Treasure of the Fire Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 4) (5 page)

Kingu
never allowed anyone past his front door.  Well, actually it was less of a
“door” and more of a fifteen foot high portcullis.  Just because he could,
Kingu had added a suburban, flowered welcome mat at the foot of it.  Not even
the Phases were dumb enough to take him at his word. 

He
snapped his fingers as he crossed the drawbridge, removing the supernatural
locks he’d put in place to keep out any guests, and…

The
“wham!” of energy took him by surprise.  Kingu had thought he was incapable of
feeling surprise, but he’d been wrong.  He was completely shocked when someone
jumped into the Cloudland, almost on top of him.  He felt them slam into his
side, knocking his gigantic body off-balance through some kind of bizarre luck
or incredible plan.

“Oh
dear!”  He heard distinctly and then Kingu was tumbling into space.  One second
he was stalking across the cauldron-y moat of boiling yellow-green acid… The
next he was falling
into
the cauldron-y moat of boiling yellow-green
acid.  He hit it with a splash that sent the caustic liquid a dozen feet in the
air.

From
somewhere close by, he heard people start bellowing that they were under
attack.  The Banished Phases lived in constant fear of Job or the Council
sweeping and killing them all.  If only Kingu would get so lucky… Gods, even
with his ears filled with acid, he could hear their panicked shrieking.

Imbeciles.

Kingu
surfaced, feeling more than a little pissed off at himself for getting caught
unaware, and at the Phases for being Phases, and –most of all-- at the soon to
be deceased creature who’d knocked him into the bubbling moat to begin with. 
Acid itself didn’t affect him, but now he was all wet and he’d
liked
this gods damned suit.

“
Fuck.
” 
He wiped a hand over his face, dispelling the liquid with an impatient shake of
his palm.  Someone was about to die.

“Oh
wow.  I am
so
sorry.”

Kingu
focused on the female voice and felt himself still.

He’d
been pushed into roiling acid by a cartoon character.

Kingu
knew for a fact that there were no aliens in this galaxy, but the woman was
like something from another planet.  Vibrantly colorful, she blinked down at
him with an innocent face and a rounded, rosy shape that no Phase was capable
of possessing.

What
the hell…?

His
astounded gazed scanned her.  All the Elementals were scrawny.  It was one of
the more depressing facts about life among them.  This girl’s shape was…
better, though.  Much, much better.  Kingu came of age in a time when women
aspired to be more than runway waifs.  When the gods and monsters of the world
cared about maintaining strength and creating life with their bodies.

The
curves of this female were so much closer to his ideal than any of the stick
figures Zakkery had selected for him.  An unfamiliar sensation of lust pooled
in his lower body as he stared up at her.

He
had to be losing his mind. 
Had
to be.

This
woman was probably some incompetent assassin sent to kill him.  Plus, she was
blonde and he couldn’t stand blondes.  That should trump everything.  To
counteract the crazed thoughts, he tried to concentrate on her clothing, which
was… distracting.  She was dressed a bizarre mishmash of patterns and colors
that made his eyes cross.  A tie-dyed sweater over a leopard print skirt. 
Rainbow striped tights and gold sequined tennis shoes, all of it topped off
with a plastic polka dot headband.

She
was so… chaotic.

And
still he couldn’t look away from her.

A
pair of heart-shaped rhinestone sunglasses covered her eyes, but he could feel
her staring at him.  Processing what he was.  She crouched down onto the
surface of the drawbridge as if in a trace.  Her perfect lips parted as she
studied the cruel, inhuman lines of his face.

Kingu
waited for her to cringe.  To scream and run.

To
back away from him.

Instead,
she held out a hand as if she thought she could help him up.  “Are you okay?” 
She asked softly.

Kingu
blinked.  That was the only response he could muster.  No one had ever,
ever
,
spontaneously tried to help him before.  It was… amazing.  A part of him wanted
to grab her outstretched palm in dazed wonder, but he quickly suppressed that
illogical thought with a swell outrage.  Did she really think someone like
him
needed assistance from someone like
her?
 That he was some object of
pity?  He was a god and she was a… whatever she was.  Certainly
not
a
god.  He didn’t feel any coming power from her, at all.

