by Kat Adams
We’d decided to approach him in primary, away from the other guys. Rob wanted nothing to do with asking Spencer for anything other than what he wanted on his tombstone—gotta love my hotheaded fire elemental and his cocky attitude. Bryan shared Rob’s distrust. Leo just shrugged, which was his standard reply when he didn’t want to create waves.
“Please, Spencer.” God, that hurt to say. “I know it sounds crazy.”
“Because it is.” Jess jumped a quick look at me before returning her attention to her doodles.
That’s when I noticed the lack of makeup. I usually get up and get out of the room before she wakes up, so I didn’t notice it this morning. I definitely noticed it now. “Jess? Did you wake up late?”
“No.” She didn’t even look up. “You’re just always gone when I get up. It’s nice and quiet that way.”
I regretted saying anything, and yet I asked, “What’s with the no makeup?”
She sighed and lowered her glitter pen as she regarded me like I was interrupting something monumental and not her stupid doodles. “I don’t need it. It just covers up my natural beauty. Right, Spence?” She swung a moony gaze his way, eagerly anticipating his answer.
“That’s right, love.” He rubbed her back, and I wanted to gag. She practically purred and went back to her doodles.
“Montana doesn’t wear makeup,” Clay pointed out. I actually did, but didn’t want to ruin the moment, so I said nothing. If I went out in public without at least mascara, I’d scare small children.
“She doesn’t need it,” Spencer said in a tone that crawled up my spine and made me uncomfortable all over. “Natural beauty is a thing to behold.”
“Behold it on someone else, buddy.” Clay put his arm around me protectively. I fought the urge to shrug it off. I didn’t like my guys puffing out their chests over me. First Rob, now Clay.
Lulu popped into the classroom next to the professor. Several of us jumped, me included. She leaned to him and said something. He nodded quickly.
Please don’t look at me. Please don’t…ah, crap. He looked right at me before addressing the class. “I’ll be right back. Work on your projects.” He swung his attention my way one last time before he and Lulu grasped wrists and popped out.
I stared at the front of the room where they’d just stood, my heart pounding as I worked through all the reasons why Lulu called my primary professor away in the middle of the one class he had all day.
“How about we focus on the project?” Spencer’s question broke me out of my trance.
I regarded him. “What about helping us?” I didn’t want his help. I really didn’t, and I hated that I needed it. He was the stronger caller—which still pained me to admit—and knew how to beat down his opponent. I’d be impressed if I didn’t want to smash his face into the spoiled potato salad at the dining hall.
“Let’s discuss it during lessons. For now, we have a project to complete.”
We spent the rest of the class coming up with different ways to use air to our advantage, each of us choosing something different. We had to settle on one thing and work as a group to demonstrate in front of the rest of the class at the end of the week. Clay, of course, wanted to teleport all over hell and back. Until I had a better grasp on sticking my landings, I wasn’t about to teleport on my own again.
I wanted to blend the element with other elements to create something new. Although Clay and Spencer liked my idea, Jess was only a single, so she couldn’t blend her call with any other, ruling that out. Spencer mentioned something that piqued both Clay’s and my interest.
“Let’s create fog.” Spencer studied me, no doubt to gauge my reaction. I returned the gesture, putting my resting bitch face to the test.
Clay set his jaw. “You think making fun of us is going to win you any points?”
“On the contrary. I think if you want to defend yourselves against something elementally made, you need to understand how it was created.”
“It’s fog,” I groaned, sharing in Clay’s annoyance. It most definitely felt like Spencer was making fun of us. “We made that in, like, the tenth grade.” Of course, that had been with a fog machine, a bunch of glycerin, and a controlled environment. Oh, and an elemental science teacher, so there was that, which explained how our school took first place in the district science fair every year. Of course I didn’t know Ms. Wilkerson was an elemental at the time, but I knew it now since she’d been my watcher after my mom had disappeared.
“Not just any fog,” he went on to explain. “Magic fog.”
“Now I know you’re making fun of us.” I crossed my arms in front of me and sank back in my chair. Screw this guy. I’d figure this shit out on my own. Grabbing Clay’s hand, I pulled us both to our feet. We’d do our group project without them. “Come on. Let’s finish our project somewhere else.”
“Or you could ask your boyfriend how to get your hands on glycerin he can control.”
I stopped and whipped around. “Nice try. Glycerin isn’t an element.”
“If you say so.” He shrugged. Was he right? No. He couldn’t be right. I glanced at Clay, who shrugged in reply as if to say don’t look at me. “Wrong boyfriend, though I can see how that can be confusing.”
I hated him. So, so much. And, as deeply as I hated how much I needed his help, I had to compromise if I wanted the answer without asking one of the professors. If word got out that I was attacked last night, the Council would step in and declare the Ides of March the end of the world again. I’d have to step up to defend it again. This time, we might not be so lucky as to only lose a single elemental to the dark side. This time, we could lose lives.
Which brought me back to why I needed Spencer’s help. Someone with his power fighting for our side would definitely tip the scales in our favor.
Biting back what I really wanted to say, I growled through clenched teeth, “Which one would know?”
