Exile in the Water Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 3) (24 page)

“I’d
sooner live with the humans.”  Mostly because Gion wanted the battle finished
within the next minute and a half, he asked, “Do you want help with this?”

Job
really focused on him for the first time.

A
Metal Phase in a Reprisal uniformed charged at Job from behind and then went
zapping away, unconscious.  Job didn’t bother to turn around.  “Alright.”  He
said slowly and reached over to take Gion by the wrist.  “Just don’t kill
anyone.”

Gion
sighed and released his powers for Job.  The quicker they stopped the fighting
the quicker he could get back to Ty.  Gion didn’t love the idea of Job
accessing his energy, but it didn’t actually hurt.  He just allowed Job to use
the weight of the Air powers.  Job couldn’t control Air energy, but the force
of it behind the Earth powers made the two of them pretty much unstoppable.

Together,
their incredible powers exponentially increased.  Not even Gion expected the
energy to get so big, so fast.  For a fraction of a second, they could do the
impossible.  Gion still couldn’t follow what Job did, but –somehow-- the Earth
energy just detonated.  Every Phase fighting in the Agora vanished back into
their kingdoms.

The
reverberating crash of power made Gion squint.  “
Fuck!
”  His head swam
and he actually went down on one knee, close to blacking out.

Even
Job staggered backwards.  “Holy Gaia.”  He looked pale.  “Well,” Job swallowed,
“that worked better than I anticipated.”  He looked over at Gion.  “You have a
lot of power.  More than I knew.”

Somehow
Gion doubted that Job meant that as a compliment.  He got to his feet, again,
slightly nauseous from the whiplash of energy.  All around them, dead Phases
stared up at the flat sky.  “I need to find Freya.  Ty hurt her forehead.  I
need to make sure she’s okay and take her home.”  Gion’s powers were too
scattered, though.  Breathing hard, he looked up at the theater.

Ty
waved back.

Job
followed Gion’s gaze and lifted a hand to her.  “Thank God, she’s okay.  So
many aren’t…”  He scanned the rows of fallen Elementals for a long moment.  “So
much waste.  Why do we do this to ourselves?”

“It’s
our nature.”  Gion said flatly.

“Do
you really believe that?”  Job looked at him, again.  “Do you believe it’s our
destiny to mindlessly destroy?  Someone just told me that you can be better than
that.”

Ty.

Gion’s
nose was bleeding.  He absently swiped a hand under it.  “She’s young.”  Gion
kept his tone even, even as his heart pounded.  Job had been there when Addom
died.  Gion remembered sobbing in Job’s arms, that perfect voice assuring him
that it wasn’t his fault.  He glanced away.  “What did you tell her?”

“I
told her that most of your problems come from inside of you.  I told her she
couldn’t fix you, because you won’t let yourself heal.  I told her to let you
go.”

“What
did she say?”

“She
said you are a good man.”

Gion
closed his eyes.  Inside his pocket, his hand found the barrette he’d stolen
from Ty, gripping it like a talisman.

Job
bent down and felt the still pulse of a Weather Phase.  The boy couldn’t have
been more than a hundred years old.  Job sighed like the weariest man in the
universe.  “So, do you know why Parald did this?  Why would he invade the Agora
after all this time?  Something must have pushed him.”

“Me.” 
Gion straightened.  “He knows that I’m with Ty and he’s trying to get her away
from me.”

“Why?”

“Someone
probably told him that I’m in love with her.”

Job’s
eyebrows climbed.  “I see.  And what do you plan to do about that?”

“Eventually,
I’m going to kill that abusive, stalking asshole.”  Gion’s energy was nearly
back under control.  “Right now, I have to take care of Ty, though.”

“You
could be a help in this war.  You could help us stop Parald,
now
, before
he ruins more lives.”  Job gestured around him.  “Before he tries this, again.”

No
one would harm Parald until Gion was sure that Ty was safe.  Not even Job.  “Or
I could just keep Ty out of the Agora from now on.”  Gion retorted.  If the
Reprisal and Air House butchered each other, it just meant fewer Phases Gion
would have to deal with himself.  “This is your problem, Councilor.  All I care
about is Ty.”

