elemental 03 - whitecap (2 page)

The subject of the two air elementals had hung heavily between them since Aira had awakened from her long slumber. She didn’t know whose pride had taken the worse hit, hers or Aiden’s. She had received a lecture from her grandmother concerning her conduct, and a strict advisory not to leave the house for anything other than the most essential errands until she could come to visit and take time to gain control and physical strength once more. Aira suspected, but didn’t know for sure, that Aiden had gotten a lecture of his own. He had been prickly on the subject of Dolores. She knew Aiden had been genuinely attracted to the air elemental, and she had been surprised at her own sense of jealousy upon realizing that. She was definitely not interested in pursuing a relationship of any kind with Aiden, Aira knew. Under the best of circumstances, a fight was only a few careless words away for either of them. 

Between the atmospheric music and the monotony of driving, Aira’s thoughts began to drift. She had a sufficiently fast reaction time, thanks to her elemental abilities, to avoid any potential accident. A few times in the two weeks since she had awakened with her abilities fully formed, she had tested her reflexes. It was difficult for her to understand all of the changes that had happened within her. She hadn’t quite gotten the hang of moderating herself to human expectations. Dylan had kept her dosed with a concoction her grandmother had recommended, which took some of the edge off of her preternatural skills, but Aira was plagued with anxiety from a mind that worked far too quickly, along with an odd combination of strength and weakness from a body that was supernaturally imbued and yet still human in its core essence. It would take a while, no matter how well her grandmother managed to help her sort herself out during the time she would be spending with the old woman.

Aira thought about the vivid dreams she’d had. The water imagery was important—it was a clear warning. But other images from the dreams continued to trouble and baffle her. There had been a few scenes in her dreams that were positively erotic—where she felt a man’s touch running along her body, the sensation crackling along her nerves like fire consuming her. The burning touch thrilled her, in spite of the danger Aira had sensed along with it. She also knew there were trials coming; she had seen herself struggling, had seen sadness and grief, fighting and uncertain outcomes. She might be victorious, but she might also find herself utterly defeated. There were so many decisions to be made and the dreams had been vague on the nature of what would prompt the choices. It was frustrating. Aira tried continually to unravel the meaning of the symbolism, her mind working ahead, the air energy that was saturating her, giving her the ability to see inter-related cause and effect but only in an abstract way, never immediate or clear.

When they took another break, Aiden took over the driving while Aira, exhausted and jittery from an excess of caffeine, curled up in the passenger seat and changed the music to a Foo Fighters album she and Dylan hadn’t had the opportunity to listen to. There were two more stops, and in the next one, she would take over driving from Dylan, giving him the opportunity to rest for a couple of hours. At their last stop, they agreed she would ride with Aiden. If anyone was waiting to ambush them close to her grandmother’s house, she would be in the most protected position. Aira was frustrated at the fact her energy was depleted so easily. 

“I just want to go back to being able to run if I feel like it, or stay up all night,” she grumbled to Aiden as she shifted around in the seat, trying to get comfortable and still the trembling of her hands.

“You’ll be okay once you’ve found balance,” Aiden told her, shrugging off her frustration. “It took me a few weeks to get used to the power running through me, and I’m not as powerful as you are.” 

Aira looked at him sharply, wondering if he knew the untruth of what he was saying.

“You are plenty powerful,” she told him tartly. “You just haven’t brought your abilities out fully.” 

Dylan had told Aira, in the strictest confidence, that he suspected his brother of being much stronger than Aiden had ever let on. He thought Aiden held back out of fear of what would happen if he gave in to the tendencies that came along with his fire alignment. Aira could understand Aiden’s reluctance to completely embrace his power; while her abilities, mismanaged, could result in destruction and damage, it would be much more drastic in Aiden’s case. He had lit two beds on fire in his transition. Dylan had dropped hints to her that Aiden had experienced a few other mishaps as he had been growing up, incidents that had immersed him in fear of what could happen if his fiery nature overcame him. So for his own safety, since he was an unstable elemental, their grandmother had focused his training in teaching young Aiden control; stability would come in time, the family—and the elemental elders—hoped. 

