The Elementals (16 page)

           
"NOOO!" Terra’s scream erupted from her, but she didn't feel it clawing its way out of her throat. She felt like she was floating somewhere else, everything around her hazy, a picture that had lost its focus.

           
Era extended her hands and a gust of air pulled and tugged at their clothes, whipping their hair over their faces. Hadrian rose to the ceiling and was thrown down with the loud crunching of broken bones.

           
Terra started towards Hadrian but Marissa was grabbing her arm stopping her. "We have to get the hell out of here. It can't happen today."

           
Bryan
got up slowly and hobbled past them, taking Terra’s wrist and leading her away from the body. "Let’s get home."

           
"But what about Ian," Marissa protested.

           
"Leave him. The janitors will find him. Don't worry, Hadrian will leave him be. He'll come to in time to abandon the scene of the crime." Halfway to the door, he bent and whispered in Terra’s ear, his hot breath sending chills through her.

           
"I'm here. It'll be okay."

There, on the side of the road they huddled together, and grieved for the human they lost.

           
There was an undercurrent of sadness. It was killing her. The print behind her lids repeated the scene of Ian's death. There was nothing that she could do to turn back time, to erase the image. It was burned into her lids for her to see forever. It didn't need to be every time that she closed her eyes. When they were open she saw it too. She couldn't escape it.

           
The drive back was silent, Marissa and Era asleep in the backseat. They hadn't said a word since the end of the battle. They kept quiet and close to each other. Those two were nearly inseparable.

           
Terra didn't drive, relinquishing that control to Bryne. He occasionally asked her questions about where her friend lived, how to contact his parents. She wasn't able to answer any of them. They didn't exactly have a verbal relationship. For that she was ashamed. She should have learned more about him.

           
She was numb. Her body shutting down from the pain. She told herself that Ian wasn't in any pain, that he was at peace, but she was grieving for herself and it offered little to no comfort. Not then. Not when it was so fresh.

           
It didn't go how it was supposed to. They were there to save him, and he died. It wasn't fair. All their lives they thought the prophet was unjust, but losing a friend, that was unjust. How could one live with that? How could one live with knowing that they didn't do what they could to save him? She could have. If they walked straight in, cut the small talk, it was possible. But no. He died.

           
"Terra?" Bryne asked carefully.

           
"Yes?"

           
It was as though he was reading her mind. "It's not your fault. We didn't know that he could mess with energy like that. Elves normally use it to stir and help cook. I've never seen it used against anyone before. He's never showed it in front of me." He pursed his lips together harshly. "It's not your fault."

           
"How can you know that?"
           
"I know about these things. Hadrian was right about everything. He is my father, and I did kill my mother and brother. It's something that will forever haunt me. There's no moving on or getting over it, or accepting it. You have to live with it every single day. But you don't have to, Terra. You weren't the cause of his death. Hadrian was the cause and I swear to you, they will pay for it."

           
"I didn't prevent it," she countered in a small voice. The world hadn't gained its focus back. It was a fuzzy movie film, and she was the character who was meant to lose. She was in a tragedy.

           
"But you didn't cause it. Terra, you can't let this get to you. You have to overcome this. We need you."

           
She shook her head, but it didn't dislodge the events that replayed, over, and over again. It was never-ending. She feared that she would never get rid of the scene from her mind. The reel would keep moving and moving in its circular hold in her head. Would she ever be able to sleep or function again?

           
"I know what you're going through. I've been there." His hands tightened on the wheel. "Hadrian would hit my mom. She would try to protect Asher, but he'd get through, my mom could only handle so much until she was unconscious. It went on for years, but one day I came home. He was gone and they were there... Lying on the floor bruised and bloodied... They were barely alive... My anger got the best of me and the stove exploded... It was one thing after another and the whole place was soon in flames. I tried to get them out... I tried to carry them but my mom... Her last words were to tell me to save myself... And I did." His tone was rough as gravel, and she knew that Era was awake listening. "I shouldn't have left. I regret it every day, every second of my life. I should've died in there with them. If I did, maybe the stupid prophet would be wrong.”

           
Hot and fast, tears fell from Terra's eyes. She touched his arm, on the inside of his elbow. “I'm sorry. I'm glad you left.”

           
“Don't you see how one mistake destroys a future? You slip up once and it's over! They're dead, Terra, because I caught the house on fire and I was a coward enough to leave!”

           
“Things happen for a reason…”

           
“There was no reason for that!” He swerved to the edge of the road and shut off the engine. They were about a block from their house, in the middle of
 
the neighborhood, small lights on the outside of country porches with decorated pine cone wreaths.

