Free Elemental Hunger by Elana Johnson Page B

Making a decision I hoped I wouldn’t regret, I placed both knives in the pile. “Okay, Airmaster. You think you can take directions from a girl?”
    His gaze raked over my hair, his eyes locked on mine. “All I see is a Firemaker.”
    I held his gaze, waiting for something that wasn’t a non-answer. I wanted to trust Adam, but it would be foolish. I mean, he was a trained sentry—already marked.
    “Besides,” he said, pushing around some coals. “Your hair looks nothing like girls I’ve seen.”
    I raised my eyebrows. A moment later he laughed, deep and clear. He would never listen to me, even if I did become a Councilman. “Really classy,” I said.
    The happiness in his gaze faded. “I’ve already pledged to serve on your Elemental Council, what else do you need?”
    “I saw your tattoo,” I blurted out. His eyes gleamed in the firelight, the way Patches’s had under those electric lights. Emotionless. Unyielding.
    He blinked, and when his eyes opened again, they held sadness. “I won’t hurt you. We’ll keep pretending you’re a boy. That’s the best way to survive until we charter our Council.”
    Another answer-that-wasn’t-really-an-answer, but I decided I didn’t care. With him, I was one step closer to the magical bond of chartering. “Sure, okay.”
    A smile brushed his lips. He picked up the knife and ran his thumb along the hilt. “We’ll head to Gregorio in the morning. I’ve heard rumors of an Unmanifested revolution there. Their Councilman doesn’t like Alex’s new educational policies very much, and he’s actually encouraging his Unmanifested to fight.”
    “You think he’ll charter my—our—Council?”
    He straightened his blanket before lying down and folding the denim over himself. “I don’t know. He’s unconventional, so he’s our best bet. We’ll talk strategy in the morning. Night…Gabe.”
    “Yeah, night,” I said, preoccupied with my own thoughts. Adam seemed willing to accept me as his Firemaker—his Councilman even—but I didn’t truly believe anyone else would.
    I sighed and spread my coat on the ground directly across from Adam. Before closing my eyes, I gave the fire a final blast of flame. I slept facing Adam. I dreamt of sentries, their spiraling tattoos, and raging tornadoes.
    And a world where women could be blazing talented Firemakers.

    Rough hands shook my shoulders, much the same way the cook in Crylon used to. “Get up. The sentries are here. We have to go out the top.” Adam’s urgent voice chased away any thoughts of my past service in the kitchens.
    I scrambled to my feet, pulled on the coat, and covered my head with my hood. Panicked, I patted the ground for the rest of my gear. Gone. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted Adam. I shouldn’t have unloaded everything I’d found, shouldn’t have shared, shouldn’t have fallen asleep at all.
    The guy was a trained sentry. He’d physically assaulted me once, and now he’d left me abandoned in a cave in the middle of an Unmanifested village—with his sentry brother on my tail. Anger clawed through me with the desperation as I turned uselessly in a circle, trying to see something in the absolute darkness.
    “Come on!” Adam hissed, sending a river of relief through my veins.
    I sprinted in the direction of his voice, my tired muscles groaning and my injured feet bursting with pain. I hadn’t had the time or the means to dress them properly before falling asleep.
    Adam pushed me in front of him. “Climb.”
    Easier said than done. See, I didn’t dare light my fingertips, and I didn’t think darkness could be this, well, dark. The stone had small divots in it, a far cry from stairs. I had to balance on tiny footholds and dig my fingertips into the unyielding rock.
    Adam never spoke, but his breath came hot and close. Every step felt like needles in my feet. My fingers flinched with each touch against rock. I moved too slow, like I was underwater, but the thought of plummeting to my death