Maybe saving all these kids is the first step.
“That’s a good plan,” Jax says, then looks at me. “You cannot remove their bracelets. Echo is notified immediately if someone physically tampers with one. It’s the way they were engineered. But there is something you could try.”
“What?” I ask, peering at him through my eyelashes.
“If you could create a privacy shield around them like the one you’ve created here, you might be able to deactivate the bracelets so they can use their magic.”
“Like the switch on the wall in the gym?”
He shakes his head, but says, “Sort of. That switch is constantly monitored by Echo and his guards. If anyone other than Chase Wheatley touches it, he’ll know before you can even lift your fingers from it. You, or more specifically the power inside you, is not monitored because you’re not supposed to have access to it. You can use it to negate the bracelets, and work with them to find out why Echo wants them. You just have to make sure you’re shielded so no one feels the magic.”
My eyes widen as he speaks. I never even thought of trying that. My eyes shoot to Lark, and I call her toward me. As she approaches, she reaches her wrist out to me. I take it in my hands and close my eyes. Running my fingertips over the golden metal, I focus on the magic inside it.
My mind finds a thread and pulls, unravelling the tapestry of the spell. When I think I’ve done it, I open my eyes and look at Lark. Her face is alight with a big, toothy grin. Narrowing her black eyes, she flips around and shoots a gust of wind at her cousin.
Not expecting the attack, Asher stumbles under the onslaught and falls backward, landing on my bed. Lark’s laughter tinkles around us, making everyone smile…even Asher.
“Good. Now, reactivate the bracelet. We have to make sure the magic is perfect, or we risk being discovered. Only do this for short periods of time, for now, Princess.”
I do as he asks, and Lark’s bottom lip puffs out in disappointment.
“Don’t pout,” I say, shaking my head at her with a grin. “Now that I know I can do this, our odds of coming out of this thing on top just got infinitely higher.”
“Echo Oberon is going down,” Cedric exclaims, jumping from his seat. “Do me.”
I smile at his exuberance, and takes the wrist he holds out to me. I shut down the power of his bracelet with ease, and a strong wind blows from each corner of the room toward the center, blasting us from all sides.
I try to breathe, but the pressure of Cedric’s wind is too strong. Then it’s gone, and he’s wearing a smirk that reeks of self-satisfaction.
“Wow,” I whisper, then reactivate his bracelet. “That was impressive.”
“Thanks,” he says, his smirk dropping into a genuine smile as his cheeks brighten. “I’ve always had good control of air, but when I got here, something told me to keep it under wraps.”
“Smart,” I reply, nodding.
“Good control?” Lark says, crossing her arms over her chest. “That was incredible. You have got to teach me that.”
Cedric’s face turns an even darker shade of red as he nods and turns away. Jolene and Acadia call dibs on being next at the same time, and I laugh. As they argue over who is going to go first, I meet Asher’s eyes.
There’s blue fire in his gaze, and it warms me from the inside out. It’s a fire of confidence and conviction. A fire of hope in the expectation that we might actually pull this off. That this bleak existence the prisoners of Oberon Reformatory have resigned themselves to might not have to last forever.
We really have a shot to burn this whole thing to the ground.
Chapter Seven
“I hope you appreciate the time and effort I’ll be putting into you, Miss Finley.”
It’s hard, it really is, but I force my features to form a meek expression and hope my eyes shoot rainbows of gratitude and reverence. Inside, I feel sick, like Echo Oberon’s dirty soul is somehow infecting mine.
“I am appreciative, sir. It means so much to me, that a Sylph as talented and as important as you would see potential in me and take the time to mold my powers into something greater.”
Gag. I laid it on a little too thick. If he buys that, he really is dumber than he looks.
His face remains neutral, but there’s a glint of satisfaction in his eyes that tells me he lapped up every drop of my flattery. I breathe a tiny sigh of relief. I have to be more careful. If I go too overboard, he’s going to know something is up and this whole plan will backfire.
It’s mid-afternoon, and I met him in the gym, as instructed. He turns and walks to the far wall, and with one hard glance at me, reaches up and flips the switch. There’s a brief pause before my brain kicks in and I fake a sigh of relief—like my powers have been suppressed and I just regained access to them.
Think faster, Rory. Geez.
“Now, I’d like to see you conjure each of the elements, one at a time. I need to gauge which of them will need the most work. Start with fire.”
A seed of panic blooms in my chest, but I tamp it down. Of course, he asked for fire. He already commented on my use of it when we talked about the incident that got me locked up in here. I need to play this smart and make it look like I can’t control it. Make him believe my powerful outbursts are just spontaneous results of high emotion.
I hold up my palm and call to fire, releasing just enough energy to create a small, flickering flame. I feed it in tiny increments, making the small flicker grow, bit by bit, until it’s about a foot tall. Then I look up at Echo.
His face is a mask of disappointment as he stares at the red and orange flames burning in my hand. He obviously expected more.
I hope I’ve given him enough and let the flames die out. I need him to have faith in my abilities, yet believe that I need his help. If I showed him the true extent of my control of fire, he’d probably pee his pants with excitement.
