Buried Embers (Elemental Seekers Book 3)

by H. M. Sandlin

  “Mr. Mitchel is back. There is a rumor going around that Mrs. Sullivan is being placed on temporary leave. Mr. Mitchel is taking over for her until the council can find out what is going on at this school. Another student has claimed that Mrs. Sullivan allows students to learn dark magic here.”

  “No way. Mrs. Sullivan would never allow that.”

  “We know that, but someone has convinced a few of the students to lie to the council to get rid of Mrs. Sullivan. Remember, she told us evidence of someone using dark magic was planted at the school last time the council was here. This is the third student to say that she allows it. The council may think they are doing the right thing.”

  “There are too many Pulhu on the council. They probably got the other members to agree to it through scare tactics,” I said.

  “Maybe,” Richard said doubtfully. “I think they planted evidence against Mrs. Sullivan and maybe bribed a few council members. It wouldn’t take much, and we know some of the students here have parents involved with the Pulhu. I’m sure they are the ones saying she allows dark magic.”

  “What are we going to do? You know Mr. Mitchel will want to test my magic as soon as he can if it’s true.”

  “I know. I don’t know how to stop him. You may need to take his tests and try to hide your magic.”

  “What if he finds out anyway?”

  “You’ve done a good job hiding the fact that you can use all the elements from everyone else. I’m sure you can hide it from him too. It will be a little bit trickier though. Don’t worry. We will figure it out.”

  I couldn’t wait for class to be over so I could talk to my friends about what we should do. When we finally got to the cafeteria and sat down, Abby exploded.

  “This is horrible. How can this be happening? Mrs. Sullivan needs to be here.”

  “There is nothing we can do, Abby. The council decided this was the best thing to do for now.”

  “Yeah, but we know it’s not. They are going to ruin the school. What about all the kids here. What if Mr. Mitchel decides they are too powerful. We all know what happens to anyone he doesn’t like. They go missing,” Abby said, panicked.

  “It will be ok, Abby. Only two kids have gone missing, and it would be hard for him to get rid of any of us. We are not new students.”

  “I’m still fairly new,” I said.

  “Not really. Besides, everyone here knows you. He won’t be able to say you are a problem. No one would believe him.”

  “That’s not true,” Tider said. “He could easily blame Sally for the dark magic at the school and say his niece found out about it and was trying to curse Sally so she would admit to it. Mr. Mitchel will always find a way to get what he wants. For now, we need to stay on his good side and listen to him. I will talk to my father and see if he can control Mr. Mitchel.”

  “Thanks, Tider, but let’s not take any chances. I don’t want your father to force you to go home.”

  Tider hesitated before agreeing. It wasn’t worth upsetting his father. We would figure it out on our own. If they took Tider home, they would force him to do dark magic. The Tider I loved like a brother would be gone. I wasn’t going to let that happen.

  Before we could discuss anything else, someone came up to our table. “Sally, please go to the front of the school and bring your friends. Mrs. Sullivan asked me to get you,” the kid stammered and turned bright red.

  “For what?” I asked.

  “Nothing. Something. I don’t know,” the kid mumbled and walked away quickly.

  “That was weird,” Adam said.

  “Yeah. Something’s going on. Let’s hurry up.”

  We grabbed our stuff and quickly walked toward the front of the school. I was worried about Mrs. Sullivan, and it took me a minute to realize she wouldn’t have sent a random student to come get us. I slowed down, watching everything, worried it was Mr. Mitchel calling for us and not Mrs. Sullivan. As we got closer, I stopped my friends. I reached out for Mrs. Sullivan trying to connect with her, so I could see if she really called for us. I felt her mind ahead of us and slipped through her defenses.

  “Mrs. Sullivan, did you send someone to come get me?”

  “No,” she replied. “Sally, you must be careful. Mr. Mitchel will have tests and traps placed everywhere to try and get you to slip up and show all of your magic. You must not let him know that you have power over all the elements.”

