Wrath of Wind

by Kat Adams

  “Shocker.” Clay inhaled the steam from his mug. “Rob’s pissed about something.”

  “She’s going to battle Spencer in front of the Council to try to get him to attack her the way he’s been attacking us at her lessons.”

  His mouth fell open as the way he tensed flexed every visible muscle. “And now I’m pissed. Are you insane? Is losing every battle with that guy not enough for you? Montana, he cheats by using dark magic to steal calls.”

  “Don’t forget the forbidden calls,” Leo reminded us, ever so helpful.

  “And the fact he’s got Alec on his side,” Rob called out from the living room. “We barely made it out alive when there was one powerful quad after you. With two… I don’t like those odds, Reed.”

  Bryan walked out from the spare room, scratching his bare chest and squinting against the light. His jeans sat low on his hips, showing off every inch of his hard torso. I stared at the V of muscles that disappeared under the front of his waistband and had to look away. Having gorgeous half-naked men walking around distracted me and left me a little tingly.

  He glanced at the empty coffee pot and frowned. “What is all the shouting about?”

  “Montana has lost her mind. She’s going to get herself killed battling her fandler in front of the Council.” Clay set his untouched coffee on the counter and stormed out of the room in true fire elemental fashion, even though he was my air elemental, joining the other one pouting on the couch.

  Bryan stole the cup and took a drink, sighing as he stared at it. After several seconds of silent contemplation, he said, “Leo, would you mind if I had a minute alone with our girl?”

  “Take all the time you need to talk her out of this.” He left the kitchen.

  I watched him leave before returning my attention to Bryan. “You do realize they can all hear us, right?”

  “I realize that.” He didn’t say anything more, which both baffled and annoyed me.

  “If you think you’re going to talk me out of this, don’t waste your breath.”

  “I’m not going to.”

  I nodded, unsure whether he meant he wasn’t going to waste his breath, or he wasn’t going to try. I guess, either way, the end result was the same. “Good. I’m doing this.”

  “I know.”

  “And you can’t stop me.”

  “I know,” he repeated.

  Okay, I had no idea where he planned to go with this, which only frustrated me more. “Then why did you want to talk to me alone?”

  “I never said anything about talking.” He leaned in, capturing my lips with his and kissing me so tenderly, it physically hurt when he broke the kiss. He studied me, tilting his head, that hazel gaze holding mine. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”

  Not even a little, but I lied through my smile as I said, “Absolutely.”

  “We’ll be there to support you.”

  “And to jump the guy if he gets out of control,” Clay yelled from the living room.

  I drew in a deep breath. “Then what are we waiting for?”

  TO MY SHOCK and tremendous relief, Stace was in the 3C building when I entered. I didn’t care that she was my professor. I didn’t care that it would look weird if anyone walked in on us. I only cared that my friend, my mentor, wasn’t dead.

  I ran into her arms and hugged her so tight, I might have cracked her petite ribs. She hugged me back just as fiercely. When we pulled back, she wiped at her eyes and brushed her hands over her dark bun. I wiped my hands on my skirt and laughed nervously. It was the first time we’d really shown that level of emotion for each other.

  “Thank you, sweetie.”

  Hearing her call me that made me smile. My mom used to call me that. “For?”

  “For saving my life.” She hugged me again.

  “Wow.” I laughed after the embrace and wiped my palms again, not knowing what else to do with my hands. “A whole lot of hugging going on.”

  We stood there in awkward silence, all the things I’d been dying to tell her battling to be the first thing out of my mouth. I hadn’t realized how much I’d relied on being able to talk to her until I no longer had the option.

  I swept my hair behind my ear and sat on the corner of her desk. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like you want to ask me something else,” she fired back, giving me that knowing look that always cut through my bullshit. “What’s on your mind?”

  There was no time to dance around the question, so I just blurted it out. “Did you know the Council brought Spencer in to spy on me?”

  “What?” She shook her head slowly, the act causing her discomfort judging by the cringe. “That can’t be true. They would have told me.”