“Which one can control earth again?”
“I can.”
“Then perhaps you don’t need so many men in your harem.”
“That’s it.” Clay hurled himself over the desk and grabbed Spencer by the collar, hauling him out of the chair. He pulled back his fist and swung.
Spencer teleported out before the fist connected. Clay stumbled forward, swinging at the air. He glanced around and frowned. “What the… How’d he do that?”
“It’s called teleporting, Clay. You do it all the time.”
“No,” he denied with a firm shake of his head, dropping hair into his hard glare. “I can’t teleport out like that if I’m touching someone else. No one can. The connection causes everyone touching to teleport.”
Having Spencer teleport out while in contact with him clearly disproved that theory, just as my existence disproved the theory that quints were a myth. Just as every elemental had to choose a primary element or they’d implode or some shit, yet both Spencer and I remaining undeclared disproved that theory.
Applause caught my attention. I turned and dropped my jaw at the sight. Spencer stood in the doorway leading out of the classroom. He smiled and waved as if he’d just been elected to office. Of course he’d turn this into something about him.
Clay wasted no time crossing the room and practically bumping chests with him. “How the hell did you pop out like that? We were touching.”
“So?”
“So the contact should have teleported me right along with you.”
“Not if I blocked your air. No air, no teleport.”
He stilled as his mouth fell open. “You can do that?”
“I just proved I could, now didn’t I?”
Instead of him taking offense to Spencer’s comment and holier-than-thou tone—I was ready to break his face—Clay’s jaw dropped lower. “Can I do that?”
Spencer chuckled. “Yes, and I can show you how.” He then pulled his gaze to me. “I can show you how to make the fog as well. For that, we’ll need your earth elemental.”
“Why?”
<
br /> “Ask him.” He snapped his fingers, and Jess jumped out of her chair, hurrying over to him and standing with her head down until he lifted her chin with his hand. “Come, love. Let’s do a little redecorating.”
Eww. Please tell me that’s not code for what I think it is. With the way she reacted by squealing and bouncing and clapping, you’d think he just offered to buy her a pink Barbie convertible. He draped his arm around her shoulders as they walked out. Good riddance.
Several students followed Spencer’s lead and left class. Not one to be undone, I grabbed my books and shoved them into my bag. Why stay in class if the instructor had already bailed?
“What are you doing?” Clay looked at the bag slung over my shoulder.
“Skipping. You do it all the time. You should recognize the gesture.”
“I don’t skip primary.” He held his ground, surprising me. “Ever.”
I thought back to all the times Rob and I had skipped our primary last year, and the reason why, and smiled as my toes curled a little. My train of thought derailed when I recalled why Spencer and Jess left class and lost my smile. “Come on, Clay. Professor Gallen isn’t even here.”
“All the more reason we should stay.” He said it loud enough to cause the students to glance back as they walked out. He shoved his hands in his pockets and shook his head as he watched them leave.
What the hell? Was I in backwards land or something? Clay was usually the first person to break the rules, now he wanted to follow them even when there was no one around to enforce them. I had no idea what was going on.
“It’s almost time to leave anyway, so I’m going to head to my last class.” I pushed past him, disappointed when he didn’t try to stop me. Although I wasn’t looking forward to Arts & Crafts as my relief class, I had to get away from Clay for a while. Maybe the others knew why he’d suddenly changed from the fun-loving, airy guy of the group to being even more serious than Bryan, and even more hotheaded than Rob.
I walked across the campus to the 3C building—which, apparently, was now the Arts & Crafts building too—and released a breath in relief when a familiar pair of deep blue eyes shined as the owner flashed his easy grin.
“Hey, babe.”
“Leo.” We were the only two in the room, so I hurried into his arms and accepted the soothing kiss, allowing it to melt into me and calm my rattled nerves. “What are you doing here?”
“It was on my schedule. Why they thought I’d want an arts and crafts class over shop, I’ll never know.”
“You and me both.” I took a seat next to the desk he had his stuff on. “Do the guys still have shop?”
“Rob and Clay do, but I think Bryan is in this class with us.”
“Why break us up?”
He shrugged, his typical answer when he didn’t know and didn’t want to put effort into figuring it out. “How’s the hand?”
I held it up, proudly displaying the gash. “About like this.”
“It should have at least scabbed over by now.”
It was my turn to shrug. I had bigger issues than how slowly a cut on my hand healed. Like how to fight fog. Which reminded me… “Hey, do you know anything about making fog?”
He gave me a look, confusion in his twisted expression. “Fog?”
“Magic fog,” I clarified, like that was any better.
His twisted expression deepened. “Magic fog?”
“Look, repeating after me isn’t helping.”
He combed his fingers through his hair, sending his crazy curls back. “Wow, babe. Bite my head off.”
I pulled in my snark spark. “Sorry, I’m having a bad day.”
“How can I help?”
I sighed and rubbed my temples. “You can figure out why Clay is acting like a…”
“Tool?” Bryan walked in, looking every bit the gorgeous earth elemental in his green blazer that pulled the hazel out in his eyes, and didn’t stop until he greeted me with a kiss on the cheek. “Hey.”
