Chapter One
I felt like death.
I also knew firsthand what death felt like, so I knew I was exaggerating, but still.
It’d been nearly ten hours since I’d awakened in the middle of the night and been drawn outside the Loft—the ward-covered, magically protected home of the Outcasts. The silence of the woods had felt soothing after the intensity of the trial. The noise from Cliffside had barely permeated the cushioned protection of our hidden location. I’d almost thought I’d imagined my uneasy feeling.
Then he’d emerged from the woods, and my entire worldview had shifted.
I sank lower into the couch in the living room. My worldview shattering wasn’t anything new. It hadn’t even been three months since I’d been revived by a witch’s curse among the Paranormal Outcasts; two months since I’d discovered I was an elemental destined to take the paranormal throne. Less than a week since I’d beaten Lukas and Onora in the trial, forged my crown from Vulcan the dragon, and promptly been exiled from the Dead City, the location of my throne. I thought my path forward was clear.
Fate clearly thought differently.
I let out a groan. My eyelids refused to close despite my desperate need to sleep. A lithe figure shifted in the armchair.
“Either stop whining or go to bed. You sound more pathetic than usual.”
I turned my head to look at Collette. “You’ve been up with me since he got here. Don’t you need to go to bed too?”
Collette huffed and haughtily brushed back her platinum blonde hair. “I don’t need my beauty sleep. Not like somepeople.”
I hated to admit it, but she really didn’t. As a faerie—a half Fae—Collette practically oozed magnificence from her high cheekbones, naturally smoky eyes, and a figure an hourglass would murder for.
“You’d better sleep or you’ll look ugly and Jasper’s never going to want to kiss you,” Collette went on. “Not that he can,” she muttered.
I rolled over, suddenly even more exhausted. “Low blow,” I mumbled into the couch cushion. Jasper was a whole other issue—a hot, vampirically powered issue—that I’d have to deal with at some point. If he’d been here instead of trapped by a blood oath with the Deathless, he’d have known exactly what to do.
Until then, it was up to me to do what I thought was best. I was supposed to be queen, after all, even if I’d never felt less like royalty.
Collette gave another model-worthy pout and pushed herself out of the chair. “I can’t watch this anymore. You want to mope here and wait for something to happen, that’s your problem. I’m hitting the gym.”
But I felt her presence linger as she passed the couch.
“Have you told Ari about…you know, him?” she snapped.
“Yep, and Leon,” I said. “They were the ones who put him in the Gargoyle’s Roost.”
Collette sniffed. “That won’t keep him for long if he is what he says he is.”
It wouldn’t. But it was the best we had. “Rodge is also watching the room—”
“Rodge? That lazy dhampir can’t stay awake for more than a min—”
“—and I asked Sawyer to contact Iris at the Elemental Order.”
“Iris…Hold on, isn’t she the one who—”
“The Order should know.” I cut her off before she could get the insult train rolling. Some past wounds, especially those connected with Iris, were ones I didn’t want to get into right now. “I mean, that’s kind of why they formed, right? For things like this?”
Collette’s nails drummed rhythmically on the arm of the couch. “The Order probably didn’t even think this was possible.”
I agreed. And that had me worried.
Collette’s nails abruptly left the couch. I waited, prepared for a snide remark, but a moment later I heard her daintily slip up the stairs.
I was alone. I wished I weren’t.
Knowing I wasn’t actually getting any sleep, I turned my head toward the blazing fireplace. The blank stone slab above the mantel that had revealed two of the Outcasts’ prophecies remained unchanged. I’d hoped that after he’d arrived new words would appear. If there was any perfect time for a new prophecy, this was it.
A tingle started deep in my bones; a warning sign from the dozens of alarm and defensive charms Sienna and Sawyer had placed around the Loft. I pulled my head upright as footsteps thundered above my head and Leon emerged at the top of the stairs.
“We have trouble?” he growled.
I dragged myself off the couch. “I think I know who it is. At least I hope it’s her.”
“Maybe I should check first,” Leon said, his enormous body and mane of hair bristling with the barely contained strength of his lion form. “Ari doesn’t want anyone coming or going until we have answers.”
“Relax. Hopefully she’s going to bring answers.”
Even still, I checked the peephole before opening the door to let Iris in.
“Riley.” She swept past the Loft’s barrier and crushed me in a hug. “Couldn’t stay apart for more than twenty-four hours, huh?” She smirked when we parted. “I understand.”
“It’s that confident sass I missed,” I said.
“Oh. It’s you.”
