Windburn (The Elemental Series #4) (15 page)

The first day, Cactus told dirty jokes.

The second day, Peta told stories of her past and the stupid things her charges did until we howled with laughter and cried bullshit on the ridiculousness of her tales.

The third and what would be final day on the water, they both looked at me in perfect unison.

I arched an eyebrow. “What?”

Cactus grabbed the heel of the bread we’d snagged at our last stop and tore it into pieces, handing one to me. “We’ve been doing all the talking. Now it’s your turn.”

“Nothing to say. You two have had interesting lives. I haven’t.”

Tipping her head to one side, Peta blinked up at me. “That may have been true in the past, Lark. But I think the last while has been anything but quiet.”

“But you know about that. Telling you about being in the Pit . . . you were both there.” What were they getting at, anyway? What did they want me to say?

Being who she was, Peta braved the waters of my past first. “Tell us about Cassava. Why do you think she’s the one behind your father’s disappearance?”

I sighed heavily and the wind whipped up around us. I eased off on the diamond so my breathing would not be connected to it while we had this discussion. The last thing I wanted was to have the power of air running though me as I raged about Cassava. About how she’d destroyed my family.

I tore the piece of bread into bits, one for each thing Cassava had done.

The bottom of the boat gave a thump and the water around us rippled. I froze. “Peta. Tell me you didn’t see that.”

“Sorry.” She shifted into her snow leopard form. Worm shit.

The boat swayed to the left, out of the current as though something were pushing it. Cactus stood and I waved him back down. “Standing is a bad idea. Don’t rock the boat.”

He clutched the edges of the boat. “Then what do we do?”

I dared to lean over and stare into the water. Scales undulated around the hull, twisting and turning. A flicker of deep green against the blue, and here and there flashes of yellow.

“Peta. Snake-like, big coils. Green and yellow.”

“Sea serpent,” she said. Her words were like a trigger. The water around us erupted and a serpent burst out. Its head was easily fifteen feet in the air, with an elongated jaw like a crocodile and teeth the size of my hands. The thing’s body was easily as big around as the boat and there seemed to be no end to it.

It snapped its jaw once and dove back down under the water. The boat rocked and swayed; the water stilled as if there had never been anything there. I hunched my shoulders.

“That was easy,” Cactus said, and my muscles tensed further. Peta’s eyes met mine. She dug her claws into the bottom of the wooden boat.

“Hang on,” I said.

“What? Why?” Cactus spit out.

Heartbeat.

Breath.

Heartbeat.

The boat lifted up with no warning, straight into the air before tipping to one side. Cactus went flying with a yell, but Peta and I dangled from the boat as it flew through the air. Flashes of scales, a coil crashing down in the water. I lost my grip on the wood and fell separate of the boat. I didn’t land in the water, though. I landed on the sea serpent.

Straddling the coils, my legs stuck out to the side, like a child riding a wide-backed horse. I slipped to the side and into the water, pushing off the creature with my feet. Its head spun around and it grinned at me.

“Tasty morsels, oh so fine. Elementals out of their element.” Water sprayed as the serpent spoke, its voice high, and distinctly feminine.

She drove her head straight at me, jaws wide. One gulp is all it would take to suck me into her maw; I’d barely be a single bite. I flung myself sideways at the last second but she caught my left leg, right at the ankle, and bit down.

I was going to lose my foot.

And go mad like Coal.

I sat up and dug my hands into the ridges around her eye. I didn’t think, I reached out and let Spirit guide me.

Her mind was a tangled mess. In it I saw the hand of another Spirit user. Someone darker than me.

“I am not him,” I whispered. A shudder went through her.

She spat my leg out and lowered me into the boat. I didn’t let her go, knowing the connection of touch was the only thing keeping her mind easy. “I am not myself any longer. The cloaked one did this to me. I was a familiar once, to the Undines’ king.”

“Finley’s father,” I said. Her big eyes blinked in confirmation.

“Yes. I would have stayed. But the cloaked one took my mind. This respite . . . I am not sure it is welcome, for I know the danger I represent.”

Cactus tugged on me. “Stop playing with the snake, Lark. Let’s go.”

I ignored him. “Serpent, I can’t heal your mind.”

