by Kat Adams
“That’s quite enough.”
“It most certainly is.” She teleported out of the room with a loud pop. The tension in the room made it hard to breathe.
“Dean Carter,” Stephens said. “You may proceed.” He paused as he took a step to leave. “Keep her with this handler. It’ll be good for her to train with someone who won’t take it easy on her.”
“Oh, trust me,” Spencer growled under his breath. “I promise you, I won’t.”
12
I’d successfully avoided Bryan all day, embarrassed how I left things last night, and now dreaded lessons. Today was earth, which meant he’d be on the field babysitting me and watching Spencer like a hawk since no one else in the group could control the element except for us. Considering the cowardly way I’d ditched him to sort shit out in my head, and the fact he hadn’t so much as texted me today to make sure I wasn’t lying dead in a ditch somewhere, he wasn’t happy about it.
So when I spotted Leo walking toward me on the training field, my guard shot up. Thursdays were water. He wasn’t even supposed to be on the field on a Wednesday. “What are you doing here?” I asked when he was close enough.
“Another extraction.” That explained why Clay wasn’t in Primary. The sun hit Leo’s crazy blond hair just right, giving it the appearance of a golden halo. He didn’t have on his usual blue blazer, but that didn’t limit the brilliance of his blue eyes. “Because Rob can call water, I volunteered to stay behind so you didn’t have to be alone.”
“I’m not alone,” I pointed out through clenched teeth. “I’m with my handler. A handler I can handle. Besides, today is earth, an element you can’t control.”
He glanced around the field, at all the earth elementals working with their handlers. “We need Bryan on the extraction in case the new elemental calls earth. I’m the only one of the group besides Rob who has anything in common with this element. Since he’s still mad about the way lessons went yesterday, I figured it’d be better if I came.”
“You know, you guys don’t have to come to my trainings.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” The man of the hour and his haughty accent had arrived. Spencer gave Leo a disdainful look, like the water elemental didn’t have the right to even breathe in the same air space. He removed his yellow blazer and tossed it aside. “You’re not the earth boyfriend.”
“Water.”
“I’m afraid you have your days mixed up. Tomorrow is water. You’re a day early.”
“No,” he fired back and crossed his arms. Wow, even my calm water elemental challenged this guy. “I don’t think I am.”
“Suit yourself.” He regarded me, clearly annoyed as he rolled up his sleeves in quick, jerky movements. “Well, prophecy, what should we work on today?”
“How to make magic fog?” I smiled sweetly.
“I already told you, we need your earth boyfriend for that. For the second day in a row, you’ve brought me the wrong one. No earth boyfriend, no magic fog.”
“Babe, what’s he talking about?” Leo stepped closer to me.
Only Clay knew about Spencer’s request to have Bryan involved in the making of the fog. Not even Bryan knew. Until I understood why Spencer needed my earth elemental, I had no intention of granting the request.
“Let’s start with a few simple calls.” Spencer ignored Leo and focused on me. “First, I want you to call the air from my lungs.”
I dropped my jaw and exchanged rounded looks with Leo. “You can’t be serious.”
“That’s a forbidden call,” Leo pointed out.
“As are the others I plan to use today.”
“No way,” I said with a shake of my head, sending my red hair into my eyes. I pushed it off my face and tucked it behind my ears. “I’m not about to use a forbidden call, not even in training.”
“Do you think the dark elementals are scared of a call, forbidden or not? If I recall the details, didn’t you use a forbidden call to freeze the blood in Alec’s hand before shattering it?”
How’d he know that? “Who told you?”
He gave me a look I wanted to smack off his stupid face. “Who do you think? There’s a lot one can learn from a little pillow talk.”
I gasped, outraged. “You’re using Jess to get dirt on me?”
“Of course, you’d turn this into something about you.”
Because it was something about me. “If you want to know something about me, ask me, not Jess.”
