by Kat Adams
Her shoulders squared, she thrusted out her chin, spun on the heel of her cute little buckle shoes, and stormed off. I shook my head as she walked away, the steady downpour somehow avoiding her. God, how I hated her control.
“What’s up her skirt?” Clay appeared behind me and moved in, wrapping his arms around my midsection. Ah, warmth. “Whoa, I could have gone the rest of my days without seeing that. Is she seriously wearing a thong?”
I tilted my head. We both did. The short, short gray uniform skirts left nothing to the imagination. The curve of Vanessa’s ridiculously perfect ass flashed with every swing of her hip. “She seriously is. Some girls will do anything for attention.”
“Not my girl.” He turned me in his arms and planted a solid kiss to my lips, tickling me with his beard. Although he still sported the yellow blazer to support his house colors, he was no longer a student, having accepted the position as the headmistress’s assistant in lieu of his final tribunal.
“Are you allowed to kiss the students?”
He nipped at my lower lip. “Let them fire me. What’s the worst they could do?”
“Uh, fire you,” I pointed out. “You can’t afford to lose this job. The only reason they let you stay in the dorms is because of this job.”
“Whatever.” He shrugged easily and did a Bieber flip to send his wild brown hair out of his eyes. “I could just move in with Rob and Leo. Join them on patrol. Being a hunter is cool.”
“Maybe you should ask Rob and Leo first. It’s not that big a cabin.”
He shrugged again. “I think they’d be fine with it.”
“Think again.” Rob popped in, and next to him, Leo. They both had on the classic Council uniform of a fancy black suit. Rob’s five-o’clock shadow covering his square jaw always made him look so ruggedly handsome. Leo’s crazy blond curls weren’t any less crazy with the drizzle clinging to them. I couldn’t stop smiling. It’d been too long since we’d all been together. The only one missing was Bryan.
And then in popped my mountain of a man, looking amazing in his school uniform, the green blazer pulling out the brilliance in his eyes. He’d cut his brown hair even shorter, almost a buzz cut, since the last time I’d seen him. I didn’t like the fact I hadn’t seen him enough to know he’d done that.
“I told you it wouldn’t work.” He handed a lump of what looked like cooled lava over to Rob. “You can’t turn iron into gold.”
“You can’t,” Rob fired back and held the lump of—whatever—in his hand. “Maybe Merle can.” He paused before regarding Clay. “And dude, you have to stop blowing off your responsibilities. Grow up. This is a job. Start treating it like one.”
Clay waved his hand, doing exactly the opposite of Rob’s instructions by blowing it off. “I didn’t ask for this gig. I was just fine as an intern until Lulu had to go and…go.”
“I’m sorry if her being traumatized over learning of Dean Carter’s death is an inconvenience for you.” I was this close to slapping the current and every future smile from his handsomely arrogant face. Poor Lulu had gone through hell. “She was sent to prison for standing up to the Council. She deserves a medal, not ridicule.”
“You know that’s not what I meant. Sheesh, Montana. Lighten up.”
I did exactly as he requested, calling my light element and setting my hands aglow. The soft white luminescence pulled his attention. He widened his eyes when he caught on to what I was about to do and didn’t get the chance to protest before I hit him with a stream of light, shorting out his powers. I’d gotten very good with my control, keeping my light focused on a single elemental instead of shorting out everyone within range.
The guys laughed as Clay slumped his shoulders. “Ah, man. Now I have to walk back to the main hall. Thanks a lot.”
“We’re actually here to see Stace.” Rob grabbed Clay’s elbow. “I’ll teleport us over there.”
“Can’t we just walk?” Leo cut in. It was no secret he hated to teleport and usually found alternatives to popping in and out, like using his own two feet.
Rob rolled his eyes. “You are such a baby.”
Leo colored to his ears and said nothing. He didn’t like to create waves and rarely went toe-to-toe with the group’s leader.
