Exile in the Water Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 3) (46 page)

Ty’s
heart stopped.

For
the first time in her life, her powers slammed out without any conscious
thought.  Every drop of water vapor in the room swelled towards her.  With a
great push, she sent it all slamming into Parald like a wrecking ball.  It
drove him backwards into the wall, flat against a portrait of himself dressed
like Elvis.  He dislodged the heavy gold frame, sending it toppling to the
ground, much to the relief of art lovers everywhere.

And
revealing a safe hidden in the wall the painting.

Just
as Ty thought.

It
will be behind him.

“Holy
shit!”  To Ty’s amazement, Gion positively beamed at her and forgot about his
fight with Chason.  “Ty, that was
beautiful!
”  Chason cut them free of
the net and Gion didn’t seem to notice.  He dashed over to Ty, grabbing her up
in his arms.  “I’m so proud of you!”  He lifted her right off the ground. 
“How’d you do that?”

“You
taught me.”  Ty clung to him.  “Same principle as playing the piano with
powers, except… bigger.  Nia and Thar can use water vapor to move things.  You
can do it with Air energy.  I guess I can do it, too.”

“Of
course you can!  I told you, you weren’t weak.”  His cape enveloped her as he
hugged her tight.  “My Match.”  Gion kissed her lavishly.  “Don’t do anything
like that, again, though.  I could have handled it.”

Ty
smiled.

Chason
prowled over to Parald, still clutching the two swords:  Gion’s and his own.

Gion
stiffened slightly as if he was preparing to stop him.

“Don’t.” 
Ty whispered.  “Chase needs this.”

“
I
need it, too!  Parald hurt you and I have a right...”

“He
killed Mara.”  Ty laid her head against his chest.  “We still have each other
and Chason only has this.”

Gion
cursed, but he stopped arguing with her.

Parald
ripped one of the swords out of the wall, where it had been stuck like a dart,
and swung it at Chason.  “You’re fucking crazy, you know that?!”

“I
know.”  Chason intoned.  “You made me this way.”  The sword went flying out of
Parald’s grasp as Chason advanced.  “You took my heart and my soul and my
mind.”  Magnet powers lifted Parald by the metal adornments of his tacky uniform,
pushing him up the wall so he couldn’t escape.  “You took my
light
.”

“I
wasn’t my fault!  I didn’t intend to hurt her!  I barely knew the woman, for
Christ’s sake.  What happened to Mara was an
accident!

“
Don’t. 
Say.  My.  Match’s.  Name.
”

Parald
switched to a new strategy.  “You’re an honorable guy, Chase.  You always have
been.  If you kill me like this, it’ll be in cold blood.  Is that what she’d
want?  A murderer for a Match?  Is that the man she Phazed with?”

“No.” 
Chason said quietly.  “That man died with her.”

Then,
he swung the two swords out together, one in each hand, so they scissored
across Parald’s throat.

Ty’s
mouth dropped open in shock as Parald’s head slid off his neck and bounced to
the floor.  His body actually stayed upright for a timeless moment and then it
sunk to the ground in a clumsy heap.  Blood and tissue seeped between the
stones, coating Chason’s boots.

Ty
turned away, burying her face against Gion.

…And
that was before Chason started hacking the body into pieces.

“Jesus.” 
Gion eased Ty behind him and headed for Chase.  “He’s dead.  Chason, he’s
dead.”

The
blades continued to fall, leaving castoff blood trails up and down the walls as
Chason worked.  Gion muttered another curse and tried to grab Chason’s arm.  Chason
shook him loose and kept going as if in a trance.

There
was a pulse of power and Job arrived in the room along with Cross, Nia, Isaacs,
and Tessie.

“
Ty!
” 
Nia ran for her cousin.  “Are you hurt?”

“No.” 
Ty wrapped her arms around Nia in relief.  “Parald’s dead.”

“Hallelujah.” 
Cross smirked down at Parald’s head.  “Is it wrong to want a camera for this?”

Isaacs
must have made out Parald’s remains and the grisly mess covering Chason,
because glanced over at Job.  “Do we need at a straitjacket and butterfly nets
here?”