What
was a woman so…  Blind?  Naive?  Stupid?... doing trespassing this shithole
kingdom, anyway?  Where had she come from?  She looked like she belonged in the
damn kitty cat and bubblegum store.  And why wasn’t she running away from him? 
He
had
to scare her.  He scared everyone.  How could
this
irrational
creature
be immune?  Seriously, what the hell
was
she?  An Elemental
or… Kingu’s eyes widened.

Dear
gods, was she
human?

If
any creatures were even less important than the Phases, it was the humans. 
They were the algae in the food chain.  Powerless, plentiful, and undoubtedly
slimy, they fed along the bottom, too stupid to even notice they weren’t alone
in the pool.

She
didn’t have the telltale streak at her temple, marking her as a Phase, so human
seemed like the next safest bet.  But she had jumped into the Cloudland and
humans couldn’t usually do that.  And what would a human be doing in this
realm, especially by herself?  Where had her protectors gone?  This woman was
used to having someone look after her.  He could see it every smooth, pampered
inch of her skin.

“Yoo-hoo.” 
She waggled her fingers at Kingu, apparently stumped as to why he was regarding
her incredulously and not grasping hold of her hand.

A
charm bracelet jingled on her wrist.  Made of silver, it was weighed down with
dangling Ferris wheels, enameled butterflies, and assorted fanciful shapes.  It
was so feminine and dainty that he could only imagine it had been a gift from
some male admirer.

His
jaw tightened.

“Wow,
is that
acid
I pushed you in?  I’ve never done
that
before.”  Her
nose wrinkled.  “Does it hurt?  It probably hurts.  Shoot, I’m really sorry. 
I’m not sure what happened.  I have trouble aiming jumps and…”

Kingu
cut off her rambling by leaping out of the moat.  It was a simple enough thing
to do.  He sprang straight upward and easily landed on the thick plastic
drawbridge.  The whole surface rocked under his weight, sending the girl
stumbling to her feet, trying to maintain her balance.  Kingu ignored her.

He
snapped his fingers, instantaneously replacing his suit with a dry one. 
General distaste for mortals aside, Kingu always wore human style suits. 
Unlike certain miscellaneous creatures, he liked looking presentable.

Satisfied
he was once again in control of the situation, he glared down at the female. 
Standing next to her, he topped her by almost three feet of solid muscle.  With
no effort at all, he could have lifted her over his head and thrown her right
into the acid.  No matter what species she was, it wouldn’t have been real
pleasant.  She
had
to realize that.  Crimson colored eyes burned into
her with enough fury to send the little fluff-ball up in smoke.

And
still
she didn’t run.

“Monster.” 
She whispered in awe.

Kingu
leaned closer to her.  “God.”  He corrected flatly.

Her
lips parted again and she breathed something that sounded like, “Oberon,” but
Kingu couldn’t be sure.

He
hesitated, not wanting to kill the girl before she told him why she’d come to
attack him.  Did she work for Tessie?  It didn’t seem possible that his aunt
would pick a hired killer this inept, but then Tessie was half human and she’d
willingly Matched with a Phase, so her IQ couldn’t have been
that
high.

He
loomed over the curvy little whatzit, trying not to notice how appealing she
was beneath her every-item-at-the-yard-sale fashion sense.  Up close, the girl
smelled like sunshine.  He couldn’t really describe it except it was the warm,
clean, scent of freedom.  An altogether foreign rush of feelings came over
him:  Anger and anticipation and shame and possession and lust.

Mostly
lust.

She
called him a monster, right to his face.  He wanted to drag her into his house
and prove her right.  “Why are you here?”  He ground out instead.

“I
think my grandfather sent me.”  She gazed up at him, fearless in the face of
imminent death.  “He told me that…”

Whatever
else she planned to say was lost when Galen, of the Stone House came charging
over, leading his brigade of lack wit guards.  “There she is!  The invader! 
Get her!”

The
spell around them broke.

