by Quinn Loftis
Ender was standing in his blue uniform, looking like a cop. Colt gave the impression of some sort of heavenly enforcer in his white outfit. Tara was very glad that she hadn’t ended up in white. She had a feeling they’d end up rolling around in dirt before the day was over.
Zuri clapped her hands, and a smile that Tara could only describe as sadistic slipped across her face. “All right, first things first. I don’t care how powerful you think you are. Battles are not won by power alone. And there is always, always someone or something out there more powerful than you. You may not like it, but one day, when you meet the opponent you cannot defeat, you might have to run. And that means you have to be in excellent physical condition. Every day, we will begin our training with a run and then a boot-camp-style workout.”
Tara’s lips turned up as she watched Gabby’s face bloom into a grin as she bounced on the balls of her feet. Gabby rolled her head side to side and shook out her hands as if she was getting ready for a fight. The obvious excitement in the other girl made Tara want to laugh. She didn’t share her new friend’s enthusiasm. To Tara, running seemed like something a person should only do if they were being chased by a serial killer … or if there was a soccer ball to be kicked. Then again, she could pretend she was chasing a soccer ball with Liam’s face on it. That might speed her up. Unlike the running, boot camp sounded intriguing, and she looked forward to it.
“I’ll be the lead,” Zuri said as she turned and motioned behind her. “Students follow, and then the other profs will pull up the rear. There will be other groups running, too. Do not get separated.” Without another word, she took off at a brisk pace.
Tara fell into step beside Gabby. They ran in silence for a while. Tara was simply trying to make sure she could maintain the pace. It was clear from the outset this wasn’t going to be a light jog.
Pretty soon, she and Gabby were panting too hard to speak, and Tara focused on keeping up with Zuri.
Tara tried to think about other things besides the fact that her side was killing her. Her legs felt like concrete blocks attached to her body. She looked around the forest they were running through and found it interesting that the forest was actually inside the huge mountain housing Terra Academy. She wondered how they made a forest grow inside the earth with no sunlight. Then she wanted to smack herself because, duh, they were earth elementalists. Of course, they could make a forest grow regardless of the location.
After about a half-hour, Tara felt a cool rush of air hit her face.
“Thank you, Colt,” Gabby called out to the male who was at least twenty feet in front of them.”
“What was that?” Tara panted.
“That was our friendly neighborhood air elementalist giving us a little shout out.”
On the tail end of that sentence, there was another blast of cool air. Inside of it was a misting of water.
“Now y’all are just showing off,” Gabby hollered.
“Was that both Ender and Colt?” Tara asked.
“Yeah, and honestly I don’t think they were showing off. They were actually being nice, considering they’re trying to cool us while we run.” Gabby was glistening with sweat but still managed to look badass rather than worn out. Tara hoped she looked more Lara Croft and less like a sloppy, out-of-shape chick because, despite her soccer conditioning, the instructors were putting her and the other students to shame.
“Finally,” she huffed when Zuri came to a stop. All four of the students slumped over, their hands resting on their knees as they panted and sucked air.
“Good news,” Zuri said. “This day will be the worst. It only gets better from here.”
“You really shouldn’t lie to them,” Professor Frost said with a slight chuckle.
Tara did not miss the fact that none of the professors were winded in the least.
Professor Frost had a slight glow to her pale cheeks, and her dark brown hair that had been pulled back into a ponytail had some flyaways. But other than that, she didn’t look like someone who’d been running for half an hour.
Professor Briggs stood with his hands resting on his hips, observing them. He had short, black hair with brown eyes and a chiseled jaw. He wasn’t conventionally handsome, but the angles of his face made him interesting to look at. And his obvious confidence was compelling.
Professor King looked as angelic as his student Colt. In his white military-style uniform and blond hair and blue eyes, Tara was just waiting for the wings to sprout out of his back. He was probably just shy of six feet tall and lean. Just like Professor Briggs, he looked as if he worked out on a very regular basis.
