The Order of the Elements 01 - Breaking Point (55 page)

Jared looked up at Ethan. “You ready?” he asked.

“When you are,” Ethan replied as power tingled down his arms and rested in his hands, waiting to be called upon.

Jared glanced around again. “Okay, no one is close. Let’s do this.”

The ground around Evan immediately started growing darker as water seeped into it. Thick green grass erupted where the water saturated the ground. The grass looked as healthy as if it had been growing there for a while. As the water and the grass spread, the power trapped in Ethan’s hands escaped and four large trees started to grow at an accelerated rate. Each tree had a different fruit—apple, orange, peach, and pear—while low strawberry plants and vines full of grapes grew out of the ground and ripened within minutes.

They could have grown more food if they wanted, but fruit would be sufficient. Their nutritional needs were not an issue. The gnomes always made sure they received everything they needed, so a few days of an all-fruit diet wouldn’t deplete them of the other vitamins and proteins that they needed.

The whole process took only about five minutes. Evan even went one better and placed a spring of fresh water in between the apple and pear trees.

Ethan walked backward—out of the little slice of Eden—to look at it from a distance. His eyebrow rose without any direction from his brain at all.

“Yeah, that’s not conspicuous at all,” he commented.

The brilliant colors of their shelter contrasted harshly with the endless dull brown of the rest of the land that surrounded them. They might as well have placed a big flashing arrow at the top of the mountain; that might have been less obvious.

Hector sat Phoebe down in the grass beside the spring and instructed her to drink, grimacing when she said he wasn’t her mother. Then he came to stand beside Ethan to observe their resting place. Lucy wrapped her arms around Ethan’s waist and leaned against his chest once more.

“It looks worse than it is,” Hector said. “Anyone at the bottom can’t see it, and anyone in the air will be dead long before they can alert anyone. We’re fairly safe here.”

“You sound confident,” Ethan said.

Hector lightly punched Ethan’s arm and smiled. “This isn’t my first time, rookie.” He then walked away to help Phoebe get something to eat.

Do you think that’s really confidence or his inability to feel fear? Ethan asked Lucy.

She shrugged. Maybe a little of both. He knows what he’s doing. We have to trust him.

37. Easy

Lucy’s thoughts were becoming more and more muddled, and Ethan knew it was time for her to eat and sleep. He knelt down, scooped her into his arms, and carried her over to the soft grass where he sat her down and picked a variety of fruit for them both to eat. Shade and Sapphire settled under the apple tree and went to sleep as Beau and Pele flew up into the tree, tucked their heads under their wings, and also went to sleep.

The seven humans settled down into a loose circle as they ate. Phoebe hungrily devoured everything that was handed to her before she leaned over the spring, washed her face, and then curled into a ball to sleep. Hector made sure she was dead to the world before turning to the rest of them.

“Okay, we’re going to have to sleep in shifts. I didn’t mention it when Phoebe was awake because she would want to take a watch, and she really needs to sleep as long as she can. Now, I know everyone has been awake for a while, so I’ll take the first shift, and the rest of you can divide up.”

Ethan agreed with him about Phoebe, but there was no need for him to take a whole shift by himself. “I’m fine. I’ll take the shift with you. Evan and Jared can take the second shift, and the girls can take the last one.”

Hector smiled in appreciation, and everyone agreed to those terms. Evan, Jared, and Cynthia each found places to lie down, and within minutes they were sleeping. Hector took the perimeter to watch, and Ethan was instructed just to listen, so Lucy rested her head on his thigh, and he ran his fingers through her hair as she slept. He leaned back against a tree just as the bottommost edge of the red-orange sun rose over the horizon. With his vision being what it was, it was easy to forget that it was just as dark with or without the sun in the sky. The smoke in the immediate area was still mostly clear, but with Lucy asleep that would only last for so long.

As Lucy’s breathing evened out and she slipped into deep sleep, Ethan stretched his hearing out as far as it would go. The area around them was silent aside from hearts beating and slow, steady breathing. There was no sound on or around the mountain they occupied or the three surrounding it. Not the smallest breath of wind or even the faintest sound of insects reached Ethan’s ears.

