by Kat Adams
The field looked good, thanks to Mr. Sandstrom, the head groundskeeper, calling earth and repairing the damage I did yesterday. The makeover of the gigantic, perfectly groomed lawn was so much better than the patchy weeds we’d had before.
Groups of fire elementals scattered all around the large field, their handlers training them on how to control their call. Clay took Rob’s charges so I wouldn’t be left alone with Spencer, which both flattered and annoyed me. I loved that my guys worried about me, but for the love of Pete, man. I did know how to take care of myself, last night’s attack aside.
Clay had barely left my side since it happened until our little fight in primary. We’d spent the night in his room, holding each other and replaying the scene. I was still convinced Alec von Leer hadn’t died after all and was behind the attack. Clay wasn’t convinced and kept pointing out the flaws in my reasoning. When he couldn’t come up with a defense to something, he always resorted back to the default answer.
“Alec died last year, Montana. Quit trying to find things that aren’t there.”
I’d given up arguing and had finally allowed the exhaustion to drift me off to slumber town. Clay got the hint when I stopped responding to his questions. I’d snuck back into my room this morning and gotten ready for the day before Jess woke.
“Where is he?” I asked when I didn’t spot Spencer on the field.
Rob removed his red blazer and laid it on the grass before rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt. “Maybe he got smart and went back to England before I send him there in a body bag.”
Enough was enough. I swung around and got right in his face. “What is your deal?”
“I don’t like the guy.”
“You’re not even giving him a chance.”
His eyebrows shot up in question. “This from the person who doesn’t even want to have coffee with the guy? Something change, Reed?”
Not him too. Why were my guys being such assholes lately?
“There you are,” Spencer said as he walked up. He slowed as he spotted Rob, and his smile grew forced. “And you brought one of your babysitters.”
I dropped my jaw. “He’s my boyfriend.” I didn’t need no stinkin’ babysitter.
“He’s the wrong one,” he fired back.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Rob doubled up his fists. Apparently, Spencer had that effect on more than Clay.
“I told Katy to bring the earth boyfriend.”
“Why?”
“So I can show them how to create fog.”
Rob made a face and darted a look my way. “Fog?”
“Magic fog.” Spencer’s lips twitched. Talk about assholes.
“You weren’t there.” I began to understand why the guys always made fists when talking to him. My fingers curled tight as I prepared to pounce. I really, really wanted to punch him right in his perfect face.
“If I had been, I’d have done something a bit more aggressive, like use my primary to clear the fog.”
As in air to blow it out? Or water to drop the crystals in the air? Or fire to counter both? Or even earth as I had? I wanted to know the answer and asked, “Which element would you have used?”
“Does it matter?”
Hell to the yes, it mattered. “Which one?”
“Why, any of them.” He shot me a haughty look.
Double asshole. “I was drained.”
“Of air,” he clarified before swinging his gaze to Rob. “Clay wasn’t. He could have teleported out, gone for help to fight the, uh…fog.”
He set his jaw and narrowed his glare. “He wasn’t about to leave our girl.”
“The same girl who went up against the darkest elemental himself and won?” When his dig didn’t earn a response, Spencer dug deeper. “The same girl he couldn’t find in the fog? How was being lost in the fog himself in any way helping her?”
I smelled Rob’s call before spotting the wave of flames right before it slammed into Spencer. My handler countered with air, creating a large tornado in retaliation that consumed the flames. I first tried to steal the air, but it ignored me like it had last night. I jumped to fire. A shot of panic ripped through me when it responded by shrinking back. I tried again, more focused on calling the fire to me. It hissed at me like an angry cat, shocking me. Fire was one of my strongest elements. It’d never denied me before.
Well, fine. I had other elements at my beck and call. Since it felt like I’d just taken a cold shower, I concentrated on the cool chills as they peppered my skin. I then stepped between the two guys currently making fools of themselves and brought up a wall of ice. The firenado hit it and fizzled out in a hiss of steam. Rob punched the wall, then kicked it, then called me a name. Real mature.
If he wanted to act like a toddler, I’d treat him like one. “Rob, go back to your charges. Let me work with Spencer alone.”
“No way,” he barked and slammed his fist against the wall again. “I don’t trust the guy.”
“The guy is standing right here,” Spencer ground out.
I ignored him and kept my focus on Rob as I dropped the wall. “I appreciate you wanting to protect me, but I got this. Please, just go.”
“No.”
“Rob. Please. I can handle this on my own.”
“You sure?”
Not in the least, but I knew Spencer wouldn’t work with me on that weird fog if he was constantly trying to one-up Rob. If I wanted to learn how to destroy something elementally made, I had to know how to create it first, just as Spencer said. Since I couldn’t ask Professor Layden about it without giving away that I’d been attacked last night, Spencer was it by default.
Rob bounced his brooding gaze from me to the guy standing behind me. “I’ll be watching.”
“Oh, goodie. I’ll be sure we put on a show.”
“Then I came on the right day.” Professor Layden walked up in her black robes, passing Rob storming off in the opposite direction, her warm gaze on me. At first. But then she shifted her attention to the British heartthrob, and her expression took flight. “Hello, Spencer.”
