Elemental Hunger

Chapter Twenty

I woke with a start, something burning in my chest. I inhaled deeply, trying to cool the fire. But it refused to die. It screamed Danger!

I sat up and shook Hanai. "Wake up! We gotta go!"

He sat straight up. "What?"

"Fire. Hot. Bad. Wake Cat up and put the cloak on her. I'll get the backpack." I pulled the remaining flames from the makeshift fireplace into my body. Just as I heaved the pack on, the door downstairs banged open. Voices shouted—and they didn't sound like cries of delight.

"Window," Hanai called, brushing by me with Cat right behind. He pulled her in front of him, and she climbed on the windowsill. "Jump!"

Cat leaped without a sound. Blazing infernos, she had more guts than me. Hanai motioned me forward, but I waved at him to go next. "I'll buy us some time!"

Heavy footsteps thundered on the stairs. Summoning the hottest fire I possessed, I engulfed the doorway in licking blue flames.

The screams of the men in the hallway sent a ripple of sickness through me. Fighting a wave of nausea, I stepped onto the windowsill and looked down. Only darkness existed, but the raging fire behind me disabled my therma-vision.

I stared into the nothing. No way I could jump. No blazing way.

A lovely melody filled the spaces between the crackling flames. The sentries had brought a Watermaiden.

I took a deep breath and held it. Then I stepped off the ledge. I bit back a scream as the night swallowed me.

The ground never came. Only two stories up, the drop shouldn't have taken so long.

"Ready?" Adam hovered—yes, hovered—in the air above me. The sight of him made a hysterical laugh burst from my mouth. He was here—he hadn't defected, hadn't ran back to his brother. I cried and laughed at the same time, all while Adam looked at me like I'd lost my mind.

"Ready for—?" I choked as he sailed down the alley, pulling me behind him with some invisible air tether. I'd never been so freaked out. Not even the first day my fingertips exploded into flames. See, floating above the ground with nothing underneath me was completely, totally, one-hundred percent life-altering.

Dark buildings flashed by. Adam towed me further and further into the city. Windows glowed in the blackness, and people walked in the streets below. A few minutes later, I sailed down a dark alley and descended to the ground.

I landed clumsily, stumbling forward into Isaiah's arms. "Gabbers."

I leaned on him, my legs shaking so bad they couldn't hold my weight. I breathed deeply, trying not to throw up, but the fresh air didn't help.

"Sorry," Adam said, landing lightly next to Isaiah. "I forget flight isn't for everyone."

"Isn't for everyone?" Hanai croaked. He bent over, his hands on his knees. He retched and groaned. "Don't ever do that again. I'll walk."

"They had the exits blocked," Adam said.

Still gasping for air, I sank to my knees. I agreed with Hanai. Death might have been better than the swirling, rocking motion of the earth.

"Let me have the backpack," Isaiah said. He took it without an argument from me. Cat stood behind him, twisting her hands, her eyes on Adam.

I could barely breathe. A moan escaped as I put my head in my hands. Flight was definitely not for me, and my stomach clenched painfully. The smell of Hanai's sickness didn't help.

What I did next: Threw up.

"Are you okay?" Adam's voice echoed in my head, but I knew he wasn't talking to me.