by Kat Adams
Alec pushed to his feet and brought up his gloved hand, pausing the crowd’s movement. With the other, he wiped at the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
“That was for Trevor, you son of a bitch.” Bryan brought up his hands, calling air in front of everyone without a second thought of how his action had just exposed our world. He made fists, and Alec reached for his throat, coughing as he struggled to breathe.
“Bryan?” I wanted Alec to lose the ability to breathe as much as the rest of us, but would never use a forbidden call in the middle of a bar with Nelems all around. “What are you doing?”
“Ending this.”
“No.” I grabbed his arm and pulled his attention. “Not like this. Never like this. There are Nelems watching.”
“Fine, then I’ll do it their way.” He killed his call and doubled up his fists again, bringing them at the ready for another swing. Clay joined him, mirroring the stance, as did Rob and Leo. All four guys stood shoulder to shoulder, a human shield of muscle and rage between Alec and me.
What in the ever loving hell had gotten into my straitlaced earth elemental?
“Gentlemen.” Graves rose from his chair and stepped in front of Alec, facing us. “This is the start of a new world, a stronger world, one where we as elementals will work together to rebuild our world. United we stand.”
He then rested those icy blue eyes on me. “Divided we fall.”
4
The five of us sat in the living room of Rob and Leo’s cabin, no one talking, no one moving. We all stared off into space, numb from the bomb Graves had dropped at DB. There had to be better ways to unite our world without partnering with the dark side.
I waited for Leo to state something obvious the rest of us missed. Or for Clay to come up with the logical explanation using that big brain of his. Neither said anything.
And why ban witchcraft? Was it so that if the spells ever wore off, the magically enhanced would no longer have heightened powers? Was that how it worked? I stole a glance at Leo. I’d accidently enhanced him, giving him the power to call fire when I’d attacked a Council member with my hellfire. Would his ability eventually go away as we predicted? Or was it permanent? The dark magic used on MEs only boosted their existing powers. The spells didn’t give them a new element, not without dire consequences, as the guys found out when they’d lost a kid during an extraction.
Making magic illegal wouldn’t stop people from using it. It might stop good witches and wizards from using it, but not those practicing dark magic. They hadn’t given one rat’s ass before the Council banned it. They weren’t going to give a rip about it now.
Which meant this ban would only affect those of us practicing good magic, casting spells to protect us from those practicing dark magic. I couldn’t help but wonder if the Council had meant for that to happen. Add in dropping the barrier, the fact a dark elemental leecher now taught at the school, and the grand poohbah of dark elementals suddenly sitting at the cool kids’ table with Virgil Graves, and it was safe to say we were up shit creek without a paddle.
“You guys want to play a game?” Clay asked after the deafening silence grew too thick.
Although Bryan nodded, the rest of us declined. Vehemently. When those two played board games, it could get pretty cutthroat. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with that level of childish brutality.
“What about a movie? They’re having a Harry Potter marathon on cable.” Bryan loved all things HP and owned several copies of each book.
Rob shook his head. “Dude, you watch it every time it’s on.”
“And it’s good every time it’s on.”
“What do you suppose is going to happen once they drop the wards?” Leo asked.
“What do you think is going to happen?” Rob fired back, his toned bity, edgy, like how the rest of us felt.
“I think we’re going to be very busy in our new role as school security.”
“Exactly. We’re going to need way more people to help patrol. Once dark elementals infiltrate the academy, it’s going to be a mess.”
“With Montana’s fandler there, it already is a mess.” Clay stood and stretched, quite proud of himself for finding a way to insert the blend of fake handler—his nickname for Spencer—into the conversation. “Man, I hate that guy.”
“We all hate that guy,” Leo pointed out.
“Katy? You okay?” Bryan nodded at the way I’d been massaging my palm without realizing it. It’d been irritating me with the constant burning sensation the past half an hour.
I placed my hand behind me. “I’m fine.”
“Reed? Let me see your palm.”
