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“Oh, I can handle you, Isaiah.”
“Is that an invitation?” Anticipation coursed through his veins, intensity settling in his gaze as they locked eyes. In his hand, he could feel her pulse quicken, her eyes sparkling with mischievous light.
“An invitation?” Rukia’s sharp laugh cut across the dance floor. “That’d have to mean I enjoyed your company or found you the least bit attractive.”
“And do you?”
Rukia narrowed her eyes, her expression promising of a sarcastic answer. But before she could speak, they were interrupted.
A series of beeps chorused throughout the audience, and Rukia’s eyes instantly went to her wrist. Gideon’s voice broke through the crowd’s hushed murmuring only seconds later.
“Glen Canyon’s dam has cracked, minutes away from total failure,” he said. “We need to send a team immediately.”
The monarch’s gaze landed on Rukia, who dipped her chin, then on Jeremiah who did the same. In a thrilling turn of events, Rukia’s attention shifted to Isaiah.
“Be a doll and teleport us there, would you?”
Chapter Five
Withfailureimminent,theywouldn’t have time to change. Rukia kicked off her heels, already detesting the fact that she’d worn a floor-length dress tonight. Jeremiah, Gideon, and Rona strode toward where she stood with Isaiah, starting a game plan for the impending dam collapse. Rukia’s role was clear: hold back the water.
Beside her, Isaiah merely cocked an eyebrow. “Glen Canyon dam in Arizona?”
She nodded.
“I’ve been there before,” he said, loosening his tie. “It won’t be too difficult to find a spot to land.”
Rukia’s gut pitched. Aaron’s team of earth Elementals was in another part of the country dealing with a recent mudslide, which meant Gideon would be coming with them today. The thought made her uneasy. They needed more time to figure things out, but time was the one resource they never seemed to have.
“Ready?”
The world tilted on its axis less than a moment later, her balance compromising as the sensations of falling and weightlessness collided. Then her bare feet hit solid ground, and Isaiah’s arms closed firmly around her, steadying her sway. She’d never felt so relieved to have the teleportation vertigo pass, but she struggled out of his embrace.
Isaiah had hidden their small group between jagged pieces of rock on the southern side, near enough that Rukia could hear the hissing of the escaping water.
Time to get to work.
Spinning, she took in the scene before her. A collection of humans were gathered on the other bank—and it was now even more imperative to keep the Elemental’s abilities concealed. White floodlights illuminated the surface of the dam, but managed to highlight the hundreds of feet of fissure along the northern edge of the massive concrete structure.
Water cascaded down the face of the spillway, thousands of gallons at a time, and if the structure failed completely, those downstream would suffer.
Almost immediately, she began evaporating the water that banked against the shores upstream. She turned when Gideon started giving directions. Isaiah, arms crossed, merely observed.
“Jeremiah, you keep us and our movements concealed. Rukia, redirect the waters away and upstream where possible, and if the structure compromises, do what you can to mitigate the fallout.” He sank to the earth. “I’m going to attempt to stabilize the concrete.”
Concrete, at its core, was made from natural substances, which made it his to control. Gideon’s hands plastered against the rock beneath him, immediately connecting with his element, and Rukia was sprinting towards the water’s edge. Isaiah was quick on her tail.
“You’ll only drown yourself, Raeth.”
“I’m thrilled to know you care, Elemental, but worry not, drowning a Raeth is exceptionally hard to do.”
Good to know.
Spreading out as they were, it’d become increasingly difficult for Jeremiah to hold the measure of invisibility Gideon had asked for—especially with exhaustion nipping at his heels. Rukia could only hope he’d manage.
With every stride, her dress skimmed up her thighs and clutched tighter around her waist. She didn’t stop until she was feet away from the upper bowl of water and plunged her hands into the shallows. Jeremiah appeared to their left where he was beginning to camouflage both Gideon’s actions and her own.
Waves of water pushed against the current, immediately responding to her call. Though she wasn’t within the depths of the basin, it didn’t matter. Adrenaline fueled her abilities, the enervation she’d felt earlier today having dissolved in the wake of Isaiah’s arrival.