  “No, they should have told you. Big diff. And it gets better. He’s working with Alec—who didn’t die last year after all, so fun fact there—and is with Jess to convince her to turn dark to be with Jules. Oh, and he’s using some sort of dark magic spell to enchant everyone so no one sees him for what he really is.”

  “And what is that?”

  I blinked at her as if she’d just asked me how to tie her shoes. “Dark.”

  The way she regarded me, squared tiny shoulders, narrowed gaze with pinpoint precision, pursed lips in disapproval, had me regretting saying anything. I thought she’d be the one person to totally support me on this. Now I saw that was a mistake.

  I stood, backing away. “You know what, forget I said anything. I’m just in this crazy headspace right now.” I rotated my finger around the side of my head in illustration.

  “Katy, wait.”

  “I really have to go.”

  “No, you really don’t. You’re just choosing to shut down instead of hearing anyone else’s point of view. God forbid it be different from your own.”

  Ouch. “I’m not shutting down.”

  “Where do you have to go? You’re my TA for a class that starts in ten minutes. You’re exactly where you need to be.” Dammit. With a groan, I shuffled back to her when she waved for me. “Now, how about you let me tell you why I reacted that way. I met with the Council this morning after Syd released me from the infirmary to tell them who attacked me.” She rested that dark gaze on me. “It was Spencer.”

  “What?” I had my suspicion after seeing him at the patrol last night, but having her confirm it… Just when I thought I couldn’t hate him more. Once I recovered from the news, I asked, “So they know he’s dark then, right?”

  “They do. When Stephens sent a patrol here to the academy to retrieve him, he was gone.” She lowered her head. “I’m sorry for what he’s put you through and for the hand the Council had in it.” She looked at me. “For the hand I had in it.”

  “This isn’t on you. You didn’t assign him as my handler.”

  “I didn’t stop him either. I just blindly went along with it, ignoring all the signs.” She wrung her hands in front of her. “I’m afraid I make a terrible faculty advisor.”

  “But you make a pretty fantastic mentor.”

  She smiled her thanks.

  “Professor, there’s something else.” I hesitated, unsure how she’d react to the news of my hand pulsing and glowing after she’d healed me. I had to tell someone, and since the guys would just freak out, insist on escorting me around twenty-four seven, this made more sense. At least it did to me. “My hand did this weird glowy thing when I pushed it through the barrier.”

  Her smile wilted as her eyes rounded. “What kind of weird glowy thing?”

  “Something pulses and glows under the skin where the cut used to be.”

  “This only happens at the barrier?”

  “No.” I stared at my palm, tracing where the gash used to be. “It happened when I was trapped in that fog too.”

  “Why do you think that is?” As she asked the question, she gave me a knowing look, like the answer was so obvious, I was an idiot for not already making the connection.

  I shrugged as my answer and dropped my focus back to my palm. If I admitted
I had darkness inside me, would she expel me? Turn me over to the Council? Would I be sent to Carcerem to spend the rest of my life in dark elemental prison?

  “It’s an element,” she finally answered, drawing my attention. She waited until our gazes locked before continuing. “Which one, is the question.”

  “Light?” I asked hopefully.

  “I think you already know the answer.”

  Crap. I did know the answer, and now, so did she. “It’s darkness,” I admitted quietly.

  “It’s not necessarily a bad thing, Katy. I’ve had my suspicion ever since that darkness nearly took over. As long as you learn to control it just as you’ve learned to control your other elements, you should be fine.”

  Should be, being the opportune point. “Is it possible that Spencer turned me into more than a quint? That he magically enhanced me by forcing darkness into me?”

  “Yes.” She said it so bluntly, so sharp and exact, that I cringed as if the word physically struck me. It felt like it had. “Which means you need to be extra diligent around dark magic. The pulsing is the darkness trying to get out. The glowing is the light stopping it from doing just that.”

  And now I felt like an idiot for not making the connection.

