling room was quiet and I bolted out of the barracks, headed for the hiding place I’d picked for Cassava’s ring. For now, I would put them together. But I would have to hide them again, maybe separately. No one stirred as I ran toward the planting fields. At the farthest end was the blighted field, and the large black rock that had been placed at the edge to warn people away.

Frantic, I dug like a madwoman, fear driving me. Down and under the big rock, in a tiny hollowed out miniature cave sat the pulsing, pink ring Cassava had always worn, the diamond glittering at me. I jammed the smoky gray diamond in beside it and covered them. Grabbing a downed tree branch I swept the area to cover the fact anyone had been digging.

Breathless, I ran back for the Ender’s barracks, I had to get to the Traveling room and back to Ash and Belladonna. Into the barracks, my mind racing, I didn’t stop to think; I just sprinted through the training room and back down the stairs.

I hit the Traveling room door and pushed it open. Pulling the globe with my hands, I saw the pale, anemic dirt of the blasted field under my nails. “Shit.” If they were looking, they would see that, maybe even figure out where I hid the diamond that controlled the winds.

“Unless,” I pulled the globe to me, bringing the Deep into sharp relief. I touched the place over the docks.

Right over the water.

A twist of the armband forward and I was sucked away from the Rim into the Deep. My feet were on the water for a split second before I plunged down. I swam to the shoreline, trying not to think about all the things waiting for me under the waves. All of Requiem’s pets looking for revenge for their master’s death. “Maybe not such a good idea.” I swam as hard as I could, knowing the splashing would attract anything hunting.

Images of open jaws and razor sharp teeth chased me out of the water. I stood for a minute, daring myself to glance back. There was nothing in the pristine water, no dark shapes, no triangular fins. Yet I knew it would be a long time before the water felt safe to me again. If it ever did.

When I reached the throne room, Ash and Belladonna were standing, arguing, Finley beside them. She saw me first and smiled. I gave her a wave, fatigue washing through me. We were almost done.

“She will come back, Belladonna. Whatever she’s doing is important.” Ash had his fists on his waist.