by Kat Adams
That caused all of us to stop and turn. “Duty?” Leo asked.
“Yes. As I’ve removed the one standing in the way and united our worlds, that makes me in charge.”
“I beg your pardon?” Graves spoke up. “You are not in charge, Alec. You are only where you are because I’ve put you there. Do not forget your place.”
“Oh, I haven’t. Virgil, we knew this day would come.” Alec removed his glove and, without hesitation, shot a stream of orange at the head of the Council. Just as it’d done to Trevor, it burned a hole right through him, killing him.
I didn’t have time to freak out over the same six words that usually gave me anxiety, what with Graves dead at our feet.
“I thought you’d never get rid of him,” Spencer finally said, killing the stunned silence. “He was incessantly boring.”
Alec regarded us. “Where was I? Oh, yes. Now that our dear Council head has unfortunately perished, I feel it is only right I take over the Council.”
“You take over the school and then burn it to the ground. You take over the prophecy and kill the one destined to fulfill it. Now you’re head of the Council.” Clay scratched at his beard. “You’re oh for two. The odds are not in your favor on this one.”
“Get out of my sight.”
“What about our duty?” Leo asked.
“Shut up, dude.” Rob pushed him to move.
“What? I really want to know.”
“If you must,” Spencer said. “Your duty is to keep our wells full. We leechers do enjoy a good power leech. You four are most powerful. Adding you to the menu will definitely make the colony happy.”
“You’re going to feed our powers to all your little leecher buddies?” Rob looked ready to punch Spencer this time.
“That’s messed up, man.” Clay curled his lip before regarding Leo. “You had to ask.”
Leo fell silent as we hurried off. Well, as they hurried off. I stayed behind, hovering a few feet above the ground to completely hide my location.
“What are you going to tell Vanessa when she asks about Daddy?” Spencer asked Alec as they stared at Virgil Graves’s body.
“Say the quint did it before she died.”
“Those two did hate each other.”
“I’ll be the one to tell her. She’ll need comforting.”
Eww, dude. Still gross.
“What about Jules?”
“What about her? She can watch. Or, even better, she can join.” They both laughed as they walked off, leaving Graves’s body lying amongst the rest of those dead from this senseless fight.
I lowered myself to the ground in front of Trevor’s small body. He was so young, so naïve, and so damn happy just to be alive. Damn Alec for taking away Trevor’s chance to grow up, to learn about life, to even live.
I fell to my knees and bit back a sob. All Trevor wanted was for me to protect him from the bad. I’d failed at this, as I’d failed at so many other things. Keeping Cressida’s secret. Protecting the ones I loved. Building an army strong enough to defeat the Council. I was a terrible prophecy.
“On second thought.” Alec’s comment caught my attention. “Kill them all. I don’t want to have to look over my shoulder.”
“You sure? I could persuade some to pledge their loyalty to the Council, replenish a few of our numbers. If they refuse, they’ll be sent to Carcerem.”
“Make that put to death. When they return to clean up their mess, capture them.”
“As you wish.” Spencer gave a quick nod and headed off in the direction the guys had disappeared. I had to warn them, had to get to them before they talked the remaining Sentry members into returning, only to be imprisoned. Or worse.
I ran after Spencer and literally hit a wall of air, slamming into it and falling to the ground. What the hell?
Alec appeared above me, smiling down. “Hello, quint. You are a hard one to kill, aren’t you?”
Oh shit.
I slapped my neck and didn’t feel the crystal. That’s when I spotted it two feet away. It must have slipped off when I went down. I didn’t wait for him to strike first and hurled a fireball, slamming it into his chest and knocking him back.
“Alec!” Spencer ran over, saw me, and paled.
“Hiya, Spence. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“No. I—I watched you die.”
“Rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated.” I remembered thinking the same thing about my mom when she’d returned after six years. I hit him with light, knowing he’d counter by bringing one of his weaker elements to the surface to take one for the team. It was usually earth, so I called that element and snaked roots around his ankles.
“Montana, please let me take it from here. Please, please, please.” Clay teleported in next to me. “I’ve wanted to kill this guy since the first day I met him.”
“Be my guest.”
Clay grinned and shouted his favorite expletive in joy as if I’d just given him a car at Christmas.
Rob and Bryan popped in together and positioned themselves on either side of me. “I should have known you’d fight us on this, Reed. One of these days, you will listen.”
“Today isn’t that day.”
“My, my, my. The gang’s all here.” Alec sneered. “The only one missing is the water elemental.”
“Behind you, prick.”
Alec spun around to catch the wave of frigid water Leo threw at him. Thick ice coated Alec’s fire hand. The orange glow brightened, immediately melting the ice.
“Crap,” Clay exclaimed right before Spencer covered him in dirt. Damn, I was positive he’d used earth to counter my light call.
“Bryan, help Clay.”
“On it.”
As the opposing air and earth elementals joined forces to battle Spencer, the opposing fire and water elementals joined forces to take on Alec with me. The battle drew a crowd from both sides. Council and Sentry members alike gathered to watch the show.