  “Professor Layden! Help!” Trevor came crashing through the double doors, his glasses practically sideways on his face, his blond hair all windblown, his cheeks red. He panted as he tried to catch his breath. “You have to help. I tried to help, but it didn’t help. Jessica Bailey is destroying the dining hall. She keeps asking for Spencer. Is he dark now? I heard a patrol was here earlier looking for him. I think I spotted him down by the training field. That’s bad, right? But what about Jess? Can you help?”

  Man, this kid and his hyperactive inquisition. Stace and I exchanged worried looks. I leaned in to run. She simply teleported out. Rolling my eyes at how I missed that one, I followed suit and popped to the main dining hall, forced to duck and roll as a table came flying at me. It exploded against the wall and rained down on me.

  “Jess, stop!”

  Her answer was to send a rolling wave of tables right at me. I stood there, holding her gaze with mine. No way would I let a douche canoe like Spencer Dalton send her spiraling. Well, any more than she already had.

  My air sliced through the wall of debris, parting it so it went around me. Jess lifted both hands and sent me flying into the wall behind me. I bit my tongue when my head smacked into the drywall, making a dent the shape of my skull.

  I dropped to the linoleum floor and bounced twice before resting to a stop. Holy farknarking shit balls. That hurt. Pushing to my feet, I faced her, ready for the next round. It came in the form of all the pictures hanging on the walls raining down, glass shattering along the journey. I covered my head with my arms, hissing when shards sliced into my hands and legs.

  Once the triangles of sharp glass shattered on impact with the floor and the latest attack had settled, I returned to my position of hands at my sides, nonthreatening, readying myself by widening my stance. I wouldn’t fight her. I wouldn’t stop her. But I would be here for her when she needed someone to catch her when she fell.

  We danced several times, her throwing shit at me, me letting her. She didn’t bother with her uniform today, instead wearing a muted beige burlap-sack-looking thing and matching muted scrunchie. I had to admit, I missed the obnoxious colors and giant bows and layers of makeup. It was what made Jess…well…Jess.

  “Go away, dilute!” She sucked in a breath and lifted her arms, bringing more chairs up with them. “I hate you.” A sob snuck up and out, forcing her shoulders forward. “I h-hate you.”

  “Hate me,” I told her, not moving. “But don’t blame yourself. This is on him, not you.”

  Her lower lip quivered as she blinked at me, tears streaming down her already soaked cheeks. “He left me. H-he promised. First she left. Th-then he did.”

  Her shoulders started to shake as her call faded. I hurried to her and threw my arms around her. She struggled against me, but I refused to let her go. As painful as it was to hug this ungrateful Barbie, she needed it more than I needed to hate her at the moment.

  “Noooo!” she howled and slumped against me, a heartbreaking sob imploding her. “He promised. Everyone I love leaves me.”

  Her sobs consumed her as she collapsed in my arms. I sank with her, sliding down the wall. She kept her head buried against my shoulder, and I just held her tight as she cried and cried and cried. I had a feeling the tears were for more than Spencer.

  “He never loved me,” she sobbed. “He used me to get close to you. This is all your fault.”

  Of course it was.

  “Katy.” Vanessa walked up and nodded at the blubbering Barbie mess in my arms. “Let me.”

  I nodded and gently pushed Jess to Vanessa. “Don’t give him the satisfaction, Jess. Don’t give either of them the satisfaction. You’re better than them.” Ness glanced over her shoulder, snagging my gaze with hers. Her expression softened as she nodded once. I returned the gesture.

  She whipped her head back around, sending her dark waves swinging. “He’s not worth it. Neither of them are worth it, Jess. Come on.” They weaved around the destruction and walked out. I sat there on my knees, grateful they were gone and a bit baffled that I now sat alone in a demilitarized zone of dining hall debris.

  Lulu popped in with Stace. The professor regarded me while Lulu got to work using air to clean up. “Are you okay?”

  “Jess tried to kill me. Ness led her away, and I’m sure they’re about to reinstate the Katy Reed hate club. On top of all that, she blames me for Spencer.”

  “For which part?”

