Elemental Heir E-Book

Rachel Morgan

• Herausgeber: Rachel Morgan
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Serie: Ridley Kayne Chronicles
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 423

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

The plan is simple. Executing it will be the real challenge. Can Ridley restore magic to a world that fears it?

Magic, once an integral part of everyday life, is forbidden. Ridley has lived her life in fear, constantly hiding what she truly is.

When the opportunity to change this presents itself, Ridley is fully on board. Restoring magic to society will change the world for everyone just like her.

But when the Shadow Society discovers her safe haven and Archer is taken, Ridley's priorities are split.

She takes off on her own, unearthing life-shattering secrets as she goes and discovering just how much power she truly possesses.

Power that can make a difference. Power that can change the world.

But the Shadow Society is prepared to fight back, and they have power of their own ...

- - -

Uncover secrets, betrayal and shocking revelations in this page-turning conclusion to the Ridley Kayne Chronicles!

Leseprobe

ELEMENTAL HEIR

RIDLEY KAYNE CHRONICLES

BOOK THREE

RACHEL MORGAN

Copyright © 2020 Rachel Morgan

Summary:

Having escaped Lumina City and the Shadow Society, Ridley agrees to participate in a grand plan that could change the world: return magic to society.

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used fictitiously.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For more information please contact the author.

v2024.10.04

Mobi Ebook ISBN: 978-0-6399436-8-8

Epub Ebook ISBN: 978-0-6399436-9-5

1

Magic fueled the storm that raged across the land. Ridley Kayne, wrapped in her own magic and invisible as air, looked out across the bare landscape beneath the swirling mass of clouds and imagined a city as she mentally ran through every step of the plan.

We’re going to return magic to society.

It had been two weeks since Nathan first uttered those words to Ridley, but the idea still sent adrenaline racing through her. They were simple words, yet their meaning was staggering. World-changing. Thrilling and terrifying. And Ridley was one hundred percent on board.

The earth shuddered around her. Cracks split the ground, zigzagging away in all directions. This was step one: Break apart the arxium machines buried in the wastelands around the city. Elementals in their earth form were now charging through the ground, causing the earth to tremble and heave. All that arxium gas from the broken machines would end up in the air, and until it dissipated, magic would rampage in response. Hence the wild storm roaring above.

Step two: the fractures splitting their way through the earth raced toward a single point. They would converge upon the city. The arxium-reinforced wall would tremble and crack. It would begin to come apart.

Step three: Burn, burn, burn. Ridley watched as elementals morphed from the earth into racing, leaping flames. Another thrill of excitement rushed through her at the memory of the conversation she’d had with Nathan the night he explained his plan. “Arxium repels magic,” Ridley had argued. “Even if we throw all the magic we have at the walls and panels, the arxium will just throw it right back at us.”

Nathan had given her a bemused smile. “Ridley, you burned through a Shadow Society base outside of Lumina City. A building full of arxium. You destroyed that place. I thought you would have realized.”

“Realized what?”

“Ordinary fire doesn’t burn arxium. Even magical fire created by an ordinary person pulling magic from the environment can’t burn through arxium. But we can. In our elemental fire form, we can burn through arxium.”

We can burn through arxium.

Ridley watched as the blazing elemental flames raced toward one another, meeting up to form a giant circle. This circle would burn through the broken pieces of the city wall. The fire was captivating, mesmerizing. But Ridley didn’t have long to appreciate the beauty of the flames because the storm calming above her meant that step four was about to begin. The step where she played a part.

There was a dome-like shield of arxium panels above the city, protecting everything and everyone from the magic that often raged overhead. Like the wall, those panels had to go. Ridley raced across the ground, morphed into flames, and shot into the sky as a ball of fire. Nearby, other elementals did the same.

Since there were no real arxium panels out here, several people down below used conjurations to hurl branches high into the air. Ridley’s fireball self struck the nearest branch, then leaped to the next and the next and the next, setting as many ablaze as she could. Around her, other elementals did the same, until the air was filled with burning branches tumbling back toward the earth. It wasn’t a competition, she knew, but when she saw that her fire form leaped faster from branch to branch than any of the others, it spurred her on to try even harder.

No, not to try. That had always been the problem. This wasn’t about control, it was about trust. Trusting the elements to know how she wanted to direct them without having to consciously exert her will. She simply had to let go.

Ridley imagined a deep, long exhale of breath as she released all control. She let her elemental form drift apart while holding a single thought in her mind: Burn.

Her fire self blazed outward in an explosion of flames, catching on almost every remaining branch that was yet to be lit. Someone else ignited the remaining few branches, and that was it. Step four complete.

The branches continued to burn as they struck the ground far below, but the arxium panels would be consumed by elemental fire. If all went according to plan, the end result would be this: No wall. No hovering panels. Sun shining through the scattering storm clouds because the arxium gas would have been dispersed by the raging wind, leaving the city safe. Exactly the way it was before the Cataclysm.

Ridley shifted to air and swooped down. She released her elemental form and became human shaped, feeling the grassy ground beneath her shoes. “Well done!” someone called from behind her. As other elementals stepped from the air and morphed out of the earth, Ridley turned to face Saoirse. She clutched her gray-streaked auburn hair in one hand as the last of the wind died down. “We’re getting better,” she said, smiling at Ridley. “You’re getting better. I think we could actually pull this off.”

