Buried Embers (Elemental Seekers Book 3)

by H. M. Sandlin

  Chapter Seven

  The south wing was silent as I walked into the room I was practicing in. Mauevene let her magic swirl around the room, enclosing us. As soon as she finished, I started asking my questions.

  “Can you take a message to Mrs. Sullivan or Jordan for me. I really need to get in touch with one of them. Mrs. Sullivan would be better since she can tell Jordan to come and get us. He will listen to her. I don’t know if he will listen to me.”

  “Of course I will take them a message and let them know what is going on. While I’m gone, you won’t be able to practice in here. Mr. Mitchel may be able to detect the magic used in here without my protective barrier. True elemental magic like you are working on is very powerful.”

  “I won’t, but I can still come here to practice the traps Tider wants me to learn, right?”

  “Yes. That will be ok as long as you are careful. Maybe you should take a few days off. You are exhausted.”

  “I can’t. I need to learn all this stuff and quickly.”

  “Be careful, Sally. If you are tired, you will be more likely to slip up in front of Mr. Mitchel.”

  “I know, Mauevene. I will be.”

  The thought of relaxing was tempting. I was exhausted from staying up late every night and using so much energy to practice. I was getting much better at moving while staying invisible. All the practice walking down to the south wing was really helping.

  “One more thing,” I said to Mauevene before I forgot. “Can you help me with this air sword thing? I don’t want to have to fight anyone without a weapon.”

  “It might be better if you fail at it and they drop you from master classes,” Mauevene said.

  I thought about it for a minute, but I didn’t agree with her.

  “I don’t think so. The Pulhu aren’t going to stop bothering me even if I get dropped from master classes. They have seen me fail before. Remember the obstacle course at the end of the term. They still think I’m too powerful. I would rather have a chance to learn more instead of hiding. I’m going to need every bit of help I can get, and I don’t think Mr. Burwel is a bad teacher. Maybe I can get him to see that Mrs. Sullivan is a good headmistress. We need more of the council on our side.”

  Mauevene accepted my decision and changed the subject. She asked me to show her what I could do with the magic so far. I managed to make my air magic create the hilt of the sword, but as I was trying to make the rest of it, it started to fall apart. The magic lost its shape and blew away. I looked at Mauevene, hoping she could help.

  “You are holding the magic too tightly. Magic is a living thing, you can’t force your will on it. Well, you can, but it never works out that well, and it doesn’t work for long. Instead, you need to ask it to help you. Have you tried using a little of the air queen’s magic?”

  “No. I don’t want them knowing my magic is that powerful.”

  “You need to allow a small amount of it in. When the queen gave that to you, it became a part of you, just like the water elemental king’s magic. You are blocking yourself off from those parts of yourself, and the magic knows it. If you truly want to learn how to create this sword, then you must stop closing parts of yourself off.”

  “So, it’s not that I don’t have enough imagination? That’s what Mr. Burwel thinks.”

  “No. That will still give you trouble with certain things, but this isn’t one of them. You’ve already seen that it can be done, so it’s not your imagination holding you back. Now try it.”

  I tried pulling my air magic, and this time I let a little of the queen’s magic flow through me, too. Immediately the air sword began to build itself, making a perfect replica of the short sword I held in class earlier.

  I held it in front of me and gave it a few test swings. It stayed together flawlessly. I was shocked at how easy it was to create once I used all my air magic. Even though I didn’t use a lot of power to create it, I could feel how balanced the air magic felt now that I wasn’t separating the queen’s magic from mine.

  After a few more swings, I let the magic fade, and the sword disappeared. Instead of tucking the queen’s magic back into the little box I liked to think of it being in, I let it flow through me. I felt a slight rush of energy as the magic released. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.

  I looked over at Mauevene. She was smiling too. “You finally let it out. I wasn’t sure if you ever would. You know you haven’t let the water king’s magic out fully yet either.”

  I realized she was right and did the same thing to the water elemental king’s power, letting it flow through me.

