The Elementalists

Chapter 15

Sammi

'W-Where's the capsule?' Kass stammers.

'This can't be right.' Rai shivers from head to foot, his face screwed up with the strain of holding the sea apart. 'It can't be.'

I can't even speak. All I can do is stare up at the flag, mounted on the towering rock that is supposed to be the capsule.

But instead. . .

Buried inside is a person. Man or woman, I can't tell; they're completely encased in the rock, other than a few exposed body parts where the rock has weathered away. Their face, its mouth fixed open in a scream. Outstretched fingers, reaching for something we'll never know. One leg moulded forever into a run. All mottled with dark-grey scales that have spread across their skin like a disease. One eye-socket is completely submerged, leaving the eyeball dead and bulging outwards.

A scream bubbles up inside me. I clutch my throat, desperate to force it down. Musa springs to mind and I can't help letting out a gargled choke—will I ever see him again?

'Who are you?' Kass yells, crawling towards the rock. 'What happened to you? Tell us how to help you!'

'I don't think you can save them,' Rai whispers.

I nod, wanting to gag. This person is cloaked in the cold reek of death. 'Whoever it is, I think they're long gone.'

'But—But what are they doing here?'

'This must be it.' Rai's voice cracks; perhaps he's trying to convince himself at the same time. 'This must be the capsule. The—The visinium capsule.'

'What are you talking about?'

'Look.' Rai points at the ground. I lower my head, still crouched on all fours, trying to steady myself. Then, I see. Radiating from the rock are thousands of tiny strands, so fine they're almost invisible, snaking through the earth under our hands in a swarm that tethers the person in the rock to the very ground itself.

'It—It's like Cotton said.' My eyes follow the cables up the sea bed into the prisoner's skin. A thousand silver leeches, collecting at the points where the skin is darkest grey. 'Remember? She told us that cables connect the hotspots to the capsules. These must be them.'

I want to weep.

'This is the capsule? This thing?' The ground mimics Kass's horror, writhing angrily. Rai is also struggling; the ocean walls on either side of us are starting to seal, leaving us penned in a clearing with the capsule at the centre. Except, the clearing is growing smaller by the second. Panting heavily, Rai lets out a moan.

'Guys—I can't keep this up much longer. We have to hurry.'

Kass stares at him. 'But what are we meant to do? It's a person.'

'Aargh.' An invisible force knocks Rai to the ground, as part of the towering walls begins to topple down. He flips over onto his back, catching the water before it splashes down on top of us. 'QUICK,' he cries. 'Please.'

'I don't know what to do!' My vision blurs as my thoughts scatter frantically. How can I destroy the capsule now? It's a person! But . . . I have to. For Nura. For everyone I love. But, I realise, even if I want to, I don't know how. 

And yet. On autopilot, I drag myself forwards onto the rock, staggering to my feet at the base. I may not know what to do . . . but something inside me does.

'We can't destroy it. We can't, Sammi.' Kass's face is streaked with dust and blood, sweat and something white exposed on his cheekbone under the blood. My stomach lurches.