Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Gray
As Slate and I set up our makeshift pallets in a secluded spot in the woods, we didn’t speak about our vulnerable moment from earlier. Or River.
The humidity began to set in, making my already stifled chest constrict more, but we needed to eat, rehydrate, and wash up before we wilted away.
Water and earth Elementals had created multiple pits in the ground and filled them with warm water, allowing us to bathe the blood, soot, and sweat from our bodies before eating.
Thankfully, I’d thought to snatch my soap from the Hollow upon our hasty departure.
I was too anxious to sleep yet, so instead of lying down, I decided that being in the company of my people was much more preferable than sitting with my own thoughts.
I ran into Onyx while on my way to check on Kodiak and the other injured Elementals. Kodiak looked no better than he had before, and I wondered if we were only keeping him alive to suffer.
I hugged Onyx’s waist. “Thank you for helping with the wards. You’re our hero.”
Onyx waved me off with a chuckle. “Does that make me king then?” he asked jokingly.
I slapped at his chest, giving him a disapproving but amused look. “You’re incorrigible.”
Onyx chuckled. “I kid. There’s only one king meant for these people. And he is definitely not me.”
I dropped my gaze, my conflicted emotions toward Slate causing guilt to flare up.
“Hey, it’s okay. We’ll find a way to bring him back,” Onyx said comfortingly, placing his hand on my arm.
“I hope so,” I mumbled as we walked back to join the others.
I found Slate, Aella, and Shadow sitting together around an unlit campfire. As soon as the temperature began to dip, the fire wielders would ignite it. This was the first time we had all stopped and made a camp to rest and eat while we could regroup since we left the Hollow three—now four days—ago.
As we approached the others, Onyx yanked me to a stop, leaning into my ear.
His eyes carried the weight of suspicion within their amber depths.
“I gotta ask,” he started, glancing at Shadow before focusing back on me.
“Does Shadow look…eerily familiar to you at all? Like someone you feel like you’ve met before but just can’t place when? ”
I startled at his question. “Oh, yeah,” I said, hesitantly, remembering that Shadow wanted to tell Onyx himself about their relation. “That’s because he’s Chrome’s half-brother.”
Onyx’s mouth opened, not expecting for me to slam him with that piece of information.“Come again?”
I sighed, shaking my head at the insanity. “Yeah, that was my reaction, too.”
“But how?” Onyx pressed.
I bit my lower lip, lowering my gaze to my feet.
Having always been on his end, I hated the feeling of hiding something so big about his life from him.
“I would talk to Shadow when you get the chance. It’s definitely something that you should hear from him.
” I cast a cursory glance toward Shadow, who laughed at something Slate had said.
Onyx and I joined the others. I sat next to Slate, Onyx taking the spot on my other side.
When the Hollow had packed up before leaving, many had grouped together to pack some fresh fruits and vegetables, while water Elementals had created a storage chest of ice to carry meats in.
We cooked our venison and beef over the fire, then roasted potatoes, carrots, and corn to fill our stomachs.
Having eaten enough to stave off hunger while continuing to drink water to rehydrate, we relaxed as much as we could during the downtime.
We still had a long way to go. From what I could gather, we were along the Tennessee border.
We still had nearly a month before we reached Utah on foot.
“Remember that time Chrome made me train harder for an extra two hours because I was too hungover from the night before to make it to training on time that morning? Worked me so hard I threw up,” a guy named Everett joked, garnering my attention.
A few others laughed, reminiscing about their training sessions with their leader.
I glanced at Slate and Onyx, heaviness settling in at the apparent hole Chrome had left in his wake among his people.
A young woman sitting beside Everett, named Azura, spoke up next, sharing the moment during training when Chrome had earned her respect.
“It was only two months after he arrived at the Hollow, and I didn’t trust him.
Being young, I’d given him attitude during our first training sessions.
But when he’d demonstrated only a fraction of his power and skill against me, swiftly putting me on my ass, he stood over me and said, ‘If you can defend yourself against me, then you’d easily survive a Kinetic. ’ He wasn’t wrong.”
Going around the circle, everyone began sharing similar stories to Azura’s.
I sat and listened, absorbing everyone’s memories, conjuring these moments in my mind and living through them, if only to experience the real Chrome again.