Not only can I form regular fire into shapes and weapons, I can also create blue flames—an inferno of unbelievable heat that only the strongest Fae can create…my mother being the most famous. Or infamous, depending on whose perspective it comes from.
If I can string Echo along and make him believe he molded me and taught me to increase my powers, he’ll be more willing to trust me and divulge his secrets. I’ll show him the blue flames, eventually.
“Okay, wind.”
He’s already seen my control of air in his video surveillance because I lost my temper and laid Asher out on his back during class one day. It gave Echo the excuse he needed to call me to his office and make the offer to tutor me this way.
I call to air, pumping more energy into it than I did fire. I whip it into a cyclone and send it spinning toward Echo. He pushes his own power toward it, changing its trajectory to the side before it so much as musses his blond hair.
A spark of anger flickers inside me at his smug expression, but I force my face into an awestruck expression. He wants to impress me, so I pretend to be impressed.
“Water,” he orders.
I act slowly, letting a raincloud form little by little above our heads. Pushing a little more energy into it, I cause a light mist to fall from the cloud onto us. The moisture cools my skin and relaxes my muscles. I close off the energy and the cloud dissipates, leaving Echo looking even more disappointed.
I don’t want him to think I’m a lost cause, so I call to the moisture on my skin and in the air and pull it toward my cupped hands. A perfect sphere forms inside my palms, but I keep it hidden from Echo for several long moments as I screw up my face and bite my bottom lip like I’m concentrating really hard.
My eyes widen, and a smile spreads my lips as I reveal my creation. I give Echo a hopeful stare, like a child trying their best to impress a dismissive parent. His eyes go round for the briefest moment and, though he quickly recovers, I know I’ve done the right thing.
I’ve got him.
“Earth,” he says, his voice carrying the slightest of wobbles like he can barely contai
n his emotions.
I make the gym floors shimmy with a tiny earthquake, then release a pent up breath like that’s the best I’ve got. He nods, but it’s disconnected, like he wasn’t really paying attention. Still thinking about my water trick, no doubt.
He meets my eyes and there’s a gleam of anticipation in his gray orbs.
“You have some potential, I suppose,” he says, his words and tone at odds with the joyful shine in his eyes. “I think I can teach you many things, but you have to be willing to put in the work, Miss Finley.”
“Yes, Headmaster,” I say. “Thank you, sir.”
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling. I did it. He’s impressed enough to want to keep teaching me, but not so much that my powers are setting off warning bells. He believes I need to be trained and will gratefully concede to his every wish and command.
I just hope one of those commands ends up revealing what’s really going on behind the dark curtains of Oberon Reformatory.
“OKAY, LET’S DO THIS.”
Asher holds out his wrist to me, and I try to ignore the sparks that fly between us as I wrap my fingers around it. It’s a struggle to focus on the bracelet’s enchantment when so much magic generates between us at that simple touch. The rhythm of Asher’s breathing falters before quickening its pace, making my own heart stutter in my chest.
He feels it, too.
I clear my throat and refocus, cutting off the magic to his golden bracelet before dropping my hands from his wrist. I take a few steps back, putting some space between us, earning a frustrated glare from Asher. His reaction makes me chuckle, and a good portion of the tension drains from me.
“We’re here to practice, aren’t we?” I ask, propping my fists on my hips.
We’re alone in my room with the door firmly closed behind a privacy bubble, so we have no fear of being seen or heard. It’s obvious Asher is just as aware of what that means as I am, and the fire banked in his eyes is not making things any easier.
My eyes dart to the bed beside him before chasing back to meet his gaze. The blue blaze there intensifies, and my feet shuffle back another step. A blast of air stops my retreat, making me gasp. Before I can think to stop it, I’m lifted off my feet by the invisible force.
A surprised yelp bursts through my lips, but I relax as the wind cradles my body, carrying me toward Asher. I giggle as he opens his arms wide, wrapping them around me as the gust of air diminishes and drops me into his embrace. His mouth cuts off my humor, sealing against mine in a desperate kiss.
Lava erupts inside me, flowing through my veins to heat me from the inside out. I vaguely feel warm air beating against us, but I ignore it as Asher’s tongue delves into my mouth. My fingers curl into his dark hair, gripping large fistfuls to hold myself steady. My legs begin to tingle, like I’m not getting enough oxygen to pump the blood to them, but I don’t care.
All that matters is the feel of this boy’s body pressed against mine.
“Rory,” he murmurs between kisses.
“Hmm?”
“I don’t want to stop.”
“Then, don’t,” I mumble back without a thought, kissing him harder.
“We have to,” he says, pressing his forehead against mine to keep our mouths apart.
We’re both breathing hard, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed by his apparent self-control. I wanted nothing more than to wrap my limbs around him and never let go.
The sensation of a sweltering heat at my back brings me to my senses, and I glance over my shoulder. My eyes widen as a large tornado of fire swirls near the door, its flickering movements wild and erratic.
“We have to figure out how to control that lustnado,” he whispers against my ear. “Can’t have you burning the whole place down every time I want to touch you. Which is always.”