Iris’ smirk dropped as Leon glowered down at her. He hadn’t been nearly this cold toward Iris when he’d picked us up at the end of the trial. Then again, he hadn’t known the entire story: how Iris had murdered me, causing me to join the Outcasts and setting off my entire journey to becoming paranormal queen.
I’d held onto my resentment toward Iris until the very end of the trial. The other Outcasts, however, hadn’t yet come close to forgiving her.
“Hello, Leon,” Iris said stiffly.
He grunted. “Hope you won’t be here long.”
“Leon,” I admonished. “She’s a friend.”
I didn’t miss Leon’s eye roll as he pushed his immense frame off the stair railing. “The guy you’re looking for is up in the Gargoyle’s Roost. I’ll take you there—”
“I can take her myself,” I said. “Just the two of us,” I emphasized when Leon didn’t look as though he was going to relent and leave us alone.
“Fine.” He walked out with a bit of a huff. Iris stared at the floor.
“Don’t worry about it,” I told her gently. “Just be glad we didn’t run into Collette first. Or Ari. Pretty sure I saw her sharpening her claws on one of the whetstones in the kitchen.”
Rather than making her feel better, my terrible joke only caused Iris to look more downcast. “I don’t blame them.”
“They’ll get over it,” I said. “I did, and I’m the one who should be the angriest. How are my mom and dad?”
A little surprisingly, the change of subject appeared to cheer Iris up. Last time I’d seen my parents, she’d been in deep, deep trouble with both them and the Order for what she’d done to me. Hopefully now things were a little better.
All the way up the multiple floors to the Gargoyle’s Roost, Iris filled me in on what the Order and my parents had been up to during my time in the trial.
“They still don’t entirely trust me, but they’re letting me work with them again,” she said. “Especially with things like this. Normally they’d come themselves but they’re prepping to meet with Lukas and Valencia.”
Sudden fear clenched my gut at the mention of two of my strongest enemies. “Why would they want to do that? There’s nothing more to say to those two. And there’s no way Onora won’t try to step in and hurt them.”
“Your parents are trying to convince them to let you go to the throne. After all, you did win the crown.”
“I could win the trial a thousand times and they’d still never let me take it without a fight.”
Iris nodded furiously. “I told them that, but they’re convinced they should try.”
I stopped, gripping Iris’ arm. “Please, please try to talk them out of it. They might have been mad at you, but they respect your experience. Tell them it won’t work!”
“I’ll try, but maybe you should tell them yourself,” Iris said, putting a gentle hand over mine. “They want to see you, after all.” She gave a lopsided grin. “In fact, they were a little bit ticked you haven’t already come by to visit. I believe your mom mentioned something about grounding you…”
I snorted, but it wasn’t entirely funny. As much as I’d reconciled Iris’ past sins, my parents still had some things to answer for; namely that they’d been leaders of a group of paranormals so secret the Conclave hadn’t even known about it and had neglected to tell me. Especially since I was, you know, one of the most prominent paranormals out there.
“I’ll be sure to stop by after we do this,” I promised. “I’m sure they’ll want to see this guy, too, if he’s the real deal.”
Iris was looking over my shoulder. I followed her gaze to find Rodge sitting in a chair outside the door to the Gargoyle’s Roost, trying valiantly to keep his chin from drooping to his chest. Every so often he’d snap awake, nearly smashing the back of his head against the wall before nearly nodding off again.
“Oh, yeah. That’s Rodge,” I said. “He’s a dhampir. And maybe narcoleptic?”
“That’s who you have guarding this guy?” Iris said disbelievingly.
I grimaced. “Technically we didn’t assign anyone to guard him. He could probably break out easily if he wanted to.”
“Right.” Iris’ expression grew stern. “Let’s go see.”
Rodge jerked awake again as we approached the door. “Heya, Riley! And friend,” he said sleepily, rubbing his eyes. “Come to finally see what’s up with this guy?”
“Hopefully,” I said. “Any trouble?”
Rodge shook his head, causing his shaggy mane of hair to flop around his boyish face. He tried and failed to stifle an enormous yawn. “N-nope. Haven’t heard a peep. And he hasn’t tried escaping.”
“You sure he didn’t leave and you were asleep when it happened?” Iris asked.
Rodge grinned sheepishly. “That’s possible…but I don’t think so.”
Apparently tired of wasting time, Iris strode past me and twisted the handle. The door stuck in place.
“What the—”
She tried again, putting her shoulder against it, but even with her full weight it didn’t give.
“Wait.” I pointed at the crack in the door where a thin layer of ice had wedged itself between the frame. “I think I know what this is.”
