Braving the Elements

by K. F. Breene

  “What’s wrong?” Charles asked quietly when the class finally came to a close. “Usually you’re all peppy and excited. Why’d you stop trying?”

  I shrugged, slowing so a couple boys could file in front. “I just don’t get it. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  “So? Since when do you give up?”

  I shrugged again as we waited to get through the door, the usual traffic jam of everyone in a hurry to get out after class was no different here than anywhere else.

  A boy in front of us pushed his friend. “You were the last one. What an idiot!”

  “Shut up,” the other boy spat. “I wasn’t raised with an older brother like you were—how could I’ve known how? And besides, the human didn’t get it at all.”

  “The human doesn’t count. And hardly anyone has an older brother. Idiot!”

  “Shut the hell up or I’m going to shove my foot up your ass!”

  The first boy laughed harder, taunting. They would’ve gotten in a fight right there if not for Charles grabbing each by their shirts and tossing one first, and then the other, out the door. Limbs went flying.

  “Don’t worry about them, Sasha,” Charles said in a low tone for my ears alone. “We know you can do it. You’re just new to all this. You’ll figure it out.”

  I shrugged.

  “Stop shrugging and have some faith in yourself.”

  Jared said that to me all the time. Have faith in myself. I’d always commented that it was his job. And he always had. Except now, he was gone.

  We hit the first floor. I paused, feeling that familiar tug from the back of the house. Where we should be headed for dinner, or to just go to bed. A glance told me the weird connection to Stefan was right—he stood in the center of the wide hallway, his body pointed directly at me, his eyes boring into mine. Like Moses parting the seas, people gave him a wide berth, his advisors standing by like a swat team on steroids.

  He probably wanted to check up on his investment; find out what saving my life had yielded.

  Goose egg, that’s what.

  Pity party. Who brought the confetti?

  “Can you beguile cops into deciding they shouldn’t hand out tickets for going outrageously fast?” I asked Charles, not really caring if he could or not.

  “Uh…maybe we should head toward the Boss. He seems… I think he wants you to go to him. See how your first class went…”

  “My, my, Charles. I had no idea your analytical skills could deduce the obvious. Well done.”

  “I don’t like this defiance thing you got going with him. Someone’s going to get hurt, and it’s probably going to be me.”

  “I thought you wanted a little excitement.”

  “Excitement, Sasha. I didn’t say public execution.”

  Stefan kept staring, the pull on my chest trying to drag my body toward him. And there was absolutely nothing in the entire world I wanted more than to let him fold me in his arms and make everything all right; to smooth all this away. But I would just be the human who got special treatment from the Boss—assuming he’d even leave his drop-dead gorgeous girlfriend and play nursemaid to a pain in the ass. His help would look like a hand-out if he stooped low enough to give it.

  Jesus. Forget a pity party, I was throwing myself a pity bonanza.

  “I’m going to get in my car and drive really, really fast. As in danger-ville fast. Can you keep the cops from hauling me to jail?”

  “Yeah,” he whined, staring at Stefan.

  “Then let’s go for a ride. Speed always makes me feel better.”

  A half hour later, the car was screaming down a two-lane road in the wooded area outside the city. Trees flashed by, a blur of shimmering green as the first rays of the sun sprinkled their leaves. I had to admit, I was partially testing Charles’ resolve, trying to see if he could hack it without the jitters. I took turns like the car was on rails, using both lanes of the road when the car got a little squirrely—which was often—dodging other cars when there were any. He’d screamed like a little girl, twice.

  “Oooohhhhhh sssshiiiiittt!” Charles clutched the dashboard as my Firebird pitched over the crest of a hill. Tires left the ground for a beat before crashing back down, and jousting us forward.

  A manic grin spread over my face. I needed this.

  “We should…oh shit…we should…slow down!” Charles braced for a turn, grabbing the handle on his door with a white-knuckled grip.

  “C’mon, Charles, I’m not going that fast. I thought you were a tough Watch Captain.”

