Page 71 of The Dysasters

“Father, I think what Mark means—” Eve began, but Mark cut her off.

“No, Eve. This time I’m going to speak for myself.”

“Hey, just so you know, Mark is speaking forhimself,and only himself,” Luke said, after he took a long swig of beer. “I’m cool with there just being a chance that those kids can help us.”

“At the price of people’s lives?” Mark asked Luke.

Luke shrugged. “I don’t know them. Why should it matter to me?”

Mark looked from Luke to Matthew. “What about you?”

“Hey, all I did was call that wall cloud to Missouri. How was I to know air was so pissed it caused a tornado—and then those two kids threw the damn thing and it splintered? As far as I’m concerned,they’reresponsible for those deaths, not me. Not us.”

“But it could happen again. I’m calling waves and altering currents and tides. I’m creating the perfect situation for a major hurricane. Charlotte and Bastien are going to be drawn to this change in water weather, and they could affect it like Tate and Foster did air. Those kids have no experience and no understanding of what’s happening. People could die. A lot of people,” Mark said.

“And I could disappear forever someday if we don’t bring Tate and Foster here,” Matthew said, turning back to his computer. “I’m with Luke. I’m not going to try to hurt a bunch of people, but if people get hurt, or even killed, because we’re trying to save ourselves—so be it. They’re strangers. We’re not.”

Mark faced Eve, obviously waiting for her input, which usually balanced whatever nonsense Matthew and Luke spouted.

“Leave Eve out of it.” Stewart’s voice was like death. “And I’ll answer your question, even though you didn’t answer mine.”

“Oh, I’ll answer yours. When I asked why this is all worth it, especially to you, I meant that you don’t seem to care much about anything anymore except Eve’s crystals. Are you even up to the work you’ll have to do if we wrenchthese kids from their lives and imprison them here, with us, on this goddamned island jail?”

Eve took a step away from Father and reached down deep, invoking her element. She did as Mark recommended—as she had been doing for the past couple of weeks. Eve didn’t call what Father would want to syphon from her. Eve called whatsheneeded to ground herself, to think clearly and powerfully.Come, calming, cooling rose quartz. Take away negativity and reinstate love… When she felt the swell of pain under her right shoulder blade, and the wonderful infilling of sweet, soothing calmness and self-love, Eve moved quietly back to her father’s side, willing quartz’s essence to share itself, just a little, with him as her father squared off with her favorite brother.

Eve saw Stewart’s shoulders relax an almost imperceptible amount, and the reasonable tone in his voice had her feeling waves of relief.

“I’ll ignore that you slandered your sister. You’re not yourself, Son. Your brothers would tell you that if you let them. You want assurance that the new children—the young pairs I’ve bonded with the elements—are going to help me create an antidote to your Frill?” Stewart chuckled low. “There is no such assurance because there is no such antidote. I never intended to create one. But the children… they are your salvation. They are all of our salvation.”

“As usual, you’re not making any sense,” Mark said.

“As usual, you’re not smart enough to keep up with me,” Stewart flung at him. “Listen with your mind, like a man. Not with your emotions, like a child. I created the new elementals in pairs. They are meant to work as a team—to control their element together. Because of how I fashioned them, I know they won’t have the same problems you four do. Theysharetheir powers. Now, imagine this—the water pair comes here and meets their benevolent Uncle Mark. You teach them how to call their element, and in return every time they manipulate water, they stabilize you, much like they do for each other. The malevolent Frill fade back into the abyss of your imagination from which they came. But you’re stronger than the two kids, older than them—supposedly wiser than them. You will control the elementthroughthem, and there will be nothing they can do about it.”

Eve watched Mark blink in confused surprise. “Wait, that’s all there is to it?”

“No, of course that’s not all there is to it,” Stewart said. “Once you’re stabilized, there is nothing stopping you from using your water bond. Think of it, Mark. With the help of those teenagers stabilizing you, water could transform the Mojave Desert into a fertile basin. Or let’s say a farmer in Oklahoma needs rain so his alfalfa crop won’t fail—he calls us and water comes to his rescue.” Stewart’s eyes were bright, almost feverish when he turned his gaze to Luke and Matthew. “Napa Valley’s grapes are threatened by a frost? No problem. Fire works with air and the harvest is saved.”

“What’s in it for you?” Mark said.

“My children don’t go mad,” Stewart said.

Mark’s gaze didn’t falter as he repeated the question. “What’s in it foryou?”

Stewart’s sigh was long-suffering. “Much of the same thing that’s in it for you. It’s only right that people pay for our services. We are, after all, saving them.”

“And if they don’t want to pay and instead arrest us and perform those experiments on us you’ve been insisting we need to hide from for all these years?” Mark pressed.

“Oh, well, after we have complete control of the elements,withoutthe threat of the four of you going mad, we will have complete control of the world’s weather. Trying to take any action against us would prove to be as unwise as it is dangerous. You know, Mark, natural disasters can happen anywhere.”

Eve stared from Mark to their father. Her stomach felt sick.Mark tried to tell me. Tried to get me to see how cruel and power-hungry Father has become, and he was right. I think Father is mad.

But that didn’t change the fact that his idea was brilliant and that Eve could imagine all sorts of possibilities for their future—opulent, wonderful possibilities filled with freedom.

Eve moved from Father’s side to Mark. She touched her brother’s arm gently. “Hey, you’ll have what you’ve always wanted.”

“No, I won’t. I’ll be a pawn. Like we all are now,” Mark said.

“No, you won’t.” Eve met her father’s gaze. “Tell him, Father. Tell him what he’ll have.”