Spencer spiked an eyebrow, and I began to shiver. Hard. It was like I’d just been submerged into the icy depths of the deepest water. I tried calling fire to counter but was already too cold. A thin layer of ice settled on my body as I was literally freezing to death. I couldn’t move and pleaded with my eyes. Leo jumped in and grabbed my hands, immediately calling his element and pushing it to me. It responded by battling the forbidden call attacking me from the inside, warming me enough for me to take over the control and order the water to heat. It obeyed and warmed me enough to free me from the ice body bag.
“That’s cheating,” Spencer growled and, with a flick of his wrist, sent Leo flying. He spun through the air and landed on his back, knocking the air out of his lungs.
I ran over to help him up. He grabbed his chest and gasped, pointing at my handler. No. He used a different forbidden call than freezing the water molecules in the body, this one calling the air from Leo’s lungs. He started to turn red, then purple. I grabbed his hands and pushed air to him, but it didn’t work. Why wouldn’t my air element answer me?
“Stop it!” I ordered. Leo turned purple. “You’re hurting him!”
“That is the general idea.”
And now he was beginning to turn blue.
“Stop!” I shouted. Spencer ignored me and even smiled as he watched Leo slowly suffocate. I jumped to my feet and called earth, pulling roots from the ground and snaking them around him, trapping him with his arms to his sides. Still, Leo couldn’t breathe. What was happening?
I did the only thing I could and called light to short out all other calls. He had to be focused on air to keep his call strong enough to pull it from Leo’s lungs. I only hoped my call was strong enough to counter it. I pushed light directly at Spencer. Maybe if I directed it, it wouldn’t affect Leo.
Spencer grunted and bared his teeth as my beam of light hit him in the center of his chest. Good. I hope it hurts, dick hole. Coughing and gasping behind me caught my attention. I whipped around as Leo sat up, his hand on his chest as he drew in breath after breath. Oh, thank God.
“Leo!” I ran to him and helped him to his feet. He nodded in thanks and rested his forehead to mine. “Are you okay?”
“He used a forbidden call on me.” He stated the obvious, as usual. Yep, my air elemental would be just fine.
I couldn’t say the same about my handler. I stood and approached him still on the ground, tied up by roots squeezing him just enough for him to struggle to breathe. Placing my foot on a root, I rested my elbow on my knee and leaned in. “And I didn’t even use a forbidden call. Just remember, Spencer. You fuck with one of my guys, you fuck with me.”
With that, I walked away, taking Leo with me. Only when we were far enough away did I call the roots to release Spencer with a flick of my wrist and didn’t turn back around.
“That was pretty badass,” Leo stated once we were near the dorms. He rubbed a shoulder as he rolled it, working out the kinks. “I don’t like that guy.”
“You and me both. Did my light short you out?”
He nodded. “I was already weak from him using air to attack me like that. I don’t know why I couldn’t call my own air to counter. It was like it ignored my call.”
I stopped, completely focused on that last part. Clay had said the same thing, and I already knew the element was ignoring me. “Your air disappeared?”
He nodded again.
“Mine has been sporadic at best and lately won’t even listen.”
“Do you think it has anything to do wi
th air being your handler’s primary?”
That question threw me off. “He’s undeclared.” When Leo shook his head, I asked, “Isn’t he?”
“Not according to Clay. Spencer’s air call is by far the strongest of his elements. He’s just posing as undeclared.”
“Is that why our air calls aren’t working? He really is stealing our elements?”
He nodded a third time. “He’s not some all-powerful quad as he claims. He’s just really good at stealing everyone else’s elements. That’s why light doesn’t completely kill his ability to call. He just steals another element. He’s got to be a leecher.”
“What’s a leecher?”
“I don’t know why we didn’t pick up on this before.” Leo ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s why we didn’t feel his elements when we shook his hand. It’s why he didn’t want Professor Layden to touch him. I thought the Council had them all rounded up and bound their powers.”
“Leo! What’s a leecher?”
