Over and over, the memories ran at a staggering pace, sometimes merging with one another, becoming true nightmares.
Peta and Ash dead, their faces bloodied and their bodies broken beyond any hope of healing; Raven at my side holding my hand, my own body trapped in animal form unable to use any elemental abilities as my family was torn apart in front of me.
Death and horror reigned freely as my imagination went wild. I could not escape the worst fears my own mind came up with, so I rode them out and wept without tears for the things that terrified me to my core.
Above all else, that I would fail those I cared for, that I would not be strong enough to be the Ender I knew I was always meant to be. Destroyer might be my name, but I only caused chaos when those I loved were threatened.
Ender. I was an Ender, a protector of this world and all I loved.
There was no discerning when we stopped moving, or that we'd arrived anywhere. I just woke as suddenly as I'd been put under. The nightmares were gone in a flash of light as my eyes flew open. I was flat on my back and staring at the ceiling. Crystalized quartz, jagged and brilliant with pink, purple and white, flooded my vision. Each glittering piece of stone caught the light so it sparkled and danced. I tightened my hands in the blankets around me as I got my bearings.
The smell of pine trees was still there, and the sound of water filled the empty space so it was a steady white noise. The waterfall. We had to be near it still. But where? Inside the mountain itself?
At my side lay Peta. Not asleep, but lying quietly, waiting for me to wake. "We could not stop him, not one of us," she said. "He is far stronger than I ever knew."
"Where are we?" I sat up, and with the movement, my anger surged. "Never mind," I cut her off as she opened her mouth, "we're leaving."
I was fully dressed, and beside the bed on the floor lay my spear. I scooped it up with my foot and tossed it into the air, catching it easily with one hand. "You coming?"
"Of course. Don't get sassy with me, Lark. I'll bite your toes in your sleep." She hopped off the bed, stretched and arched her back. In her housecat form, she was mostly gray with white on her belly, chest, and the tip of her tail, which was a little beacon of her emotions. At that moment, it twitched back and forth with irritation.
"Sorry." I shook my head. "It's not you I'm angry with. I just … I can't believe he took all three of us down. That he would keep me away from the Rim when he knows I should have stayed to protect Bella."
"Try to remember that it's not me you're pissed with." She yawned. "Let's get this over with. I doubt it's going to be pretty, and trust me when I tell you this won't go any better here than it did aboveground." So, we were somewhere within the mountain. That much, at least, I was feeling correctly.
She trotted ahead of me, her white-tipped tail a perfect guide as she led the way. I strode after her, my mind racing. Talan had seen Viv behind Belladonna as we'd flown from the Rim. I was sure of it. He could not pretend he didn't know she was there and possibly attacking my family. Talan's words all but condemned him. "Forgive me, Lark. This is for the best." Said right before he'd used Spirit to dampen my mind, only seconds after I'd seen Viv behind Bella.
Ghostly in form Viv may have been, but that meant nothing to an elemental like her. She could control all five elements and the only thing holding her back from using them openly on others was a curse laid on her. That didn't mean she wasn't still a danger to Bella and the rest of my family.
My jaw ticked in time with my rapidly pulsing heart as I walked. "Peta, you know the way out of here, wherever here is?"
Her ears flattened to her head. "No. That is a problem. Talan is the only one who can take us in or out. At least, that is what he told me. Of course, I was as unconscious as you when he brought us in here. He only spoke to me after I woke."
I doubted there was no way out, but I didn't doubt that Talan would make it seem like he was the only one who could let us in or out.
Asshole indeed.
The paths we walked were carved stone, the roof the same crystalized quartz as the room I'd woken in, as well as the only source of light I could see. The sound of water didn't lessen, but increased the farther through the tunnels we went. All of that was on the peripheral of my mind as I could think of only one thing.
Getting out and back to Bella and the Rim. After that, I would consider just what Pamela had done to the Veil, and why. The mother goddess had condoned it, but I didn't understand, and that bothered me.
The Rim first, though. That was where I was needed. Maybe Talan hadn't been the one to set the booby trap in Shazer's mind, and for that I wouldn't kill him. But it changed nothing else. Talan and I stood on opposite sides of a crossroads and one of us was going to lose to the other.