Elemental Hunger

Chapter Nine

I laughed at Adam, truly surprised. "Spirit-speakers? You're joking, right?"

He wasn't. He reached out, his hand appearing as it emerged from the sleeve. "Pull your hood back on and hold my hand. You can see for yourself."

I thought he might be the one who was insane. First, if he believed Spirit-speakers really existed. Second, if he thought I would hold his hand just because he told me to.... I glared at him.

"It doesn't mean anything. Just so we don't lose each other." His hand hovered in the air, and I looked at it, then back to him.

"O-kay."

He laughed as he covered his head again. I pulled on my hood and took his hand. He adjusted the sleeves so they covered our hands, and it was freaky to watch my own flesh disappear. He tugged in the direction he wanted to go.

I followed, stepping carefully over fallen logs, patches of muddy snow, and piles of rotting leaves.

"I've never met a girl as quiet as you," Adam whispered. "Most of them never shut up." I couldn't tell if he thought my silence was a good thing or not. I kept my mouth shut and dug my fingernails through his glove and into the back of his hand.

"Ow! I meant it as a compliment. Jeesh." He stopped walking, and I felt the weight of his eyes. I stared at the spot where I thought he might be. I still didn't speak.

He squeezed my hand and pulled me forward again. I thought I heard him apologize, but I wasn't sure.

See, I already knew I was different. Regular Elemental girls Manifested as Watermaidens—like Cat. And she was so opposite of me. My voice scratched on the way out, I'd never owned a dress, and curves avoided my body at all costs.

She spent time outside in the fresh air. She was pampered when she wasn't infusing bath water with jasmine or strolling through the fields imparting life-giving water to crops. And yet I loved her.

Wrapped up in my thoughts about my lost friendship, I didn't realize Adam had stopped until he dropped my hand.

I looked up, inhaled the smoke, and tried to locate the fire. I couldn't—and that scared me.

"What do you see?" His question sounded like a dare.

I wished I could see something that would erase the mocking from his voice. But I only saw the same trees and leaves and rocks—and the smoke.

Felix had said Firemakers could control smoke. My heart sped up. Could there be another Firemaker here?

Inhaling deeply, I closed my eyes. The smoke came from a hard wood, maybe alder. I didn't know how I knew that, but it was true.

Adam shifted next to me, his hand finding mine again and squeezing. "Um, Gabe?"

"Hmm?" I didn't open my eyes because the smoke painted my senses with rich lather. My head swam with the sweet scent.

The pressure on my hand increased until I thought he'd squeeze it off. I finally opened my eyes. Adam had lowered his hood, his quiet amusement gone.

"What?" I asked.

He raised his eyebrows and inclined his head toward something in front of him. A wall of smoke hovered in front of me, obscuring the landscape behind it. Pearly and gray, it wafted into the treetops, held back by an invisible barrier.

"What did you do?" Adam hissed.
I moved forward and stretched out my hand. I could almost feel the energy keeping the smoke from me. I ached to feel it brush my skin, to breathe it into my lungs.