Treasure of the Fire Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 4) (6 page)

“
Your
brother
.  The one you were with in Mayport Beach about five minutes ago.”

“Oooooooohh…
yeah… bad news about that.”  Missy shook her shiny black curls regretfully. 
“Alder’s going to human jail.  Forever.”

“As for
me,” she said, “I have no fear.  Things have been as bad as they can be.

And
whatever may happen must have in it some element of hope or comfort.”

Bram
Stoker- “Dracula”

The
good news was Hope finally had an answer for Teja’s “Where did the lost Crystal
Phases go?” riddle.

The
bad news was Hope had apparently been kidnapped and was now scheduled to die,
so it didn’t seem likely she’d be telling her cousin that the mystery was
solved anytime soon.

Her
gaze stayed locked on the frosted door across the narrow hall from her.  The
armed Phases had dragged her into this industrial plastic prison and tossed her
into a holding cell.  It reminded her of that creepy science lab where Spike
had been held on
Buffy
.  Utilitarian and white, with impenetrable
Plexiglas walls, it had been specifically designed to keep Elementals
contained.  And it seemed like it was working.  There were no Phases in the
cells beside her, but she could feel them moving around in their own small cages. 
Lots of them.  Trapped.

There
was no way she was getting out.

There
was no way
any
of the Phases locked up in the rows of identical
compartments were getting out.  She knew that and still she nervously watched
the only door in the place that no one could see through.  A triangular yellow
sign taped to its surface read:

DANGER!!!

Akkadian,
of the Crystal House.

DO
NOT OPEN.

Akkadian
was still alive.

Hopefully,
Hope could get out of here before he escaped and killed everyone.

Hope
blew out a frustrated breath at the world at large.  Darn it, how had this
happened?  She’d been trying to go from the Fire Kingdom to Elemental’s Library
of Records in the Agora.  Instead, she’d somehow managed to jump herself into
the Cloud Kingdom, which was
supposed
to be deserted, but obviously
wasn’t.

This
was her jinx at work, again.

She
should have just waited for Alder to come and escort her to the library, but
he’d been late and she’d been so sure she could do it on her own if she just
had some more practice.

Since
the barriers between the kingdoms fell, Hope had been having a hell of a time
getting around.  She’d never been very good a jumping from place to place like
the other Phases.  Part and parcel of being a freak.  When the fences were up,
though, at least her landing options had been limited.  Basically, the Fire
Kingdom, the Agora, or the Heat Kingdom.  Everywhere else, she’d needed an
invitation to enter, so she’d ping-pong between the three a few times until she
got it right.  Annoying, but doable.

Now
that there was an open door policy everywhere, she just kinda jumped… everywhere. 
She popped into places that she’d never been before in her life, scaring the
hell out of the poor people who lived there.  Today, she’d already seen the
inside of somebody’s closet in the human realm, the Electricity Kingdom’s
glowing gardens, and the Sound Palace’s royal bedchamber.

Oh,
and Eian, of the Cold House’s shower.  The guy had not been a gracious host. 
Not that Hope blamed him, particularly, but he’d been super annoyed.  Right
about now, though, she would have traded body parts to be back in that white
tile room hearing him bitch at her, while he grabbed for a towel.

Hope
had never been to the Cloud Kingdom before, but she was pretty sure that it
shouldn’t be filled with lunatics.

She
snapped off the last bitable chuck of her thumbnail and switched to her index
finger.  How did she even get into situations like this?  She wasn’t a
political person.  She didn’t go to Council meetings.  Didn’t control any
House.  She rarely left the Fire Kingdom, at all.  Most Phases didn’t even know
she existed.  How could she possibly be accused of spying?

“So
this is the invading force, huh?”  The male voice snorted in amusement. 
“Typical.  I get sent all the way over here to check on some terrifying foe and
it’s Rainbow Bright.”

“She’s
a Council spy, Zakkery.”  Galen, of the Stone House hissed.  “I’m sure of it.”

“Please. 
Aside from the fact that the Council has no idea we’re even here, I seriously
doubt Job’s resorted to using pintsized humans to do his dirty work.”

