I take a deep breath and another, but my pulse remains jittery.
“You’ve got Foster and me right here,” Easton says. “No one’s going to hurt you.”
I only relax again after we pass by the elemental protectors of darkness, finally entering the school.
“Holy … Wow,” I breathe out as I take in the cathedral ceiling painted with the colors of the elements, the glittering chandeliers, and the black and white checkerboard floor. Everything is extravagant from the trimming on the walls to the intricately shaped doorknobs. It looks like a museum or a castle and not a school, especially since … “Where are all the lockers?”
“We don’t have any.” Foster tightens his hold on my hand as he squeezes by people congesting up the hallway and heads toward a wide door labeled: main office. “The books we use stay in the classrooms, along with most of our supplies and stuff.”
“I’ll catch up with you in a bit,” Easton says, coming to a stop. “I have to go talk to a teacher about making up a final.” He gives me a smile before taking off in the opposite direction Foster and I are headed in.
Foster throws a wave at him, his attention fixed on getting us to the main office. He acts entirely unaware of how much everyone is staring at me—no, us—now. More in particular, our interlocked fingers.
I should pull away. We’re not by the elemental protectors of darkness anymore, and it might make the staring dwindle if I do, but I worry what my powers will do if I break the ease he’s instilling inside me , worry I’ll lose control over my powers. After spending years struggling to keep my powers hidden, I like that I have a bit of help now. Not that I want to rely on him completely. One day, I want to be able to control my powers as well as he does.
“If there’re no lockers, then why the heck did I bring a backpack?” I ask as he pulls open the door to the main office.
“You’ll need it for your human classes and to carry around the supplies you can’t leave in class,” he says, tugging me into the main office.
The space is quaint and lined with bookshelves and a couple of antique desks. The walls are decorated with artwork of scenes that I’d assume belonged in fantasy novels, except now I know other worlds exist, so maybe the places are real.
Since the secretary is nowhere to be seen, we have to wait. We’re not alone, though. A group of guys are sitting in chairs near the front desk, chatting with each other and laughing. All their eyes are brightly colored and match one of the elements, letting me know they’re not human.
One of them smirks at Foster when he notices him; his golden eyes announcing he’s an elemental protector of fire.
“Well, well, well, this is interesting.” With a chillingly wicked smile on his face, he leans forward in the chair, his brown hair falling into his eyes. “Did the perfect Foster get in trouble for the very first time?” He spats the word perfect like it’s repulsive.
Perfect Foster? The guy standing beside me, dressed in black and covered in studded accessories, is known around this school as perfect? I mean, look-wise, sure, he’s gorgeous, but his personality …? Well, it all really depends on which Foster we’re talking about: the one I first met or the guy holding my hand and helping me deal with everything.
I sneak a questioning look at Foster, to which he heaves a sigh.
“Just ignore him,” he tells me. “He’s an asshole. And a stupid one at that.”
“Fuck off,” the guy growls, rising to his feet and crossing his arms. “Just because you think you’re the shit doesn’t mean you are.” He steps toward us, his eyes darkening and his fingers sparking with bright-orange flames. “And one day, I’m going to make you realize that you’re a pathetic piece of shit.” Smoke hisses from his skin. “Just you wait.”
Wait. Can he use his powers on us right now? No one ever explained if we could use them at school or not.
“Go ahead. And while you’re at it, go ahead and use your powers on me,” Foster says calmly, but edginess currents off him and, in the distance, thunder crashes. “Like I’m afraid. Your powers are weak as hell.”
“Wanna find out?” The fire guy raises his hands in front of him, the flames on his fingers erupting and causing smoke to funnel through the room.
“Brody, dude, what’re you doing?” One of the guys who was sitting with him jumps to his feet and places his hand on Brody’s shoulder. “You’re already on probation for the last time you used your powers without permission. If you do anything else, you’re going to get kicked out.”