Kingu’s
head snapped up to glower at the Elementals.  “It’s about time you got here,
Galen.  Aren’t you supposed to be in charge of this damn place?”  The Stone
Phase had appointed himself dictator of the Cloudland.  “Why am I being
attacked right outside my own home?”

“I
didn’t attack you.  Honestly, this is all a mistake.”  Rebecca of Sunnybrook
Farm spun around to face the onslaught.  “Oh dear.”  She murmured like she
suddenly realized she was in deep trouble.  “Okay, wait.  There’s been a
mistake here.”  She held out both palms traffic cop- style, as if she really
expected the armed men to stop heading her way.  “This is
not
the
library.”

No light,
no fire: the unfriendly elements Forgot thee utterly

William
Shakespeare- “Pericles, Prince of Tyre”

“Okay,
where’s Hope?”  Teja demanded to no one in particular.  “She was supposed to
meet me at the library.”  She stalked into the living room of the Fire Palace,
dumping her stack of books onto the coffee table.  Shaped like a Phase being
consumed by flames, the vibrant paint job helped show off his screaming agony
in striking artistic detail.

Most
of the house had been decorated in Spanish Inquisition Chic, so Teja no longer
even processed the gruesome glass eyes of the figure pleading for an end to his
torment.  Nor did she notice the chandelier made of skulls, or the dozens of
weapons crisscrossed on the crimson walls, or the scorch marks on the sofa from
when Missy and Alder got into a fight while opening presents on Gaianisha Day
and set the whole room on fire.

To
Teja, the Fire Palace just looked like home.

She
glared over at Djinn and Satour who were sitting on the red and black oriental
carpet playing Nintendo.  The flat screen TV showed a blonde princess and a
lizard of some kind drag racing around a lava encircled track.  “Are you idiots
just too damn busy to answer me or what?”  She headed over and unceremoniously
ripped the plug out of the wall.

The
two of them shouted in protest as the television went dark.

Teja
remained unmoved.  Very little moved her anymore.  Since the Fall, all her
emotions had become muffled echoes.  Like sharks beneath a frozen sea, she
could sense their occasional shadowed movement, but they were safely locked
away.  After Oberon died, shutting down was the only way Teja could survive.

Djinn
and the rest of her family stilled reached Teja, though.  She loved them, loud
obnoxious morons that they were.  Her feelings for them went too deep for even
the ice to penetrate.  She couldn’t
feel
the love way she once had, but
she absolutely knew it was there.

That
love was the only fire left inside of her.

Without
it, Teja would have been frozen straight through.  If she could’ve worried
about anything, that would have concerned her.  Not that she was so terribly
close to becoming just… blank, but that she couldn’t quash that last bit of
warmth.  She wished she could shut off her soul-deep love for the Fire Phases. 
Those final remnants of emotion might one day threaten the frosty covering that
protected her, now.  That was the
last
thing Teja wanted.  She couldn’t
feel anything and she
liked
it that way.

“Shit,
Tej.”  Djinn threw aside the Nintendo remote in disgust.  “We heard you, were
just
ignoring
you.  Why’d you have to go and screw-up the score?”

Was
it even worth asking
why
they’d been ignoring her?  Probably not. 
Satour looked like he was dying to list his grievances and it made Teja tired
to even think about listening to him whine.  “Where’s Hope?”  She repeated
instead.

“She’s
not here.”  Djinn bounded to his feet.  Dressed in a t-shirt featuring Santa
Claus submachine gunning the eight tiny reindeer and the blood-dripping
caption, “Merry Christmas, Fuckers!” he looked pretty much like every
stereotype of the Fire House that every got whispered around the Council Hall.

“Dad,
you said ‘shit.’”  Satour reported.  He dragged himself to his feet and moved
to plug the TV back in.  There was a small, chrome sword stabbed in his brow
like a stud.  It speared through his skin, the hilt protruding just to the
right of the arch of his brow and the point falling beside his eye.  Teja
always nursed the vague fear that he was going to roll over in bed and
accidently blind himself.  “You know that’s gonna cost you today’s round.”

