Air {Elements of Power 3}

Chapter 54: Jasmine

Roxy stood, immobilised, while Brody struck her arms and chest, desperately attempting to vent his anger on the closest thing he could find to its source. She reeled from the blows, but his uncontrollable sobs had taken much of the power out of the strikes. Even so, Brae and Cameron rushed to her aid, each taking Brody by an arm and pulling him off of her. All the while Roxy remained frozen in place, making no move to defend herself. Her face was a mask of guilt and pity. "I'm sorry," she said as Brody collapsed on the floor between the boys. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault, Roxy," Brae said at once. The scene was blurry and out of focus as I tried to watch through tear choked eyes. My heart had frozen in my chest, its ice piercing my insides with a pain that could never end. Devon was gone.

"She's one of them!" Brody spat out.

"She's nothing like Cinaer. The blame for Devon's... For Devon... Only Cinaer is to blame."

"I'll tear him apart, limb from limb."

"No. You should stay here. You're in no state to travel or to fight."

Brody looked up, his eyes gleaming with fury. "You can't stop me from coming with you. I need to do this. For Devon."

"It's too dangerous," Imogen told him, her voice filled with sadness.

"If I die, so much the better," he retorted defiantly.

I blinked the tears from my eyes so that I could see Brae a little more clearly. He met my gaze at once; his face looked crumpled in. Broken. Brody was never going to back down. Persuading him to stay was wasting time. Time we didn't have. Soothing him would have to wait. Mourning would have to wait. Now, there was only time for action; for vengeance; for death.

We made a sombre group as we trudged towards Cinaer. Snow fluttered softly to the ground all around us, adding to the icy numbness in my heart.

Imogen's eyes were red and swollen and she was being supported by Kit. They were walking a little way off from the group, talking quietly between themselves.

Cameron walked alone too, his head down, a whirl of wind flying around him, shutting him off from the rest of us.

Brae was keeping himself busy, organising everyone, going over battle plans with Roxy and Emmerich, but I could hear the quiver in his voice and the slightly too fast speed with which the words tumbled out. He was trying to forget the unforgettable.

Devon...

Devon was gone.

Forever.

A flurry of snowflakes spiralled in front of me as they fell. They looked so peaceful, so calm. Untroubled.

I shuddered and pulled my coat around myself more tightly. I cupped my hands in front of me and sparked a small fire between my fingertips, letting the warmth seep into my skin and work its way through my body.

But it didn't touch the numbness. It couldn't make me feel any more alive, any more whole again. I let the flames extinguish. It was pointless. I might as well feel cold.

What was worse was that I hadn't seen it coming. I hadn't dreamt about my friend, the girl I had known since childhood. No, I was too busy dreaming about a boy-too distraught about the fate of said boy to fully understand Brody's initial outburst.

It weighed heavily on me now.

Brae appeared at my side, as if from nowhere, moving as swiftly as the wind.

"We're nearly there," he told me softly, squeezing my hand as though it could help us both. "Are you ready?"

I nodded, the numbness too in control to try for words.

What did it matter now, if we won or lost? The fight was already over for Devon.