“Except for the fact that we need to do this on about ten times the scale,” Ridley reminded her. “Maybe more? I don’t know. And the fact that Nathan wants it to be one big synchronized event for every city across the whole world, and he first has to get everyone to agree on that.”

“It’ll happen eventually,” Saoirse said. “Some people just need a little more time to see that the life we have now isn’t enough. And you know there are plenty more of us here at the reserve who will join in when we do this for real. Our target city—Lumina City—is big, but I think we can handle it.”

“I know, I know. Bria said she’s practiced this a dozen times, and so have many of the others. I understand they’re not interested in running through it all again just because Malachi and I are new to the whole plan. But … even with most elementals from our community joining in, do you think we’ll have enough power?”

Saoirse seemed unconcerned, her gaze never wavering from Ridley’s. “I believe we’ll have enough power.”

Ridley bit her lip. Part of her didn’t want to get her hopes up, especially when she knew some people were vehemently opposed to Nathan’s plan. They didn’t think it was worth the risk when they were happy with the life they’d fashioned for themselves out here in the wastelands. But Saoirse knew this community and its people far better than Ridley did. If she thought some of them just needed a little more time to come around, she was probably right.

Ridley’s gaze slid past Saoirse to the jagged mountain peak that rose behind her. Beyond it lay her new home, a place simply referred to by its occupants as the reserve. The area had once been part of an enormous national park before the Cataclysm destroyed much of the world. In a way, the piece of land served the same function it had served in pre-Cataclysm days, but instead of preserving a section of the countryside and its wildlife, it now preserved a group of people. “Shall we head back with the others?” she asked.

“Let’s walk for a bit,” Saoirse suggested. She strode a few paces away and bent to retrieve her knitted, rainbow-striped sweater from where she’d secured it beneath a rock. Like Ridley’s favorite hooded jacket—which she’d lost inside the Shadow Society building she’d burned to the ground—this sweater seemed to be the only one Saoirse ever wore. If she lived in a city instead of out here where it was safe, Ridley would have told her to choose a different favorite sweater. This one was far too easy to spot from a distance.

“Are we having another lesson?” Ridley asked. A few days after her arrival at the reserve, Saoirse had offered to help her with her magic. Dad must have mentioned that she hadn’t fully embraced her power until recently, and that using it for an extended period often resulted in horrendous headaches. Fortunately, the latter no longer happened, which probably had something to do with her being able to transform without guilt or fear and the subconscious stress that accompanied those emotions.

“No, I thought we could just talk.”

“Oh, okay.” Ridley directed a frown at Saoirse—not because talking was unusual for them; indeed, they’d spoken at length about all sorts of things since Ridley’s arrival—but because there was something a little … off in Saoirse’s tone.

“Are you still practicing the meditation?” she asked, her hands kneading her bunched-up sweater.

“Yes, every morning.” Saoirse had taught Ridley several meditation techniques and encouraged her to begin all their one-on-one training sessions that way. It had sounded silly to Ridley at first, but she’d played along, and soon she found that the more she did it, the easier and faster it became to let go and fragment. “I won’t have to keep doing that forever, right? Sometimes it’s just not practical. Sometimes⁠—”

“Sometimes you need to transform instantly instead of sitting down, closing your eyes, and breathing deeply for several minutes?” Saoirse filled in with a smile. “Yes. I understand that. But for now, while you’re learning how to access all your power, the meditation really helps you to sink into that calm, tranquil state where you can properly let go. You’re very close to reaching your full potential, Ridley. Just let yourself fragment even further.”

Ridley almost laughed. “My full potential?” Saoirse sounded like one of those motivational speakers she’d been forced to listen to at special assemblies at Wallace Academy. “I think I’ve reached that already. Did you see that explosion of flames I managed? Not sure I can do much more than that.”

“Mm, perhaps.” Saoirse shrugged, a quick movement of her small shoulders. “Or perhaps I’m right. There’s also the fact that you’re still afraid of earth.”

“Oh, well that’s going to remain unreached potential, I’m afraid,” Ridley said quickly. She had tentatively transformed into rocks and loose sand—anything that kept her firmly above ground—but disappearing into the earth itself, the way others had done earlier to cause earthquakes, was not something she was interested in trying. What would happen if she accidentally returned to human form while still down there? Surely she’d be crushed?

“Ridley—”

“Other people can do the earthquakes,” Ridley said firmly. “We don’t all have to do everything, right? You keep reminding me that I’m not alone anymore. That I have other people to rely on now, not just myself. Not like when I was—” She paused. “Well, you know … the stealing.” At some point in the last two weeks, she’d told Saoirse what she used to spend her free time doing: Stealing from Lumina City’s wealthiest, selling the items to a dealer, and using the money to help those in need.

“True,” Saoirse admitted. “You’re no longer alone, so I suppose you don’t have to master earth if you’re not comfortable with that. Anyway, uh …” She stopped walking, turning the sweater bundle around and around until something fell from it and hit the ground with a heavy thud. She bent and picked it up. “Um, so, I’ve been meaning to give this to you. I thought of it when you first arrived, but it took me a while to find it among my things.” She extended her hand toward Ridley, and on her palm sat a large stone pendant on a metal chain. It was smooth and gray with silvery veins coursing through it. Egg-sized, but flatter.

