rylee adamson 10 - blood of the lost (24 page)

“I know we need to get going, but the sword is for the ceremony. It’s what will make the cuts.”

“The cuts?”

Lark didn’t look at me, but her shoulder’s tightened imperceptibly. “Cuts into Rylee to drain her blood. Without it, the ceremony won’t be complete. So yes, before you ask, we
have
to find it.”

I swallowed with difficulty. Lark backed out of the room while shaking her head.

“I think Ash hid it, but where?”

“Did he leave you a hint?” I suggested, wanting nothing more than to hurry this up, but also recognizing the importance of a ceremonial weapon.

She put both hands to her face and rubbed the heels of them into her eyes. “Yes, I think so. Always go back to the beginning. That’s what he told me the last time I saw him. The
beginning
.” Her voice softened on the last word and then she was sprinting past me.

I tried to keep up with her as she ran through the main part of the barracks and into the forest. A flash of long blonde hair was all I saw between the trunks of the redwoods and then she was gone.

“She’ll be back, so don’t you be fussing yourself, yeah?”

I looked at Griffin, seeing again his strong resemblance to Liam. Or at least, the resemblance to the way Liam
had
looked. The dark hair and eyes, his build, the shape of his jaw, but more than that, the way he moved. Predatory and smooth, like he was never in a hurry, but could be in a split second if he chose.

“Griffin, can I ask you a question?” I felt I couldn’t blurt out whatever I wanted to. Like maybe it would be rude.

He held out his hand in front of him and waved it across. “Ask away, little witch. We are practically family, yeah?” He winked at me and I wasn’t quite sure if he was referring to the fact that I was a part of Rylee and Liam’s adoptive family, or something else.

I had a feeling it was something else.

“You seem to know a lot about the supernatural and elemental worlds.”

His eyes twinkled with barely disguised humor. “That, I do.”

I paused thinking of how to word my question right. “How exactly do they intersect?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s a big question.”

I noticed he didn’t use his usual
yeah
at the end, which made me think he was really considering answering me. A flush of excitement rushed through my body at the thought of learning something new. I smiled tentatively. “I keep hearing bits and pieces. Like Rylee has elemental blood or I have elemental blood. But I want to understand how this works. Since I have to wait here for Lark, and I can do nothing else, perhaps this will help me understand things better.”

Griffin crouched and drew in the dirt with a finger. Five circles came first and he attached each of them together with a single line to make one rough larger circle. “There are five elemental families: earth, wind, air, fire, and spirit. Lark is of the first family, earth. But her mother was of the fifth family, spirit. So she is a half-breed. The side of her that is spirit is dangerous, and when used improperly, chips away at her soul, eating it piece by piece. Which is why she don’t use it much, yeah?”

I nodded, soaking every word up. “She could control people with Spirit, couldn’t she?”

Griffin nodded. “You saw her control that demon at the underground beach to keep it from hurting Rylee, didn’t you?”

“Yes, and I wondered why she hadn’t done it before, with any other of the things we’ve faced.”

“It is a last resort. She can’t use it freely; it is too powerful and destructive to her. So only when there is no other choice does she dip into that side of her heritage.” He cleared his throat and started drawing again. From the five circles he drew lines outward. “This is where you won’t be able to find any books that teach you this bit, yeah?”

I leaned forward, watching eagerly.

“The entire supernatural world is derived from the five elemental families in one way or another. Always with a bloodline crossed with the humans, of course. The humans were the melting pot for the elementals and all their offspring.

“From the elementals of the earth, you get werewolves, brownies, leprechauns, and necromancers. From the elementals of the air, you get harpies, my namesake the griffins, fairy folk, and psychics.

“From the elementals of fire, you get witches, automatic writers, Readers, and fire drakes. From the water elementals, you get mermaids, naiads, and sirens. And from the Spirit Elementals, you get only one offshoot: Trackers.

“Of course, the list isn’t inclusive, there are many, many more creations, but they all are derived from the elementals somewhere in their family branches.”

I opened my mouth to question him more but he held up his hand. “I ain’t done yet, yeah?”

He branched off more circles from the second set he’d drawn. “Some of those creations were powerful enough to make species of their own. Like the necromancers learning to make zombies and vampires, or the witches learning to make trolls and goblins. Now there are a few creatures outside of the elemental world in terms of creation. Unicorns, dragons, the Kracken, and firewyrms come to mind. A few others, but they don’t matter much at the moment.”

His hands hovered over the original five circles. “Now, here is where the story gets interesting. The first four families of elementals got jealous of the fifth-born because of their ability to control others.” He put his palm over the fifth circle and slowly rubbed it out.

“They took out their own siblings, cousins, and family because of fear, and the bloodline thinned, leaving only a few still in hiding. Those few kept moving, never finding a home. They married, had children, and all were caught and killed, yeah?”

My throat tightened and I struggled to swallow. “Just killed? For no reason?”

Griffin leaned closer to me, his dark eyes filling the sphere of what I could see. “For what they could do, little witch. For their strength.”

Heart beating wildly, I stared hard at him. “And how do I fit in here?”

