Elemental Hunger

Chapter Twenty-One

I woke up sometime later.

Problem #1: I was freezing. Pushing off the useless magic cloak, I sat up. Perhaps such a bone-melting experience with another Firemaker's heat had robbed me of my own. My throat felt too thick. I couldn't lose my power.

The room was darkening fast as I tried to calm myself. I ran my hands over my hair and down the front of my body, almost as if to check and see if I still had all the right parts in all the right places.

The silky fabric under my fingers felt foreign. I wore a navy blue robe, with buttons down the front like a man's shirt. The robe flowed with me when I stepped and extended down below my knees.

Problem #2: I wore nothing but a pair of shorts under the robe.

The room spun, caging me in. The air evaporated. The crushing hands appeared, squeezing, squeezing the life from my lungs.

I turned, desperate to leave the confined space. Between my bed and the door lay an empty bed, and I collided with it. My feet tangled in the edges of the blanket along the floor. I sank back onto my bed and flung the covers away.

I lurched toward the door just as it opened. Hanai entered, concern lining his eyes. "You're freaking out."

I fell into his arms, sucking at the fresh air from the hall. "Where—is—?" I choked out, unable to say Adam's name. I could still see him falling. Still hear his panicked cry.

His shoulders tensed. "Let's go." He led me into the hall, pressing his palm flat against mine. Bright electric lights shone from above. Hanai ambled down the hall, simply holding my hand, and I felt the world right itself again. With him, black tattoos and internal combustion didn't seem to matter much.

Hanai wore the same blue robe as I did. He wore a silver pin over his heart. Two intricate snakes coiled upward, glinting in the electric lights.

After we'd gone up a flight of stairs, he paused and let go of my hand. "I have something for you." He swept his robe open so he could dig in the pocket of his pants. He held up a silver pin, much like his, but this one depicted a silver flame of fire.

"For my Firemaker." His tender smile extended all the way to his voice. He slid his fingers under the collar of my robe and fastened the pin on the left side. "Beautiful."

When I looked up, he wasn't looking at the pin, but right into my eyes. I stared back, the tingle of his fingers still itching my skin under the pin. Something strange and wonderful passed between us. The moment stilled in time, where everything was exactly as it should be.

He took my hand again and we continued down the hall toward a black and white tiled room. I recognized the floor; I'd crawled onto it from the elevator shaft. The elevator doors had been sealed shut, the slot where the doors met melted together.

Heaps of dirt lay in sweeping arcs, left where it had been tossed. The walls looked like a giant fist had punched through them and pulled out everything inside. White plaster dust coated the couch and two overturned chairs. Several scorch marks marred the walls, the desk, even the ceiling, where pipes hung down like weathered tree branches.

"What in the blazes—?" I searched Hanai's face for an answer.

"Adam fell." He cleared his throat. "You burst into flames and started stumbling around. You were talking, but I couldn't make out the words. You wouldn't let me near you.

"Then the sentries came up from the stairwell, and all hell broke loose. Cat broke pipes and threw waves of water. Her voice...." He shuddered. "Remind me not to tick her off, let's just say that. Isaiah used the dirt in the potted plants and some plaster from the walls.