Four tiny redwoods were planted in the hard ground; they couldn’t have been more than a few years old as they barely reached the ceiling. Without a second though, I reached out and touched one, my hand aching for the feel of home after so much time in the Deep, and now, trapped in the Pit.

This is what Banishment would be like. To always be aching for a place that speaks to your soul, yet never able to hold it in your hands or heart again. The thought came unbidden to my mind and I closed my eyes against the sudden blur of tears.

Banishment was what every elemental feared, that they would be cast out of their home, doomed to wander the world until they faded to nothing, their souls and very beings starved of the connections that made them who they were. “Cactus, how is it you’ve survived this long outside the Rim?” I whispered as I pressed my head against the tree. Its soul was young, and very old at the same time. The history of its species called to me from the long distant past, the wisdom they held in their collective memory if I could just understand the words whispered around me.

“The fire is a part of me too, Lark. As long as I have some of the earth near me like this, I can do it. But . . . I can’t stay here any longer. There is more of me that is of the earth than fire.”

I opened my eyes to see him mimicking me, his hands and forehead pressed against the tree to my right.

Peta let out a small sigh. “Then we must all escape. And soon. I feel a firestorm coming, and none of us will want to be here for that.”

Her words brought me back to the moment, breaking the spell the trees cast over me, calling me home.

“Where do we go first, Peta? You know the Pit, where do I go for answers?”

She shifted her weight and dropped her head to my ear. “There is a secret place that Loam would go. A place only a few knew about and they are all dead and gone now. A place of old rules that even the queen can’t deny.”

A shiver ran through my spine. I looked to Cactus. “Do you know what she’s talking about?”

He frowned. “Whispers of rumors. Stories of a place that tells our history and everything that has ever happened in the elemental world. That would be a huge library though and even here, hard to hide.”

Peta shook her head a single time. “No, this place is very small. It is where all the original edicts of the Pit were created. Loam knew about it. He had to as an ambassador. And of course, the queen knows, but she doesn’t know where it is.”

“But Loam did?” I needed to be very certain because if Peta was wrong, I knew there was only one thing I could do to save Ash. Something he would fight me on every step of the way, so I held it as a last resort. A final gamble if I found no other way.

Forcing my feet to move, I stepped away from the trees and out of the room. “Peta, take us there.”

“Now?” Her strangled squawk was all I needed to hear to know just how dangerous this was going to be.

“Yes. Now.”

CHAPTER 16

As we walked, I held Peta in my arms. I felt the struggle of her body with each breath she took, her broken ribs at a bad angle pressed against her lungs.

“That’s why I can’t shift right now,” she said softly. “A shift when I’m so injured would surely puncture my air bags and I would be of no use.”

I stroked a hand along her back as I followed Cactus through the currently well-lit tunnels. Empty tunnels.

“Cactus, stop a minute.” I laid my hand on Peta’s back, and spoke quietly to her. “We’re connected, aren’t we?”

Her green eyes narrowed. “We are.”

“And I can draw energy from you, if I need to be healed?”

She slowly nodded. “Yes.”

I closed my eyes. “Then let’s reverse the flow.” I found the bundle of emotions, the connection to Peta inside my head, right next to the place that my power with Spirit resided. Distantly I heard her saying it didn’t work that way, that I couldn’t heal her but I couldn’t see why not. It made sense that it—the connection between us—would work both ways.

Taking hold of my Spirit power and the bond to Peta I threaded them together inside my head. The strands around Peta’s energy glowed a bright pink, like a sun flare, and then faded into nothing. Peta let out a gasp and I swayed where I stood.

A dip in my energy was all I felt, but when I opened my eyes Peta glared up at me. “Stupid Dirt Girl! You aren’t supposed to sacrifice your life for me, it’s supposed to be the other way around!”

I shrugged and she leapt from my arms, immediately shifting to her snow leopard form.

Her emotions were all over the map, swinging from an intense dislike that came from years of being told Terralings were stupid and useless, to an intense loyalty that bordered on love.

Confusion I understood. So I gave her an out. A way to not feel like she was being a burden. “I can’t have you slowing us down,” I said, brushing off my shirt.

Her back stiffened. “I would not have slowed you down.”

I looked to Cactus who gave me a wink as he patted her at the base of her tail, the equivalent of an ass pat on a woman. “Yeah, you were, kitten.”

“Kitten?” She spluttered the word and I moved between them before he could make it worse. The last thing I needed was her lashing out at him. Even if he did kinda deserve it.

“Peta, just lead the way, please. I’ll talk to Cactus.”

Her long tail sliced through the air, side to side, actually hitting the wall, but she did as I asked.