Page 95 of Gift from the Wing

“Get to the palace command room. You, Aria, and your Nexus will have entry.”

“What’shappened now?”

“Ry, Oakly, and San have been taken.”

“Fuck,” he shouts, barking commands at whoever’s around him. “Fortune teller?”

“Okay for now. Shutting down.”

“Elementra help any who get in her way. We’ll be there in five.”

I end the call without anything else and press the device to my forehead while I breathe through the fucking turmoil rolling through me.

It’s a battle to collect myself once again, but I finally do, and I push my gift out.

“Oakly, come on, you little shit. You know you hate it when I’m in your head.”

Nothing.

I’m met with unforgiving silence. There’s not even static on the other end. Just empty fucking quietness and I clench my teeth so hard I’m surprised one of them doesn’t break, but I don’t let it deter me. I try again.

“San, come on, man. You’ve read everything you could get your hands on about this shit. Just talk back to me.”

Nothing.

The pebbles that decorate the walkway up the south wing drive vibrate around my boots with every step I take. It’s just a little leak of my element, but it needs an outlet. It needs somewhere to bleed.

Come on, man. You got this.

“Ry…Please, brother, answer me,”I murmur.

Nothing.

Whipping around, I bellow as I unleash my earth element on the forest in front of me. The trees that survived my little warrior’s slip of control stand no chance as I let my anger out. I let it pour out of me until the red tint that’s obscuring my vision clears and I can see the sea of green laid before me.

Heaving, I shake my head and place my hands on my hips. Then pace. I search, beg, plead for the balance that’s been my constant for nearly my whole life. The settle my parents taught me to find.

It seems elusive until I tilt my head up and stare at the side of our balcony that now will have a view of a destroyed forest.

My better half. My true balance.

She needs me. She needs my strength. And I need hers.

Blowing out a deep breath, I walk back out the gate and cross the small distance to the tree line. Or well, what was a tree line. The small trek gives me enough time to catch my breath and get the rage I feel under control fully.

Taking a knee, I close my eyes and focus my mind.

We’ll find them.

My earth element flows into the cool dirt as I dig my fingers into the forgiving ground. My breathing levels, my mind silences, and my heart rate slows as one of the blessings I’ve been given fixes the senseless destruction I caused. It fixes the bleeding rage pouring through me and I find the side of myself that everyone else is waiting on.

Hang on, guys. Your family’s coming.

Thirteen

Willow

It’s by the grace of Elementra that I’m holding myself together.

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