Ash

Dreg shot her a dirty look, taking his eyes off me, breaking protocol. This was my shot. I grabbed the tip of the crossbow and jerked it forward, pointing it at Elk as Dreg belatedly scrambled to stop me. The weapon went off and the bolt slammed into Elk’s left shoulder. He dropped his sword, his fingers going slack.

“Take him down!” Elk roared as he fought to pull the bolt out of his joint.

Peta shot out from under the bed, shifting as she came clear of the cot. She leapt at Elk and did to him what he’d asked of Dreg. She tackled him to the floor, snarling and slashing with her wicked sharp claws and teeth.

I fought with the big man, wrestling him to the ground as Peta drove Elk to the floor. I grabbed the sides of Dreg’s head and slammed it onto the stone floor three times. His eyes rolled back and I let him go. I scooped up his crossbow and looked across to where Peta lay on Elk, her mouth on his neck. A soft growling rumble coursed out of her.

Elk’s eyes were wide, terrified—being in the jaws of death, seeing her breathe in your last breath as you died would be no small thing.

“Peta, let him go, his death is not warranted. Not today.” She didn’t move and I put a hand on her back. “Peta. They are following orders. Not all are as strong as Lark and able to defy the rules.”

She dropped him, all but spitting him out, and stepped sideways away from him. “You’re lucky Ash spoke for you, I was hungry.”

Elk passed out, more likely from fear than anything else. I pushed him with a foot to make sure he wasn’t faking.

“He’s out, his heart slowed,” Peta said.

A sword swept toward me, and I spun, just dodging it. Blossom, tears running down her face, whipped her short sword toward my middle. I jumped back, stumbled on Dreg and went to one knee.

Blossom reversed her swing mid-arc, showing her skill with the weapon as she drove it upward toward my neck. I threw myself to the side, missing the blade by a breath and a prayer.

Peta shot forward, swiping at Blossom’s legs, driving the young Ender to the side. All three of us were in the cell now, and I saw what Peta was doing. With each slash of her wicked claws, she forced Blossom further into the cell and created a pocket for me to escape.

I dove toward the open door. “Peta, with me.”

Our years of working together were showing.

She spun and leapt through as I slammed the door shut.

I stared into the cell, and Blossom smiled back at me, her lips trembling. “I didn’t want to kill you. I don’t want you to die, Ash, I . . . don’t know what is going on, but I know you are one of the best elementals we have. One of the best Enders. You’re going to bring Lark back, aren’t you?”

“I am.” The words were out of me before I thought better of it. But really, what was I doing if not trying to bring Lark back?

Without hesitation, Blossom scooped up the other weapons in the cell and handed them across to me. “Do you want Dreg’s vest?”

I nodded as I laughed softly. “That was you trying not to kill me? You almost had me. You’re fast, Blossom. Very fast.”

Blossom shrugged. “I learned from the best. From you and Granite a little. And a little from Lark, too. She was in my training class and she pushed us all to be better.”

My old mentor’s name woke something in me. Now there was a place to start, a person I was sure I could find, and an elemental who’d tied his life to Cassava. “Good luck, Blossom.”

She nodded and stepped away from the cell door after handing me the two short swords and the vest. “The Traveling room is your best bet. There is a full escort waiting for you outside the barracks.”

“They should have been here as well. Why didn’t they follow the protocol I wrote?” I didn’t understand why it would have been broken.

Blossom shrugged and a tiny smile flickered over her lips. “I may have convinced them that seeing as they were your ideas as to how best to deal with prisoners, that the foolish thing would be to do what you expect. You would know what and how we would do things.”

I reached through the bars and took her hand. She held on tightly to me for a moment and then pushed me away. “Go. You won’t have long. They’ll come looking soon.”

“Thank you.” I knew what it would cost her. If she was lucky, she would still be an Ender, but there was a good chance she’d be busted down to Rim guard, seeing as it was her idea as to how to deal with me, and I was about to escape.

“Go. And . . . find a way to bring Lark back. Please.” The whisper followed me through the hallways of the dungeon level. The living and training quarters for the Enders were three floors above, and then there was the Traveling room.

The Traveling room was actually a floor up from the dungeons, and I treaded carefully as I made my way there. I couldn’t help but reach for the power that connected me to the earth, letting it roll through my veins and recharge me as nothing else could.

“Not too heavily. If Raven is around, he could pick up on you,” Peta said softly.

I glanced at her as we climbed the steps that would take us to the floor we needed. “What?”

“Lark could see when someone was using their elemental ability. How do we know Raven isn’t the same? Or worse, that he’s even more sensitive.”

Shit, she made a good point. I released my connection to the earth, a little reluctantly, but still, it was better to be safe.

“How the hell did you know I called on the power?”