There was nothing here for me to physically fight; I needed to outsmart these Salamanders within their own home. And I wasn’t sure I could do it.

Peta trotted at my side and I glanced down at her. The sight of her white tipped tail made me smile despite the hard situation at hand. I realized I had the perfect helper if she would open to me. Living in the Pit as a familiar, surely she would have an idea as to how to save Ash? I just didn’t know if she would trust me enough to help me. Her antagonism was not exactly subtle even though she was softening toward me.

The three of us remained silent as we emerged from the downward tunnel into the main living quarters cavern. Cactus walked me back to Smoke and Brand’s home. He stopped in front of the open door, leaning against the edge of it. “I’d take you with me, but people might talk.” He gave me a slow wink.

I snorted, opened my mouth to respond when his eyes widened as he looked over my shoulder. Damn these Salamanders and their penchant for creeping around in complete silence. I arched an eyebrow at Cactus and he gave a slight shake of his head. So whoever was behind me was no one I wanted to talk to apparently. Keeping my back to whomever, I spoke to them. “Sneaking up on people? Isn’t that below you?”

A sharp intake of breath and then a fist jammed between my shoulder blades, throwing me forward. I spun as I fell, catching a glimpse of bright red curls.

Maggie glared down at me. “I’m here to make sure you do as told. The queen thinks Brand is going soft.”

“Or maybe you asked for this duty? A reason to push me around?” I stood and didn’t bother to hide my anger. With that emotion running through me I could truly tap into the earth’s power and feel as though I could hold my own against any other elemental. I let the anger burn bright, feeding it with the fact Maggie had been the first to stand against me and Ash when we’d come for help.

“If you’d helped us when we asked, instead of fighting us, we could have been in and out of the Pit without anyone even knowing, Maggie. None of this would have happened. No one would have died.”

Maggie glared at me. “If you had taken our advice and left, no one would have died.”

“My whole family would have!” I shouted at her, unable to contain the words in any sort of moderation.

She snorted. “And the world would have been a better place for that.”

Several gasps around us told me I was not the only one who thought she’d gone too far.

Maggie’s hands glowed a soft red as she called on her element and I watched closely as a tiny flame burst into life over the top of her hand. She rolled it over her knuckles, the fire dancing across her skin. “You’re going to die here, Larkspur. It won’t matter that your father is the king of the Rim, or that you’re an Ender. It won’t matter that you saved the queen.”

Cactus stepped around me and the colors that swirled up his arms blended green and red twinning about one another as the tiny rocks at our feet slowly rose in the air. “Do not threaten her, Maggie.”

Maggie laughed and put her hands on her hips, the fire dancing from her hands to race around the edge of her body. “Being a tad over dramatic, aren’t we? I’m not killing her. Yet.”

I lifted a hand to Cactus, ignoring her. “Thanks for showing me around.”

I turned my back on Maggie. She snarled and I dodged to the right as she crashed toward me, the flash of black leathers my only warning. She clipped my shoulder, spinning me into the house and against a long pair of legs. I looked up into Smoke’s eyes.

“Lark, what is going on?”

“Maggie’s lost it,” I spit out.

Maggie grabbed my ankles and dragged me out of the house before I could say anything else.

“Maggie, stop this!” Smoke cried out.

Maggie tightened her grip on me and picked up speed. “No, I lost rank because of her and I’m about to fix that.”

I had no idea what she was talking about, but I suspected that “fixing” things would mean a beating for me, or worse.

She had me out of the house, and was running backward as she dragged me along the open ground. The rough footing tore at my vest and pants, tearing at the few spots where my skin hit. And then I realized where she was dragging me.

The river of lava.

Oh, that was not happening. I jerked both legs at the same time, snapping my knees against my chest, which pulled Maggie toward me, her orange eyes wide with surprise.

I tipped my head forward as she inadvertently launched up my body, and her forehead crashed into the top of mine. The reverberation from the impact shuddered down my spine and my shoulder gave a distant twinge, but I was no longer playing nice. I rolled with Maggie as her eyes widened with shock. Grabbing her by the shoulders as I straddled her waist, I thumped her hard into the ground, anger slicing through any hesitation I might have had.

Two more times I slammed her into the ground, her head bouncing with enough force that I almost felt bad. Almost.

I let her go and stood, breathing hard so it took me a moment to realize there was an eerie silence in the air. Around me were other fire elementals, their strange eyes in every shade of orange and yellow imaginable staring at me with nothing short of fear.

A few of them clung to their powers, the red lines licking up their arms indicating how close they were to blasting me. I slowly lifted my hands, feeling the weight of every move I made. “She started it.”

“You are a guest here,” Smoke’s voice was soft but with an edge. A rebuke if I ever heard it.