“Hey. And no, he’s not being a tool. He’s being…serious.” I shuddered.
“It’s about time.” He dropped his backpack on the desk next to me. “So, is this class what I think it is?”
“If you think it’s gluing macaroni on pencil boxes and painting happy trees, then yep.”
He didn’t even crack a smile as he studied me, then Leo. He narrowed his gaze as he swept the room before asking in a distant voice, “Do you really think that’s what this is?”
“What else would it be?”
“I guess we’ll find out.”
That was…an odd answer. I kept careful watch on him as he took a seat and didn’t look up again until students began to pour in. I recognized most of them from last year. In fact, I recognized all of them, which meant there were no first years joining us.
“Hi, Katy!”
I stand corrected. Biting back a groan, I forced a smile as the president of my elemental fan club practically shouted from the other side of the room. “Hi, Trevor.”
He pushed up his owlish glasses that were way too big for his face. “I can’t believe we’re in two classes together.”
Technically, I wasn’t in 3C with him. I TA’d a class he attended. I didn’t feel like correcting him and smiled again as my answer.
“How’s it going, buddy?” Bryan greeted.
“I’ve been working on my call and can’t wait for lessons to show you.” Trevor nodded, knocking his glasses down the bridge of his nose. He pushed them up again.
“Good deal.” He motioned for him to take a seat, which he did right behind us and immediately started in on the next round of inquisition. “Did you upload the next webisode, yet? What do you think we’ll be doing in this class? Can I come watch your lessons today?”
Bryan flashed a crooked grin, showing off the dimple in his left cheek. I pleaded with wide eyes. He nodded in understanding and turned to face Trevor. “Hey, remember what I said at your extraction?”
“The part about asking too many questions?”
“That’s the part.”
“Can I choose one? That’s what Katy let me do.”
“One,” Bryan answered firmly.
“Can I come watch your lessons today, Katy?”
I took a breath to tell him no when Bryan responded. “How about you and I work together on your control?”
“Really?” Trevor practically squealed.
“Really really.” Bryan turned back around and gave me a sideways glance.
I leaned toward him and whispered, “Thank you.”
“Anytime. Now, aside from the first year behind us, it looks like everyone else is at least a second year. Since when did they make advanced relief classes?”
“Since I convinced the Council we needed one,” Professor Layden stated as she walked in and stopped in front of the class. She had her dark hair pulled back in her typical bun and brushed her hand back, smoothing a few of the loose hairs. “Sorry I’m late. Emergency faculty meeting.”
That explained why Lulu had pulled Professor Gallen from class. The fact he looked at me right before they popped out made my heart hammer. I was the topic of an emergency faculty meeting. Go me.
“I want all eyes up here.” Gone was her warm smile, her pleasant, smooth tone.
The room fell silent as we eagerly awaited her announcement that this was some big joke and we were all welcome to the relief class of our choice. Or maybe that was just me. When she removed her black robes to reveal the Cat Woman one-piece she wore during tribunals, the students murmured and shifted in their seats.
“You were each hand chosen to be in this class for a very specific reason—you have all shown signs of having more than the power to control the elements.”
That silenced the entire room. We were all now completely focused on her, me included.
“Arts & Crafts is short for Dark Arts & Witchcraft. This isn’t a relief class. It’s a defense class.”
A collective gasp filled the classroom before most er
upted in excited chatter. I looked at Leo, who looked at me. We’d both failed epically at attempting a spell last year that backfired on us. I still had a hard time controlling water as a result.
Bryan hardened his expression as he glared at Professor Layden. As if feeling the weight of that lethal stare, she jumped her attention to him.
“Is there a problem, Mr. Gunderson?”
“Screw this,” he muttered and rose, slinging his bag over his shoulder.
“Excuse me?”
“I didn’t come to Clearwater to learn about the dark arts.”
“This class is not to learn about the dark arts,” she countered, her lisp giving her a slight hiss at the end of her comment. “It’s to teach you how to defend yourself against them.”
He hesitated as he worked his jaw.
She went on. “We will learn how to enhance our powers through our primary. This is especially true for earth elementals, as you have the greatest power of all.”
“How’s that?”
“Stick around and find out,” she said with a knowing grin.
9
Arts & Crafts was both amazing and terrifying.
Professor Layden showed us several simple spells that called on our natural ability to control the elements to make us even stronger, which was the amazing part. I couldn’t wait to try it out on my arrogant handler and shut him and his attitude the hell up.
Trevor hadn’t picked up on the spells as easily as others and screwed up his incantation. It triggered second-degree burns on his hands and arms. Bryan pushed earth to him, using their joint primary element to overpower the spell. If he hadn’t done that, Trevor would have continued to burn from the inside out until he wound up a pile of ash.
That was definitely the terrifying part.
Bryan took Trevor to the infirmary and stayed with him to make sure the spell didn’t make a return appearance and finish the job. Leo couldn’t control fire, so he wasn’t allowed on the training field on Tuesdays. And, since the guys refused to let me train with Spencer on my own and Clay wasn’t currently talking to me, Rob joined me on the field as we waited for my oh-so-spectacular handler.