Exhale (17 page)

“Thank you for coming. I know you’re all busy, so let’s get to the agenda items,” he said. “We need to discuss the status of the Fyres since the attack, ways to recruit and train more Sentinels, where we are in helping the Wæters put their Archelemental into position, and how the Wyldlings are faring. Is there anything else?”

The councilors exchanged uneasy glances, but no one said anything. Gavin continued. “How close are we to finding the Archelemental?”

“All we know is that it’s a female whale with a calf. One of the Sentinels in Sydney saw some Fyres out on a boat, so it’s safe to assume they know what to look for too.” Seth eased back into his seat and crossed arms over his chest.

Would have been nice if someone had shared this little tidbit with Gavin before Yileen had a couple hours ago in the Dreaming.

Erin glanced around the table. “If the Fyres are already looking, and we only just uncovered this information, we may be dealing with a leak. How else would they know it’s a whale?”

Several of the councilors shifted in their chairs.

How else, indeed? After Yileen’s warning about ‘the council,’ Gavin wasn’t ready to trust anyone at the table. He watched for twitching auras, but all six were as he would expect—concerned but balanced. Great.

“Perhaps the new blood givin’ away secrets.” Camira flipped her dark gaze to Gavin. The air between them sizzled with accusation. The Aboriginal woman might have talked like Yileen, but the similarities ended there.

“No one’s suggesting Gavin is a traitor.” Ellie’s voice carried a tone of warning.

Camira straightened and scowled at her.

Ellie’s long gray hair sparkled in the candlelight thrown from the south-facing Fyre wall. Moving pictures filled with violence and red danced behind her. “Let’s keep calm and avoid confrontation. Divided, we won’t be able to help the Wyldlings who depend on us.”

Gavin shook out his balled hand. There was no use trying to convince Camira he was trustworthy. She’d already made up her mind about him. “Not everyone is happy with my appointment. I don’t expect you to like me, but I’ll prove I’m worthy of my position in due time. Until then, we need to work together and develop a plan for how to get rid of the Fyres.”

“The key to eliminating the Fyres is finding the door they keep moving around. We
must
get them out of the Dreaming and lock that door for good.” Wyland cracked a fist on the ancient table.

“Agreed. So, who’s looking for it?” Gavin scanned the faces surrounding him.

“I have a couple of Sentinels trailing Fyres exclusively, but they haven’t been able to get close enough. The bastards keep puffing into smoke.” Kai looked at Seth on his right. Kai had been close to Yileen. Maybe he could be trusted.

“The Fyres must be in their Elemental form to get into the Dreaming, which makes them very hard to trace unless they transform while they’re standing in front of the door.” Seth shook his head.

Erin rubbed her chin. “Maybe the trick isn’t following them at all. We know they move the door from time to time. If we find out who executes the magic to keep the door hidden, we might be able to stop it.”

Ellie met Gavin’s eyes. “Perhaps Camira could look into who might be working with the Fyres. She has a strong affinity for magic.”

He nodded. Camira made a clucking noise with her tongue, but she said nothing.

“In the meantime, we still need a liaison to the Wæter Elementals to help them secure and place their new leader.” Ellie looked around the table.

“I can do that,” Gavin said. “I haven’t been acquainted with the Wæter Council, and now seems as good a time as any to pay them a visit.” He hoped like hell Jack could tell him how to find the Wæters, otherwise he’d just made a fool of himself again.

“Good luck.” Wyland smiled. He and Camira exchanged amused expressions, and both snickered.

“Thank you.”
Prick
. “Do we have someone in charge of surveillance on the Fyres?”

Seth straightened. “I’ll do it, but I may need some help.”

“My trainer, Jack Weaver, knows a lot about Fyres. Consult with him on tracking them.” If Jack could confirm Seth’s loyalty, Gavin might have two council members he could trust. Three if he counted Ellie.

“Sure, mate. Be happy to.”

“And Sentinel recruitment?” Gavin thrummed his fingers on the old wood.

“I’ve been investigating some possibilities along the East Coast, but the candidates are sparse,” Kai said. “I think we can move forward on three, four at most. May have to start looking west.”

“Set up their initiation ceremonies as soon as you can. We need to get them trained before the Fyres come back. And definitely expand the search.” Gavin pulled these orders straight from his arse, but they sounded good. God, he hoped he wasn’t fucking up everything.

