Chapter One
I hadn’t had this dream in a while. The fact that I knew it was a dream right off the bat told me I wasn’t going to like where it led. Of course, knowing what I did now, none of the dreams from my past had been very good for me either. Though they might have told me some important things, stuff that meant something, it didn’t mean I had to like them.
Or their underlying message.
This time, I stood at the center of a star with five points. Before I knew that everything I dreamed was true, I’d always thought of where I stood as the four corners of the seasons, each of the elements, or the four cardinal directions.
But I had been wrong…even as I’d been right.
I hadn’t known there was a fifth.
But then again, I hadn’t known much at the time.
I still felt like I didn’t. Not at all.
I stood at the crossroads, my hair blowing in the wind and the screams of a thousand voices echoing in my mind. I knew they were my own. My screams mixed with those of my friends, those I loved, and others I didn’t know.
These were memories. My dreams weren’t really dreams.
But each time the visions came, I didn’t know if they would be my memories or a future that would never come. I didn’t know if they were the memories of those who kept sending me these nightmares, or if it was just something to try and scare me into coming back.
I didn’t want to go back.
Or maybe I did.
The fact that I was still deciding on when told me I wasn’t ready. But I pushed those thoughts out of my head and tried to focus on what the dream was trying to tell me—if it was trying to tell me anything at all.
The element that I was most afraid of was in front of me. Spirit. And I did not know a single person who possessed it. I didn’t know anyone who could Wield it like the others. Every time I looked into the face of this element, I could feel the fear crawling up my back, into my shoulders, moving down to my belly to latch on. Because I didn’t know what Spirit Wielders could do, other than walk in my dreams. Yet I knew it could be so much more.
It had to be.
Because if it weren’t, then the others wouldn’t have tried to kill the Spirit Wielders for their powers.
In the far right upper corner of the star, there was Fire. Below that, Earth. To the left, Air, and above, Water.
All elements. All coming at me…and yet not.
The Air blew my blond hair back from my face, and I lifted my chin, letting the heat of Fire warm my pale skin. I’d gotten slightly tanner outside of my dreams this past year by being outside, but within my visions, it was as if the sun had been leached from my skin altogether. As if I were just a pale shadow of who I once was.
As with the elements, and like with anything, there were different types of people, various Wielders who used their powers and magic in ways that were either helpful or hurtful depending on the individual. There were those who Wielded their elements and used them to protect others or to harm even more. They used them to their advantage and had had hundreds of years to perfect those skills.
I had been born human. And I still was…maybe. Even in my dreams. Here, I didn’t possess the elements that had been thrust upon me, unlocking inside of me with bone-breaking agony and pain. The torment of which was so haunting, I knew I would never forget.
In these dreams, I was the girl I had been before. And I was powerless.
I hadn’t been without power in the end, and yet in these dreams, I was reminded of what I’d been, and what I might become if I went back without knowing what was to come.
I had left the Maison realm because I was afraid. Because I had been beaten. I’d lost my best friend and so much more. I’d died with a sword in my belly and blood on my hands.
And the Spirit Wielders, those who’d remained hidden for centuries from the other Wielders, saved me.
The boy I loved—who I thought I could love, at least—the one I thought was my soulmate, hadn’t been able to save me. There hadn’t been that true connection. Legend said that a soulmate could heal a mortal wound. And he couldn’t heal mine.
Now, Rhodes was gone, off to his own kingdom. And I was in the human realm, hiding. He had his people to protect…and I had to find a way to heal.
But what I was living right now was a dream, I reminded myself. Just a dream.
Water from its corner of the star lapped at my feet, cold and icy. It wasn’t like that time on the beach as a child, playing in the sand and letting the waves crash into me. I had been a strong swimmer, but my mother had always warned me about the rip tides, the strong currents. They could take you out into the abyss and drown you, take you away from everything you’d ever known, and no one would be able to hear you scream.
As I thought that, the waves grew stronger, knocking into my knees until I went weak, shaking just slightly. Sand scraped my skin, but I did not fall. Not now.
This was just a dream.
And I wasn’t that girl anymore.
The ground rumbled beneath my feet, and I knew that Earth was angry. I reminded myself that there was more to come from that land. More to take. Because while the king of the Fire and Earth territories was one man—one who had saved me—the Lord of Earth was not as welcoming, not as forgiving.
I owed their lord a favor, one I was afraid I might not ever be able to repay.
The man who ruled the territory had not killed me, and therefore, I owed him. It was funny how being able to breathe could be something owed, a favor. The mere idea that I could walk away with my life in my hands, that was what I owed someone.
The earth cracked ever so slightly beneath me, jagged lines appearing that sent dust spiraling into the air, but I did not falter. I did pull myself back from thoughts of what I owed, however.
Because unlike with Water, I could Wield this element. I could feel Earth, and it tugged on something within me, a part so deep that it caused warmth to spread through my fingers. And though I didn’t actually possess that element in this dream, I knew that once I woke up, I would be able to.
And then the Fire came at me, and I held back a wince. Fire, such heat.
I didn’t possess this element, even though its twin, Earth, called to me. Earth and Fire were friends, tangling with each other not only in magic and genetics but also within a kingdom that was falling apart under its new king. The new ruler who had come into his title as the kingdom fell apart around him.
I didn’t know if I would be enough to save it.
I disregarded the Fire and what it represented, ignored its temptation. It had called to me since I was a child, and it still called.
It was not the Water with its siren song that lured me, but the Fire that burned.
And then I remembered that Water could douse the flames, even though Fire could dance above the waves.
All of that might soon unlock within me. And I wasn’t sure I was strong enough.
I turned myself fully within the star to face the first element that had ever unlocked within me. Air. I had unlocked it to save the boy that I thought I could love—and myself. I could still feel the wind dancing between my fingers and tangling in my hair. It was the warmest of elements, even more so than Fire in my opinion. Because Fire raged and burned, while Air hugged and caressed.
But it could kill.
I knew that firsthand.
And I possessed this element.
That was something I was still coming to understand.