by Kat Adams
“Are you sure about this?” Clay looked ready to collapse. My light call must have drained him completely. Although I hated what it’d done to him, I loved that Spencer had to be in the same condition. That should make him think twice before attacking one of my guys.
“I got this,” I reassured him with a quick nod, still not taking my gaze off Spencer. “Let’s give him one lesson. If he doesn’t impress us, we send him packing.”
Spencer spiked an eyebrow, accepting the challenge. Clay didn’t seem to notice or didn’t seem to care. He was ready to pass out and nodded, stumbling to the sideline and ungracefully falling on his ass as he took a seat to watch. With a wave of his hand, he said, “Proceed, subjects.”
I grinned. When Spencer grinned in return, I lost mine. “Why are you smiling?”
“You’ve got a tenacity about you that’s quite irresistible.”
“You’d better resist,” Clay retorted from the sidelines.
“Oh, come now. Are you worried I’ll sweep your sweetheart off her feet? Do you really have that little faith in your relationship? Perhaps you aren’t enough to keep her fancy.”
Clay pushed to his feet, staggered, and finally stilled. “What did you just say?”
Spencer shrugged easily. “I’m merely saying that if you are so concerned her attention will sway my way, perhaps you should allow it. No one wants a partner who is not one hundred percent yours, heart, body, and soul.” He swung that devil-blue gaze my way. “Oh, wait. You’re not only his, now are you? You share your affection with three others. Would that mean you’re his twenty-five percent?”
Oh, how he got under my skin. The heat of my anger bubbled inside me. Who was this asshole to judge me and my choices? Or Clay and his? “That’s it. We’re done.”
I spun to walk off when a blast of air hit me so hard, I flew back. As I stood, air twisted around me, creating a cyclone of wind, dirt, leaves, and anything else it could pick up. It wasn’t me calling the element, so it had to be Spencer.
How? How’d he still have any juice after I’d used light on him?
The wind around me moved faster until the roar of the air was deafening. It then closed in, coiling up, cutting off my oxygen. I wasn’t claustrophobic, but when the light of the day dimmed, I panicked. “Stop it!”
“You started it,” he said in way too calm of a voice that crawled across my skin. He was still a good ten feet away and yet I heard his voice as if he were trapped in the tornado with me. I tried to lift my hands and call an element—any element—but the air constricted around me like ropes, holding my arms to my sides.
I gasped to catch my breath. The wind spun faster and faster. Little dots of black floated in my vision as everything tilted in the opposite direction.
The stabbing pain in my hand came without warning, shot up my arm, and slammed into my brain. I wanted to scream, but couldn’t take a breath. I was suddenly cold, so cold, I shivered uncontrollably. In August. I dropped to my knees. Even then, Spencer didn’t pull back his call.
With every ounce of strength I had left, I called light. It exploded from me like a sonic boom in every direction, knocking over Spencer, Clay, benches, trees, and all the students clear on the other side of the training field. My call also shredded the field itself. It looked like it’d been rototilled.
I panted as I stood and took in the destruction. Shit on a rope. I was going to be in so much trouble for shorting out all the new air elementals’ calls. And destroying the training field. And getting the new shiny coin dirty.
Clay sat up, holding his head. “Shit, Montana. You have to warn me when you do that.”
I’d make it up to him later. Now, I marched up to Spencer, forcing him to his feet. “How are you able to call?”
He blinked at me, not comprehending my question. Good. Maybe he hit his head when he went down and lost his ability to speak. But then, alas, he broke his silence. “I’m an elemental.”
“No shit, Sherlock. I mean, how are you still able to call after I used light on you?”
The way he looked at me, a condescending smirk on his arrogant face, had me ready to hit him again. “Oh, Katy. There’s still so much you don’t know. I simply countered your light by pulling another element to the surface, so when you hit me, it only affected that element. If you were to ask me to call earth at the moment, I’d quite disappoint you.”
“You can do that?” Gone was my anger over him being a complete ass. How did I not know that was possible?
