Rage of Storms

by Kat Adams

  “Wow, you waited almost ten minutes before your first sexual reference of the day. I’m impressed at your self-control.”

  “I am too.” He pulled me into the stands and squeezed us in next to Amanda, an air elemental I met last year when she’d helped me check the wards before Alec had attacked. Clay slapped his thighs to whatever beat he had going in his head. How did he have this much energy after we’d been up most of the night? I had to concentrate just to open my eyes after blinking.

  “What do you suppose the emergency will be this time? Making curfew earlier? Like that’d matter since most of us don’t bother following it anyways. Oh, maybe another one of Stephens’s hangnails. That turned out so well last time.”

  “And why on a weekend?” I added.

  “Probably something to do with the fact the dude they imported to train you turned out to be dark. Talk about a lapse in judgment. You warned them, and they ignored you. That’s got to sting.”

  I fanned my face to create a breeze. It was the end of August, after all. Why didn’t they think to cover the bleachers? Those of us pigment-challenged like every ginger on the planet couldn’t be in the direct sunlight for too long before burning several layers of skin.

  “Here, let me help you with that.” Clay called his primary. A gentle breeze washed over me, cooling me. I sighed in relief. “You know, with your talent to blend your calls, you could create your own AC with a little water and air.” He snapped his fingers as his expression lit up. “Hey, you should totally do that and charge to cool down the dorms. They’re like saunas right now. You’d think the academy would spring for AC.”

  “We’d only use it two months out of the year, if that.”

  “That’s two months I wouldn’t have to sweat my balls off waiting for fall to hit.”

  I curled my lip at his description. “You’re disgusting.”

  He laughed and planted a sloppy wet kiss on my cheek, forcing me to wipe at the residue with the back of my hand.

  The crowd of students settled as the professors of Clearwater Academy took to the field in a single file of black-robed elementals, the headmaster at the helm. No one smiled. No one looked up into the stands. They all just stared straight ahead as they marched to the center of the arena, formed a circle, and faced out toward the students.

  Dean Carter stepped forward. It surprised me to see him standing alone. Lulu was usually by his side. Then again, she wasn’t faculty, so that had to be it. I glanced around the stands.

  “Where’s Lulu?”

  Clay searched the stands as well. “I don’t see her.”

  “If I can have everyone’s attention.” The headmaster’s voice carried across the entire field. I still wanted to know how they did that without a microphone. It had to be some form of magic, which meant Dean Carter was a wizard on top of the headmaster for the academy. How very cool. “There have been a few things that’ve happened already this school year requiring Council intervention. The attack on one of our professors. The infiltration of a dark elemental into these hallowed grounds. The dark magic Spencer Dalton used to fool us all.”

  Not all of us. I kept my comment to myself.

  “The dark elementals have grown in number and strength due to unnatural events. There are some among you who have been magically enhanced, throwing off the balance of our powers.”

  The crowd stirred while Clay and I exchanged nervous glances. Did they know about me?

  “The Council’s patrols aren’t enough. We don’t know which of you have been enhanced. You don’t know if you’ve been enhanced either. Because of that, we will be putting each and every one of you through another tribunal. No student shall leave the academy until they’ve been tested.”

  Everyone erupted in protests. Well, not everyone. I was too stunned to speak. If I went through tribunal again, they’d discover the dark element inside me, courtesy of Spencer and his awesome spell that had backfired when he tried to bind my powers. While I didn’t tap in to the element he’d forced into me unless absolutely necessary, technically, I fell under the title of magically enhanced.

  Dean Carter brought up his hands to quiet us down. “It is my duty as headmaster of this academy to keep you all safe. This is necessary to do that. Now, there are too many of you for Professor Layden to test, and we need her focused on teaching 3C, so we’ve brought in members of the Council to run the tribunals.”

  Several men and women in black popped in, joining the faculty. I recognized Brenda, the extractionist beyatch, as she held the elbow of Brooks, aka Hulk, when they popped in next to Professor Fowler, the rotund shop instructor and my first faculty advisor. She remained there while Brooks moved next to Stace.

