Elemental Betrayal by Elle Middaugh

Author:Elle Middaugh [Middaugh, Elle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Elle Middaugh
Published: 2019-05-09T05:00:00+00:00

18

Consciousness stirred, but I couldn’t seem to open my eyes.

I was moving, but my legs weren’t. My body bounced, as if carried on a cart, and my head throbbed with a pain strong enough to split my skull in two. My eyelids fluttered, cracking open only slightly to let in a vicious beam of blinding sunlight. I jerked, squeezing them shut once more as a new wave of pain assaulted my head.

Someone laughed in the distance.

It was a familiar laugh, one that scratched at the back of my mind, demanding I remember.

I peeled my eyes open once more. Forest floated by, seen through the bars of a cage.

I’m in a cage?

Water filled my vision as the pain became too intense, and I was forced to close my eyes again. Tears streaked down my cheeks, but I could feel myself becoming more aware, more awake, and more alert. A few more tries and my eyes would likely stay open without watering.

I blinked a few times to clear my vision then peered ahead as far as I could.

Fucking Brad Rosenthorn was pulling the cart. He’d apparently kidnapped me and was most likely delivering me right into the awaiting hands of my psychotic grandfather.

Great.

I built up a blaze and tried to melt the bars, but it was no use. They remained cool as steel. Clearly, they were element-proof.

Extra great.

My memory was fuzzy, but I strained to remember what had happened before I woke up locked in the cage. Snippets of pictures and colors cut in and out of my mind, images of gems, trees, and faces…Cade glaring, Henrie crying, Marge bruised and bloody. I shook my head to try to rattle the crazy images into making some sort of sense, but it was difficult, like trudging through sludge.

Where did Brad fit into all of this? I knew finding that answer was an important key to unlocking this mystery, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

I licked my lips, instantly regretting it as the bitter tang of chemicals clung to my tongue.

Poison. I couldn’t drag up the memory, but for some reason I was certain it was true. I’d been poisoned, probably by Brad.

Damn it! I wished I could remember…

I grabbed the bars of my cage and squeezed, accidentally drawing my gaze to the glimmering ring on my finger. More memories came flooding back: Cade proposing to me under the willow tree and making a new bracelet to help me control my Fire, him telling me we’d all been poisoned…

If he’d been poisoned too, where was he?

I scanned the woods all around, but Brad and I were the only people in sight.

“Ah, you’re awake,” he said with a chuckle. “Glad my poison didn’t knock you out for too long.”

I swallowed hard, wishing I could piece together the entire puzzle, but I couldn’t.

“You’re an asshole,” I croaked, surprised to find my voice so raw. Had I been screaming?

He shrugged. “I’ve certainly been called worse.”

I didn’t doubt it.

I growled in frustration and yanked at the bars.

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