“Pop us both over,” Clay insisted. When Rob shook his head, Clay groaned as if walking across campus was the worst thing to possibly happen on a Monday morning.
No. Mornings were the worst thing to happen on a Monday.
“I’ll see you guys later. I’m grabbing coffee before 3C.” I thumbed toward the smaller dining hall across campus we all favored.
“It’s closed on account of unfortunate bomb damage,” Clay pointed out. “One of the magically enhanced air elementals blew it up when they ran out of creamer. I told Stace we needed to switch the MEs to decaf. This is the third incident in a week. She needs to have a talk with the 3C professor.”
“She is the 3C professor.” Leave it to Leo to state the obvious.
“Not after today.” Rob moved in next to me and kissed my cheek, the whiskers dusting his chin poking me. “Miss seeing you every day, Reed. Come over tonight?”
I was still processing what he’d just said. “What do you mean not after today? Did they finally find another quad to take over the class?”
“That’s what she wants to talk to us about.”
Why wouldn’t she talk to me about that? I was her TA, for crying out loud. Whoever took over the class would technically be my new boss. I deserved to know.
“Come on, Katy.” Bryan took my hand. “I’ll grab coffee with you before heading back to the lab.”
“Maybe you can have Merle show you how to turn iron into gold.” Rob grinned when Bryan flipped him off. “Let’s go, guys. Stace is waiting.” He grabbed Clay’s arm with one hand and Leo’s with the other, and teleported out. Poor Leo.
Bryan and I hadn’t even finished pumping the coffee into our cups when the guys popped back in. All three looked ready to punch a hole in the wall.
“I can’t believe they’d do this,” Rob growled. “The Council crossed the line this time.”
“This time? What about all the other times?” Clay folded his arms and jutted out his chin. “I’m not doing a damn thing to help him. Someone attacks him, I’m letting it happen. Hell, I may even help kick his ass.”
“Why take us off patrol? Why not have someone else do it?” Leo shook his head, sending his crazy blond curls into his face.
I glanced at Bryan. We both shrugged. I asked, “Guys, what’s going on? What happened in your meeting with Stace?”
Rob squared his large shoulders as he riveted a glare to me. “You’ll never guess who the new 3C professor is.”
I braced myself. “Who?”
“Spencer Dalton.”
2
“Virgil Graves is trying to rebuild the Council.” Stace flattened her hands on her gray robes, brushing out the wrinkles, her upgraded wardrobe since becoming the headmistress at the academy. It was an improvement over the black robes all professors wore. Dean Carter had dressed impeccably, never so much as a hair out of place. Stacey Layden followed suit, her long brunette hair pulled back in a tight bun, her petite slender frame appearing even smaller swimming in all that gray fabric.
“I can’t believe you’re okay with this.” I sure as hell wasn’t. Spencer Dalton had tried to kill me on multiple occasions, had partnered up with the grand poohbah of dark elementals, who’d also tried to kill me on multiple occasions, and had paired up with my mom—in every disturbing sense of the word—who’d also tried to kill me. And let’s not forget the fact he’d magically enhanced me by accident when his attempt to bind my powers backfired.
“I never said I was okay with this. I’m not okay with this, not at all.”
“Then why are you allowing it?”
“I don’t have a choice. The Council governs our world, and that includes this school. Virgil said this would go a long way in rebuilding our world and hopefully bridgin
g the gap between the two sides. That’s something I happen to agree with him on. The lines are blurred between the sides. There is no good versus evil anymore. We can’t keep up this civil war. Fighting our own kind is depleting our numbers. If we can’t find a way to coexist, we’ll annihilate ourselves.”
“That’s why they took Rob and Leo off patrol? Is the Council no longer hunting clans of dark elementals?”
“Oh, there are still those who resist the merging of the sides, but I need Rob and Leo here. Let the more experienced hunters continue to patrol for those opposed to the merge. I need the quad squad back.”
“For what? More extractions?”
