Elemental Hunger

Chapter Thirty-Seven

I got to my feet as icy tendrils of wind kissed the sweat coating my body and turned it into a layer of frost.

"Adam." I stumbled toward the hovercraft without looking away from the approaching sentries. Maybe they're Davison's, I thought, but I knew I was deluding myself. No matter whose they were, Adam would be able to read their minds.

He sat up, his eyes bloodshot, before I could pound on the window. In the next moment, he wrenched open the door. "What is it?"

I pointed toward the advancing sea of black.

"Sentries," we said at the same time.

"Not ours," Adam added, cocking his head to the side.

To his credit, he didn't scold me for revealing our position with Jarvis's funeral pyre. He simply squeezed my hand and turned toward the vehicle. "Hanai. Wake up, man. We've got trouble. Gabby, get in the car."

Before I could take a step, a pillar of earth shot into the sky. A hulking man landed lightly next to the chasm, a steely glint in his eye.

"Mr. Gillman," he said.

Adam stepped forward, pushing me behind him. "Lucas."

"Alex would like a word." Lucas-the-Earthmover folded his arms.

Adam didn't answer. Hanai stepped next to me, sliding his hand into mine. This time, though, the desperation coursing through my bloodstream didn't melt away. Lucas's face relaxed instead.

"She doesn't need Adam," Hanai said, his voice quiet but filled with authority. "Tell her you couldn't find us."

Lucas almost smiled—or what I imagine would pass for a smile on his rough face. He leaped into the tunnel he'd made without another word.

"Holy tornadoes, Hanai," Adam said. "Unbelievable Element you've got there." He turned toward me. "Get in the—"

"Halt!"

Five sentries—with guns pointed—stood before us. A moment later, a rush of wind blew my hair back, announcing the arrival of an Airmaster. He stepped from behind the sentries, clearly the reason they had arrived so fast.

"Hi, Theodore." Adam spoke without a hint of camaraderie. The Airmaster growled before taking off again, flying back toward Tarpulin.

A sentry sneered and lifted a black box to his mouth. "We have the Elementals."

The box beeped, and a female voice said, "If they try to flee, kill them."

We stood there, the three of us staring down the barrels of five guns. In my head, I asked Adam a hundred times what we were going to do, but he didn't move a single muscle.

Minutes stretched into forever. Finally, the Supremist arrived, wearing a luxurious set of crimson robes. Her hair stood only half an inch long, and her cheekbones were sharp and angled. She appraised me with anger flowing freely through her expression.

Relief flooded me. I'd accomplished what Davison wanted. If I could survive, I might actually have a chance at having a real Council, with a real city.

"Adam." She raised her hand and the sentries lowered their weapons. "Is that girl in your custody?"

"You're a girl too," I snarled before I could quiet the words.

"And now everyone knows it," Hanai added.

The Supremist trained her murderous eyes on me and then him before settling back on Adam. "So it seems."

For the first time, Adam shifted nervously.

"I know you used your air—" she started.

"Yes, I did," he interrupted her.

Something like betrayal—maybe hurt?—flickered across her face. Then she strengthened her jaw. "But—why?"

Adam's shoulders tightened. "Because I don't agree with your policies."

"Because I'm a w—"

"Your gender has nothing to do with it."

Pieces slid into place. Jarvis set that fire in Crylon. That had happened at about the same time the news came out that Alex was a woman.

In the middle of it all...Adam.

I pressed back into the vehicle.

"Not me, Gabby," he whispered. "Felix went to Crylon. Felix has been giving orders, fixing mistakes. I defected last year, remember?"

"How did you spread the rumor that Alex was a woman if you were with me in Forrester and then in the Outcast settlement?"

Adam glared past me toward Alex. "I told you once, Gabriella, the air tells me everything. I can use it to send messages to others. Remember how I asked Isaiah to come be our Earthmover?"

I nodded.

"I sent air messages to all the Councilmen across the entire United Territories, first to let them know about Alex, and then to see if they would join Davison's uprising. Word travels fast." He didn't look away from Alex once.

Before I could process what he'd said, my feet turned cold. Icy cold. I fell to my knees as my fire ebbed away. I moaned as I felt the heat of another fire. Alex's rage, her intense hatred of Adam, seeped into my soul. Strangely, I wanted nothing more than to watch him burn.

A hand, made entirely of angry fire, grew in front of me. It reared and slapped Adam hard across the face. When he righted himself, his cheek was unmarred, perfect. I absorbed the flames into my body, where the heat boiled under my skin. It raged throughout my senses.

But it didn't hurt.

Because it was my fire. That—woman—had stolen—my—Element. No wonder she hadn't been able to hurt Adam, my bonded Airmaster, a chartered member of my Council.

I regained my feet, flames pouring from my hands. "Don't you dare take my power again."

I took two steps forward, vaguely aware that Hanai had said my name.

Alex tipped her head back, and laughed. The sound fueled my rage. She signaled, and someone behind her threw something.

Adam launched a funnel of air, sending the Elemental cancellers far to the right. "Nice try. We know as many tricks as you."

Alex cocked her head, a coy smile tugging at her lips. "Do you?"

"Yeah—" A strange, choking sound came from Adam's throat. He crashed to his knees, his hands clutching his chest.

"Stop it!" Hysteria entered my voice, though I tried to keep my emotions in check. I'd only taken one step when the cool whisper of metal touched the back of my neck.

It wasn't a knife, but worse. The fire inside iced over and fled into the Element-cancelling metal. "No," I croaked.

Alex ran her fingers through my hair, causing me to flinch away from the chill of her hands. "You and I have much in common, Gabriella."

I glanced up, expecting to see hatred in every line of her face. I didn't find it. More like fascination.

"No," Hanai answered for me. "She is not like you."

Alex turned her calculating gaze on him. "Oh? And how would you know, Unmanifested?"

Hanai's mouth curled. "I am not Unmanifested."

"Oh?" Alex said again.

"I'm just like you," Hanai continued. "You and I are the same."

Alex looked at him like she was entertaining a mental patient. "What?"

"We're both Spiritual Elementals."