“I’m fine,” I insisted, holding it up to prove my innocence.
“Uh, Montana?” Clay pointed at my hand.
“What?” I inspected it for myself, my heart smacking the roof of my mouth before plummeting to the bottom of my feet when I saw what had my guys all staring at me with wide eyes. It wasn’t pulsing with a glow just under the skin. Oh, no. That would be too easy to explain.
What I couldn’t explain—what none of us could explain—was the ward that had suddenly appeared, taking up my entire palm. It followed the lines, creating something resembling a cursive M with a little flip on the end.
Don’t freak out. Don’t freak out. Don’t freak out.
I rubbed my palm against my jeans. Nope, still there. I licked my finger and scrubbed. Nope, no dice. I then jumped up and washed my hands for a very long time, holding them under water so hot, it hurt. The damn ward didn’t even fade.
“How the hell did I get a ward on my hand?” I yelled. “And why the hell won’t it come off?”
“Maybe we should go see Syd.”
Why was that always Bryan’s answer? Sure, Syd Franklin was a healer, but I was pretty sure this would be outside his area of expertise.
“I think we should talk to Stace,” Clay suggested. “She’s wicked smart when it comes to, well, most stuff.”
“Good idea. Can you ask her to come to the cabin?” I didn’t want to go anywhere until I knew I wouldn’t sprout another ward.
Within minutes, she popped into the center of the cabin, and she brought a friend I recognized from when I worked at the gym, a tall strawberry blonde with a scatter of freckles dancing across her pierced nose. I usually saw her in workout gear, so seeing her in a dark green dress and long robe fastened at the neck, her hair down around her shoulders, took a minute to adjust to.
Stace also had her hair down, a rarity for her. She too had on a full-length dress and robe, hers brown. She wasted no time with pleasantries and grabbed my hand, showing it to her friend.
“Did it work?” Stace asked her.
She nodded as she examined my hand. “I believe it did.”
I took my hand back, cradling it to my chest. “What’s going on? Did what work?”
“I cast a protection spell,” the friend explained.
“What?” I checked out my hand. Yep, the ward hadn’t gone anywhere. “You did this? Why would you put a ward on my hand?”
“Stace asked me to.” She reached for my hand. I backed away. I wanted to trust her, I really did, but considering the people who’d come into my life since I came into my powers, and the staggering number of them who wanted me dead, I wasn’t ready to pick out curtains with her just yet.
She smiled warmly, reminding me of the way Stace smiled. In fact, they had amazingly similar smiles. And the same brown eyes that shone with compassion. Same high cheekbones and delicate chin. Although she was a good six inches or more taller than the petite brunette, they could be sisters.
Wait. Could they be?
“I see Stace’s manners haven’t improved any since the last time I saw you.” She extended her hand. “Renee Edwards.”
“Are you two related?” I asked as I took her hand, shaking it.
“We get that all the time. People would mistake us for sisters growing up. We met in grade school and were instant best friends. We both came
into our powers around the same time.”
How did I not know Stacey Layden had the same BFF since childhood? The jury was still out on trusting her. I had the ability to sense a person’s elements, and I didn’t sense any in her. Even when I touched her. “What sort of powers would that be?”
“Katy,” Stace warned. “No need to put her through tribunal.”
Until I knew the powers she harnessed, nothing was off the table. “Why can’t I sense any elements in you? You’re not a leecher, are you?”
Renee laughed warmly and shook her head. “God, no. You can’t sense any elements in me because I’m not an elemental. I’m a witch.”
“And she’s being modest,” Stace cut in. “Renee is a powerful elder witch, the high priestess of her coven. After news of the Council outlawing witchcraft got back to me—thank you for that, Clay—I immediately went to Renee and asked for her help protecting you.”
“You mean you immediately broke the law,” Clay pointed out with a grin. “I knew I liked you for a reason.”