Ridley stepped forward to take a closer look. “It’s pretty.”

“It was your mother’s.”

Emotion surged through Ridley’s chest. For several heartbeats, she couldn’t move. Then she lifted her hand and Saoirse placed the necklace on her palm. Delicately, as if it were a fragile artifact, Ridley traced her finger along the pendant’s silver veins. They lit up instantly, glowing vibrant blue. She inhaled a quiet breath, lifting her finger and watching as the lines faded to their former metallic silver. “There’s magic inside here?” she asked, looking up.

“Yes.” Saoirse pulled her sweater on before crouching down to tighten her shoelaces.

“So … um …” Ridley paused to untangle her jumbled thoughts. “This was my mother’s. How did you end up with it? From what my dad told me, you all left in a huge rush when the Shadow Society found you. I assumed none of you had time to grab any belongings.”

Saoirse stood and pulled her sweater straight. “I was wearing it at the time. Your mother used to say the stone had certain healing properties. I wasn’t feeling well, and she urged me to wear it for a while.”

“Oh.” Ridley stared at the stone again. “Thank you. I have nothing left of my mother’s, so this …” She swallowed against the emotion tightening her throat. “Well, it means a lot to me. More than I can say.”

Saoirse pulled in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. “You’re welcome. I … I’m glad you have something of hers now.” Ridley looked up, but the moment she met Saoirse’s gaze, Saoirse looked away. “Anyway, so⁠—”

“Is something wrong?” Ridley asked.

“What do you mean?”

Ridley tilted her head, trying once again to catch Saoirse’s eye. “I don’t know. I feel like you don’t want to look at me.”

Finally, Saoirse’s soft green gaze settled on Ridley’s. “I’m sorry. I just … um … I know it must have been so hard for you to lose your mother. I didn’t want to cause you any additional pain by reminding you of your loss, but⁠—”

“No, no, no,” Ridley said. “I’m glad you gave this to me. Thank you.” Ridley looped the chain over her head and let the pendant rest against her chest. The weight of it was oddly comforting.

“Okay. Well. I … I’m just going to check if …” Saoirse’s form shifted, becoming air in the blink of an eye, then returning to normal before Ridley could finish taking her next breath. A small smile lifted her lips. “They’re back.”

2

“Can you sense them too?” Saoirse asked.

Ridley turned her face toward the breeze, closing her eyes as the air and its magic caressed her skin. She let go of her form and became air, and when she thought of Archer, the unspoken answer came immediately. As always, it was a feeling rather than anything that resembled actual words in her mind. The certainty that Archer was just on the other side of that mountain. Her invisible heart beat double time at the knowledge that she would see him soon.

She thought of Dad too and felt the same gentle pull toward the reserve. Returning to her human form, she said, “The answer comes so easily when they’re near.” She knew now from conversations with Saoirse that the further someone was from her, the more difficult it would be to find that person. Not impossible, but it would take a lot more searching. A lot more listening to the elements, then traveling a while, then listening again.

“Let’s go,” Saoirse said. She gave Ridley a knowing smile and added, “I’m sure you’re eager to see Archer.” Before Ridley could respond, Saoirse vanished once more. Cheeks warm and chest filled with a flutter of anticipation, Ridley followed.

She’d discovered soon after arriving at the reserve that every few days someone travelled to one of the nearby cities to pick up signal to send and receive messages. Occasionally this person would enter the city to meet up with contacts and collect certain things, like medicines or other specific items that were difficult to create with conjurations. Saoirse had been the one to go the day after Ridley had arrived, and then two days ago, when it was Nathan’s turn, Dad asked to go with to try to contact Grandpa. Since Dad was going, and Nathan was already slowed down by taking a non-elemental with him, Archer decided to accompany them. He had an important message that needed to be sent.

Ridley hadn’t expected to miss him so much. She’d spent almost every free moment with him since arriving at the reserve, so she thought it might be good to have a bit of space and alone time. Turned out alone time was overrated and she’d had enough of it after about ten minutes. It had been two days now, and it seemed she missed Archer more with every passing minute. If her mind wasn’t occupied with something else—like a training session with Saoirse or doing a trial run of Nathan’s plan—it turned to Archer instead. She longed for his arms around her and his lips on her skin and their lengthy discussions about the future they both dared to dream of in which everyone was free to use magic.

It was a little ridiculous. She definitely hadn’t admitted it to anyone else.

Ridley let herself fragment, traveling faster and faster on the wind, and within seconds the mountain peak had sped by beneath her and the settlement appeared far below. It seemed small from way up here, but it was larger than she’d first thought. The log cabins—which had originally been here when this spot was a campsite and had, for the most part, survived the Cataclysm—were interspersed with more modern-looking buildings, constructed since the Cataclysm through a combination of materials, labour and conjurations. Exactly the way buildings used to be built before magic was outlawed.