“I know.”

She didn’t move, but her tongue flicked out and touched the tip of my spear. “You could save me from this.”

Peta stepped closer. “You could be healed. There is another who wields Spirit. More experienced than Lark or the other one.”

Her eyes flicked to my cat. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Peta bobbed her head.

The serpent let out a sigh. “I still do not know if you can get past me. Why are you here?”

“Looking for The Bastard,” I said.

She snorted and salt water sprayed over us in a fine mist. “There is no love lost in him for supernaturals or elementals. I will wish you luck with him, and me.”

I softened my touch on her face. “How do we pass by you?”

Her eyes fluttered closed as she slowly lowered us and the boat to the water. “Put it in my mind that there is better prey elsewhere. It is the only chance you have.”

I closed my eyes and thought about fish to the south of us, schools of fish fat and lazy, replete with a feed of their own. “Here we go,” I said, and slid my hands away.

Without a word, the serpent jerked away, her eyes going to the south of us. One snap of her jaws and she dove under the waves.

I put a hand to the smoky diamond and blew hard, scooting the skiff along the water. An hour at a wicked pace took us far enough away that I finally felt I could ease off, and sat down to catch my breath.

Peta put her big head on my lap. “That was unexpected.”

A laugh escaped me. “You said I would bring trouble to us.”

“Yes, but even I didn’t think you would bring a sea serpent. There aren’t many left.”

I nodded and leaned back on the wooden bench. Using the diamond tired me out. Or maybe it was the fact that we’d narrowly escaped death.

Peta butted me with her head. “Finish what you would say about Cassava.”

Damn. I was hoping we’d skip by that.

“She killed my mother and little brother, Bramley. Manipulated my father. Blocked me from my power. Tried to wipe out our family with the lung burrowers. What more reason do you need? She is the cause of our latest problems. I know it.”

Cactus leaned forward as he steered the boat. “It’s not about reason, it’s about facts. Evidence. How do we prove she was the one to do this? That is what you want, isn’t it? To prove she is behind everything wrong in your world.”

I knew he wasn’t being mean or trying to upset me, yet a part of me wanted him to believe me. To say I was right, Cassava was a bitch, and that was all there was to this story.

“Unless she confesses in front of the right people, there is no way to prove it. It’s her word against mine. And we all know she is too smart for that.”

“Why would she take your father?” Peta asked, stretching her back in a perfect arch. She yawned. “Surely your father is stronger than her in his connection to the earth.”

I nodded. “Yes, he is. But his mind . . . it’s so broken, I don’t know how easy he would be to manipulate even without Spirit. If Blackbird is working with her as we think he is, then . . .” I didn’t have to say the rest. All three of us knew Blackbird could control Spirit.

The desire to believe he, my father, was still the man I remembered from my childhood was strong, yet I knew it for what it was. A last desperate hope that he could be saved not only in the physical sense, but from mental deterioration too.

Cactus shook his head. “Why would Blackbird work with her? He carries all five elements; he doesn’t need her.”

Frowning, I stared over the water. “Why was he working with Keeda, then? That makes about as much sense. He doesn’t need anyone . . . yet he was about to set Keeda on the throne in the Pit. That has Cassava written all over it.”

The more I thought about it, the more sure I was that I was right. Cassava was pulling the strings on Blackbird . . . it made a twisted sort of sense. With him working for her, she would be able to attack anyone, control anyone with Spirit, and unlike her usage of the pink diamond, the only way to stop her from using him would be to kill him. Something I knew from experience was more than difficult. Not to mention he was a coward, the slippery little bastard.

“Lark, you have to look at his motivation,” Cactus said, pressing his case. “There is no reason for him to help her.”

“Unless they’re lovers, as we suspect,” Peta said. “That would be enough for him to work with her, to do as she wishes.”

A shudder ran through me. “If she got pregnant with his child, she’d have what she wanted. A second child who carries all five elements. Exactly as she and Requiem were planning.”

A snort escaped Cactus and I really looked at him. He wasn’t buying into the theory, I could see it in his eyes. “What?”

“Why . . . Lark, you need to start asking why. Why would she want your father?”

“How the hell should I know?” I snapped at him.

