Chapter 19 - Above Cursed Winds

Wind whistled past the shuttered windows, rattling them in their frames. Zia’s worried glances betrayed her growing anxiety for the situation. Far too many clan members were still vulnerable and in unfinished housing, unprepared for the weather they expected in the next week.

Weather officials had announced the hurricane headed their way was indeed on track to make landfall. It was rare: Oahu almost never experienced hurricanes, and the last one had been decades ago.

Back then, Nero had up and moved the entire clan, but their numbers had grown significantly, and a lot of the families had fragile newborns and recovering mothers to care for.

Deep into the night, Zia had fielded several calls of distress from nearby homes, teleporting into their midst and remedying what they needed. One couple had a tree fall on their home, and Nero had immediately taken them in.

Another had had several windows blown out when a piece of scrap metal had slammed into their western wall, and they’d been placed with another lieutenant. If this persisted, they’d be running out of residential shelters and have to move people into the offices. With a possible traitor still at large, that would be a security nightmare.

Dragging herself out of bed, she took a speedy shower, working her hair into a lather and letting the heat caress the tension from her muscles. She had to rush and check in on her son, who had slept on the sectional in the basement, at Zia’s request.

She would have normally fretted even more, but when the storm had woken Jeremiah up, he had insisted on doing what he could to assist them. Once he’d ventured out into the night, the winds had died down significantly and allowed them time to check in on their clan members.

Smiling to herself, she remembered the cahoots Myko and their house guest had gotten into last night. They’d managed to form an alliance, ensuring that Zia received all the worst cards and attacking her ruthlessly when the hand allowed for it.

She had been the first victim of the exploding felines. Jeremiah fell only minutes later, Myko’s evil cackle filling the room as he was proclaimed Emperor of the Exploding Cats. The Elemental was proving quite adept with nicknames.

Twirling her hair into a fishtail braid, she blinked at herself in the mirror. In the last few days, Myko had been happier than she’d seen him in months, and Zia had no doubt that was due to a certain Elemental.

A noxious feeling slithered over her skin at the thought of Jeremiah leaving. Myko would be devastated, and Zia had a feeling she’d echo the sentiment all too well. She’d try to do what she could to mitigate the effect, for both of them.

She found herself in the kitchen only minutes later, pouring herself a steaming cup of coffee to compliment the bags beneath her eyes.

Though she typically got four hours of sleep, she’d had less than one last night, and Nero’s telepathic knock on her mind signaled another errand.

Yes, sovereign? she responded, knowing the man was just as tired as she.

May I come to you?

Of course.

Two seconds later, Nero appeared in her kitchen, munching happily on an apple. “Your home weather the storm without issue?”

“From what I can tell, yes.” Zia glanced over at the kitchen window, then over to the sliding glass doors. “I think we got off easy thanks to our Elemental guest.”

Nodding, Nero propped a hip against the island. “Glad to hear it. I need someone to do a fly-over of the territory and check for wider damage. Can you fly in this?”

As if hearing Nero’s ask, the gale whistled once more. Zia strode over to the window and peered outside. Cloudy grey skies greeted her, but the winds battering down on the grasses and trees would be nearly impossible to fly in.

Shaking her head, she glanced back at Nero. “I don’t think I could, sovereign. Those gusts would take me right outta the air.”

Faintly, she’d registered Jeremiah’s arrival into the kitchen from downstairs. Yawning, he interjected himself into their conversation.

“I’ll go with her. She’ll be fine.”

“While I have no doubt in your ability, are you certain? That’d be controlling flight safety for both you and Zia, and her large wingspan will make things trickier still.”

The confidence on Jeremiah face sent a thrill down Zia’s spine, and not for the first time, she wondered how powerful the Elemental truly was. When he’d briefly ‘disappeared’ yesterday, every instinct within her had yelled the same thing: his consciousness had simply vanished from his body.

“I’ll be fine, Nero. And so will Zia.”

Myko chose that moment to barrel into the kitchen, headed straight for the massive male Raeth. “Sovereign!”

With a genuine grin, Nero opened his arms for Myko as the boy launched himself toward him. Zia barely noticed the brief flash of agony written over his features.

To his credit, the male Raeth had never rejected any attempt at affection from Myko, even though her son wasn’t able to control setting off Nero’s vision of his worst fear. Their sovereign had yet to mention it to anyone.

“Hey kiddo. Causing all sorts of trouble, I hear?” Nero gamely ruffled Myko’s hair.

“Oh yeah!” Her kid beamed. “I keep beating these guys at all the games. Pretty soon, I’ll be King of the Island, sovereign.”

Straightening to his full height, the Raeth’s expression shifted to mock suspicion. “Is that a challenge I hear, Myko Giradi?”

Her son’s mischievous cackle sounded in response, putting up his dukes as though he’d duel the much larger male for it. He bounced around in front of Nero.

“I think I could take you.”

In response, Nero grabbed her son, throwing him over his shoulder with a maniacal laugh. “While I put this guy in his place, you guys go. Keep her safe, Elemental.”

“Cross my heart and hope to die.” His pointer finger made an X over his heart before Jeremiah turned his impish gaze to her. “Ready, milady?”

“As long as you know what you’re doing.”

“Does the lady doubt me?” Playfulness reflected in his tone. “You wound me deeply, Z.”

While they walked toward the front door, she stole one last look back to where Nero and Myko were playing. A magnificent man, through and through, their sovereign had stepped into the role of Myko’s mentor flawlessly. But Nero couldn’t always be there, and Myko knew that. He’d have to get used to letting go of another male figure soon, and while she knew he had the maturity for it, her heart still broke.

