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rhythm less likely to rip a hole through my chest, the roar once again tore through the house. It was a howl of pure, unadulterated rage. It was the type of sound that would cause any sane person to cower in a closet and wait for it to pass. Naturally, I walked straight toward it.
    Turning around the spiral stairs on my way downstairs, I saw that others were already awake, drawn by the primal screams still reverberating through the house. Say what you will about A-frame houses, they have great acoustics. Simon sat cross-legged on the dining table. His pose was casual, but his eyes darted around the room, taking everything in.
    A familiar looking woman sat in a chair next to him, and it took me several long moments to recognize her. Years before, Vivian had been pretty in a clean-cut, J. Crew model sort of way. She had also been extremely shy, spending far more time in front of her computer than she ever did interacting with other elementals. We knew her, the way we knew every elemental at our small college, but neither of us would have called her a friend.
    She was still as lovely as she had been then, with her hazel eyes and dark, poreless skin, but she was no longer the neat and tidy overachiever I remembered. Her previously straightened hair now formed small dreadlocks that fell to the center of her back. Her jeans were soft and well-worn, and over her Henley she wore a T-shirt that read “My Marxist feminist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.” Several years of education at a liberal arts college had apparently paid off. She offered me a hesitant smile, but before I could greet her, another roar, this time accompanied by a crashing sound, resonated through the house.
    Sera stood in the kitchen, bracing herself on her elbows against the breakfast bar and looking outside with a worried look on her face. I followed her gaze and saw the source of all the noise standing on the back deck: the mountain from last night was in a frenzy, grabbing bits of firewood from the pile and chucking them with terrifying force into the forest. Wherever they hit, bits of bark flew from the trees, and several branches cracked and fell under his fury.
    His back was to us, his attention wholly focused on the destruction he was causing. I made my way to Sera and cocked a silent eyebrow at her in inquiry. Her mouth twisted in answer, enough to tell me something very bad had happened. If the somber tone of the room and the shouting giant hadn’t made that clear, Sera’s serious expression drove the point home. I tilted my head toward the front door. She nodded and followed me outside.
    “What’s up?” I asked.
    “Vivian just arrived with some bad news. As you can see, Mac is currently reacting to that news.”
    “Is Vivian part of the band this time?”
    She nodded. “Yes. She remembered what happened before and put the pieces together even faster than I did. She broke up with her girlfriend when she figured out what was going on, because she didn’t want to risk her life, but she’s none too happy about it. She wants someone to pay.”
    “Can she really help us? She’s pretty low-level, isn’t she?”
    “With earth, yes. With technology? She’s a freaking goddess. Vivian is a bona fide computer genius, and you know how hard that is to find among elementals.”
    It was rare. We were an adaptable race, but we rarely learned more than the bare minimum, knowing it was only a matter of time before the next technological wave hit and we would need to start all over again.
    “What’s today’s news?”
    “There’s been another death. A guy named Mark, not too far from here. The police think he was killed a couple weeks ago, but the body was only found last night. You remember that Brian’s uncle is part of the local police force? He heard about it an hour ago, when they discovered the body.”
    “Brian’s still here? Is he in the band, too?” Considering Sera had just told me that someone had been murdered, I shouldn’t