Extraordinary (The Extraordinary Saga #4)

Chapter 18

Out of nowhere, the cave's rumbling began again, just like when it collapsed. Caeden felt a sharp pain in his temples, and when he blinked, he was somewhere else. Still sitting on the ground, as he had been in the cave, but now his surroundings were completely different. He stood, looking out in front of him. He was now standing on a cliff, and sprawled out in front of him was smoke. A lot of it. Breathing it in seemed impossible, even for someone who was used to a fire's flame.

He covered his mouth and tried to see what was the cause of the smoke, but there was nothing below him except ruin.

Slowly but surely, the realization of where he was came to him. All around him were mountains - familiar mountains. The ones around his house.

He was looking at the valley.

The moment his mind grasped the concept, he snapped back to the present. He was on his knees, the vision vanishing as sudden as it had come.

"Caeden, what happened?" Rowan asked. She was shockingly calm, though he guessed that might have been an act. "You look terrified. Did you see something?"

He nodded slowly and went over what he'd seen.

At the end of the story, everyone was silent,with the exception of Hope's quiet "oh, no".

"Was it real?" Caeden asked, afraid to hear the answer. "Did you feel anything happen outside?"

Rowan shook her head, and he almost collapsed with relief. "No, nothing."

"Thank God."

"Aether hasn't ever... sent visions before, has it?" Luna asked quietly. "Assuming that's what it was, and all."

Hope started to shake her head, then stopped. "Actually, no. From what I read, what Mark wrote down" - she glanced sidelong at Caeden - "He mentioned something like that."

Caeden wasn't sure what to say except, "I really need to get out of here and talk to my mom."

The room went quiet, nobody exactly sure what to say. Then out of the silence, Jay's phone made a buzzing sound.

"What the hell?" He mumbled, checking it. "I thought for sure we didn't have service down here."

When he saw it, his heart spasmed nervously. "Earthquake warning," he read aloud. "All over town. Super sudden."

"Shit," Hope cursed. "It's Aether."

Several questions spiraled out of Hope's statement, most of them unfinished.

"You really think-"

"How did you get service?"

"Should we call the police?"

Finally Jay had had enough. Waiting around wasn't going to solve their problem.

"Please tell me somebody's got a game plan," he said, breaking the silence. "'Cause if there's eight of us with superpowers trapped down here and nothing we can do to stop it, then why do we even have these powers?"

He glanced down at his phone again, only for it to have no service once again.

"How-" he started, cutting himself off. He looked up. "I lost my service again."

"Damn Aether," Peter said as another rumble went through the floor. "It wants us to know what it's doing."

"I can try and blow that rockwall over," Jay suggested, looking at the pile of jam-packed rubble off to their right - the one blocking their only exit. "Or maybe you could break it down. But I guess you would have already if you could."

Peter nodded. "You're right. We're stuck enough as it is; I don't want to risk moving anything else. Is anybody else hiding some amazing power that'll get us out of here without burying us under another ton of rocks?"

Rowan cleared her throat.

Peter's eyes went to her, brown irises narrowed into slits. "That was a joke, for clarification."

Rowan sighed exasperatedly. "You asked." Her heterochromic eyes flitted around nervously, then settled on the golden veins in the far side of the cavern. "While we've been stuck down here, I've been thinking a lot about what it is I do. I make lightning, sure... but now I'm thinking that there might be more."

Nobody said anything to lead her on, but Rowan hadn't expected them to. After all, most of them had only just met her that day.

So she went on. "With all this power around us - the not-shadows, the veins in the cave, and even this whole Aether thing under our feet - I've noticed that the power inside me, before I shape it into lightning or an energy ball or whatever you want to call it, feels very similar to all this raw magic."

Caeden met her gaze. "So... what are you saying?"

She looked at Peter, then at Jay. "I'm saying... I think I can amplify your powers enough to break down these walls without any type of strain on you. I- I could be wrong, but-"

Jordyn cut her off, a smile flicking on her face for just a moment. "It's the best chance we've got."

Rowan's lip quivered into a smile too, then she looked to Jordyn's right. "Jay, can you move things with your wind? Like telekinesis?"

He nodded. "Sure. Why?"

Her heart leapt. "'Cause I'm thinking if we make a hole in that wall, you can reach through and grab that compass."

"She's right," Hope added. "Aether is as much tied into that compass as it is in this cave. If we can pull the magic from it-"

"We can give ourselves an advantage," Onyx finished. "Make Aether vulnerable. And take out the golden veins in this cave next."

Hope grinned. "Exactly. Before Aether can do any damage."

"But how are we supposed to destroy the compss?" Caeden asked. His head still felt like it was swimming with new knowledge, but that would have to wait. His mom would be there to answer all of his questions when he got home. "It's solid metal."

"That's-" Rowan turned to him. "Where you come in. You're gonna melt it."

Caeden's eyes went wide, but there was something else besides fear built up inside him... Was it excitement? "I've never tried to get that hot before."

"But you don't burn, right?" Rowan asked. It was something she'd noticed in the caves earlier. Caeden had held the open flame directly on his hand - because the heat didn't bother him. "You'll be okay."

"I mean maybe," Caeden protested. "But..."

"What happens after all that?" Luna interrupted. "Sure, we'll have messed around with Aether and all, but how do we actually get rid of it?"

"We don't really... know," Hope admitted. "Or else my dad would've told me a long time ago. But one thing I've learned from all this destiny bullshit is that a lot of what happens with Aether can't be predicted. We'll just make it up as we go along."

"But what if it can't be destroyed?" Luna's voice was high-pitched with worry. "What if all this is for nothing?"

Rowan didn't have much of an answer for Luna's question, but she mustered up enough bravery to sound like she knew what she was talking about.

"Luna, this is magic we're talking about. Anything's possible. And besides, we have to do this. Not just for Cade's parents or for us, either. For everyone in town. We don't have a choice."