Prince of Attania, 2

Jet eyed the roomful of non-family women who stared suspiciously back at him. He nudged Attan. “Can they all see our elemental forms?”

Attan shook his head, and whispered back, “No, just Elea. And Emma.” It didn’t make the women any less scary, though.

Emma, the blind one who used to be Merrell’s mistress all those years ago, looked straight at Jet. She seemed to be able to see him in any form, despite her handicap. She bobbed her head towards Jet, but she addressed Attan’s companion, Meetoo. “Young Spirit,” she asked. “Have you seen my son?”

Meetoo’s speech still wasn’t good. “My son?” he echoed, looking to Attan for guidance. Elea took over. She led Emma to one of the seats by a window and murmured, “Your Thomas has gone across the sea.”

“Across the sea?” Emma’s face lit up. “My Thomas is across the sea?”

Elea patted her arm and nodded, repeating, “Yes, across the sea.”

And Emma sat back with a sigh. “At last,” she whispered. “He’s found his way at last.”

Jet, Attan and Daniel exchanged glances. Meetoo looked worried, so Attan smiled reassuringly and said, “Not us, not yet.” Meetoo was satisfied with that, though Jet looked sharply at his son.

So far Meetoo had kept his physical shape, and he was learning at an incredible rate, considering that not long ago he had been a collection of elementals. Attan and Elea had taken Meetoo back to Midver while Jet had returned to confer with Daniel. Now, they all were at Midver, including some of the women from Elea’s village and a few of the Midver locals, and Emma, who had been Tom Jadock’s mother.

Meetoo was the key. Initially, Jet had suspected Meetoo was some revived form of Aylard First, but he quickly discarded that idea. He had no doubt Aylard First was behind this; it had Aylard’s signature all over it, including using people like Tom Jadock to further his own ends. When Aylard had released all those years ago, Jet had truly believed that the original Elemental had finally come to terms with his existence, and had willingly let go of his physical body. He should have known better; Aylard was like him, like Attan. Even if they released, they would always be able to take back their physical forms. Jet realized Meetoo was the same—which meant Aylard was the same. Damn the man! Or whatever he was.

“Are we going to get on with it?” Daniel asked impatiently. Having to drive six non-family women who weren’t at all intimidated by his Enforcer status hadn’t improved his mood any. Tark had insisted upon it, and Jet backed him up, remembering what he had learned from the merge with Attan. These women—somehow—could maybe not control but direct free elementals to some degree. Jet had let Daniel work out the logistics while he discorporated and took the short route back to Midver. Daniel managed to arrive, with the women in tow, several hours later. He must have rattled all their bones on roads never meant for the Enforcer’s sleek limousines.

“Yes, I think it’s time,” Jet agreed.

Elea remained with blind Emma and the other women from her village, while Meetoo stood uneasily by Attan’s side. Daniel whistled, coming right up to the newly-made Elemental and walking in a slow circle around him. Attan squeezed Meetoo’s hand. “He looks almost exactly like you,” Daniel commented. “Is that because--?”

Jet replied, “He used Attan’s physical form as a model. That’s what the original neverborn did. That’s why most Family look alike.”

“Not that alike.”

“We had centuries to develop our own unique differences, and still, to most non-family, we all look the same.”

“I know, but it’s one thing hearing about it, and another thing seeing it.” Daniel glanced at Attan. “Can I merge with him?”

“Attan, be ready just in case, but I think it’s a good idea. Daniel needs to understand exactly what Meetoo is.”

A newly-made Elemental. That’s what Meetoo was. Above them, all around them, Midver’s odd variety of free elementals cavorted unseen. Meetoo saw them, as did Jet and Attan—and the two non-family females who had the sight—Elea and Emma. Not Daniel. He could not see free elementals nor sense them even in a merge. He needed a sentient being—an Elemental—in order to do that.

Attan nodded. He smiled encouragingly at Meetoo. “Let go,” he said, showing Meetoo what to do by releasing his own physical body. Meetoo, so newly physical, was still learning how to un-form and re-form his substance. He tended to expand wildly, explosively as Elea’s village had discovered to their detriment, and had to be coaxed back into physical form.

That was where Attan came in. He expanded even more than Meetoo, enveloping Meetoo in his own essence until he got used to the sensation of being free again.

Daniel joined them in the merge, while Jet entertained the ladies, or at least reminded them that someone of the Family remained with them. Emma’s blind eyes tracked invisible movement on the chapel’s high ceiling. Jet suppressed a shudder. At least not all the women could see them in their elemental states.

After a few heartbeats, Daniel took form with a theatrical snap, followed by Attan and Meetoo. “I see it now,” Daniel said. “He really doesn’t know anything about being human. Then how? How did this happen? How did Meetoo come to exist after all these thousands of years?”

Jet wondered how much he should say in front of the non-family women, but they were here to help, according to Attan and Tark, and Jet realized he might need them to oppose Aylard, if indeed it was Aylard First who was behind this, and Jet was more and more convinced that was true.

“Aylard explained it to me, years ago, when he first tried to kill me and couldn’t. He wanted to destroy all Family then because we were never meant to be. We took form like Meetoo, but then the earliest of us mated with each other and divided our elemental sparks among our offspring. Aylard considered those offspring to be abominations. The original neverborn, all except him, eventually died out when their own elemental sparks became too diminished to sustain a physical form. Aylard always wanted to start over—with elementals who could take physical form but never split it, never procreate like humans do. Looks like he got his wish—with Meetoo.”