“Tess,
stay back.”  Job was already heading for Chason.  “Chase?”

“He’s
out of it.”  Gion muttered.  “Just let him finish.”

“How
many more pieces does he want?”  Job touched Chason’s shoulder, holding tight
when the other man tried to get free.  “Chase, stop.”

Job’s
perfect voice kept talking, saying Chason’s name over and over, until something
finally clicked and Chason looked at him.  Tears were streaming down his face, cutting
paths in the fresh blood, as he looked at Job.

“He
killed Mara.”  The voice was eerie.  Not sane.

“I
know.”

“He
killed Mara and I thought, if I killed him, it would be better.”

“I
know, son.”

“It’s
not better, though.”  Chason’s voice broke on the agonized words.  “It’s not
better, at all.  Raiden was wrong.  Mara’s not coming back.  She’s not.” 
Chason covered his eyes.  “
Fuck!
”  He started laughing through his tears
in that off-kilter way.  The notes of it too high and slightly demonic.  “Fuck,
Job.  You were right.  As usual.  Nothing can fix this.”  He scrubbed at his
face and shook his head.  “This is all there is… and it’s
nothing
.”

That
wasn’t what Job wanted to hear.  “If you could just…”

“I’m
sorry.”  Chason interrupted.  “I’m sorry that I took the Justice box from you. 
All I wanted was Mara back and for things to be
better
.”

“I
know.  I forgive you.  Just try and breathe.  It’s over.”

“Over.” 
Chason repeated.  “Yes.  It’s finally over.”  He visibly relaxed.  “The end of
the road.”  He was quiet for a beat and then he glanced at Ty.  “Mara loved
you.”

Ty
blinked at the non sequitur.  “I loved her, too.  When I was young, she always
took the time to play with me.”  Maybe some happy memories would snap him out
of this.  Chason’s sudden calm frightened her more than the rage.  “You would
watch us, sometimes, while you worked.  Mara and I would sit under the trees
and read storybooks, remember?”

Chason
didn’t scream at her for saying his Match’s name.  Ty couldn’t read the
expression on his face.  “I do remember. 
Ismena
.  I should have sat with
you and listened.  She loved fairytales.  I never sat and listened.  Now, the
trees are dead.”

“Okkkkaayyy.” 
Isaacs drew out the word, so it meant, “psycho.”

Ty
started for Chason, but Gion blocked her path, keeping her behind him.  Ty
flashed him a quick look, which he ignored.  She settled for trying to get
through to Chason from a distance.  “Trees can come back, if you care for
them.  I can help you with that, if you’ll let me.”

Chason
almost smiled.  As if he was sad for her.  “I apologize, Ty.  I shouldn’t have
brought you here.  And I shouldn’t have called you ‘bitchy.’  You deserve
better.  So did Mara.  I’m not myself, anymore.  I don’t have a self, anymore.”

“Chason…”

“I
won’t bother you, again.”  He jumped out of the room, leaving the swords behind
him.

Tessie
sighed.  “Damn, but that guy’s a weirdo.”

Gion
scowled down at Ty.  “He called you a bitch?”

“No. 
Well, not exactly.  He was very upset.”

“He’s
lost his mind.”  Nia shook her head.  “Chason’s gone.”

Ty
stared at the spot he’d vanished from.  “I think you’re wrong.  I think there’s
still hope for him.  He’s just needs for Raiden to be right about something.” 
She gave her head a clearing shake.  “Anyway, I have good news.  I found the
box.”  She hurried over to the wall safe.  “Gion, help me.”  She studied the
electronic keypad.  “The Love Tablet’s in here.”

“Tessie?” 
Gion crooked a finger at her.  “Come remind me why I put up with so many years
of daytime TV.”

She
flicked him off and headed closer to the safe.  “One day Elementals will figure
out that your locks are soooo unsafe around all of us gifted with superpowers. 
Do you guys have banks?  ‘Cause, I would pwn at being all Dillinger-y.”  She
casually opened the safe by just turning the level.  “Look upon the mighty
Quintessence with wonder and awe, mortals.”

Job
smiled.

