Destroyer (The Elemental Series #7)(48)

There was silence for a few beats and then the presence of the mother of us all surrounded me, spilling upward from the earth.

Child, you have a long road yet ahead of you. There will be many losses; this is only the first. Though I wish I could spare you this pain.

Still on my knees, I called the earth to slide open and take Shazer’s body—Magnus, I should say—into his final resting place.

“Goodbye, my friend.” The words were bitter on my tongue, salted with my tears and grief.

I closed my eyes, still able to see the fear in Shazer’s eyes as we’d shared one last look. He’d known, too, death was coming for him.

“What do I do next? How do I find Viv?”

I will guide you as much as I can, Lark, in other matters. But I cannot tell you where she is, for she hides from me. But remember Magnus was not the only one bound to her.

Peta pressed her body against the side of my thigh. “What does she mean by that?”

I looked up at Raven. “Who else is bound to Viv?”

Cassava. The name was not spoken, yet we all knew it. Once again, it came back to if we could find Cassava, we could find Viv.

Maybe.

“She always goes home, to the Rim,” Raven said quietly. “She goes to the cemetery.”

“To be with my mother,” I whispered. “Then we will go there next. We will find her and she will help.”

Raven lifted his eyebrows high. “You would force her?”

I gave him a tight nod. “If I must. We are at war, Raven. There is no choice now but to do what we must.”

I could almost hear Shazer laughing at me for sounding far tougher than he’d ever thought I was.

I clenched my teeth against the flood of tears that threatened at the back of my eyes, and forced words through my throat.

“Raven, are you going to teach me how to Ride Spirit now?”

He hesitated but only for a split second. “Yes.” He was at my side in an instant. “In fact, I think we should go now. Talan could come back, and honestly, I don’t want to pit myself against him just yet.”

Raven grabbed my hand, I scooped up Peta, and the beach was gone between a single blink and the next. A part of my brain tried to tell me it wasn’t possible, but I could see the threads of power Raven used to move us through space to Ride Spirit. It wasn’t just Spirit, though that was the dominant color. All five elements blended together to bend the world to his will, to allow the movement from one part of the world to another.

I stared at his hand, not bothering to look around. “Like the Traveling bands, Peta is a part of me so she doesn’t count as an extra person?”

“Correct,” he said.

I nodded to myself. “Do it again.”

“No instruction?” The surprise in his voice didn’t bother me.

I shook my head. “No, just do it again. I want to watch it done.”

He took us to another place, and another and another, and each time the pattern became more visible. The places varied, but I barely noticed them. I wasn’t being stubborn about him not giving me instruction. The fascination with the colors and what the elements could do when they were blended was what had me totally wrapped up, and I’d always learned by seeing. And… it allowed me to forget about losing Shazer for a space of time, to help push away that grief. Another time, I would say my real goodbyes, but not now. Too much was at stake. I had to learn. I had to be ready for what was coming.

I had to be ready to face Viv in all her terrible glory.

It wasn’t until Raven went to his knees that the hypnotized feeling left me and I looked up from his hands. “How long were we Riding Spirit?”

“Maybe twenty minutes. I’ve never done that many movements one after the other.” He was breathing hard. “You think you’ve got it?”

I nodded. “Yes, I do. I’m going back to the beach where Talan was, Raven. Are you coming with me?”

He slumped further. “You want to fight him now? Lark, that time will come. Let’s find Cassava first.”

“I don’t trust him. He’s lied too many times, and I don’t care how often I am told that he’s done it for my good. For all you or I know, he’s been working with Viv,” I said softly. Peta came to me.

“It will be a fight to the death,” Raven said. “And we have bigger things on the plate. Remember?”

I didn’t want him to be right. “Damn it. Then we will go to Cassava.”

“You mean the Rim,” Raven said.

“No, I mean Cassava.”

I held my other hand out to Raven. He sighed. “You can’t travel to a person, only a place.”

“That’s what you think,” I said.

He opened his mouth, but it was too late. I was already weaving Spirit around my hands, calling up Earth and blending it and then carefully reaching for the other elements. They weren’t mine to beckon, not really, but if I understood what I’d seen with Raven, Pamela, and Talan as they’d used it, Spirit could offer me a small connection with the other elements. I didn’t question what I was doing, just gently asked the other elements to aid me, to give me their strength so I could travel through the world. Raven sucked in a sharp breath and we were gone from wherever it was he’d taken me to a place that was not the beach. Somewhere else further flung than that.