by Kat Adams
She inhaled sharply but said nothing.
“Very well.” He returned his attention to the window. “I’ll assign you two more.”
“Air elementals. It takes too long for my MEs to do their chores. I need some who can teleport.”
“That won’t please Spencer and his leechers. Air elementals are reserved for them to feed off their powers. You continue to bring me intel on the quint and her little following” —he paused to look at her “—and I’ll give you every elemental sidekick at my disposal.”
Elemental sidekick? Was he kidding with that? As if I didn’t have enough reason to hate him.
“I know of some at Carcerem I wouldn’t mind working for me.”
“We may have to resort to releasing them if the sidekicks continue to disappear.”
“Then I’ll take four.” Vanessa stood and turned to leave.
Alec’s comment stopped her. “If you find me the quint, I’ll give you authority over them all.”
She stopped, her hand on the doorknob. Without looking back, she asked, “Isn’t that my dad’s call?”
Alec chuckled. “For now.”
18
“Elemental sidekicks?” Clay’s laugh was anything but light. He scratched his beard before doing a solid Bieber flip to send the hair off his face. “He really called them that?”
“He really called them that.” I sat at the table and rested my feet on the chair in front of me. Leo moved in behind me and rubbed my shoulders. When he hit a knot, I sighed. “That’s it. Riiiight there.”
“Rob and I were thinking of heading to the mountains to find the snow ghosts. You interested in tagging along?”
“I think we need to divide and conquer. You and Rob try to recruit the snow ghosts while Bryan and I search for Bigfoot.” Now there was a sentence I never thought I’d say.
“What about me?” Clay looked at me like I’d just taken away his birthday.
“Put that big brain of yours to good use and come up with a new way to recruit members. The webcomic is no longer an option, for obvious reasons.”
“I still can’t believe Vanessa of all people cracked our code.” Clay joined us at the table and nodded at Leo. “Do me next.”
“Not going to happen, man.” Leo moved his hands up to work out the kinks in my neck. “My hands are for her only.”
My stomach did a little jig as I warmed to his declaration. That was about as close as it got to having Leo say he loved me.
“Vanessa didn’t crack the code,” I pointed out, my toes curling when Leo hit another perfect spot. I hummed my appreciation. “MEs did.”
“I love it when you make those little noises.” Clay leaned in and kissed me. He danced his tongue along my lower lip. I sucked it into my mouth and really kissed him.
“We can’t leave you guys alone for five minutes.” Rob walked in with Bryan and rested his dark gaze on me. “I talked to Stace. She’s really upset.”
Good mood gone.
I pushed away from Clay and Leo and moved to the other side of the room. “Yeah? Well, she should be.”
“Why?” Clay asked. “What happened?”
“Oh, nothing. Only that Xye was right.”
“Which part?”
“The part about me dying to fulfill the prophecy.” A jolt of unease rocked me. I didn’t want to die, and thought back to the first time I’d been decreed the prophecy. It seemed a lifetime ago, back when I stupidly believed I could take on the world alone. I glanced at my guys. If they hadn’t been with me through it all, I never would have survived. With me not expected to survive this, how would they? “Stace knew and never told me. She’s been grooming me as a sacrifice to save our world all this time.”
Clay wore no expression as he studied me. Leo had lost all his color. Bryan wouldn’t look at me, while Rob wouldn’t look away. The truth hung between us all, weighing down the air in the room. I couldn’t lie to them, tell them I was ready to die, that this was the only way. I had to believe we controlled our own destinies, that our fates weren’t already predetermined. We weren’t just some characters in a book. We were real. This was all real. Too real. I crossed my arms and squeezed, hugging myself.
“I guess that’s it, then.” Clay’s comment drew all our attention. “We lay down our swords and tell everyone to go home.”
“What are you talking about?” I let my arms fall to my sides. “Why would we do that? These people were forced from their homes. They don’t have any homes to go to.” The more I thought about his comment, the more heated I got, and not in a good way. “No, no way. That’s a terrible idea.”
