Windburn (The Elemental Series #4) (7 page)

There was only one thing for me to say. “Yes. I know.”

“Good.” She tapped me on the arm. “It’s about time someone shook up our world. I’m glad it’s you.”

Her words caught me by surprise and I laughed. “Thank you?”

She pushed me toward where the men waited. “Pshaw. Be off with you now. You have a long journey ahead with several stops along the way. Do not rush, let the journey lead you where it will.”

Her words echoed my own desire and so I clung to them. I would not rush after my father, but go carefully.

At least, that was the plan.

Taking our leave of Niah and Griffin, we headed toward the Enders Barracks.

“I overheard what she said about this being a long journey,” Cactus said.

“And?”

“I mean, how hard can it be? We go to this Bismarck place, talk to a Reader, Travel to where she directs us . . .” He looked at me, but I said nothing. Peta swung a paw at him from my shoulder.

“Prick, you are a fool. The Reader is not going to simply give us directions. More likely some silly game we have to play and maybe require some form of payment. Readers don’t hand out their knowledge for nothing.”

Cactus’s face fell, and with the dimming of his smile, it was as if the light around us dimmed too. I lifted a hand to touch Peta’s side. “Go easy. Cactus could be right, we could end up finding the journey to be as straight as an arrow, and as quick.”

Peta’s mouth dropped open and incredulity flowed from her to me. I pressed a little harder against her, wanting her to understand. Part of what made Cactus Cactus was the joy he gave so freely to others. He grinned at me.

“That’s the spirit.”

Indeed.

I didn’t want him to lose that spark so early in the journey. Because I had a feeling I was going to be the one to take it from him at some point. Most likely when he found out about Ash and me.

Under my hand, Peta softened as if she heard the words in my mind, though she would pick up on only emotions. “Fine.”

The Rim hummed with energy when we returned. People flowed through the main thoroughfare, stopping and talking more so than usual. I grabbed the first person I recognized.

“Blossom, did something happen?”

The girl who’d been an Ender in training with me stopped and spun, a surprised look on her face. “Lark, you’d better get out of here. He’s looking for you. Go!”

I didn’t have to ask who or why. Vetch had to have broken free of the dungeon. I grabbed Cactus’s arm and bolted toward the barracks. Behind us, shouting erupted as someone spotted us. Not like we were hard to spot. At six feet, I was a good four inches taller than most of the men of the Rim with the exception of Ash, and Cactus with his red hair . . . we were easy to pinpoint.

Peta leapt from my shoulder. “I’ll slow them down.”

“I’m not going without you!” I said.

“Of course not.”

She let out a snarl as she shifted, covering our backs. Cactus and I raced into the barracks, though it was a struggle not to stop and face those who came for us. Could I have fought off the guards? Yes. But it wasn’t their fault Vetch was an idiot slug of a man. They didn’t deserve to be hurt because of the choices he made.

Too many had already died because of Cassava and her machinations. I didn’t want to add to the list.

Bursting through the barracks’ main doors, I stumbled to a halt when I saw what waited for us. Ash stood in the middle of the room, arms loaded with human clothes.

“You two don’t have a lot of time.” He threw jeans and a white T-shirt at Cactus. “Those should fit you. They’re from the last time I went into the human world.”

Cactus caught the clothes and quickly changed. Ash held out a tall pair of boots to me. “I think if you wear these, you should be okay. With your looks, the humans will forgive strange clothing.” He gave me a quick wink.

I took the boots and slipped them on. They laced all the way up to my knee, the soft leather cupping my calves. Made of a deep brown deerskin, they complimented my darker leather vest. Not that I was looking to be fashionable. I only needed to fit in enough so the humans didn’t notice me.

Ash crouched in front of me and helped me lace up the boots, his hands lingering on my legs. “Be careful, Lark.”

“I will.” I touched his head, running my fingers through his hair, forgetting for a moment we were not alone. Behind us the door burst open and Peta fell through. Her white and gray coat was flecked with blood.

Horror ripped through me. How could I have not felt her injuries? “Peta!”

“I’m fine, it isn’t my blood,” she panted. Cactus ran to the door and slid a bar through it.

“Time to go.” Ash grabbed me and spun me toward him. I knew a kiss when I saw it coming and I turned my head. It was one thing to love him, another to rub it in Cactus’s face. His lips caught my cheek and the surprise, then laughter in his eyes made me smile.

Cactus grabbed my hand and dragged me away toward the stairs and the Traveling room. I let him, but couldn’t take my eyes from Ash as we moved out. How had Cactus not noticed?

The boom of something heavy hitting the main doors snapped me out of my fog. I shook off Cactus’s hand and stepped into the lead. Stopping at my bedroom door, I grabbed a small leather bag I could tie to my belt. I looped it through and stuffed the trinkets Niah had given me in beside the smoky diamond that controlled air. The last thing to go in the bag was the white stone from the Pit. I didn’t hesitate, just stuffed it in knowing I could trust Niah.

