Destroyer (The Elemental Series #7)(2)

“What is it, Lark?” She patted my cheek with one big paw.

“Something is wrong with the earth,” I whispered, barely able to draw breath through the growing pain. “Something terrible.”

Talan started toward me and Peta spun around and let out a long growl. “No closer, boy.”

He held up both hands, then crouched where he was. “Can you track the source of the pain?”

I stared at him for a moment. “Our previous conversation is not done.”

He gave me a tired, sad smile I didn’t like. “Of course not. Just put on hold for a bit.”

I didn’t dare close my eyes and give him an opening to come at me. I looked to the ground and pressed my hands harder. “Mother goddess.”

“She will not answer you,” Talan bit the words out. “The true mother goddess slumbers and will until…” He shook his head, seeming unable to finish whatever he was going to say.

I wasn’t telling him that he was an idiot. That the true mother goddess was no longer asleep, that I’d woken her. It wasn’t my fault she chose not to speak to him.

I opened myself more fully to the pain that coursed through the earth like bolts of lightning interspersed with tiny slivers of… hope? But how could that be? I stood, turned, and let the rippling power pull at my feet. “This way.” I broke into a run, Shazer on one side of me, and Peta on the other. I didn’t care where Talan was, as long as he didn’t interfere with whatever was going on.

I’d been a fool to trust him. I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

My blood pounded in time with my heart as I raced across the open landscape that reminded me in some ways of Death Valley. I pushed those thoughts away. I was no longer a prisoner in that place of my past.

My connection to the earth allowed me to use its power to fuel my body. Another wave of strength coursed over me and I doubled my speed. The world was a mere blur. Yet, still, I couldn’t see what was ahead of us, what was causing the pain through the earth.

“Can you see what’s going on?” I directed the question at Shazer as he pounded beside me. He grunted, spread his wings, and took off.

He was only twenty feet above us, but it was enough.

“Oh, shit,” he hollered. “This is bad, Lark. Even I can see that.”

Seconds later, I saw what he’d seen and had to agree. Oh, shit was perhaps the worst understatement I’d heard in a long, long time.

Ahead was a scene I wouldn’t have believed if I hadn’t laid eyes on it myself.

The Veil was open and waves of power rippled off it.

The Veil was made of parallel worlds, in a sense—seven levels to be exact. Each level had a purpose that served the world of the supernatural. The Veil was created to help hold the world together and make a safer place for both human and supernatural beings.

At that moment, the Veil was cut with a sword that I’d made to do just that—open the Veil. The sword was in the hands of a young witch I knew well, one who held a great deal of power despite her age. I’d met her not long ago, and had been so impressed by her strength and natural connection to the elements, I offered to train her.

Pamela was not who I expected to find here, not in the least.

Around her was utter chaos, and yet, she held firmly to the sword, to the opening, as a black beast raced out of it and charged a figure from my past. There was a swirl of a familiar black cloak, and the glistening of light on his blue-black hair.

Raven, my younger brother and the one elemental I would gladly kill given the chance. But it looked like the demon would do my job; it followed Raven as he disappeared right in front of us. How the hell could he do that? The question was peripheral. My concern was for Pamela and what was going on, why was she opening the Veil?

From where I stood, I saw how far in the Veil had been opened. Literally, every layer had been pared back to see through to the seventh level where the demons had been confined.

Talan caught up with me then. He said nothing, just watched what was playing out in front of us.

The sound of an engine cut through the air, and Pamela twisted around, though she didn’t let go of the sword’s handle. I couldn’t hear the words, but didn’t need to.

Rylee Adamson had arrived along with her mate, Liam. They were a powerful pair, not to be crossed. Between their combined abilities, they had survived what would have wiped out any lesser supernatural.

They had been the ones to put the demons behind the seventh level of the Veil. In their blood, sweat, and tears, they bore the brunt of the cost in losing so many they had loved. And here Pamela was, opening the Veil to that level again.

I knew in my gut that Rylee—Pamela’s guardian and surrogate family—would be devastated by what she was seeing. A girl she’d loved as her own, turning on her. I prepared to help Rylee end things.

She would not be able to kill Pamela. The witch was like her little sister, a child she’d rescued.

But I could kill Pamela. I reached for the spear at my side, steeling myself for what I was about to do.

The mother goddess spoke to me softly then, almost as if she didn’t want to be heard by anyone else.

What the witch does, she does with my blessing. Save her, Lark. Save her, and she will help you save the world.

I needed nothing more than that to move. I shot forward. “Peta, we’re getting her out of here.”