  “See, I knew you could do it,” Mauevene said, laughing. “Now, you can truly start working on your magic.”

  “How will I keep Mr. Mitchel and the Pulhu from finding out about this power?”

  “You can only try to be careful. They won’t know that your magic is from the true elementals, but if you slip up, they will find out how powerful it is.”

  Mauevene asked me to work on using true elemental powers to make the water prison. This time, I was able to make a small cage around the ladybug. Now that the magic was balanced within me, it was easier to access the true elemental powers.

  After working for a little bit longer, we called it a night. Mauevene let me know she would be leaving in the morning to find Mrs. Sullivan or Jordan. She wasn’t sure how many days she would be gone, but I promised her I would be careful before I made my way out of the south wing and to my room.

  Classes went by slowly, and I couldn’t wait for them to be over. The only class that didn’t go slowly was my masters class with Mr. Burwel. He had us continue working on our swords. I didn’t create the sword right away, but I did make it appear fully for a second before it blew away. Mr. Burwel was pleased that I was able to do that and told me to keep practicing. By the end of class, I was letting the sword stay visible for a few minutes at a time.

  “I’m glad to see each of you can sustain your elemental weapons. You have one more day before you fight each other. Sally, you and Sasha will be fighting each other, and Richard and Sean will be fighting each other. Tider, you will fight whoever wins between Richard and Sean, and then the last two winners will fight each other. Whoever wins at the end gets to go to town for the weekend,” Mr. Burwel said before dismissing us.

  I glanced at Sasha. She was smirking as she talked to Sean in hushed tones. I was sure they were up to something. I hurried to catch up with Tider and Richard as they left the dome.

  “What are we going to do? We can’t fight them.”

  “We have to,” Richard replied. “But we shouldn’t try to win.”

  “I will win,” Tider said. “They expect me to use my full powers. If I don’t, word will get back to my father, and I will be in trouble. Besides, if I go to town, maybe I can find out some more information since Mr. Mitchel won’t be watching everything I do.”

  When we got to the common room, Adam was waiting for us, but I didn’t see Abby.

  “She is working on something in her room,” Adam told me when I asked him. I started heading to the girl’s wing, but Adam stopped me. “My grandfather called. He wants to meet us. He said it’s important.”

  “We can’t leave. Mr. Mitchel won’t let us.”

  “I can meet him,” Tider said. “If I win the fight, I will be in town this weekend. I could meet up with Chet and get the information.”

  “Good. I will let him know that you will be able to meet him,” Adam said.

  “Are you absolutely sure you can win?” I asked.

  “Yes, Sean doesn’t stand a chance.”

  “Unless he cheats like he did with the serpent during practicals.”

  “Even then, I should be able to beat him. He is already scared of me. He will make mistakes and get careless, trying to go for a quick win. He might be powerful, but he doesn’t practice his magic as much as we do. He usually cheats his way through things, instead of learning how to do them correctly. That’s not going to help him much during
this fight.”

  “I’m still worried about these fights. Even if we don’t try to win, we could get hurt,” I said to Richard.

  “The teachers won’t let us get hurt badly. This is still a school, and Mr. Burwel works for the council. He won’t want students hurt while he is teaching them. It will be fine. Let Sasha get in a few hits and then collapse. They will think it’s too much for you. If you can’t get up to fight, Sasha will be named the winner. I will do the same with Sean. Then Sasha and Sean can fight each other. I wonder if she will let him win?”

  “Probably, she usually does whatever he says.”

  “You guys better be careful. Something about this fight doesn’t feel right. I think Mr. Mitchel will try something,” Adam said.

  “We will be ok,” Richard reassured him.

  “We won’t let Sally out of our sight either. She will be fine, and if Mr. Mitchel tries something, we will find a way to get out of there,” Tider said.

  “I doubt he will. There are too many other teachers around for him to do anything. I’m sure there will be other people besides Mr. Mitchel at the dome during the fight,” Richard added.