  “All of it.” I shrugged it off. It sucked, but I’d come to expect epic levels of suckage when it came to Bitch Barbie and her ice queen BFF. I stood and brushed dining debris off my butt. “I still consider it a win. She didn’t die, and she didn’t kill anyone.”

  “A win,” she repeated, but then she stiffened as my guys, all dressed in their proper school uniforms, literally popped into the dining hall. Even Leo teleported in without Clay forcing him.

  Clay walked in a circle, his hands in the front pockets of his gray slacks, pushing the yellow blazer behind his arms. He’d tidied up his beard and tamed some of that wild hair, but it was still a tousled mess on the top—just the way I liked it. He whistled as he scanned the destroyed dining hall. Splintered tables. Upended chairs. The smashed coffee station now sitting on top of the salad bar. “I think it looks better.”

  Leo stepped around a partial table, careful to not impale himself on the metal leg sticking up at an angle. He caught his slacks on it anyway. His crazy blond curls fell onto his face as he dropped his head to assess the damage, his trim shoulders falling beneath his blue blazer. “I ripped my pants.”

  “Jess really did a number in here.” Rob, in his red blazer that matched how red he got when his temper spiked, regarded me, his dark gaze swirling with concern. He’d shaved enough so his ten o’clock shadow was once again a five o’clock shadow. “You okay?”

  I nodded and gave myself a quick once-over to confirm. “Doesn’t look like I lost anything. I still have all my necessary parts. Head, shoulders, knees, and toes.” And now I had that stupid kids’ song stuck in my head. I held up my hands and wiggled my fingers. “All ten digits accounted for.”

  “Katy.” Bryan took my hand. I stared up at him, loving how the green blazer always brought the green out in his hazel eyes. He didn’t smile, instead studying me intently as he worked his jaw—something I’d noticed he’d been doing a lot of lately. “That was an amazing and selfless thing you did.”

  Heated embarrassment slapped my cheeks. I wasn’t amazing. I wasn’t selfless. Everything I did, I did to better my world. It just so happened Jess—in all her annoying and bouncy Bitch Barbie glory—was still a part of that world.

  And I couldn’t imagine a world without her in it. God, what was happening to me?

  Stace stepped up
next to me, her hands folded in front of her. The guys all waved and welcomed her. She smiled warmly, accepting their greetings. She then regarded me and thinned her lips. “You know better than to teleport into unknown situations.”

  Great. Another lecture. Heat hit my cheeks again for another reason. “Sorry, Professor.”

  “Hey, wanna get some food?” Clay asked before looking around. “Maybe not here.”

  “Let’s grab takeout and hang out at the cabin.” I swept my hair behind my ear as I glanced at Stace, remembering her rule. “If that’s okay?”

  “Take the rest of the day off. I’m canceling Arts & Crafts today, all things considered.”

  “What about Primary?” Clay thrust out his lower lip.

  “You can miss one day of GG’s dad jokes.” I reached for him to grasp his wrist and teleport to the cabin when we were literally pulled apart by air. “Clay?”

  “Montana!” He launched at me, flying through the air, his arms out to catch me.

  And must have landed on the floor as I teleported out against my will.

  23

  I immediately recognized where I’d landed and tensed. I was back in the warehouse I’d followed Spencer to and found him in a mini summit with Alec and his shadow, Jules. Well, fuck a bunch of dark fuckers. This was the last place I wanted to be, especially alone. I stilled, holding my breath to listen for any little noise to tell me I had company. The shuffle of a shoe against concrete caught my attention, and I spun around. I curled my lip at the sight of the exotic perfume model with the buttery accent. “Spencer.”

  “Hello, Katy.” He stepped into the square light created from the overhead skylight and assessed me with unkind blue eyes, a hard jaw, and a cool expression. He looked so foreign dressed in something other than Clearwater’s uniform, the baggy, long-sleeved dark shirt doing nothing for his tall, fit frame, the black jeans square and unflattering. For someone who looked as good as he did, he had zero fashion sense. “How’s the hand treating you?”

  I answered him with a question of my own. “How’d you teleport me here?”