“Shut-up.” 
Gion muttered, but his mouth twitched at her theatrics.  He reached into the
safe, quickly sorting through half of the Air House’s gold treasures and DVDs
full of hardcore porn.  “We should have gloves for this.”

Nia
glanced at the movie titles and rolled her eyes.  “Where’s Thar, by the way?”

“Shit. 
I left him and Brokk in the Magnet Kingdom.”

“I’ll
get him.”  Cross kissed Nia and jumped out of the room.

Isaacs
nudged the fallen painting of Parald with his toe.  “Is this the one where he’s
Elvis?  Anybody mind if I take it?”

Job
glanced at him.  “Souvenir?”

“Bonfire. 
Didn’t you
see
this thing?  Because, I’m actually glad I
can’t
,
anymore.”

Gion
finally found what they were looking for.  Hidden in the very back of the safe
sat a mirrored box the size of a Rubik’s Cube that was covered with white
writing.

The
Love Tablet.

“It
was behind him.”  Ty murmured.  Behind the portrait, behind the throne.

Raiden
was right.

“Eureka.”
 Tessie snatched it out of Gion’s hand.  “Allow me to work more of my magic. 
Those of you in the first three rows might want to avert your eyes from the
shiny.”  She took the silver pendant from her neck and slid it across the
surface of the box.

“Damn.”
 Even Isaacs squinted against the light that the Tablet gave off as it opened. 
The sides of the box started shifting, the words lining up and moving.  It was
still only the size of a notebook, but there were –somehow-- extra dimensions
to the Tablet, now.

It
was so much deeper than its physical size.

Countless,
shimmering layers of data flowed from the surface.  So much information, in so
many languages, that Ty felt hypnotized just looking at it.  She’d never felt
anything even close to the energy radiating from the box.  Scorching and
metallic, like something radioactive, it charged the air and filled her mind
with a buzzing discharge.  Vast and unknowable, the data would have filled
every library in the universe and still overflowed.  Ty was a scientist and
even she was frightened by the concentrated display of…
everything.

Who
had made these Tablets?

Why?

It
was like trying to bottle God.

More
power than should even be harnessed.

Gion
watched the Tablet, icy eyes burning hot.  “Tessie, can you undo the fake
Phazing energy, now?”  He demanded.

“Great
thing about hooking into the universe’s ultimate search engine, I can do pretty
much anything.”  She focused for a second and then smiled.  “Ta-da!  Right
there.  She pointed at a series of words that Ty couldn’t read.  “Damn, I’m
good.  Okay, hold hands.”  She gestured at them.  “Hurry up.”

Ty
obediently grabbed Gion’s palm. “You really know how to fix this?”  It seemed
impossible to her that anyone could understand the amount of data swirling
there.

“Watch
and learn.”  Tessie closed her eyes.  There was a brief pulse of energy amid
the terrible rush of the Tablet’s power.  Something healing swept through Ty
like a cool breeze over water.  So small and simple and pure.  She actually
felt it washing her free of Parald’s taint; cleansing her so she felt…right.

And
dizzy.

Ty
stumbled sideways and Gion caught her.  Arms wrapped around her, steadying her
and Ty felt her energy touch his.  Unobstructed and free.  No Parald.  No
Randa.  Just Ty and Gion.  Water and Air powers connected.

Healed.

“Oh
God.”  Gion whispered and Ty knew that he felt it, too.

It
wasn’t
like
Phazing energy.

It
was
Phazing energy.

Untainted,
and beautiful, and… everywhere.

Gion
let out a long sigh.  “I always knew it was supposed to be this way.”  He
buried his face in her hair.  “You and me.”

“You
and me.”  Ty agreed softly.

Tessie
beamed at them.  “Not to worry.  My rates are very competitive for a
supernatural heroine.  Guy, you just have to watch
Days of Our Lives
with me… every day…
forever.
”

Ty
started laughing, happier than she’d ever been.  “That seems fair.  Gion does
love television.”  She leaned up to kiss her Match.  “Let’s go home.”

For
two years, the thought of killing Parald had given him purpose and he’d focused
on the goal.  He’d told himself that once he had justice, he’d have what he
wanted.