Brody’s blazing gaze remains seared to Foster. “So what? This asshole deserves to get his ass fried for what he did to Sofie.”
Who the heck is Sofie?
“I didn’t do anything to Sofie but turn her down,” Foster states in a glacial tone I’ve heard him use many times. Well, up until he found out what I am. “And she—and you, apparently—need to get over it.”
“You led her on then broke her heart,” Brody bites out, the flames spreading furiously up his arms. “She hasn’t been the same since.”
“I never led your sister on.” Foster’s fingers twitch in mine as smoke pours thickly around the room. If it keeps up, it’s going to become hard to breathe. “If she told you that, she lied.”
Knowing what I know about Foster, I doubt he’s lying. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t a jerk to this Sofie when he rejected her—that’s coming from my own experience. Still, that doesn’t give Brody the right to set him on fire or whatever he’s about to try to do to Foster.
“Sofie doesn’t lie,” Brody growls, stalking toward Foster. “I should fry your ass right now. Scar your body with burns like you scarred Sofie’s heart …” He pauses, the flames extinguishing when he notices mine and Foster’s intertwined fingers. “And who is this lovely, little thing?” His lips curl into a twisted grin as his gaze zeroes in on me.
I fuse my lips together and shrug.
“Oh, I’m going to get an answer out of you.” He grins, his golden eyes shadowing like smoke over a flame. “And I’m going to enjoy it while I do it.”
As heat flares through my veins, Foster jerks his hand from mine and strides toward Brody.
“If you so much as touch her, I’ll make your life a living hell.” The coldness in his tone glazes the air. “And so will my brothers.”
Brody’s Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows, but then he recovers rapidly and plasters on a grin. “Go ahead. You don’t scare me, and neither do your stupid brothers.” Brody gets in Foster’s face, lowering his tone. “Your family may have this entire school wrapped around their fingers, but you don’t have me fooled. And one day, I’m going to make you pay for breaking Sofie’s heart and show you how she felt when you did it.”
They stare each other down, heat and frost lingering in the air and making my brain dizzy. Who knows what would’ve happened if a woman with chin-length, black hair hadn’t walked in?
“Gentlemen, is there a problem?” she asks, glancing at Foster and Brody.
“No ma’am,” Foster tells her while Brody says, “Nope. We were just talking.”
Sighing, the woman walks over to the desk and drops the stack of papers she was carrying.
When her back is to them, Brody hisses, “This isn’t over, Everettson. I’m going to make you burn and enjoy every moment of it.”
“And I’ll fucking drown your insides if you so much as come near Sky,” Foster warns lowly.
Yep, Sky, you’re definitely not in human territory anymore.
Chapter 6
So … things aren’t going as well as everyone seemed to believe it would.
Foster and I are sitting in front of the secretary’s desk, listening to her explain why I’m not allowed to take any elemental protector classes, even the basic ones. That, because I’m a senior and just barely learned I have powers, there’s no way I’ll ever be able to catch up in any of the element-related classes, and I need to just take all human classes and finish up the year.
“She needs to take some elemental
classes,” Foster insists, restlessly tapping his foot on the floor. “She needs to learn about our world and how to control her powers.”
“Foster, I understand this is frustrating, but you need to think of the bigger picture.” The secretary—Anna as she told me to call her—leans forward and overlaps her fingers on her desk. “It’s the last semester before graduation and, with her limited knowledge of our world, there’s no way she’ll be able to pass any element-related classes.”
“My mom already talked to the headmistress,” he continues to argue. “And she agreed Sky could take a couple of basic elemental classes.”
“I understand that, but the headmistress didn’t fully understand Sky’s limited knowledge of our world when she agreed to that.” She turns the computer screen toward us. “I just emailed her the information you gave me on Sky, and this is what the headmistress replied with. You can, of course, request a meeting with her to discuss it further, but unfortunately, she had to leave this morning to attend an emergency meeting in Elemental.”
