Page 97 of Balance

Damn river.

“Ask Damen to summon Kiania,” Finn suggested, and I realized that, at some point, Bryce had put me on speaker. “They’re connected. She’d be able to find Bianca.”

So now I was stuck talking to the blonde catastrophe; and the fact that he was pointing out this solution, as if it were so blatantly obvious—only made me hate him more.

He’d stalked Bianca this way before—just the reminder made me want to break his face.

“Wetriedthat.” I fought to keep the venom from my voice. I could be civil with him, for now. “Kiania said either the distance is too far or that something is blocking their connection—she can’t tell which.”

“He’s talking to Finn now,” Damen was not-so-quietly whispering to Titus. “Payback’s a bitch. He never should have called.”

“Neither one of those are a good sign,” Finn continued.

No,really. The agitation swelled in my chest. But, hopefully, I could hold it together for a while longer.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Bianca

Sand

“What was that thing you were doing in the water?” I asked, watching Miles as he set aside the—finally useful—matches and stoked the small but growing fire.

His actions during his ‘rescue’ had been lying heavy on my mind for a while. It lingered even as he settled me in a corner and felt around the opening of the cave, trying to find something to keep us warm.

“Something” had come in the form of a collection of dried wood, which led to Miles confidently stating that at least at some point someone else had camped here.

At my question, he paused, halfway standing, and glanced at me. “In the water?” he asked, confusion wrinkling his forehead.

“When you jumped in after me?” I asked, eyeing him as he grabbed at a roll that had been found beside the wood and ran his fingers over the fabric.

“Oh…” He paused, flinching, and glanced at me. “Trying to control it.”

I perked. “You can control water?”

The boys had said before that we had an affinity to our own elements, like the connection I shared with plants. But no one had said anything about—

“No,” Miles interrupted. “But I can control myself; by focusing on your own behavior, you can influence the situation around you.”

I didn’t understand.

“It takes confidence,” he explained, then sighed. “That’s why I suck at it. I should have been able to get us to shore.”

My stomach dropped at his desolate expression. I hadn’t brought this up to make him sad. “I suck at it too,” I offered, scooching closer to the fire.

“No, you don’t.” Miles flopped to the floor beside me, laying the blanket in his lap as he began to unroll it. “You broke Daniel Cole’s spell. I can’t even do anything yet.”

I drew my knees to my chest. “You threatened Julian?” I offered. Back when Julian was getting angry at Finn, when the news of my bond with Kiania first came to light, Mileshadstepped up.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t felt anything at all from the tiger shikigami since then. Wouldn’t it have been useful in situations like this to at least be able to communicate?

He sighed, answering my questioning statement. “He knew I couldn’t enforce it. I only wanted to shock him. I might have been able to stop him, but I’m not sure.”

“You can, or you can’t?”

Miles shrugged, looking away. His square jaw tensed. Despite his attempts at cleaning his face, the dried blood remained and the cut was beginning to turn crimson.

We would need water eventually, but at the moment, I couldn’t stomach the thought of it.