All but Unibrow, the bitch who’d gone toe to toe with me during the tribunals last fall. I’d burned her one long eyebrow off last time. It’d grown in even thicker this time around. Leo saw her and faced her. “This one is mine.”
She’d nearly killed him during his tribunal. So, yeah. He had every right to get payback.
Alec had almost killed Rob by throwing him off a cliff after I’d made the mistake of calling light and shorting out everyone’s powers. And the time he’d almost killed Rob at the morgue. And all the other times. So, yeah. He had every right to get payback as well.
But Alec von Leer was mine. I rose into the air, feeding off the darkness to charge my cells and power my call. For what I was about to do, I’d need all the power I could get. I called air and created a tornado around him, increasing the power of the twister by blending it with earth. He rolled his black eyes as if to say oh, please. I then blended it with fire, creating a firenado. I added water, creating a steam inside the firenado that would snuff out the air and boil his blood. And it did. He howled in pain and frustration.
Concentrating on my light and dark together, blending them before calling them, I centered them inside the firenado. He screamed and thrashed. I increased my calls, blending all six elements and centering them on the dark elemental inside the cyclone. His screams grew louder. Only when he fell silent did I kill my calls.
And sucked in a breath at the sight.
Alec von Leer had petrified. Like, literally fossilized. He’d turned into a solid piece of mass, a statue on his knees, fists in the air, a sneer on his face.
A grunt caught my attention as Clay hit Spencer with enough air to knock him down. I ran to his aid and brought up my hands. Spencer brought his up as well, only in surrender. As I looked around, every Council member, every dark elemental, everyone fighting against Sentry lowered their arms as well as their heads.
Sentry members hurried in, each covering a Council member.
“Katy! Look out!”
I turned to see Alec fighting
to break free. He lived through that? I blasted him with a massive burst of air. It hit the statue and shattered it into millions of pieces that fell to the ground and turned to dust. Let’s see him live through that.
The wind picked up, the element celebrating the finale of the battle to end all battles, blowing Alec away until there was nothing left on the ground. The rain had stopped, and the gray clouds lifted, revealing sun for the first time in days, weeks, even months.
For the first time since learning of this world, I felt at peace.
The war had finally ended. Just as the prophecy had predicted, come the Ides of March, the elemental world as we knew it would be no longer. And it wasn’t. It was no longer in turmoil. No longer on the verge of being destroyed.
Our world, this world, was finally at peace.
24
Two years later
THE CROWD’S roar was deafening as the final student took the field.
I lifted my gaze to the stands. To my left, the sea of blue blazers gently waved in the bleachers, the water elementals excited to welcome several new students to Aquae. To my right, the red blazers danced in the bleachers, the fire elementals anxious to see if they’d gain any other new residents to Ignis. Behind me, the yellow blazers practically floated in the bleachers, the air elementals bouncing in anticipation of more students joining them in Ventus.
It was the bleachers full of green, the earth elementals, already sensing the placement of the final student in this year’s tribunals. I knew before he stepped foot onto the training field that he belonged in Terrae.
“We have an earth elemental!”
The green blazers went wild. That was it, the last of the students for Clearwater’s inaugural reopening. It had taken us two years and rebuilding an entire elemental—no, an entire magical—world to get to this point. Clearwater was no longer an Academy of Elements. It had transformed into an Academy of the Mystical. All were welcome. Witches. Alchemists. Legends.
And yes, elementals.
So much had changed since the battle to end all battles. The Council fell, and along with it, the fear and anxiety of the Ides of March that had been a yearly occurrence. The prophecy had truly been fulfilled, and not by me, the one they’d declared destined to save our world. I might have started the uprising, but it’d been Stacey Layden who’d made the ultimate sacrifice, just as Cressida Clearwater had.
Speaking of…
I checked the time. If I teleported out, I’d get in a quick visit before I started my office hours at the infirmary. That sounded so adult of me, having office hours. Syd wouldn’t be back from his honeymoon for another week, so I had to cover for us both. He’d taken Rose to Hawaii, married her on the beach, and kept threatening to stay. If I were him, I’d totally do it. A tropical paradise over an island in Washington State that saw more rain than sun.
But Whidbey Island would always be my home, liquid sunshine and all.
As the students poured out of the bleachers and up to their respective houses, I couldn’t help but smile. We did it. It took us two years and help from just about every mystical creature out there to rebuild the school. The paint was barely dry and the west wing was still under construction, but we didn’t want to wait another year to open the academy back up.
Most of the professors had returned. Professor Dobbs and his bow tie to teach Advanced Elementals. Professor Groote, who coincidently resembled a tree yeti with his thin frame and long gangly limbs, returned to teach Earth Primary. Professor Anderson, bad dye job and all, to teach Fire Primary. Good old Professor Geoff Gallen—who Clay still insisted on referring to as GG—to teach Air Primary. And many others. Even Vanessa Graves, who’d left the elemental world and married a Nelem, had returned to help with the rebuild.
I was just about to pop out when my ward began to shimmer. I rubbed my palm and glanced up, spotting the guys walking up looking quite dapper, all four of them. Rob had decided to grow more than a five-o’clock shadow, his strong chin now covered with half an inch of thick whiskers that did amazing things to his dark eyes. As one of the founding members of the Guild—the new governing body that ruled by democracy and not dictatorship—he’d had a say in the dress code.
