Forgotten Elements

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Jade muttered, placing her hands on her hips as she dropped her head back.

Matilda’s forehead wrinkled in confusion as she glanced around at our reactions. None of us expected to hear a familiar name. Gabsrielle was the mysterious woman who had sent Jade to the creature’s realm and led her to find Alora.

“You’ve heard these names before?”

“Only Gabsrielle,” I said, dragging my hands down my face. Unfuckingbelievable.

“She’s not the only one,” Jade muttered as she grabbed a chair from the other table, pulling it over to ours and taking a seat.

“Who?” I wracked my brain, trying to recall hearing the others, but their names were so unique I would’ve remembered them.

Jade scoffed, leaning back in her chair. “Emmy sounds like a shortened version of Emeria, don’t you think?” Her gaze met mine, and she subtly glanced at Matilda and back, silently telling me she didn’t trust her with this information.

Jade had told all of us about her conversations with Emmy—the woman with ancient elemental magic. Not only had Emmy all but confirmed she was the one to create the elemental key, but she told them that everyone thought she was dead.

If Jade was correct, this meant that not only were the sisters real, but we had faced one and survived. Our survival wasn’t because of our skills but because she let us live. Looking back at her display of power at the Beach houses, I could easily see her being one of the sisters feared by so many.

There was one thing that didn’t make sense: why she let us live and help us? If she was as monstrous as Matilda said she was, why didn’t she just kill us that first night in the pub instead of knocking us out?

“That would mean two of the five,” Jade began but trailed off.

She didn’t need to finish her sentence. We knew what she meant. Two of the five keys belonged to the cursed sisters. That couldn’t be a coincidence. It made me wonder if the remaining two sisters created keys as well.

Parker stroked his chin as he turned his attention to Matilda. “What can you tell me about the other two?”

Poor Matilda looked so lost by our strange, half conversation, but she still answered as she rubbed her forehead. “Miseria was a summoner, and I think her spirit animal was some sort of cat. Allivrielle was a blood mage.”

“Where does Abrielle fit into this?”Parker asked as he began drumming his fingers on the table, referencing the woman who created the death magic key. Her name had the same vibe as the sisters, but that didn’t explain how she was involved.

Matilda shook her head, dashing my hopes. “I’ve never heard that name in relation to the sisters.”

“As interesting as this is, I think we’ve gone a bit off-topic,” Koa said as he grabbed the back of Jade’s chair. “The one thing all the legends have in common is they’re all dead. So unless you’re saying they came back to life and are hiding out in this realm to drain elementals, it’s not them.”

Koa’s expression was carefully blank, hiding our suspicion that at least one, maybe two were alive. We barely knew Matilda, and with sensitive knowledge like this, we had to be careful who we trusted.

Matilda’s reaction to Koa’s statement regarding them possibly being alive made me glad we hadn’t told her our suspicions. She let out a derisive scoff as disgust filled her features. “The only good cursed bitch is a dead one.”

Jade and I shared a look that said she could never be trusted with this kind of information. It wasn’t like we trusted Emmy in the slightest, but we knew we needed more information and context before doing anything. With the level of hatred Matilda displayed, there was no way in hell she would keep this quiet. Case and point, she told us their damn names and how they became cursed. She’d probably blab about this as soon as she could.

We had more important problems to deal with right now than the sisters, who hadn’t been causing any problems. Yet.

Because I was looking at Jade, I noticed Koa’s reaction to her words. It was small, just the subtle tightening of his hands on the chair. I doubted Matilda or Parker noticed since his face was still impassive.

“Even if they somehow were alive, they’re not dudes,” Jade added softly, reaching up to place a hand on Koa’s.

“What did you guys find?” I asked, deciding we needed a change in subject. “Where’s the others?”

Koa’s face may have been blank, but Jade’s gave away everything: her worries, frustration, and a hint of fear. Which wasn’t something I wanted to see when some of our friends were out there with a killer, traitors, and an unknown amount of bodies.

“They’re still tracking down the bodies, don’t worry, they aren’t planning on splitting up.” Koa hesitated for a moment, pinning his swirling amber eyes on me. “So far, we’ve found over twenty bodies, all of them a part of the rite.”

My stomach sank as my body went cold. I was expecting this, but I’d been hoping I was wrong. “Have you figured out how many more traitors we have among us?” The way Heath made it sound, it seemed like there was a lot.

Koa’s lips pressed together, and I had my answer before he shook his head. “Not until we find and count all the bodies.”

“But that’s not even the weirdest part,” Jade added as she adjusted her hair.

“Remember that thread of magic you found?” Koa asked his gaze still on me. I nodded, trepidation filling my body as I tried to figure out where he was going with this. “Each body has them, and a couple has more than one. Wyatt says the magic doesn’t just lead to the bodies but connects them.”