Elemental (23 page)

CHAPTER 45

A
s I lay there, I thought of Dare, presumably drowned, and felt no remorse. I thought of Griffin, and was relieved to know he'd escaped. I thought of my father, and how much I still had to learn about myself. I thought of Alice, and hoped she was still alive.

Griffin and Rose appeared above me. They hadn't been gone long, but the hurricane was in full force once again. Rainwater ran off their hair in torrents. They fought to hold steady against the wind.

Dennis was beside them. He raised his face to the sky, and the wind calmed a little. I tried to make out what he was doing, but everything looked blurry.

Relax,
Griffin signed.

I understood that he needed my pulse to be slow so that I wouldn't hurt them. It wasn't hard—I was barely conscious. I couldn't even raise my head.

He and Rose gripped the material under my armpits and dragged me on my back across the deck. They struggled to keep their footing, but Dennis fell in step beside us, and if I doubted it before, now I was certain: He was keeping the wind at bay.

When we reached the hatch, they eased me down the stairs. As soon as I was on the floor, Griffin hobbled back up and locked the hatch door. The ship was rolling about again, walls creaking. The hurricane sounded almost as loud below deck as above.

Rose leaned over me. It was dark, and I couldn't see her. But I felt every snatch of breath, every tear that fell on me, the end of her braid tickling my face. She wasn't even pulling away.

“Alice,” I croaked. “Tessa.”

“Tessa's back in the cabin,” said Rose. “Alice too. She's unconscious, but Tessa says she'll be all right.”

“Anchors.”

“We lowered them.” Her hair ran across my face again. I wanted to touch it, but I couldn't raise my arms. “Relax now, Thomas. We need to get you to the cabin.”

“No. Father.”

It was obvious that she didn't want to put me with my father, crushed between a cage and the wall. But in the silence that followed I knew she'd thought of something else too: that it was the best way to make sure I couldn't harm anyone.

Rose and Griffin grabbed fistfuls of my tunic and pulled me into the tiny room. My legs tangled beneath me. My head collided with the door frame. I clamped my mouth shut so I wouldn't cry out.

“I'll be back as soon as the storm passes,” Rose said. “I promise.”

Without another word, she and Griffin climbed around me. They were being tossed about like driftwood now, and just getting through the doorway was difficult. As their footsteps receded, I imagined I could still hear Dennis's voice keeping track of the wind's incessant acceleration: forty knots, fifty, sixty.

I felt empty. It was a painful emptiness too, like every muscle in my body had been strained, torn, obliterated.

“Thomas?” My father's voice cut through the emptiness. “Are you all right, son?”

Even breathing was hard. “My body . . . doesn't work.”

Another gust or wave pushed me against the cage. The metal mesh dug sharply into my side. I couldn't roll away. A groan escaped me, but I wasn't aware of making it.

My father pressed his fingers through the mesh and touched my hand. Warmth radiated through his fingertips. “Stay calm,” he murmured. “Breathe deeply and concentrate on your heartbeat—keep it slow and steady. You need to find equilibrium if you want to overcome the echo.”

“Echo?”

“Shh! No talking now. Only deep breaths.”

I did as he said, and little by little my pulse slowed. I might have been imagining it, but it felt like something was returning to me, like an empty canister being filled with water.

Another violent gust, and our hands separated. I heard him curse, but a moment later he'd found my fingers again. We held each other tightly.

I couldn't remember a time I'd felt so connected to my father.

 * * *

I came to as footsteps drummed on the stairs just outside the door. At least, that's what I thought I heard, but a moment later they were gone. After that, there was nothing but the sound of the weakening storm.

I stretched. Though I ached all over, I was in much less pain than I would have imagined. My father still held my fingers.

“Feel better?” he asked.

With my free hand, I raised a finger to my mouth. Dare's weapon had split my lip, but nothing more. “Yes. But . . . how?”

He ignored my question. “What happened up there?”

“Dare tried to take back the ship. He had a weapon. When I grabbed it, he started to shake. Griffin pushed him overboard and now I think he's dr—”

“Shh. It's all right now.” His fingertips brushed against me. “How is Griffin?”

“He's safe.”

“Good. And the others?”

“Dare hurt Alice badly. Tessa too—”

A wave of energy pulsed through his fingers, sudden and sharp. I yanked my hand away.

He muttered a curse, but calmed himself with a deep breath. When our fingers touched again, his energy level was normal, just as suddenly as if he'd blown out a candle.

“Tessa.” The way he said her name sounded odd, like a question—as if he was trying to remember where he'd heard it before. “She came back.”

“She helped us. But she's hurt now.”

“What happened?”

“I don't know. Dare wasn't even beside her when he did it.”

Father didn't say anything for a moment. “You're sure it was Dare?”

“I think so. Why?”

“Just . . . be careful around her. Remember, she chose exile over staying with you.”

I shifted my weight, but nothing felt comfortable. “Why did you tell me she was dead?”

“Because that's how she wanted it. We make decisions, and we live with them. No matter how much we regret them.”

