Elemental Hunger (36 page)

I sat up, expecting the debilitating pain to sweep through my shoulders. It didn’t.

“Magic alive,” Hanai breathed.

I tried to focus on his face, but he lingered in a halo of shadow. He leaned forward, and I found wonder in his eyes and love curling his mouth.

“Hanai.” I said his name like he could save me from myself. I wanted him to, oh, how I wanted him to.

“You healed yourself.”

My skin stretched, creamy and white, down my torso and under the blankets. I snatched the slightly charred sheet and pulled it to my chin. “Clothes—I—”

He held a bundle toward me without removing his eyes from mine. He left the room, trapping me with my own thoughts. After pulling on a pair of jeans and a soft shirt, I tucked a knife in my belt loop. I sat in Hanai’s chair and ran my hands over my arms, feeling nothing but silky, smooth skin.

Hanai stepped into the room and locked the door behind him. “We’ve got to go.”

“Go where?” I took the sentry knife he handed me, tucking it into the waistband of my jeans.

“Away from here. Cornish doesn’t harbor Elementals, and several Elemental refugees from Tarpulin have arrived.” He yanked up the window, and a blast of icy air flooded the room. “And now that everyone in the United Territories knows that Alex is a woman, well, let’s just say that Davison has gathered a lot of help.”

“The attack against Alex is starting,” I said. A loud banging echoed from the front of the house.

“And we want to make sure we’re on the right side.” Hanai gestured me forward. “We don’t need the Cornish guards interrogating us unnecessarily.”

I crawled out the window awkwardly, landing on frozen earth. Claws of chilly air robbed me of heat from my Element, and I actually shivered.

Hanai dropped next to me, reaching for my hand. “Pull up your hood. We don’t want—” He cut off, staring at my head.

“What?” I reached up and felt…my hair. It fell beyond my shoulders in waves, just like it had before the false accusation of arson in Crylon. That life seemed light years away, as if someone else had lived it.

“Well, maybe you won’t need the hood. You look…like a girl.” Hanai sounded like he’d never seen a girl before.

“I’ve always been a girl,” I said, gathering my hair into a low ponytail, marveling at its sudden regrowth.

“Yeah, but now,
now
you look like one.”

I slid my hand into his in response. Angry shouts filled the graying morning. We stayed off the roads, which made our trek through the southern wilderness long and tiring. There were a few patches of dirty snow, but most of it had melted. Low brush dotted the landscape, making our trail a wandering one.

A few trees loitered on the horizon to the west, but they were too far away for us to use as cover. At least the ground was mostly flat, if not rocky. We walked until the sunset drew a dark curtain over the sky.

I was just about to ask Hanai if I should build a fire when a wolf howled.

Hanai’s step faltered,
as did mine. “Fire,” he whispered.

He didn’t need to tell me twice. Using my fist as a torch, we went on for a few steps to a grouping of low brush. I dripped flames onto the waiting limbs, and they caught the fire.

“Adam should be back soon,” Hanai said. “This will have to do until he can rescue us.”

“Adam—back—what will have to do?”

Another howl ripped through the night.

“Safety first,” Hanai said. “I’ll tell you everything, but not if I’m in bite-sized pieces.”

“Okay, fine.” As the brush cradled the flames, Hanai and I gathered rocks and built a circle about ten feet across. Any loose branches we could find went on top of those, where I then poured my fire, encouraging it to burn hot and long.

Just as I finished the ring, a pair of yellow eyes caught the glow. A hint of bared teeth followed.

“Aren’t we too far south for wolves?” I asked as I settled next to Hanai on the sooty ground. Every few years, a wolf would carry a child out of the communes in Crylon, but my old home lay much further north, right on the edge of the wild.

“No,” Hanai whispered. “The wilderness is full of wolves.”

We huddled together through the darkness, heat, and silence. The third time Hanai’s chin drooped to his chest, he didn’t snap it back up. I carefully laid him on the ground before patrolling the circle, re-banking the weak spots in the fiery fence that kept the animals out. Several pairs of shining eyes mirrored my movement beyond the flames. Then I settled next to Hanai, keeping one hand on his shoulder just to assure myself that he was there, and alive.

I awoke to a morning sky full of golden rays of light. I rolled over to find Hanai crouching near the edge of the ring, unmoving. Unblinking. His chest didn’t rise and fall. One hand stretched toward the fire, which had burned down to only a few inches of flame.

A wolf—a very large, very furry, very black wolf—was poised on the opposite side of the barrier. It didn’t blink either. Dragging its belly along the steaming ground, it shuffled forward an inch or two. A whine came from its closed jowls.

Fear rose through me; I wanted to leap up and torch the animal before it could clamp its jaws around Hanai’s skinny neck. He raised his free hand to me, palm out.
Don’t,
he was saying.

The wolf inched forward again. Still Hanai didn’t move. My heart hammered in the back of my throat. Seconds became minutes.

Then, with a lurch, the wolf leaped, its mouth rearing open. A deep growl washed over me, followed by a sharp bark.

In a fluid motion, Hanai stood, gripped the flying wolf around the neck and twisted. A yelp issued from it, immediately before my own strangled cry.

Hanai knelt again, holding one hand over the wolf’s body, chanting. A tear ran over his nose and dripped onto the matted fur. His lips moved in a silent ceremony before Hanai stood and dragged the wolf to the center of the circle.

“Bank up the fires, please. I’ll make breakfast.” He said it so calmly, but the tension in his shoulders and the tightness around his mouth broadcast his worry, his hunger, his pain at killing the wolf.

