by Quinn Loftis
Gabby mentally shrugged. To be fair, if you’d never met a royal elemental, you probably would think you were high on something.
“The orange juice was on the up and up,” Tara said.
“Good to know. Please, proceed with the strangeness.” Shelly held out her hand as if telling the royals they once again had the floor.
Gabby liked both her and Tara more and more. Which really made her want to run away. Far, far away.
Chapter 3
Liam couldn’t take his eyes off of her. It didn’t matter that three royals had just entered the room in spectacular fashion. It didn’t matter that everyone had been introducing themselves, and he probably should have been paying attention. He only had eyes for Gabby. Did that make him a little bit of a creeper? Probably. Was he only going to get creepier from this moment on if she didn’t begin to realize she was his soul bonded? Absolutely.
He was stunned by her confidence as she stood with her shoulders back and her chin lifted high. None of the professors had said anything about her uniform being altered. Liam supposed that the end of the world trumped being non-compliant with the dress code. He had a feeling if they had said something to her, then she would have told them to go pound sand. She was perfect. And she was his. But he probably shouldn’t say either of those things out loud to her … yet.
“We are going to be assigning elementals to places around the globe that need to keep functioning. Power plants, satellite towers, water plants, and the like.” Aviur’s words and the tone of his voice forced Liam to take his eyes off of Gabby and actually listen to the conversation.
Aviur stood in the center of the room. Though he was looking at the group of headmasters and headmistresses, it was clear he was speaking to everyone present.
“I made contact with as many of the soul bonded pairs that I could, as well as some of my strongest warriors. They all arrived last night,” he explained. He turned to face the rest of the room as he continued. “Both Nasima and Kairi did the same with their own elementalists. And Terrick and Iterra took it upon themselves to do the same for the earth elementalists since both royals are unable to be here with us.”
Liam thought that was all well and good, but what on earth did it have to do with the students present in the meeting? “Why are we here?” He spoke up, motioning to the students. “If you have warriors who have much more experience, then why do you need us?”
Kairi, the water queen, turned to him. Her face, which was usually gentle and serene, was serious, her eyes full of worry. “You and the three other males who have been working together in secret over the years have learned to use your powers in tandem. We wanted you to help train more students, but things have changed. The situation has grown more urgent. Some of the professors”—she pointed to the group—“will continue to work with the established teams. Others will be assisting out in the field, including you eight students.” The water queen walked toward him, and those between them parted. When she was standing toe-to-toe with him, she smiled gently and leaned even a little closer. Liam saw the familiar, caring woman he’d known over the past two years. Despite how young she appeared, her demeanor with him and other students was always that of a mother to her children.
“We also need as many soul-bonded as possible,” she told him.
“I’m not—” Liam began, but she held up a hand to stop him.
“You are many things, Liam, but dumb is not one of them. No matter how your friends might tease you.”
There were chuckles from those standing close to him.
“In your heart and soul, what do you feel? What do you know to be true because your magic feels it as well?”
Liam didn’t want to say it out loud. What if he was wrong? What if he made a fool out of himself because he was just making up something in his mind that he wanted to be true?
“You’re also not a coward,” Kairi continued. "Tell me.”
“She’s here,” Liam finally answered.
Kairi nodded. “That she is. And without her, you are both incomplete. The power you both wield is only half as strong as it could be if you were joined.”
Liam leaned closer to the queen and dropped his eyes. “I don’t know what to do,” he admitted. “Usually, I know exactly how to proceed. But with her…” He drew in a breath. “I’m terrified I’m going to mess it up.” Liam had to swallow a lot of pride in order to make the admission to Kairi, but he understood, from everything he’d learned over the past couple of weeks, just how important the soul bonded were. Not to mention, what would happen to Gabby if he didn’t share his soul with hers? The thought of her going dark nearly drove him to his knees. Despite the walls he knew she put up with her tough-girl persona, he could see the vulnerability in her eyes. Liam wanted to take that look and replace it with something else. He wanted to offer her the security she seemed to require.