  Once one or more members of the Council settled next to a professor, the headmaster went on. “As you all have heard by now, Samantha Reed has defied all odds. She didn’t die fulfilling the prophecy as originally assumed and has returned to us.”

  The heat of everyone’s stares burned into the back of my neck and slapped my cheeks as several students turned in their seats to look at me. I drew in a deep breath and kept my focus on the circle of faculty dead center of the field.

  Clay reached over and rested his hand over mine, pushing his control to me. I drew in another breath and nodded my thanks.

  “She has agreed to resume her role as prophecy and protect our world.”

  “What?” My outburst drew even more stares. I didn’t care. My mom just dethroned me even after she told me she wouldn’t.

  No, I had to have heard that wrong.

  “Apparently, your mom is the prophecy now,” Clay stated.

  Nope. I heard it exactly right.

  “Does that mean I have to give back the crown I got from Burger King?”

  I ignored his attempt to lighten the mood. “She told me she wasn’t going to take it from me.”

  “Maybe she didn’t have a choice.”

  Before I could respond to that, my mom popped into the center of the faculty circle dressed in a one-piece Cat Woman suit, her chestnut hair pulled back in a tight French braid. She scanned the stands. When she found me, she offered a smile I didn’t return. Hers wilted as a result.

  Yes, Mom. I’m pissed.

  “Hey, is that Rob?” Clay pointed at a large-shouldered brunet I knew all too well. I knew his square whiskered chin, his dark eyes that were probably shadowed by his brooding brow, but it was too hard to tell from this far away. I knew his scent, his taste. I knew how much passion he had in him and how he pulled it out of me whenever we were together.

  “He looks weird without the red blazer,” Clay went on. “Black really isn’t his color, considering everything else with him is black. His hair. His eyes. His soul.”

  It didn’t surprise me that he’d be one of the Council members to test students considering a week ago, he was a student. I hated seeing him in that black suit, but he had a uniform to wear, which sucked. I always equated those fancy black suits with pain and devastation after my dad had told me about my mom leaving while he sported his fancy black suit.

  “We’ll start with the first years,” Dean Carter announced. “The rest of you in 3C, Professor Layden would like to meet you in the classroom. For you others, you are required to stay and observe. First years, please join us on the field.”

  Holy fartnarker. They made the others stick around to watch the first years get tortured twice in less than a month? Talk about sadistic. I stood and turned to storm off. No way was I going to stay and watch. Clay grabbed my hand and popped us out, landing us in front of the 3C building. “Why did you drop us here?”

  “You’re in 3C. Besides, I figured Professor Layden might have a thing or two to say about what’s going on and, since I’m not in 3C, I won’t know what she has to say until you tell me.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Take Rocky for a walk.”

  Rocky, the rock he’d brought back from Montana, had been deemed our first pet together. It was a big step for us, raising
a rock together. He’d even glued googly eyes on it. I hated how much I loved the stupid thing.

  More students teleported out, popping in at random locations on the school grounds. I wondered what would happen if two different elementals tried to land at the same location at the same time. Would they collide? Would their bodies merge and turn them into a hideous two-headed monster? Would neither of them win the spot and they’d both be stuck in the void in perpetuity?

  Images of the void from my nightmare consumed my thoughts as I said my good-byes to Clay and waited in the 3C building for Stace. Some students began shuffling in and taking their seats. One key seat remained empty. Trevor Carson—the little skinny blond with wide brown eyes behind huge owlish glasses—was still in the infirmary recovering from Alec torturing him. Once he recovered, he got the reward of going through another tribunal one week after going through his first. The kid bugged me, I wasn’t going to lie, but he didn’t deserve the universe taking a dump on him like this. I’d talk to Stace and see if he could get a pass. He wasn’t dark. Alec and Spencer didn’t turn him by torturing him. He didn’t need to be retested.