“Why? You’re destined to die, Montana. Why would anyone fight for a leader who’s willing to give up and be a sacrifice?”
“I’m not willing!” I charged him, ready to fight him and anyone else who thought that. “I will never give up. I will never stop fighting.”
“You sure about that?”
“I will never stop,” I repeated with more conviction than I’d ever felt in my life. I would never give up. Never.
Clay’s grin baffled me. Why the hell was he smiling? “There she is. Thought we lost you there for a minute.”
“You’re an asshole.” I laughed when he laughed. He was right. I couldn’t get lost in the noise. Maybe I’d die. Maybe I’d live. I refused to accept the fact my death was the only way the rest of the world could live. If it happened, it happened, but I couldn’t let fear stop me.
“Leo, you and Rob head to the mountains. Get the snow ghosts on our side. Bryan and I are going on the hunt for Bigfoot.” That sentence still sounded ridiculous.
“And I get to stay here.” Clay pretended to wave a flag. “Yay, me.”
“Katy!” Someone yelled from the ground. I rushed to the opening to see several people gathering, Serenity at the front. “You’d better get down here. We’ve got new members.”
“A lot of new members,” the alchemist to her left added.
I descended and joined them, the guys by my side. Although I tried to greet every new member and thank them for joining Sentry, I couldn’t greet them all. It was weird for Serenity to call me down to do that very thing. She’d never done that before. What made these new members so special? “Where are they?”
“Hi, Katy!”
No. It couldn’t be. Recognizing that overly enthused greeting, I whipped around to see little Trevor Carson bolting toward me, his giant owlish glasses crooked as they slid down the bridge of his nose. He didn’t slow until he crashed into me, embracing me so tight, it knocked the wind out of me.
What was he doing here?
“Trevor?” I finally got out after pulling in some air. “How did you get here?”
“I brought him.” Lulu, the mother hen of the academy who’d left after the battle that’d divided our world and resulted in the death of the dean, walked up looking as eccentric as ever. She had on an orange velvet muumuu, iridescent sandals, and a hat topped by a mini replica of her shoes, iridescence and all. Her frizzy scarlet hair seemed brighter than the last time I’d seen her. Then again, she’d been forced into an elemutus and incarcerated for months for speaking out against the Council the last time I’d seen her.
“Lulu!” I threw out my aversion to being touched and pulled her into a giant bear hug. “I thought you were in Nevada with your sister. How’d you find us?”
“Someone calling themselves the custodian gave Trevor the coordinates and told him to reach out to me. He told me what was happening at Clearwater, how those magically enhanced were forced to wait on the others. Is it really true that Virgil Graves put Alec von Leer in charge? That leechers have taken over the academy?”
“I wish it weren’t.”
“I knew that place would fall apart without me.” She waved for me to follow. “Come. There’s someone I’d like for you to meet.” I followed her over to a fallen tree I didn’t remember seeing before. As soon as I spotted the two-foot-tall yellowish-green pixie with translucent wings directing the flurry
of pixies on how to hollow out the log, I skidded to a stop. “Katy Reed, I’d like you to meet Xye.”
“We’ve met.” I continued to study the head pixie until Xye acknowledged me with a slow nod. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m unsure how to answer that.”
“You said you wouldn’t help, that this wasn’t your battle.”
“I consulted with my brethren. While the snow ghosts were hesitant to join the fight, the yetis and lava snakes were both eager to restore balance to our world.”
Our world. Xye had said our world. Progress. “You mean you recruited them for me?”
“For our world,” Xye corrected, blinking those enormous eyes.
“Thank you.” I bowed, grateful to have not only the pixies but all the legends on our side. This tipped the scale in our favor.
“Know this, prophecy. The elements are restless, unstable as we draw closer to our pivotal battle. Assure them of your intent and assure your victory. Forcing them to obey your calls will only anger them. They do not like to be used as weapons.”