“Professor,” he greeted with a slow nod, his dancing gaze never leaving her.
Gross. I didn’t want to see any part of his dancing when he looked at my faculty advisor. “Now that we have introductions out of the way.”
“I’d like to try something with you.” Spencer grabbed my hands and placed his back to Professor Layden, lowering his voice. “Did you tell her about the attack last night?”
“No. If she found out, she’d tell the Council, and I’d have them all up in my ass.”
“That sounds very uncomfortable.”
I laughed and nodded. “Trust me, it is.”
“Let’s give her a show, shall we? What’s the first thing you think of when you want to summon fire?”
“The heat. It’s like a fever that burns from the inside out.” Except for today. Today, for whatever reason, I couldn’t feel my fire. My core had cooled to the point my fire wouldn’t come to me. Maybe I was getting sick.
“Channel that heat, bring it to the surface.” He squeezed my hands. I winced when the cut on my hand shot pain up my arm in protest of being disturbed.
I tried to pull back. “You’re hurting me.”
“Push through the pain. You want this.”
“What I want,” I countered, “is for you to let go of my hand.” Irritation heated my cheeks.
“Or you’ll what? Stop fighting me. I’m only giving you what you want.” He gripped my hand harder, digging his thumb into my palm. Fucking ouch. He called fire and shot out a flame, creating a large blazing circle. It burned the brand-new, perfectly groomed grass and continued to grow.
“Katy?” Professor Layden had to shout over the roar of the flames. “Are you all right?”
“Don’t listen to her,” he hissed low, close to my ear. “Don’t listen to that voice inside your head telling me to stop. You listen to me. This is your fire to call, yours to control. Now, I want yo
u to stand inside the circle.”
“And lose my eyebrows? I don’t think so.” I tried to take back my hand, but failed, which only pissed me off. The heat from my irritation grew, spreading throughout my body. At least my fire had returned. If he continued to push me, I’d burst into flames and take great pleasure in burning every inch of him touching me.
“Move to the center of the circle, charge. Do it. Now.”
“How about you bite me, handler? Do it. Now.”
He grabbed my arms. Hard. It startled me, so I wasn’t ready for him to teleport us both smack dab into the center of the blazing circle. As much as I wanted to bury him in a giant hole and wait for him to send me a postcard from China, I was too freaked out to do anything more than hold on to him for dear life and steal his control. Deep down, I knew I wouldn’t catch fire, but I didn’t trust the element. It was as unstable as the elementals who controlled it.
Although the fire didn’t burn me, it was hot, uncomfortable, and too bright. I didn’t like any of it and shrank back much like the flame had done when I’d tried to summon it.
“Pull the element to the surface,” he instructed. “Have it protect you.”
“Protect me? From what? It’s the same freakin’ element.”
“Is it?”
I didn’t understand his comment and drew in a breath to ask when I smelled it. It was the same scent I’d picked up last night. At least, I was pretty sure it was the same scent. I looked at him, searching his expression for anything that’d give him away. He didn’t falter.
Maybe Clay was right. Maybe I kept looking for something that wasn’t there.
“Fire is a coward,” Spencer explained.
I laughed in disbelief. “I’d like to see you say that to Rob’s face.”
“It favors elementals who lack discipline.”
That pretty much summed up my fire elemental. And my air elemental too. I couldn’t believe we were having a conversation standing inside a crowd of flames. They should be scalding our skin and singeing our lungs. I broke out in a sweat from the oppressive heat and yet it cooled me. Was that what he meant by having the element protect me?
“Are you saying I lack discipline?”
He looked at me.
Okay, I’d give him that one. Lifting my hand, I balled it into a fist, and the fire responded by slowly dying out. The field was once again silent, although now singed. The other handlers and charges were all watching us, except for Rob, who’d already stormed off. “I guess we really did put on a show.”
Spencer dropped my hand, and I wiped it on my pants to remove the sweat. Yuck. He had clammy palms.
Clapping caught our attention, and we both turned to see Professor Layden applauding. “How long have you two been working on that little trick?”
He glanced at his watch and frowned. “Hmm. It seems I’ve lost another watch to an element. What time do you have?”
The professor’s expression fell. “Are you telling me you just started working on that today?”
“That would be correct.” He brushed off his pants and ran his fingers through his completely unruffled hair. I was pretty sure I’d lost my eyebrows and would have to draw them in the rest of this term. I didn’t even want to see the state of my hair.
“So why have her inside the flames? That could have resulted in disaster.”
“She needs to work on her control. I’m merely forcing her to do exactly that by driving discipline. Fire is the most undisciplined of the elements. Katy also lacks discipline.”
“Hey, I’m right here.” And really didn’t appreciate the two of them carrying on a conversation as if I wasn’t.
Professor Layden nodded slowly. “Interesting theory. That must be why fire tends to not listen when I summon it. I’m extremely disciplined.”