  Adam still looked uncertain, but he didn’t argue about it. There was nothing we could do anyway. It’s not like we had a choice. Mr. Mitchel was going to find a way to test me. It might as well be during class. At least then I might be protected by the other teachers if he went too far.

  I left the guys to go check on Abby. It wasn’t like her to not meet us when she said she would. Whatever she was working on had to be pretty important. When I got to her room, she opened the door and peeked out before ushering me in quickly.

  “What are you up to, Abby? You didn’t meet us like usual.”

  “I’m trying to make more potions.”

  “What? You can’t. What if Mr. Mitchel finds out?”

  “I don’t think he will. It’s doubtful he would search my room. To him, I have very little power. He doesn’t know I can make potions.”

  “How will you get the ingredients?”

  “Well,” Abby started. “I snuck down to the potions room the day Mrs. Sullivan left. I was worried something like this would happen with Mr. Mitchel. I took as many ingredients as I could that we might need. I’ve been working on the invisibility potion that we made last time and already have it started.” She pointed to the corner of her room, and I could make out the pot we had used last time, hidden behind a stack of books.

  “What else are you planning?” I asked.

  “There is another potion that might come in handy. It’s a heatproof potion. Since we are going into a volcano with fire elementals, I think we can use it.”

  “Is it easy to make?”

  “Kind of. It uses a lot of ingredients, but they are all common, unlike the octatrug poison. I just need to mix them in the correct order. I already started it, but it takes some time. Different ingredients are added on different days.”

  “Will you have enough time? We need to go soon.”

  “I hope so. I will get as much done as I can. Did you figure out how to contact Jordan yet?”

  “Yes. Mauevene is going to contact him or Mrs. Sullivan to set it up. I don’t know what day it will be yet. Mauevene will let me know as soon as she talks to them. We will need to be ready.”

  “I will be,” Abby said. “All I need to do is make these potions. When it’s time to leave, we will take whatever is ready. It will have to be enough.”

  I stayed and talked to Abby a little longer. I told her how masters class was going and what Adam said. She looked worried but didn’t try to persuade me to drop the class. She thought it was a good idea to learn as much as I could. She knew I was going to need it. Eventually, I went to my own room and thought about how I was going to battle Sasha and what I could do to make it believable when I lost.

  I spent the next evening practicing with my elemental short sword, learning different ways to use it. Mr. Burwel taught us we could use our weapons as an extension of ourselves. I could use my elemental powers to shoot my element from the tip of the sword while swinging it around, creating a wave of air that shot out around me. It was pretty impressive.

  Mr. Burwel called us all to the center of the room to tell us more about the fight. Everything sounded exactly as we expected the fight to go. While not fighting, we would be behind a protective shield to keep us from getting hurt. What he told us next caused me to worry.

  If anyone was caught not giving it their all, they would have to face Mr. Mitchel himself in a fight. Mr. Burwel explained the reason for the rule was to keep someone from pretending to be weaker than they were. He said it was important for the teacher to know exactly how strong the students were so they could help them the best they could.

  Richard kept glancing at me. I wouldn’t be able to let Sasha win like we planned. Everyone knew I was stronger than her. If I let her win, Mr. Mitchel would make me fight him.

  I watched Sasha out of the corner of my eye. She was doing good with her weapon. Occasionally, she would lose focus, and her weapon would start to fade away. She also got tired faster than me. I started thinking of ways to beat her.

  I switched my gaze to Richard. His weapon never wavered as he practiced with it. I knew he was still planning on letting Sean win. No one knew Richard was a lot more powerful than Sean, so it wouldn’t seem like Richard was holding back, but I wished he would beat him. Sean was an even bigger jerk now that Mr. Mitchel was here. He seemed to think he could do no wrong. Letting him believe he was stronger than Richard was going to make him even harder to deal with.