That much I’d already figured out, and thanked them every chance I got when I needed to call on them to help me. “Understood. Thank you, Xye. I truly appreciate what you’ve done for our world.”
Xye nodded in return. “I’ve done my part. Now, prophecy, you must do yours.”
Please don’t let that be me winding up as the next resident of the elemental morgue.
“Katy!” Trevor’s overly exuberant shout pulled my attention. “My mom said she wants to meet you.”
“Your mom is here?” I thought she was a Nelem. Why would she be here in the grove?
“Mom! Mom!”
At least my name wasn’t the only one he shouted.
A thin woman with a mess of blonde hair and giant owlish glasses stilled as we approached. Trevor grabbed my hand and dragged me with him, pushing me in front of the woman. “Katy Reed, this is Margo Carson. She’s my mom.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” I offered my hand.
She looked at it and didn’t offer hers in return. Instead, she eyed it as if it were covered in boils or something equally as gross. “You are Katy Reed?”
“I am.” And I didn’t appreciate her cold reception thus far. I lowered my hand. “Trevor said you wanted to meet me.”
She regarded me as she spoke to her son. “Trevor, go find your friends. I want to talk to Katy alone.”
“But I haven’t seen her in forever.”
“Now, Trevor.”
“Okay,” he whined in a defeated voice and shuffled off. He stopped and turned, his expression suddenly bright. “Katy, will you be my friend?”
“We’re already friends, buddy.”
“Yes!” He punched the air and raced back over, slipping his hand in mine as he looked up at his mom. “I found my friend.”
This kid melted my heart. He was still a bit nutty in the head, but man, was he a character. I squeezed his hand before taking mine back. “I think she means she wants to talk to me without you here.”
“But…” He bounced a wide gaze between us and reached for my hand again.
Bryan stepped in. “Hey, Trevor. Remember me?”
“Hi, Bryan!”
“How about we take a walk? I can show you some cool tricks to do with your element.”
“My earth doesn’t answer my calls.”
“Then we’ll practice.”
He nodded enthusiastically. “Okay. Bye, Katy. Bye, Mom.” He waved as Bryan dragged him off.
“He’s a good kid,” I commented once they were out of earshot.
“He’s a great kid,” she corrected as her chilly demeaner seemed to cool even more. How did a kid as happy as Trevor come from a woman so prickly?
I didn’t disagree. “What did you want talk to me about?”
“I wanted to know if this is another one of your stunts to get my son sent to prison.”
“Whoa.” That escalated quickly. I brought up my hands. “I didn’t send those magically enhanced to Carcerem. I was the one who got them out.”
“Did you or did you not convince him it was a school for people like him?”
“They would have taken him regardless what I said. I told him that to make it easier on him.” And I still felt guilty about lying to him. He was quick to forgive. Clearly, his mom wasn’t.
“He was tortured because of you.”
“Whoa again. I did not torture him. Alec tortured him.”
“Because of you,” she repeated in a fierce hiss. “My son can’t sleep without a nightlight now. He wakes up screaming, begging you to save him from the ‘bad.’ How, Katy Reed? How can you possibly save him or anyone else from the bad by taking up arms against the Council? They’re the only thing holding this world together.”
Great. Someone’s been drinking the Council Kool-Aid. I wasn’t about to get into this with a complete stranger. War was ugly. It sucked balls. I got it. Everyone who’d joined Sentry got it. We were fighting for our right to live freely. That wouldn’t come easily or without a price. “Why are you really here, Margo? You didn’t come to accuse me of things neither of us can change now, and clearly, you don’t support what we’re trying to do. So why did you really come?”
Her eyes welled with tears. “I can’t lose my son. As much as I don’t agree with what you’re doing, I’m willing to stay, to fight, to protect him.”
“And what the Council is doing, forcing those elementals magically enhanced to serve pures and incarcerating those who refuse, that’s not reason to fight? Joining forces with the dark elementals? Banning witchcraft? Alchemy? Not allowing my name to be spoken in public? None of that bothers you?”
