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“What’s there? Besides the ‘shine?” I pushed, trying to pry any information about his plans.

“Why else would I go to a speakeasy if not for the drinks or women?” He looked down at me as we walked. Amusement sparkled in his riveting eyes, hiding secrets that taunted me.

I scoffed, ignoring the comment to press on, “What do you want with me if not to either kill me or hold me as leverage against the king?”

Griffin inhaled deeply and didn’t answer right away as he stared at the path ahead of us. “I need your help.”

Chapter 17

Griffin

Gray’s face twisted in confusion. “Why? With what?”

I kept my senses peaked and my gaze on the approaching thick pines. I wouldn’t elaborate yet, no matter how hard she pushed me for answers. I didn’t trust her, even if my memories began to return in her presence. And the closer our proximity, the clearer my head became.

The time on the train had been only brief glimpses of…something. I wasn’t even sure it had been real. The first lucid memory to strike came with the punch she landed on me back at the house, like she’d injected the flashback with her fist and anger. It had been enough to snap me out of the self-deprecating state I’d fallen into, where I had wanted nothing more than for her to end my suffering.

As I had allowed Gray to pin me and unleash her wrath, I felt nothing. I felt hollow. I wanted out, vengeance be damned. That fire had blinked out at some point while I dwelled in my darkness.

I didn’t understand why. It didn’t make sense, but having been near her for the past several hours had quieted the disturbing force that claimed me as its vessel. However, it came at a cost. The guilt. The pain.

My conscience.

Regret flooded me with all my horrid deeds to where I crumpled under their weight—to the point I had become numb. I remembered all the healing I had worked so hard to achieve several years ago to make peace with my past. The icy grip that restricted my chest came from the realization my efforts had all been for naught. I’d forsaken it all and transgressed so far that the hopelessness of ever recovering from my actions grew deep, complex roots.

Until the Kinetic Princess punched me, and the long-lost memory stolen by madness replayed in my mind’s eye…

I hid beneath the fort on the playground, streams of sunlight beaming through the cracks in the wooden slats. Dirt from the other kids’ shoes sprinkled down on my hair from their running feet as they passed.

I’d found a little nook the other day to burrow into, away from the others. This wasn’t my usual recess time. Second grade had a school play, which moved around our schedules for some dumb reason. So now, fifth grade shared recess with third. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like change.

It was hard enough being one of few of the magical species hiding amongst the other human kids. We played the role of human, and I hated it. One minor slip-up resulted in the worst of my punishments. To be safe, I hid away, trying to avoid as many beatings as I could.

Leaders of Elementals and Kinetics believed the kids should attend human schools.Blend in, they said. Learn to keep our magic in check in their presence and learn about their cultures, which confused me because I mean, their cultures were basically our cultures, just with magic involved.

Okay, our cultureswerea bit different, but not by a lot.

Either way, I hated this stuffy private school. I dealt with the entitled and haughty types enough back home. I guess growing up among royalty naturally subjected me to them. That didn’t mean I wanted to be around them more than I needed to.

I twirled my magic-suppressing bracelet around my wrist, fiddling with the engraved sigils on the matte black band. I hadn’t had my magic but for a few days, and I already missed the strength and companionship of myelement, earth-metal. It was a rare element from my understanding, but I loved its unwavering companionship.

A strong wave of temptation urged me to briefly remove my bracelet. The thought of the cold steel essence of my element almost had me unclasping it, but jeering cries outside the fort halted me from a promised disaster. Shifting to where I peeked through the thin cracks in the wood, I barely made out a group of kids formed in a ring. Their hollers didn’t seem to be in celebration of winning a kickball game.

I crawled out from my space, approaching the crowd, I tried to snag curious glimpses between the gaps of their human wall. A sinking feeling settled in my stomach, urging me forward.

I pushed two third graders aside by their shoulders to make room. Even at ten years old, I towered over the others. A boy I recognized, Jacob-something, stood over a girl. A girl who lay curled in the fetal position in the sand, her arms protectively wrapped around her ribs.

Rage, fiery and hot, ignited through my body. Jacob hauled his leg back and slammed the toe of his boot into the girl’s shin. Her spasm allowed me to get a peek of her face, and my heart slammed into my throat.

The princess. The Kinetic Princess. Did the king know his daughter was the victim of bullying in this human school? Despite her obvious pain, she worked hard to hide it, but the kick to her newly unprotected ribs brought out a high-pitched scream, sending a rush of adrenaline and anger through my chest.

Where the hell were the teachers?

My hands shook at my sides as I failed to control my anger. My breaths came in uneven and shallow while my nostrils flared, and my shoulders shook at the force of my magic’s wrath. The taste of metal coated my tongue and nose. My element came to the call of my high emotion, every bit as pissed as me. I had no control of my element yet despite my bond to it. But I didn’t care.

Unable to hold back any longer, my magic burst from my body. My element latched onto every structure composed of metal: the monkey bars,merry-go-round, swing sets, and slide. In answer to my rage, they buckled in on themselves.

Everyone froze. And for a solid thirty seconds, no one made a sound. Fear permeated the air; I could almost taste it.