Attan had stiffened when Jet said Family were never meant to be. Hadn’t Elea said something similar recently? “But that’s not right, either,” Attan said.

“Of course it’s not right!” Daniel burst out. “First of all, we’re here, aren’t we? And second,” he smirked. “Who says Meetoo and even Attan won’t want to procreate some day?”

That earned Daniel some dirty looks from among the women, though Meetoo only looked more confused. Attan could sympathize.

“It means Aylard is still involved. If he never gave up his physical body in the first place, then he’s been working behind the scenes all these years to carry out his original agenda. We can be sure Aylard will come looking to see what happened to his followers. He would have felt the explosion too. We can’t let him know his little experiment,” Jet glanced significantly at Meetoo, “succeeded.”

“So what are we going to do about him?” Daniel flung out his hand to indicate Meetoo, who was happily stuffing sweets into his mouth as fast as Elea gave them to him. Jet fought down a smile. Meetoo looked so much like Attan, but in some ways was adapting to physical life even better. Attan wouldn’t have been interested in the sweets.

“I think, for now, we stay out of it. Let Attan keep Meetoo. Aylard knows what we can do and may try to avoid us. But he doesn’t know Attan.” Except as the less popular eldest Prince, the one who wasn’t bred for power. Let Aylard believe that, Jet thought savagely. Attan had no equal, not even Aylard.

“I’d like to find out more about that machine Meetoo destroyed,” Daniel said. “What was it? Why were Tom and his men bringing it to Tark’s? Was Tark as uninvolved as he claims?”

Two heads shot up at Daniel’s questions. Predictably, Emma. “My Tom?” she asked querulously. And Elea.

“Tark was protecting me!” she protested. “So I could find Attan.” The other women glared at Daniel on her behalf.

Daniel threw up his arms. “All right!” he said. “Tark has Attania’s best interests at heart. I believe you.”

“Yes,” Elea insisted. “Attania’s.”

Meaning not necessarily Family’s. Jet let it go because he had Attania’s best interests at heart, too. He stared hard at the young girl. She was younger than Attan, and non-family besides. What he had learned of her through the merge with Attan was a little hard to believe, though it made more sense if not all of the women from Tark’s village had the sight like Elea and Emma did. “Daniel, go back to Tark’s village and see if you can track the machine backwards. We still don’t know where Tom was hiding all this time. It may be the same place where Aylard is.”

“The sea,” Emma piped up, happy again. “My Tom has gone across the sea.”

Jet frowned. About that. “Elea, I need you to explain exactly what you ladies do when you sing free elementals to the sea.”

Elea looked at him in surprise. “Here?” She glanced above to where free elementals dove up and down in a splash of colors that remained invisible to all but a few of those present. Thankfully.

Carefully, Elea extricated her hand from Meetoo’s, as Attan deftly took her place. “Hold onto him,” she warned Attan, who nodded. Turning back to Jet, she continued, “You understand there’s no place for them to go if we sing them here. There will be some who wish to leave, but not all. If we sing, they will all be drawn in.”

“I just want to see how you do it,” Jet answered. Daniel watched curiously. He was one of the ones who couldn’t see the spirits.

Elea gathered her women about her and they moved to the front of the chapel. Emma came, too. They formed a circle and began to sing. The melody was simple, beautiful, and it repeated in a continuous loop. Free elementals from all around the chapel swirled to the center of the circle, and more poured in through the walls and roof of the building. Jet felt the longing build up in his chest. He could see that Daniel felt it, too. He wanted to let go, to join the other elementals. It was—powerful.

“Don’t let go of your form,” Attan cautioned in a low voice. He had a solid grip on Meetoo’s arm. The new Elemental’s face was lifted towards the music, and he strained his body to get away from Attan. Attan must be doing something on an elemental level as well, otherwise, Jet was sure that Meetoo would have already transformed. It was taking everything he had not to transform himself!

“All right, enough! Stop!” Jet called, as the desire became unbearable.

The women immediately ceased singing, and the free elementals within their circle shuddered to a stop before dispersing almost violently outward, away from the women, out of the chapel altogether. Jet knew how they felt. He was half-ready to bolt himself! What was that power?

Daniel collapsed to his knees, his pale skin even whiter with shock. “What was that?”

Attan released his grip on Meetoo, both physical and other, and the creature pulsed wildly, half-in and half-out of physical form. It wasn’t until Elea came over and sat by him that the new Elemental steadied his form and took the bag of sweets she offered.

“It’s how they sing free elementals who choose it back to the sea,” Attan explained, as it had been explained to him. “Not all choose it. Some choose to remain part of Attania. Unfortunately, as I found out the first time I heard the singing, it pulls you into it whether you want to go or not. That’s why I said to hold onto your physical form. In your elemental form, you would have been dragged in.”

Jet eyed the women suspiciously. “Aylard knows this? He knows about you people?”

A frizzy-haired woman stepped forward. “Few know about us. Only spirits. If, as you say, this Aylard is a spirit and not cloaked in flesh, then perhaps he knows. Only we don’t know him.”

However, they knew Tom Jadock. Tom was from Midver; his mother was from Tark’s village. His mother knew how to sing spirits back to the sea. Jet closed his eyes. This was worse than he thought.

“What’s out there? What’s across the sea?” Daniel wanted to know.

“Home.” Emma said it. Elea echoed her.