The Elements Trilogy: The Secondaries

Chapter 59: Air

There are certain people you want to be around when you're scared and upset; Diamond Fitz is not one of them.

She was currently pacing back and forth, obnoxiously breathing deep breaths, muttering quietly to herself.

"Diamond," I said irritably. I was propped up against a wall, with my eyes closed, massaging my temples.

Diamond didn't respond to me, only raised the volume of her obnoxious muttering. It then occurred to me that she wasn't even speaking English. What the hell was it? It wasn't Spanish; I knew bits and pieces of that and I didn't recognize any of the words.

"Diamond, shut the hell up or speak English!" I snapped. "What are you even speaking?"

"French," Pip responded from beside me. "She's speaking French. Where did she learn it?"

"School, probably." I opened my eyes to look at her. "I think she took like five or six years of it. You understand what she's saying?" I nodded toward Diamond.

"No, I just recognize the language." Pip turned toward Thomas who was leaning against the opposite wall, watching his sister with sad eyes. "Any idea?"

"Yeah," Thomas said quietly. "She's praying."

"For what?" Pip asked.

"What do you think?" I scowled. "To make it out of here alive."

"No. That's not it at all." Thomas shook his head, twirling his knife in his fingers. "She's praying for Skylar."

My stomach twisted, and I sank to the floor, putting my head between my knees, taking shallow breaths. I felt a hand begin rubbing slow circles on my back.

"She'll be okay," Pip tried to soothe my anxiety.

"Her last few hours she's going to be high on demon blood, going crazy, and attacking Bryner. Before that, she's going to be in extreme pain." I growled. "Does any of that sound okay to you?"

Pip sighed, and removed her hand from my back. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," I mumbled.

"What was Jamie like?"

The question caught me completely off guard, and I felt like Skylar had sucker punched me in the gut. My chest tightened, and I tried to get the image of Jamie lying dead on the riverbank out of my head. As soon as I did, I immediately saw Stacy's broken body lying beneath the tree, chunks of his flesh missing from his throat and his arm.

My chest seemed to shrink, and suddenly I couldn't get enough air into my lungs. I jumped up, and walked a few steps away, hands on my hips, struggling to breathe correctly. Tears blurred my vision, and my heart began pounding in my chest, making it all the harder to breathe. Feeling like I was going to vomit, I left out a string of profanities under my breath. What the hell was happening to me?

I was suddenly engulfed in someone's arms, someone who smelled like smoke and seemed unnaturally warm; Evie.

In the safety of my twin's arms, I leaned into her and burst into tears.

"He killed people. He didn't like it, but he did it anyway. Until he met Skylar. He loved her enough to stop. And that was brave." Evie sighed, rubbing my shoulder. "Come on guys. It's time to go. We'll meet the boys at the front door."

*** Evie's POV

"Did she shut off the clones?" Thomas asked me as we started for the entrance to the building.

"She tried. I left before she finished, so I don't know if she succeeded or not."

"You left? Why?" He asked.