“I have as much power as I’d like to have,” Aiden responded, shutting down discussion on the subject with a grim facial expression Aira had come to realize meant he wouldn’t budge and no amount of trying would get him to discuss further. She shrugged and turned her back to him, staring through the window and wishing she was already with her Grandmother.

C
HAPTER
2

AIDEN WAS TENSE AND TIRED by the time he arrived at Lorene’s home, pulling into the long, dirt driveway and parking Aira’s car with grim satisfaction. The last two hours of the trip had been particularly galling for Aiden; a storm had made it difficult to watch the road and normal traffic, and because of it his anxiety that they might be attacked as they approached Aira’s grandmother’s house had ramped up. “Can’t you use your abilities to blow these clouds away?” he had asked Aira irritably, peering through the fogged glass of the windshield, trying to remain vigilant to the possibilities of an attack, his skin crawling with anticipation, his heart pounding steadily.

“No more than you can vaporize them with fire,” Aira had responded, defensively. 

Aiden looked over and saw the expression on her face that indicated that she was focusing intently. The wind that had been pounding the car died down slightly, which was at least somewhat better than the stormy conditions he had been grappling with. Aiden had wished, fleetingly, that his brother had been in the car with them; between Aira and Dylan, they might have been able to clear the storm out, or at least push it behind them. 

The weather cleared by the time they were a half dozen miles of Lorene’s house, though there was evidence in the wet and muddy yard it had passed through. Aira leaped out of the car enthusiastically and Aiden took a deep breath, trying to conquer his annoyance and frustration. It had always been difficult for Aiden to control his temper; even as a child, before he had started showing definitive traits of his elemental affinity, he had had a short fuse, throwing tantrums at the slightest provocation or getting into fights with his brothers. In school, he had mostly turned his temper to defending the bullied students, particularly when his fire alignment had started to give him a real advantage in speed and power. He might not be the biggest person, but he could hit hard when he needed to, and as he had matured into his abilities he rarely needed to hit—he could call up fire on a whim. Once he had come fully into his powers at his last birthday, he had learned how to use several spells that came in handy.

The tension Aiden felt wasn’t just because of the very real possibility of attack. He watched as Aira ran to the front door of her grandmother’s house, her energy and enthusiasm plain to him. Ever since the debacle with Alex and Dolores, Aiden had felt defensive and angry, frustrated and a little resentful. Mostly toward himself. He knew it was technically his fault. Not only had he encouraged Aira to join the forum where they had found the two elementals, but he had allowed himself to be turned by Dolores’ persuasive abilities when he should have maintained strict discipline. He never should have let himself be charmed, never put himself in a position to be subverted. If it hadn’t been for his brother, they might have both been doomed.

But then he reminded himself, as he had Aira earlier in the day. Her abilities had grown by leaps and bounds in the hours when she came into her full powers. While she hadn’t fully recovered, Aiden had experienced her ability to use the persuasive compulsion that came along with her air affinity—however briefly. That one aspect of her fully-developed concerned Aiden. He and his brother had known an air elemental that had become completely unhinged due to the pressures of that particular ability. He lost track of reality and destroyed every relationship in his life due to his gradual dependence upon getting his own way. That wasn’t a fate Aiden wanted for Aira. He could almost hope against hope that she didn’t have it at all; that it could somehow be taken away from her. The ability to compel someone—anyone—regardless of that person’s own will was not a safe ability to have, especially when that person was already unstable.

Aiden got out of the car and opened the trunk, glancing over to see his brother climbing out of the other car with a faint smile on his face. Aiden knew Dylan had been looking forward to this visit even more than he had. His younger brother, with his water alignment, wanted to learn as much as he could from Lorene. While Lorene probably would not be able to teach Dylan everything she knew—Dylan, while a strong water elemental, was not likely to ever have Lorene’s potency—she might have time to give him greater knowledge than he would be able to acquire on his own. Aiden was simply relieved they were in a place where Aira’s safety was guaranteed. Even if an elemental wanted to attack her on Lorene’s land, the ancient protective magic that welled from the center of the property made it impossible. It suddenly dawned on Aiden that the rainstorm they had encountered might have been the result of magic on Lorene’s behalf, not meant to make it harder for him but rather for any elementals that might be pursuing them.

