Salient Secret 2

47

Vada

"You know I'd love to help you Vada, but if I do, I'll lose Skye forever," Rowan sadly says. 

"It's okay Rowan, you've done more than enough. We can handle it from here," I say supportively.

"You better, the fate of the world is literally on your shoulders, there's no one I trust more to save us," he says hugging me. 

"Don't be a stranger," I say hugging him back and then watch him walk out the door. 

"So how long do we have until Cynthia realizes the serum is fake?" Palmer asks. 

"She'll notice when someone kills her and she doesn't magically resurrect," Cassian responds. 

"She's going to be pissed and then come looking for us, we have to move fast," Mel says. 

"We need to figure out details, like which realm are we doing this in?" Rik asks. 

"Xendorite is an abandoned realm, we could go there," Tanith suggests. 

"That sounds perfect," Cassian says. 

"Woah woah woah, why was it abandoned?" Kai skeptically questions. 

Tanith takes a deep breath and then answers, "Because the entire realm is basically covered in landmines."

"Were you planning on sharing this with the group or?" Enzo asks. 

"Oh relax, the intangibility feature in our suits will allow us to walk over the landmines without setting them off," Mel clarifies. 

"But Cynthia will set them off, which could kill Vada's family," Rik opposes. 

"There are safe spots in the realm," Tanith explains. "When Cynthia gets there, Vada can teleport her family to a safe spot where we can put the inhibitors on them."

"How are we going to fight Clover? She can easily turn us on each other," I ask. 

"Clover has to make some sort of contact to control your emotions, whether it be eye contact or physical contact," Palmer explains. 

"So Vada, blind her with your hallucikinesis and everyone else, don't let her touch you," Cassian says. 

"What about Tasia and Idris?" Enzo asks. "Can't they raise hell together?"

"If it comes to it, I can take them," Tanith volunteers. 

"It will be two against one, you'll die," Enzo says protectively and Tanith blushes. 

"She won't be alone, I'll shift into her and help," Kai says and I smile at his courage, even though he has no clue how to use her powers. "What?" he asks noticing my light chuckle that clearly wasn't as light as I needed it to be. 

"You should probably get to training then with Tanith so that she can show you how to use her powers," I say trying not to sound condescending. 

"Smooth," Mel whispers to me. 

"This should be a easy fight, it's four against eight," Rik says confidently. 

"Something tells me that Cynthia has an ace up her sleeve," I say knowing that a person who has been around for centuries knows better than to show up to a fight disadvantaged in any way. 

"Which is why we need to make sure we use everything to our advantage," Palmer says. "Especially the landmine realm, if we play our cards right, we can use it to our advantage."

"I think it's time for us to go on a little field trip." 

*****

"Okay so there's a landmine every 10 inches, think of it like a chess board and you have to step on the white tiles only," Palmer explains while standing in front of us in this spooky realm, I can see why it's abandoned, this place is basically the dessert of realms.

"How do you know?" Rik asks and Palmer chooses not to answer with words, instead she reaches in her bag and pulls out a packet of pebbles. She then uses her powers to take the pebbles far from us and drop them to the ground. Six land pieces go up in flames in a clear pattern. 

"They're not really landmines, they're more like steam holes but instead of steam, they release fire," she continues.

"Good news is, if you accidentally step on one then Vada can heal you, bad news is, it's going to hurt like hell," Cassian says, "No pun intended." 

"How do we know where to step?" Tanith asks. 

"Look closely at the ground, there's a slight demotion slash dent on the floor where they are," Palmer responds. 

"Let's see if the intangibility thing works," Rik says pressing the button on his sleeve and stepping forward recklessly and then he gets shot up into the sky by the landmine, I know it's cruel but we all burst out laughing. "Wrong button," he says while lying there burnt to a crisp. 

*****

After concluding that you can't study during the test, we decided to leave the realm, so that Palmer and Cassian can create a simulation of it in the training room while the rest of us take a break. 

"You know what I still don't get," Tanith says and then continues, "Rowans vision. What was that about? If Cynthia wants to become immortal, why was there so much destruction? Not to mention that you gracefully executed the element benders besides George, which leaves a giant question mark next to the fires and floods in the vision."

"Maybe it was a metaphor of how evil she is," I suggest. 

"Maybe, either way, we can't let her win," she says. 

"She only wins if we all die," I say. "Which is the closest thing to impossible."

"Can I borrow her for a second?" Kai says interrupting Tanith and I. 

"Umm sure, I'll go check how far Cassian and Palmer are," she says and leaves. 

"If you're going to lecture me about being the one to-" I start but I'm cut off by him grabbing my face and taking my lips into his. "What was that for?" I ask after he pulls away. 

"It was partly an 'I'm-sorry' kiss but it was mostly because when Tasia took you, my life without you flashed before my eyes and I got really really scared," his face is so close to mine I can feel his breath against my skin, but more importantly, I can see the sincerity and love in his eyes. "I know we're messy but there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to make me stop loving you."