Water Shaper (World Aflame) (29 page)

“I’m going to go out on a limb and assume Abraxas failed you,” Sammy chided.

“
Silence,
” it hissed.

“That means that Xander defeated Abraxas and escaped. Again.”

“
Be quiet.
”

The Elemental stormed across the room, looking for an escape from the incessant nagging within its mind. Sammy smiled to herself, knowing there was nowhere it could go that she couldn’t follow.

“Abraxas is more than likely dead. It’s only a matter of time before Xander comes for you, too. He’ll go get the Water Elemental’s power and then go find the Earth Elemental. And in the end, he’s going to hunt you down and make you extinct like the dinosaur you are.”

“
That’s enough from you,
” the Elemental growled. “
You won’t speak again unless I allow it.
”

Sammy felt like iron bars slammed down over her, clamping around her wrists and ankles. They dragged her away from the perfect vision of being merged with the Elemental, as though her consciousness were being suppressed. Sammy struggled against her bonds but knew she was wasting her energy.

Though surely the Elemental had intended to completely eradicate Sammy’s awareness, it wasn’t quite as successful as it would have hoped. The iron manacles didn’t drag her far from the forefront of the Elemental’s mind. She could still see through its eyes, though it seemed like the vision was at the far end of a dark tunnel rather than feeling united with it like she had been.

She screamed out; it was nothing intelligible, just a release of frustration. The Fire Elemental didn’t flinch at the sound. Sammy doubted it could hear her at all.

Sammy frowned and stopped struggling against the manacles. Deep down, she knew she was to blame for her current predicament. The Elemental hadn’t had the ability to do this previously, or else it surely would have done so long before now. Sammy was trapped because she goaded the Elemental enough that it was able to use its anger against her. It was a blunt hammer trying to perform delicate surgery, but it was effective for the Elemental nonetheless.

Though she should have been frustrated, Sammy was glad not
to share the homicidal thoughts of the Elemental for a while. She relaxed against her restraints and watched through the Elementals’ distant vision.

“I really hope you’re still okay,” Sammy whispered, hoping that somewhere Xander could hear her plea.

They soared over the English Channel in complete silence. When they’d flown together before, Sean and Jessica were always hovering close to Xander’s hip. This time, they were nearly two arms’ lengths behind him, as though he were isolating himself from them. They exchanged concerned looks but said nothing.

Wilkes, Tamara, and Brandon flew with a combination of wonder and paralyzing fear as the Channel rushed by beneath them. They huddled together, clinging to one another as though letting go would cause them to plummet from the sky.

“Xander,” Jessica said. Within the bubble of air, there was little noise from the gusting wind. “Xander, can we talk about this?”

The wind suddenly billowed over them, roaring deafeningly in their ears until they couldn’t hear their own words. Jessica and Sean flinched at the noise, which died away as quickly as it had appeared.

The few other times they’d tried to speak to Xander and make sure he was okay, a similar and inexplicably loud roar of wind appeared, stealing away their words. Jessica frowned but got the hint to stop trying to ask.

Sean tilted his head backward and enjoyed the sunshine. It had been a drastic transition, flying from the smoky cloud that hung over London to the countryside, which had just the more traditional gloomy English sky. It wasn’t until they flew out over the Channel
that the sky started clearing, and the sun finally found purchase.

“Is he planning on keeping us at arm’s reach the whole rest of this trip?” Jessica asked sourly.

Sean shrugged, but Wilkes responded. “Most people have trouble coping after they kill their first man. Xander just killed a hundred. Give him some time.”

“We don’t have a lot of time,” Sean said, pointing ahead. “We’ve almost reached the mainland.”

The French coastline stretched to either end of the horizon as they quickly approached. There was a marked lack of smoke billowing from the small towns they could see from the air, a good sign as they were trying to find somewhere to land.

Once they began flying over dry land, Xander began descending. He dropped their elevation until they were barely skimming over the trees. When he found a clearing beyond the tree line, he stopped in midair and began lowering everyone down onto the soft grass.

Wilkes nearly fell over once his legs touched the ground. He righted himself, pulling his family in close once more.

Xander turned toward the Leftenant. His hair was
disheveled, and his eyes red and swollen. Wilkes politely didn’t remark about the man’s appearance, just merely offered his hand.

“I owe you my life,” Wilkes said. “My family owes you their lives. There’s no possible way I could ever repay you.”

Xander shook his hand. “Take care of your family. Find somewhere quiet in the middle of the French countryside and keep your head down until all this is over.”

“Is it going to be over?” Wilkes asked, stepping close to Xander so that the others couldn’t overhear their conversation. “Are you going to go back into the fight after London?”

Xander stared unblinking at the Brit. “I don’t know.”

Wilkes nodded. “For what it’s worth, I really hope you do. The world needs someone like you. I can’t imagine what’ll happen if you don’t finish what you’ve started.”