  By the end of class, I had an idea that might work and keep me from getting too hurt. My plan was to keep Sasha at arms distance with my sword and tire her out until she couldn’t sustain her weapon any longer. I didn’t want to actually hurt her, and I didn’t want to get hurt, so I couldn’t get close to her. Sasha would love to hurt me if she could, so I needed to be careful.

  Mr. Burwel reminded us we would be fighting the next day and to get some rest so we would be prepared. I said bye to the guys and walked to my room by myself. I wasn’t worried about Mr. Mitchel bothering me in the halls. He had control of the school and had found a way to test me with the council’s permission. Until he knew how strong I was, he wouldn’t try to hurt me. I was stuck here, after all.

  I didn’t go and see my friends after class. I preferred to be in my room. I spent the rest of the evening reading about elemental magic. Nothing I read would help me with the upcoming fight, but it might help me when I went to find the true fire elementals.

  Abby knocked on my door as I was getting ready to lay down. She came in and sat on my bed, chewing on her bottom lip.

  “What’s wrong, Abby?”

  “I don’t think practicing your magic with Mr. Burwel is a good idea anymore. Mr. Mitchel is going to figure out how powerful you are during this fight or during one of your practices.”

  “I will try to keep him from finding out, Abby, but I can’t hide forever. Besides, if I can’t control my magic enough to fool the teachers, how can I expect to win against the darkness. The teachers think they have an idea of how powerful I am. As long as I don’t do anything more powerful than that, I will be fine.”

  Abby didn’t answer and fell silent. I sat next to her. “I’m scared too, Abby.”

  We sat there for a while, neither of us having any idea how to cheer the other up. Eventually, Abby gave me a hug, and we said good night.

  After she left, I felt Sievroth curl up around my shoulders.

  He never came with me anymore, and he stayed invisible all the time. I think he was worried about getting caught by Mr. Mitchel too. He was almost too big to curl around me. I felt his back legs slip down my back. I laughed and reached up to pet him.

  “What do you think, Sievroth? Am I crazy to stay in a masters class?” I asked him, not expecting an answer.

  “Stay in class, learn as much as you can,” Sievroth’s voice echoed in my head. I cocked my head at h
im.

  “Why?” I asked, but this time he head-butted me and didn’t respond.

  Chapter Eight

  I tossed and turned all night, thinking about the upcoming fight. It wasn’t going to be fair. Sasha was going to try her hardest to hurt me after all the problems we had this term, but I didn’t want to hurt her at all.

  I dragged myself out of bed to get ready for the day. My teachers left me alone in all my regular classes. Somehow the whole school knew everyone in master classes would be fighting later.

  Many of the students supported Richard. A large group also supported Sean. No one supported Tider, which didn’t surprise me. He didn’t have any other friends since they were too scared of him. A couple of students nodded to me as I walked through the halls, but I didn’t pay attention. I wasn’t excited about the upcoming class at all.

  When we arrived at the dome, Mr. Mitchel was standing with Mr. Burwel. The dome had been cleared out. Only a few tables and chairs stood along one side of the room. Two of the chairs had council members in them, and the other two were empty. Probably for Mr. Mitchel and Mr. Burwel. They had us move to the center of the room.

  “These five students are competing to see if they are strong enough to be in master classes.” Mr. Mitchel addressed the two council members. “We will score them on their weapons, their abilities, and the length of time it takes for each test. At the end, one will win and be guaranteed a spot in masters classes for the rest of the term. The others may be allowed to continue masters classes if their scores are high enough.”

  The council members nodded, and Mr. Mitchel continued. “Mr. Burwel has trained them to create a weapon out of their element. Each of these students has been able to create and sustain their weapons for differing lengths of time. Now we will see if they have mastered how to use them.”

  Mr. Mitchel walked away to take his seat, and Mr. Burwel approached us. “Remember what I taught you, and you will all do fine. Good luck,” he said before heading to the chair left for him. After he sat down, he called for Sean and Richard to step forward. The rest of us were told to stand on the opposite side of the room. Once we were there, Mr. Burwel raised a protective barrier up around us.