“You do?” Alayne glanced again around the bare walls.
Manders nodded. “This would normally happen if someone crossed the threshold that didn't have my clearance, but for the purposes of demonstration...” He pressed a button on the side of the desk.
Bars erupted from the stone walls and slammed shut across the doorway. A thick metal partition grated across the floor in front of those. The lamp immediately sputtered out. With a jarring crash, Alayne felt the rocker drop from beneath her, and she landed hard on the cold stone floor with a grunt. In the darkness, Manders said, “Now a flame, Alayne.”
Alayne quickly called a flame to her hand. In the flickering light, she glanced around the room. Nothing remained except Manders, who stood in the corner with his hands clasped behind him. The desk was gone, the rug was gone, the coat tree was gone. Of course, Alayne's rocker had disappeared as well. “Where did it all go?” Alayne gasped.
Manders smiled and touched the button again. With another cacophony of sound, the stones on the floor flipped, and the desk appeared again along with the other items.
Alayne's mouth hung open. She shut it quickly. “Awesome! Was that the elements?”
Manders chuckled. “The elements played a part. The rest is regular, old-fashioned shifting gears and mechanics. Making the two things work together has always been a fascination of mine.”
“Awesome,” Alayne breathed again.
“Yes. Awesome, as you say.” Manders's mouth tipped up at the corners. “Shall we—“
“How do you get out then if you're in here when someone comes barging in? The doors would be barred, right?”
Manders sighed. “I can see we're not going to get much done tonight.” He picked up a pointer off of his desk and touched a tiny round stone high on the wall with it; it seemed to be wedged into the crack between several other large stones. “If I press this stone, it becomes my emergency escape route.” He set the pointer down again. “Now, Alayne, shall we begin, or would you like any more demonstrations?”
“No, no, I'm good,” Alayne said, sliding hesitantly into the rocking chair that had dropped her moments before.
“Good.” Manders moved around the desk to stand on the rug. “Now, Alayne, you can come stand here facing me. I'm going to tell you everything I do as I do it, so you know what's happening, all right?”
Alayne nodded and moved to the rug. She chewed nervously on her lip.
“The Guardians and I agree that the best thing for you to learn, Alayne, is a deeper sense of the elements. We want you to know, even before it happens, what elements will bend, and when it happens, we want you to be able to hold the movement. Does that make sense?”
Alayne nodded. “But how am I supposed to know what's going to happen before it happens? That would be mind-reading, wouldn't it?”
“Not mind-reading precisely, Alayne. It's more a form of self-defense, I suppose, if you need to name it. There is an energy that an Elemental gives out when they are preparing for an element bend. Your lessons will be concentrated on focusing on that energy, sensing where it's leading and stopping the bend before it happens. Make sense?”
Alayne nodded.
“Please close your eyes, Alayne.”
Alayne obediently shut her eyes.
“Now, Alayne, I'm going to pull at some of the elements within your head. I am not Shadow-Casting you, first, because it can't be done, and second, because I will stop long before I get to the point where the elements are actually under my control. Think of the elements as a harp that can create the music of nature. I'm merely brushing the elements so you can feel the movement. I want you to be disturbed enough that you will react to my bends.”
Alayne braced herself, her hands stiffly at her side. “Okay.”
With her eyes closed, she concentrated on her feelings. Her hands were warm under the notched sheath of heat that surrounded her, but she could feel the cold denseness of the underground room pressing on her covering. A wisp of hair had escaped her braid and tickled the skin of her cheek. Somewhere, in the hallway outside, a cricket chirped.
And then there was a tug inside her head, almost like the twang of a guitar string, as a fizzle of energy shot through her temples. She tensed. Her gut reaction was to fight back, to blast the power of the elements in the direction of the threat, but she restrained herself.
“Did you feel that, Alayne?”
She nodded.
“Good. See if you can figure out where it's coming from.”