Clay joined us on the field. “I’ve never seen that done.”
“Teach me.”
“Teach us both,” Clay added. That would explain how I didn’t know, since my handlers from last year didn’t know.
“Are you through fighting me?” Spencer ignored Clay and kept his focus on me.
“It’s my nature to fight everyone.”
“She’s not wrong.” Clay nodded in agreement, knocking more dirt loose from his hair. “Well? What do you say?” He offered his hand.
Spencer eyed it before guardedly accepting it. “Just so we’re clear, I’m here for Katy. If you become too much of a distraction, you will leave the field. There will be no challenging my methods, or the deal is off.” He regarded me. “Is that understood?”
As much as I wanted to tell him to stick his order up his mighty fine English ass, I accepted the conditions with a nod.
7
I wanted to spend the rest of the night hiding out in my room and contemplating this deal with the blue-eyed devil known as my handler, but someone ordered pizza in Ventus commons. When I walked into the house, the delicious aroma overruled my want for isolation. Grabbing a few slices, I took a seat on one of the overstuffed chairs and devoured the food. I’d never had pizza this good and was sure it had nothing to do with the pizza and everything to do with what I’d just gone through on the training field.
Clay, freshly showered and back to his beyond-gorgeous dark hair and beard that accented his dancing emerald gaze, joined me on the giant chair and handed me another slice before digging into his own. “You looked hungry.”
I was hungry and thanked him before inhaling the food. Now full, I let out a satisfied sigh and leaned back. Clay did the same, and we adjusted in the chair until we were comfortable, me curled up to him and resting my head on his shoulder.
Now, I just wanted sleep and closed my eyes. Clay’s hand gently brushing up and down my arm soothed me into a peaceful slumber. I’d nearly dozed off completely when the shrill voice of my lovely roomie crackled in my ears.
“Where’s the one without cheese? I can’t eat the cheese.”
Reluctantly, I blinked my eyes open and pushed to a sitting position. Jess whipped around to face me, the movement sending her springy blonde ponytail swinging. Good thing she had that ridiculously huge yellow bow in her hair to keep it in place. “You ate it, didn’t you? You are doing everything to ruin my life.”
Overdramatic much? “Yes, Jess. I went out of my way, found the one pizza you wanted in that mountain of boxes, and devoured the entire thing just so you couldn’t have any. I’m a bitch like that.”
“That’s not the word I’d use to describe you.”
“On that note, I’m out.” I pushed off the chair. My hand began to ache again, or maybe it’d been throbbing this entire time, but my hunger pangs had been stronger. Either way, I just wanted to pop some ibuprofen and go to bed.
“Come on, Montana. Don’t let her get to you.”
“Sorry, Clay. I’ve already had to deal with one diva today. I don’t have the patience to deal with another.”
“Greetings, fellow air elementals.”
Speaking of divas…
Spencer walked into the room and opened his arms as if expecting us all to fall at his feet and worship the very ground he walked on. Several females jumped up and surrounded him. Several males too. I rubbed my hand as I tried to shrink into the shadows. Maybe if he didn’t see me, he’d leave me alone. I didn’t want to go another r
ound with him.
He stopped next to Jess and kissed her. Eww. It was on the mouth and everything. I shuddered. When did that start? Now my pizza threatened to resurface. “How are you, love?”
Love? Damn, he didn’t waste any time.
“The quint ate all my pizza.” Jess pouted. I turned to leave, not having the energy to come up with the level of witty, bitchy retorts required to go up against her right now.
“You call her that like it’s a bad thing,” Spencer fired back, and I froze. Did he just defend me? I turned as he went on. “She did save your life, lest we forget.”
“What would you rather I call her? She’s nothing but a dilute.”
The room gave a collective gasp like she’d just dropped the f-bomb in front of a group of nuns. Several elementals popped out of the room as if whatever she’d just said offended them so much, they couldn’t stand to stay in the same room. Those who remained stared at her, shocked into stunned silence.