And
now Chason had his vengeance.

Parald
was dead.

But,
justice still hadn’t come and Chason still didn’t have what he wanted.

Mara
was still gone.

It
wasn’t that he’d believed that killing Parald would restore his Match.  Not
exactly.  But, Chason had
won
.  It seemed like he should get something
for that.  He’d beaten Parald and now Mara should be returned.  It was only
fair
.

Raiden
told him that it would happen and Raiden was always right.

Except
this time he wasn’t.

It
was over.

Chason’s
heart was still missing and insanity still beckoned.  He was tired.  He was so
tired.  And, without Parald to fight, he had nothing left in the universe to
keep him here.

It
was the end of his road.

Chason
made his way across the darkened landscape of the Magnet Kingdom towards the
pure white sepulcher.  Generally, he had no use for humans, but the poet Poe he
actually approved of.  Nia had introduced him to the man’s writings and Chason…
understood them.  Or maybe he felt that Poe understood
him
.  His pain
and loss was all right there on the page.

And so, all the night-tide, I lie
down by the side

Of my darling -my darling -my life
and my bride,

In the sepulchre there by the sea –

In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Chason
read the last four lines of
Annabel Lee
incessantly, trying to figure
out what Poe was trying to tell him.

Did
the man dream of his wife each night?  Chason could certainly relate to that. 
His nightmares featured all the ways that he’d failed Mara.  Not just letting
her die, but the thousands of small thing he could have done to make her
happier.  Chason had never been the Match that she deserved.

Or
perhaps, Poe was feeling the ghost of the woman.  Sometimes Chason felt Mara’s
presence.  He heard the music she loved or saw a flash from the corner of his
eye and thought, for a second, that it was her.  He especially experienced the
sensations near her tomb, which was why he both hated and loved it there.

Finally,
though, Chason had pieced together the
real
meaning
of those last
four lines.  It came upon him slowly, which probably showed how far gone he was
into madness.  Poe’s message was so
obvious
that Chason wasn’t sure why
he didn’t see the truth of it right away.  Only someone crazy would miss the
point.

Poe
was planning to kill himself, right there at Annabel’s grave.

He
wanted to lie forever beside his bride.

So
did Chason.

He’d
planned to finally rest when he ended the world and killed
all
the Air
Phases, but now he saw the truth.

It
wouldn’t matter.

Nothing
he did would bring Mara back, so what was the point in doing anything?

Nothing
mattered, at all.

It
was hard for a Phase to commit suicide.  Chason actually wasn’t sure how to go
about it, so he figured that it would be much easier if Raiden just chopped off
his head for him.  He’d expected Raiden to balk at the order, but the other man
had just nodded, pulled out his sword, and followed Chason outside.

Raiden
was a good friend.

Chason
began humming
I’ll Be with You in Apple Blossom Time
as they walked
towards the sepulcher.  The song was the funeral dirge of his old life, many
and many a year ago.  Chason hated music, now, but it only seemed fitting that
it play at his execution.

It
was such a shame there was no God or heaven.  He wanted to see Mara, again.  To
hear her singing.  To see her smile.  To sit down and listen to her read
fairytales or play one of the games that he’d never had time for.  She’d asked
him to play checkers once and he’d said no.  He’d been so busy trying to please
his father.  Trying to be perfect.  He’d thought that he could play later. 
He’d thought that there would be time.  But, she’d never asked him to play
again and time ran out.

He
wished that he could ask her for forgiveness.

He
wished that he could go back and just play one game with her.

Just
one.

He’d
give anything for that.

“What
should we do about the barriers being down?”  Raiden asked as they neared the
tomb.  “Sooner or later someone will invade.”

“I
don’t care.”  Chason told him truthfully.  Nothing mattered, now.  “After I’m
dead, put me inside of it.”  He gestured towards the tomb.

Raiden
surveyed the sepulcher with a thoughtful frown.  “I don’t think another coffin
will fit in there.”

“So,
just put me on the floor next to her crypt or something.  What difference does
it make?”  It wasn’t like Phases needed to be embalmed.

