Page 65 of Elemasters

“Chloe? What are you… oh fuck, we were supposed to spend the holiday watching Dreamgirls,” Bailey pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration at the recollection.

“Yeah,” Chloe said, tentatively stepping forward with a DVD in one hand, and a grocery bag overflowing with microwave popcorn packets in the other, “I can clearly see that something’s wrong though. Dustin, what’s the matter?”

“Let me explain,” Bailey said, patting Dustin’s shoulder in a way that silently reassured him he didn’t need to attempt to verbalize anything right now. She made her way across the yard to Chloe, and relayed the events in a hushed tone. The second she finished, Chloe gasped and dropped both the bag and the DVD, her hands covering her mouth as she stepped backwards.

“Oh my god,” she mumbled, her eyes slowly shifting to Dustin, “you poor thing. I won’t ask if you’re okay; I know the last thing you need is a dumb ass question like that. Do we have any leads on where Chris might be? Did the emperor say anything that might give us a clue?”

“No,” Dustin hoarsely muttered, “just that Chris’s will could be broken, with enough effort,”

“Shit,” Chloe practically hissed, “well, obviously that’s bad. But… it might work in our favor,”

“I’m really hoping you’re gonna explain how,” Bailey said, crossing her arms and furrowing her brow.

“Because it means that he’s not fully under the emperor’s control, which might buy us time to find a way to save him. We can ask Sima Yao what our next move should be,”

Right, Sima Yao. In all his hysterics, Dustin had all but forgotten their ghost mentor who was more familiar with all of this than any of them.

He tried to close his eyes and attune his element to the others, the way he did whenever they needed to head to the Palace of Radiant Clouds. He could feel the depth and pressure of his water, the shaky but still firm presence of Bailey’s earth, the sharp focus of Chloe’s metal, and the distant but vibrant presence of James’s wood… but instead of Chris’s fire, all he felt was static.

“I can’t sense Chris or his ring. It took all of our powers being awakened for us to transport to the palace at will…”

“Which means we might not be able to go back without Chris. Fuck,” Chloe shook her head, “okay, we need to regroup and work this out. But first, we need to make sure the boat doesn’t get rocked too much. I know it hurts like Hell, but you’ve gotta head home and reassure your parents that everything is okay,”

“How the fuck am I supposed to do that?” Dustin said, finally pulling himself off the ground and brushing the mud off his pants, “my dad’s expecting me to bring Chris home,”

Chloe tapped her chin in thought for a moment, and then realization flashed in her eyes… followed by a beleaguered sigh.

“Tell them… me and Chris are back together and he’s spending the long weekend with me since my mom is on a business trip,”

“Wait, WHAT?!” Bailey cut in, “but you’re not into Chris like that! You said it yourself!”

“Girl relax, I’m not moving in on your territory,” Chloe said, briefly eyeing Chris’s T shirt that Bailey was still wearing, along with the hickeys lingering on her neck, “it just needs to be believable. Dustin’s mom loved me, so she’ll be thrilled and won’t ask too many questions,”

“I hate how much sense that makes,” Bailey reluctantly admitted, “do you think you’re up for it Dusty?”

Dustin weakly nodded; not so much out of any confidence in himself, but more because he was too exhausted to object.

“If you need anything, don’t hesitate to put those ‘Free Nights and Weekends minutes’ to good use. We’re just a call away, alright?” Chloe said, coming closer and putting a supportive hand on his shoulder, “We’ll call and get James up to speed, so don’t worry about that. We’re in this with you,”

Dustin nodded, knowing she was right… but completely unable to feel it.

It was like he’d forgotten how to breathe. Like he’d actually died when Qin Shi Huang was suffocating them and every moment since then had been a punishing underworld.

But if anything was painfully consistent in his life, it was that even in times of crisis, he had no choice but to force himself to keep breathing in spite of it all.

To keep enduring, no matter the weight.

Chapter 25

Keep Holding On

Life had been a complete blur for the past twenty-four hours.

Chloe was right at least; Dustin’s parents bought the lie with glee. His mom was in such a good mood that she’d decided to end his grounding “early” (even though it had been over two weeks) and she’d even started planning to make her famous Manju buns for Chloe. It would probably break her heart all over again when she learned that not only were Chris and Chloe not back together, but there was something going on with him and Bailey instead.

He’d bought himself some time, but he only had until the end of Thanksgiving break to get Chris back before they started asking questions that couldn’t be explained away so easily.

And that was why he found himself at Chloe’s luxurious villa with the others, trying desperately to put their heads together to find a solution to this overwhelming problem.