I called on the elemental fire deep in my core. The tiger within me stirred awake with a growl and I felt the familiar warm sensation of power fill my veins. I pressed a hand against the ice-cold door and shoved blistering heat into it. “Now try.”
Iris took a step back and lunged forward, delivering a textbook-perfect side kick that sent the door crashing inward.
“Whoa,” Rodge said, looking more awake than I’d ever seen him. “She doesn’t mess around.”
“Not when it comes to this,” Iris said, following me inside.
Ice crystals crunched beneath my feet as we both entered what used to be the Gargoyle’s Roost. Now, Adam, the boy who’d shown up outside the Loft claiming to be an ice elemental, had turned it into his own personal walk-in freezer. Icicles hung from the ceiling and dripped down the frozen-solid curtains. The white boards on each of the four walls were covered like an ice-skating rink and every available surface had spiny, glittering crystals sprouting from it.
Glaring, I rounded on Adam, who lay lounging in his own lawn chair made of ice, letting out a billowing cloud of vapor with every breath.
“Seriously, man?” I said. “If you wanted us to turn down the thermostat you could have just said so.”
He gave us a cocky stare. I was once again hit by the cold desolation in his eyes, like a deep tundra and bitter winds. He still wore the scuffed jeans and hoodie he’d shown up in, but the shabby exterior didn’t reflect his raw power I could feel pulsating just beneath the surface.
“This was easier,” he said. “I didn’t want to bother you after giving me such a nice place to hang out. Is the lazy guy still dozing outside the door?”
I straightened up, calling on my power. The air began to steam as our two powers collided. Nobody made fun of any of the Outcasts—except, well, me.
“And who are you?” Adam said, eyeing Iris. He held her gaze for a moment and then shrugged. “Not an elemental. I thought you were making me wait because you were actually doing something important.”
“We don’t even know if you’re an elemental,” I said.
He cocked an eyebrow. I had to admit, standing in the middle of this pop-up North Pole, that had sounded pretty dumb.
“What do you think, Iris?” I muttered. She hadn’t spoken a word since we’d entered. Hadn’t even looked around at the unwanted ice sculpture gallery Adam had created. “You think he’s the real deal?”
Iris continued staring at Adam. I couldn’t fathom what she was looking for. Perhaps the same thing she and my parents had supposedly seen in me. Something beneath the surface, unassuming, that told of power beyond that of a usual paranormal.
At last she stepped past me. “Who are you?”
“Seriously?” Adam scoffed. “Didn’t she tell you anything?”
Iris waited. With a dramatic sigh, Adam at last swiveled around in his seat. With a jolt, I realized that somehow, in the last minute or so, it had reformed into something resembling a throne.
I swallowed hard.
“I’m Adam. Ice elemental? Ring any bells?”
“Who sent you?”
Adam frowned. “What are you talking about? Nobody sent me. Like I told your friend, Riley or whatever, I felt drawn to this place. Cliffside in general, actually. I…”
He stared down at his hands, his skin nearly as pale as a corpse. The bangs of his black hair hung over his eyes. “One day I woke up and I had these powers. I didn’t know what to do with them. Didn’t know where to go. And then I felt…I felt…”
“Something deep inside you?” I guessed. “Like a calling you couldn’t put a finger on?”
Adam looked up sharply. “Yeah. Exactly that.”
“How long ago?” Iris asked.
“Geez, what is this, twenty questions? A month ago? Three weeks? Who cares?”
I don’t think Iris missed my sharp glance her way. That would have been right around the time I’d touched the paranormal throne. That meant the magic pulse hadn’t just started waking up the Dead City. It’d awakened much, much more than we’d anticipated. Definitely not good.
“Look, am I in trouble or something? Is this”—he gestured to Iris—“some sort of interrogation? ’Cause let me tell you, it’s not very intimidating.”
“Don’t push us,” I warned. “You’ll find out just how intimidating I can be.”
Adam pushed himself up from his chair (which was definitely a throne now). The temperature in the room plummeted. I pulled my hand away from the table as crystals of ice reached out, trying to ensnare me. My surrounding magic was driven back to a small bubble surrounding Iris and me.
“Likewise,” Adam said softly.
I rotated my back leg a bit, trying to subtly put myself in a good defensive position in case things went south fast. Iris put out a hand between us.
“Now that you’re here, what do you want?” she asked.
Adam smirked. “Aren’t you supposed to tell me that? After all, you’re the ones who locked me in here for hours and then come in and treat me like a criminal.”
“There’s been…a lot going on lately,” Iris admitted. “A lot of people who want to hurt us. Riley especially.”