Raiden
lifted a shoulder in a half shrug.  “It seems pretty permanent.  Probably, want
it to be right.”

Chason
frowned.  Was he crazy or did that make sense?

Probably
both.

Yes. 
This was
important
.  The only important thing left.  He needed to make
sure that Raiden didn’t screw it up.

“Alright. 
Hang on.”  Chason headed over to push open the doors to the vault, so he could
figure out how to arrange his own body.

Inside
the sepulcher sat Mara’s crypt, also composed of white marble.  Scenes of
songbirds and garlands of apple blossoms decorated the sides of it.  Chason
hadn’t been this close to Mara’s vault since her funeral.  He always had the
overwhelming feeling of suffocation when he thought of his Match trapped in
that long, pretty box.

Still,
it only took one step inside the sepulcher to know that something was wrong.

He
didn’t feel Mara.

He
didn’t feel his Match.

A
terrible wrongness griped him.  A desperate agonizing certainty that Mara
missing.  She was gone.  Not just from his mind, but genuinely
gone
.

No,
no, no, no, no.

Chason
lunged at the coffin.  “Raiden!”  He shouted the name.  “Help me!”  He pried at
the massive stone lid, his panic and mounting fury giving him strength.

Two
seconds later, Raiden was seizing the other side of the crypt.  Grabbing the
opposite end, he heaved it upward.  He didn’t even ask what they were doing. 
He just helped Chason topple the lid onto the ground.  It crashed to the floor,
the corner of the marble chipping, marring the perfect carving it had taken
three master Stone Phase craftsmen to create.

Chason
didn’t notice.

He
peered into the darkened interior of the grave and felt the oxygen leave his
body.

Empty.

Empty.

Empty.

The
word roared through him like a tidal wave, starting with a quake inside of his
missing heart and growing so big that it obliterated everything else in his
senses.

Empty.

Empty.

Empty!

His
Match had been stolen from him.

Her
body carted away.

Chason’s
powers detonated like a bomb, the shockwave of it slamming out across the
entire Elemental realm as he bellowed in rage.  His energy was out of control
and more powerful than it had ever been.  Computers in all the Houses went down
from the magnetic pulse.  For one horrible moment, every metal object in the
universe pulled towards the Magnet Kingdom.

Chason’s
hands fisted around the edge of the defiled crypt, his eyes wild as his mind
raced.

He
couldn’t lay down by the side of a life and bride who’d been
fucking
kidnapped!

All
thoughts of suicide vanished as the tsunami hit the shores of his
consciousness, wiping them clean of debris for the first time since the Fall.  For
several seconds, the specter of insanity was washed away and Chason saw the
world clearly.

He
would have known if Mara had been missing before today.  Someone took his Match
while the barriers were down.  They wouldn’t have done that just to piss him
off.  Not if they went and put the lid back on the coffin, hiding their
tracks.  How could they be sure that Chason would even notice?

No,
they’d stolen Mara as a bargaining chip.  They planned to use her body to get
something from Chason.  They’d targeted her because they knew she was the only
leverage anyone could possibly have over him.

Someone
had violated his Match’s resting place so they could extort him.

The
black and red swirl of madness returned to his mind, clouding everything. 
Whoever did this was going to suffer so badly, they’d still be feeling it a
week after they were dead.  He wouldn’t stop until he had Mara back and the
people who did this were roasting in the Hell that Chason no longer really
believed in.

Dead
or alive,
no one touched his Match!

Chason’s
glowing eyes flashed over to Raiden, too furious to say anything.  The frenzy
of his powers made the door hinges of the sepulcher pop loose and twist into
modern art sculptures in midair.

Raiden
stared back impassively.  “So, am I
not
killing you tonight, then?

Chason
took in his calm face.  “You knew that she was gone.”  He accused wrathfully.

“Of
course.  How else could she be returned to you?”

Chason
nearly killed the man for his composure.  “
Who has her?
”

“I
don’t know.  I can’t see that part.  The future’s become too clouded.”  Raiden
tilted his head in puzzlement, his eyes staring at something far away.  “It’s
like everything is… changing.”