Alayne set her jaw and searched the empty space around her. “I—I can't feel anything.” And then she jerked again as another twang zapped her above her right ear. Heat rushed to her hands, and they erupted into flame.
“Hold it, Alayne. Calmly now. Channel your reaction into finding the energy.”
She put out the flames with an effort. She closed her eyes tighter and zeroed in on the four elements all around her. Cool moisture, the heat she'd sheathed around herself, more of it far above her near the surface. Outside the walls, the levels of dirt and sediment and rock and root caught her attention, and she allowed her mind to comb through those and then the air, so complex, part moisture, part simply oxygen. It moved in and out of her lungs, fanning around her in puffs. She could feel Manders's breath from behind her, moving slowly to her other side.
And then, she felt the elements shift, not so noticeably, but just enough that Alayne seized hold of all four of them and gripped them tightly. A split second later, she felt a tug, but not in her head this time. This time it was on the elements outside of her body, but she refused to let them go.
“Excellent, very well done, Alayne. You can open your eyes now.”
Alayne opened her eyes and glanced at Manders. “That was harder than I thought it would be.”
“You made a good start, Alayne. It won't always be so easy. First, you trust me, so you weren't fighting your own suspicions, and secondly, that was a very light bend, easily snatched. We need to practice until you feel confident enough to face an actual enemy on the level of Simeon Malachi or his like.”
Alayne nodded and glanced down at her hands. “Sir, is it true what Daymon told me about—about Malachi?”
“Coming in as Chairman at Andova?” He sighed and walked to his office chair. “Yes, it's true.” He sank down into it.
“What does that mean for the students, sir? At Andova?”
Manders steepled his fingers under his chin and looked thoughtful. “Malachi is a rather one-dimensional creature, Alayne, if you think about it. His interest for many years has been to see Elementals become the only people on CommonEarth and the Natural Human race eradicated. Everything he's done has been in pursuit of that objective, including his desire for the Vale, which would give him unequaled power.” He paused. “With that in mind, as the EA has shifted into power this summer, Andova now only accepts students from full-Elemental families. I do believe they were prepared to make an exception in your case after seeing your unusual results at your assessments, but I doubt that would be their normal rule. When the selection of names was put in front of the board for the exchange students from Clayborne to be selected, I fought for only full-blooded Elementals to be sent. Malachi, in keeping with his interests and passions, won't harm them.”
“He harmed Jayme.” The familiar burning pain sliced through Alayne.
“Jayme stood between Malachi and his most prized possession. You. His Vale.” Manders looked at her gravely. “It's good, Alayne, that you're finally moving on. It was good to grieve, but it's time you took an interest in life again.”
Alayne dropped her gaze. She wanted to shout that she hadn't moved on, that she never would move on, but part of her knew that wasn't completely true anymore. At the beginning of the summer, Kyle's battle for her heart wouldn't have fazed her. But now...
Alayne's cheeks heated as she remembered their dance on the river bank, the vulnerability on Kyle's face as he'd wrapped his heart in the words: It is a big deal. To me.
Manders stood and checked his pocket for the key. “Come, it's time to get back upstairs, Alayne. We'll continue our practice sessions another night. You need to look well-rested for your classes tomorrow. We can't have anyone asking questions.”
* * *
Alayne slid onto the bench at her usual commissary table with Kyle on one side and Marysa on the other. Daymon sat farther down, his hands cupping a mug of coffee and a newspaper spread in front of him.
Relatively speaking, he had taken the news of Alayne's switch to Kyle as her date for the Christmas dance well. He had frowned fiercely when Alayne had pulled him aside and given him the news, but then shrugged it off. “We were only going together so I could stay close anyway. I hope Kyle doesn't mind me hanging around, though, 'cause I won't be leaving. You won't get many private moments with him that night.”
Alayne had blushed, irritated that he might think she needed private moments with Kyle, but she didn't have a comeback. “Fine.” She'd marched off to her class, Daymon nearly treading on her heels the whole way.
