Destroyer (The Elemental Series #7)(17)

“No.” I breathed the word and his grin widened.

“I knew you of all elementals would guess this truth. If you could guess that Viv was the false mother goddess, that she was the one behind things, there was no way you wouldn’t figure out who I am if I gave you a few clues.” He took more steps and ran a hand through the rushing water. “Who am I, Lark? Even Raven hasn’t figured that out.”

My head whipped sideways to look at Raven. He shook his head. “I have no idea. He’s played this game with me, too.”

“The Veil was created by Spirit, by those humans we call Trackers now. But you helped them, didn’t you?” I arched an eyebrow at him.

Talan nodded. “Keep going, you’re almost there.”

I was shaking, because I struggled to believe even though the evidence was there. No, that wasn’t true. “Trackers are descendants of the first Spirit Walker.”

“Good, you’re getting there.”

No, no, no. This could not be. “You have no proof,” I said, my throat tightening on the words.

Raven and Peta both stared at me. But it was Raven who spoke. “Proof of what?”

“He’s…” I shook my head and started again. “Talan is one of the original five. The last born of the true mother goddess.”

Talan swept low into a bow from his waist. “Youngest and most troublesome of the five forebears of the elementals, at your service.”





CHAPTER 7



Talan’s statement hung in the air of the rock cavern while the water continued to rush by as though nothing of import had just happened. Peta, Raven, and I didn’t move, we didn’t so much as twitch a muscle.

Talan’s eyebrows climbed, and his gaze didn’t move from me. “Am I really that terrifying?”

I stared back at him. “It’s not fear that holds me here. Shock, I believe, would be more appropriate. Shock and disbelief.”

Raven grunted as though I’d punched him in the gut. “You should be afraid of him if that’s true. He could be manipulating us even now and we wouldn’t know it.” As he spoke, his voice rose, and anger flooded his words.

I put a hand out to him, palm facing him. “Stop it. I can see if he’s using Spirit. And right now, he’s not.”

“You sure about that?” Raven threw the question at me. I didn’t look at him, but kept my eyes on Talan.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

Talan laughed. “It is a gift some Spirit Walkers have, to see the lines of power. It is not a gift I have. It was only in your mother’s family and it developed on its own. Strange how the powers did that after they left us. They often twisted on their own, forming to what the elemental needed to survive.” He ran his fingers through the water. Us. He meant his other siblings, of course, the other forebears of the elemental world. I shook my head to clear the lingering disbelief.

“Still, there is no proof. You could just be a strong Spirit elemental who has learned to survive all these years, not unlike Viv. I would think that one who was truly the original child of the mother goddess would be able to take Viv out on his own. He wouldn’t need to manipulate anyone else.” I smiled. “So maybe you aren’t so much who you think you are?”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Raven nod. “What are those places the humans stick their mad ones?”

“Asylums,” I said. “That’s a good point. Perhaps we should send him to one of those.”

“Yes, they could let him think he’s in charge there.”

I barked a laugh. “In charge. Please. He’ll be trying to convince all the humans they are really elementals who need to save the world.”

Raven burst out laughing and I couldn’t help joining in. Peta’s concern came through loud and clear. “Are you all right?” she whispered in my ear.

I couldn’t help myself. “It’s a sibling thing.” And it was. This was how Raven and I had always bantered back and forth. Ganging up on the other kids in our family and making them look like fools.

Talan frowned at us both. Like an adult dealing with naughty children. Which only set me laughing more. A part of my brain realized it was a combination of shock and sheer overload. Because even though Talan hadn’t proven anything, what he said made a wicked sort of sense. Which brought me out of my laughter as fast as I’d started.

“Wait,” I drew a sharp breath as I struggled to form the question that slammed me between the eyes, “why do you not just get your other siblings then and deal with Viv?”

Raven’s laughter died as suddenly as mine had. “Now that is a good question.”

“You two are going to be the death of me,” Talan muttered. “I told you I would show you the story. Will that suspend your disbelief of who I am?”

I shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Then we will start there. We start with a girl named Vivica.” He reached up to the waterfall and ran his fingers through it, his arm coated in pink lines so bright that I wondered just how I had not noticed before. And then I remembered. Shit, he could hide his power from me. He’d done it before. Had I forgotten or had he taken that knowledge from me? Fear slid down my spine like droplets of icy cold water.

“Put your hands in the water,” Talan said, “and you’ll be taken to the past.”