And I had no control over it.
A hand on my shoulder yanked me backward. I screamed, only to realize I recognized the arm encircling my waist. “Focus for me, princess,” Exos whispered, his lips against my ear. “Breathe.”
“I-I’m trying.”
“I know, and you’re doing so good, Claire. I just need you to try a little more, okay?” The words were warm and soothing, causing my shoulders to relax back against him. He kept one arm around me while he used his opposite hand to grab my wrist and pull my hand upward. Then he yanked it back when the fire burned us both.
“It doesn’t feel right,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t even know what I’m saying.” Or what any of it meant. It was pure instinct driving my senses and telling me that I didn’t recognize the energy before us.
“Let’s try to push against it.” He cradled my hand in his, guiding it at an angle. “Right there, baby. I want you to call water and wind, and blast the focal point.”
“How?” I asked, exasperated.
He shifted his grip around my waist to tap my heart. “It’s right here, Claire. Inside you. Look for it, like you do your fire, and call it to you.”
Tears pooled in my eyes, frustration taking over me. He made it sound so simple, but he wanted me to unlock a door I didn’t possess the key to. “Exos, I can’t.”
“You can,” he promised, his tone coaxing. Then he yanked my hand back as the flame reached out at us, the heat scorching our skin. Exos’s grip tightened, his back hitting the wall behind us as the flames turned our way in a threatening sweep. He started muttering, his own flame glowing in his hand as he threw it at the approaching inferno.
But all that seemed to do was exasperate it.
The blaze yawned, blowing hot air toward us that slick sweat across my skin and caused Exos to shiver behind me.
“We need to find a way out,” he said, his voice holding a sense of urgency. “Or that thing is going to destroy us.”
I honestly couldn’t believe we were even still standing. The fifty-foot tower of fire should have killed us just for being this close.
But something kept it at bay.
Something protected us.
I frowned, identifying the thin barrier with my mind while Exos spoke behind me. His statement went over my head, my attention on the odd film of mist that seemed to be pushing against the flames.
When I called to it, the essence responded.
That’s mine, I realized, my lips parting. What can I do with it?
Exos said I needed air and water. To focus on that cavernous hole above, the source of the flames. I could see it now, the way it swirled dangerously like a whirlpool of lava.
There, I urged, shooting the water upward with a gust of wind, the power roaring out of me from someplace deep within my soul.
Exhilarating.
Powerful.
Lively.
I stole a deep breath, my lungs filling with fresh air, and blew the contents upward with the water, creating a twirl of my own—A breeze infused with cool springs that doused the flames—causing them to sizzle. I repeated the action, a sense of peace falling over me with each exhale, until the inferno fizzled into ash.
Ignis stood across from me, her eyes glowing red, her expression one of abject horror. “That bitch tried to kill me!” she accused while trying to grab Titus’s arm. It must have shocked her again, because she flinched away from him, but it was Titus’s expression that I couldn’t stop staring at. He appeared just as horrified as Ignis.
Her friend with the bluish-blonde hair heaved a huge sigh, a sheet of ice melting beneath my water. “I thought we were gonna die. Not even playin’. Like, I’m fucking exhausted.”
“You saved our lives, Sickle,” the other girl said, her skirt indecently high as she collapsed against the wall. “Dear Elements…” She shuddered as she put her head on her knees.
“What are you all just standing here for? That bitch needs to be banished!” Ignis went on. “Or did you all just miss that fire tornado that tried to kill me! This is mutual ground, Your Highness. You know the rules.”
“You provoked her, Ignis,” Titus growled.