Alayne flicked a glance at him now out of the corner of her eye. He looked tired, and suddenly, she felt a great well of pity for him. He'd never asked for his life to be the way it was, and yet, he was responsible for her life, whether either of them liked it or not. She wished she could just get rid of the Vale once and for all. Her conversation with Daymon and her parents floated through her mind. Layne, every person who has ever possessed the Vale has died after parting with it. It's just the nature of the connection. Alayne twisted her mouth into a frown, fiddling distractedly with the ring on her finger. It was so unfair! She'd never asked for the Vale, and now she would die if she ever removed it.
All at once, the people around the commissary changed. Kyle, Marysa, and Daymon all disappeared. Other students sat on the benches with various plates of breakfast in front of them, but the newspaper stayed the same. The wording on it was different, though. In bold, black letters, the headlines read, “General Shane Beckyr To Head Natural Re-Education Center Registration.”
Beneath it, a sub-heading read, “Naturals in uproar as homes are repossessed.” Several pictures of families huddled in groups and with tear-streaked faces followed.
A boy sitting at the table in front of Alayne leaned over a paper spread across the wood. He pushed it aside in disgust. It fell to the bench beside Alayne with a rustle, and the boy stomped off to the chute.
This time, it only took a nudge from Kyle to pull Alayne from her vision. “You okay?” His blue eyes were concerned. “Did you see something?”
Alayne nodded and explained what had happened, shaking her hand to rid it of the cold draining feeling from her head. She sighed. “All these visions. I'm not sure they're doing any good. The future is so fluid anyway; it can change every time someone changes their mind. And we don't know for sure that it is the future. What if I'm just going crazy?” She tugged the ends of her sleeves over her hands.
Marysa didn't say anything, but her warm concern was evident in her eyes. “You're not going crazy, Layne. Crazy people are crazier than you.”
Alayne laughed before sobering. “Anyway, what I want to know is who is this Shane Beckyr, and where did he come from? He's been in the news so much lately for taking over the top spot in the Continental Guard, and then his name shows up on the newspaper in my vision. If he has such a high profile, why don't we know anything about him? Nobody's reported any bios or anything. Who is he?”
Marysa shrugged. “Well, he's a military man, a general; I suppose it makes sense that a general could keep his hands clean while he has the people under him doing the dirty work.”
“Yeah, but the general also is the military face to show to Continental Media. I think it's shady that they haven't showed him yet on any of the news outlets.”
“Why? Do you think he's a Shadow-Caster? The force behind the Elemental Alliance?” Kyle asked, popping a grape into his mouth.
Alayne jerked her shoulders into a restless shrug. “Stanwick Jones stated that he was a member of the Elemental Alliance. I don't know what I think. But if he ends up in charge of the NRCs and tries to capture my parents, he's going to have to go through me, that's all.” She glanced at Kyle. “Us, I mean. He'll have to go through us.”
“Of course, honey,” Marysa said. “You know you aren't in this alone.”
Alayne sighed and pushed her breakfast away. “Thanks, guys. I'm—heading upstairs for a bit before classes.” She swung her legs over the bench and headed for the chute. She could feel her friends' worried gazes on her back until the car flew upward toward the dormitories.
Chapter 11
Mid-term examinations went smoothly enough for Alayne. She'd managed to pull up her grades in Fire and Ice, although secluding herself in the library or in her room for extra uninterrupted study time pained her. Marysa had maintained a decent grade in all of her classes, so extra study time wasn't exactly necessary for her. She'd offered to come along and 'help' Alayne study, but as Alayne pictured how that arrangement would work, she had to issue a reluctant refusal. “You'd talk my ear off, Marysa. And much as I'd love to hear all the latest gossip, gossip isn't going to get me the grades I need to pass Lye's class this semester.”
