CHAPTER 11
Tucked away under a waterfall deep within a mountain, held somewhat captive for training by a man who was an uncle, along with a brother who’d betrayed me more than once, you’d think I would hate them both equally.
Wrong.
Raven burst out laughing, and it was not a nice laugh. “I agree, Talan. Why not sacrifice some of your family since we’ve lost most of ours? It’s only fair, don’t you think?”
Talan didn’t move and yet everything about him changed. As if the easygoing Spirit Walker let us glimpse a side of him he’d kept hidden. “You think I’ve not lost my family? You think my children weren’t hunted into near extinction? That every love I’ve ever had wasn’t killed? You think that losing my mother to a spell of Vivica’s wasn’t enough? You think I haven’t given enough to this world and that you should now be spared a small amount? You know nothing.”
He spoke softly, but there was a deadly tone to his words, and for the first time, I was afraid of him, of what he could make us do if he so chose. Yet even with that fear humming under the edge of my skin, I couldn’t back down. I couldn’t allow him to use what was left of my family for his gains.
“I will not apologize,” I said out of sheer stubbornness. “Besides, your mother isn’t lost. I hear her.”
Talan startled as if I’d slapped him. “What did you say?”
“She said,” Peta enunciated each word slowly, “she…hears…your…mo…ther.” She sniffed. “I’ve heard her too.”
He paled and slowly went to his knees. “There is no doubt then.” He covered his face with his hands and, horror of horrors, a sob slipped from him. I froze where I stood, not sure what was going on. The shift in emotions was so fast, it caught me off guard.
I shot a glance at Raven who just shrugged. Peta seemed to have no such worry about what to do. She hurried forward and put her paws on Talan’s thighs, then pushed her nose against his hands as they covered his face.
“Talan, I doubt it means she loves you any less.”
“Oh, Peta, if that was only the reason for my heart pain,” he whispered, but the words caught and echoed in the chamber. “If my mother is awake and speaking to Lark, then… it will happen. The world will break. I had hoped I was wrong, that we were years yet from this moment. I’d hoped it would never come to be truth. I’d hoped that by freeing my siblings, perhaps it would be enough to cow Viv.”
Raven cleared his throat. “The mother goddess has been speaking to my daughter as well.”
I frowned. “Daughter?”
He flashed me a quick smile. “Yes. Daughter.”
I wanted him to tell me it was Pamela, but he didn’t. He kept her name to himself and there was a flash of understanding in me. He was protecting her as best he could.
Talan lifted his face, his eyes still glittering with tears. “That is not a surprise. If Mother is speaking to Lark, she needs to also choose a witch to do her bidding. Which I believe has been done?”
Talan’s eyes flicked to mine for the briefest of seconds. Of course, he’d been there when I scooped up Pamela.
He already knew she was the one—he’d seen her break the Veil.
Raven paled and I felt a pang for him. Though I’d never had a child, I’d dreamt of one. A golden-haired little boy with Ash’s features and my smile with my mother’s eyes. The pang deepened into a wound of the heart I found myself fighting off as though it were a physical injury. I’d thought I’d given up on that dream long ago. For it to hurt now was a surprise.
Talan stood, and it was as if there had been no breakdown, no moment of weakness.
I waved a hand at him as I pulled myself together. “Okay, right now the fact that your mother is speaking to some of us doesn’t really matter. What matters is that Viv stole the stones and is going to kill your siblings. We have a chance, and we need to take it. Is there any other way we could find where she’s hidden the original elementals?”
Talan shook his head as he rubbed at the back of his neck. “No. I tried a Tracker years ago, but she was unable to help.”
I suspected there was one Tracker who could have done it. Rylee could do what no other Tracker could, but she’d lost her abilities at the Battle of the Veil.
“Then we have this one chance. We follow Viv,” I said, the decision already cast in stone as far as I was concerned.
Raven nodded. “I agree. Talan, you can train Lark as we go.”
Talan put both hands to his head. “This is not how things were supposed to go.”
Peta laughed softly, but there wasn’t a single mean note in it. “Ah, Talan, still trying to control everything? You may be older than me, but it is a lesson you have yet to learn. The world will bring you trouble in all forms. And you cannot always predict it.”
He ran a hand over her back and a sigh slid from him. “Damn it. Why are you always right?”
She grinned over her shoulder at him as she trotted back to me. “I’m a cat.”
I held out my hand and she leapt into my arms and from there moved to my shoulder. “What are we waiting for?”
Raven cleared his throat. “We might have a direction, but we still have to find Viv.”
“Oh, that’s easy. She’s with your mother, Raven. Cassava helped her. We find Cassava and we find Viv.” I locked eyes with him, daring him to deny that Cassava was working against him. She was mad, and it was obvious she was not playing with a full deck of cards.
Raven stared back at me. “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy, Lark. Even if Cassava could be found, she is not herself.”
