I AM SORRY! It’s been a really busy summer with moving out of my house on my own, and just work in general. Which is crappy. I need to quit working Seattle’s Best and move on to something better. Anyway—I think it took a change in season to get me to kick more of this out, so I’m sorry it’s taken forever. I’m just glad for those of you who have stuck around as well as the ones who have started reading.

I couldn’t give too much away to Aly, mostly out of the respect I had to Madison. And yes, I did have respect for her. I only said I was attacked, and it would have to be sorted out soon. This wasn’t enough for Aly—and what ever is?—but I didn’t let her drill me anymore than was necessary. As soon as we pulled up to the house, I thanked her and rushed out.

I stormed up the porch, quickly surveying the space for any sign of—anything, I guess. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and I continued on through the front door. I didn’t bother with taking off my shoes, tracking small cold puddles behind me. Riley was just coming down the stairs, bewildered by my hasty entrance.

“Hey, where did you—”

“Are you okay?” I asked before she could even go on.

She frowned, confused. “I’m fine. Are you?”

I just nodded, not stopping until I was standing next to her. I ran my hands from her shoulders to her waist, a sort of quick check that she was really okay and actually there. She got a closer look at my face then and gasped. Had it already bruised?

“Okay—don’t even try to tell me nothing happened.”

“Fair enough,” I said, letting out my breath. “This morning has been uneventful.” I went on before she could go off on me. “But I did get punched by an earth Elemental.”

Riley frowned. “An earth one?”

“Yeah. Madison says she hasn’t heard whose side they’re on or if this one was alone. Either way . . . I guess it’s worrisome.”

I was being completely truthful so downplaying the incident didn’t make me feel guilty. Riley got the gist of it anyway, and she didn’t say anything as she made her way to the kitchen. I couldn’t tell if she was still mad at me, so I followed hesitantly.

“I’ll look into this some more and I’ll see what our options are,” I said quietly. “This could just be a freak incident.”

“I guess,” she mumbled, idling in front of the fridge. “What about the others?”

“Who? The Elementals?”

She shook her head, coming towards me. “No, Alysana and them. Do you think they should worry?”

I thought about it for a second and gave her the better of two answers. “Madison’s there for a reason, so she’ll let them know if they have to leave or something.”

She didn’t look reassured, but nodded anyway and asked if I had just gone to the house.

“Yeah, I came from there,” I said, gingerly touching my face where it was still sore.

“Is Alysana there?”

I nodded and she chewed her lip for a second, finally saying she was going to go over there for a little bit. Admittedly, I was surprised at the lack of total forgiveness. She was still mad or something like that.

“Okay,” I said, drifting back towards the stairs. “I have to do some research stuff anyways.”

Riley wasn’t even really interested in what I was saying. There seemed to be pressing matters on her mind, because she left quickly, barely saying goodbye.

Standing there alone, I was still a little confused. I hadn’t been lying about doing research though. Rhys was an avid collector of everything and I was sure I remembered flipping through old books on Elementals when I was a kid.

I started in the living room, scanning the bookshelves against the wall. Everything had a light sheen of dust and I had a moment of guilt for not taking proper care of Rhys’ things. So far all I was seeing was frayed, graying copies of T.S. Eliot poetry and essays by Chomsky. These must be considered Rhys’ light reading, so I gave up and went for the second floor.

I checked the old bedrooms and their closets, finding nothing. I didn’t think Rhys would hide the volumes seeing as he never had mortals over for coffee and whatnot. Still, with nothing coming close, I went for the attic last.

When I pulled down the stairs, a gust of frigid air came with it, prompting me to find a hoodie before I went up.

The state of the attic was much worse than the dusty bookshelves downstairs. Dust settled in the air as soon as I moved and my shoes were leaving definitive marks in the floor behind me. As many times as I’d been up here before, I wasn’t totally sure where I should be looking. A few key places came to mind, so I started with those.

The whole process was much dirtier than I expected. No matter how gingerly I removed sheets from shelves and chests, dust was everywhere; it clogged my lungs and left a dirt-like taste in my mouth. My clothes were coated, but I kept sifting through everything with chalky hands. Finally at the bottom of a chest filled mostly with photo albums, I found what I was looking for. It wasn’t exactly an Elemental must-have, but Rhys prided himself on having it. It was just a detailed written account on Elemental history, and it was absolutely needed at this point. I just needed a few reassuring answers.

The whole book smelled weird every time I turned a page. There were no contents, and not even a dog-eared page. Some of the illustrations were simple and eerie, but they led me to the information I needed. There was a small drawing in the middle of some text with the Latin names of all the Elementals. It was how things used to be in the very beginning. More importantly, the first war. It was how everyone teamed up, which I thought would be repeated today. However, judging by the illustration, it probably wouldn’t be happening. Sylphs had paired with the gnomes, while the undines and vulcani remained on the other side. I assumed this was all before the time when everyone was just looking out for themselves. It was weird to think that the undines even looked to the vulcani as some kind of ally. But when I looked into the pairing deeper, things clicked. Pair up with the ones that could potentially hurt you most, and you stood a better chance. Even so, people were just looking out for themselves in the long run.

I wondered how things would turn out this time around. Not that I was looking for a war to start, but with the dispute on old traditions, people were highly opinionated. Only one gnome had gone after me, but for what reasons? Because all of them were against undines in general, or because of what I had done? Things were stacking against me, so I wasn’t even clear what I was being targeted for in the first place.

I closed the book, deciding to take it downstairs with me. Riley would want to read it, or I’d let her know she should give it a go anyway. Putting everything back in its place, I went back down to the hall and pushed the stairs back into the ceiling, shutting out some of the extra cold. The clouds further on the horizon were heavy and dark, and I was sure it was probably going to snow again later. I felt a little better about this; the ground would be hard, maybe even frozen. I assumed that might make it harder for any stray gnomes to cause any problems.