“Ty
isn’t your Match.  Have you thought about what will happen to her if she gets
close to you and then you find your
real
Match?”

“Ty
is
my real Match.  I don’t care what fate says about it.  There’s no one
else for me.”

Job
shook his head.  “If you disappoint that girl, I’ll kill you, Gion.  I won’t
have a choice.”

Gion
looked at him sharply.  Job didn’t make idle threats.  The calm promise lay
between them for a second.

“I’ve
seen too much death and waste and misery.”  Job went back to surveying the
bodies, vainly searching for survivors.  “We all have.  Sometimes, the Water
House was all that got me through.  They’re my family.  The best parts of our
world.  I won’t see them hurt.”

The
Water Phases were Job’s favorites.  He’d always been protective of them.

Gion
wasn’t worthy of Ty and they both knew it.

But,
it didn’t matter.

“I
won’t give her up.  Not for you or Parald or Nia or the good of the universe.” 
Gion waved a hand around at the fallen armies.  Phases who had fought to
destroy the only thing that he’d ever loved.  “These deaths mean
nothing
to
me.  You want to see real destruction, Job, you try and keep me from Ty.  I’ll
bring creation itself to its knees before I lose her.”

“I
won’t take her from you unless I have to.”  Job said quietly.  “Don’t force me,
Gion.  We both have enough enemies.  Just be the man that she sees in you.  Be
what Ty deserves.”

Job
might as well have asked him to be a palm tree.  “How the hell could I
possibly
do that?  You know what I am.  I’ll never be what she deserves and I don’t
fucking care.”

“Of
course, you care.  You’ve always cared too much.  That’s what’s kept you broken
for so long.  Bury Addom or you’ll ruin your last chance.”

Gion
barely stifled his flinch.  He stabbed a finger at Job.  “Just stay out of my
way.  I don’t feel like listening to Tessie bitch at me if I have to decapitate
you.”

The
Air powers swelled beneath him, lifting Gion away from Job, and the bodies of
the dead, and towards the theater roof.

Up.

Towards
Ty.

Whatever
conditions belong to the elements before they are united,

must
reappear in the offspring of such union.

Henry C
Wright- ‘Marriage and Parentage
’

“So,
while I was heroically battling in the Home Depot, I thought I’d get some paint
samples.”  Nia taped the last one to the wall and stepped back.  “What do you
think?”

She
and Cross stood side-by-side in the large, sunny space that Nia had already
commandeered for her daughter.  The baby would need a room here in the Water
Palace and Nia wanted it to be perfect.  It was never too early to start
preparing for her little miracle.

Besides,
the Fall taught most Phases the importance of distractions for mental health
and focusing on the baby helped keep Nia from nervously pacing.

Nia
was so worried about Ty.  In the last few days, her normally introverted cousin
had become the Water Kingdom’s wild-child.  Ty suddenly liked
Gion
of
all people.  Gion!
 
The man
was living in their friggin’ House,
now.  Refusing to move out, doing some kind of evil Bob Vila impersonation, and
wooing Ty towards his bed.

Nia
was pretty much ready to let Cross Shadow-erase the bastard.

Except,
when Ty needed him, Gion had jumped right to her.

He
loved Ty.

Nia
almost believed that.

Damn
it.

Adding
to Nia’s concerns, the Air House was stepping up their attacks against Ty.  Dozens
and dozens of Phases, more than they could afford to lose, lay dead in the
Agora, victims of Parald’s fixation on Ty.  His cruel and demented desire to
reclaim her would just never stop.

Then,
there was Chason…

Nia
actually didn’t want to consider Chason too closely.  She had a horrible suspicion
what they’d need to do about him and it would be one of the saddest days of her
life.

Cross
surveyed the little blocks of color for a long moment.  “They’re all pink.”

“I
know, they’re pink.  Girls like pink.”

“But,
how do we know it’s a girl?”

“Of
course, she’s a girl.”  Nia said absently.  She tried to envision the inch long
pieces of paper as entire walls full of color.  She’d never actually painted
anything before.  Color Phases usually got hired for that.  They could create
such beautiful, magical shades.  Most of the Color House’s artists had died in
the Fall, though, and the rest weren’t exactly huge Water House fans, so Nia
was painting this room on her own.  Decorating took a lot of work.