“Your help being this?” I held up my hand. With a wave of hers, Renee faded the ward to nothing more than a nearly invisible memory. I turned my hand this way and that. Every so often, the light caught just right and revealed the ward. “It’s gone-ish. If I didn’t know what to look for, I wouldn’t see it.”
“Exactly.” Renee unfastened her robe and draped it over the back of the couch.
“What exactly did you do?”
“I knew a protection spell wouldn’t be sufficient if you came across someone strong enough to break it, so I placed a protective ward over your most vulnerable area. It’s interesting where the ward chose to manifest itself. Most appear over the heart.”
Did she know about the cut? About the darkness Spencer forced into me? I curled my fingers into a fist, hiding my palm in case it decided now, of all times, to glow. Regarding Stace, I said, “You could have told me you were doing something like this. I was freaking out.”
She nodded and said nothing in her defense. It was infuriating. I couldn’t shoot down her excuses if she didn’t give me any. Nor could I be mad for her wanting to protect me. Arguing with her never went in my favor anyway.
“Well, thanks for the ward. I guess. What’s it protect me against?”
“Negative intent. Stace tells me you’ve harnessed the power to call all the elements, including darkness.”
I widened my eyes at my mentor. “Did you also tell her about the tiger tattoo on my ass?” Again, for the record, that was merely for dramatic reference. I did not have a tiger tattooed on my ass. Maybe I should come up with a better analogy.
“If you’d had the ward when you were attacked by the leecher, he wouldn’t have been able to force darkness into you.”
That would have been convenient. Why hadn’t Stace gone to Renee for help six months ago? Regardless, she had now, and I had an invisible ward as a result. I was sure it’d come in handy now that I had to work with Spencer Dalton every day. It made me feel a little better anyway.
“How’s it work?”
Renee raised her hands, palms up. “A demonstration?” She lifted her chin and chanted into the air. A dark gray blob with bolts of blue lightning snapping inside it formed in front of her. She spread her arms, and the blob grew in size, creating a vortex of wind and jolts of electricity.
She then sent it barreling toward me.
What element did I use to battle a blob? I brought up an airfield. The blob passed through it as if it wasn’t there and slammed into me. It didn’t dissipate, instead swallowing me until I was consumed by darkness. I called fire, but without oxygen, it couldn’t breathe. I called air, but none would come to me. I tried water. Nothing. Even my primary couldn’t reach me inside the blob. It was as if I were stuck in the void.
I thrust my arms straight out, calling light and expecting the blob to explode. It didn’t even shrink. Then again, Renee wasn’t an elemental, so hitting her with light wouldn’t short out her powers.
Suddenly, the ward on my hand began to glow, brighter and brighter, until I had to squint from the assault on my pupils. The blob shrank in size, releasing me from its prison and weakening until it disappeared with a pop. Then, just as quickly as it appeared, the ward disappeared once again.
I stood there, blinking at my palm in amazement. That was very cool. “Will it always do that?”
“If it senses you’re in trouble, yes. That’s what it’s designed to do.”
“My turn!” Clay exclaimed and practically tackled Renee. “Can you do me? I mean, not do me. I’m already spoken for. Yeah, it’s pretty serious. We’ve got a rock and everything.”
“Stand down, Williams.” Rob’s bark echoed through the cabin.
“Party pooper.”
Rob regarded Renee. “Can you create different types of protection wards?”
“What are you looking for?”
“Nothing for me,” he defended quickly. Too quickly. “I don’t need a ward to protect me. But, uh… For the rest of the guys, you know… Maybe something along the lines of a beacon for Bry in case he gets lost again. That way, we’ll know where to find him. And how about a ward like the one you did for Reed so no other elements find their way into Leo? For Clay, he needs something to protect him from ice attacks. He can’t take many more of those.”
I was stunned into silence. We all were. That was the most heartfelt you-before-me thing Rob had ever said. Ever.
“Tell you what. You five form a circle around me.” Renee waited until we moved the coffee table out of the way and were in place before going on. “Hold hands. Good. Before we start, I want you to look at each other, really open your eyes.”