Ridley followed the tug of magic that pulled her toward Archer and slowed near the far side of the settlement. She felt her fragmented air self snap back together as she examined the figures moving below. It wasn’t always easy to identify people from above, but Archer was definitely close by. She dropped to the ground and pulled her magic back inside herself, looking around. School was out, and a few kids ran by. Two older girls played a conjuration game as they walked. A collection of buttons hovered between them, and they took turns to add a new button, waiting to see how many they could hold in the air before⁠—

“Ridley,” a voice called, and she turned to see Nathan. He lowered a bag from his shoulder and grinned. He wasn’t much younger than Dad, but his dark hair had far less gray in it. The stress of everything that had happened since the Cataclysm had prematurely aged Dad, while Nathan had abandoned the idea of living in one of the cities early on, choosing instead to build a new home out in the wastelands. Ridley had asked soon after meeting him if he had a family somewhere, but the only person he’d mentioned was an ex-wife. He hadn’t said anything more about her and had changed the subject quickly.

“Hey, welcome back,” Ridley said. “What’s going on out there? Everyone else on board with your crazy plan yet? Or are some of the communities still divided?”

“Slow down,” Nathan said with a laugh. “We’ve been debating this for months. Nothing’s about to change overnight.”

“Nothing’s changed?” Saoirse asked from just behind Ridley. “Is it still those two communities in the south that are so opposed? And you, by the way,” she said to Ridley as she stopped next to her, “are getting faster. You beat me here.”

Ridley shrugged. “I guess I have a good teacher.”

“True. So, you were saying?” she asked Nathan. “Nothing’s changed?”

“Hey, would you at least let me have a shower before we do an in-depth analysis of every message from every community? We can have a meeting before dinner and I’ll update all the reps on all the communication received. Sound good?”

“I suppose I can wait until then,” Saoirse said. She, Nathan and a few other elected occupants of the reserve were ‘in charge’ around here, but they regularly met with representatives from most of the families. When it came to major decisions, everyone got a say.

“Hey, Riddles, there you are.” Ridley heard her father’s voice a moment before his arm swung around her shoulders. She turned toward him and hugged him.

“Hey, Dad. Everything go okay out there?”

Dad released Ridley and rubbed a hand through his thinning hair. “Yes. It was just … strange. We had to stop along the way, and I still find it weird to walk through all those abandoned areas. There’s so much that evokes a sense of nostalgia. And then heartache, for the things we lost.” Ridley’s thoughts turned immediately to her mother. Was Dad thinking of her too? “But yes, it was fine,” he finished. “No unexpected or unpleasant incidents.”

“And did you contact Grandpa?”

“I tried. I told him we’ve left Lumina City. But I didn’t hear back from him.”

Ridley frowned. “I hope he’s okay.”

Dad toyed with the old-fashioned arxium charm on the leather bracelet around his wrist. He’d gotten rid of the amulets he’d had for years—his AI1 and AI2—when they’d fled Lumina City so the drones couldn’t track him. The AI1 was protective, to prevent someone using harmful magic against him. Well, against the interior of his body, at least. If someone wanted to punch him with magic, they could. If someone wanted to boil his blood with magic, that was impossible. Now that Dad’s AI1 was gone, the small, uneven lump of arxium hanging from the leather bracelet would serve the same purpose. The AI2, which had to be embedded beneath the skin and prevented someone from pulling magic from the environment, was unnecessary out here where everyone was free to use magic without fear of the law.

“I’m sure Grandpa is fine,” Dad said. “He’s managed to take care of himself all these years, hasn’t he?”

“True. I guess with the kinds of conjurations he knows, he’s far more capable of taking care of himself than most people.”

Ridley’s grandfather had been a historian, and his years of research had led him to discover centuries-old conjurations. Dangerous ones that most believed had been long forgotten. Dangerous enough to potentially be weaponized.

Before the Cataclysm, when magic was still part of everyday life, members of a secret government department involved in weapons development had got wind of the conjurations Grandpa knew about. They tried to force the information out of him. When he refused, they began to threaten his family. He realized they wouldn’t stop as long as he was still alive.

So he had faked his death and disappeared. Drastic, but it had worked. Once he was gone, the people who’d been threatening Mom and Dad—and Ridley too, apparently—backed off.

“Yes, he definitely knows a few conjurations that can get him out of a sticky spot if necessary,” Dad said. Then, with a cringe, he added, “And potentially wipe out a block or two in the process. While keeping himself completely shielded, thank goodness.”

Ridley’s eyebrows climbed. “Well, let’s hope the old man hasn’t done anything crazy.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing like that. He isn’t always near a city, remember? He’s probably having communication difficulties, the way we do now.”

“Yeah, probably. It’s interesting,” Ridley mused. “Some things are so much easier out here, now that we can use magic for everything. But communicating with people far away—something I used to take for granted—is impossible.”

“Still think it was worth it?”

“To be able to live without hiding who I truly am?” Ridley let out a choked laugh. “Absolutely.”

With a wry smile, Dad said, “I was joking, Riddles. Of course it was worth it.” He gave her shoulder a brief squeeze and moved past her to greet Saoirse. The two of them walked away together, and Ridley watched them go. To anyone else, their conversation probably appeared casual, but Ridley noticed the tension in her father’s shoulders. She hadn’t missed the numerous quiet discussions he’d had with Saoirse since they arrived here. She mentally shoved away the conclusion her mind always immediately jumped to. It wasn’t something she wanted to think about.

