Elemental Rush

Chapter Six

Chapter Six:

            I retreated to the porch while the roof rattled. I ducked around the side of the house, waiting for Felix to exit. He didn’t.

            I re-entered the house, searching for his mind. In the kitchen, I found a door leading down, with muffled sobs coming up. I sent a blast of icy air down the stairs, and Felix cursed.

            Satisfied, I shook the cupboards, the doors, the windows. I made the air batter them until the glass shattered. Only then did I hear footsteps on the stairs.

            I leaped out the exit created by the broken window, and ducked. I continued attacking the house, riling the air currents into tornadoes. Tarpaper and tiles from the roof joined the fray.

            “What should we do?” I heard Cat ask.

            “Stay here,” Felix barked. His bootsteps moved away from the back of the house. I wanted to send a cushion of air through the window to retrieve Cat, but I didn’t dare. If she was gone when Felix returned, I felt certain he’d kill her when he found her. And I had no way of explaining my presence in Cornish.

            The storm howling through the sky mirrored the one I felt escalating inside myself. I felt misled, lied to, betrayed—by my own brother. He’d told me for years that the life of sentry was noble and respected.

            The Elementals in Hesterton hadn’t looked at me with respect. My mission wasn’t about nobility. They’d eyed me with fear and loathing; my mission was simply about satisfying the whims of the Supremist.

            The fissures that had begun in Hesterton, and which had widened on the march from Junction, broke completely open. I didn’t know how I was going to return to Tarpulin like nothing had happened.

            Because something had happened. I’d become an Airmaster. An Elemental who protected others. I thought that was what I’d be doing as a sentry—protecting my Councilman. Maybe I still could be noble, I didn’t know. What I did know: I didn’t want another mission that required me to murder innocent people.

            Though I’d been trained to assassinate, I’d been led to believe that meant I’d be taking out the bad guys who wanted to take out Alex. Never once was I told that Alex was the bad guy.

            I shook the troubling thoughts from my head, still coiling and releasing air currents into tornadoes. It began to rain, and combined with the wind, I’d started a terrific storm.

            I stumbled away from the house, dodging flying debris as I squinted into the darkening sky. I had the brief thought that I could probably stop the wind, cool the tornadoes. But I didn’t want to.

            I found refuge in an abandoned warehouse that had cement footings, deciding to let nature blow itself out.

#

Mother Nature turned out to be as cruel as the Supremist, as unforgiving as Felix. The storm howled and ravaged Cornish for two days. When the wind finally calmed, I uncurled from my fetal position, my stomach clawing itself inside out.

I stumbled into the village, to the market. I had no money, and the Unmanifested weren’t exactly excited to see me. Finally a baker handed me a pork bun with the words, “Time for you to leave town, sentry.”

I agreed with him, so I nodded my thanks and headed back to the warehouse where I’d been hiding. I wasn’t sure what my next move was, but I knew I could get back to Tarpulin before Felix—if I decided to return to Tarpulin at all.

I tamed the westerly skimming the ground, making it coil and rise into the sky. It brushed my hair as it went, and I almost heard it whisper to me. I smiled, wanting to learn more about my Element.

“Adam!” someone called, and I froze, desperately hoping the man hadn’t seen me use my Element. I swallowed the last of my breakfast before turning.

Felix strode toward me, Cat in tow. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

I didn’t know how much of a lie I could tell. As sentries, we were trained to watch for signs of fibbing.

“I came to help you, but that storm hit and I was caught outside.”

“Helluva tornado,” Felix said. “Almost tore the roof off the house where we were staying.”

I cocked my head and listened to Cat’s thoughts. She hated Felix, but I also heard her think, I’m grateful for that tornado. It saved me.

I took a deep breath, relief and gratitude singing through me too. Felix had always been arrogant and assertive. I just hadn’t realized how far he’d go to get what he wanted. I wondered what else he’d taken from people that they didn’t want to give.

I blocked his thoughts, unwilling to live inside his head anymore.

“Did you get a new mission?” Felix asked.

“I saw the smoke from the fire,” I answered evasively. “I was worried about you.”

“So you abandoned your orders.”

I shrugged, though my heart leaped into my throat. “I suppose so. But there were ten sentries with three Elementals. I felt like it was safe to leave them to come help you.”

“Hmm.” Felix squinted at me, like he was the one who could read minds and he didn’t like what he heard. “Well, let’s get back to Tarpulin. We’re behind schedule.”