  “I can face my enemies head on with a sword,” Charles said through clenched teeth. “I have no control over dying right now, Sasha. Watch out for that tree!”

  The car squealed around the turn, drifting to the other side of the road. Where another car was waiting.

  Oh crap!

  A punch of adrenaline rocked my body. I let off the gas, easing the car back toward my side of the road as a horn blared. I tucked the wheels back beyond the yellow line as the crawling sensation of a close call permeated my limbs. Warmth took its place, hot and spicy, ready for action.

  I let out a huge, silent breath and let the speed dwindle. Not today. I was exhausted.

  “Done now?” Charles asked through a tight throat. “Can we go home?”

  “Yeah, I think I’m good. That helped.”

  “What’s the deal with needing an adrenaline rush?” Charles asked as we headed back. “How can it possibly help anything?”

  I shrugged, the warmth in my chest still zinging through my body, smoothing out my nerves. “It thrills me somehow, which then seems to just calm everything down. I get a big high, and then just, kinda…level out. I don't know.”

  Charles squinted. “I bet the thrill wakes up the magic, and then it fills you. That’s why you think you level out. You’ve probably learned to use your magic with that intuition thing you’ve talked about. You didn’t have teaching so you learned a rough version of controlling it on your own.”

  “Quit analyzing me. My crazy needs no definition.”

  A frown joined the thinking squint. “When you try to reach for the magic, nothing comes. When you sprint at death, you apparently access it easily and then save the day. As the mastermind behind this operation, I find it my duty to figure this out.”

  “You figuring something out—yeah, that’s going to happen….”

  Charles sighed and shook his head. “Sarcasm. How helpful.”

  The next day went the same. And, so did the day after. I just couldn’t grab those danged elements. I didn’t even know where to look! I was supposed to open up somehow, see them pulsing out there (no one would identify where there was), and pull them to me. What kind of cockamamie directions were those, anyway? Yeah, sure, just open on up and pull at some imaginary, universal power streams. Good call. I’ll just do that, shall I?

  It made no sense.

  Each day after class, Stefan would be waiting in a place where I was sure to run into him. The weird link I had with him, which seemed to have gotten stronger since the last time he saved my life, hinted that he was worried. About me? About his clan? I didn’t know; but yesterday, when I finally wanted to give in and sob in defeat on his chest, that tart, Darla, had been loitering around, giving me eye-threats. No way did I want to mess with her. Plus, I looked like a rat after it’d gotten spit out of the sewer, and she looked like a super model in the middle of a runway. I wasn’t winning any glamour votes.

  Day four and I still had no idea. No one gave me condescending looks anymore—now I got pity or indifference. When I pointed this out to Charles, hinting that this whole experiment into magic land was probably a mistake, he’d said, “Don’t give up yet, Sasha. We’ll get it. I’ve been thinking about when you use your magic, and I think that maybe I just need to threaten your life. That’s bound to wake your magic up. I’ll just, like, ruff you up a whole bunch. Or, I know—I’ll get Jonas in here. If there’s anyone who wants to choke the life out of you, it’s Jonas. I betch
a he’ll spark your magic survival reflex.”

  He meant well.

  Master Bert clapped with a beaming smile as he sashayed into the room. “Okay, everyone, I have a special treat for you today. Maw, I have been reminded by the Boss himself that it is often easier to connect with the elements when we are out amongst them. He personally sought me out to tell me this!”

  “Jesus, he sounds like a groupie.”

  Charles smirked and rolled his eyes.

  “So let’s go, let’s go. Follow me!” Master Bert gestured everyone out through the doors.

  As everyone shuffled outside—the girls all throwing red faced glances Charles’s way, as usual—Charles said, “You’ve hit red, I don’t understand the problem…”

  I didn’t, either.

  I stepped through the backdoor of the mansion and onto a stone path. We followed the rest of the students through swaying trees, huddling in the darkness, the inky black licking my senses.

  I closed my eyes as we walked, feeling that pulsing in my chest—the one I had tried to find inside, but hadn’t been able to. Now, with the night looming around me, pressing on all sides, it felt like something was released. Something inside me relaxed, the block dissolving away.

