The map led us thirty miles away from the city, toward the mountains. As we flew through the air, leaving the city behind us, I wondered what would happen once we completed the ritual. The people in the city knew nothing about the prophecy or what we were about to do. Would they try to stop us if they knew? Would they accept their fate, whatever it was? I couldn’t imagine losing my elements, and I didn’t want to think how people would feel when they lost theirs. Maybe it would be as if their elements had never existed. Maybe our world would change completely.
“I can feel it calling to us,” Blake said.
“What?” I had no idea what he was talking about. The sky was the deepest blue I’d ever seen, and the only sound I could hear was the chirping of birds as we flew above the trees.
“The Sacred Place. I can feel it in every part of me.” Blake plunged toward the ground, and I followed him. We landed in a small meadow full of colorful flowers. I looked around and only saw endless trees.
Hayley frowned, but the expression on Blake’s face was one of complete bliss. Could he feel something that I couldn’t?
“Do you see anything?” I asked, trying to spot any marks or symbols that would indicate this place was indeed special.
“No, but that means we’re not looking close enough. Reach out with your element.” A shimmering thread rose from Blake and started to spread over the meadow.
Calling to my air, I let it seep out and just roam around. Something brushed against my element; a spark of energy. I started toward one of the trees. Blake was going in the opposite direction, and Hayley was just standing in the middle of the meadow and squinting her eyes at the trees. I realized my energy was going right for one of the trees, so I pressed my hand against its trunk, feeding it with my element. Something popped, and I went around the tree. There was a hole in the trunk, and a scroll with a black ribbon was protruding from it. I picked it up, sliding off the ribbon.
Welcome, Hero, Strong, and Murderer. Welcome to the Sacred Place. Your journey ends and starts here anew. This meadow is where you must complete the ritual. No one can interfere. To prove your strength to God of Magic, the Murderer must take the life of the Strong, the most powerful elemental on this plane of existence, and the Hero must bring the Strong back to life. Only if they all succeed will they acquire the power of all elements.
The note slipped out of my fingers, and I looked across the meadow, meeting Blake’s gaze. His face was pale, and I knew he’d read the note, too. How were we supposed to do this? Blake didn’t know how to bring someone back to life. It didn’t make sense... or maybe it did. He focused on Hayley, who was crouching in the grass and digging through the dirt. Blake was very powerful with mind control, so maybe if I used my element to end Hayley’s life, he could somehow bring her back. Maybe there was a way to reverse the damage.
“I found something. It looks like a door!” Hayley yelled, and I strolled toward her. A box of steel with lines etched on it that resembled a door was protruding from the ground, but there didn’t seem to be any way to open it. Hayley dug around it, her fingers caked in dirt, but the box seemed to be bigger than we’d thought.
“It’ll open once we complete the ritual,” Blake said, his eyes never leaving mine as he strode toward Hayley. “We have to do this.”
I gave him a brief nod. I’d been waiting my whole life for this. It was my destiny. I had to do what needed to be done, no matter how uncomfortable it made me. That was the whole point of the test; to prove that we were the ones who were chosen for this. We could do it. Just as I steeled myself, something whizzed next to my head and sent Blake flying to the ground. I couldn’t see anything, and I reached out with my element. Finally, a shimmering cloud appeared in front of me, turning into a guy.
“What are you doing here?” I hissed, letting my fire coat my fingers.
“I could ask you the same,” Jaiden said, his dark eyes boring into mine.
“You can’t stop us from completing the ritual.”
“I can try,” he said through his teeth, and before I could move, he sent a fireball in Blake’s direction. I pulled Hayley to her feet and pushed her toward the trees, so she’d be safe until Blake and I got rid of Jaiden. I didn’t know if Jaiden had come here to steal my spot or just wanted to stop us, but I couldn’t let any of that happen. As I sent a blast of air at him, I heard a noise that reminded me a lot of a helicopter. Shit!
Blake looked up at the sky, and Jaiden used the opportunity to punch Blake in the jaw. I noticed shimmering clouds coming our way. Jaiden must have told them where we were or they’d follow him here. Either way, we had to start the ritual before they arrived. Blake had managed to throw Jaiden off him, and I strode toward Hayley, who looked at me with her big eyes full of fear. My element shot out of me and went for her head. I could do this. I could.
