I didn't like thinking about what had happened aboveground where the waterfall leapt out into open space.
I didn't like thinking that for the first time in a long time, I might not be able to fight my way out of something. Which meant … what? Would I have to sneak away? Pretend to go along with him long enough that he would let me go?
I wasn't sure I could keep him from knowing. He'd pawed through my mind like a child going through a drawer of toys. As though it were nothing to him.
Ahead of me, Peta stepped through a tall archway that led into a wide circular room. At the center came the source of the sound of water. From the ceiling, pouring straight down into a matching hole in the floor, rushed a river of water that was easily ten feet in diameter. What surprised me was the water wasn't louder.
The base around the hole in the floor was edged in black quartz, sharp and jagged and beautiful with the way it glowed as though lit from within. Under my feet, the floor was cool, the stone smoothed perfectly flat with river rock of all colors from the palest of creams, to obsidian stone.
As beautiful as it all was, my sight narrowed on the man who'd brought me here.
Talan stood to one side of the rushing water, a book open in his hands. Dark hair and blue-violet eyes, and his height made him stand out in all the elemental families. As a Spirit Walker, an elemental who could only use Spirit, he was something of an anomaly and one of only a few of that line left. He snapped the book shut, holding it loosely in one hand as he smiled at me. "I see you decided to join us finally."
Us. Who the hell was he talking about?
Not that it mattered.
I took my spear from my hip and twisted it once, connecting the two halves before I swung it around and pointed the tip at him. "I'm leaving. You can either show me the way out and we remain on good terms or you can make me force it from you. I doubt that will leave us friends."
He tipped his head to one side and gave a sad-fake sad, I should say-smile. "Even after all you've seen? You cannot fight me, Lark, and we both know that. And you aren't leaving, either. You came to train, so that is what you will do. Pamela was only a minor diversion." He spoke again as if I was a child he could bluster into staying.
Think again, asshole. I may have even muttered that under my breath because Peta winked back at me. Or maybe she picked it up from my mind, our connection such that she often did.
I snorted. "You think you can stop me from leaving? I asked nicely, Talan. Remember that when you are on the end of my spear." I flicked the tip of the weapon at him.
He spread his hands wide. "Go ahead and try, then. Again."
I flushed. He was right, of course; I'd tried to fight him and lost. But I wouldn't give up, not that easily. And now, I was more prepared. I knew how strong he was in Spirit.
The lies in my own head would have astounded me any other time, but they were all I had left to me. The belief that I could get away from him was the only thing keeping me from losing my mind. Because if I was trapped, even in a beautiful space, it was no different than an oubliette. Trapped and unable to use my power. A cold sweat broke out down the length of my spine.
"Easy, Lark," Peta whispered, pressing her body against my calf. "You are not alone. I am with you."
Talan went on. "If you can force my hand, then you will obviously not need training, and I will let you go. Happily." His smile said otherwise, though, and I didn't trust his words.
Peta snorted. "She is stronger than even you know, Talan. You underestimate her." A bluff, she was bluffing and we both knew it.
He shrugged. "Then she can prove it. Use your power, child of the earth. Show me that you've got the balls to take me, as the humans would say."
I didn't hesitate, but reached for my connection to the earth. I could pull myself through the rock, make both Peta and me slide through as if it were water, using it to find a way out. A trick that as far as I knew, no other earth elemental could pull off.
"Peta, come to me." I held a hand out to her. I wasn't going to face Talan. He wouldn't play fair. He'd use Spirit. And I'd end up flat on the floor or worse. I would get us out of here, and then we'd find Shazer.
I was banking that he was still outside somewhere, waiting for us at the top of the waterfall where Talan dropped him into unconsciousness.
She turned and leapt into my arms. I fed the power of the earth through my body and hers, prepping us both, making us one with the element of my soul.
"I hate this part," she muttered. "I always get dirt up my nose."