That
got Hope focusing on them.  “I’m not a human.”  She said, very distinctly.

At
least, not totally.  Granted there were almost certainly some mortal genes in
her someplace.  It was the most likely explanation for her allergies, and
spotty powers, and the missing streak from her hair.  But, the Elemental part
of her was clearly dominant and that’s how she self-identified.

She
pulled her attention away from Akkadian’s ominous door and glowered at the two
men stationed on the other side of her plastic cell.  “Look, you should let me
go, before this turns into a bloodbath.”

Sooner
or later, her family
would
come find her.  Hope knew that.  If
necessary, they’d burn the Cloudland to ashes to get her back and worry about
the body count later.

Actually,
no.  They’d never worry about the body count.

“Did
you hear that!?”  Galen crowed triumphantly.  “She threatened us.  I told you! 
She’s an enemy of my new kingdom!”

Hope
rolled her eyes.  The Stone Phase was the jerk who led the
other
jerks
in capturing her.  The last thing she felt like doing was listening to him. 
She glanced at the new arrival instead.  “I’m just saying, you guys are making
a
really
big mistake here.  I mean just putting me within six hundred
feet of
Akkadian
, for God’s sake!  My family isn’t going to like that.”

“I
don’t think we’re the ones who made the mistake, kiddo.”  Zakkery leaned
against her cell. “Tell ya what.  Why don’t you explain who you are and I’ll
see what I can do to get you right back
where you belong.”  He gave her
a boyish grin.

The
guy was stunning.  He should have been a rakish guitar player in a rock band or
the angsty loner slouched in the back row of a class who all the good girls
daydreamed would ask them to prom.  But then, this man had always been famous
for two things:  His exquisite face and his gruesome crimes.

Zakkery,
of the Smoke House.

Hope
frowned, not even a tiny bit captivated by his friendly, appraising expression.

Rule
number fifty-five of being a Fire Phase:  Never trust someone who smiles a lot.

“Is
this supposed to be –like-- good cop/bad cop?  Because I don’t really like
either of you, so it’s not gonna work.”

“Hey,
I’m just trying to figure out who you are.  You look familiar.”  Zakkery
disregarded her visible lack of interest in his charms.  “Hmmm… Have we slept
together maybe?”

Hope’s
mouth dropped open at the blasé question.  “No, we haven’t.  At all.”  Jesus,
she’d known this guy for thirty seconds and she was already sick of him.  She
didn’t want to see him naked besides.

Zakkery’s
lips curved at her appalled tone, this time into a more genuine, crooked grin. 
“Well, if you make it your last request, I’ll see what I can do to remedy
that.”

“Thanks,
but I think I’d rather just die.”

His
head tilted at an almost ninety degree angle.  “Huh.  Maybe this is gonna work
out, after all.”

“
What’s
going to work?”

Zakkery
ignored that and glanced over at Galen.  “Kingu wants to know where this girl
comes from.  Has she told you, yet?”

“No. 
She refuses to give us any information.”  Galen’s eyes stayed fixed on her like
a snake.  “Not that it matters.  She’ll meet the death that Council lackies
deserve.”

Yeah…
That sounded bad.

“Look,
I have no idea what any of this…”

Galen
cut her off.  “
I’m
the Enforcer of the Cloudland, now. 
I
oversee
our laws.  Answer my questions or face the consequences!  Did Job send you? 
Are you part of his vendetta?”

“Job’s…
vendetta?
”

Job,
of the Earth House wasn’t the most popular Phase in the Fire House, either.  He
liked to lecture them about why arson was bad thing.  It never failed to piss
Djinn off and incite him to start even more infernos.  But even Djinn would
laugh at the idea of Job with a
vendetta
.  The guy was like Ned
Flanders.

“Job
and Council passed judgment on us and now they’re seeking us out to finish what
they started and kill us!”  Galen hissed.

“I
seriously doubt that…”

Galen
talked right over her.  “Well, this is
my
kingdom, now.  Job has no
authority here, human!”