I needed to know about those decisions. “I found a picture in Bodie Lighthouse. Our family. Before Griffin was born.”

“Your mother . . .” He spoke quietly, and though he tried to hide it, I knew he was fighting tears. “I wish I could go back. Change everything.”

“In the picture she's holding Ananias. Did she ever hold me? Or were you the only one who could stand it?”

Another pulse, but this one was different: a wave of soothing energy. Maybe I was imagining it, but it felt like a gesture of love.

“Oh, Thomas. Of course she held you. She adored you. Nursed you for over a year when you were a baby, but only when you were almost asleep. Your pulse would slow down then—gentle enough for her to cope.”

“Will anyone else ever touch me?”

“Yes. You'll learn to listen to your heartbeat—control it too. You just need time.”

That was what I wanted to hear, but it still didn't answer the biggest question of all. “Why have we been hiding our element?”

Yet another jolt—small, but this one scared me. It was the quality, as if he were channeling raw power. Anger, maybe. I wondered if it was the kind of energy I'd seared into Dare.

“We hid ourselves because of a promise,” he growled. “A stupid promise I should never have made. One I've regretted every day since.”

His breathing accelerated. It seemed to trigger a reaction in me, and my pulse quickened. He pulled away to prevent me from having to do it first.

“Sorry,” I said.

“No, it's my fault. Our element is symbiotic. In the old times, a parent would teach it through touch—I would've adjusted your heartbeat and energy levels myself to show you the effect. But the Guardians stopped all that.”

“So why did you make the promise?”

“It seemed like the best choice.”

“But it was a lie. How can that be best?”

“Because the alternative was exile.”

“Like Tessa?” I tried to make sense of it. “Why would they exile you?”

“Not me.
Us
.” His voice sounded low and distant. “They fear us, Thomas. Their elements take one energy source and transfer it into another. But no one knows the limits of what we can do. Even me. I've wanted to tell you so many times, but how could I do that and make you promise not to think about it ever again?”

I couldn't answer. It was a decision I'd never had the chance to make.

“On your sixteenth birthday, they wanted to make you an Apprentice. But I wouldn't let them.”

“You?”

“Of course me. I wouldn't let them fob you off with some pretend skill that had no real connection to you. Not while you had no idea who you really were.” He kicked out against the end of his cage. “I've lived the last sixteen years struggling to make a simple fire, while Ananias watches me pityingly. And all along, I've been hiding miracles the other Guardians can't even comprehend.”

“I can make a lantern shine.”

“A lantern?” He snorted. “The energy you transferred to Dare wouldn't illuminate a lantern, it would illuminate a hundred lanterns. Anger is the strongest force of all. But it's unpredictable and exhausting—as dangerous for you as the person you touch.”

I thought of Dare, and the pirate who'd tried to capsize our sailboat under the bridge, and the one who had tried to stop us in the creek near Bodie Lighthouse. My element had served us well then, but at what cost? I'd been unable to stay conscious afterward. Father was right—I couldn't lose control. I may not always have friends to save me.

“My energy travels through metal too.”

“Yes. That's why the Guardians have tried to keep metal objects out of the colony as much as possible. They knew they'd never be able to explain your element, or the things you might do with it.”

“Like what?”

“On Roanoke you powered a lantern. But on this ship . . .” His tongue clicked. “When the hurricane passes, you need to look around. Dare will have instruments, machines, I'm sure of it. Only you and I can make them work—especially you. Your power is unthinkable, you hear me?
Unthinkable
.”

“Then so is yours.”

“No. We're not the same.”

“You can't know what I'll be able to do. Even I don't know.”

“Believe me, I know.” He found my fingers again, and his breathing grew slower. As quickly as he'd grown animated, he now seemed to be drifting toward sleep. With energy flowing freely between us, it was as though he was sending me to sleep too. “I just know.”

CHAPTER 46

W
hen I woke again, I felt surprisingly fresh. I'd ache all over when I tried to stand, but at least the crushing emptiness had passed.

Rose stood in the doorway, silhouetted by a dull light. Somehow, her face was unblemished. The rain had even cleaned off the grime.

“Dennis says the hurricane has almost passed,” she explained. “It's barely a storm now.”

It took a moment for the words to seep in. We'd survived. It seemed impossible. How could we have overcome Dare and his men?

“How's Alice?”

Rose moved aside and Alice stepped forward. The left side of her face was hideously bruised. Her eye was partially closed.

“Oh, no.”

“It's fine,” snapped Alice. “Tessa says it'll heal eventually. Anyway, you don't exactly look great yourself.”

“How is Tessa?”

“Not well. She won't let us touch her shoulder.”

“And Griffin? And Dennis?”

“They're all right. Dennis found a rope in one of the drawers from the cabin. He's lowering it to the Guardians right now. But we need your help.”

My father seemed to be sleeping peacefully as I left the claustrophobic room. It was a relief to see him relaxed; he was worse off than any of us. In the weak light, I could make out the trail of blood leading from the floor of his cage, out the door, and across the corridor to the opposite wall. It looked as terrifying now as before, but he'd survived. That was all that mattered.