Aiden smiled faintly to himself as he walked into the house and saw Aira seated near her grandmother, talking rapidly to the older woman. There was something enjoyable about the way Aira loved and admired her grandmother—in spite of the way the younger elemental tended to be annoyed or frustrated by the restrictions her grandmother placed on her. It was clear to Aiden, Aira had the utmost respect for the matriarch, an understanding that no matter how much she might find the rules and restrictions galling, they were in place for her benefit. 

Seeing Aiden and Dylan coming in, Lorene smiled and began to stand; Aiden noticed a hesitation, a stiffness to the older woman’s movements unlike the woman he remembered from the first time they had met her. Aiden saw that Dylan noticed the change more profoundly than he did—the startled distress in his younger brother’s eyes was profound. 

“Let me help you, Grams,” Aira said, rushing to stand and aid her.

“I don’t need any help. I’m old, not feeble,” the old woman said, standing upright and making her way more briskly to the kitchen. “After all that rain, you three will need tea and something to eat,” Lorene said in a tone of voice that accepted no argument. 

Aiden sat down at the kitchen table, knowing nothing he could say would deter the old woman from her tasks. Aira sat down as well. Dylan moved into the kitchen, taking the initiative to grab the kettle before Lorene could. He gave her a smile and filled it using the summoning technique she had helped him improve upon. 

Lorene’s stern expression relaxed into a smile. “You’ve been practicing,” she said with approval. 

Dylan nodded, his face slightly flushed with pleasure at the praise. 

Lorene mixed the herbs for tea. Aiden watched from the table, and quickly realized she had carefully chosen plants that would most bolster his fiery energy for his tea cup, while she selected herbs that would suppress some of the wilder characteristics Aira’s air alignment brought to the surface of her personality. He couldn’t see what had gone into his brother’s mug, but he thought it likely Lorene would have given him something strengthening as well—it stood to reason. Along with the tea, she served them a meal of stewed beef and onions on top of rice, surprisingly good for how simple it was. Aiden ate two servings, restraining himself from asking for a third because he knew it was his taste buds that wanted more rather than his stomach. 

While they ate, the four of them caught up, with Lorene asking questions about their trip, about Aira’s safety and how her transition into full elemental status was proceeding. Aiden noticed the flurry of annoyance on Aira’s face when Lorene seemed to direct certain questions about her behavior to him or Dylan rather than her—and he could understand it. If he were the one being discussed, he would feel the same way. But he knew why Lorene was asking Dylan, for example, whether he had noticed a change in Aira’s temperament since the day she had come into full possession of her abilities, or why she asked him whether Aira’s sleep seemed more disturbed and restless. While Aira could answer the questions, input from people who were watching her was valuable. Aiden suspected Lorene was concerned about the degree of instability Aira was facing—that she shared his worries, particularly about her sudden gain in persuasive ability. As Aira fidgeted uncomfortably, grumbling under her breath, Lorene stopped asking questions, letting silence fall upon the entire group. After a long moment, her heavy gaze forced Aira to look up. 

“What? Is it time to ask me about my life, as if I’m some kind of adult?” she asked, frustration and annoyance plain in her voice.

“You listen to me, Aira Norton-Moore,” Lorene said firmly. “There are things I need to know about you right now that you can’t tell me. You’re skirting a very real danger that has nothing to do with people trying to marry you against your will or kill you, and I need to know how to help you. So if you don’t want to take part in this conversation, you can excuse yourself from the table.” 

Aiden watched Aira bite back an angry retort, her nostrils flaring slightly as she took a deep breath. The younger woman stood with deliberate slowness, turning away from the table and walking stiffly outside. She didn’t quite let the door slam behind her, but it was definitely firmly closed; Aiden remembered the first meeting he’d had with Aira, and the way she had stormed out, only to get into a fight with him a few moments later. He thought wryly that, given her sudden explosion of ability, he was not about to repeat that scenario. While he was able to more or less match her before she came into her full power as an elemental, he was much less certain of his ability to contain her now.