“
Shit!
” 
Djinn glowered over at Teja like it was her fault.  “This is your fault.”

“Hey,
I didn’t come up with that stupid game.”

The
Fire Phases were a competitive bunch.  The whole household threw themselves
into contests with all the restraint of Spartans preparing for battle.  It
didn’t matter what the competition was --sword fights, board games, snatching
the last hot dog from the freezer-- they just wanted to win.

For
some reason known only to the rest of them and Gaia, two weeks ago the whole
family had embarked on their most difficult, treacherous, mind bending
challenge yet:

Not
cursing.

For
one whole day.

So
far no one had been able to win the game.  Sooner or later, they all slipped
and the whole contest had to start over again.  Day after day, it dragged on in
stalemate.  Teja didn’t know who’d first come up with the deceptively simple
bet, but it had sucked in the whole family.  Fire Phases liked to curse.  They
were really good at it.  Restraint took all their concentration and willpower.

Djinn
shot her an annoyed scowl and then glanced back to his son.  “You said ‘shit,’
too.  So you’re out, as well.”

“Bullshit! 
I only said ‘shit’ because I was telling you that
you’d
said it!  That
doesn’t count as
me
saying it!”

“Of
course, it counts!”

“You’re
out of you damn…
darned
mind!”

“Fine,
get the frigging
rule book and we’ll see!”

“Oh,
I
will
.  And ‘frigging’ counts as swearing, too!”

“The
heck it does, you fucking cheater!”

Oh
Jesus, they’d written a rule book?  Teja sighed and decided to rephrase the
question.  “Who’s
supposed
to be with Hope?”

Someone
in the family
had
to be watching her.  Since the barriers between the
kingdoms fell, they’d all been keeping an extra close eye on the girl. 
Usually, the Fire Phases were all about independence, but Hope was… special.

“Special”
being code for “eternally jinxed.”  Weird stuff happened to Hope.  Weird,
dangerous stuff.  And, if she got into trouble, she couldn’t just fight her way
out of it and then burn the ashes like the rest of the Fire Phases.  She’d need
help.

Teja
felt a prickling of unease.

All
her life, Hope had been different than the rest of the family.  Job had once
muttered something about a kitten being raised by panthers.  Time after time,
she’d confused them all with her sparkly wardrobe choices and her lack of
normal, healthy bloodlust.

As
Hope grew up, the other Fire Phases had tried not to wince as she dropped her
weapons during battle practice or refused to play chess like it was
life-or-death struggle for food.  They’d sighed as she arranged bouquets of flowers
in the jars that held the blackened teeth of their enemies or strung twinkle
lights on the monstrous stone gargoyles perched on the roof of the fortress. 
They’d stiffened a few times when she hugged them, automatically preparing for
some kind of attack, and then frowning in disappointment when it didn’t come.

Hope
was so cheerful and cute.  So completely free from any guile.  For a long time,
the Fire Phase couldn’t help but wonder what they were doing wrong with her.

Teja
remembered Oberon worrying about it, back when Hope was a child.  Worrying
about her endless faith and kindness.  But, then Teja also remembered her
grandfather walking through the massive double doors to the palace, decked out
in blood covered armor and carrying a severed head… And she remembered Hope
laughing with joy and racing over to jump up into his arms.  Big hands grabbing
the girl gently and holding against the chainmail her like she was made of
glass.  Oberon burying his face in blonde curls and squeezing his eyes shut, because
he could feel the total, innocent adoration of this tiny creature and it just
healed everything else inside of him.

And
that was the core of it really.  What Teja and the rest of them had finally
come to realize and stopped trying to change.  Hope
was
different than
the rest of the family.

She
was
better
.

The
very best part of the Fire House.  The heart and soul of all of them.  The
personification of why their warriors fought and bled and
needed
to win…

Because
they were protecting their greatest treasure:  The innocent.

Teja
didn’t like her precious baby cousin unaccounted for even for a few hours.

“Alder’s
watching her.”  Djinn and Satour chorused, still eyeing each other for signs of
capitulation in their “what counts as an obscenity” dispute.