“I’m
not a human.”  But she was beginning to understand something.  “So
all
you guys were Banished and now you –like-- hang out together?

It
kind of made sense.  Of
course
, some of the Banished Phases would have
survived the Fall.  Who knew how many had been exiled over the centuries? 
Statistically speaking,
of
course
some of them were immune to the
plague.  Why had no one ever considered that before?

Zakkery
snorted in amusement.  “Yeah, we’re like a fraternity.”

“Shut-up.” 
Galen stabbed a finger at her through the Plexiglas.  “Save you lies and mind
games.  Just tell us who sent you here.”

“No
one sent me!  I
accidently
jumped here.  I told you that, already.” 
Hope hesitated and glanced over at Zakkery.  “And, when I arrived, I crashed
into a man.  I didn’t mean to, but I knocked him into a moat of acid.”  It had
been pretty cool lawn feature, actually.  The Fire Palace had a lava moat, so
Hope appreciated this new variation on a homey theme.  “Do you know if he’s
okay?”

Zakkery
regarded her through a sweep of dark hair that had fallen over his face, his
eyes narrowed in consideration.

“She
means Kingu.”  Galen explained when Zakkery didn’t respond.  “I thought at
first she was sent to execute that reptile, but she now claims to be concerned
about his health.  I’ve told her nothing.”  He seemed smug over refusing Hope’s
request.

“Kingu’s
fine.”  Zakkery reported, ignoring Galen’s aggravated glare.  He kept his
attention on Hope.  “He asked me to find out about you, in fact.”

“He
did?”  Hope’s heart beat faster at that news.  She’d been trying not to think
of him, because it distracted her from the whole “being-on-death-row” problem,
but she just couldn’t resist the bait.  “What does he want to know?”

“Well…
he’s kinda curious about what species you are.”

Hope’s
eager expression fell.  That was just insulting.  “I’m an Elemental, of
course.”

“Where’s
the streak in your hair, then?”  He gestured to her temple.

“It’s
a birth defect.  I don’t have any real powers.  But, I am still a Phase.”

Mostly.

“What
House?”

Hope
hesitated.  Mentioning her family was sort of a Catch-22, at this point. 
Anyone who knew the Fire House’s reputation well enough to believe that they’d
retaliate horribly for hurting Hope, also knew that they’d retaliate horribly
for abducting her, in the first place.  She couldn’t really use her family as
an effective threat without her captors panicking and getting rid of all the
evidence that she’d ever been here, at all.

Including
her body.

“Ummm…” 
She cleared her throat and tried to think of the most innocuous House she could
possibly be a heretofore unknown member of.  “I’m a… Color Phase.”  That was
pretty good actually.  No one was afraid of the Color House.  They were mostly
painters.

“Color
Phase?”  Zakkery scanned her rainbow hued outfit again and nodded as if that
made sense.  “Alright.  That explains why you’re dressed like a nut, then. 
Sorta.”

Hope’s
mouth thinned.  Everyone was a fashion critic.

“Why
is Kingu asking
you
about this girl?”  Galen demanded.  “I saved him
from her assassination attempt.  He should be asking
me
.”

“Maybe
he just likes me more than you.”  Zakkery suggested causally.

“I
didn’t try to assassinate anyone.”  Hope protested.

Galen’s
eyes narrowed at her and then he looked back at Zakkery.  “In any case, tell
Kingu not to worry about the invader.  I’ve already scheduled her match.”

Zakkery’s
jaw tightened.

“I
don’t have a Match.”  Hope interjected.

Except,
the man called Kingu looked so much like a monster that she couldn’t help
remembering Oberon’s final words to her and it filled her with so much… hope.

Kingu
was huge.

That
was the first thing she noticed, thanks to her upbringing.

Fire
Phases sized up everyone they met, just in case they had to battle them to the
death, at a moment’s notice.  This man was gigantic.  He didn’t carry a weapon,
but he certainly wasn’t unarmed.  He was a warrior.  She could tell just by
looking at him.  Real warriors didn’t need a sword to win a fight.  Oberon had
taught her that.