“You don't have to worry about messing it up,” Kairi said. “You are meant for each other. She is yours and you are hers. That doesn’t mean you won’t have to work for it. All relationships take effort, whether they are soul mates or not. You have to give more of yourself than you take of her. Be willing to do that and be willing to compromise. These things will help. And be prepared to fight for your relationship when it comes under attack, because it will.”
Liam nodded. “Thank you.”
“It is I and the other royals who need to thank each of you. You will be putting your lives on the line for millions of people who you do not know and who will most likely never know that you did it.”
Liam shrugged. “What’s life without a little risk?”
She smiled at him and then walked back to the center of the room.
Liam's eyes went back to Gabby. His heart beat a little faster when he saw she was staring at him. He winked at her, partly because he didn’t know what else to do and partly because he couldn’t help himself. Her face reddened, but whether from anger or embarrassment, Liam wasn’t sure. He didn’t know her well enough to tell the difference. Yet. But he would. Soon, he would know her very well.
Gabby kept her face firmly focused on whomever it was that seemed to have the floor. At the moment, the fire king, Aviur had stepped forward. He looked around the room, seeming to scrutinize the faces of everyone present. She could see the flames in his eyes, but they appeared muted, like a fire that had a screen pulled across the front of it. She couldn’t imagine the weight that he and the other royal elementals must bear on their shoulders.
“Because time is of the essence, you will not meet the rest of your teams until you arrive at your assignments. These will include not only the professors but also warriors assigned to assist the student groups,” Aviur explained. “Some of you—Liam, Ra, Elias, and Aston—will be able to offer some instruction on utilizing your different elemental powers in tandem. And the experienced warriors will have much to offer and teach. Unfortunately, this will be on-the-job training.”
“That’s actually not a bad thing, sir,” Aston said. “Statistically speaking, people who learn their skills on the job perform much better than those who simply learned from a classroom setting or a theory method. So, you are actually giving us a leg up on our fellow students.”
“Then I suppose we are progressive in that sense,” Aviur said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Some of these warriors are bonded pairs and will be able to explain more about the bond,” Aviur continued. He looked at Ra and Shelly. “There’s a fire soul-bonded couple you two will work with, Lawson and Cara.
“Cara offers her power and assistance to her mate. She is able to pour her power into him so if he’s running low, she can keep him from getting weak. They will be able to explain more about how their bond works to Ra and Shelly.”
“Why does that information matter to us? I’m not a fire elementalist,” Shelly said. “I’m just a human with a little underworld soul-bonding going on.”
Aviur smiled at her. “For the moment. But believe it or not, I have a little magic of m
y own that I am able to share with you.”
Her eyes widened and her mouth formed an O.
Gabby’s attention, along with the rest of the room’s, turned to Nasima.
“I also have two bonded couples who will be joining us in moving around the world in an effort to lessen the damage that is happening because of the absence of the earth king and queen,” the air queen said. “One of the couples has worked mostly in different harbors and seaports around the world, attempting to keep dark water elementals and acolytes from causing dangerous storms and shipwrecks.”
“Dude, what happened with Hurricane Katrina?" Gabby asked before she could tell her mouth to shut up.
“Totally was going to ask that,” Shelly said.
Nasima looked at them and raised a single brow. “Though it might seem like it, we are not all-powerful. Nor can we be all places at once. Sometimes, enemy diversions are successful, and, unfortunately, natural disasters occur. We were devastated that we were unable to redirect the hurricane.”
Gabby’s head tilted as she gave a single shoulder shrug. “That’s understandable. Thank you for explaining it. I can imagine it must have pissed you off.”
The air queen’s lips twitched. “That is one way to put it. The next pair has been working on their own to help clear pollution from some of the most populated cities in the world. Before the rift between our kind, caused by the dark elementals, they worked with other water elementals to keep the dark acolytes and elementals from tainting human water sources. Oftentimes, the contamination that people think is caused by human pollution is actually caused by the dark elementals.”