She looked around again, and finally, her eyes landed on Archer. All thought of what may or may not be going on between her father and Saoirse scattered from her mind. Her insides flip-flopped as Archer strode toward her. He stopped a few paces away, a cocky grin on his lips. “Miss me?”

Fighting the smile that tried to curve her lips, Ridley crossed her arms over her chest. Her body warmed as pure happiness swelled in her chest until she thought it might explode from her in a starburst of light. She longed to throw her arms around Archer, but she managed to hold her pose. “Nope, not at all.”

“Yeah, I didn’t miss you either,” he said, moving closer. “I didn’t dream about you, I didn’t think of you first thing in the morning, I didn’t imagine lying next to you last thing at night while you tell me, yet again, how bright the stars are outside the city.” He stopped right in front of her. “I didn’t imagine picking you up and kissing you.” He looped his arms around her waist and lifted her as she uncrossed her arms and slid them around his neck, finally giving in to the smile trying to tug her lips upward. Her hair fell around his face as she tilted her head down.

“Liar,” she whispered.

“You too.”

He pressed his lips to hers, and as silly as it was, everything suddenly felt like it was right again in Ridley’s world. It hadn’t been this way at first. She’d had so many doubts in the beginning, after they’d kissed beneath a storm in the wastelands outside Lumina City. After realizing that he meant more to her than was logical or sensible. But out here, in the safety of the reserve, she had let go. She had abandoned fear and doubt and let herself tumble head first into … what? Love? Was it too soon for that? Yes. No. Yes? She had known Archer forever, even though she had only really known him for a few weeks. Would she even recognize love when she felt it? Was it the kind of thing that suddenly slammed into you, or did you only notice it when you’d already been steeped in it for some time?

Ridley wrapped her legs around Archer’s waist as his arms tightened around her. Everything else disappeared. This moment consisted of only the two of them, lips and tongues and quickened breaths.

“Wow, would you two like to get a room?” a voice interrupted.

Ridley pulled away from Archer, face burning as she looked around for the owner of the familiar voice. Callie, one of the elementals who’d escaped Lumina City with Ridley, stood a few paces away with her arms folded over her chest. “I share my bedroom with you, remember?” Ridley said to Callie as Archer set her on her feet. “So that might be a little awkward.”

“Well, things are getting awkward for everyone out here.” Callie raised one hand to her golden blond hair and smoothed a few strands that had escaped the neat bun atop her head. “There are children present. You’re going to scar them for life.”

“They’ll be fine,” Archer said, his tone dismissive. “What would really scar them is the unicorn tattoo on Ridley’s right butt cheek.”

Ridley choked out a protest. “There is no such tattoo.”

“Really? I figured you would have got a real one by now.”

Ridley blinked. “I genuinely have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You don’t? You mean you’ve forgotten the fake tattoos you and Lilah stuck on each other’s backsides when you were like six years⁠—”

“You knew about that?”

“Of course. Nosy older brothers know everything.”

Ridley crossed her arms and did her best to glare at Archer. “It was Lilah’s idea.”

“Suuure.”

“It was!”

Archer laughed and kissed her nose. “You’re adorable.”

“Okay stop,” Callie said, holding both hands up. “You’re making me feel old and alone and depressed.”

“Hey, you’re not old,” Ridley said. At thirty-four, Callie was double her age, but in her opinion, the word ‘old’ was reserved for people like Grandpa. “Neither are you alone,” she added, gesturing to the people around them.

“And since I found you a cello,” Archer said, pointing over his shoulder to a gigantic cello-shaped case Ridley had completely failed to notice when her eyes had zeroed in on him, “you shouldn’t be depressed either.”

“Ah, you found one!” Callie exclaimed, her downcast expression turning to glee in an instant. In the pre-Cataclysm days, Callie had been a popular singer. She played the guitar while song-writing and during most of her performances, but it turned out her first love was actually the cello, and she could play numerous other instruments as well. This news had spread quickly through the reserve, and she’d been here only a couple of days when she was roped into teaching music lessons at the school. She’d secretly admitted to Ridley that she was terrified, but she’d overcome her fear of little children by the end of day three and now wouldn’t stop telling Ridley about her dear, sweet students and the cute single guy who was the principal of the small school.

“You’re welcome, Miss Hemingway,” Archer said as Callie rushed toward the cello.

Callie stopped and pointed a glare at him over her shoulder. “Don’t ‘Miss Hemingway’ me. Didn’t I just tell you I feel old?”

Archer laughed. “Sorry, couldn’t resist.”

“Where’d you find this anyway?” Callie asked, crouching down and running her hand lovingly across the case.

“There’s a string instrument store we used to go to back when my mom was convinced that Lilah was going to be the world’s greatest violinist. In one of the suburbs outside Lumina City. I convinced Nathan to stop there. The store was only half demolished, and the room at the back had a few instruments still in cases. This was one of them.”

“Amazing,” Callie breathed. “I mean, the strings will need to be replaced, and I’ll probably need to re-hair the bow. Not that I’ve ever done that before, but I think I remember some conjurations that might help. I don’t know … This definitely gives me something to work on in my free time …”

Ridley looked at Archer as Callie continued speaking. “Want to go get that room she was talking about?” Archer asked, one eyebrow raised. “Mine, perhaps?”

Ridley slipped her hand into his. “I like that idea.”