  The class was only about one-tenth full by the time the professor walked in. Most of the students in 3C were first years, so I didn’t expect more. My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out to check the text. My heart hammered when I saw who’d sent it.

  The academy’s healer, Syd Franklin. Need you on a call. Come to the infirmary. Holy crap. My first call as a healer. Well, interning as a healer, but still. Close enough.

  “Professor?” I held up my phone. “Syd needs me.”

  “Go ahead. I’ll manage without you.” She smiled warmly, her default gesture when she regarded me.

  “Thanks.” I hurried to the other side of campus, beyond the main hall, the small dining hall, and finally made it to the infirmary. I was out of breath by the time I found Syd in his office gathering things and putting them into a very Nelem-looking black doctor bag, the leather cracked and worn.

  I had no idea elemental healers used them and nodded at the sad bag. “I thought those were only on TV.”

  “They’re extremely convenient and have loads of room.” He grabbed it by the handle and thrust it into my arms. “This one is yours.” He then reached down behind his desk and pulled out a slightly larger black doctor bag, this one shiny and unblemished. “I’ve been dying to try out this new bag Rose got me.”

  I had a doctor’s bag. Me. I felt so official now and damn proud at my first step at mastering the whole adulting thing. Holding the bag with both hands—it was heavier than it looked—I waited for his instruction, having no clue what a day in the life of a healer was like. Did I rush to the scene and yell out commands like stat or code blue? Maybe I should just wait for Syd to tell me. “Where’s the call?”

  “We’re heading to the field,” he explained as he led me out of his office, through the waiting room, and out the double doors of the infirmary.

  I hurried to keep up. For someone only a few inches taller than me, he was deceptively fast. “Why the field? Did something happen?”

  “No, but Dean Carter wants healers there in case something does. There will be healers posted to every side of the field. We won’t be the only ones there.”

  Made sense, I guess. Although they didn’t have healers on the sidelines during normal tribunals, these weren’t normal. I couldn’t help but think the reason the Council had been brought in to run the tribunals had something to do with the way they planned to test the students. Stace tested them to discover their primary and how many other elements they could call. The Council planned to test them to uncover who had dark magic forcing the elements to answer their call.

  “Now, when we get to the field, it’s important for you to stay on the sidelines. Most—well, in fact, all until you, should you decide to be a healer when all is said and done—are singles. We only have the power to control light. As you know, calling light around other elementals weakens them, shorts out their powers, if you will. Therefore, healers won’t be allowed onto the field until we’re signaled. It’s for our own safety.”

  Again, made sense. I nodded and continued to practically jog to keep up with him. By the time we got to the field, a dozen tribunals had already begun. I slowed at the sight. Council members battled terrified first years. Fireballs flew. Waves of water crashed down. Roots sprang up from the ground. Airfields popped up left and right. It was chaos. I couldn’t keep track of who did what. Screams from students periodically filled the air. There was crying. More screams.

  My stomach flipped as a Council member used a giant root to knock a student to the ground, and the student didn’t get back up. I braced myself to run in and help him.

  Syd brought up his hand. “Not unless they call for us.”

  “But he’s hurt.”

  “No, Katy. We are not to enter the field unless they wave us on. Is that understood?” He studied me from above his rimless glasses, his expression hard, his stare intense. I’d never seen him so stern. I nodded and stood down.

  A white flag shot up, along with a piercing whistle that caused my ears to ring. “What’s that?”

  “That’s the call for a healer. It’s on our side.” He held me back when I took a step forward. “Not until the battles come to a stop.” He waited until every tribunal paused. I didn’t know how he stayed so calm. I shook in eager anticipation to get out and help the poor kid needing light to not die. Syd finally nodded. “Now we can go. Come on.”

  We hurried onto the field to where a tall thin man with a terrible thinning comb-over held the flag high in the air. He spotted us and lowered the flag before nodding at the kid lying motionless on the ground. As if we needed directions.

  The man wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I think he’s one of them.”

