Destroyer (The Elemental Series #7)(58)

I blinked several times. “I thought about that. They are in oubliettes, blocked from the world and their power. How could Spirit find them then?” Understanding flowed through me. Spirit was what held the world together, all the pieces, all the connections like muscle, tendons, and ligaments holding the bones of a body to one another.

“Damn it,” Peta whispered. “She will kill you on sight. You know that.”

“Yes, I do.” I lifted Ash from my shoulder, taking his weight onto my wrist. His eyes were unblinking as he watched me. As though he was silently judging me. “Go to Finley. Bring her here, my love.” I swept my arm upward, giving him a boost into the air. His wings swept down in a great draft, the feathers brushing against my face like the touch of his hands.

I would not cry. I could not. “This has to happen fast. I will go to Viv and you will wait here on Finley.”

“Why?” Peta stuck a paw out and jabbed me with her razor claws. I winced and crouched down to her.

“Because if I am wrong, you are the only one who knows what is going on. And I don’t think Viv will kill me, not yet. I carry Olivisha’s flame and life, and she needs it.”

“That is banking a great deal on a guess,” Peta spat at me. Irritation and fear slid through our bond.

I held a hand out to her. “Peta, I will come back.”

She hunched her shoulders. “Damn you for leaving me behind again.”

Her words cut into me worse than her claws. I jerked back as if she’d slammed a paw across my face. “Peta, it’s not like that.”

“It is. And you know it.” She sat on the sand and closed her eyes. “Go then, if you’re going.”

I hated that she was angry with me. But I knew I was right about this. I needed to Travel with Viv without worrying about accidentally leaving Peta somewhere if Viv separated us, or by getting her memories instead of Viv’s.

Mouth tightly in a thin, hard line, I backed from her as I called up Spirit and wove it through my body. I thought about Viv, about how her true form looked, and I released Spirit, letting it snap through me and take me straight to the elemental who wanted nothing from me but my death.

I didn’t have far to go.

I blinked and was inside the Deep, in Finley’s private quarters. I was two steps behind Viv as she bent over Finley.

“You will destroy the humans on the water, shedding their blood to the very last drop.” Lines of pink swirled around Viv and Finley both.

Finley nodded. “It will be done, mother goddess.”

I leapt forward and slammed into Viv, weaving Spirit through us both and sweeping us away from the Deep. The original elementals, where have you hidden them? I screamed the question in my mind as I took us far across the world, into the deep snow of the Himalayas.

Her memories floated to me, slowly, in pieces.

Of all she’d done to hurt the world in her misguided beliefs that she should rule.

Of hiding Olivisha deep within the lava flows on the island of Hawaii.

Of making her pact with Talan to have access to his power.

I gasped as we emerged from Spirit holding us tightly, standing thigh deep in the icy snow.

I didn’t give Viv a chance to do anything, but swept us away again to another place. I did what Raven had done, flying us along over and over, each time screaming the same question at her mind.

But she caught on, blocking me.

You will never get it from me.

I redoubled my efforts, hammering at her mind with everything I had.

Time slid by and my energy began to flag. I knew I was going to be in trouble. At the next stop, I let her go, spun away and sent myself back to the sandy shore near the Deep.

I landed on my knees, then fell forward to my hands as well. I gagged several times, dry heaving because of the exertion.

“What happened?” Peta asked before I could even gather myself.

I shook my head. “How long was I gone?”

“An hour, maybe more.” Her fear for me cut through the state I was in. I held a hand out to her and gathered her close to me. Ash was with her on the sand, but he did not close the gap between us.

“I’m sorry. I had to try.”

“I know, stubborn dirt girl,” she whispered.

I burst out laughing. I couldn’t help it. “You haven’t called me that in a long time.”

“Maybe I should start again.”

I struggled to sit back on my ass and rubbed a hand over my face. I held a hand out to Ash and he hopped onto my wrist. From there, I set him on my shoulder. “Finley wouldn’t come, would she?”

He shook his head side to side, his eyes never blinking. A sigh slid from me.

“Well, I can find Viv easily enough, for what good it will do us.”

“But then why doesn’t she just come after you? I mean, if you can go to her directly, why doesn’t she just do the same with you, or Talan or Raven for that matter?”

It was a good question. “I don’t know.”

It hit me then that I’d found Viv inside the Deep. I rubbed a hand over my face. “Peta, I’m going to try something.”

“Wonderful,” she muttered. “Now I know how a guinea pig feels.”

I wove Spirit around us, and took us directly to Finley.

The leader of the Deep was still in her private quarters. Her eyes were slightly fogged over and she sat on the edge of her bed. The deep blue skirts swirled around her legs almost as if they were water itself. I crouched in front of her and gently wove Spirit into her mind.