“A parasite. A weak elemental that sucks powers from other elementals. They’re dangerous, which is why the Council banned them. If they want to live in this world, they have to bind their powers.”
That…didn’t sound good. “How do they steal powers?”
“Dark magic. They cast spells to force the elements against their will. Since the elements won’t answer their calls alone, they have to steal the calls from other elementals. I seriously thought they were all gone.”
“And you’re sure he’s one of these leechers?”
“How else would you explain the way he steals all of our calls? Even yours. Our elements aren’t ignoring us. They’re being forced to listen to him.”
Great. That was just ridiculously awesome. I had a handler who used forbidden calls in lessons and stole elements to beat his opponent. As much as I hated him—and I really hated him—I began to understand why he’d never lost a battle. He cheated.
“Hi, Katy!” Trevor came sprinting over, his eager grin taking up most of his pale face. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose before holding up his bandaged arms. “Want to sign my casts?”
“Those aren’t casts. They’re gauze wraps.”
He thrust them in my face. “I saved a spot for you to sign each one. I even have a pen.” He pulled a Sharpie from his bag and held it out for me. Smiling to cover the fact I’d rather draw something inappropriate on his face, I uncapped the pen and scribbled something on one arm before capping it and handing it back. “What about the other one?”
“Be happy with the one you got.”
“Okay.” His smile wilted as he lowered his head. Jebus, dude. He looked like I just broke his favorite crayon. When he read what I wrote, his bright expression returned, as did his wide grin. “Stay in school. That’s awesome! You want me to stick around! See ya!” He hurried off, holding out his arm as if holding a priceless artifact.
“Stay in school?” Leo teased. “Really?”
I shrugged. “It was either that or don’t do drugs. I stand by my decision.” I raised my hand as I said my pledge.
Leo focused on the cut on my hand and frowned. “That looks bad, babe.”
“It’s fine.” I hid my hand behind my back and changed the subject. Until I processed what Bryan and his mom had said last night, I’d continue to hide it. No one else needed to see a cut on my palm and immediately equate that with being dark. I still had no idea how one equated to the other. “Hungry?”
“Starving,” Rob declared as he walked up, his dark gaze on me. He wasn’t in his usual attire of tank top and shorts, instead had on the black suit he wore on extractions, which I hated seeing him in. He looked so much better with fewer clothes. “How you doin’, Reed?”
“Aren’t you mad at me?”
“Yep.” He grinned, but it seemed forced.
“So…” I didn’t know how to finish my thought, so I didn’t.
“Life is too short to worry about the small shit, you know?” His grin faltered. He fought to hold it, the battle between his emotions and his expression clearly evident.
“Rob? Are you okay?”
He dropped his head as he shook it. His shoulders began to shake. When I caught his quivering chin, I froze. “We lost one. Our first.”
I gasped and slapped my hand over my mouth. “The extraction?”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “The kid—God, he was just a kid—was so freaked out. He was so scared. He didn’t want to go, didn’t understand what was going on. I tried to talk to him.” He wiped at his eyes and inhaled sharply. “I tried to save him.”
Losing an elemental on an extraction was bad enough. The quad squad would be called in front of the Council to justify their actions. They’d be raked over the coals, maybe even publicly if the governing body felt it necessary to humiliate them to teach them a lesson. They’d lose their status as the top extraction squad at the academy. And, if found guilty of negligence, they could be sent to the elemental prison, Carcerem.
Losing a kid made all that even worse.
I pulled him into my arms and held him close. He tried to push away, but I wouldn’t let him. I combed my fingers through his dark hair, running my nails along his scalp the way he liked. Pushing my control to him, I felt when he accepted it.
“I love you,” he whispered into my ear and continued to hold me.
He’d been the first of the guys to drop the L word and never hesitated to repeat it. After the news of losing an elemental on an extraction, knowing how badly he needed to hear it, I had no problem saying it back. “I love you too.”