XxXxX

It was dark and I was starving by the time Riley came back. I’d just been thinking and scheming most of the day, and I forgot to raid the kitchen for anything. I was only reminded when I was sitting in the living room, and she walked in carrying a bag of apples. I assumed they were from Rene, courtesy of Meryl.

“Hey,” I said, my voice a little scratchy from sitting quietly for a few hours.

Riley smiled and offered me an apple. I took it graciously as she kissed my head and went into the kitchen.

“So you’re not mad anymore?” I asked around a mouthful.

She laughed mockingly, “Ha. Nope.”

I left it at that, deciding I wouldn’t rub it in or anything. She came back into the living room and slipped off her shoes, noticing the thick book on the coffee table for the first time.

“Something new?” she asked, pointing to the blank cover.

“No, just something I remembered was here. Elemental stuff.”

She cocked an eyebrow at me and I nudged her shoulder. “So have a look.”

She grinned but didn’t make an immediate move. She surprised me when she said she’d look at it later. In these cases, I always thought she forgot there was such a thing as ‘later’; everything had to be done there and then.

“What’d Aly do, drug you?” I asked jokingly.

“She doesn’t use those kind of herbs,” she replied pointedly. I snickered as she went on. “I just did some meditation stuff with her and Madison.”

I frowned, already disliking the idea. “You didn’t go on the plane, did you?”

“Come on, Linden! I’m not that careless, especially after what happened to you today.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, pouting a little. “Yeah.”

She laughed and turned my head towards her, crushing herself against me. Her total 180 mood change was still baffling to me, so I wasn’t so sure what to do when she kissed me.

“Are you—”

“I’m fine, you’re not,” she interrupted, jumping off me to stand. “Let’s fix that, come on.”

I stared at her outstretched hand. “Come where?”

I wasn’t acting dumb or anything, but she still playfully smacked my cheek and pulled me upright. She was going for the stairs.

“It’s warmer upstairs,” she commented. I decided to stop asking questions and just go with it. Luckily, her drastic mood was changing mine for the better.

A few hours later, I was sleeping restlessly while Riley was out in something like a coma. She had told me her meditation time also consisted of drinking elderberry tea, which naturally makes anyone who drinks it pretty euphoric. She needed it, I guess; so did I.

I rolled over for the millionth time, unable to really get comfortable. The house was cold, even the second floor, and it was making new groaning noises. I assumed with was from the temperature and the new snow pressure on its frame. Pulling the blankets over my shoulder, I huddled closer to Riley’s back, pressing against her skin. She radiated warmth.

Even after the comforts of intimacy, I couldn’t quite forget all my worries. I was starting to get annoyed with myself, so I abandoned the warm bed and made a quick dash to the bathroom.

The light hurt my eyes while I stood and debated between a bath or a shower. I finally went with a shower and turned the cool knobs all the way to the red side. As soon as they were on I heard the pipes deep in the house groan and squeal. I jumped with the faucet shot out a short blast of cold water, and then nothing. The sounds in the pipes weren’t stopping either, and I straightened, trying the faucet in the sink. The same thing happened, and the creaking noises got louder.

“Okay, what the hell . . .” I muttered to myself. I left the bathroom and went back into the hall and downstairs to try the sink there. If the water in the pipes froze, things could potentially get complicated . . . unless I interfered.

I tried getting a feel for the water in the pipes, grasping the sink in the kitchen and concentrating. I felt stupid, but I wanted to do it without a plumber if I could. Trouble was, there was no frozen water in the pipes. There was something there though, and when I accidentally touched on it, I was shocked back into myself. It was a tree root wound up inside, and it was driven by nothing but pure earth energy.

As soon as I knew, he knew. The creaking sound increased—the sound of the roots moving—and the largest trees beside the house were squirming slightly in the dead air.

I ran back upstairs, hearing glass break behind me. I didn’t have time to think how insane this was, and skidded to a stop beside the bed. Somehow, Riley was still asleep, and I shook her hard.

“Get up, we have to go!” I yelled over the noise. A splintering sound was coming from downstairs.

“W-what? What is that?” Riley asked, completely lost.

“Just put on some clothes, quick!” I was already getting my hoodie on and trying to find my shoes. There wasn’t any time to grab anything, and I took Riley’s hand when she stood.

“Linden, what—”

“We can’t,” I spat, tugging her with me. Loud, strange sounds came from the bathroom as we passed and I saw chunks of porcelain go flying into the opposite wall. As we went down the stairs, I could see my keys hanging on the wall next to the door.

“Don’t stop, don’t stop,” I chanted when I felt Riley slowing. But she tore out of my grip beside the couch, reaching for the book on the coffee table. I had to admit, I was glad she remembered that. I was too absorbed with making it out.

The floorboards were starting to shift underfoot as we made it out the door and down the porch. My hands were fumbling for the right key while Riley went around to the other side of the car. I missed the keyhole about four times before I got it and hurried inside.

“Who’s doing this?” Riley asked quietly as she stared at the house. “Is it the one that you saw today?”

“Yes,” I replied shortly as the engine caught. I backed out fast, avoiding the nearest tree and the roots that were pulling themselves above ground. I didn’t know where the gnome was; I just knew we had to get far away fast.

“But what does he want?”

I knew the answer to her question, but I didn’t say anything. I kept my eyes glued ahead and pushed down on the gas pedal, driving away from the swamps and towards the very distant glow of the city lights. It was an hour away but it was safest. There wasn’t much greenery there.