Chapter 34 Elodie
ELODIE
I’m broken.
I’m certain of it.
Darkness surrounds me, my vision a shattered sense, while a breeze ghosts over my skin and loud chatter fills the air. There’s confusion, bewilderment, and panic, but the thing that stands out most is the lack of fear and carnage.
Something’s different.
It’s not the damp space in the sub basement of Institute One that was drenched in silence apart from the strained breaths of my mother and me.
My mom.
I can’t move, frozen in a disoriented state, and it feels like my insides are clawing at myself, desperate to release the restrictions confining me.
“She’s over here!”
A familiar voice cuts through the distress swirling inside my mind, zapping through me as I slowly regain the rest of my senses, but I still can’t pry my eyes open or make my damn tongue work.
Soft hands press against my cheeks and my chest aches from the touch, but it’s not the familiar vice of heartache, it’s relief.
The echo of a hum rattles in my mind, but I’m certain it doesn’t part my lips; it simply vibrates in my throat.
“Petal? It’s okay. I’m here. I’m right here. You’re going to be okay.”
I’ve lost count of the number of times Rion has hummed those sweet words to me. Enough to last a lifetime, but the truth is, he’s meant it.
Every. Single. Time.
His words have a way of embracing me just as strongly as his arms.
He’s my rock, my pillar, my sanctuary.
I need to see him.
I need to see all of them.
Thorne and Kael too.
Thorne is… God, he’s the layered shadow fae intent on ripping me apart, just so he can piece me back together again. It’s intoxicating, just like him, and I want more. I want forever.
Kael is something else entirely. The lies, the secrets, the pain, and the heartache… I would take it all over again to see those deep-green eyes swallow me whole like they do every time.
“Check her pulse,” Ocean demands, and Rion scoffs.
“I can fucking hear it, little witch, don’t worry. My Petal just needs a second.”
“We don’t have a second,” Thorne murmurs, low and gravelly, and my heart lurches, panic snapping down my spine like a whip. With it, my eyes ping open.
The blistering light offers nothing more than a backdrop, framing three faces that feel like home.
Thorne. Rion. Kael.
From left to right, each staring at me with wide eyes and soft smiles as relief floods the air around us.
My eyelids shutter and Ocean has appeared behind my men when I force them back open, completing my tight-knit group. But the second I think about it, my thoughts are dragged toward two more people who aren’t in my view.
“Mom?” I rasp, the word weirdly not foreign on my tongue.
Thorne’s gaze travels over me, a softness in his eyes that threatens to make me think the worst, but before he can say anything, a voice comes from above my head.
“I’m here, sweet girl.” Her hand lands on my shoulder, and I exhale.
“You did it, Elodie. You shattered The Sanctum. Hell, you did more than that, you took down the entire Vale.” My father’s voice zips through the air, making my eyes widen further as disbelief takes hold.
I was half sure the darkness took me because there was nothing left of me, but it seems absorbing every ounce of magic in that damn dingy basement was actually effective.
“It’s done?” I croak, my throat burning, but I need the clarity, and the uncertainty that gathers Rion’s eyebrows together is enough of an answer.
Pressing my palms into the ground beside me, I startle when I feel the soft grains of sand. Confusion rattles inside of me, but I continue to push up until I’m sitting. Everyone but Kael moves to give me space, while he draws closer to me.
He cups my face, his hand rough against my skin, and it offers me a moment to actually take him in. Blood is splattered across his face, drying into the tips of his hair, and his eyes are dark and veiny, but his teeth aren’t elongated. He looks exhausted, relieved, and worried all at once.
“You and your mother did the unthinkable. The Vale is gone. Completely. But all that does is bring us one step closer to another evil.” He grimaces, and I instantly understand what, or rather who, he’s referring to.
“Where are we?” I ask, and he offers me a gentle smile, but it’s Thorne who answers.
“When The Vale shattered, it threw us out as a scrambled mess across…” His gaze leaves mine to glance around us, his brows knitting together with uncertainty.
“I don’t even know where we are, but there is sand.
Black sand and a torched, derelict town with a few scattered hotels, half buried under ash along the backdrop of inactive volcanoes. ”
“That’s oddly specific,” I mutter, taking Kael’s hand before he tugs me to my feet.
I sway in his arms, casting my eyes on the land around us, and it’s slightly concerning how accurate Kael is.