But, Tara thought, regardless of how in shape those three appeared, Zuri still looked like she could take them all on single-handedly.
“All right, give me twenty-five burpees,” Zuri suddenly yelled. “This is a burpee, for those of you who might think it’s a burp with a whee sound at the end. It’s not,” she said dryly and then showed them a workout that had them jumping down into a plank and then back up to their feet with another jump. Tara had done plenty of burpees in her soccer career. They were her archnemesis.
“After that, each professor will show you another workout. You will do twenty-five reps of each, and you will do three rounds of all of the workouts.”
Gabby held out a fist to Tara. “Let’s make a deal that if either of us goes into cardiac arrest, we will not tell a soul.”
“Unless we die,” Tara said. “Then we are sort of obligated to tell someone.”
“Fair enough.”
Tara bumped the other girl’s fist with her own, and they both started their burpees. Yep, she still hated them. It was good to know some things stayed the same in her ever-changing world.
Elias was flung back into a tree for the fifth time. The breath was knocked from his lungs, and he fell forward and tried to suck air in.
“We can do this all day if we need to,” Jax growled as he motioned toward Aston.
Elias glanced up and saw his air elemental friend raise his hand. As soon as his friend's mouth began to move, Elias slammed his fist into the ground, causing it to buckle and ripple. Aston couldn’t back up quickly enough, and he ended up on his back staring up at the sky a second later.
“You have to focus,” Professor Warren, the Hydro Academy teacher said. Her voice was laced with the frustration Elias felt.
“I am,” Elias snapped. He wouldn’t normally speak so sharply to a professor, but he was so agitated. It felt like someone was running his nails across a chalkboard. His muscles were tight, and his lungs wouldn’t expand fully, despite the fact he wasn’t exerting a lot of physical energy.
“Then why do you keep getting caught by surprise?” she asked.
He wanted to scream that he didn’t know, but that would be a lie. Elias knew exactly why he was getting caught by surprise. He was distracted and didn’t want to admit it because it felt like he was revealing a weakness. Was that what Tara was? A weakness? No. The soul bonded made each other stronger. It was a good thing, a blessing. It would only become a weakness if he allowed it to.
Elias forced himself to relax and reminded himself that Tara was with Zuri, who would protect Tara with her life.
“You good?” Liam asked quietly as he stepped up beside him.
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“Ready to show these profs what we’ve been doing for the past two years?” Liam’s smirk was contagious.
Elias chuckled. “Aston,” he called out. His friend brushed himself off from where Elias had knocked him on his arse.
“Yep,” Aston hollered and raised his hand as if to say he was ready.
Elias looked at Professor Warren and narrowed his eyes. “This might hurt, just a little.”
Elias began to murmur under his breath as he chanted the words that would pull the magic from the trees and earth around him. Dirt rose from the ground, and he knew Aston had his own hands raised to use the wind to spin the dirt into a whirling tornado. Next to him, Liam gestured and ca
lled the moisture in the air. The temperature dropped, and Elias knew Aston was making it colder.
“Focus it,” Elias growled as he turned his attention toward the four professors. He noted that Jax had stepped to the side, away from the others. Damn Jax’s prejudice, after he’d given his speech about students not acting that way.
Elias turned his attention back to the mock battle. The cyclone of dirt and freezing air mixed with ice sharp enough to cut skin began moving toward the professors. The trio could have sent it flying toward the professors at a speed they wouldn’t have been prepared for, but the students weren’t trying to mortally injure their instructors. They were just demonstrating what they could do with their combined power.
Elias realized the professors weren’t sure what to do so he shouted, “Hart, Warren, combine your power and throw up a shield. NOW!” He hoped they’d forgive the lack of formality considering he was saving their asses.
The two professors raised their hands, and an instant later, there was a sheet of ice in front of all the professors.