“No. I need them protecting the school. Spencer being appointed to a professor and in charge of teaching new elementals how to call, control, and conceal their powers is…” She paused and lifted her gaze, searching for the right word. “Concerning.”
That was so not the word I had floating around in my brain. It started with an F and rhymed with ducked. After storming off, leaving the guys to do their guy things, I’d charged into Stace’s office to confront her over this terrible decision to trust a leecher. So far, our convo wasn’t going the way I’d hoped.
I fell into the chair on the opposite side of her giant oak desk. I’d been in this office more in the five months since she’d taken over the school than I ever had when Dean Carter sat behind that desk.
I rested my head on the back of the chair and stared at the ceiling. “How is he going to get past the wards?”
“That’s the other concerning thing. The Council wants to bring down the barrier as an act of faith.”
I shot forward. “They can’t do that!” Not only would that leave the entire student body vulnerable to attacks by dark elementals, it would extinguish the founder’s essence. Cressida Clearwater had cast a spell to become one with the academy so she could always keep watch, always protect us. Removing the barrier removed Cressida.
I couldn’t let that happen.
“Stace, listen to me. If they drop the protective wards, we’ll lose Cressida. She gave her life to protect this school. She’ll have sacrificed herself for nothing.”
“I know. That’s why I’ll fight this, but I’m only one person.”
“So was Cressida.”
She nodded and dropped her head. “I’ll speak with Virgil.”
“Thank you.” I went back to staring at the ceiling. “What do we do in the meantime? We can’t have a dark elemental teaching 3C.”
“A leecher on top of that.”
“Don’t remind me.”
Spencer definitely fit the description of the parasitic lowlife we thought had been eradicated years ago. Instead of having strong calls of their own, leechers got their powers by sucking them from others. They were elemental vampires.
“He’s always been able to move freely through the barrier.”
“That’s because he has weak-ass powers.” The barriers would have stopped anyone who’d mastered their darkness. The only thing Spencer had mastered was the ability to get under my skin in record time.
This sucked. Everything about this totally and completely sucked balls. I didn’t want to be on the same planet with the guy. Now I had to work with him. I checked the time and cringed. “Do we really have to do this?”
“If by ‘this’ you mean allow Spencer Dalton onto school grounds and to teach 3C, then yes. I fully expect you to report in with me every day after class.”
“You want me to spy.”
She smiled warmly instead of answering. Her gesture was answer enough. “You’d better get going.”
Pushing out of the chair with a groan, I debated my decision. I could tell her no, storm out in dramatic fashion, and lose the trust of my friend and mentor. Or, as much as I hated the idea, I could suck it up and do exactly as instructed.
Sometimes it sucked doing the right thing.
I was in no hurry to see Spencer again and took my time walking to the 3C building, not even trying to dodge all the rain that had rerouted midair so every last drop drenched me. By the time I stood under the protective awning over the front doors, I was soggy and dripping. My shoes sloshed as I opened the door and stepped inside.
And promptly slipped on the linoleum, my little buckle shoes no match for the wet floor. Down I went, face-first, bouncing twice before settling, sprawled out, my nose resting against the cold surface.
Well, that was graceful. And painful. Linoleum was damn hard.
The classroom fell silent aside from a few snickers. I felt a presence above me and tightened every muscle, bracing myself for a fight.
“Hello, Katy. So good of you to join us.” That buttery-rich English accent grated on my nerves. “That was quite an entrance. What do you do for an encore?”
The classroom erupted in laughter at my expense. I so, so hated Spencer Dalton. Aside from the whole trying to kill me thing. Aside from magically enhancing me with a darkness I still had trouble controlling. Even aside from him hooking up with my mom. It was his blatant arrogance I hated the most.
I rolled to my back and stared straight up. He, of course, stepped into my line of sight. To someone who didn’t know of the evil lurking just below the surface, he gave off the perfect good-boy image. The bold blue eyes. The blond hair he’d cropped short, no doubt for his first day as a professor at the academy. His robes were even wrinkle-free.