For
the nursery in the Shadow Kingdom, Nia had already settled on underwater
mermaid décor.  In this one, Nia wanted something a little more… shadowy.  That
way the baby would always remember both her Houses.

Unfortunately,
the shifting mists and shrouded moors of Cross’s homeland didn’t give Nia much
to work with in the way of cheerful baby room themes.  Maybe something sort of
medieval, Scottish princess-ish would be best.  The Shadowland always looked
medieval and Scottish-y.  That seemed like a good compromise.  Princesses lived
in big grey castles, didn’t they?  She remembered endlessly reading
Ismena
,
the Elementals’ most famous fairytale, to Ty when she was baby.  Ismena lived
in a big gray castle.

Nia
squinted in deep concentration.

Did
medieval Scotland have a lot of pink, though?

Cross
gave up on the paint selection process.  He moved behind Nia, his hands coming
down to caress her stomach.  “You’re positive that you’re okay, baby?”  Cross
was always protective, but, since she’d become pregnant, he was on constant
alert for Nia to spontaneously drop-dead or something.  He kissed her temple. 
“You sure you don’t want Freya to look you over?”

“I’m
fine.”  Nia craned her neck back to smile at him.  “Don’t worry about that. 
Chason didn’t get within ten feet of me.”

Thanks
partly to Gion.  Nia wasn’t sure what to make of that.

“Fucking
Reprisal.”  Cross’s voice rumbled with Shadows.  Nia loved the sound of them,
even when Cross was swearing out death threats on people.  “You and Job always
want to play nice with them and offer them grief counseling for their sad
little lives.  Meanwhile, they’re trying to
kill
you.”  One large palm
stretched out over her abdomen, cradling their baby inside of her.  “It’s
over
,
Nia.  They have to be stopped.”

“It’s
not about the Reprisal.  It’s
Chason
who
I wanted to help.”  Nia
knew most of the Reprisal soldiers were vicious, amoral, sons-of-bitches.  At
this point, their festering hatred had turned the vast majority into something
nearly as bad as Parald himself.  Putting down individual members of the
Reprisal didn’t bother her a bit.

But,
Chason was different.

Once
upon a time, Chase had been the kindest, most admirable Phase in the world.  He
could be that, again.  Nia knew it.  He’d recently saved her life against one
of his own Reprisal soldiers, in fact.  Nia remembered the honorable Chason,
and she believed that that man was still trapped, somewhere, inside this mad
Chason’s gaunt, bitter shell.

Now
that she had Cross, Nia actually understood Chason’s bottomless sorrow.  Losing
a Match must be the worse pain in the universe.  She couldn’t go on without
Cross.  She wouldn’t want to.

Mara
had been Chason’s soul.

Nia
had seen them together.  She’d attended the party that the Magnet Kingdom threw
to celebrate Chason and Mara’s Phazing Day.  Usually, the Magnet House made
Sparta look frivolous and carefree.  That night, though, the entire dreary
place had been alight with fireworks and music.

I’ll
Be With You in Apple Blossom Time
played while Chason
danced with his Match, smiling down into Mara’s animated face as she talked to
him.  When Nia thought of Chason, that was still the first image that came into
her mind.  The Andrew Sisters singing and Mara’s purple robes floating around
her, while Chason’s love for his Match shone from his eyes.

It
broke Nia’s heart.

“Even
Job’s on my side, now.”  Cross insisted, still holding her against him. 
“Chason’s gone too far.  I don’t care that he used to help cute animals and
little old ladies.  He went into the human realm and put on a lightshow in a
hardware store, for Christ’s sake.  He’s completely deranged.  He’s targeting
Ty
. 
We need to help Gion kill him. 
Now
.”

Nia
and Job had both retained hope that Chason might return to the man he’d once
been.  Cross was right, about that.  The Council
did
give Chason a lot
of rope, because many of them thought that he might eventually come out of his
grief and rage.  That he might eventually exit the tunnel and return to the
light.  Now, it looked like Chason intended to die in the tunnel and use the
rope he’d received to hang himself.

It
annoyed Nia that Gion had made a legitimate point about Chason earlier.