Except Clay. He shot out of the chair and charged Jess. If I hadn’t shorted out his ability to call his elements earlier, she’d probably already be on fire. It took two guys holding him off and Spencer blocking his way to Jess before he stopped. “Who the hell are you to use a word like that on my girl, you bitch. Let me go. I have no problem hitting a girl in this instance. You think being a pure makes you better than her? Let me go!”
Oh shit. I didn’t know what a dilute was, what a pure was, or why it had Clay ready to beat the shit out of Jess. I whipped out my phone and texted the guys for them to get over here right away. Rob and Bryan popped in almost immediately, while Leo would take a few minutes since he’d walk from Aquae to Ventus instead of teleport.
The guys spotted Clay losing his shit and jumped in, pulling him back. “We got it,” Rob stated. He caught the way Spencer had his hands on Jess’s shoulders and handed Clay over to Bryan before regarding her. “You okay?”
She thrust out her pointy chin as Spencer squeezed her shoulders. With a quick nod, she gave him her curt answer and flipped her ponytail. “I’m thirsty.”
I’m confused. She went from whining about her pizza, to insulting me with whatever a dilute was, to now being thirsty? Clearly, the woman had already lost her mind. I just needed to be sure she didn’t lose out to the dark influences of her twin sister. I tossed a glance Bryan’s way. He had the same look of confusion twisting his expression I must have had. Clay still looked ready to cut the bitch, his face red, his muscles flexed, his hands in fists.
“Come, love. Let’s see what we can do about quenching that thirst.” Spencer led her out of the commons as I desperately tried to unhear what he just said. No way did that have anything to do with a drink. I was so going to have nightmares tonight.
Now that the show was over and the pizza gone, the commons cleared out, leaving me and the guys. Rob took a seat in the same chair Clay and I had occupied before the shit show began. Bryan sat next to Clay on the couch, staying close enough to stop him if he decided to go after Jess again.
I didn’t want to sit and chat it up. I just wanted sleep, but no way would I head up to my room. I needed to stay out of there as long as possible in case Spencer and Jess had decided to take their grossfest to her bed. Or worse, to mine. I’d never recover if I walked in on them doing whatever they planned to do to quench her thirst.
“What’s a dilute?” I asked as I broke down empty pizza boxes and stacked them.
“What?” Rob and Bryan barked at the same time. Rob immediately grew as red as Clay as he tensed. His expression hardened, and now he looked ready to cut a bitch too.
Bryan, the most levelheaded one of the group, turned to regard me from over the back of the couch. “Where’d you hear that term?”
“Jess.” Clay practically spat her name and curled his lip. “She called our girl a…that.”
Rob, the hothead of the group until Clay somehow began to morph into one himself, shot to his feet. “She did what? Where is she? I’m going to remove her ability to speak.”
Apparently, the rule about boys hitting girls didn’t apply when said girl called someone a dilute. I still didn’t know what it meant and asked, “And a dilute is?”
“An elemental with a Nelem parent,” Bryan explained.
“What’s the big deal about having a non-elemental parent?”
He sighed, like explaining this was the last thing he wanted to do. I got it. Bryan was our tie to the dark side. Most of his family had gone dark. Those who hadn’t had either died defending the family name or were marked, meaning one misstep and they were out, like Bryan. It was why he walked the line, followed the straight and narrow, and a plethora of other sayings that meant he wasn’t allowed to screw up, like, ever. “It’s an offensive term used for those with Nelems in their direct lineage. They consider that diluting the bloodline. Only pures use that term.”
It didn’t take a dictionary for me to figure out that one. “So because my dad was a Nelem, that somehow makes me weak?”
“In some’s eyes, yes.”
“The fact I beat the grand poohbah of the dark elementals means nothing?”
“It just means another dark elemental will take his place, step in to challenge you. They firmly believe the purer the lineage, the stronger the bloodline.”
That was just freakin’ peachy. There were always going to be dumbass dark elementals willing to die for the cause in the hopes they’d be the one to beat me.