This truly was a barren wasteland.

Nothing disturbed the small patch of paradise as the day passed and they each traded off shifts. It took Ethan a few minutes to orient himself when Lucy softly woke him after he’d rested so completely. The light hadn’t changed, but the orange orb was completely gone from the sky.

Lucy’s green eyes smiled down at him. “How are you feeling?”

Ethan sat up to stretch, and his joints popped. Sleeping while fully armed had not been the most comfortable, and his legs were a little sore from straddling Shade during the long flight, but he was fine other than that.

“I’m fine,” he replied.

“We’re going to eat, and then we’re taking off.”

Ethan got up onto his feet and pulled Lucy into his arms. “Did anything happen on your watch?”

Lucy’s arms connected around his waist. Not a thing, aside from watching Cynthia brood. I don’t know what’s going on with her.

Ethan searched out Cynthia. She was standing against one of the trees and staring out across the mountains. Her face was set in harsh lines, and she chewed through her apple a little more roughly than was necessary.

She does look angry about something. She can’t still be mad at Jared, can she? he asked.

I don’t know. She didn’t really say anything. I’m worried that something more is going on with her than that little bickering with Jared.

I’ll talk to Hector. He looked like he might have had some idea.

Lucy seemed satisfied with that answer. She gave him a handful of fruit, and he started eating as Shade and Sapphire woke up and stretched. Hector roused Phoebe a few minutes later, and Ethan could immediately tell that she was feeling a little better. Her eyes were still guarded and dulled—she was still dealing with the leftover pain from Dorian—but her color was back to normal and her movements were strong and precise. She accepted her food and even the news that she had been skipped over for watch duty with more grace than Ethan had been expecting.

It appears her stubbornness and state of being are directly related,
Lucy thought after Phoebe had only spent a few minutes complaining about watch duty and “sharing the burden” as she called it.

Apparently if we ever want to talk Phoebe into anything, we should just wait until she’s had a full night of sleep and a full breakfast, Ethan mused.

Lucy couldn’t help but chuckle, and everyone turned to look at her. Her cheeks flushed red under their accusatory looks. “Sorry,” she muttered. “Ethan was thinking something funny.”

Everyone stared at them for a second more before deciding it wasn’t important and turned back to what they were doing. The others were too used to their silent conversations to give it much thought. They were probably more shocked that Lucy had found something funny at a time like this.

The seven settled into their loose circle to discuss specifics before they left. Phoebe’s eyes and shoulders were still slumping slightly, and Evan quickly pulled out another small vial of blue liquid and handed it over to her. She took it gratefully and swallowed it. Within seconds, she was standing up straighter, and her eyes were wide and alert.

“Well, I don’t think there’s much to discuss. We’ll fly in the same formation as we did last night and everyone will have the same duties. Any questions?” Reinvigorated, Phoebe was taking charge again with a businesslike tone in her voice.

Cynthia stepped out of the shadow of the apple tree. “Yes, actually. What exactly is
my
job again?”

Warning bells went off in Lucy’s head. She couldn’t believe that Cynthia was baiting Phoebe’s anger. It wasn’t a smart thing to do.

Phoebe either didn’t notice or chose to ignore the bitterness in Cynthia’s tone. “Well, today we’ll need you to clear out the evidence we were here. In addition to that, you’re our first line of defense. Unless you had something else in mind?” Phoebe’s expression was calm and relaxed, but her eyes blazed white hot, causing Cynthia to break their eye contact and turn her gaze to the ground in shame.

“No, of course…of course…not, sorry,” Cynthia mumbled.

Wow, I have got to figure out how she does that, Lucy thought in awe.

Phoebe never failed to impress. A gnawing sensation began at the edge of Ethan’s stomach again. She’s confident, and when she looks at you like that, she radiates power. Nobody messes with her after that.

Lucy examined him with clouded eyes but didn’t say anything in response to his inferiority complex. She had given up at trying to talk him out of it. The fire in Phoebe’s eyes dimmed as she turned away from Cynthia to look at the rest of them. “Good. Now, Cynthia is going to burn this down, and we’re going to leave.”