           
Bryne threw himself outside, kicking at a rock, sending it flying into the distance.

           
Glancing into the backseat she saw that Marissa hadn't budged, and Era was continuing to fake it that she was sleeping. She left the car and came up behind him. She wrapped her arms around his midsection, her cheek against his tensed up muscles, feeling the heaviness of his breath.

           
“You did what your mother told. That's what children do. It's not your fault, Bryne.” She wept, inhaling the dark smoky scent of him. She found that it reached deeply within her, soothing her soul.

           
“And you, Terra?”

           
“I led him here. I dated him and I broke up with him. It's all my fault, I shouldn't have led him to this lie.” Terra replied.

           
He broke her grip and spun, grabbing her arms he held her in a binding clutch. “It was
not
your fault. He made the choice to come here. You didn't want him to die. You did everything you could to try and save him. None of us could. Don't lose sight of what we have to do. Fight to avenge him if you can find no other reason. But fight. We need you. You are our center.”

           
She hung her head, the tears collecting on her chin saturating the collar of her shirt. It shook her body as she strained to stop.

           
“No. Cry. Just cry.” He drew her to his chest, clasping her waist, her hair a tangled ball in his fist. “It'll be okay... It's not over yet...”

           
She didn't have the strength to deny him, or to keep the undercurrent as it was. She let it go, and a small cry evaded her lips as she crumpled against him. The tears fell faster, her brawling louder. She clung to his shirt, her nails clawing at it. If it were flesh, he would have been bleeding, but she got the notion that even if it was, he wouldn't have let her go or made one small complaint.

           
“It's not your fault,” he whispered heatedly in her ear. He caressed her back and then she felt other hands on her shoulders, one rubbing her arm. She felt Marissa and Era hugging her.

           
"It isn't your fault," they both agreed.

           
Marissa kissed her wet cheek. "We did all that we could."

           
"That's what scares me," she bawled. "That we did everything we could and he died anyway. We don't stand a chance, it's hopeless."

           
"I won't have that," Bryne barked. "We'll be better next time. We can do this."

           
There, on the side of the road they huddled together, and grieved for the human they lost.

* * * * *

           
"She hasn't eaten in days..."

           
"I don't know what we can do for her... She has to be starving."

           
"Think we should smoke her out?"

           
"You would be the expert on that, Bryne."

           
Their voices carried worry but Terra didn't move from her bed. She pulled the blanket over her head and wished that they realized that she wasn't deaf and her door wasn't soundproof. She could hear them talking about her just fine. She thought that Era would've had more sense, or that Marissa would have more empathy. She could
feel
what she was feeling. She obviously expected Bryne's attitude.

           
Terra recognized what a pain she was being. She was wallowing in her pain, causing suffering to her little sister, annoyance to her friend, and causing Era concern. She wasn't being fair to them. Letting her leadership role go, she curled up in her bed for days, only going out to use the bathroom and it was a wonder that no one ambushed her then.

           
"It's ridiculous, the way she's starving herself. Does she think that that's going to do any good?"
Bryan
questioned.
           
"She's mourning. Everyone does grieve in their own way." Marissa explained.

           
"She's never grieved before this?"

           
"We've never lost anyone but our parents, but... Our dad died of herbal poisoning a long time ago. We were too young to remember him. He was human, you know. We're only half freaks - as Terra puts it. Our mom... She died giving birth to me. Terra was three and the memory is fuzzy to her. It's like her mind blocked out her mother dying, but not how she would shut in the drawers with her hips, or the way she'd sing. Pancakes every Saturday and eggs on Sunday. Things like that."

           
"Mari, are you sure you don't want to go someplace else while she gets over this?"

           
"We can't be separated! Hadrian knows where we live! We have to stay together. I... I only feel safe here with you three." There was a short pause. "Even with you, fire starter."

           
"Funny, funny,"
Bryan
half jested.

           
"You've been taking this well," Era said as if she had been ignoring the two's spat. That was likely true. "We thought that you would be taking this like her. To be honest, I thought she'd be taking this better..."

           
"Someone has to be strong while she's gone."

           
Terra added her pillow to the blanket. It muffled the sound of them. She wondered if they were being loud so that she would know their opinion on the subject of her pain. At first, they talked of her like she was gone, but they confirmed the fears under the pain. They did think she was gone, and she supposed she was. How else was it to be explained? She hadn't talk to them since that night... that terrible unforgiving night.