Minutes later, they were climbing the stairs toward the loft inside one of the residential cabins. “Did you manage to contact someone about Christa?” Ridley asked. Christa was the woman who ran the secret bunker housing Lumina City’s illegal magic users. She provided a safe home for those who wanted to live the way they used to live before the Cataclysm—with magic. Unfortunately, as it turned out, she also had a habit of handing elementals over to the Shadow Society.

“Yes.” Archer pushed his door open. “I contacted one of the protectors in Lumina City. I don’t know what he’ll do with the information, but he’ll make sure Christa won’t be giving up any other elementals who happen to find their way into her bunker.”

“Good.” Ridley stepped through the doorway ahead of Archer, feeling a little lighter. The knowledge that Christa was still free to betray other elementals had been weighing on her mind. Hopefully it would no longer be a possibility now. “I wonder what she has against us. Elementals, I mean. She’s pro-magic, but definitely not pro-elemental. And I wonder how she got mixed up with the Shadow Society. And the director himself. That guy at the base—when we were locked up—said she had some kind of agreement with him.”

“Yeah, I wonder.” Archer dumped his bag on the floor of his bedroom. The room was small—one third of the loft space at the top of this cabin—but big enough for a bed and a wardrobe. “I don’t understand her. She hands over elementals to the director, but she didn’t—” He cut himself off, looking away.

“Didn’t what?” Ridley prompted.

Archer rubbed one hand over his face. “She knows I was living with an elemental community before I returned to Lumina City. I guess I just don’t understand why she didn’t press me for more information about them. Why didn’t she try to find out exactly where they’re located so she could tell the director?”

“Too much effort for her?” Ridley suggested.

“Mm. Perhaps she only bothers with those who cross her path.”

“Somebody must have suspected something was going on though, if you were told not to reveal any more information about elementals to her than was necessary. You thought it might be for her safety—and for the elementals’ safety—but maybe it was because someone knew elementals had disappeared after finding the bunker and didn’t know who could be trusted there.”

“Maybe.” Archer flopped onto his back on the bed.

“Did you get any other messages while you were there?”

“Oh, um, a few. Just … my family. I guess they want to know where I disappeared to.” That was pretty much the answer Ridley was expecting, but there was something about the way Archer purposefully didn’t look at her that made her doubt, for just a moment, that he was telling the truth. Was there someone else he might possibly have been messaging? Some other … girl? But then the doubt was gone. The old Archer was the one who might have done something like that. The Archer Ridley knew only through tabloids and stories passed around by other kids at school. She knew the real Archer now, and she had chosen to trust him. There was nothing purposeful about the way his gaze had been turned toward the ceiling at that moment instead of focused on her.

“Anyway, the other big news is that Mayor Madson is alive,” Archer continued, rolling onto his side and looking at her.

“Really? He survived the fire?” The last time Ridley had seen Lumina City’s mayor, he’d been motionless on the floor inside a Shadow Society base in the wastelands. She’d sent an inferno blazing through that building, and as she sped away, she saw a few people fleeing the fiery ruin. But she’d been too far away to recognize any of them.

“Someone must have got him out before your fire brought the whole place down. Of course, the public knows nothing about that. I saw a few stories in the media about the mayor missing a public appearance due to being unwell, but that was it.”

“Right.” Ridley lowered herself to the edge of Archer’s bed. “And even if someone did find out about elementals and the Shadow Society and a secret base out in the wastelands, I doubt anyone would actually run a story on all of that. Who would believe it?”

“They wouldn’t get that far. Someone would silence them.”

“Of course,” Ridley muttered.

“Anyway.” Archer leaned over and looped one arm around Ridley’s waist. He pulled her down next to him. “You were telling me outside how much you missed me?”

“Oh was I? I thought you were telling me how much you missed me.”

“I think I might have been showing you,” he said against her lips.

She kissed him back, pressing closer and hooking one leg around his waist. He gripped her thigh, then ran his hand all the way up her back and into her hair. She sat up and straddled his waist, then leaned down to kiss him again. His jaw, his earlobe, the bare skin beneath the wound from the hasty removal of his AI2. He hadn’t done a particularly neat job—he’d been in a rush at the time—but it was healing well now. Amid his heavy breaths, Archer murmured something against Ridley’s mouth.

“Mm?” she asked, kissing him again.

The window rattled abruptly, startling them both. Ridley pulled back, looking toward it as a gale shrieked past and rain spattered against the pane. “Weird,” she muttered, unease cooling the fire in her veins. “That’s not supposed to happen here, right? It’s always calm. Saoirse said … something about living in harmony with the elemental magic and … that keeps the weather in a good mood?”

Archer took her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist, where her pulse had been racing wildly moments before. “It must be you,” he said, dead serious. “Your crazy amount of desire for me is stirring up the wild magic out⁠—”

“Oh shut up.” Ridley shoved his shoulder and rolled her eyes. “You know it doesn’t work that way.”

“You’ll have to calm that racing heart of yours,” he said, ignoring her protests. “Wouldn’t want to accidentally ring the emergency bell with a whirlwind or an earth shudder.”

“I doubt that’ll happen.” She pictured the bell Nathan had pointed out to her, an old cast iron thing hanging from a stone arch near the edge of the settlement. “Did you know they’ve never rung that bell before? Like ever. Which means it’s probably so rusted, not even a hurricane could move it.”