  “One of what?” I asked and knelt next to the kid. He was flat on his back, barely breathing, and had turned blue around the lips as if he couldn’t pull in any air. I recognized the signs and whipped around to the Council member. “Did you use a forbidden call on him?”

  “What’s it to you?”

  Was he kidding with that question?

  “Katy, focus here. Use light, gently at first. Gauge how he reacts. Only increase your call if he’s nonresponsive.” Syd placed my hands on the kid’s chest. As soon as I touched him, his elements reached for me, begging me to heal them. He didn’t need light. He needed his primary. His water call was stronger than any of the others, so I pushed water to him. The element came up from the ground and elevated the young elemental on an aquatic bed.

  “What are you doing?” the Council member asked. When I didn’t answer, he regarded Syd. “What the hell is she doing, healer?”

  “I, uh… Katy?”

  “She’s healing him using his primary instead of shorting out his powers using light.” Rob appeared, his dark hair wet with sweat. He’d ditched the black blazer—thank God—and had his sleeves rolled up as far as comfortably possible, revealing golden skin covering his muscled arms. “She did the same thing to me. It’s something Stace taught her.”

  “Layden?” The Council member made a face and shook his head, knocking some of his comb-over loose. “That woman wouldn’t know her—”

  “Be very careful what you say next,” I interrupted, one hand now squared in on him while the other remained on the kid. “I will remove your ability to speak, call any element, and quite possibly any chance of you reproducing if you say the wrong thing.”

  He brought up his hands and stepped back. I glanced at Rob, who kicked his lips up into a grin. I love you, he mouthed. It was either that or olive juice. I went with my first choice.

  The kid blinked his eyes open and looked around, holding his head. “What happened?”

  Mr. Personality happened. I kept my comment to myself and instead said, “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I have a sunburn.” He rubbed his chest. “And a really bad cold. I couldn’t breathe.”

  I glar
ed at the Council member. “He’s water.”

  “How was I supposed to know he couldn’t handle a little fire?”

  I motioned at the blue blazer on the student. “First clue, asshat. He lives in Aquae.”

  “Katy,” Syd warned. “It’s not our job to question the Council.”

  Wanna bet? Saying something like that to me was only going to make me want to do it more. I helped the kid to his feet. When our hands touched, my palm immediately began to pulse. I didn’t have to see it to know it glowed. Something inside him beckoned to the darkness inside me, luring it to the surface like a siren song.

  And I knew.

  The Council member was right.

  This kid was an enhanced elemental. I looked to Syd, who didn’t seem to pick up what I’d just picked up. I then turned to Rob, who picked up on it right away and dropped his shoulders, shaking his head. I didn’t even bother regarding the Council member, refusing to give him the satisfaction of being right.

  After learning what would happen to an enhanced elemental once they’d been discovered, I wanted to scream for him to run away. Teleport out. Anything to disappear before the Council took him and locked him away for a crime he didn’t commit. This was wrong on so many levels. He was just an innocent kid.

  “You’re going to be okay,” I said and looked him right in the eye, lying through my emotionless expression. As a healer, I had to detach myself, or I’d wind up attached to every one of my patients, which wouldn’t be good. This one was being taken to Carcerem, not permanently, but at least for now. I couldn’t let his future dictate my reaction.

  He searched mine with wide eyes full of fear and uncertainty. “Did I pass?”

  I had to turn away, unable to tell the kid the truth. I then regarded the Council member, who said in a gruff tone, “Yeah, kid. You definitely passed.”

  5

  “I got in trouble for not using light, if you can believe it.” I fell into the chair next to Leo, wanting to hang with my low-key water elemental over my flighty air elemental. I needed the downtime Leo brought. His blue blazer hung across the back of the chair, leaving him in his white dress shirt rolled up at the sleeves. He’d unbuttoned it a few, revealing a hint of his modest chest hair. It was a simple yet beautiful sight. He brought up his arm so I could lean in and rest my head against his shoulder.