Toward the end of the corridor, Dennis stood beside the trapdoor, the rope dangling from his hands. He looked fully recovered, as though the headaches that had plagued him for days were finally over.

In the hull below, the Guardians moaned, desperate to leave their prison. When Kyte announced that he'd be going up first, no one argued.

Once Kyte had a good grip on the rope, we all began to pull. He was heavy, and the rope scraped against the edge of the floor, which slowed us down. Finally his hand emerged, and he grabbed the floor and took some of his weight. Even then we kept pulling, until he was able to swing a leg up. When he was out, he rolled toward us.

Dennis fell down beside his father and wrapped his arms around him. I expected Rose to do the same, but she hesitated. I was proud of her for that. It meant she'd accepted that the world could never be the same. Kyte would still be at the center of it, but that was the problem. The strong, steady influence he'd brought to bear for years had been built on lies as poorly constructed as the colony on Hatteras. The flames that devoured our cabins had destroyed his imaginary world almost as quickly. She wouldn't let him forget it.

As Kyte saw his daughter staring down at him, a flicker of understanding passed between them. “Aren't you going to help me up, Rose?” he asked with typical bluster.

Rose brushed my sleeve—a fleeting gesture to let her father know whose side she was on. She crouched beside him, but she didn't kneel. “Do you need help, Father?”

Kyte sat upright. Gritting his teeth to mask the pain, he pulled himself to a stand. Even with their positions reversed, Rose didn't look intimidated.

“It would be a nice gesture for you to help the other Guardians,” he said.

Rose returned a straight-lipped smile. “Of course I'll rescue the others as well. It's why we came.”

Kyte gave her a piece of the rope and took a handful himself.

“Looks like this is under control,” I whispered to Alice. “I'm going to check on Griffin. Is he in Tessa's cabin?”

“I guess so.” She picked up a loose coil of rope and prepared to pull too. Then she smiled. “Hey, can you do me a favor?”

“Sure.”

“Can you think of a way to get my mother out of the hold but not my father? The past four days are the best we've ever gotten along.”

She laughed then, and so did I. It felt strange, but good. Like I'd been holding my breath for days, and could finally exhale again.

I made my way to the stern. Even though the ship was steady, I imagined I could still feel it rocking from side to side. The hurricane had branded itself on my memory.

Tessa's door was ajar. Pieces of wood had splintered from the door frame where Alice had kicked it open the night before. Tessa lay on her back on the floor, head tilted to the side. But Griffin wasn't there.

“Good. You're alive,” she said, opening one eye. “Won't even look too bad once we clean up the blood.”

“Wish I could say the same for you.”

She chuckled, and grimaced. “So, I saw what Dare did to you. But I also saw what you did to him. I tried to tell you to stop—to save your energy—but . . .” She took a deep breath. “What happened to him when Griffin pushed him overboard?”

“I don't know. He didn't resurface.”

Tessa closed her eyes. “Good.”

I knelt down and eased back the shreds of material covering her left shoulder. The caked-on blood seemed to emanate from a single tiny spot. It seemed impossible that such a small wound could cause so much bleeding.

“Are you going to be all right?” I asked.

Tessa swallowed hard. “You mean: Am I going to live?” She pursed her lips. “It's not so bad. I'll be fine in a while.”

She shifted on the blankets. The underside of her shoulder was caked in blood too. Without material to cover it, I could see that the wound was another tiny hole, the same as on the front of her shoulder.

“There are holes both sides.”

“Yes. I was lucky. Dare's weapon is called a gun. It sends a tiny piece of metal—a bullet—at very high speed. The bullet bursts through skin and muscle and flesh . . . does a lot of damage. I won't be able to use my shoulder until the wound is fully healed. Even then, it might not be the same.”

“What can I do?”

“Get my medicine bag from the hold in the sailboat, for a start.”

“What if the boats aren't there?”

“Then we're all in trouble. Some of the Guardians may need treating if they've been stuck in the hold for days.” She licked her lips. “I'd really like some water as well, please. Then I just need to rest.”

Looking around the room, it occurred to me that something else was missing too. “Where's your cat?”

Her expression shifted. “Cats aren't water creatures. And in a storm . . . well, let's just say he chose to stay home.”

“I'm sorry.”

“So am I. Now let me rest.”

I was about to leave, but there was another question I had to ask: “Where did you go last night? A few times I looked around and couldn't see you.”

“I don't know what you mean. I was there with you. Where else would I be?”

She was keeping something from me, but there would be time to press her on that. As she closed her eyes, I stepped quietly out of the room and pulled the door closed behind me.

Toward the end of the corridor, the trapdoor appeared to be open, but everyone had gone. They'd worked even quicker than I'd dared to imagine. Snatches of voices came from the deck above—the sound of families reuniting, or perhaps Alice and Rose demanding answers. The truth would come out now, whether the Guardians liked it or not.

We were safe again. Whole again.

It was time for healing.