A thrill shoots down my spine at his words, but I keep my eyes on the cyclone of fire as it dies out. Just before it vanishes, I realize what’s strange about it and turn back to Asher with one brow hiked up.
“You can’t blame that one on me,” I say.
“What do you mean?”
A smirk curls my lips. “It seems creating erratic fire tornadoes in the heat of passion is a hybrid thing, not just something I inherited from my mother. That magic was not mine.”
Laughter trills out of me, not because of the shocked look on his face, but because he was so wrapped up in me, so turned on by our kissing that he didn’t even realize he’d created the lustnado. Not me.
Asher’s shock vanishes and he seems to bask in my joy. Picking me up, he twirls me around before dropping to the bed with all our limbs tangling together. He brushes his nose against mine, then kisses me gently, just a soft brush of his lips against mine.
“We’re getting a lot of work done today,” I whisper in a light-hearted tone.
“The most important kind of work,” he whispers back.
His mouth crashes into mine, and all rational thought scatters from my mind. Our hands grasp at each other, a heat that would out-scorch any lustnado building between us. A throbbing ache builds inside me as his tongue brushes against mine and his hand brushes down my side. His fingers grip my hip, his touch a white-hot flame.
The heat turns to ice as he jerks away, leaping from the bed. Before my mouth can form the words to question his sudden departure, a firm knock echoes through my small room, startling me. I stare wide-eyed at Asher, and he jerks his head toward the door, silently telling me to answer it.
I stand up and straighten my clothes before heading to the closed door.
“Who is it?” I call out.
“It’s me.”
I release a pent up breath and swing the door open, revealing my smirking best friend. Her black eyes dart from me to Asher and back again as her smile grows into a toothy grin.
“Am I interrupting something?” she asks.
I force out a laugh and say, “No.”
Asher’s voice crashes over mine as he says, “Yes,” at the same exact time.
Laughter trills from Lark as she saunters in, stopping between Asher and me with hands propped on her hips.
“You two are supposed to be practicing,” she says, arching one perfect black brow.
“We were,” I say, grabbing Asher’s wrist and reactivating the spell that binds his magic. “Asher created a tornado of fire without even thinking about it.”
His eyes narrow at me and I bat my eyelashes innocently.
“A tornado of fire, huh?” Lark asks, her head tilting to the right. “It wouldn’t have been conjured from raging hormones would it?”
Asher’s eyes flash to mine, but I shake my head. I’m pretty sure I never told Lark about the lustnado thing. It’s amazing, how intuitive she is.
“Oh, my God. I’m right. This is classic,” she says, her eyes glassing over as she tries to contain her laughter.
A moment of silence follows as neither Asher nor I respond, and Lark gets her humor under control. With a shake of her head, she turns her back on her cousin and holds out an elbow to me.
“You ready to go to dinner?” she asks.
“Sure,” I say, even though everything inside me is screaming to skip the food and pull Asher back onto the bed with me.
But I can’t do that. Echo will be watching for me through the cameras and I need everything to look normal. I shoot a wink at Asher over my shoulder as Lark pulls me from the room. The expression on his face tells me we will continue what we started before the sound of Lark’s footsteps broke it up.
I can hardly wait.
Chapter Eight
It’s been a few days and Echo hasn’t summoned me for another of our training sessions, so I’ve been using my free afternoons to work with the Con Crew. They come to my room, one by one, and I put up a privacy shield before deactivating their bracelets.
This afternoon, however, all five of them are here, scattered around the room as we take a break from our “mission” to just hang out.
“So Rory, you’ve seen what we can do, but you’ve never told us the extent of your own powers,” Cedric says, the statement ending all the side conversations going on.
My eyes dance around the room, landing on Lark, who gives me an encouraging nod. They all know who I really am and have kept the secret, so I know I can trust them. It just feels strange after a lifetime of keeping most of my abilities under wraps with my sister, Robbie.
I take a deep breath and blow it out in one long stream between my lips.
“It’s okay,” Acadia murmurs. “You don’t have to tell us if it makes you uncomfortable.”
“No,” I reply. “I do. You guys trust me and have my back. And I trust you. It’s just…my sister and I have kept things from everyone, even our parents. Some of what I’m about to tell you, no one else knows.”
Acadia and Jolene nod, and Cedric’s eyes widen. I look at Lark, then Asher, and they both give me encouraging smiles. I can do this.
“So, the commonly known stuff is simple—I have complete control over all four elements. Robbie does, too. Air and fire come the easiest, but earth and water are nearly as simple. With just a thought, we can create privacy shields and conjure complex items.”
I hold out my hand, and within seconds, a large watch appears there. The ticking sound of its gears moving pings against my eardrums, and I can tell the others hear it, too. I toss it to Cedric, who catches it with one hand and examines it with surprised eyes.
“I can peel away Glamour to see the truth and,” I pause for a moment to swallow thickly, “my own Glamour never fades. Once I cast it over someone, it lasts until I decide to remove it.”
A few eyebrows hike up at that revelation, but no one says anything. Lark and Asher already knew that little tidbit, so I keep my eyes on the other three.
“Magical bonds don’t work on me.”
“You mean, you could’ve escaped before you even got here?” Jolene asks after a brief silence.
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