“I never thought I’d ever hear it again,” Bryan muttered. “I thought we’d evolved beyond using words like that. My granddad used to say it all the time.”
“It’s a disgusting term,” Clay snarled, again surprising me. He’d lost his spark of fire. I missed my carefree air elemental.
“Hey,” I said in a cheery voice. “Why don’t we get in a training? You know, burn off all that pizza?”
Rob brought up his hands. “I’ve got a paper due.”
“I’m in the same class,” Bryan added. “Who assigns a paper due the first week of class?”
“Professor Burkhardt, that’s who.” Rob approached and kissed me on the cheek, his dark whiskers poking me. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Reed.”
“Text me when you get back from whatever adventure you and Clay are about to go on,” Bryan said with a kiss on the other cheek, his clean-shaven face and soft lips a direct contrast to Rob’s five o’clock shadow and firm mouth. “But definitely go on one. I can feel how unstable he is right now.”
“Bite me,” Clay growled at Bryan, earning a salute from the earth elemental. But he didn’t deny it.
“Hey,” I called out after them. “Text Leo and let him know he doesn’t need to walk over.”
Bryan nodded and waved as he and Rob left the house. I turned to Clay. “Ready?”
“For?”
“You’ll see. How about we practice teleporting?”
“No, Montana. I still can’t—” was all he got out before I grabbed his arm and focused on a bluff I discovered over the summer, one isolated enough, we wouldn’t be discovered. For what I had planned, we needed privacy.
It didn’t make a difference who initiated the teleport, the feeling of my insides changing positions with my outsides as we flew through the void remained constant. When we landed, I held perfectly still in case we hit too close to the cliff.
“Montana,” Clay said softly. “Don’t move.”
My heart leapt to my throat as I froze, trying not to freak out. Did I teleport into a giant beehive? Or into a pit of snakes? Did they have pits of snakes on Whidbey Island? “Why? What is it?”
“Walk toward me, nice and slow.”
Now I was freaking out. “Clay?”
“Just a few steps to your left.”
I slowly turned.
“Your other left, Montana.”
Crap. I’d always had a hard time with my right and left ever since they’d taught us to write with our right. I was left-handed, so I’d chanted the mantra that I write with my right for years before I
realized I had it wrong.
“Don’t look down.”
Why did people say that? The very first thing a person did was look down when someone said that. So of course, that was exactly what I did.
“Holy dammit.” My heart shot to my throat. I was now floating two feet past the edge of the cliff. It was a good fifty-foot drop to the jagged rocks below. The thunder of the crashing waves, like the water was somehow angry, kicked up the wind. It swirled around me, causing my hair to whip against my face.
“Take my hand.” He pulled me to him. I fell into his arms, shaking at how close I’d come to plummeting to my death. Granted, I had the ability to call air, so the likelihood of that happening was pretty small, but that reasoning didn’t stop me from shaking any less.
“Maybe we should work on your landings,” Clay offered after we moved away from the ledge. Way, waaay away.
I didn’t plan to teleport again any time soon. Once we were a safe distance away from the edge of the cliff and hidden in a small grove of trees, I dropped to my knees and worked my fingers into the dirt, the grass, and the rocks. Glorious terra firma. How I love thee. The cut on my hand throbbed, so I pulled back, rubbing it.
“Let me see that.” Clay took my hand, studying the wound and frowning. “It looks deep. Should we have Syd look at it?”
Syd Franklin, the healer assigned to the academy, was one of only a few light elementals on the island. He was a nice enough guy and would be happy to examine my hand, but I didn’t want to bother him with something as minute as a cut. He had bigger things on his plate—like healing elementals when their calls got the better of them. And, ever since he’d started dating Bryan’s mom, he didn’t have any spare time.
“I’m fine.” I slipped my hand from his. He took it back and kissed my palm. When he winked, my insides did a little shimmy.
His smile, coupled with the way he studied me knowingly, like he already knew the truth but let me believe whatever I wanted, held my attention. I stared into those endless green eyes, utterly lost, breaking the contact only when it grew too intense.