“None of that affects me,” she countered.
Un-fucking-believable. Did she really just say that? “You know what? If you truly believe that, then you’re part of the problem. I’m sorry, Margo. Trevor can stay, but you aren’t welcome here.”
“I risked everything to come here. You can’t send me away without my son.”
“Why don’t we ask Trevor what he wants?” I texted Bryan’s burner. In less than a minute, he and Trevor crested one of the rolling hills and approached. Trevor didn’t slow, practically sprinting to join us.
“Hi, Katy!”
“Hey, buddy.” I tousled his hair. “Your mom has something to ask you.”
Margo thinned her lips and thrust out her pointy chin. She definitely didn’t like being called out. Join the club. “Trevor, sweetheart, are you sure you want to stay here and fight? This is going to be very dangerous. The Council protects us. Who will keep us safe if they fall?”
“Katy,” he said matter-of-factly, as if the answer was so obvious everyone should already know.
“She’s done a pretty lousy job keeping you safe.”
“Hey!” Bitch.
“Hey!” Bryan said at the same time. I placed my hand on his arm to stop him from charging. Hell, I was close to setting her hair on fire, but I refrained. I deserved a goddamn gold star.
Trevor touched his mom’s face. “I know you’re scared. I’m scared too. I was scared when Alec and Spencer had me in that warehouse, but Katy came and saved me. I was scared on the field, but Katy came and made me feel better. I was scared at Carcerem, but Katy rescued me. She rescued all of us. Katy is light. Every time she goes up against the dark, she wins. The Council is dark. She’ll win.”
I wished I had this kid’s confidence. I recalled something Cressida had said to me long ago. Seeing is believing, and believing is seeing. I had to believe we were going to win, believe in the very depths of my being, just as I truly believed I was the prophecy destined to save our world.
“That’s right, buddy. We’ll win because we’re the good guys.”
“And good guys always win.” He grinned wide and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
Margo pushed up her glasses at the same time. “Looks like we’re staying.”
I distinctly recalled telling her to leav
e. I couldn’t risk someone not supportive of the cause giving up our position. “Uh, Margo?”
“I won’t question you again.”
Wow. Okay. Blind loyalty was cool and all, but that wasn’t how I wanted to lead our members. “How about the next time you have a question, you just ask?”
“Deal.” She even smiled for the first time as she took Trevor’s hand. “Come on, kiddo. Let’s go see how we can help. I think I saw some alchemy stations.”
“Alchemy? Cool!” He dragged her off toward the workstations in the field.
“Hey, Montana?” Clay popped in next to me, scaring the bejebus out of me.
I slapped my chest. “How are you able to teleport in here? I did it this morning and still don’t understand how. We aren’t supposed to be able to do that.”
“Au contraire, mi amore. We can teleport anywhere we want inside the magic bubble and even teleport outside the veil. We just can’t teleport back in. Believe me, I tested that theory. It’s true.”
“How’d you get back inside without a crystal?”
“It wasn’t for lack of trying. I was stuck on the outside for, like, ever until Stace came by and cut us in.”
“I didn’t notice you missing.” What did that say about me? Not noticing my boyfriend had disappeared? Another “go, me” and nomination for Girlfriend of the Year.
This time, he slapped his chest. “I’m crushed. Crushed, I tell you. I figured you were worried sick, pacing the entire magic bubble as the search party you sent looking for me combed the entire globe.”
“Overdramatic much?”
He laughed and kissed my cheek, then popped us out. Next thing I knew, we were back inside the treehouse. Only this time, my insides didn’t feel like they’d battled to exchange places with my outsides.
“I would like sex, please.” He waggled his eyebrows.
I coughed out a laugh in surprise. “Is that your version of seduction? Besides, we’re a little busy here.”
“All the more reason to take a break and get busy.”
19
Certain things in life were a given—being forced to learn something we’d never use like algebra, for example. There were also certain things in life to be expected—happiness, disappointment, the fact Clay Williams wanted sex at an inopportune time.