Xander pulled his hand back and stepped away from Wilkes. He turned his back and looked out over the pastures.

Wilkes turned to Jessica and pulled her into a strong hug. “You take care of these Yanks. You’re the brains of the
operation, so I expect you to keep them safe.”

Jessica smiled as she wiped away a tear from the corner of her eye. The officer then turned to Sean. The two stared at each other for a second before smiling broadly and hugging.

“I’m going to miss you most of all, Scarecrow,” Sean said. “I really hope the Wizard gives you a brain.”

Wilkes laughed. “You’re still fat, you know?”

Sean pulled away and smiled. “What’ll you do now?”

The Brit looked over his shoulder and smiled
at his family. “It doesn’t really matter at this point. I have my family. We’re relatively safe here in the country, away from any cities the Fire Warriors may attack. We’ll figure something out.”

“You guys take care,” Sean said wistfully. “It’s not like there’s a lot of planes around the area but if you’re ever in the United States, be sure to swing through Tennessee.”

“I’d love to.”

Sean and Jessica walked over to Xander with sad waves goodbye. Xander kicked off from the ground, lifting the trio into the air. Wilkes and his family waved after them until they were out of sight.

“Xander,” Jessica
said, once they were flying once more over the French countryside, “we need to talk.”

“No, we don’t,” he replied
curtly, without bothering to turn around and look at his friends.

“Yeah,” Sean said. “We really do. You’re flying blindly through France. Do you even have any clue where you’re going right now?”

Xander ignored his friend and continued to stare straight ahead.

“What exactly is your plan?” Sean continued, unabated. “Keep on flying around until the end of the world? And what about the Water Elemental? She seemed pretty clear about her requirements. What are you going to tell her?”

They stopped all forward movement abruptly, and Xander turned on them. They could see the tears that had fallen and just as quickly dried on his face during their flight.

“I don’t know, okay?” he asked. “I don’t know what I’m going to do but until I figure it out, do you think you could get off my back?”

“Why don’t we all just take a deep breath?” Jessica said. She looked at Sean, who crossed his arms and scowled at Xander. “We’re not trying to pick a fight here, but we need to deal with what happened in London.”

“No we don’t,” Xander said.

“Yes, we do,” Sean said, intentionally being argumentative.

“
We
don’t,” Xander corrected. “I need to deal with this. On my own. My way.”

They began drifting toward the ground.

“What are you doing?” Jessica asked.

They touched down on a farm beside an
old, red barn. They looked around, seeing the small French village sitting in a valley a few miles away. Other than that, empty fields and old forest stretched as far as they could see.

As they turned back toward Xander, they saw him floating up into the air.

“Whoa,” Sean said. “What are you doing?”

“Just stay here,” Xander said. “I’ll be back to get you both later.”

“Stay here?” Jessica said indignantly. “How long are you going to be gone?”

Xander didn’t reply and kept drifting higher into the sunny afternoon air.

“Xander!” Jessica screamed, stomping her foot into the muddy ground.

“No,” Sean yelled to the retreating form, “don’t worry about us. We’ll just hang out here in the middle of an empty field in a foreign country
in the middle of the freaking apocalypse
!”

“He’s already gone,” Jessica said. “He can’t hear you.”

Sean huffed. “Your ex-boyfriend really is a piece of—”

“I know,” Jessica interrupted. “I know. Let’s go find somewhere to get comfortable. Maybe we can get something to eat in that village.”

Xander flew upward, letting the world beneath him drop away until the cities became black smudges on the surface of Europe. He went higher and higher, until the greens of the woods blended seamlessly into the yellows of wheat fields.

He looked away from the Earth, letting his eyes trail upward toward the unfiltered sky above him. His lungs burned, not from
exertion, but from the thinning oxygen around him. He gulped for air, glad that the Wind Elemental’s power granted him the ability to breathe in such a thin atmosphere.

When he
felt that he was high enough, he stopped ascending and floated in the thin air. The cold was biting but he ignored the discomfort. He looked down on the planet, admiring the curve of the horizon. From this height, he couldn’t see the brutal destruction that marred so much of the planet’s surface.

His heart ached looking down. He knew that somewhere, far below his feet, Sean and Jessica were still probably swearing at him. Somewhere along the curve of the horizon, Sammy was in trouble, her life hanging in the balance. Somewhere in the deep blue waters below was an Elemental, watching him and judging him.

He had failed them all.

His only mission had been to go to London and clear it of the Fire Warrior infestation. It was the only stipulation given to him by the Water Elemental in exchange for her powers. Instead, he had allowed himself to get sidetracked while playing the role of the hero. He had saved Wilkes and his
family, but Xander had no idea how many other families were still in London. He hadn’t saved any of the others, and he certainly hadn’t cleared the city of the thousands of Fire Warriors. By saving one family, he had practically condemned all the rest of them to die.