  Suddenly, I felt the magic crouching in Charles where he touched my back to direct me. The darkness whispered in the form of leaves rustling, of night birds calling, of the tickle of the wind as it stirred my hair. I connected with my childhood; peering through the darkness, seeking out the imaginary people. Feeling the whisper in my body, the tickle of my senses.

  It had always been magic. I just hadn’t known. And I attributed it to the night. I’d probably learned to control it, as Charles said, when on my own, feeling my way through the darkness.

  Joy filled my body, sensing Master Bert now, a glowing orb burning within him. Onto the other students, many with tiny sparks, nothing more than colored winks, and only two with a small flame.

  I stopped, eyes closed, feeling the ground beneath me. Shoes quickly shed, I stepped off the path, dirt at my feet, clutching Charles’s hand and dragging him with me. His inner orb felt my petting and started to dance, spinning and twirling.

  The air brushed my face, wanting to be let in. The dirt at my feet wanted to climb up my body. The heat grew, the joy making me laugh. I raised my hands, my smile twisting, electricity filling the air, humidity squeezing out water. Charles stood mute behind me, his orange orb starting to flicker brighter, a deeper color, merging with my power and intensifying.

  “Isn’t it wonderful?”

  Was that my voice? It sounded deep and sultry, sensuous. I laughed, carefree and light, my fingers crackling with power, spikes of pain pricking my skin.

  “No, Sasha!”

  My body whipped around, brought into an iron chest and surrounded by bands of steal arms. The joy cut off by a control more fastidious. Somehow, my magic was smoothed out and balanced, dissolving the danger.

  In opposition, my heart jumped, beating wildly in my chest. Heat filled me, but not from magic. I leaned my head against Stefan’s hard chest and sighed.

  “What are you playing at?” His words bounced off my head.

  “I don’t know, it felt wonderful. I was so happy for a minute.”

  “You were trying to draw too much. You have to learn to control each element before you bring them together. Most importantly, you have to learn to cut off the draw.”

  His heart pushed against my cheek pleasantly. “That’s what I did?” I backed off his chest so I could meet his intense black eyes. His handsome face took my breath away, his strength and power had me floating, his presence and charisma making me melt. It wasn’t fair, this thing he did to me. It wasn’t fair that his choice as mate was an equally beautiful jerk named Darla who didn’t deserve him.

  “How’d you know I needed to come outside?” I whispered.

  His head leaned down fractionally, getting closer. “You feel things. You respond. React. You’re not a planner or a plodder. I figured if you were exposed to it, your body would remember how to do it. But you have to control it. It was dangerous what you just did. You know what happens when you draw too much.”

  “I don’t…” I shook my head. “I don’t know how to control it.”

  “That’s why you’re in school,” he whispered, his pupils dilating. His eyes roamed my face, touching my eyes, my nose, glancing across my cheek, then to my mouth. He sucked in a deep breath, his eyelids drooping. His fingers tightened on my arms, drawing my body closer.

  My hands landed on his lateral muscles, bumpy and delicious. I breathed in his smell, musk and masculine. Safety and protection.

  “Boss, Bert is nearly here. This the way you want him to see you? Damn it, she smells good when she’s turned on!”

  Stefan jerked me away from him, his eyes blinking quickly as they refocused. He let me go and stepped back.

  I could have kicked Charles!

  Master Bert hustled up, his eyes catching me and relaxing. A second later, they hit Charles with a scowl, then hit Stefan. “Oh my gosh! Boss! What are—hello! Did you detain them? Maw, I feared something had happened to them, the tricky little monkeys.”

  “Something did.” Stefan gently pushed me toward Charles. Before he took his hand away, I could have sworn his thumb brushed my collarbone. “Sasha tried to draw too much. Charles let her do it, staring at her like a googly-eyed teenager. She needs to be watched. She’s above the other students in power level—dangerously so.”

