Page 112 of Elemental Fae Academy: Book Three

Exos had chosen this position for visibility, not just for us but for Elana, too.

“She’ll scatter her minions across the grounds and come for us alone,” he’d said as we climbed the tower. “Which is exactly what we want. Kill the source, everything else dies with it.”

His plan hinged on our ability to take out Elana alone.

And if that failed, we would move on to another plan involving all my mates.

I brushed my damp palms against my cotton pants. Titus had given them to me, claiming they were light and fit for a fight, while also fireproof thanks to a magical surface treatment. Same with my long-sleeved shirt. Both were meant to protect me.

As was the staff in my hand and the blades strapped to my hips.

They didn’t bring me nearly as much comfort as my elements did. Especially as the first sounds of attack drifted upward into the air.

I swallowed, the acrid air unsettling my insides. My soul instinctively reached out to check on my mates, worried for them as they battled below.

But I found only excitement lacing our bonds.

Pride from Cyrus.

Fierceness from Sol.

Determination from Vox.

And a sense of happy resolve from Titus as he chanted threats in his mind at the deathly creatures crawling overhead. His power ignited, warming my skin, as Sol collapsed the earth on a horde of incoming skeletal beings. Fire poured over them all, melding the land around them to form an ensnaring rock.

“Brilliant,” Exos praised, his amusement palpable. “I knew those two would come to terms and work well together. Now let’s see about getting them some help, shall we?”

I nodded, refocusing on the task at hand. Find Elana.

But her presence was everywhere and nowhere at the same time, her soul withering just out of reach. I frowned at it. “How does she keep doing that?”

“She’s old,” Exos said, his presence closest to the source. “And she’s developed some cunning tricks over the centuries.”

I growled, frustrated, and dove back into my spirit.

So much darkness.

Not at all like the last time I ventured into this plane.

Shadows lurked in corners, taunting my presence and providing false leads. Hmm, but that one in the distance keeps fading and appearing as if striving to hide but failing. I trailed after it, determined to identify the master of the creation.

Or maybe mistress.

Where are you, Elana? I wondered. Come out, come out, wherever you are.

The ground shifted, rocking our tower. I clung to Exos and a nearby pole, my focus still on the spirit realm and that fleeing form. You can’t escape me, I thought at it, pursuing it faster. I’m going—

A piercing scream yanked me back into reality, my eyes flying wide. “Mom!” I shouted, recognizing that yell from the last few days of overhearing her night terrors.

Exos caught me around the waist before I could begin the descent. “It’s a trap,” he said, his mouth against my ear.

“How do you know?” I demanded, my mother’s agonized shouts slicing my heart. “They’re hurting her, Exos! We have to do something!”

Exos’s arms tightened around me. “Think, Claire! We have a plan. We can’t deviate.”

“But they’re killing her!” I could see it in the way her aura flickered in the spirit realm, a sense of her demise looming over my very soul. I had to go to her, to help her, to free her. I’d only just gotten her back, and for her to die now wouldn’t be right.

She deserved a second chance.

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