“How did this happen?” I whispered to Orion’s empty vessel. I couldn’t help but wonder if Chrome depleted him. Surely, he wouldn’t kill Orion, even as an Infernal, right?
Other footsteps approached, coming to a silent standstill behind us. Soon, a crowd of war-torn Elementals surrounded their leader. Yes, I was their queen, technically. And Chrome had been their leader, too. But Orion had always been more than that. He’d been the heart of the Elementals. The wisdom. The backbone. That comforting and fatherly hand that ensured we all knew we were more than just another soldier in the lineup. We were a family. And Orion had saved the Elementals all those years ago when Jonas and Lilly had been killed. He’d sacrificed so much.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, salty tears slipping between the seam of my lips. We’d lost so many people today. And now we were faced with being homeless and hunted.
For now, I gave in to the grief, rather than resist it, even with an audience. Slate and Onyx wrapped their arms around me from either side. Onyx rested his head on my shoulder while Slate rested his cheek on top of my head. I felt the warmth of Onyx’s tears soak into my clothing as he silently said goodbye to Orion—the man who’d given him refuge and a chance when he was a teenage boy, fleeing inevitable retributionfrom my father.
Orion had been the first man to show me what true fatherly love was. Leading everyone without his help—or Chrome’s—was impossible. But I’d do it for them, at least, even though all I wanted to do was hide or run away from it all. But the Elementals needed someone. And I was all they had left.
The surviving members of the Perry Hollow rallied around us, everyone mourning our hardest-hitting loss. We wouldn’t be able to perform a proper ceremony to send off our dead. So we did the best we could within the short time we had.
Kodiak and Void stepped forward to Orion’s body and gently rolled him over to face the sky. They closed his eyes and crossed his hands over his diaphragm into a restful pose. Everyone took short turns lending a piece of their element to him, either with a flower, leaf, or stone to rest on his chakra points, or a gentle caress of water to cleanse his skin. Until at last, fire wielders softly ignited his body into flames.
Every dead Elemental received a quick ceremony from loved ones before their bodies were set aflame, turning into ash for the wind to carry them back into nature.
Slate and Shadow stayed by my side wherever I went. I did my best to hold my emotions in check as I worked my way through the Elementals. My top priority was getting us to safety.
After witnessing another Elemental body go up in flames for the hundredth time in an hour, I turned around and faced Slate. “Take us to Arcadia, where you stayed. The veil is down now, and I know we can get there, even if it's on foot.”
Slate chewed on his inner cheek as he thought it through. “Yeah, we can get there. The problem is navigating the new landscape. There are chunks of Arcadia throughout our world, displacing everything. I’ll have to create a map and figure out where the Celestial Castle is in relation to us. But brace for a difficult trip, Gray. We’re gonna lose more people.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. The poisoned lands of Arcadia would be an issue, as well as the sickly beasts that now roamed our realm.
Shadow stood with his back to Slate and me, only a foot away, watching the Elementals work together to burn our dead. He twisted his neck, meeting my eyes over his shoulder. “What about the dead Kinetics?”
“We don’t have time to send them off. Normally, we would, but considering more Kinetics will be here soon enough, I’m sure they’ll handle it when they arrive and see their bodies,” I responded, Slate nodding in agreement.
“I can help you all remain hidden if you let me tag along with you,” Shadow offered, his Cajun accent coming through thick, his previous arrogance gone. “I know you don’t trust me. But I don’t have issues with Elementals. It’s Chrome I have a problem with.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You expect us to trust you not to alert the other Kinetics to our whereabouts?”
Shadow shrugged. “I don’t care if you trust me or not. But I know as long as you’re alive, Chrome will come for you. So, if you let me hang with you lot, I’ll be a good boy. I promise,” he said with a wink, his dimpled grin reminding me of someone else besides Chrome. I shook it off, not entertaining conspiracy theories right now.
I glanced at Slate, unsure of whether to take Shadow up on the deal. “How can you hide everyone by yourself?”
Shadow lifted his sleeves past his forearm, baring green currents that indicated his microwave energy. Slate and I exchanged knowing looks, both thinking of Grim. He had been able to absorb energy and cancel out others’ abilities. I wondered if Shadow’s worked the same way.
“How does it create shadows for you?” I asked, curious if my theories were true.
“Easy,” Shadow said. “I absorb the light around me. I’ve just gotten really good at controlling it over the years. It’s not all I do, though.”
“Right,” I said, wondering what other goal he held. “Happen toknow your way to the Celestial Castle while we’re at it?” I meant to be sarcastic, not expecting him to actually know anything useful.
“Yeah, believe it or not. I do.” Shadow shrugged. “But I’m gonna need something in exchange for that.”
I groaned, running my hand down my face before I summoned my dagger and pinned it to his throat in a blink. “Listen, Shadow. I don’t know you. I don’t know where you come from, or what you want besides killing Chrome. I just lost a lot here within the past two hours. I’m on the edge of the precipice before I fucking snap. I’m not the godsdamn one to be bargaining with at the moment.”
Shadow smirked down at me, not bothered by the blade being pressed to his throat.
“The only bargain I’m interested in making”—I pressed the edge of the blade harder against his trachea—“is your help, for your fucking life. Understood?”
“I see why he likes you so much,” Shadow responded. “Violence runs deep in your blood. Just like his.”
Chapter Eleven
Chrome
My shadows unfurled from my body the second my feet slammed into the stone floor of the Goshen castle. Seeing Shadow had not been in my cards for the evening. Nor did I expect him to be the prisoner that Gray had captured. Was he the reason why the wards had been down? Probably.