Foster frowns at the message on the screen that basically states I won’t be allowed to attend elemental classes. “Fine, we’ll schedule a meeting with her. One that my mother will attend.”
“Very well.” Anna frowns, clearly annoyed. “Have her call in so I can set up a date. But it won’t be for at least a few days until the headmistress gets back. Until then, Sky will have to attend these scheduled classes.” She hands me a piece of paper with a list of basic classes—pre-calculus, English, biology, etc.—along with what looks like a standard P.E. uniform—shorts and a shirt with the school’s name on it. “I put her in as many of your human classes as I could,” she tells Foster. “But not all of them were available.”
Foster grinds his teeth as he pushes to his feet, shooting her a dirty look before taking my hand and pulling me to my feet.
We leave the office, with my schedule and P.E. uniform in hand, and head outside toward the other building where our first class is held, which we fortunately have together.
The sky is grey, the air chilly, and a bit of frost glazes the grass. The parking lot is vacant, though, for which I’m grateful, but our tardiness means I have to walk into class late and that will probably draw attention.
“I’m sorry about this,” Foster says as we make our way up the path that leads to the domed building. “Hopefully, my mom can get everything fixed.”
“It really is okay. I kind of get where the headmistress is coming from. I know nothing about our world or my powers and trying to jump into any classes related to them at the end of our final year would more than likely result in me failing. Although, it would’ve been nice to learn more about my powers and the history of our world.”
“You will learn about them,” he assures as we reach the entrance door. “If my mom can’t get the headmistress to budge, my brothers and I’ll teach you everything you need to know.”
“That seems like a lot of work for you guys, and all because you got stuck with me.”
“We didn’t get stuck with you.”
I arch my brows. “Um, yeah, that’s exactly what happened.”
He studies me intensely. “Maybe you’re right, but that doesn’t mean we mind. In fact, we like having you around.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I roll my eyes, but on the inside, my stomach does that stupid fluttering thing again. “We’ll see if you’re still saying that after you’ve been around me for a while.”
He continues to study me, appearing like he wants to say more, so I’m thrown for a turn when he abruptly changes the subject.
“I’m sorry about Brody bothering you this morning.” He pulls open the door to the school.
“It’s fine.” I step inside, and he follows behind me. Unlike the other building, lockers line the walls and the ceilings are peaked and lined with beams. “It’s not like I never had to deal with a douchey guy before.”
“Yeah, I know, but …” He stuffs his hands into his pockets. “You’re already nervous enough as it is. You didn’t need my drama added to it. And the way he threatened you …” He shakes his head with his jaw clenched. “He’s not going to touch you. I won’t let it happen.”
“I’m not going to let it happen either,” I say as confidently as I can. “I know I don’t have much control over my powers, but I’m not completely helpless. I’ve handled crazy situations before. My parents used to bring all sorts of sketchy-ass people home with them, and the stuff they tried to do …” Wait. Why am I telling him this? I haven’t even told Nina and Gage this stuff. “But anyway, yeah, I can take care of myself.”
Pity flashes in his eyes. “Well, even if you can, I don’t want to be that person in your life who forces you to handle things.”
I want to feel good about what he said, but I still don’t know why he’s being nice to me. Honestly, I’m not sure if I’ll ever know.
“That’s great, and I appreciate it, but I just want to make sure you understand I’m not totally incompetent,” I tell him.
“I’ve never thought you were incompetent, no matter what I may have said.”
I wish I knew if he was being truthful. Wish I knew a lot of things.
“Good.” I sink my teeth into my bottom lip as we slow to a stop. “I’m kind of curious why Brody thinks you broke this Sofie person’s heart, though.”