She thought ahead to the final exams at the end of the year. The year before, Sprynge had organized the final on the mountain range that Capital Earth-Movers had pulled into the otherwise flat landscape. It had fallen apart when Simeon Malachi and his fire-walkers had appeared, and Jayme's death had been the ultimate sacrifice of the whole event. This year, Sprynge had announced that they would try again. He had made vague references to the same area in the fields outside of the school, explaining that Capital Elementals would be arriving to reconstruct the examination area.
His descriptions had sparked Alayne's curiosity. She wished she could study for such an exam, but it was designed to make the students think on their feet.
It was with great relief that she turned the final page of her Fire and Ice examination and scribbled her last two essays. When the last period was placed at the end of the closing sentence, she relaxed. She felt reasonably confident that she had done well, or, at least, that she had done okay. At any rate, next semester was a brand new grading period. She'd do better in that one.
She glanced idly over at the wall. A holographic bulletin board flipped information and announcements across it, the words scrolling upward slowly so students could read it. One word caught Alayne's attention, and she squinted at the print.
Annual Cliffsides Field Study.
Alayne's heart lurched to a stop before resuming its steady thud when she read the next words. Due to circumstantial factors, the annual field study trip to Cliffsides is canceled until further notice.
Alayne sank back onto her seat, her body limp as a wet cloth. All the memories from the previous year washed over her, flooding her mind with pictures: Jayme, skeletal where he'd lain unconscious by the fire, Marysa, gone like mist before a wind, the three professors, their eyes twitching beneath their secrets, pawns of the Shadow-Casters, and Kyle, the hero of the day when he had orchestrated the rescue efforts.
Alayne filled her lungs to capacity before slowly releasing the air. She didn't want to think about that time. It was too difficult. She was so thankful to have her best friend back, but her boyfriend was dead in the aftermath of Malachi's plans. More and more, her suspicions grew as she watched Sprynge carry on in the Chairman's role. A Shadow-Caster still remained at large inside of Clayborne. Could it truly be him?
She glanced back at Marysa. Her dark-haired friend had been having steady nightmares since their return to school. Many nights, Alayne had awakened to hear Marysa sobbing softly into her pillow, occasionally moaning as she combated the old ghosts that haunted her from her ordeal. Her words were slurred with sleep and unconsciousness, but she said enough for Alayne to know what her dreams were. Marysa rarely talked about her nightmares, but Alayne could see how they weighed on her normally shadow-free personality.
>
There was little trace of that now; Marysa had flipped her test papers shut, her chin propped in her hand as she stared dreamily out the window. The timer at the front of the room dinged. Sighs of relief filled the room.
“All right, class, please come place your examinations on my desk, and then you may go. Enjoy the Christmas dance tomorrow night, and I'll look forward to our classes in January.” The professor moved to her desk and watched as students began filing forward.
“How do you think you did?” Daymon asked as he approached her in the aisle.
Alayne shrugged. “I think I passed at any rate, so that's important.” She glanced at the test in Daymon's hand. “How about you? It wasn't your element; do you think you passed?”
“Pretty sure.” Daymon glanced down at the papers. “I was a little worried, so I talked to her about it last week. She said that she grades on individual ability. Since at my best, I could only do a little with Fire and Ice, she said she'd grade on the amount of effort I put into my projects. The written exam was mostly theory, so that wasn't hard.”
“Oh.” Alayne's heart sank. She had loads of ability with all four elements. Suddenly, she wasn't so sure about her grade.
Daymon noticed. “It'll be fine, Layne. If you felt good about your test, I'm sure she'll pass you.”
“Yeah, hopefully.” Alayne reached the desk and laid her test on it, and then headed for the door.
Kyle was waiting for her in the hallway. “How did it go?”
Alayne shrugged. “I'm tired of thinking about it. Let's go for a run. I need to clear my head.”
Kyle grinned. “I thought you might.” He pointed to his running shoes beneath his warmups. “I dressed for the occasion.”
Shadows of Uprising (Guardian of the Vale Book 2) Page 12
