Destroyer (The Elemental Series #7)(79)

Through the dying flames, I saw the pink power of Spirit flare around Viv once more.

"Worm shit." I didn't have time to grab Peta or check on Raven. There was no time for a goodbye to Ash.

Viv disappeared and I followed her, knowing she could not escape now.

I followed, knowing my chance at killing her would be to keep the pressure on her.

Riding Spirit, following Viv, took me to the Rim.

My home before me, my family sprawled out across the ground like some violent massacre had happened. Bodies, limbs, blood, viscera. What the hell was this?

"Do you fight me, or save them?" Viv laughed, her face raw from the flames as she spread her hand out at the death around me.

I threw my spear instead of any of the elements, and caught her in the left shoulder, spinning her around. "I will kill you and save them."

I wove the earth around her feet, and she broke it away.

Frost's voice pressed against me. This is your truest strength, Lark. Hold it, use the other elements first.

She threw fire at me and I caught it, absorbing it easily.

Water came next from her and she wrapped me in its embrace, not unlike Finley had done.

Lovely girl, Realm whispered to me, his voice a caress, the water in her veins can be controlled.

I blinked and stared down at Viv from where she held me above the ground. I focused on her body, and found the water in her …  so much water.

I could either push more water into her or I could take it out.

Realm laughed. Either will slow her.

With a flick of my fingers, I took the water from her, drawing it out drop by drop, and she went to her knees slowly.

She switched gears and called up Air to push me away in the bubble of water that I was still in.



       
         
       
        

Samara's-Matarrah's-voice came to me next. Air against Air, you can hold her down. But if you can use two elements at once, you will have her.

Two elements.

I called Earth to me, under Viv's feet. She laughed and I struggled to hold both Air and Earth at the same time.

"Mattie, Frost, help me." I bit the words out through gritted teeth.

The push and pull of the two powers eased along my veins and I could breathe freely, bending them to my will.

The ground swallowed Viv to her hips even as I drove air into her lungs, doing all I could to blow them up like a child's balloon. Exploding her lungs would kill her as surely as stealing her her breath away.

Rage fueled me, and I let it carry me into a reckless abandon that brought power cascading out of me in waves, and I lost control of the two elements.

Viv clutched Spirit to her and sped away from me.

I fell from the bubble of water that held me and hit the ground, rolling to ease the fall. I was up and took a step to follow her, calling Spirit around me before another heartbeat passed.

"Lark, wait! Mother is hurt! She's dying." River, my niece, called to me, and I kept my back to her.

"I am saving her the only way I can." The words were torn from me as I broke my promise to my beloved sister. I would not save her body this time, but I would save our world.

I wove Spirit around my body and took off after Viv.

We stood in front of the Pit, where the lava burst out in waves like the earth itself was vomiting.

The Salamanders were there, their eyes blank as they stood in ranks in front of me. Viv was at the head of them her eyes aglow with more power than ever.

"You do not have it in you to stop me." She grinned and the burns in her face cracked, oozing blood.

Remember she is afraid of this element, more than any other. Her fear will be her undoing of it. You can take it from her. Ollie's words were a comfort, even if I didn't understand how I would take the power from Viv. The other original elementals didn't seem so sure, and their murmurs of uncertainty might have undone me if not for Talan's voice.

She is her mother's child. She can carry this burden like no other.

I let the heat of the flame inside of me rise to the surface until it felt as though I stood on the lava myself. The burns along my arm and back where the lava whip had bit into me lit up, sparkling red and gold as I embraced the element fully.

"I'm not only going to stop you," I said, "I'm going to strip you of the powers that are no longer yours to use."

She laughed, her head thrown back, and the Salamanders mimicked her. Tied to her through the element. I took a step, and then another and another, slow and steady, pulling on the power of the Pit with each breath until my body was full to bursting. 

"What will you do, run away again?" I spoke softly, but my words carried across the distance between us. Viv snarled, flicked her hand at me. No fire came, but the Salamanders did, rushing me in a group, Flint at their head.