  “Well, hmm.” Master Bert put his hand to his chest in thought. “I confess, I didn’t know if she could even reach her power. What an excellent suggestion, then, coming out here. Maw, yes. Hmm. Should I separate them? Move them up a level?”

  Stefan blew out a breath. “We’ll have to divide her time. Put her in more classes; speed up her education. Learn elements from you, push her to James for weapons, then to Darla for incantations.”

  “Not Darla,” I blurted.

  Stefan speared me with his Boss stare. My back and lower cheeks tingled, a warning that danger headed my way. I shut the hell up before he did something awful.

  To Master Bert he said, “This starts tomorrow. Get her working. We don’t have a lot of time—she’s in danger every time she uses her magic without control.” His bearing still filled with command, expecting to be obeyed at any cost, his next words were for me. “And no more reckless car rides. You’re putting yourself in needless danger. They stop immediately.”

  My argument died on my lips as his powerful gaze shocked into my system. Didn’t mean I agreed, though. Easier to ask forgiveness than permission…

  “Maw, yes!” Master Bert nodded at Charles and I, still thinking about my education. “Absolutely, Boss! Your pet is safe with me.”

  As the words sank in, the world slowed down. My gaze swiveled to Master Bert, incredulous.

  “Yes, well.” Stefan turned, a flash of irritation smearing his face before he stalked off.

  “Pet?” I asked Charles in a disbelieving whisper as Master Bert led the way. “Is that what he said?”

  My mind flashed back to Jonas on the first night we met them. When he and Charles had called me little pet. They’d thought Jared and I would break down and do as they said in mindless agreement. We were only as good as our willingness to drop our pants. Dimwitted humans. Lesser species.

  Anger filled me. Shaking my head and blinking, I realized that I was being led by an oblivious Charles. His thoughts weren’t bent on how wrong that term was, how immoral. Quite the opposite. It was a given.

  What the hell was wrong with these people?

  I sucked that thought in. I tucked it away. I didn’t know how to handle it yet, the pain of it—so I would stuff it in a new secret box. I’d thought that if I learned this stuff, earned my reputation, I’d fit in. Nowhere in that equation was stooping to being a pet human.

  My chin rose as my heart fell, refusing to let that term diminish my accomplishment of sucking in elements. I’d
show them I wasn’t just a stupid human. I’d learn this stuff and rock their world.

  Somehow.

  Chapter 2

  Charles was in stitches for the rest of the class. It seemed that pulling in elements once was enough for Sasha to thoroughly figure out how to do it repeatedly. Other students, even the best, would need a few seconds of concentration before they had some magic flowing. Not Sasha. Not anymore. She couldn’t pay attention for crap, she couldn’t remember even a sentence of knowledge if she heard it, but let her work with her hands once, and she got it. Not only that, but she pulled in way too much, freaked out, and then puffed a red fog that had the ability to singe off eyebrows.

  Bert had gotten less and less chipper as the class wore on. He also had less and less hair on the top of his head. It seemed Sasha could pull fire the best. Yee haw. Plus, every time she did something before Salline, the top overachiever in class, she nodded to herself. She was pitting herself against the best and keeping tabs, willing herself to be better.

  Thank God, too, cause Charles was really starting to get worried. He’d heard she could turn a letter opener red when she first came here. That was a decent flow of magic. Not only that, but she had the Boss’s eye. It took a special ability to have him looking—hinting at much higher than red. But up until now, she was like every other human that someone brought around to show off: fairly useless.

  But what the hell was up with that strange shadow she had going on? It was like a wispy essence of the Boss hanging around her. Every time she bent over, or looked up at him in jubilation, or did something feminine, Charles would get wood. Natural enough. Except, when he thought about trying a move, he’d get a strange scent wafting by, that kinda smelled like the Boss in the height of rage. If that didn’t deflate the ol’ sails, Charles didn’t know what would.

  Great gods, Charles needed to get laid. It’d been twelve days! The crazy human had him always on his toes—he was afraid to leave her alone in case she did something stupid. Like go give the Boss the finger.

  “Alright, let’s go for a ride.” Sasha stalked off toward the house in determination.