I found myself smiling and chuckling, fully able to picture everyone’s versions of Chrome.
When it got to Onyx, he dropped his head, then looked up at Slate with a knowing grin, as if they shared an inside joke.
“Chrome, Slate, and I shared a group of friends back at the King’s Palace.
Back then, we were only teens, but it didn’t stop us from forming a secret operation in an attempt to overthrow King Forest. Chrome was the Warrior legend among Kinetics at the time, so no one knew the truth of what he truly endured behind closed doors.
Aside from Gray here, he consistently had more eyes on him than was ever considered necessary.
” He shook his head, lacing his hands together in his lap.
It was strange for me to hear stories about Chrome from his time back at the King’s Palace, especially when it involved friends like Onyx and Slate. It felt like an entirely different reality had existed right under my nose.
“Anyway, every so often, our group would sneak out of the King’s Palace and meet up on a rooftop where we could just be kids for a bit.
It was always more of a risk for Chrome than anyone, but it was great to see him let down his guard, even if only for a few hours.
” Onyx leaned back on his hands, propping his knees up.
Glancing at Slate, I saw him smiling wistfully to himself, clearly remembering the days that Onyx spoke of—days that felt so foreign and surreal to me.
“One night, we met on our rooftop. You guys wouldn’t believe this, but I was a little shithead back then.
” He chuckled. “This was before the good days of moonshine, of course, so I brought the alcohol. Once we were all drunk, I challenged our two most talented Warriors to a contest. A contest of jumping from rooftop to rooftop while inebriated. I was so determined to prove that I fit in with them. That I was just as skilled, but the reality was, I hadn’t trained a fucking day in my life on how to jump rooftops.
” Laughter echoed throughout the large circle of Elementals, including Slate.
“It didn’t matter, though, because I was going to attempt it anyway.
And when I clung on for dear life to the edge of the rooftop by the skin of my armpits, Chrome had to pull me up—”
“And if I remember correctly, there was a lovely chant of ‘oh fuck, fuck, fuck’ as you dropped like a sack of shit from your ill-timed leap that was executed with all the grace of an ostrich,” Slate interjected, a carefree grin reaching from ear to ear.
“Then you had the audacity to ask us why we let you attempt such a thing.”
“Pride is a man’s biggest weakness,” Onyx deflected, his smile seeming to light up the space around us with warmth.
I glanced at Shadow, who tried to hide a grin of his own, but he wasn’t able to mask the sadness weighing in his eyes. I imagined he carried a great deal of regret for being robbed of a childhood with his brothers as he listened to stories that he should’ve been a part of.
Elementals called out things to Onyx like, “So that’s why you still jump off rooftops now!” or “You’re still a shithead, but you’re our shithead!”
Then it was my turn, with all eyes on me. Suddenly, my throat constricted as I reflected on the last real memory I had of Chrome. I couldn’t bring myself to speak of the moment he held me while he obliterated the veil to save me.
So I said, “He chloroformed and kidnapped me. Turned my life upside down.”
A heavy silence fell over the circle, an awkward tension rising from my extremely abbreviated version of the story. I knew everyone was waiting for me to elaborate and explain what happened, but every time I opened my mouth, the words got lodged in my throat.
“Excuse me,” I said, sniffling as I jumped to my feet.
I fled to the spot Slate and I had picked out for the two of us to rest, finding my makeshift pallet of blankets a few feet away from Slate’s and dropping down on them. I let myself sob, the ache of Chrome’s absence ripping away pieces of my soul with each passing day.
The crunch of leaves and cracking of twigs alerted me to Slate’s presence. I had no doubt he’d follow behind me after my brisk departure. And I didn’t wish for him to leave. The comfort he brought me was something I wasn’t strong enough to turn away from.
“Can I sit with you?” His worn combat boots with stained cargo pants tucked into the tops were standing inches from my face.
I nodded, sliding over on the pallet to make room for him. The blankets shifted beneath his weight. His arm stretched out to slide beneath my neck, tugging me over to lay my head on his chest. “I miss him, too.”
“It was so weird hearing you and Onyx talk about your past with Chrome. It felt…alien.” I scoffed, wiping my cheeks and nose with my forearm. “It doesn't even make sense.”