Archer’s hands slid into her hair as he pulled her face down toward his again. “Want to test that theory?”

3

“Onions and garlic ready?” Ridley asked Archer that evening. They were cooking dinner in the cabin Ridley lived in, waiting for Dad and anyone else who might want to join them. The meeting Nathan had mentioned with the family reps would soon be over, and Dad would fill them in on everything that had been discussed.

“Yeah, watch out,” Archer answered. Ridley ducked as a cutting board soared past her head and tipped itself to the side over the pan on the stove. The sliced onions and garlic slid neatly into the pan and began sizzling in the oil. “Nice,” Archer said. “I’m enjoying this food-prep-with-magic thing. So much easier than cutting vegetables by hand.”

Ridley snorted. “Like you ever cut a vegetable in your life, Archer Davenport.”

“Hey, I prepared plenty of food while living with those other elementals.” He grabbed the cutting board out of the air as it flew back toward him. “I’ll have you know I’m extremely talented in the kitchen.”

Ridley’s snort-laugh was even louder that time. “Sure, whatever. And you’re telling me you didn’t use magic in these other kitchens you’re speaking of?”

“Nope. There was this chef. Like, legit trained-at-the-world’s-top-restaurant type of chef. He was convinced that food prepared by hand tasted better. No one was allowed to use magic when he was the one in charge of the meal. He would⁠—”

“Hey, watch out!” Ridley called, looking over her shoulder in time to see Archer’s knife reach the end of the celery sticks and continue off the board and onto the table.

“Oops.” Archer grabbed the knife and rubbed at the marks on the wooden table. “We’ll, uh, just pretend that was already there. Okay, I’m sending you the celery now.”

The celery joined the onions and garlic in the pan just as the back door opened. “Well, I’m not changing my tune,” a woman said. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t agree with you.”

With a simple one-handed conjuration, Ridley left the wooden spoon stirring the pan’s contents and turned around. The person speaking was Tanika, a woman who had the room next to the one Ridley and Callie shared. She and Callie argued endlessly over their vastly different music tastes, but other than that, Tanika was fairly easy to get along with. She had taught Ridley a conjuration for scented bubbles, which Ridley now used almost every night in her bath. She also had a seemingly endless collection of vibrant scarves, which she used to tie up her thick, curly hair.

“Good meeting?” Ridley asked as Nathan and Saoirse walked in behind Tanika.

“Same meeting,” Saoirse said with a sigh. “Nothing ever changes. Ooh, what are you cooking?”

“Uh, not totally sure. Some kind of veggie stir-fry type of mix.”

“Smells amazing, whatever it is.”

“What’s amazing is having so much fresh produce to work with,” Ridley said. “This stuff costs a fortune in the city. Almost everything I’ve eaten over the past decade has come out of a can or a box.”

“And that’s the world you want us to join?” Tanika said to Nathan. “The world where they only eat out of cans and boxes?”

Nathan groaned. “You know that’s not the way it would be. We want to change the world. Make it more like the way it used to be. Once magic isn’t raging across most of the wastelands anymore, there’ll be plenty of space for farms and crops and all of that.”

“Uh, where’s my dad?” Ridley asked Saoirse.

“Oh, he and Cam and some of the others are packing chairs away after the meeting.” Saoirse sat beside Archer and added, “Can I, uh, show you a slightly different conjuration? One that won’t mutilate the furniture in addition to the vegetables?”

“Look, it’s not that I don’t want change,” Tanika continued. “Change would be great. I just don’t think we’ll ever have enough power to get through that much arxium.”

“Some people do,” Nathan argued. “There are elementals out there who have tremendous power. They could probably single-handedly burn through all the panels over a city.”

“Right, sure, these mythical elementals we’ve heard of. But we’re not lucky enough to have anyone like that here. So while other communities might be powerful enough to liberate their nearest city, I don’t think we are. The life we have now—it works. Why mess with that?”

“Because this isn’t enough!” Nathan insisted. “Sure, life ‘works’ right now, but it could be so much more. So much fuller. Don’t you want a world where children can do and be whatever they want? A world where they don’t have to hide? Don’t you remember what that was like?”

“No,” Tanika said flatly. She plopped into the chair opposite Saoirse. “We’ve always lived in hiding, Nathan. Yes, we used to use magic out in the open, but no one ever knew about the magic inside us. No one knew about elementals. We’ve been hiding forever.”

“And that was wrong,” Nathan said. “We should be free to be who we truly are.”

“I’m free right here,” Tanika reminded him.

“And if the Shadow Society finds us?” Ridley asked carefully, not wanting to anger Tanika but feeling that this was a valid point. “It happened before, when I was a baby. I know you’ve lived here safely for a long time, but they’ll probably find us eventually. Then what?”

“That’s why we have a backup home,” Tanika said. “We can get away and hide there. At the speed we can travel, there’s no way they’ll be able to follow us.”

“Backup home?” Ridley asked with a frown.

“Sorry, I forgot to mention it,” Nathan said. “We’ve been safe for so long that most of the time I forget we even have a backup. Oh! That reminds me. Has someone given you a gas mask yet?”

“A gas mask?”