My jaw tightened. “So you think we should just stay here, too, safe and tucked away while the original elementals are killed? What happens when that happens? The elemental bloodlines fail and we will die. I will not die like a rat hiding in a cave.”
The words echoed in the room in a strange way, almost like they were whispering back to me the answer. Yes, you will all die if the original elementals die.
“No, that’s not what I want!” Raven snapped back.
All the blood in my body seemed to still as if I’d been dunked into a frozen lake and left there. “Talan, is that what will happen?”
He drew in a big breath, held it and then slowly let it out. “I don’t know. Possibly. It’s not like there are cases where the others have been killed before, you know.”
I raised an eyebrow. “That’s not true. My mother was your sibling, and she died. Both Bramley and I lived. Perhaps that is a good sign that the bloodlines can continue on?”
He shook his head. “Your mother… she did not carry an original element like the rest of us so it’s not the same kind of comparison.”
That wasn’t exactly a comforting thought. The more I mulled it over, the more upset I became until I was pacing the room. “This is only more reason to leave. Why are we still standing here?”
“Because we can’t find them!” he roared at me. “There is no way to track them. There is no way to track Cassava!”
“You aren’t even going to try?” The horror was heavy in my voice. I didn’t understand the ability to walk away, to act as though there was nothing we could do. To give up before we’d even tried.
“And do what? Have Viv realize I am training you to take her down? Have her realize that we are after her? She has the stones, Lark. What do you think she will do to this world if she feels threatened? The curse is nearly broken. One more stone and she will be able to attack anyone.” Talan was right in front of me, his hands gripping my upper arms. “She will cause havoc and chaos out of spite. With four of the stones, she can do that and not upset the curse. As long as she isn’t actively trying to kill an elemental, she can’t be stopped.”
The intricacies of the curse were not lost on me. “I won’t just stand by and let her do this, Talan. And we don’t know she has the pink diamond.” The only stone I hadn’t carried with me.
“You can’t leave without me,” he said, his eyes flashing anger.
I leaned into him. “Then I suggest you pack, because we have to go, now!”
He let out a snarl and spun away from me. “I am trying to help you, damn it!”
“And I am trying to save your siblings!” I yelled back.
There was silence between us and I knew in my gut he wouldn’t back down. Talan believed I had to be trained or I would fail. To be fair, I understood. But he wasn’t looking at my life.
I’d never been fully trained for any of the challenges I’d faced. I’d seen them, taken what knowledge I could, and ran at them full tilt.
Looked like I was back to leaping before I looked.
I drew myself up. “Raven, do you know the way out?” I didn’t look at my brother, but kept my eyes on the elemental in front of me. Did I need his training? Probably, and even more honestly, yes. But the idea that Vivica was out there, ready to kill those we needed the most, was not an acceptable path to me.
“Yes, I can get out of here,” Raven said softly.
“Don’t you dare,” Talan snapped, and it was only then I saw the sheer weight on him. I saw the fear and the uncertainty. I saw the desire to help no matter the cost and I softened a little. I couldn’t help it.
“Talan, we can do this with you, or without you. Will you come?” I held a hand out to him, an offer of peace. An offer to keep training. “You had to know there was no way you’d be able to keep me here for long. That I’d find a way out.”
He stared at me and I stared right back. “There is always a way,” he said softly. There was no warning, there was no ability to block the power of Spirit as it cascaded over me and I swayed on my feet.
“You will stay here, and you will train,” Talan said, and I fought the desire to repeat the words back to him. They clogged my throat.
Raven grunted and there was the flutter of his black cloak beside me. “I will stay.”
Well, shit.
I knew I was stronger in Spirit than Raven.
But could I ever truly face down Talan and win?
“I will stay and train with you.” I bit the words out, one at a time as if they dropped from my lips. Peta shivered on my shoulder. “I will help her train.”
“Good,” Talan said. “I am sorry, but we have to make sure you are ready, Lark. I have worked too hard, for too long, and we have all lost too much now to race into a battle with Vivica before you are ready.”
I stood there, unable to turn away. Talan tucked his hands behind his back. “We start your training now, Lark. Raven, you will train as well because it is obvious you have forgotten your lessons with me.”
I swallowed the words that leapt up my throat. I wanted to scream at him that he was a stinking pile of shit. But my mouth wouldn’t move. I had no control over that.
My mind, though, was another thing. Carefully I sent a thought to Peta. Can you hear me?
Her green eyes flicked over me and she gave a single blink.
We will play along, I sent to her. He will make a mistake and Raven will help us.
Her eyes narrowed and while her thoughts were not actual words, I saw her concern. There was the distinct possibility that Raven would betray me yet again. But what other hope did I have than to put my trust in the brother who’d once been my favorite sibling? Nothing, I had no other hope than to believe I could outwait Talan. That he would let his guard down at some point.
The only questions were, how long would it take, and would any of the original elementals be alive when we finally escaped?