No more fancy black suits.
He belonged on the cover of a magazine in those dark gray slacks and a maroon dress shirt rolled up at the sleeves to reveal his muscled forearms. He’d come a long way from the red-tank-top-and-shorts combo he used to wear day in and day out when he wasn’t required to be in his school uniform. He had me feeling fifty shades of fire with the way that shirt hugged his delicious shoulders. Ties were optional, and he opted not to wear one.
Leo sported the same color slacks—the only uniform requirement working for the Guild—and chose a white dress shirt and blue tie that matched the brilliance in his eyes. He’d cut his hair short, which was the only way to tame those wild curls. I missed them, missed running my fingers through them.
To honor Lulu and her eccentricity, Clay had turned to the wild side with his wardrobe. Every day was something different, something fun and crazy. Yesterday was a blazer that literally caught fire on command. It was very cool—until he unfortunately set the new curtains on fire in the main office. Today, he had on a blazer of house colors, four colors for four houses. At least this one wouldn’t get him in trouble with the new headmaster.
Dean Xye.
The pixie leader graciously accepted the post and had been instrumental in building the student body to the biggest in the history of the academy. All were welcome, even Nelems learning how to perform magic in the form of alchemy.
My earth elemental fidgeted in his black robes, pulling at the neck and working his shoulders. He hated the professor robes, but since he was a professor at the academy, he had to wear them now that he taught alchemy and shop. Although he made the robes look good, I preferred what he looked like without them on.
I snorted. That didn’t come out right.
“What’s got you all smiles?” he asked as he took my hand and kissed my cheek. His hazel eyes danced when he smiled, showing off that adorable dimple.
I swept my gaze across my four guys, each one of them heating me up in different ways. Rob and his dominance. Clay and his playful nature. Leo and him being so easy going. Bryan and his ability to curl my toes with nothing more than a smile. “One guess.”
“I love this suit on you.” Rob reached for me, pulling me into his arms.
I hated the Cat Woman suit, and it was completely unnecessary, but it was tradition at tribunal, and I wanted to keep it. “I was just about to pop over for a visit. Would you guys care to join me?”
We huddled in and teleported out together, landing at the sight of where the ruins used to stand. We decided not to rebuild the tower since the founder of the academy no longer resided inside it. A tinge of regret tightened my midsection. I missed Cressida Clearwater every day.
In place of the tower, we’d created a memorial to all those who’d lost their lives in the battle to end all battles.
Trevor Carson, gone too soon, undeserving of any of the torture he’d had to endure in his short life. Tiny Tabitha, the little witch who’d created Sentry’s logo and had helped me sketch out the messages in the webcomic, even younger than Trevor. Lulu, who’d died protecting MEs the Council members had cornered and were about to kill. Merle, who I hadn’t realized joined the battle, lost his life to a dark sorcerer, but not before he’d taken out several leechers. The Barbie twins, Jessica and Julie Bailey, had both died trying to flee the battle, only to be attacked from behind by the one man they’d pledged to follow. So many other elementals, each one forever in my heart.
Serenity, whose coven had given a proper burial, elevating her on a bed of Palo Santo logs and setting it on fire. It’d been a beautiful ceremony, the color of the flames magnificent. I’d held her crystal in my hand the entire time and recalled how it strengthened as the flames had died down. She’d be with me. Always.
No names of those who’d fo
ught to destroy our world would ever be on this memorial. Spencer’s name didn’t make the cut for obvious reasons. He’d surrendered after I killed Alec and didn’t fare well with his colony. He’d promised them prosperity, endless supplies of food and powers to leech. When he’d failed to come through, they’d leeched his powers until it’d drained him of life. They’d then turned on each other and annihilated their own kind.
Renee had died taking on three dark elementals who’d attacked her coven. The witches never would say what they’d done with their bodies. I didn’t want to know and never pushed the issue.
I ran my fingers across all the names. So much loss. While I mourned them all, none of their deaths gutted me like losing Stacey Layden. I stopped at her name, tracing it. Aside from the guys, she’d been my best friend. My confidante. My mentor. She’d saved us. All of us. I hated losing her the way we did.
“She’s here.” Clay’s announcement turned me around.
“Hello, Katy.” Stace’s warm smile greeted me. She’d manifested for us. Her long dark hair flowed down her back. She had on a loose green dress and robe that practically swallowed her dainty frame.
I ran into her arms and held her tight, missing her so much, it hurt to breathe. “I was hoping you’d be here.”
“I’m always here. Whether I’m in this form or not, I’ll never leave the academy. It’s my job now to protect it.”
I’d first sensed her shortly after we started the reconstruction process. Just as with Cressida, Stace’s presence had been strongest at the ruins, which was why we’d chosen this spot for her statue at the top of the memorial, a beautiful bronze representation of the petite professor in her robes, her hair pulled back in a smooth bun, the way most of us remember her. The statue stared off over the cliff to the water below, a constant guard for the academy.
If it could no longer be the founder of the academy, I couldn’t think of a better person to take the place of the protector of the grounds.