“I’m sure it’s your weakest element as a result. I could work with you, if you’d like.” His offer almost seemed like an insult. She smiled kindly, but the tightness in the gesture gave her away. His comment irritated her. Hell, it irritated me too.
“I’ll keep that in mind. Next time, I’d prefer if you didn’t place the students in danger to prove a point.”
“With all due respect, Professor,” Spencer said in that smooth voice. “The only danger is not teaching your students the power they call is also theirs to control.”
She arched a dark eyebrow, challenging the very statement. She looked so tiny next to him, but that didn’t stop her from taking several steps toward him. My respect for the 3C professor grew by leaps and bounds.
“And with that power comes responsibility,” she countered in a cool voice. Although she appeared calm and collected as she questioned his tactics, the color in her cheeks told a different story. “I would be remiss, as the professor responsible for showing the students how to call, control, and conceal their elements, if I allowed them to take unnecessary risks simply as a demonstration of their power.”
His lips kicked into a grin as he nodded, conceding to the 3C professor. “Point taken.”
She nodded back, accepting his comment in compromise and shutting down the conversation. My respect for her soared. I couldn’t stop grinning as she put my arrogant handler in his place.
“Dangerous times call for dangerous measures,” Spencer muttered.
“What was that?”
He regarded her as his body language shifted. I braced myself, not liking his sudden change. When I picked up on it, I brought up my arms to stop him just as he said, “Katy was attacked last night.”
“Spencer!” Dammit. Now she’d run and tell the Council, who’d invoke the prophecy again. All that drama. All that chaos. I really didn’t want to repeat the past.
Professor Layden whipped her attention to me. “Is this true?”
I rocked my head back and forth. “More or less.”
“You told me you were attacked,” Spencer insisted. “And then an ominous fog set in, separating you from Clay.”
Jebus crispy chips, dude. Why not tell her about the tiger tattoo on my ass? Just for the record, I don’t really have a tiger tattoo on my ass. That was purely for dramatic reference.
“A fog?” She seemed exceptionally interested in that little tidbit. “What sort of fog?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “It was fog.”
“Was it thick?”
“Like pea soup. It was dark and had a weird smell.” I left out the part that it smelled like Alec.
“What sort of smell?”
“Like burnt human hair.”
“Was this up at the Point, by chance?”
I nodded, shocked she seemed to already know.
Her gaze rounded as she searched mine. For what, I had no idea. I just didn’t like it. When she smiled, it was tight, forced, and did nothing to warm her gaze as it usually did. I definitely didn’t like it.
She finally switched her focus to Spencer. “I’ll need to see you both in Dean Carter’s office first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Of course,” he replied.
No, not of course. I had a bad feeling about being summoned to the headmaster’s office. Nothing good had come from me being in that room. Ever. “Why? Did we do something wrong?”
“No, not at all. I’m calling an emergency Council meeting.”
My stomach twisted. There was only one reason she’d call an emergency Council meeting after the emergency faculty meeting. “Please tell me you’re not about to declare me the prophecy again.”
“No.”
That made me feel remotely better… Until she riveted her attention to Spencer.
He looked back and forth between the professor and me. “Me?”
“It’s why I’m here, actually. The attack has prompted the Council to invoke the prophecy once again.”
Not just no, but hell to the no damn way. I wasn’t about to give up my title to the likes of this guy. Did I want to be the prophecy again? No. Did I want to be the target of the dark elementals again? Definitely not. But did I t
rust Spencer to save our world? That would be a giant hell to the huge no. “Professor, you can’t be serious.”
“Do you have a problem with the Council’s decision?”
“What decision? They aren’t even here.”
“Aren’t they?” Spencer kept a watchful eye on her.
It clicked, and my mouth fell open. “You’re spying for the Council?”
“I’ll see you both in the morning.” With that, she walked away.
“What the hell just happened?” My world unraveled. The Council couldn’t take the prophecy from me and just hand it over to the shiny new coin. I won last year. I beat Alec. That should count for something.
“It seems I’m being declared the next prophecy.”
“No. No way. No.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. The way she emphasized the word both had me nervous. Why did she need to see us both if the Council planned to give my title to the new shiny coin?
“I don’t think you get a say in it. The Council gets what the Council wants.”
“Not this time.” I grabbed my stuff. I needed to talk to Cressida. She declared the prophecy, not a bunch of old guys in fancy black suits. “I’ll see you in the headmaster’s office.”
10
When Cressida didn’t answer me at her statue, I took to the ruins. Still, she evaded me, which didn’t happen very often and always concerned me when it did. I walked the grounds of the academy, working through what I planned to say in the morning to defend my title.
It made no sense. I never wanted the prophecy in the first place. Why was I so hell-bent on keeping it now?
That question continued to bounce around inside my brain as I walked the perimeter of campus, scanning the wards to confirm they remained intact. After Alec broke through the protective wards last year thanks to his little girlfriend, I wanted to be sure.
“Katy?” Bryan walked up, still dressed in his uniform, the green blazer even buttoned. I hated our school uniforms, but I loved them on the guys. He greeted me with a toe-curling kiss, his soft lips resting against mine even after the kiss ended.