“Moira, don’t! Please!” a voice behind my back said, and I turned to face a dark-haired boy with blue eyes. He was the one I’d taken hostage during that fight with Lily’s agents. “Please listen to me. You can’t...”
I blasted him across the meadow with my air.
“Do it!” Blake yelled.
Hayley cried out as I slipped inside her head, and she tried to push me out, but she had never done or experienced this before. She couldn’t know what exactly to do; she could only push and shove against me, or try to cut me off, but that didn’t work. Maybe if I hadn’t touched the energy that was in that tree, I wouldn’t have all this power.
“Moira! Now!” The desperation in Blake’s voice was palpable, and I could hear the helicopter coming closer. Lily’s team or whoever would be on us at any moment. And yet, as I cradled Hayley’s brain signals in my shimmering air, I hesitated. A waterball flew toward me, but I caught it in the net of my air.
“Moira, listen to me! You won’t achieve anything if you do this. It’s just some silly story! You can’t get the power of all elements, and even if you could, do you really want to destroy the world? I know you, Moira,” the blue-eyed guy pleaded. “I know you’re not this person. You would never let anyone get hurt. Your parents are waiting for you.”
I turned toward him, curling my fingers into fists. How dare he tell me that what I’d believed in my whole life was just a silly story? I created a wall of fire, guiding it closer toward the guy, the grass around it catching fire.
“Moira!” Jaiden yelled, and I turned my head toward him.
“What? Are you going to tell me how this is all a mistake?” I growled, preparing myself to attack him.
“No, I won’t.” His eyes softened. “I know what it’s like to want something so badly that you can’t focus on anything else. I know what it’s like to feel alone in this world and not be able to trust anyone. If you think having all the power of the world will change that, you’re wrong. It will only make things worse.” His gaze flitted to Blake, and I used the opportunity to push him away with my air.
I grabbed Hayley in my arms as she struggled against me, and I shoved my air inside her head again. Jaiden rushed us, and I lost my grip on Hayley, but my element was still in place.
“Damn it, Moira! Hurry!” Blake yelled, fighting with two more elementals. Shouting could be heard not far from us. Someone was coming. Jaiden stepped in between Hayley and me, and my connection to her was severed. I charged him, bringing us both to the ground. As I raised my fist to punch him, I realized his body was limp under mine, his eyes boring into mine. He wasn’t fighting me; he was just looking at me.
“Can’t you see how many people are trying to stop you?” he asked. “Don’t you think that if this were your destiny, you wouldn’t have been interrupted?”
I let my hand drop to my side and saw the meadow had been turned into a fighting field. Blake and the rest of our group, who must have come to help at some point, were trying to fight off the oncoming agents. Some of the agents were dousing fire with their water to stop it from spreading.
Not far from me, the blue-eyed agent was kneeling in front of Hayley, who was huddled under a tree and sobbing. The agent caressed her hair and helped her get to her feet. I frowned. Why would he be helping her? Weren’t they supposed to hunt down all tainted elementals? Or was he trying to trick her into coming with him without a fight?
“Noah won’t hurt her,” Jaiden said. I tried to get up, but Jaiden suddenly gripped my arm and pulled me toward him. I fell forward, my face only inches from his, my breath catching in my chest. A shield of air surrounded us both as elements assaulted it. I wanted to push myself up, but Jaiden was too strong.
“Why are you protecting me?” I asked.
“You’d know if you could remember, and you can’t do that. But can’t you see there’s something wrong about this whole thing? You have huge memory gaps and don’t seem to recall many things, and yet your mission and your desire to complete the ritual are crystal clear in your mind.” He ran his hands down my arms, his shield still getting hit by elements. “In fact, that desire is so strong that you aren’t able to see what’s right in front of you. Your mind doesn’t allow you to think what you’d really think in this situation.”
My mind screamed that what he was telling me couldn’t be true, and as I tried to think his words over, they eluded me. I sat up, pressure building behind my eyes. Someone had messed with my mind really bad, and I could no longer trust anything. Not even a tiny detail about myself or anyone else. Jaiden’s shield had dissolved, and agents surrounded us, their rifles pointed at us. A burst of energy rippled through the air, and my elements curled up inside of me. We could no longer use our elements; I was sure of it.
I raised my hands in the air, and someone grabbed me from behind, cuffing my hands behind my back. Another agent grabbed Jaiden and pulled him to his feet. In the corner of my eye, I could see Ulry and Raven being led away too, but Blake was nowhere to be seen.