Chapter 10

As I slowly regained consciousness, I felt as though my tongue was made of cotton. I was groggy and sore, feeling as though I’d just awoken after some kind of beating. I slowly opened my eyes, groaning. Suddenly, all the events before being knocked unconscious came back to me and I sat straight up. Bad idea. My body ached and protested every movement I made. Forcing back my awareness to the dull aches, I glanced around the room I was in. It was dark, with only a dim red light coming through the small, barred opening on the door. It looked much like the cell I’d seen my dad in before I was shocked into unconsciousness. That brought my mind into full-alert as I prayed I wasn’t alone.

 

“Gale?” I called, my mouth dry and my voice thick. “Gale?”

 

There was no response. I could feel my breathing quicken as fear began to set in. Was I completely alone in here? Where was Gale? Had Pathos already killed him? Tears stung my eyes as these questions raced through my head. A quiet, deep groan drew my attention to the figure on the other side of the dark room. I could barely see him, but I was able to recognize my brother from the color of his hair.

 

“What hit me?” he asked and then growled. I was sure he’d remembered what had happened and didn’t need me to remind him. Even across a room in which I couldn’t see him, I could feel the anger emanating from him.

 

“Are you alright, Gale?” I asked.

 

“I should have seen it coming!”

 

“Yes, you should have,” Pathos’ voice answered. I turned my head toward the door to see him in that small, barred opening. “After all, Gale, you have the gift of Foresight. You were always able to predict my intentions before. Don’t tell me you’ve gotten rusty.”

 

I glared harshly at the man and he only chuckled. Gale growled and ran towards the door, probably planning on punching Pathos. Unfortunately, before he could cross more than half the room, his laser-tether lit up and stopped him from moving. I looked down at my wrists and could see similar cuffs on them. We were trapped.

 

“What do you want with us?!” I demanded.

 

“Only what I’ve wanted all along but your parents were resistant to.” Pathos began walking away but as he did, I heard him say, “Disposing of your mothers was a simple matter.” I glanced at Gale and could see it in his face in the dim light. What I’d heard wasn’t imagined.

 

“I’ll kill you!” Gale roared, trying to pull on the laser-tether hard enough to extend or break it.

 

Of course, those things were almost impossible to break in such a way. I’d known Gale’s mother was a topic never to be brought up, but I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to her. Realizing he couldn’t pull his way out of the cell, Gale turned around and punched the wall once. I wouldn’t have been surprised if his knuckles were raw after that one. Gale pressed his back against the wall and slid down it until he was sitting on the floor, his hands buried into his thick silver hair.

 

“Gale,” I whispered cautiously and his head snapped up to stare at me. The red in his eyes appeared almost non-existent in the matching dim light. It was a scary sight to behold.

 

“How could I not see this coming?” he asked himself.

 

“You couldn’t have. There would have been no way of knowing.”

 

“But I’ve always known!” There was silence between us, but I could hear hushed whispers coming from other cells around us.

 

“Who’s there?!” I demanded and the whispers abruptly stopped.

 

“My name’s Ari,” a male voice answered. “I’m a Child of Wind.” I blinked a few times in confusion. A what?

 

“What in blue blazes is that?!” Gale asked, obviously as confused as I was.

 

“You don’t know?” No one’s ever told you what you two are?” This time, it was a female’s voice. She sounded as though she’d lost all hope.

 

“That was Ebony. She’s a Child of Fire,” Ari said. “It is strange that neither of you know what you are.”

 

“Are you going to keep speaking in riddles or are you going to give us a straight answer?” Gale demanded.

 

“You are Children of Water. You’re the last ones Pathos needed for his collection.”

 

“Collection?”

 

“He’s gathered every type of Elemental Child: Wind, Earth, Fire and Water. You two were the ones he needed to finish his collection.”

 

“Why does he want us?” I asked.

 

“You really are clueless, aren’t you? He wants all of us for our gifts.”

 

“What gifts?”

 

“Whichever one of you has the gift of Foresight, you can predict the future. That’s probably how you were able to escape him for so long,” Ari explained.

 

“Does every one have the same gift?” I asked.

 

“Of course not. They vary through the elements and among people. It’s so unlikely that you two would have the same gift that I would expect to be struck by lightning first.”

 

“Careful what you wish for, Ari,” another masculine voice called. His voice was rougher than Ari’s as well as deeper.

 

“Shut up, Griffin. We know you’ve got Absorption.”

 

“Absorption?” I asked, lost once again.

 

“He can absorb electricity and use it. He’s the other Child of Fire here.”

 

“Do any of you have anything that’ll get us out of here?” Gale asked.

 

“If we did, do you think we’d still be here?” I heard Gale growl in annoyance.

 

“No arguing,” I ordered.

 

“Who died and made you queen?” Ebony asked.

 

“Are any of you the captain of a ship, which is following this one, I might add?” They were silent. “Thought so.” Suddenly, the belt around my waist started moving, tickling me. I started laughing as it turned into a gelatinous pink blob, floating in front of my face.

 

“Morph!” Gale exclaimed.

 

“I just found a way out of here. Morphy, I want you to go back to the Argent. Tell Jim what happened. It is imperative you tell him everything. I don’t know how long we’ll be traveling.”

 

“Until we get to Ementia,” Ari answered. “That’s where he plans to sacrifice us for our powers. We’re safe until then, relatively. If you want anyone to attack, it’ll be when we get to the planet.”

 

“You got that, Morph?” I asked. He saluted me. “Good. Now go tell Jim.” Morph zipped out of the cell and I could only hope things would turn out well.