They made their way out of the small resting place—all except Cynthia—and stood back so she could destroy it. Phoebe turned her attention to Sapphire, and Ethan took the opportunity to have a quick, whispered conversation with Hector, who was standing beside him and Lucy.

“What’s going on with Cynthia? You looked like you were considering something last night,” Ethan whispered.

Cynthia stood in the middle of the little garden with her back to them and engulfed herself in flames.

“I don’t know. She seems irritated about something, and I doubt that something is Jared. Although, their little spat certainly fueled the fire—no pun intended,” he replied almost chuckling at the end.

Cynthia’s fire blazed and spread to the trees; they burned quickly, releasing more thick, black smoke into the air.

“Is it something we should worry about?”

Hector shrugged nonchalantly. “If she gets to the point where you or Phoebe can’t keep her contained, then I’ll worry about it. Until then, we have enough to concern ourselves with.”

The last of their little shelter disintegrated into ash, and Cynthia’s fire went out.

Well, I’m still going to worry about it, Lucy thought.

The rest of that night passed without incident and so did the next day as everyone slept. Ethan was amazed by Phoebe’s strength; she had shown no signs of weakness when they landed. Then again, when wasn’t Phoebe amazing? Ethan tried not to think about it too much. With every passing hour, that big neon sign in the back of his mind was getting brighter, but he still couldn’t figure out what it was saying. Something just didn’t feel right, and it was making his skin crawl.

They were now on the last few hours of their journey, and Ethan was just beginning to see the outline of the approaching mountains. Phoebe looked even stronger than she had the two previous nights, and his jealously flared again. Why couldn’t she be bad at
something
? Lucy simply listened without commenting. Ethan had to force himself to think over his issues with Phoebe. He couldn’t keep wishing she would do badly at something just so he could step in and stick his tongue out at her. It was so juvenile.

As they flew, he thought over many things. He didn’t know who he was anymore. He was trying to be so many different people all combined into one: he was trying to have Dorian’s strength and control of his powers, he was trying to be a quick learner and find his talents like Phoebe had done, he was trying to be fast and smart like Lucy, but he had lost sight of who he actually was.

Lucy was right. He was trying to compare himself to some ludicrous expectation of perfection, and because of that, he was probably doing himself more harm than good. Ethan was strong. He was not the strongest, but what was wrong with just being strong? He was powerful, not the most powerful, but his powers would grow. He didn’t have talents, but hadn’t he made it this far without them? He was fast, smart, agile, and so many other things. Why did he have to keep comparing himself to everyone else? What was he trying to prove?

He wasn’t trying to prove anything. Not really. He just saw everyone else as better. He hadn’t been able to get past that. He’d felt like he was trying to catch up when, really, he was doing all right. He didn’t need to be perfect; he just needed to be his best. He felt like a hundred pound weight lifted off his shoulders with this realization. He sat up a little straighter, and his breathing wasn’t so heavy. He wasn’t perfect, none of them were, but he was good enough, and that was enough for him.

Lucy watched Ethan with a knowing look in her eye.
Don’t even think it
.

What?
she asked innocently.

She couldn’t quite suppress it. Ethan could hear the “I told you so” phrases in her thoughts. He raised his eyebrow, and she smiled.

Okay, but can you blame me? How long have I been trying to tell you that? she thought.

Okay, fine, you get one “I told you so.”

“Can you two please stop looking at each other like that? I’m trying to concentrate, and you’re making it very difficult,” Jared said after he had turned and seen Lucy smiling at Ethan.

“Sorry,” Ethan mumbled.

Could have been worse. But Phoebe and Dorian could give us a run for our money. It was bad enough having to watch them when they weren’t kissing. I don’t want to be there when they first do, Lucy thought.

Ethan was shocked by that statement. What? You mean they haven’t kissed yet?

Lucy silently laughed. No. What? Did you think they were just trying to be nice and not kiss in front of us?

You know that for sure?
he asked. After all, she wasn’t around Phoebe and Dorian all the time.

Yes, believe me; you would know if they had. Everyone would.