Page 19 of Elemental Hall: Nautica (Elemental Hall #1)

“Have you seen Darius?” I ask Orion, running up to him and a small group of the others who have gathered at one of the target ranges where we’re allowed to practice our offensive spells.

Orion looks confused. “We aren’t exactly friends, Sera.”

“Orion, it’s important. Have you seen any sign of him?”

Orion shakes his head, looking suddenly concerned. “What’s going on, Sera? Why do you need to find him in such a hurry?”

If I didn’t know better, I would swear that I can hear a hint of jealousy in his words. There isn’t any time for that, though.

“I think he might be in danger. One of Umbrae’s emissaries hinted that they did something to him.

” I look around at the others, at Nissa and Cara, at a couple of the other students who are simply there to practice.

They might not be friends with Darius, but it seems that the urgency of the situation gets through to them.

“I think I saw him up on the circle island,” Cara says. “He was looking at the old stone circles there, trying to practice calling down lightning through them.”

I think I know the place. “I’ll try there, but can the rest of you search for him too? I know none of you likes him, but we can’t just let the Umbrans hurt him.”

“It’s all right, Sera,” Orion says, putting his hands on my shoulders. “We’ll find him.”

We set off at a run, mostly because I’m running and the others are trying to keep up with me.

I head for the island Cara mentioned, which is small and green and surprisingly bare of trees, with a circle of standing stones atop it that are weather-worn and pitted.

The island is accessible by a short causeway of cracked granite, which is submerged at high tide.

Currently, we can run across, but I can feel that the tide is coming in.

“Search the island,” I say. “If he’s here somewhere, we need to find him.”

To my surprise, the others don’t look to Orion to confirm that instruction. They just start searching, splitting up and heading in different directions across the island. Even Orion starts to look, heading for the stones, maybe trying to use his affinity for earth magic to find Darius.

That gives me an idea. I touch the water of the tide lapping at the shore, and I picture Darius. I imagine the shape he would take in water, the space he would occupy. I feel for him the way the seraphin felt for fish, or the way it showed me the wonders of the deep.

There is someone. I don’t know if it’s Darius, but I can feel someone in contact with the ocean somewhere away to my right.

I think of calling the others for help, but I don’t dare distract them from their own searches, not until I’m sure that Darius is the one I’ve found.

Instead, I sprint in the direction of the feeling, my heart pounding, my lungs sucking in air, trying to get there as quickly as possible.

I run along the coast of the island, not caring that half the time, my feet are in the water.

There’s a cave ahead. A tidal cave, the water rushing into it as the tide rises.

I can feel the presence of the figure within it, not moving.

Fear fills me then that Darius might be hurt, or worse.

Maybe this is simply where someone has hidden his body, trusting that the tide will wash it away soon enough.

No, I can’t think like that. I have to believe that he is still alive.

I rush toward the cave, plunging into it. It is dark in here, but I have enough control over flames to summon a faint glow to see by. I wade into the cave, continuing toward where I can feel the presence of the figure. It’s somewhere beneath the water now, completely submerged.

I plunge in without hesitation, pushing back the currents as I dive to the bottom. Darius is there. His eyes are open but unfocused, his mouth gasping for air even though it should be a simple thing for him to use his magic to breathe. I realize that he’s been tied in place.

I swim to him, fumbling at the ropes that hold him. They won’t give, and Darius is still drowning. In desperation, I press my mouth to his, breathing as much air as I can into his lungs. I hold tight to him in something that both is and isn’t a kiss, saving his life the only way I know how.

I return my attention to the ropes. My fingers pick at the knots, working at them slowly. I rise to the surface, not because I need the air, but so that I can return to Darius, breathing it into him, hoping that it will be enough to keep him alive until I can finish freeing him.

My fingers strain against the ropes. Finally, they find some purchase and I feel them loosen.

I grab Darius, pulling him to the surface, swimming with him out of the tidal cave.

He seems conscious, but his eyes are still unfocused as I pull him up onto the shore, looking at me as if he can’t quite understand what’s going on.

“Sera?” His words are slightly slurred.

“Darius, are you okay? What happened?” I help him to sit up, propping him against me while I try to work out the best way to get help from the others.

“I’m… not sure,” he says, looking puzzled. “I was at the stone circle. I took a drink of water. The next thing I know, I’m tied down in a cave. I can’t think. Why can’t I think, Sera?”

I realize the answer almost at once. “Someone must have drugged you. They wanted to make sure you couldn’t use magic to get free.”

“Everything feels… strange.” He lifts a hand, staring at it as if he can’t quite understand something about the way it moves. He looks over at me. “You’re… so beautiful.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s the drugs talking, Darius.”

“No. It’s not. I… I’ve always thought it. Since I first saw you. So beautiful, but I couldn’t say it. Saying it would be bad. Saying it would just make people hate me more.”

“People don’t hate you,” I say.

“Of course they do,” Darius replies. “Luminans hate me because I’m from Umbrae, Umbrans hate me because I ran away. But you don’t hate me, do you?”

“I don’t hate you,” I agree.

He looks at me then, his eyes searching mine for something I can’t quite place. Slowly, he closes the distance between us.

This kiss has nothing to do with getting air to a drowning man.

Instead, Darius kisses me as if I am the air, as if he needs me more than anything else in the world, as if he might die if he doesn’t.

There is so much pent-up passion in that kiss that it takes me aback, and for several seconds all I can do is kiss him back blindly.

Our arms wrap around one another, and I desperately, so desperately, want to go further than this.

I don’t, though. I push him back gently.

“Sera,” he begins, a pleading look in his eyes.

“Not like this, Darius,” I tell him. “Not until I can be sure it’s you, and not whatever someone has drugged you with.”

“It’s me,” he assures me. “I want this. I’ve wanted this since I met you. I just never thought… I never thought it could happen.”

It’s still hard to see how it might happen, not when I’m still caught up in my deal with Orion. That’s a thought for another day, though. For now, I help him to stand, half carrying him, moving him back inland.

I spot Nissa first, and I’m glad it’s her, because she is the one best able to help now.

“Someone drugged him,” I say. “Can you do anything, Nissa?”

“The best thing is probably just to give it time to get out of his system,” Nissa replies. “If I don’t know what they used and I start trying to heal him, I could do more harm than good.”

That’s frustrating, knowing that there’s nothing we can do right now to help Darius.

What’s more frustrating is that this has happened at all.

Darius has become a target because the Umbrans think he’s a traitor and no one else on Nautica cares enough to protect him.

They go to the same classes, take on the same challenges, but they look at Darius with hatred every time they see him.

I silently vow that I won’t allow that to happen again. I’ll be there for him, even if it means going up against Umbrae’s emissaries.