Elias looked at Ace. “This is where you come in.”
Ace understood immediately. He raised his hand and said, “Sol.” A stream of fire burst forth and hit the wall of ice. A minute later it was a puddle on the ground, and the professors were once again vulnerable.
Professor Hart shouted, “Imperium ventus,” and a mighty gust of wind hit Elias and the others so hard they lost their concentration and flew back several feet. Elias slammed into a tree while the others rolled back up on to their feet.
“Stop,” Jax yelled.
Oh, now he decides to jump in. Elias forced himself to his feet. Liam, Aston, and Ace walked toward the professors, who were staring at them with wide eyes.
“You have been working together for some time,” Professor Bernhardt, the Crimson Academy trainer said. “You used your powers seamlessly.”
“Ace hasn’t been working with us,” Elias said as he turned to the fire elementalist. “You did well.”
“Thanks,” Ace said. “That was wicked, what you guys did.”
“I’ve told you for two years, Jax, that we are stronger together,” Elias said, giving him a pointed look.
Jax simply stared at him, his jaw clenching and unclenching.
“What else can you do as a team?” Professor Warren asked.
Without a word, Elias held out his hand, and a branch from a tree snapped and flew into his open palm. He grasped it and swung it toward Ace. “Light it up,” Elias shouted.
Ace threw a ball of fire at it, and the limb was suddenly ablaze.
Elias then looked at Aston, and the air elementalist focused his hand at the branch. The burning limb flew through the air, straight for Professor Warren. The woman moved quickly as a blast of water shot out of her hand and hit the branch a few seconds before it would have connected with her.
Meanwhile, Elias had already begun his next attack. He called the earth and rolled the dirt into a massive ball, much like a snowball. It rolled directly toward the professors. When it was less than a foot away, Aston hit it with a blast of air, causing it to explode. The dirt particles hit them with such force that when it cleared, Elias could see the professors had cuts all over their exposed flesh.
“All right, so you’ve got offensive tactics down. What about defensive?” Jax asked. He didn’t request help from the other professors. Nor did Jax give the students time to respond. He threw out his hand, and a wall of sticks rushed toward the four males like bullets. Elias heard Professor Hart speak and knew the professor was using his air power to make the trajectories move faster. Bet Jax loves that. At least the professors, other than Jax, were catching on to how their powers could work together.
Liam reacted first as he raised his arms wide and then slammed his hands together. A loud whooshing sound preceded a huge wall of water materializing between them and sticks headed their way to impale them.
The water slowed the sticks enough that they bounced harmlessly off the students. As soon as the wall of water fell, Professor Bernhardt spoke in a language Elias recognized as that of the elementals: a mixture of Latin and a language he didn’t know at all. The fire flowing from his hands took shape into a huge dragon. The beast took flight and shot into the air, only to then turn and drop straight toward them.
Liam held his hands out over the earth as he looked over at Elias and nodded.
Elias placed his hands on the ground and said, “Terra patentibus.” Suddenly, a huge sinkhole appeared and water began to fill it up, rising from the bottom until the huge hole was practically a small pond. Aston focused his attention on the dragon dive-bombing them and used his power over the wind to guide the missile straight into the water.
Then Liam made the water rise from the pond until single drops filled the air. Aston blew out a breath that turned the water into ice, and then Liam made the droplets merge until they were huge pieces of hail. He and Aston focused them on the instructors, and Elias yelled, “Ace, focus your power to funnel into Liam and Aston, direct it to them.” Elias pictured his power from the earth rising up from the ground beneath Liam and Aston’s feet, pushing it up into them so they could draw on it. The hail soared through the air so fast that had professor Bernhardt not responded so quickly, they would have been impaled with hail.
Jax walked over to a tree behind him. Elias wasn’t surprised that the professor found a three-inch dent in the bark where the hail had hit it with such force.
