VenatIO (Book I Of The IO Series)

XXXIV

DAY EIGHT

0210 HOURS

LOCATION – EARTH, ATLANTIS, LEVARIA

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I erupted. The dormant volcano within me, finding sanctuary in my grief and anger. I did not feel my legs carry me upward or know where the energy in me had come from, but I was a whirlwind of rage. The gates to my element had flooded open and water poured out around me, confining themselves to me and where Alex lay. I could hear whispers in my head, but they were surrounded by noise, muffled with tears.

I wasn't crying. I couldn't find it in me to cry, couldn't find the sorrow as it hid behind the anger. I was yelling, I could hear my voice in the air, yet I didn't feel as though my mouth was open. A hand touched my shoulder and in a fit of rage, I directed a burst of water at it.

I heard a thud, but I didn't look.

There were storms in the hall, tornadoes of water, jagged icicles forming from the roof. The image depicted from what I felt.

'Sapph,' Ty's voice whispered in my mind. I heard it clearly, yet I ignored it. But then from the raging water around me, I saw Michael's face, tear stricken as he looked at Alex. Those icicles from the roof broke off and one by one pierced my heart.

'Sapphire," Ty yelled loudly this time, the words both echoing in my mind and in the air. My pain had seeped into him, so that I no longer knew where mine ended and his started. I felt a hand grab my shoulders, harder this time, almost shaking me.

"Phye," he said. I tried to move away, to remain secluded in myself.

"Phye."

I didn't allow him to touch me, yet he didn't give up, instead wrapping his arms around me and pulling me away from the water.

"Let the element go, Phye," he muttered. I couldn't breathe, my face pressed against his chest, but I didn't mind it in the very least. The pressure somehow managed to comfort me but it didn't stop my element from still screaming in the air.

"Phye, let it go, breathe," he muttered, his hand stroking my hair. I let out a gasp, "Just let it go."

The words soothed something within me, and I felt my control break. The water I had taken out of the moisture in the air, returned into its natural state. The room calmed down.

Eli continued rocking me in his arms. I still wasn't crying, like everyone else, but my heart had hollowed out.

'Do not think of that,' Ty's voice warned, just as my mind jumped onto the memories of Andrew. I hadn't cried the day I found him dead. I hadn't cried that week. I had remained holed up in my room for nearly two weeks and then one day had randomly burst into tears. The grief of that mixed into what I felt now.

"Phye," Eli's voice soothed, "I'm going to let go of you, do not combust, okay."

His arms loosened around me, and I pushed myself away. My jaw was set, and I moved my face away so that he couldn't see it. His hands clasped my hands, his thumb gently stroking circles on my skin. I looked back at him and my jaw wobbled.

He looked heart broken. Nothing in his features looked like the Eli I knew. There was no light in his eyes nor any hardness. He looked tired, like he couldn't believe what had taken place. I guess we all felt the same way, but I felt guilty. He was closer to her than I had ever been. She was to him what Ty and Jaz were to me and yet I had reacted the worst, not even considering what the rest had felt.

"Black," I said, my throat constructed. He looked at me, the green in his eyes dimmed with sadness.

"She knew," he said quietly. I could practically see the guilt surrounding him.