Gavin’s thoughts flickered to Zoe. His aura blinked blue, and he smoothed it back to neutral. “My most pressing concern is the state of the Wyldlings. There’s been an increase in violence and several people have been murdered since the Dreaming attack. It’s clear we didn’t get rid of all the Fyres, and we simply can’t lose any more Wyldlings to so-called ‘sleep-related deaths.’ How do we keep them safe?”

He studied each of the council members’ faces. With the majority of Australia’s population of twenty-two million living on the eastern coast, a hell of a lot of lives were at stake in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria. And the Sentinels sitting at this table controlled their fates.

“We never lose hope and never stop fighting, It’s all we can do,” Erin said, her hazel eyes flashing. Yeah, she might be trustworthy too.

The others nodded their approval. Camira and Wyland were the last to join in.

“Then let’s pray that between us and the other Sentinels, we find a hell of a lot of Water to back us up.” Seth caught Gavin’s gaze and held it.

Zoe had been the key that unleashed the Fyre-quenching Elemental in the Dreaming last time, and she’d almost died from the massive loss of Water. As determined as he was to protect the Wyldlings, Gavin refused to put her through that trauma again. Next time, she might not be so lucky.

Chapter Fifteen

The following day, sitting in the front of the Zodiac and watching the horizon for whale blows, Zoe was still thinking about Gavin.

No, scratch that. Not thinking.
Obsessing
.

She rubbed her sternum. She never expected to see him after they said goodbye in Brisbane, but his absence from her dreams last night was a huge disappointment. She shouldn’t have let it bother her. It had been
her
choice, and she had to live with it.

Her heart ached at the memory of him standing in the airport and kissing her cheek, sadness hidden behind his eyes.

Ring me if you change your mind.

She pressed her lips together, readjusted her CRN cap, and glanced at the sky. The oppressive heat of the sun reminded her sweating brain she was here to tag whales, not to mentally dither about a man she couldn’t have.

At least the breeze and the company made the afternoon a little more tolerable. Adriene sat beside her on the bow with a clipboard and pack of potato chips on her lap. Behind them, Elizabeth cleaned the camera lens, and Iri manned the wheel.

Apparently, one of the whales they’d tagged two days ago had shed his DTAG near Platypus Bay. The CRN team was heading there now to pick it up. She studied the horizon. What the hell was up with these guys?

At this time of year, the whales should have been traveling south to Antarctica, but the data she’d collected over the past week from anecdotal observations and the DTAGs indicated they were backtracking north. It made no sense. She could accept one or two outliers straying, but not every whale they’d tagged.

Environmental conditions might have played a role. It had been an unusually hot winter, and the temperatures continued to rise with no sign of retreat. Even still, warmer weather should have seen them heading south.

A whale popped up close by, and Iri cut the engine. The boat jarred to a sudden stop.

Where have you been?
The familiar fluke of a mostly white humpback waved as Zoe leaned out of the bow of the Zodiac.

She swished her fingers through the cool water and laughed. “It’s good to see you too, Guppy. Did somebody tag you?” Beneath the blue, a DTAG’s lights blinked from the whale’s back.

Adriene tipped her head enough to shoot a disapproving look over the top of her sunglasses. “Yeah, Dani nabbed her yesterday while you were visiting your ‘cousin’ in Brisbane.”

Zoe shook her head. “I’m never taking another day off again.”

Off with Gavin, aye? Did you get some?
Guppy surfaced and blew. Then she opened her mouth a few inches and flashed some black baleen.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, smart ass,” she murmured, blocking Adriene’s view to the whale. Stupid. Adriene didn’t understand the whales. At least Zoe hoped she didn’t.

“Now, you know I have no problem with you taking time off. It’s just that the circumstances were a little…suspect. Mike told me Just Breathe had a gig in Brisbane Saturday night.” Adriene shrugged and doodled something on her clipboard. “I’m just saying.”

Zoe pressed her lips together. Busted.

“Fine. If you must know, I did go to the show, and I did see Gavin. But nothing happened.” She spoke softly so Iri and Elizabeth wouldn’t hear her in back.

Eyes wide, Adriene sat up straight and swatted her arm. “Why couldn’t you just tell me? I thought we were best friends.”