Elias heard an outburst of applause. He looked around for the first time and realized a crowd had gathered. He felt a pull to his left and turned. Tara stood there clapping with a big grin on her face.
Jax stepped forward and held his hand up to get everyone to quiet down. But he wasn’t the one who spoke.
Zuri practically stomped over and glared at Jax while addressing the whole group. “Now you see why it is so important that we learn to use our powers together. We are much stronger when we are united.” She turned to Elias, Liam, Ace, and Aston and said, “Nice work, you four.” She looked straight at Elias and added, “Just imagine what you will be capable of when you use your powers with her.” She emphasized the last word, and he knew she was implying Tara. “Now, let’s take a lunch break and then reconvene. Next up will be hand-to-hand combat combined with the use of our magic abilities.”
There were excited murmurs as everyone headed toward the doors leading to the dining hall.
Tara walked over with her grin still in place. “That was amazing.”
“It was nothing,” Elias said, proud that she was so impressed with him.
“This was child's play,” Liam said as he walked—well, more like strutted—over. “Just wait until we have Ra back with us. No offense, Ace,” he said as he glanced at the fire elementalist.
“None taken,” Ace said. “I’m guessing the four of you have been hanging together for quite some time?”
Liam nodded. “Once you’ve worked with another person's magic frequently, it begins to recognize theirs and responds instinctively. It’s a little harder with you simply because our magic doesn’t recognize yours,” Aston explained.
“Do the instructors know that?” Tara asked. “It seems like important information.”
Elias agreed. They needed to pass it along. “We’ll tell Zuri and Jax. They can tell the other profs.”
“Hey, T.” The same redheaded girl with ripped-up pants from earlier came bounding over. Gabby.
“Can I eat with you?” Gabby asked Tara.
“For sure,” Tara answered.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop the train. Who is this hotness?” Liam asked as he winked at Gabby. His lips turned up in a crooked smile. Elias rolled his eyes.
“Here we go,” Elias said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“This hotness is Gabby,” the redhead answered. “Who are you?”
“I’m whoever you want me to be,” Liam chided.
Gabby pulled a sucker from her pocket, unwrapped it, and stuck it
in her mouth.
“Another one?” Elias asked.
“She has a thing for suckers,” Tara murmured to him.
“Ahh,” he said.
“In that case,” Gabby said, “I want you to be the guy who quits yapping so we can go get something to eat. I’m starving.”
Aston chuckled and Elias couldn’t help but smile. Liam’s jaw dropped open. He wasn’t used to being shot down. Elias wasn’t attracted to men in any way, but he had no problem admitting that Liam was a good-looking guy. Girls loved to gain his attention and found his flirting attractive. He obviously didn’t know how to respond to Gabby, who had already turned and started skipping toward the school.
“What happened to her clothes?” Aston asked
“She ripped the bottom of the shirt and the collar,” Tara said. “And used a knife to slice her cargos.”
Elias had been surprised when he’d seen the girl’s shirt showing glimpses of her stomach as well as the exposed shoulder where it hung off the right side. The cuts in her cargo pants weren’t shocking until she turned around. Then he’d seen that she had slashes under each side of the seat of her pants. Not high enough to show her butt cheek but high enough to make someone curious. Elias hadn’t been interested and still wasn’t. Tara had all his attention and attraction. Liam, however, was practically drooling.
They followed Gabby, and Elias glanced over at his water elementalist friend. His eyes were narrowed and firmly settled on the redhead.
“Liam?” Elias said.
“Yep,” he said, never taking his eyes off of Gabby.
“You good?”
“I’m excellent.” The words were snapped out and incongruent with his intense look.
“He’s not excellent,” Tara whispered.
Elias wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. He’d missed her in just the short amount of time they’d been apart. “No, love, he isn’t,” Elias agreed.
“He’s gone into hunting mode,” Aston said just as quietly.
“What’s hunting mode?” Tara sounded like she wasn’t sure she really wanted to know.
