Rootbound

I leaned back on the log. “And this elemental is dead?”

Peta shook her head. “I don’t know. It didn’t say. If they weren’t dead, they would be the oldest living elemental out there. Which falls into line with what Shazer has said about his creator.”

My thoughts went to Talan. Peta didn’t know him the way she thought she did.

I glanced at her and she was still frowning. “Okay, that’s obviously not the worst of it, so what else did it say?”

Her eyes flicked to mine and away. “The elemental was the most powerful the world had ever seen. A half-breed.”

A chill swept through me and I already knew the answer, but I needed to hear it from her. “What was he?”

“He or she was a Terraling Spirit walker. Just like you.”

Just like me. One of the Tracker’s more colorful phrases rolled off my tongue before I could catch it.

“Fan-fucking-tastic.”

Peta’s eyes popped open. “Lark, you never—”

“Sorry, slipped out. Too much time with Rylee.” I opened my mouth to ask her if there was anything else pertinent. Any clue to what this elemental, who was just like me, might have done.

The rumble of thunder brought my head up. The sky darkened at a rate that could only mean one thing.

Shazer had been spotted. I ran to the center of the clearing to get a better look. Against the dark clouds, his white hide glimmered and shined.

“Get down here!” I yelled. He dropped like a stone as lightning snapped and cracked around him. A bolt landed at my feet, throwing me backward. I hit the ground and rolled, breathing hard. Peta shifted, and I held a hand out. “You can’t stop lightning. We have to dodge it.” The plan I’d had was thrown out and a new one grew at a rapid pace. “Let them capture us.”

“What?”

“They’ll take us to Samara for judgment.”

“Oh, goddess, this will turn all my black spots gray.”

I grinned at her. “Probably.”

Shazer landed, and I flapped my hands at him as he drew close. “Stay back, I’m going to let them capture me.”

He shook his head. “Bad idea.”

“Only idea.” I shoved at him and he let me push him away as another bolt hit the ground. I opened myself to Spirit and Earth and wove them together, deliberately using them as one. They blended perfectly and didn’t fight me.

Understanding hit me and I stood there like a fool. A bolt of lightning slammed into the ground on my left, waking me. Balance, this was what Talan had meant. Instead of using the elements always separately, I should be using them together.

But how was that going to help me now? Above me, three Enders floated on the air currents, their white leathers and hair swirling around them as they shifted and moved. Three Sylphs, that was more than I could handle on my own when all three were trained as Enders.

I was so screwed if I didn’t get them to ‘capture’ me and instead decided to just kill me and take Samara my body.

That would seriously derail my plans.

The one on the left, Lefty, dropped lower until he was only twenty feet over my head. He swung a long shimmering silver rod at me, the end tipped in a sharp barb, not unlike the tips of the tridents in the Deep.

“Take their air!” Peta yelled.

Powering my muscles with the strength of the earth, and thinking of Peta with the fireflies, I leapt into the air to meet him, twisting to dodge the barbed point. His eyes widened and he tried to avoid me but I crashed into him. I wrapped my hands around his neck and squeezed.

“Nighty night.”

He scrabbled at me, all training gone. There was no way to make yourself breathe, even as a Sylph, when your windpipe was cut off. His fellow Enders swept in as we crashed to the ground. I landed on him, felt the electricity in the air, and rolled as the lightning bolt slammed home. The buzz dissipated over Lefty, and I shoved him off me.

Two Enders left.

And I only needed one to make this work. I sprinted toward the taller of the two Enders. His legs dangling a few inches lower than the first had. I leapt from the ground, and snagged one foot.

“What the hell? Is she a shifter?” yelled his friend. It was only then I realized I’d easily leapt thirty feet into the air. There would be time to think about that later. I hung from his foot and lifted my own legs to wrap around his waist. I squeezed with all I had, compressing his belly, blocking his lungs from taking in air. Peta was right, the best way to stop them was to take away their air. They didn’t know how to deal with it.

We dropped to the ground as he passed out, and the final Ender floated forty feet above me. “What the hell are you?”

“I am the Destroyer.” The words hung between us, and he blanched so that his face matched his white leathers. His lips curled.

“Then let us see you survive a kiss of lightning.”

Lines of power whipped around his arms, faster than I could track. I grabbed hold of Spirit and Earth and wove them tightly around each other, driving them deep into the earth, anchoring me. I waited with my head bowed, fear racing along my spine. “Let me be right about this.”

“Lark, run!” Peta screamed. I held a hand out to stop her as a bolt of lightning hit me square in the chest.

I didn’t fight it, didn’t try to send it away.

I held it to me, cradling it in the power. It snapped and sizzled along my body, sending every tiny hair on my skin into orbit. Slowly, I raised my head, and held up one hand. The lightning pooled in my palm, writhing and twisting in on itself. But what the hell did I do with it? It wouldn’t hurt the Ender, it was his element.