I moved around the ring, pouring flames to ensure our safety. The fire didn’t look so merry, so comforting, in the daylight. Now it represented a blazing barrier I couldn’t cross.

“Your knife?” Hanai asked. I handed it to him and quickly scurried away from the dead animal, trying to find comfort in the smoke. At least six wolves paced a few yards beyond the fire line. One howled. Then another. They trotted closer, their beady eyes trained on their fallen companion.

Hanai built a small platform of rocks and asked me to heat them before placing the wolf on top.

I couldn’t watch. I closed my eyes when he asked me to use my Element. I let him direct my hands as the fire poured out. We waited. Only the crackling flames broke the silence. Eventually, the smell of roasted meat filled the air, making my mouth water and my head light with hunger. Sweat ran down Hanai’s face, but he didn’t complain.

When the sun hung directly overhead in the crystal blue sky, Hanai asked me to tame the flames under the rocks. He chanted again, his words rumbling together in his native tongue. They warmed me, comforted my aching heart.

Then we ate.

I licked my fingers, thinking wolf didn’t taste nearly as gamey as I was expecting. “About Adam….”

“Yeah, about Adam.” Hanai’s answer carried exhaustion. “Well, as much as I hate to say it, I was wrong about him.”

I waited for more.

“His plan actually worked. And while I would’ve gone about it a different way, he did ensure our safety.”

Clouds gathered in my soul. “Safety?” was all I could choke out.

“He took Cat and Isaiah to Tarpulin—to Alex. He claimed that you had escaped from Felix, and he needed to leave right away to help him find you. So yes, he invited his brother to the ceremony, he went to Tarpulin to turn in Cat and Isaiah, but he bought
you
some time.” Hanai wiped the sweat off his forehead.

“Time?” I asked, obviously incapable of more than one word questions.

“He almost made it.” The way Hanai spoke in defense of Adam turned the clouds into thunderheads.

“He was supposed to meet you and Felix at that house. Adam had planned to be there first, so Felix wouldn’t…well, you know. So he wouldn’t hurt you.”

I reached for Hanai’s hand and found comfort in his gentle touch.

“He was delayed in Tarpulin. And I was starving.”

“Were you following us?”

Hanai focused on our hands, which rested in his lap. “Yes. But when I arrived in Cornish, I had to eat. I stole something from the market and lost you. I had to search for your spirit, but it was buried.” Tears splashed his face. “I tried to hurry.”

The storm inside blew itself out. I squeezed his hand to let him know I didn’t blame him.

He gathered me into an embrace and pressed his face against my neck. “I’m glad I made it in time. Sort of.”

I wanted him to hold me forever. To tell me that everything would be okay, that we’d find Cat and Isaiah. But we let the silence say everything.

“So anyway.” Hanai cleared his throat. “Adam left Felix in the basement while we searched for you. He took you to the healer’s house, and the three of us worked on your wounds. Then he collected his brother and took him back to Tarpulin. With Felix shot and bloody, he thinks that will convince Alex of whatever story he invents.” He squeezed my hand. “Adam’s coming back to get us. He should be able to see this smoke from miles away.”

“I have to go to Tarpulin,” I said. “So Adam didn’t buy me anything.”

“We know about Davison’s mission for you. Adam can read minds, remember?” Hanai spoke gently, but the reminder that nothing with Adam had been—or ever would be—private only served to ignite my anger.

“Don’t be mad,” he said. “I’m still not sure of everything my Spiritual Element can do, but I can feel emotions. And Adam is truly remorseful about what he felt he had to do. He needed the chartering to ensure his position on your Council, but he also needed to placate Felix and Alex.”

I didn’t know how to answer, how to feel. I didn’t trust Adam, but I felt I really could rely on Hanai. “I guess…. But why did he have to do anything for Felix or Alex? He left Tarpulin a long time ago.”

“To save himself,” Hanai said. “He told them he was tracking down the Elemental abnormalities and couldn’t report in because of it.”

“How do we know he wasn’t tracking me down?”

Hanai caught my gaze, and he looked apologetic. “He wasn’t,” he said. “I’ve known him for a while, and the only person I ever saw him track was Felix. He was trying to make sure he didn’t ruin the Elemental schools. But, you know, Gabby, Adam had to tell them
some
thing.”

I closed my eyes and sighed. “I guess,” I said again.

“He would’ve been killed on-sight otherwise,” Hanai said.

I opened my eyes and squinted into the sky. “All right. I have to believe you.”

“I can’t make you, and Adam said he’ll do whatever he can to convince you.” Hanai stared into the horizon. “But I believed him. I let go of my disbelief and relied on my Element, and I could only feel the truth of his words.”

I remembered the gentle pulling of the chartering magic. It had felt clean and pure. The five of us
were
a Council. I felt closer to Hanai than ever as he waited for me to respond.

“That will have to be enough for me for right now.” I hugged my knees to my chest. “I’m scared to go to Tarpulin, Hanai. Alex will kill me as soon as she sees me.”

Hanai cupped my face in his hands. I breathed in his comfort, his tranquility. The soothing feelings didn’t mesh with my pounding heart. “I…feel…strange….”

“My Element,” he breathed. “I can feel
and
control emotions.”

I blinked at his new power. But he wasn’t controlling how I felt about him. Only the anxiety rocketing from my thoughts of dying.

“Hanai, I—I should’ve picked you.” I reached up and lightly ran my fingers over his face.

He dipped his head, and I opened my mouth to receive his. The golden sunshine from Hanai’s Element melded with the blinding heat of mine.