Chase
had lost his mind.

He
genuinely might be capable of hurting Ty.

Chason
might threaten to capture Ty.  Hell, he
had
captured Nia, once.  And Chase
constantly had some scheme against Parald.  Everyone knew that.  His plans to
destroy the Air House just went on and on and on.  But, Nia never thought that
Chason would actually
hurt Ty or endanger the world.

Not
for real.

He’d
never outright threatened Ty’s life, until now.   Mara had used to
babysit
Ty, for crying out loud.  Chason plotting to kill her was flat-out insane.  Not
just because Ty was a gentle, sweet, brilliant woman who deserved so much more
than she’d been given in life.  Nia was willing to concede that Chason was too
far into his dark hole to realize that, anymore.

No. 
He shouldn’t want to kill her, because Ty was one of the last three Water
Phases alive.

The
Water House was one of the most important pillars of creation and Ty supported
a third of it.  Without Nia, Tharsis, and Ty, the world imploded.  No matter
how much he wanted to hurt Gion, even Chason should know better than to target
Ty for death.  It would sink all of creation that much closer to extinction. 
How could he honestly want to end the universe?  How could he
really
be
capable of that?

He
was totally out of control.  Nia could see that now, like never before.  Chason
wasn’t getting better.  He was getting worse.  In a choice between Chason and
Ty, Nia wouldn’t hesitate.  Her beautiful, loving cousin
had
to
survive.  Nia couldn’t bear life without Ty, so there was just no alternative,
really.

Very
soon, they’d have to kill Chason.

Nia
closed her eyes against the thought.

“Nia?” 
Tharsis came into the room.  “We got a weird email.”

She
turned and looked at him, trying to shake herself out of her depressing
thoughts.  “If it’s a Nairobian prince asking us to give him ten thousand
dollars so he can free his billions from the bank, I
told
you…”

“No,
it’s not another entertaining internet scam, sad to say.  It’s from the Air
House.”  Thar handed her a printout and thoughtfully studied the paint samples. 
“I like that middle one.”

“What
about the Air House?”  Cross demanded, reading the page over Nia’s shoulder. 
“Damn it, if Ty lets any more of them in here, I’m gonna get seriously pissed. 
I don’t want my unborn son corrupted by their asshole-ness.”

“It’s
our unborn
daughter
.”  Nia corrected and scanned the email Tharsis had
given her.

Writing
to you endangers my life, so please be discrete.  I ask permission to enter
your lands for a short meeting this evening.  I will come unarmed and in peace.
 I wish to speak with you about Gion.  He cannot stay in the Water Kingdom. –
Amarna, of the Air House
.

Nia
glanced over at Tharsis.  “Amarna?

“She
was Seneca’s niece.”

“You
remember, baby.  The
other
king Gion betrayed.”  Cross rolled his eyes. 
“Shit.  This is all we need.”

Thar
shrugged.  “Amarna’s harmless.  I talked to Job and he says that she’s okay… for
an Air Phase, anyhow.  She’s Bryony’s cousin.”

Nia
frowned down at Gion’s name.  “What does she mean, he can’t stay here?  Do you
think Gion’s plotting something?”

“Guy
loves Ty.  I’m sure of that.”  Tharsis sounded confident.  “But, I’m kinda
concerned that the Air Phases are up to something.  Maybe Amarna knows what
Parald’s next move is.”

“Or
maybe she’s trying to Trojan Horse us.”  Cross offered in his normal optimistic
way.

Nia
shook her head.  “I’ve heard of Amarna.  If Parald was gone, she’d be Queen of
the Air House.  I don’t see her loving the guy.”

“Rumor
has it she’s the Princess Leia of the oh-so-underground Air House rebels.” 
Tharsis volunteered.

Nia
blinked.  “How do you know that?  Job?”

“We’re
talking about giving the Air Phases amnesty.  You think I’m
not
gonna
track down every rumor I can on them, before they start sharing our
bathrooms?”  Tharsis arched a brow and Nia was suddenly reminded that her
brother had once been one of the greatest researchers in the realm.  “I think we
should hear Amarna out.”

Nia
slowly nodded.  “Alright.  Let her come.”