She felt the intensity of Jeremiah’s gaze as though it were a tangible weight, and when she risked a glance of her own, she found herself enthralled.

The Elemental’s silky red strands hung around his sculpted features. Though he was devastatingly handsome no matter how he styled his hair, seeing it loose made Zia want to run her fingers through it.

On impulse, she did.

She tucked a lock behind his ear, letting their softness tickle her fingertips. Her heart beat chaotically in her chest, and a yearning for something deeper seemed to ignite alongside it.

“I’ll tie it back.”

Intimate moment over, Jeremiah chuckled and banded his loose hair together. Then, as one, they stepped outside. Zia was wholly surprised when none of the strong gusts of wind or pelting rain blasted her. The Elemental hadn’t been bragging, after all.

He didn’t address the effort it took to sustain the bubble of calm, but continued as if nothing magical was happening. “The only reason I even grew my hair long in the first place was because Rukia really hates it. It was fun to yank her chain. But then I realized I enjoyed it longer, and I couldn’t bear to part with it. Plus, long hair is quite the lady-killer.”

“From my work with the Accords, I know Rukia is Gideon’s second, but I’ve never met her. How long have you known her?”

“Three centuries or so.” Jeremiah shrugged in a forced casual way, then motioned to the sky. “Shall we, my feathered beauty?”

Zia’s wings breathed into existence, the weight substantial against her back. She flared them wide, stretching the ligaments and tendons in preparation for the vertical takeoff.

The feathers at the base of her wings were a pure, glistening ivory that gleamed like crushed diamonds. As the feathers grew longer, they gradually transitioned into a deep indigo at the tips of her wings. It created an ombre shadow effect, a perfect mirror to the colors of her eyes.

She stifled a smile as she glanced at Jeremiah.

The Elemental was staring, stunned, at the impressive breadth of her wingspan. One hand remained raised as though he attempted to reach for her but had thought better of it. Zia flared out a wing in blatant offering.

“Want to touch, Jeremiah?”

Eyes dancing, he reached out a hand again and his fingers gently connected with the firm feathers along the arch.

“Amazing, Z.”

He whispered it like a prayer. An aggressive whistle of wind was the only thing that eventually captured his attention away from her wings.

“We should probably go before your sovereign has my hide.”

Leaping into the air, she joined him with several powerful strokes, her eyes immediately looking around for damage. Instead, she caught a strange shimmer in the air around them. When she turned to ask Jeremiah about it, she was startled to find him gone, even when his psychic signature hovered next to her.

“Jeremiah?”

“Here, Z.” The cheerful tone of his voice was undeniable. “I made us invisible.”

Zia immediately glanced down at her body, confirming the eerie effect had rendered her completely invisible to the naked eye. “Handy party trick number two. Myko would be impressed.”

He waited for a beat before he asked, “How long will it be before he can control his gift?”

“It could be a while. His talent is unique, and that isn’t always a good thing. It means there’s nobody he can directly relate to or much precedent on how to handle it and what we can expect.” She shook her head. “It’s unfortunately different enough from mine that the tricks I used don’t apply to him. Someone who has the gift of Vision might be able to help him, but no one in our clan does.”

“I’m sorry.” Jeremiah’s voice was rueful. “I hope it’ll get better as he grows up.”

“It will. Eventually.” The word was a dagger to her heart. “With Raeth children, part of the maturation process is learning to control their abilities while they’re still young. If we were to block off that part of him or lock it away, he’d never learn how to regulate it.”

“That makes for a difficult childhood.”

“Those born of destruction rarely have it easy.”

Within minutes, they were canvasing the area for damage. Several downed trees peppered the walkways, and a few had crashed into houses, but the losses were minimal, all things considered. On the way back to her home, Zia savored the time in the sky, closing her eyes and simply flying.

“You’re spectacular, Z.”

A note of appreciation lingered beneath his tone, an awestruck reverence that hinted at something much deeper. But, given his latest trick, she couldn’t read his features to determine the true nature of his compliment.

“How can you see me when we’re invisible?”

“Perks of being an all-powerful air Elemental.”

She rolled her eyes. “Before Hawaii was settled by humans, I could fly whenever I wanted. Now, I have to go when visibility is low, so I never get to see the island in the light anymore.” She sighed. “I miss it.”

“Well, fortunately, you have your own personal Invisibility cloak in the form of an Elemental.” A kiss of wind brushed over her feathers, and she had the distinct feeling that he’d done it purposefully.

“My invisibility cloak is only on temporary loan.”

With that, Zia dropped out of the air like a bullet, tucking her wings tightly into her body as she shot toward the ground.

“Wait!”

Jeremiah’s call came too late, a moment after she’d realized her mistake.

Gale force winds slammed into her. She’d breached the bubble of protection Jeremiah had secured around them. Her wings flared out to catch her rapid descent. The gusts blasted against her feathers. Zia lost the battle and was spun in the whirlwind. It hurtled her body off course, and a cry of shock escaped her.

At this rate, she’d end up crashing into the unforgiving rock of the shoreline. Raeths were strong, but her bones would most definitely break on impact.

She tried to lock on a location. Another violent current threw her and made it impossible to teleport.

Bracing for impact, Zia’s wings snapped back into her body. The hollow bones were far more prone to breakage than those of her body. Curling into a ball, she held her breath as the ground became closer and closer.

This was going to hurt.