He pulled back and searched my eyes. That look of total devastation slowly faded. “You do?”
“I always have.”
He threw his arms around me and squeezed so tight, I coughed and was pretty sure he popped a rib. Still, I let him hold me as tight as he needed. This wasn’t about me, rib aside. My fire elemental had always worn his emotions on his sleeve, always been the first to react to the situation around us. He was also the first guy I’d ever fallen in love with.
“I’m sorry, Rob.” Leo’s apology reminded us we weren’t alone.
Rob ended our embrace and gave him a bro hug, slapping his back. “Thanks, man.”
“I’m going to leave you crazy kids to it.”
“You don’t have to go,” he protested. “I’m starving. Let’s grab some food.”
Leo bounced his gaze from Rob to me. “Nah, I think I’ll just head up to my room. Our girl hit her handler pretty hard with light tonight and shorted me out. Right now, I’d rather sleep than eat.”
“Please stay?” I begged. I didn’t want him to leave either. We were a team, a family. We were strongest together, and right now, we needed each other. “In fact, let’s find Clay and Bryan and have dinner together, just the five of us.”
He nodded as he pulled out his phone. “I’ll text them and have them meet us at the dining hall.”
“The smaller one on the other side of campus,” Rob clarified.
He looked at him as if he’d just stolen his crown of being the king of the obvious. “That’s the one we always go to.”
Great. Now I had two guys stating the obvious on a regular basis. I took each of their hands and pulled them toward the dining hall. “Come on. I want carbs. Lots and lots of carbs.”
By the time we walked into the dining hall, Bryan and Clay were already there, saving us a table. Good thing. It was crowded, too crowded for me to spend any Q time with my guys. I had the sudden urge to tell them everything. About the cut that wouldn’t heal and continued to spread an icy numbness from the source. About my fear the cold was the darkness trying to take over and turn me. I wanted to tell them all about what happened this morning with the Council. I wanted to tell them all about what happened tonight at lessons, about how Leo thought Spencer might be a leecher. I wanted to tell them everything.
But tonight couldn’t be about me. I’d tell them everything as soon as they had the chance to talk this out. Spen
cer wasn’t going anywhere. My guys needed me to be there for them. Tonight was about them, which meant I needed to get over myself and apologize for the way I’d been acting lately. It was going to be painful, but I needed to element up and put on my big-girl panties.
Pasting on my brightest smile, I wove through the crowd and made a beeline for them. Bryan spotted me and set his jaw, dropping his gaze to the table. Oh, yeah. He was still pissed at me, and he had every right to be. I didn’t slow as I leaned down and kissed him deep, dancing our tongues together in a slow, lazy waltz.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered against his lips before pulling back. “Are we good?”
He held my gaze, searching it. “Are you going to cut out on me like that again?”
“No,” I said and shook my head. “Never. That was a total dick move.” I didn’t go into the why behind me leaving last night. I would tell him, but not here in a crowded dining hall.
“You’re right. It was.” He wasn’t making this easy on me.
“Ease up, Bry.” Clay took my hand, drawing my attention. “You know, Montana, you cut out on me too. Where’s my apology kiss? Or, you know, apology whatever.” He waggled his eyebrows.
I laughed as the other guys groaned at yet another sexual reference from our air elemental. At least he seemed a little closer to normal now. “Where are my manners?” I leaned in and laughed harder when he pulled me onto his lap before capturing my lips in a fun, playful kiss, his beard warm against my face. I hummed into his mouth, loving that I’d made up with all my guys.
“I got you a burger.” Rob joined us, setting a plate in front of me.
“And a mountain of fries,” Leo added as he took a seat, dropping a bag of delicious salty goodness next to the burger. I tore through the paper and attacked the fries first.
As we ate and laughed at stupid stories, keeping the topics light and superficial, we all ignored the heavier conversation that needed to be had. By the time we ran out of things to talk about, the dining hall had cleared out, leaving only those few stragglers there doing homework.