“Hope’s
with Alder?”  Teja frowned.  That didn’t make any sense.  Alder wouldn’t go off
the grid like this.  He was crazy serious about keeping to the schedule. 
“Well, where’s Alder, then?  Hope was supposed to meet me at the library an
hour ago.”

Teja
was doing boring research for Job on the Crystal House and she’d figured that
the assignment would keep Hope occupied for a while.  Besides, Teja needed a
new set of eyes working the problem with her, because she was stumped.

According
to Council records, there was only one Crystal Phase left and that was just
flat-out not possible.  A House needed more than one Phase to support it. 
Usually, anyway.  There was no way Llian, of the Crystal House could be holding
the whole thing together by herself.

By
all scientific logical, the Element should have fallen, just as the Cloud
House’s did.  They were both smaller Houses, so the world wouldn’t end because
of either loss.  The Stone House would be able to prevent the gems and shit for
from vanishing.  But, just as the clouds were now flat and devoid of pictures
hidden in the fanciful shapes, the LCD TVs and circuit boards of the world
should
have been long gone.

Except
they weren’t.

There
had
to be more Crystal Phases out there.  It was the only explanation.

The
problem was Teja couldn’t find the little bastards.  She’d searched every book
in the library and she was still coming up empty.  It didn’t make any sense. 
The Council had always kept meticulous records.  Even with all the deaths from
the Fall, the other Crystal Phases should have shown up
somewhere
.  The
fact that she couldn’t find them, made Teja’s thoughts go to dark, suspicious
places.  Like maybe the missing Crystal Phases didn’t
want
to be found.

Like
maybe they were hiding.

Teja
didn’t believe in ESP or any of that crap, but she’d always heard whispers in
her mind telling her when things weren’t right.  Some kind of intuition on
steroids.  This Crystal Phase vanishing act wasn’t right and Hope being MIA
wasn’t right and…

“He’s
in the human realm.”  Djinn said cutting off her increasingly catastrophic
thoughts.

Teja
tried to catch up with the conversation.  “What?”

“Alder’s
in the human realm.  He went to get Missy.”

“What
was Missy doing in the human realm?”  The Fire House rarely went to the human
realm except to fight in random wars, just for the fun of hacking people to
bits, or to visit Disney World.

They
all loved Disney World.

Djinn
shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I didn’t ask.  She brought a torch, though.”

“Missy
watched some old TV show on Netflix and didn’t like the ending.”  Satour
muttered.  “Said she was going to burn down the actress’ house.”

Djinn
restarted the video game race.  “Whatever.”  He flopped down on a fancifully
shaped wicker chair that Pele had liberated from one of the Water Palace’s
verandas and then spray-painted black.

Teja
counted to ten.  “So, Alder went to
stop
Missy from starting a fire?” 
That didn’t seem likely.

“No,
he went to ask her to watch Hope…  Oh wait, this is coming back to me now!” 
Djinn snapped his fingers.  “Alder was talking about switching babysitting
rotations with Missy ‘cause he wanted to go look for his Match in the human
realm and since Missy was already in Mayport Beach…”

“Forget
it.”  Teja didn’t want to hear all the crazed plans Alder had to acquire a
human bride.  God, the poor girl’s capture would probably be like something out
of
Planet of the
Apes
.  “Just find Hope.”  She headed for the
stairs, absently sticking her hands in the pockets of her letterman style
cardigan.  She wore it all the time, because it had once belonged to Oberon. 
It made her feel closer to him.

Missy
jumped onto the steps right in front of her, a sunny smile on her cherry red
lips.  Missy was always smiling, even when she skinned her victims alive and
danced around in their flesh.  The girl looked like a Kewpie doll and acted
like Jack the Ripper.

“Hi,
family!”  Missy looked especially cheery, which was never a good sigh.

Teja
braced herself for disaster.  “What happened?”

“Nothing! 
I’m fine.  Just a little hungry.  Do we have any peanut butter?

“Where’s
Alder?”  Teja pressed, not fooled by the merry smile.

“Who?”