Page 43 of Elemental Hall: Nautica
“They let you know deliberately,” I guess. “It’s a way to make you angrier. Ash, they’re using you.”
“Shut up!” he snarls.
His hands fasten around my throat, squeezing, the pressure awful. I can’t breathe. I’m used to swimming underwater now for as long as I want, to pulling oxygen from the waves, but with this crushing pressure on my throat, I gasp for air.
I summon a blast of air to buffet Ash, but it’s not strong enough to dislodge him. I hit at him from below, but it doesn’t make any difference.
“You were only ever any good with one element,” Ash snarls in triumph. “They would have seen that soon enough. Now, they won’t even find your body once the wave hits.”
I look past him, seeing the truth of that, even with my vision starting to close in at the edges. The tsunami is bearing down on the island. Anything that isn’t protected will be washed away. Clearly, Ash believes that he has the means to survive it.
I see the tsunami, and I also see the figure bearing down on us, moving quickly. Darius slams into us, knocking Ash from me. Ash rolls to his feet quickly, scything a kick at Darius’s legs that makes him jump back to avoid it.
“So, I get to killbothof the annoyances on this island,” Ash says.
He flings fire at Darius and Darius responds with lightning, the two elemental attacks meeting in the space between them. For a second, all I can do is lie there, gasping for air, watching the two of them fight in a bewildering mixture of hand-to-hand combat and elemental attacks. Lightning crackles all around, fire rages, and the two of them exchange blows with sickening force.
Meanwhile, my eyes fall on the damaged sea gate and I realize the point of Ash’s plan. This island might be abandoned, but it has plenty of defenses designed to minimize the impact of a wave such as the one heading toward us. The elementalists want to test us, not kill us. By destroying these defenses, Ash is going to let the tsunami run out of control.
I force my way to my feet, determined to help. Ash sends a blast of air my way, then a bolt of fire. I dodge both, but only barely. Darius hits back at him. Ash moves out of the way, then throws a blast of fire at Darius. I throw up a barrier of air just in time to intercept it.
The tsunami is here now, looming overhead, the power of it terrifying. I grab for Darius, holding him close, summoning allthe power I have as the wave washes over us. I hold a bubble around us, keeping the water out, stopping us from simply being washed away.
“We need to get to the others!” I yell to him. “If we don’t, people will die!”
“Ash—”
“We don’t have time to fight him. Too many lives are at stake.”
Darius nods his agreement, and I reach out for the rushing torrent of water around us. There is no way that we will be able to run to the other side of the island faster than the water can get there. All I can do is seal us in our bubble of water, letting the rush of the tsunami carry us along. We’re moving so fast that I can barely react quickly enough to guide us around obstacles, pushing the currents beside us one way and then another.
Darius and I cling to one another as the water carries us along. I hold onto him tightly, the lean muscles of his body pressed against me as we ride the power of the wave back to where the others are waiting.
I see them ahead. They’ve gathered together now, and I’m grateful for that. Anyone out here alone will be helpless against the power of the tsunami. I can see the shields they’re holding up against the onrushing water.
We slam into those shields, then pass through them, tumbling to the ground in front of Cara and Orion.
“Sera, what’s going on?” Orion demands.
Looking around, I can see all the students trying to hold back the power of the tsunami.
“Ash is a traitor. He’s smashed the island’s sea gates!”
Orion frowns at me, obviously not understanding. I do my best to explain.
“This is meant to be a test, but the Elemental Hall has safety measures in place. Canals and gates on the far side of the islandthat are designed to slow this down. Without them… there aren’t any safety measures now.”
Orion looks worried then. “We’re barely holding back the water as it is.”
“We need to dissipate the tsunami,” Cara says. “But if we put any strength into doing that, our barriers will fail.”
“Maybe we can survive it,” Darius says. “Everyone here can breathe beneath the waves and hold off currents.”
Orion doesn’t look happy with that suggestion. “And if someone isn’t strong enough? Doing it in a few normal currents is one thing, but against this power? People will die!”
“We can’t just hold the barriers forever,” Cara points out. “If we don’t redirect the water, we’re going to get swept away anyway.”
I can see the strain on her face and realize that even as she’s talking, she’s putting everything she has into holding up the barriers against the tsunami. I see Orion raise a hand, lending his strength to the power of the group.