“What did you just say?” That was something Cressida said on a regular basis to me right before she manifested. Open your eyes. I could almost hear her saying it to me now.
“Focus, Katy.”
I swept my gaze around the circle, stopping on each guy. Rob Emmett, my tall, dark, hotheaded hottie with the perpetual five-o’clock shadow that made his square jaw even more rugged and him even more ruggedly handsome. His compassion and fearless leadership. He put up such a brave façade, but deep down, he was just as scared as the rest of us. At every battle. At life in general. He made it his job to take care of the rest of us, and he did great. He wore his heart on his sleeve, and I loved him for it.
Clay Williams, my genius trickster with an IQ off the charts and terrible timing when it came to his delivery. His neatly trimmed beard he scratched and stroked whenever he stalled for time. His brilliant green eyes always dancing with mischief as if he was one step ahead of you. Most of the time, he was at least five steps ahead. He couldn’t go half a day without making some sort of sexual reference. Flighty and sometimes unreliable, but never when it came to the needs of the group. He put us first, always, and I loved him for it.
Leo Jackson, my baby-faced, blue-eyed surfer with the wild blond curls. He stated the obvious and then seemed genuinely surprised when we laughed. He didn’t like conflict and went out of his way to avoid it, taking the path of least resistance just like his primary. He hated teleporting so much, it became a joke. He’d do anything for the group and was the first to volunteer as the sacrifice so the rest of wouldn’t have to, and I loved him for it.
Bryan Gunderson, my straitlaced nature lover with amazing hazel eyes and the cutest dimple whenever he flashed that crooked smile. He was the biggest of the group, his barrel chest and massive arms intimidating and arousing at the same time. He was also the quietest of the group, always contemplating perception over reality as he walked the line so as not to be labeled dark like the other men in his family. He kept us all grounded, centered, and focused on what really mattered—each other—and I loved him for it.
I was suddenly far too warm and felt the need to fan myself. Being this connected with my guys overloaded my senses and made all kinds of parts of me heated and tingly. A fine film of sweat broke out on my upper lip and forehead. I’d call water to
cool my core, but I couldn’t call while holding Bryan’s hand without hurting him since he couldn’t control the element.
“Katy? You okay?” Bryan squeezed my hand when I realized I had my eyes closed. When did I do that? How did I see all my guys if I couldn’t see at all?
When it hit me, I literally stumbled back, nearly breaking our contact. This, right here, was what Cressida kept trying to tell me. Open your eyes. It wasn’t in the literal sense. It was figurative. She wanted me to open my eyes, see the world around me in a different light, open my heart and mind to what I couldn’t see with my own two eyes. She wanted me to feel.
Mind totally blown.
All these years, I’d hidden from my feelings, tucked my emotions deep so as not to leave myself vulnerable. I’d had enough painful abandonment and rejection in my life. It was why I’d kept the guys close but hadn’t completely let them in. The thought of losing one more person close to me terrified me.
Without risk, there is no reward. It was something my dad used to say. He’d convinced me to remove the training wheels off my bike using that phrase. He’d gotten me to try new things, risk hating it or getting hurt, and earn the reward at the end. Sometimes the reward sucked, like the scraped knees every time I fell off my bike, but I would never have learned how to ride a bike without taking the risk.
It was time to remove the training wheels.
I’d been playing it safe for too long. I’d made a vow after losing my mom to stop waiting around for the dark elementals to make their move, to take the party to them. Pretending to support Graves and his epically bad decision to allow dark elementals into the Council was the final straw. The time had come to take a stand. I’d risk it all to protect my world. The guys, they were my world. The reward, regardless of what happened to me, was knowing they’d be safe when all this ended.
Bryan narrowed his gaze as he studied me. He saw me, really saw me, when the others didn’t. He connected with me on another level, more than element to element. Yes, we shared a primary, but it was more than that. Our souls were intertwined, woven so tightly together, we were one.