He flashed a smile and pulled back. “You, you’re a blend of all five families, with a bit of everyone residing within your blood. It’s why you can heal, why you can use the elements with such ease. You’ll never be an elemental in truth, but you
are
strong like them.”

A dash of fear zipped through me. “But . . . then a part of me is still human?” I wasn’t sure if that was good or not. To me, humans were weak. They were blind and most times foolish in their choices. An easy example was how willing they’d been to believe Orion and his games.

Griffin nodded. “That’s what dilutes the power and makes you stronger than the other witches, but not so strong that the elementals here want to wipe you out. It’s a bad trait of theirs, killing what they can’t control. It’s why Lark has had such a difficult time in her life.”

“Fear. They kill what they fear,” I said, looking at the ground. Peta sat at my feet, looking up at me. I reached for her and she leapt upward.

Burying my face into her thick fur, I was no longer sure I wanted to know more about the elemental world. If they killed what they feared and I was stronger than some of them . . . I looked up in time to see Griffin nod.

“That’s right, little witch. You should be afraid. You should be, yeah?”

Yeah, indeed.

CHAPTER 30

LARK

I RAN THROUGH THE Rim and deep into the redwood forest. The northern edge was where my story truly began.

A place where I’d lost my family, my memories, and my childhood in a single fell swoop. The place that only two other people knew had any meaning to me, and Cactus sure as hell didn’t know about the sword for Rylee.

My father had taken it from me, saying it wasn’t needed. I had no doubt Ash would have recognized the sword as something I made, and if he’d seen it, he would have done his best to take it from my father.

Which would explain why Ash was also banished or more likely in an oubliette.

Ash would’ve defied my father and buried the weapon in the woods. A part of me wasn’t surprised. Ash always
had
kept a step ahead of me. Even though I didn’t realize it until after I’d been banished.

The clearing opened in front of me and my feet stumbled, despite trying to move faster. It seemed that my body remembered the place too.

“You know, I’m surprised you’d come back here.”

I dropped to a crouch as I spun around, swinging my spear out in a wide arc. The figure who’d spoken drifted through the forest toward me, hidden underneath a solid black cloak. Not one of his features visible, but I wasn’t surprised. We’d met more than once, and the bastard always seemed to be around when things went wrong.

“What are you doing here, Blackbird?”

He laughed softly. “Not what you think. The sword is deep within the ground and encased with several spells. Your friend, Ash, did that to protect it from me.”

Ash’s name on his lips was like a blow unto itself. I clenched the haft of my spear tighter and started toward him. “We end this now, Blackbird. You’re the reason Ash and I were banished.”

“Ha! You did that on your own; you didn’t need my help. But I think you need it now, little Larkspur of the Rim. Half-breed princess. Ender. Destroyer.” My many names rolled off his lips with an intimacy I didn’t appreciate. He moved with me, keeping always the same distance between us.

He was the only elemental I’d ever met who was able to contain not one or even two elements like I did, but all five. All five elements, and he was powerful with every one of them.

In the past, I would have told him to go to hell . . . but I’d had time to mellow in the oubliette. He would make a strong ally, if I could figure out what he was up to. “Why do I need your help, exactly?”

“Because the demon hordes will wipe out this world if we don’t all step up and take our place in the battle.” His words were deadly serious, and they chilled me through and through. He said what I already knew, but still, it was hard to hear the truth from him after all the lies he’d spewed.

“You’re offering to fight against them?”

His head bobbed. “Yes. But I want Rylee’s sword when it’s over.”

I thought about the sword. I’d made it, and with the making of it had unintentionally imbued it with a few abilities I shouldn’t have. In particular, the ability to open and close the Veil like a key.

“I can’t make that deal. You’ll have to ask her.”

“She’ll be dead, we both know that.” He came to a stop over a patch of wildflowers. A softly bobbing cluster of white and blue petals: larkspur, my namesake.

Blackbird folded his arms over his chest. “Aww, how sweet, he planted your flower for you.”

“How do I know you will keep your word and help?”

Blackbird held a hand out. “A simple handshake. When this is done, we will go back to being enemies.”

I reached out and took his hand, clamping down hard as I wove Spirit over his fingers.

“Say it then, make a vow.”

He tried to pull away from me, and while he was stronger in the elements, he was not physically stronger than me. A sigh slipped out of him. “I swear to help you in the fight against the demons, Larkspur.”

It would have to be enough. I let him go and dropped to one knee.

My jaw tightened as I put a hand to the earth, feeling the sword encased in cement about thirty feet down. Like its own miniature oubliette.

There were spells around it for sure, but beside me, Blackbird did his thing, breaking them up. A spell for every element and he disabled them. Which left me wondering why he’d waited on me.

I closed my eyes and worked the earth around the sword, bringing it up with a speed that rumbled the ground.

“Impressive,” Blackbird muttered.

“You couldn’t manage it?”

“I could. But you and I are probably the only two who could, except for perhaps Basileus.” His words were light, but there was a hesitancy in his voice that gave light to his lie. There was something he wasn’t telling me.

I didn’t say anything more. He might be working with me for the moment, but I had no doubt we’d be on opposing sides soon enough.