“But that’s not the only reason, is it?” Adam said. He jerked a nod at me. “You’ve never seen another elemental, have you?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Iris nodded. “We didn’t know there was more than one.”
“Well, surprise! Here I am.” Adam held his arms out, grinning. “But while we’re asking, I ran into a few other paranormals on my way here. That “a lot going on lately” you’re talking about, it wouldn’t have to do with a paranormal throne, would it?”
Iris stiffened.
“It’s not up for grabs, in case you were wondering,” I said firmly.
Adam’s ice-chip blue eyes glittered, like I’d told him exactly what he’d wanted to know. “That’s not what I was told. In fact, I heard the exact opposite, that they’d just finished an entire contest to decide who gets to take it. I’m an elemental, so I think that means I should get a chance, don’t you?”
I opened my mouth to blurt out that no, he certainly didn’t get a chance, not after everything I and so many others had been through to get to this point, but Iris shut me down with a shake of her head.
“So that’s what I want,” Adam went on. “And if I have to fight another elemental to prove I’m the one who should…”
The temperature dropped even more. Frigid cold prickled my arms, forcing my magic back to the surface of my skin. Iris began to shiver madly.
“Stop it!” I snapped.
Adam’s eyes narrowed. “Make me.”
“T-thanks for t-talking with u-us,” Iris said, teeth chattering. “T-that’s all w-we wanted to know.”
She turned on her heels and walked out. After a moment of shock, I hurried to follow her.
“That’s it?” Adam called after me. “You’re just going to leave me in here?”
I wasn’t sure what we were going to do with him, but I knew he was trouble, through and through. I hurriedly closed the door after me (like that’d do anything) and rushed past a drowsy Rodge to catch up with Iris, already one floor below. I found her frantically rubbing the outsides of her arms, still shivering.
“S-sorry about that. I just c-couldn’t stay in there for much l-longer.”
“Don’t apologize,” I said. “That was all his fault, not yours.”
I put my hands on her shoulders and pushed warmth into her. Without the powerful press of Adam’s elemental magic against mine, my own magic came easily again. In seconds, Iris let out a contented breath.
“Thanks. That was…wow.”
“I know. So what do you think?”
“Definitely an elemental. No doubt about that. And if I had to guess which one…”
“Not a hard guess, huh?”
Iris grimaced. “He didn’t make it a hard guess.”
“So…where does that leave us?”
Iris’ frown returned, her brow furrowing tightly. “I honestly don’t know. Another elemental…maybe some of the higher-ups in the Order thought there was a possibility of that happening, but not me. There might be old or lost texts that talked about it. But the elementals, even part elementals like you guys, have been lost for so long that I don’t think anybody actually believed we’d ever have this issue.”
I rolled a stray shirt thread between my fingers. “And what did you think when he mentioned wanting the throne?”
“Not a chance, Riley,” Iris said fiercely. “That throne is yours and yours alone. Remember this?”
She turned my right arm over. Faintly glowing on my forearm, like a radioactive tattoo, was the outline of a crown, forged from the shards I’d collected by Vulcan.
“Right,” I agreed. “Not up for debate.”
“Even if he wants it to be.”
Which Adam did. Obviously. After talking to him a second time, I was even more worried than I’d been before about letting him into the Loft. Elemental or not, what did we—I—really know about him? Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Except that he wanted something he couldn’t have and seemed ready to throw down to get it. I wasn’t sure who he was, or wasn’t, willing to hurt to get to that goal.
“I’ve got to head back right now and tell your parents about this,” Iris said.
“Good idea. Let me ask Ari and Sienna to keep a sharp eye on Adam and I’ll come with. Actually, do you think we should bring…”
I thumbed to the floor above but Iris was already shaking her head. “As much as I think the Order could help, I don’t think we should take Adam there yet. He wants power. And right now, there are those in the Order who are more than willing to go behind our backs to help him get it.”
I’d almost forgotten about the splinter group of the Order with the terrible idea of gaining power by trying to kill me. And now that Adam was here and seemed to have powerful ambitions of his own, throwing them together had a very high potential for disaster. Like leaving kids alone with a box of fireworks and expecting them to not destroy something.
“You go ahead,” I said. “I’ll get Leon to drive me—”
Wheezing breaths echoed down the stairwell a moment before Rodge appeared, floppy hair a mess, looking positively frantic.
“Adam!” he panted. “I fell asleep for only a second—maybe a millisecond, I swear!”
“Calm down,” I said, holding his shoulders as they heaved up and down. “What did Adam do now?”
Rodge gulped a breath. “He broke the window and escaped. He’s gone, Riley, he’s gone.”
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