  “I don’t know how to keep him from finding out. I need you here,” I begged her.

  “I can’t stay, Sally. The council can’t be trusted. Don’t trust anyone except your friends.” Her voice became faster until I could no longer feel the connection between us. She must have transported away from the school. I turned to my friends and told them what she said.

  “What should we do?” Abby asked.

  “I think we should go back to the cafeteria. We can’t get in trouble. We were told Mrs. Sullivan was waiting for us, but she’s no longer in the school. We can say we ran into someone who told us Mrs. Sullivan already left,” Tider said.

  “I agree,” Richard said. We turned around and headed back to the cafeteria. We were almost there when the same kid came up to us and asked why we hadn’t gone to see Mrs. Sullivan.

  “We ran into another student who said she already left. I was surprised she left without waiting for us, but I suppose the council made sure she left right away. There probably wasn’t any time to wait for us,” Richard told the kid.

  We walked past the kid who had nothing to say and went into the cafeteria.

  “This is going to be harder than I thought if Mr. Mitchel already has students doing his dirty work for him. What do you want to bet that he forced Tim to say that somehow? Tim is a good kid,” Richard said.

  “I bet Mr. Mitchel told him he would fail if he didn’t do it or something worse.”

  “It wouldn’t surprise me. Mrs. Sullivan was right. We can’t trust anyone but our group. Everyone else can be forced into doing something that might hurt us.”

  “Do we have to stay here?” I asked.

  “For now, yes. If we leave, the Pulhu will know you are hiding something. Right now they only suspect it, we can’t give them proof. It’s already going to be hard to get into the fire elemental realm. If the Pulhu are actively tracking you, it will be much harder. We need them to stop looking so closely at you. Hopefully, you can fail whatever test Mr. Mitchel gives you so he leaves you alone.”

  “I hope so,” I responded.

  We spent the rest of the day on edge, but nothing else happened. Before bed that night, Mr. Mitchel’s voice came over the loudspeaker, saying we were all required to go to the auditorium in the morning to go over some new rules at the school.

  When I got to the cafeteria with Abby, we immediately tried to find the guys, but Mr. Burwel stopped us.

  “Sorry, girls, but you have been assigned a seat alphabetically. Sally Abeneb, you are up front,” he said, looking at a clipboard. “Go find your seat.” He turned to Abby, “What is your name?”

  I heard her answer as I walked toward the front row. It didn’t look like any of my friends would be sitting with me. Mr. Mitchel had figured out a way to keep me away from all of my friends without using any magic. I craned my neck, trying to spot them. I saw Adam and Richard a few rows back, but I didn’t see Tider anywhere. Abby was making her way to her seat at the very back of the auditorium.

  I looked forward as I heard someone clear their throat. Mr. Mitchel stood on the stage directly in front of me. His eyes met mine, and I shivered involuntarily. I could tell he had plans for me, and I doubted any of them would be good. He smiled when he saw me shiver. He knew I was scared of him.

  That could work in my favor. Maybe if I seemed weak and scared, he would leave me alone. I dropped my gaze, not wanting him to continue looking at me. I couldn’t let him realize I was going to fight back. I wasn’t as scared as he believed, and he wasn’t as powerful as he made himself out to be. I would find a way to win against him
, but for now, I would let him think he had me cornered.

  I used my connection to tell Richard my plan before Mr. Mitchel started speaking.

  “Good morning, students,” Mr. Mitchel began. “I will be the head of this school from now on. Mrs. Sullivan is under investigation for using dark magic. The council has chosen me to take over and make sure all students are behaving the way they should.” He looked over at me again, but I put my head down.

  “There will be a few new rules now that I am here. Things that should have been done much sooner. Every student will have to undergo a test, which I will administer to see where your powers are at and how strong or weak they are. Then you will be placed in the appropriate classes. Age will no longer matter in class. No one is to use magic unless specifically approved by me. That includes masters classes. No one will be doing those classes unless I have seen their powers and agree that they are strong enough to be in masters classes.”

