Journey of a Girl

A Proper Education: Chapter Twenty-Nine

Survive.

It was the only wish she had. She channeled her thoughts into that word. All her aggression and calm, all her fear and courage, everything she had to give, for that singular thought.

Survive.

How?

She could call upon the elements, but which one would successfully combat such a predicament? The monster had easily doused the flame she conjured in her hand, and earth was far too timid to be of any use. Water might only worsen the situation—

Which left wind. The element that never answered her call.

It was the hardest to tame, Lilith told her. Credence would never understand how to handle it.

Lilith was wrong, because Credence had controlled it. Twice now, when she unleashed a great scream—but had that been the power of wind, or Credence herself?

And how could she scream with a bucket pressed against her mouth?

A rush of energy swirled inside of her, and following it, an idea of pure, spontaneous madness.

I will not ask the wind to do my bidding. I will force it.

She did not beckon or try to entice the element to her. She demanded its presence, and with fury and desperation, she imagined taking the element by the throat and commanding it into action. Air rushed into her nostrils, and something tugged at the core of her being.

Her eyes narrowed at the Headmaster.

He doesn't know who I am, Credence thought, feeling a surge inside of her. He will.

When the Headmaster pulled the bucket from her mouth and bent to pick up a new one, Credence jerked her head, momentarily slipping from his grasp.

She thought of calling Ma.

Or the Collector.

Instead, Credence charged the wind to carry out her will.

It was different this time.

There was no great build. The world did not slow to a stop.

Credence was not sure what she was demanding of the element, other than the one word that steered her onward.

Survive.

And, unlike the other times, there was no scream pulled from her lungs.

Instead, the ground began to shake.

A terrible roar split the air as the floor at her feet cracked open. The tremor shook the world, widening the fissure and traveling through the courtyard.

It knocked the Headmaster to the ground, and the bucket fell from his hands and spilled its contents across the floor. It shook every child and domestic, and many of them fell to their knees and covered their ears.

The soil beneath the orchard moved and the trees were loosened and pushed up from their place, their roots rising from the dirt as they began to lean.

The cleft in the ground did not stop at the gates of the courtyard, but moved into the towns with unstoppable swiftness.

Without warning, the towns changed.

Every last building shifted as the stones that paved the streets shuddered, and carts upturned and spilled their cargo.

The crack did not stop until it reached the entry gates, where it crashed against the fortified wall. There was a sound like a clap of thunder, and the thick wood and rock and iron split in two, creating a gaping window into the silent woods beyond.