Foster’s shoulders sag as he sighs. “It’s a long story, but basically, she’s this girl who’s been trying to get me to go out with her for a couple of years. At first, she just flirted with me. But then things got really weird when she broke into my room and waited for me on my bed in nothing but her underwear.” He slips his hands from his pockets and fiddles with the clasp of a leather band on his wrist. “I’m not going to lie. I was a dick to her and probably could’ve handled the situation better, but sometimes, it’s hard … I’ve been forced to be so cold and indifferent for so long that I forget what emotions feel like and that most creatures and humans do have them.”
My heart aches for him. “I’m sure you have feelings, too.”
“I do, but they’ve been buried for so long that I sometimes forget what they’re like.”
“I kind of get where you’re coming from. Or, well, I know what it’s like to have to force myself to stop feeling things because I worry the sky might erupt in flames. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve ever really felt. I’ve always kind of had to rein in my emotions.”
He hesitates. “Do you ever wonder what it’s like? To just feel?”
“Sometimes,” I admit. “But I’m kind of afraid, too.”
His gaze flicks to my lips, his eyes burning with what I think is desire. The floor quivers and panic sets in. But when Foster takes my hand, the shaking slowly stops, along with the panic.
“Me, too … I’ve thought about it a lot. What it would be like to feel what I want … to have what I want …” He leans in, as if to kiss me.
And part of me wants to let him. Wants to feel his lips against mine. Wants to let everything I’ve ever kept buried deep inside me out. But the other part of me questions if he’d even want to kiss me if I was the human girl who tried to hit on him that day in the parking lot.
My heart slams against my chest as I turn my head. “I’m sorry,” I mumble.
He takes a steadying breath. “It’s fine.” When I refuse to make eye contact with him, he sketches a path along the inside of my wrist. “Sky, I promise it’s fine. I probably shouldn’t have tried to kiss you anyway. Not here and not now and not when you don’t want to.”
Sucking in an inhale, I meet his gaze.
He offers me a small smile. “We should get to class. We’re already pretty late.”
I nod, grateful he isn’t making a big deal out of this, unlike my heart that seems super peeved at me right now.
“So, we have this class together, but not the next class, right?” I ask, desperate for a subject change.
“Yeah, my next class is History of the Water Element.” He pulls a face.
&n
bsp; “Is it a boring class?” I wonder.
“No, it’s okay … but sometimes it sucks not being able to attend classes that actually pertain to my element.”
“So, there’s none at all for … well, what we are?”
He shakes his head. “As far as most know, our kind is extinct … It almost was,” he adds as an afterthought, glancing at me.
It starts to hit me then just how rare we are. Rare in even a magical world. And I can’t help wondering how much of my kind had to die for things to become this way.
As I enter the classroom with Foster, my thoughts shift as thirty sets of eyes glance at me. Curiosity sparkles in some of them, while others carry disdain. It makes me want to turn around and run. I’ll go to Nina’s and hide out, spend my days doing whatever I want, just like I used to. I wish I could do that, but knowing what I know now … everything’s changed.
I’ve changed.
When I went to the Everettsons’, it changed everything. It changed me. It changed the life I once knew.
But maybe that life never existed to begin with.
* * *
First period isn’t too awful, but mainly because Foster is in it with me. I’m a bit apprehensive about my second class, but when I walk in, relief washes over me as I spot Easton sitting at one of the desks. He smiles at me when I enter.
“Aw, look, it’s my favorite creature in all the worlds,” he teases as I drop my bag onto the desk beside his.
I lower my ass into the seat. “Do you ever let up?”
“Let up from what?” he asks innocently, but with a twinkle in his eyes.
“Hey, East.” A girl with long blonde hair waves at Easton as she walks into the classroom. But her smile falters when she notices me. “Who’s this?”
“This is Sky.” Easton gestures at me.
The girl’s forehead creases as she stops beside Easton’s desk. “Is she the girl that’s living with you?”
“Yeah. And FYI, you can ask her questions directly,” Easton tells her with a teasing grin. “She can totally hear and even knows how to speak. It’s seriously the most miraculous thing I’ve ever seen.” He winks at me.
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