He stood and stared down at me, his words harsh. “You should know. You’re accusing her of treason, attempted regicide, and genocide.”

I shot to my feet. “Why aren’t you on my side?”

“I am!” he roared. “But you have to think. You can’t assume anymore. We aren’t children, and this isn’t a game of hide and seek. Lives are at stake. Yours. Mine. Peta’s. Your father’s.”

Incredulity whispered along the bond between Peta and me. I had to agree with her; I couldn’t believe Cactus would stand there and yell at me, telling me I needed a reason to believe Cassava was the bitch we all knew she was.

“I know that. Do you think I’m stupid?”

His whole body shivered. I knew because I knew him so well that he wanted to pace. But the size of the boat prevented much more than standing and sitting. “I think you have a one-track mind. You need to ask questions, Lark. You need to see the wider picture, because I don’t think this is about Cassava. It feels . . . like there is more at stake. This is about more players than a single woman who’s lost her mind.”

Peta jumped onto the wooden seat between us. “Wait, do you mean a premonition?”

He scrubbed his hands through his hair. “This doesn’t make sense. Cassava escaped with her life. Your father was going to hunt for her. Blackbird wanted Giselle. We’re going after a Tracker. What are the threads that tie it all together? If you can pluck those out, then we will know what we’re up against.”

Suddenly I understood what he was saying. The pieces of our lives were threads and they bound us to certain paths and people. And he was right, I could no longer assume Cassava was always at the center of the evil in my world.

I closed my eyes and let the rocking of the boat flow through me as I let the things he said sway through my mind.

Cassava. Blackbird. My father. Giselle. The Tracker.

They brushed against one another, slowly revolving until I saw the pattern and the pieces. There was only one that truly didn’t fit, and that was the Tracker. But the rest . . . the rest revealed themselves to me.

What I saw made my muscles clench and my stomach roll with dismay.

“If my father is dead, Vetch would rule, and Cassava would be able to come back to the Rim with Blackbird at her side as her new lover. Giselle would have been able to tell them how to do it, how they could accomplish the task.” The words slid out of me and my eyes widened. “Mother goddess. That’s it, isn’t it?”

A wry grin twisted over his lips. “I think I should piss you off more often.”

I reached to him and brushed my hand against his. “Cactus, you didn’t piss me off. Not really.”

His fingers wrapped around mine. “No? Then shouldn’t I get something for helping you? A gift?”

Peta snorted and turned her back. “Not while I’m in the boat, Prick.”

I gave him a wink. “Maybe later.” What was I saying? I turned away as heat curled up my neck to my face. I was not giving Cactus another reason to hang onto me. Pressing my hand to the smoky diamond around my neck, I breathed out. The wind picked up again, pushing us toward our destination.

Behind me, Peta and Cactus spoke as though I weren’t there.

“Stop pressing her to give up her heart. You heard what Giselle said, she is not meant for the yoke of marriage.”

Cactus laughed. “You don’t know much about Terraling partnerships, do you? Often we don’t marry. And as in the case of Lark’s father, if there is a marriage, it is more often than not rather . . . open. We follow our hearts wherever they lead and believe that is the nature of our people.”

“You would share her with Ash?”

I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. We all knew I heard what they were saying, but I chose to pretend I couldn’t hear a word.

“No, I wouldn’t. I’m just saying things are not cut and dried when it comes to love and sex with Terralings. Salamanders, on the other hand, are jealous types. I suppose I have a bit of them too.”

A roll of satisfaction from Peta tipped me off. I cranked my head around. “Don’t you dare.”

Her mouth tightened in a thin line and her ears drooped. “I would never.”

Instantly I regretted not trusting her. “I’m sorry.”

“What,” Cactus said, his tone deceptively innocent, “you don’t want her to tell me you’ve slept with Ash?”

My mouth dropped open. I would have spluttered except the boat grounded itself, throwing me backward. I hit the edge of the boat and flipped out. Thoughts of jagged teeth and long tentacles in the water kept me clinging to the edge. Until my feet touched the sandy shore and I realized we were in the shallows. I stood and looked around where we’d beached. The sand, the trees, and bushes. The statue of Zeus staring down at us. This was the place the humans had named Greece.