“Sneaky bastards,” Shelly murmured.
The air queen chuckled. “That they are, child. That they are.” She turned to Kairi. “The floor is yours.”
Kairi smiled and nodded her head. “Miles and Josie are the water elementalist soul-bonded couple many of you met at yesterday’s meeting. They’ve been bonded for a hundred and twenty-five years. Their primary assignments have been working on purifying the air in some of the most polluted cities in the world.”
“Let me guess,” Liam said. “Dark elementalists are behind a lot of that as well?”
Kairi nodded. “They also are responsible for the hole in the ozone. The warriors behind Miles and Josie have been working on that problem for the past fifty years.”
Gabby saw movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see Shelly shaking her head, eyes wide with wonder.
“It’s crazy how clueless humans are,” Shelly said. “So much we think we’re responsible for. Yet this whole time, it’s dark elementals and their minions wreaking havoc.”
Gabby snorted. “Humans are hardly innocent.”
Shelly looked at her. “I’m not saying they are, new bestie. I’m just hoping that we aren’t completely lost. Maybe there’s hope for us yet.”
Kairi spoke before Gabby could respond with what was sure to be a less-than-positive response. Gabby had lost her faith in mankind a long time ago.
“Humans are the only created beings that are redeemable,” Kairi said. “The Creator gave them souls. He gave them free will. He wanted them to choose to do good, not be forced. After all, does it really count if a person does something for the good of another if they were forced into it?”
Gabby couldn’t deny that the water queen made a compelling point. It didn’t change the fact that people sucked. They had a choice to choose to be kind, yet so many of them chose to be cruel butt-munches instead.
Kairi turned to look at Gabby as if she knew what Gabby was thinking. “I think that, despite what we’ve seen in the past, humanity is not completely lost. The elementalists in this room have proven that. Though you have been made more, you are still human. And now you choose to sacrifice yourself for the good of others. Not only that, but you are also willing to do it knowing you will receive no accolades for your good deeds. None, save us and those you defeat, will know of the anguish you will face.”
“Is this a pep talk?” Shelly asked. “Because words like sacrifice, no accolades, and anguish don’t really rev up the old pep-meter.”
Gabby couldn’t help but grin. “She is a little rusty on the whole pre-battle inspirational speech bit.”
“Right?” Shelly nodded. “No offense, your majesty, but I think you need to consult Braveheart before your next motivational speaking engagement, especially one given on the precipice of war.”
“Noted,” the water queen said with a small smile, obviously taking their teasing in good humor.
Terrick stepped up and nodded. “What you say is so true, Kairi. Though these are dark times, there is hope. The fact that we have joined together in comradery is a very good sign. We will draw strength from one another.” He turned to look at Elias and Tara. “In regard to the earth elementalist warriors, we haven't been able to reach any soul-bonded earth couples. We are still holding out hope that there are some alive. As of right now, you are it.”
“Bloody troll babies,” Liam said. “No pressure.”
“Thanks for that, water boy,” Tara bit out.
“Oh, come on, that’s just mean, even for you,” Liam whined.
“You can take it,” she said. “You wouldn’t want to look like a cry baby in front of your girl.”
Liam cursed under his breath, and Gabby saw the smile on Tara’s face. Her own face turned up in a grin. Tara caught it before she could wipe it clean. Tara winked at her. Damn the girl's kindness and the way she made Gabby feel like she was a part of them.
“You all know Jax and Zuri,” Terrick said, motioning to the earth elementalists. “They will be two of the four warriors going out with the students. The other two are already on-site of their assignment. They specialize in mitigating catastrophic disasters. Earthquakes, shifting of the tectonic plates, eruptions of volcanoes, wildfires, that sort of thing. They’ve been working in the field for a little over a century. Their experience will be a huge asset in dealing with the dropping temperatures.” He paused and then motioned to the professors who were in the meeting. “The professors here will also be joining each team. They have been warriors off and on over the years, usually when they needed a break from the stresses of the classroom.”
