The Elementalists

Chapter 24

Kass

*Part one*

We hit the ground and roll over, the wormhole still clutched in my fist.

My head is straining fit to burst, my heart pounding furious beats against my ribs. I rest my cheek on the cool earth, feeling the tickle as dust flutters up my nose. Rai lies quite still beside me. His eyes clenched shut.

'Rai?'

He doesn't reply. With a sigh, I wrench myself to my knees and claw my way towards him. The air stinks of aged mothballs, but it's oddly fresh, like a forgotten attic that's had a window left open for a hundred years. I've never been to the Mist Archipelago before, it never exactly came highly recommended. It turns out to be achingly similar to Quillin, to home, more than anywhere else we've been so far. There's a familiar loneliness about the place. These hills could easily be the hills I wandered, alone, acrid wind and spots of rain peppering my cheeks and mud-stained boots.

But of course, we're nowhere near home. The open sky stretches its arms above cliffs that yawn over acres of lifeless trees and barren rock. Caves nuzzle into the cliff like holes in cheese. The mists here are thicker than I've ever seen; from my position on the ground, I'm completely submerged in them. But despite their density, they seem clean somehow, like a cloud someone's teased apart. 

And yet. For a place called the Living Caves . . . I can't see any signs of life. Anywhere. 

'Sit up.' I struggle to lift Rai, but he's having none of it; he dead-weights against me and I drop him with a huff. His hair falls into his eyes, and I have the sudden urge to smooth it back.

What the hell am I thinking?

'Get up! What the hell are you doing? You can't just go to pieces like this.'

'OH YEAH? Said by you.'

'Wow. Okay, I deserve that, but seriously, come on. Fina and Hayden can't be far away.'

'I don't care anymore.'

I watch Rai's tears speckle the ground, darkening the already damp soil.

'Yes, you do. Snap out of it. I need you.'

'You don't need me. I'm poison, everything I touch goes to shit.'

'You're wrong.' With another grunt of effort, I heave Rai upright. My shoulder screams and I can't help wincing.

'See?' Rai wriggles out of my arms. 'I'm hurting you.'

'Uugh.' I can't help rolling my eyes. 'Really?'

Rai frowns, rubbing the back of his neck. 'My filters are blocked again,' he mutters.

'So, unblock them! Jeez.'

His beautiful almond eyes swim, the bluest things I've ever seen in my whole goddamn life. Then he pokes his finger into the gap between the pads—I try hard not to pull a face—and shakes his head, swift and violent. A dog shaking away fleas. Colour floods back to his cheeks.

'Better?'

He shoots me a small, sheepish smile. 'Yeah. Shall we find her?'

I hesitate. All I want is to find Fina and get back to Jinaka. The thought of Sammi left with those people. . . And nagging doubts twist like a dagger in my spine. Why the hell are they attacking civilians in Singavere?

'In a minute. Don't you need to send a message, first?'

Rai blinks. 'A message?'

'Can't you do that? With your reti-chip thing?'