“Do you need any help getting to your feet? Or do you plan to assist me from the floor?”
Reluctantly, I pushed myself up and stepped back several feet to put space between us. I didn’t trust myself if I was within swinging distance. Once I settled in, I really got a good look at the man who’d made my life hell since the Council had imported him in from the UK to train me.
This was the first time I’d seen him since that night on the bridge, when he and his buddy Alec von Leer had revealed themselves as my mom’s partners in crime—and in other ways too, which still gave me nightmares to think about. He’d filled out more, with broader shoulders, thicker neck, and he even seemed more golden tan. It had to be fake since the sun hadn’t shined on the island for months.
If I didn’t already know how dark he was, the evil he was capable of, I’d quite possibly sway at the sight. He was true beauty, chiseled to perfection with those high cheekbones and square jaw. I stole a glance at the students and wasn’t surprised to see the front row full of doe-eyed females all completely engrossed with and focused on Spencer.
Pahleez.
The smirk twisting his arrogant face had me ready to blast him back to the depths of hell from which he came. “I see you’ve finally let your hair down. It looks quite nice.”
A compliment from this guy was worse than the most offensive insult from anyone else. I gave him a bored look and turned to face the students. “Okay, who’s ready for a demonstration?”
The students cheered. Some pounded the desks while others clapped. The class loved my demos, and I loved to give them. They were fun, broke the tension, and got them excited for the lesson. I figured with who was now running the show, they’d need a little boost.
“There will be no demonstration.” Instantly, their excitement dimmed as Spencer stepped forward, his hands up. “No training battles. No use of your powers in any way. This class is about control, something the previous professor lacked.”
Jebus, it was like he’d just taken away their birthdays and Christmases. Every last student deflated and dropped their gaze. I stepped forward. “Spencer, come on.”
“It’s Professor Dalton,” he snapped as he shot me a glare. “I trust you’ll remember your place in my classroom.”
Was he kidding me right now? I’d been the TA in this class the entire year, the prophecy for twice that, and had kicked his ass countless times. I knew my place, and it sure as hell wasn’t bowing down to the likes of him.
“Now you listen to me, you son of a bit—”
“Stand down, Reed.”
I whipped around and didn’
t know whether to be pissed Rob had cut me off or relieved he and Leo had arrived as the classroom’s security detail. I wasn’t worried about my safety. I could handle anything Spencer hurled my way. I worried about the students and whatever plan he had for them. It couldn’t be rando that he’d been appointed as the professor for the one class that taught brand-new elementals how to call, control, and conceal their powers.
Just what the hell kind of deal did he strike with Graves?
THE REST of the week went about as expected. Imagine every day being a Monday. It went a lot like that.
I sat at my desk while Bryan paced the length of my dorm room, every so often stopping to check his phone for the time. He’d drop an upper-level curse and go back to pacing.
“Would you relax?” I twirled in the chair and stared at the ceiling, wishing I was about to spend a Friday night with anyone other than Vanessa Graves and her father at a dive bar on the other side of the island. Bryan’s pacing did nothing for my anxiety. “Why are you so worked up?”
“I don’t like this.”
“You think I do? I have to share a drink with the ice queen of the academy and her father. I’m just glad you guys are coming.”
“If they ever show up.” He stopped long enough to check his phone again.
“They’ll be here.” I hoped.
A knock at the door caused us both to still and exchange glances. That’d better be one of the guys and not any number of alternatives. One knocked. The others, well, didn’t.
Bryan refused to let me answer my own door—so not the time for chivalry, dude—and insisted I stay back. Yeah, like that was going to happen. He used his massive tree trunk of an arm to keep me away as he answered the door. When we saw who it was, we both stilled again.
“Ness?” we said in unison.
Vanessa made it a huge production to storm into my room. Once inside, she struck her normal pose of a jutted-out hip, arms crossed, a look of contempt gracing her annoyingly beautiful face. “My father wanted me to come get you. For some reason, he thinks you’ll ditch the meeting.”