“I’m sorry.” Zoe settled next to her on the bow’s white bench and pulled out two sandwiches from the cooler. She handed one to Adriene, then passed the cooler back to Elizabeth and Iri. Since they were stuck here until Guppy left, they might as well eat lunch.

“Of course, we’re best friends. I just…I knew it wouldn’t work out with Gavin, so there was no reason to even bring it up. He’s a musician. I’m a whale biologist. There’s not a lot of common ground there, you know?”

Adriene bit off a piece of PB & J and chewed it thoughtfully. “You still dreaming about him?”

Zoe stiffened. “No.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie. She hadn’t seen him in her dreams last night, but she felt him from far away. Even though it was probably her imagination, she liked to think he was looking after her.

“And while we’re on the subject of gorgeous rock stars, what’s going on with you and Mike?” Zoe grinned. Nice diversionary tactic.

Adriene waved her sandwich. “Nothing. He’s doing his band stuff. I think he’s interested, but other than inviting me to that party next week, he hasn’t asked me out or anything.”

“You’re going, right? I’m covering for you on the boat the day after. Just in case you get lucky.” Zoe nudged her.

Adriene’s face brightened. “If you insist.”

“It’s the least I can do. Thanks for being in charge while I was in Brisbane. And for keeping quiet about Gavin.” She glanced back to Iri and Elizabeth.

“I still think you should give him a chance. Those dreams of him were a sign, I tell you. Destiny.” Adriene turned up a water bottle and drank.

Zoe tensed. Thanks to Zoe’s involvement in this Elemental crap, Adriene had already broken a leg. No way she’d put her best friend at risk again by revealing the truth. “I don’t believe in destiny. I’m sure those dreams were the result of seeing a Just Breathe video on TV or something. My subconscious at work. It’s the only logical explanation.”

“Whether it’s a sign, destiny, or your subconscious doesn’t matter. My point is, he’s definitely got a thing for you.”

Zoe had a thing for Gavin too, but her career wanted nothing to do with him. She sighed.

Guppy blew bubbles and rolled over about fifty meters off the bow. She was a beautiful, unusual whale—her entire ventral side was white, all the way past her flippers. A chevron pattern climbed up her back. Zoe met her for the first time three years ago. She and Randy named her Guppy because of a small, fish-shaped marking on her otherwise all-white fluke.

“Who was she with yesterday?” Zoe nodded to the whale as she opened a bag of grapes.

“She put on a show for a subbie male I’d never seen before. They took turns breaching and flipper slapping each other. Dani tagged both of them.”

“You’re a hopeless flirt,” Zoe shouted to Guppy.

And you’re not?

“Touché,” she mumbled.

Zoe turned to Iri and Elizabeth behind her. “Hey, do you have a lock on any other tags yet?”

Elizabeth leaned over and checked the radio direction finder on the dash. “Yep. A couple of kilometers north of here. Just like the others.”

Zoe returned her attention to the whale. “Is that your boyfriend, Guppy? Did he leave you for another woman?”

For the new Archelemental, I imagine.

Zoe dropped a grape in her lap. What did she mean, ‘For the new Archelemental’?

I mean he wants to protect her from the Fyres.

Zoe hadn’t spoken that thought aloud. Bad enough she talked to whales, but now they tuned in to her brain? No way.

You can hear my thoughts?
Zoe said inside her head.

Of course, silly. You talk so loudly, it’s hard not to.
Guppy rolled belly-up and pec-slapped the water.

Further confirmation of the existence of Fyre Elementals—this time from a talking whale. No, Zoe wasn’t crazy. Not one freaking bit.

Guppy’s laughter sounded like popping bubbles.
Why are you in such denial? Fyre Elementals and Wæters and Erthes and Aers all exist here. Just like your Sentinel boyfriend.

He’s not my boyfriend,
she thought.
And how did you find out about Elementals when we humans have never heard of them?

Zoe, you of all people know that whales are far more intelligent than Wyldlings. Come on, honey. Get with the program.
More laughter.

“So, what’s the plan?” Elizabeth said. “Are we picking up tags, or what?”

Adriene leaned back. “You okay, Zoe?”

No, she wasn’t. Her brain was scattered, covered, and smothered. With a fine dusting of paprika.

“Yeah, fine.” She stood up.

“You didn’t eat your lunch.” Adriene gestured to the untouched sandwich between them on the seat.