  “How will we practice?” I sent to Richard as other kids gasped.

  “We will find a way. Let’s see what else he has to say.”

  I slipped out of Richard’s head and listened to Mr. Mitchel.

  “You will also be given weekly tests on your magic to see if you have improved. If you have not improved as much as I think you should have, you will be placed in a lower-level class. There will be rewards for whoever is in upper-level classes and is doing the best. Those rewards will be set by me. Teachers will send in daily reports of student’s activities during class, and you will be monitored throughout the day by all the teachers. There will be no more roaming the halls or sleeping in another student’s room.” He looked my way again.

  I was going to have to make sure my air seal was strong enough to keep him out. Maybe I could do another spell too, just to be safe. I wasn’t going to take any chances with Mr. Mitchel having access to the school.

  He finished his lecture, telling us that he would be calling each student to his office. We would go one at a time over the next few days in alphabetical order. I looked to my left and sighed. Lucky me. I was going to be the first student tested. When we were all dismissed, I heard my name being called and turned back to the stage. Mr. Merrem was standing there looking at me. I walked over to him.

  “Sally, be careful. He will be calling you up to his office shortly. There is nothing I can do to stop him. You must be ready for anything. I don’t think he is going to test your powers too hard today. I’m sure there will be a trap or two waiting for you, and he will probably try to test your air and water elements. He doesn’t know about the others, so I doubt he will try to test you for them.”

  “I will try to be careful, Mr. Merrem, but what if I have to show him how strong I am?”

  “He won’t use too much power on you in his office. The council has access to it during these tests, and he won’t want them to think he is going too far, or they may pull him from his position here. As long as you are in his office, you will be safe. The teachers had a meeting with the council earlier about this. If he tries to test you somewhere else though, that could be trouble. For now, work on getting through this test. Connect with me if things get out of control. I will come as fast as I can.”

  “Thanks, Mr. Merrem,” I told him gratefully. Knowing Mr. Mitchel was being watched by the council during the tests made me feel a lot better about the situation. Even though a lot of the council sided with him against Mrs. Sullivan, I didn’t think they were all part of the Pulhu. They were tricked into believing Mrs. Sullivan was doing a lousy job.

  I headed down to Mrs. Sullivan’s office, now Mr. Mitchel’s office, I thought with distaste. I kept all my senses alert and even worked on seeing different magical signatures while I was walking. It wasn’t hard for me to do, but I needed to concentrate a lot more. I didn’t see anything off until I got to the front hallway. In the center of the hall, magic was seeping from the ceiling onto the floor. A trap had been laid, but I wasn’t sure what it was.

  I looked around but didn’t see anyone watching me. I pretended to stop and tie my shoe while I figured out a plan. I didn’t want to walk into the trap, but I didn’t have a reason to walk so closely to the sides of the hall. If someone was watching, they would realize I knew where the trap was. An idea came to me, and I carefully took my ring off, concealing it in my hand.

  As I stood up, I reached into my bookbag, grabbing something out. When I pretended to pull my phone out, I accidentally dropped my pencil pouch. Pencils spilled out, and since I was facing the side of the hallway, they rolled all the way to the edge. I placed my ring by my foot when I bent down, and now I kicked it so it would roll along the side of the hall. It came to a stop a few feet past the trap.

  I walked over to grab my pencils and then walked along the edge of the hall, pretending to search for my ring. When I finally found it, I held it up to look at, so anyone watching would see that I was actually looking for something. I thought I did a great job of getting past the trap without letting anyone know I could see it. I stepped up to Mr. Mitchel’s door as I was putting my ring back on and knocked.

  “Come in,” he called sharply.