I took a knife and tucked it into the top of my boot, then backed out and led the way down the hall again. Through it all, the silence from Cactus was as damning as if he’d screamed at me. Apparently he
had
noticed.

Beside me, Peta lent me her support, her furred body against my leg. I dropped a hand to touch the back of her neck. What a mess my heart was. Almost as bad as the mess my father had left in the Rim.

The doors to the Traveling room were wide open. I stepped inside and as always was for a moment awed by what was laid out in front of me. Situated like a globe, the room was completely round. It was as if we stood inside the world, and looked out toward the land and seas.

“Get that armband off the wall,” I said to Cactus as I reached up and touched the hovering image of the world. Flexing and tightening my fingers, I brought the image of North America closer and closer until I’d zeroed in on the badlands of North Dakota, and then tightened it further to the main, glowing city of Bismarck. Adjusting it ever so slightly, I held out a hand. Cactus set the armband on it and I slid it onto my other arm. Made of highly polished cedar wood, it resonated on my bicep, like a tuning fork. “Hang onto me.”

“You sure your boyfriend will be okay with this?” Cactus asked.

I turned my head to look at him. Okay, maybe glare was a more accurate term. “Seriously? You want to have that conversation right now?”

His jaw flexed. “Is he your boyfriend?”

“No. Now stop being a fool, Prick, and hang onto me.” I used Peta’s nickname for him and she snickered beside me as she wrapped a big paw around my calf.

He did as told and I reached up to touch the map over Bismarck with one finger, twisting the armband with my other hand. The world around us slipped away and I was tossed into a memory not my own.

Mother goddess, I kept forgetting about this hiccup of Traveling. As an added perk of having Spirit as one of my elements, whenever I Traveled with another person I was plunged into one of their memories.

I hoped for something from Peta.

I got a memory from Cactus.

The Rim was not as he remembered it. Beautiful, and flowing with plants and green things, that was the same. But the undercurrent reminded him more of the Pit. The feeling that people were afraid, that they didn’t see their home as safe anymore.

He frowned and ran a hand through his hair.

Catching a glimpse of long blonde hair and gently curved hips, he stopped in his tracks. A grin spread over his face. The rest of the world didn’t matter as long as Lark was here with him. Jogging, he tried to catch up with her, but in seconds she was gone.

The barracks. That had to be where she was headed. He made his way there, nodding to the Terralings who looked his way.

“Cactus, I need to speak with you.”

He spun, surprised to see Peta sitting on a log at eye level at the entrance to the barracks. “Bad luck cat, what do you want?”

She grimaced. “That is not my name, Prick.”

“Well, until you stop calling me Prick, that’s what I’m calling you.” Childish, he knew, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.

“You don’t love her the way she needs,” Peta said, shocking him.

“What do you mean? I love her. What else is there?”

Peta shook her head. “You love her, but love isn’t enough. Not with her life. Love is strong, Prick. But your love will not be what her heart needs. And certainly not the love you want to put on her. With expectations and rules and how you want her to be. I see it in you. She is not the woman who will settle down and give you a brood of children.”

He grinned at her, even as he struggled not to let her words affect him. “You don’t know that.”

“You see, you do not even deny my words.”

“Why would I? Of course, I would want to have children with her. That is what you do when you love someone.”

She snorted and started to groom her left paw, wiping it over her ear. “I’m her familiar, Prick. I can feel her heart and her needs. She doesn’t need you.”

Leaning toward her, he lowered his voice. “I don’t want her to need me. I want her to want me.”

Peta put her face so close to his he could feel the breath from her mouth. “Desire is not enough. Love is not enough. She will chose the mate who understands her and can help her through the trials she will face. You are not that one.”

Anger snapped through him and with it the Fire in his blood heated. “I am.”

“You’re not.” She let out a sigh and shook her head. “Go away, Prick. You are not needed here.”

The desire to lash out curled through him and he stepped back toward the forest and away from the barracks. Having Lark see him like this, angry and on the verge of losing control, was not what he wanted. All because of a few words that scared him, and made him think perhaps Peta was right.

He strode away from the barracks. “Stupid cat. You’re wrong. I know you are.”

Yet, he doubted, and in the doubt he wondered if he was chasing a ghost of the girl he’d known. A memory he’d let grow into a fantasy that didn’t mesh with reality.

What if Peta was right?

What if Lark didn’t love him?

jerked out of his memory as we popped through to Bismarck, but the emotions it stirred in me would not leave. Breathing hard, I fought the desperation and loneliness that bled through his memory into my heart. I closed my eyes and tried not to think, tried not to feel the guilt of not loving him the way he wanted me to.

“Hey, you okay there, princess?” He leaned over me, far closer than he should have. I opened my eyes and the blue sky was replaced with green eyes and his trademark grin.