“I’ll check if we have spares. Everyone’s supposed to have one, just in case. We’ve never had to use them, so⁠—”

“Best to be prepared though,” Saoirse said. “I’ll check for one tomorrow.”

Ridley’s gaze moved between Nathan and Saoirse. “Uh, thanks.”

“Yeah, anyway. The backup home,” Nathan continued. “It’s on the other side of those far mountains. The ones you see in the distance when you’re out there practicing your magic. We spent a few years building it after we first set up home here at the reserve. We have some supplies stored there already—I made sure we wouldn’t have to start over from zero—but our magic is all we really need. It would be difficult, but we’d survive.”

“See?” Tanika said. “So we don’t need to worry about that.”

“But we do need to worry about all the lies the rest of the world is constantly being fed,” Nathan argued. “And the rest of the communities are starting to agree with me on this. They recognize what some of us have been saying all along: that governments across the world don’t actually have any plans to reintegrate magic into society. They’re intentionally⁠—”

“Oh, here we go again.” Tanika pressed her fingers to her temples and rubbed in small circles. “The conspiracy theories.”

“You know I’m right,” Nathan said.

“I love a good conspiracy theory,” Archer said, successfully executing the conjuration Saoirse had just shown him. He sent a cutting board of red peppers and various green vegetables flying over Saoirse’s head and flipped it upside down over the pan. Ridley rescued the wooden spoon from beneath the pile of vegetables and continued stirring everything together.

“It’s still called a conspiracy theory even if it’s true, right?” she asked. She knew what the others were referring to. Nathan had spoken to her about it the night she arrived.

“Everyone in the cities believes the magic out here will kill them,” he had said. “But that’s a lie. Magic is wild, but if you don’t fight it, it isn’t deadly. And the only reason it’s wild is because people constantly cause it to retaliate. Way out here, far from any city, we’re fine.” Ridley might have thought he was crazy if she hadn’t seen the machines buried in the wastelands. The ones that rose from the ground and sprayed arxium into the air, stirring the elemental magic into fierce storms. She’d asked Nathan why anyone would do something like that, but at the back of her mind, she already knew the answer.

Control.

There were those who never wanted magic to be part of society, and after the Cataclysm, when everyone was afraid of magic, they took advantage of that. They made sure it remained wild. They kept it on the other side of a wall, and they forbade anyone from using it.

“Look, a conspiracy is exactly what’s happening,” Nathan said as Ridley slowly stirred the sizzling vegetables, “and it’s going to keep happening unless we do something to stop it. More and more elementals are recognizing this. We just need to get everyone on board and then we can all act at the same time.”

“Why?” Ridley asked, looking over her shoulder. “Why does it need to happen everywhere at the same time?”

“Well, we believe that if we do this only in some cities, it’ll be a warning to the Shadow Society chapters in other cities. It’ll give them a chance to put further protection in place and make it even harder to liberate those cities.”

“We keep saying ‘liberate’ like we’re doing something good,” Tanika said. She leaned forward and snatched up a piece of celery from the pile of excess vegetables Archer hadn’t chopped. “But what if people don’t want to be liberated?” She crunched on the celery. “What if they’re terrified of us?”

“That’s why we do the video as well,” Nathan said.

“Video?” Ridley asked. She hadn’t heard this bit yet.

“A recording that explains everything. The history of the elementals and the Shadow Society. The way government took advantage of the situation after the Cataclysm to take control of the cities that remained. How they continuously stir up the wild magic in the wastelands to keep people afraid. Everything. I’ve already written a rough draft of all the things I need to explain. I’ll send the recording to all the news networks. I’m sure someone will broadcast it. And one of you can upload it to the social feeds.”

“You’re not on any of the social feeds?” Archer asked.

“You should do it,” Ridley said, turning fully and pointing the wooden spoon at Archer. “I’m pretty sure at least half the surviving population of the world follows you.”

“That might be a bit of an exaggeration.”

“Actually, you know what?” she continued as an idea occurred to her, “maybe you should be the one in the video. People know who you are—in several cities, if not all of them—so they’ll listen to you. When your face shows up on a giant billboard screen, people will stop and pay attention.”

“That’s a terrible idea. People may have a sick desire to know what underwear brands I like, and what cologne I’m wearing, and who I’m having dinner with, but they also think I’m an irresponsible trust fund brat. They may hear the words I’m saying, but they won’t actually listen to me.”

“But you’ll be so different from the Archer they know. The Archer they think they know.” Ridley turned the stove off and placed the wooden spoon into an empty mug. “You’ll be genuine, telling them all about the truth you’ve discovered. They won’t be able to help taking you seriously.”

Nathan leaned on the back of a chair. “That is an idea,” he mused.

“Yeah, a terrible one,” Archer repeated. “How about I throw around some spectacular shielding conjurations that protect people from any falling pieces of burning arxium that aren’t totally consumed before they hit the ground? Like Ridley’s dad and all the others who aren’t elementals.”

It turned out Ridley’s grandfather had shared a little of his extensive conjuration knowledge with his son, and even though Nathan’s plan already included people using magic to protect those inside Lumina City, Dad was able to teach everyone a few new shielding conjurations.

“I don’t know, I like this idea too,” Tanika said. She grabbed another celery stick.