“So, the teachers here need a break even from elementalist students? Sounds just like high school,” Shelly said with a chuckle.
“Believe it or not,” Professor Frost said, “supernatural students are usually worse to deal with because most of them have superiority complexes over the fact they can wield elemental magic. We are frequently required to knock them on their asses. Literally.”
“Oh, I like you,” Shelly said with a thumbs up.
“That’s all your fault, Professor Frost,” Tara said. “Don’t come crying to me when she’s trying to force you to be her BFFF and you get to your wit's end with her stalking.”
Professor Frost's eyes widened.
“Pfft, she’s totally exaggerating,” Shelly paused then added, “mostly,” another pause, “sort of. Okay, it’s probably true but I’ll be so busy stalking my new pharaoh man that you won't have to worry about me until I get bored.”
“Um, well, that’s …,” Professor Frost seemed at a loss for words until she finally said, “I’m sure we will get along just fine.”
“Mmm, mmm, mmm, famous last words of those who garner the attention of the one and only Shelly Smith,” Tara said, shaking her head as she pressed her lips together.
Gabby had to admit she loved the play between Shelly and, well, everyone. The chick totally didn’t have a filter, and Gabby liked that she was real. Like Tara, Shelly didn’t just say what people wanted to hear. Gabby would much rather a person tell her the truth even if she didn’t like it rather than tell her a lie in an effort to be “kind,” when really they were just being two-faced.
She also had to give Shelly props because her commentary was helping keep Gabby’s mind off a certain water elementalist who she knew was still drilling holes into the back of her head w
ith his stare. She wanted to turn around and give him the finger so badly but figured that might be inappropriate considering the setting. Okay, it most definitely wasn’t appropriate. Not being inappropriate had never stopped her before, but now it gave her pause.
“Before you all leave, I’m going to assign your teams. Some of the names I call out are the warriors already in the field,” Headmaster Terrick said, pulling Gabby’s attention from her thoughts. “The first team will be Professor Warren, Lawson and Cara, one of the fire soul-bonded couples, Ross, Elias, and Tara. The second team will consist of the other fire soul-bonded, Crey and Tinley, along with Ra and Shelly, Professor Briggs, Professor Hart, and Mia.” Terrick’s eyes ran across the room as if he were considering who should be paired with whom. “The third team will be Professor Frost, Miles and Josie, the water soul-bonded couple, Professor Zuri, Professor King, Liam, and Gabby.”
Gabby tried not to groan out loud as she heard the headmaster’s announcement that she would be on the same team as Liam. Obviously, the universe hated her and was determined to make her pay for some past discretion that she probably didn’t even know she’d committed. She swore she could practically feel the smug approval rolling off of Liam from behind her.
Terrick continued. “The fourth team will consist of Ender, Colt, Aston, Professor Fernis, Professor Jax, Rush, Brianna, and Darby. The fifth team will be an assistant team. They will offer support when a team gets in critical situations. That will include the triplets, Atticus, Shaw and Omar, the air soul-bonded couple, Riggs and Lark, Giana, Jase, Crew, Lincoln, and Professor Bernhardt.
The headmaster continued to speak, but Gabby couldn’t hear a word he was saying because she was trying to work out an argument that would get her switched to a different team. There was no way she was going to be able to be around Liam for any extended amount of time. One of two things was bound to happen. She’d either kick his ass or attempt to molest him. Either option was equally embarrassing. Kicking his ass would make it clear that he was getting under her skin, which is what he, no doubt, wanted. And molesting him, well, for obvious reasons, that would be completely and utterly shameful. She glanced at Professor Frost, who was actually staring right at her. The professor had a little smirk on her face as if she knew exactly what Gabby was thinking. Frost gave her a small shake of her head. Is the professor shutting me down before I even have the chance to make my plea? She has to be. Damn her perceptiveness.