  I walked into the office and tried to hide my gasp. He completely changed the office. All of Mrs. Sullivan’s stuff was gone, even the furniture. Now only a few wooden chairs sat in the room in front of a large black desk and chair that looked more suited to a throne room.

  “I see you noticed the change in furniture. Did you come to Mrs. Sullivan’s office a lot?” he asked. “You seem like a decent kid, why would you be sent here enough to worry about the furniture?”

  “You know I’ve only been here a few months,” I said stiffly. “I spent more time here than the other students because I have been trying to adjust to this life, and when I had a question, I would ask Mrs. Sullivan.”

  “What kind of questions did you need to ask her?” he pried.

  “Nothing important,” I said carefully. “I asked about the school or schedules and basic information that any new student would need.”

  He looked stymied for a minute. I guess he thought I would give him more information. “You know why you’re here. I’m going to test your powers. Mrs. Sullivan never let you be tested, and I want to find out why.”

  “I didn’t realize everyone here was tested,” I said icily, knowing it wasn’t usual for the council to test students.

  “You are a special case, not receiving your powers until you were older. We need to know what you are capable of and why they didn’t emerge earlier.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you,” I said when he looked at me for an answer. “Maybe they didn’t emerge because I was never really hurt before. When I broke my ankle, they showed up. If I hadn’t broken my ankle, maybe they never would have emerged.”

  He looked thoughtful. “Maybe, but since you are here now, you must be tested. Let’s begin.”

  I started to ask what he wanted me to do, but he threw his hand up, and a streak of power flew at me. Immediately I threw a shield up and watched as the power bounced off of it.

  “Interesting. You have very quick reflexes. Now drop the shield so we can see what you can do. I’m told you have power over water and air. Is this correct?”

  I hesitated. “Yes,” I finally said. There wasn’t anything I could do. He already knew the answer, now he wanted to know how powerful they were.

  “Good, let’s start with air. I want you to stop me from getting to you.” Before he finished his sentence, he was moving forward. I immediately constructed a whirlwind in front of me that pushed the air toward Mr. Mitchel, keeping him away from me. It was an intermediate skill that I should know since I took those classes last term.

  He was still moving forward but slower than before. I didn’t want to add much more power to my whirlwind. Most of the kids wouldn’t be able to hold this for much longer, and they definitely wouldn’t be able to make it more powerful.

  I let the power slowly start to fade away as he got closer, but I put up a small wal
l of air in front of me. It was advanced magic, but we had been practicing it in class the past couple of weeks. When he slammed into it, his smile grew.

  “Enough,” he said as I let the magic falter, my wall of air flickering. He walked back to his desk and turned around. “Now for water. Stop me.”

  He moved forward again. This time I used water from the bowl in the corner of the room to push at him like I had done with air. It was the same spell, but I made it a lot weaker, and he moved forward faster. When he was almost to me, I let the water form coils and wrapped them around his arms and legs, holding him in place for a few seconds before he broke through them. I bent down, pretending to pant, and he stopped.

  He watched me for a few minutes before walking back to his desk. Without turning around, he threw his arm up, and power blasted straight toward me. I put my shield up without thinking, and he smiled again as he faced me.

  “You are more powerful than we originally thought,” he said. “You will not be able to hide it from me. We are done for today, but we will be doing more tests to see how strong your power truly is. I got everything the council needed to see today. Go back to your classes.”

  I walked out of his office, shaking slightly at the thought of more tests with him. He had managed to get me to put my shield up when I shouldn’t have had enough power left to do it. This would be more challenging than I thought. The trap was no longer in the center of the hall, so I was able to walk away without trying to get around it.

  I reached out to Richard, letting him know what happened and to be very careful. Richard was hiding a lot of power too. I got through the rest of my morning classes and went to the cafeteria with my friends. Students had been leaving classes all day as they were called to Mr. Mitchel’s office. Some of them didn’t return. We found out that he was already sending students he didn’t feel were strong enough to the lower classes.