A canvas of black and golden sand glistens along the shore to my left, while steep black mountain tops envelop the skyline to my right.
The sun sits nestled just behind them, casting a golden glow across the sky, but it doesn’t warm me. If anything, it fills me with dread.
As if sensing the heaviness settling over me, Ocean appears in front of me, all but shoulder-barging Kael out of the way so she can place her hands on my arms and hold all of my attention.
“Kael’s mom got word that Jude knows. He’s on his way, probably lurking somewhere in the shadows already, but the only person known to be with him is Professor Grimm. There’s no certainty on what other allies he may have, if any, but he’s coming, and we’re not leaving.”
“It ends here.” Three heavy words come from my father, and I peer over my shoulder to take him in. “We’re not running. We’re not cowards, and it’s high time he paid for his sins.”
My mother nods in agreement and I suck in a deep breath.
It’s now or never.
Kill or be killed.
Sink or swim.
It’s one cliché phrase after another.
Regardless, it all means the same. Death is coming for someone; I just have to hope it isn’t for me.
“What’s the plan?” My words are met with a mixture of blank stares and furrowed brows.
“There isn’t one,” my father admits, his lips set in a thin line. “We lost the minimal resources we had when The Vale crumbled. There are a few of us here, but the others… we don’t know where they are.”
“Who?” I ask, needing more than that.
“My parents are in New York, along with the others we saved from Jude’s prison. You would think he would want to go after them, but he’s intent on finding you,” Kael breathes, the pain evident in his voice, and I nod.
“Then we need to do something more than just wait here on the shoreline. We need to take cover, create a little fort or something,” I insist, and Rion nods.
“I’m ready to roll out when you are, Petal,” he insists, reaching for my hand, and I offer it willingly, letting him tug me to his side as he strides toward the closest building.
It almost looks like an abandoned hotel or something as we approach, all white-washed and quiet. The pool is drained, the bottom filled with debris, but we effortlessly bypass all of that for the closest door, which sits ajar.
Silence greets us as we step inside, the hallways dark and dingy without any lights on, but I take stock of who is actually here.
Everyone who matters the most.
My parents.
My vampire.
My shadow fae.
My wolf.
My bestie.
Something about that doesn’t bode well with the impending arrival of Jude.
“Let’s find a good spot and barricade the doors.
Thorne, can you help me combine our magic so we can fortify the building and know when someone is coming or going?
” my father asks, and my shadow fae nods in agreement as Ocean waves us down the hall.
“Could Elodie add to the magic too?” he adds, drawing all attention to me, and all I can do is gape at him as Thorne clears his throat.
“Her access to her shadow fae magic only seems to be present in the Shadow Realm,” he explains, but my father continues smiling.
“Then someone needs to help her with that bump on her head,” he replies, and Rion squeezes my hand.
“I’ve got you, Petal,” he murmurs, tugging me toward Ocean, who stands back and waves at the door as we draw closer. The outline of a barren buffet room stares back at me, but I can sense it’s a good space for us to lock down.
As I step over the threshold, the fingers intertwined with mine vanish. My vision blurs, making my eyes pinch shut, and the ground shifts beneath me.
Winded, my hands land on my stomach as I pry my eyes open, blinking up at a familiar ceiling as a face comes into view. If the breath wasn’t already stolen from my lungs, it would be now as I gape at the man before me.
Not a man.
A monster.
“Jude,” I grunt, watching the maniacal smile spread across his face.
“Little Weapon, it’s been too long,” he muses, offering me his hand, but I whack it away instinctively, and it sparks a rush of fire in his eyes.
He doesn’t miss a beat, standing taller as he runs his hands over his dark jeans.
“You broke The Vale,” he declares, and I keep my mouth shut, which makes the corner of his mouth flick up with delight.
“Now there’s nothing standing between us anymore. ”
“I don’t know what you think this is, but I can guarantee you, with all that I am, that it’s not what you want it to be, and it never will be.” My lips part, the unfiltered truth spilling between us.
His nostrils flare, but I don’t shy away from it.
If anything, I draw strength from it, regulating my breathing with each flutter as he attempts to contain his rage.
I should be afraid, but I’m not. I’m done with his bullshit.
I’m done with all of it, especially if it revolves around someone alluding to me conforming to their will.
He inhales sharply, his fingers curling at his side as he plasters a fake smile across his face. “It’s okay, Elodie, you’ll understand, even—”