Alayne smiled and then frowned. “What about you, though, Daymon? You made it abundantly clear to Sprynge where you stood on the matter, and you're not the Quadriweave.”
A smile tugged on the corner of Daymon's mouth. He glanced sideways at her. “I'm not worried.” He reached over and tugged her braid. “You'd protect me.”
Though Daymon said the words as a joke, they sank into Alayne's consciousness, filling her with dread. She could certainly try to protect him, Marysa, Kyle, all the students at Clayborne, but somewhere, at some point, the Elemental Alliance would find a chink in her armor, her Achilles' heel. She would eventually let someone slip through the cracks, and it would be all her fault.
In spite of Kyle's words in the library, Alayne felt the responsibility of protecting the student body from the Elemental Alliance. Her hands trembled each night as she practiced her work with the elements, bending them with the utmost finesse. If the Alliance came to Clayborne, it would be her against a horde of the most skilled Elementals in CommonEarth. Each Elemental in the school would need to pull out some of the best work they'd ever done if the underground Last Order group were to have a chance of victory.
This awareness made her even more determined to get the speed-dating club to the point where they could defend themselves if need be. She had asked Marysa what she thought about meeting twice a week instead of just once.
“I don't know.” Marysa had shifted uncomfortably. “It's a good idea, Layne, I'm not saying it isn't, but we're already walking a fine line with so many students coming and trying not to raise any suspicions with the professors. The list of names helps, and the bracelets, but it's not a perfect fix. Someone could still figure out how to communicate what we're doing without necessarily using the keywords I've locked into the element. Rachyl and I are trying to keep an eye on everyone, but... it's just—hard, Layne, to try to add to that.”
Alayne agreed. It was hard, and Marysa and Rachyl were doing their best. Daymon was trying to keep an ear out on the men's side of the dormitories, but none of them could be everywhere at once. It was fortunate that the students that attended really wanted to be part of a Last Order chapter and truly wished to keep it a secret.
Alayne allowed Daymon to open the utility hallway door for her, and her footsteps echoed down the steps and into the room. She glanced around. Daymon had helped the crowding situation a bit; he had blasted a hole in the second room's wall, making the meeting area three rooms long. With the additional room, students no longer needed to meet in the hallway.
She moved to the front, organizing her thoughts. Kyle watched her from where he sat on the floor in the front row, his fingers interlaced over his knees. With the extra room, the students had space to sit.
“Good evening.” She cleared her throat. The noisy chatter in the room quickly died down. She took time to study individual faces, analyzing each person's skill set, wondering how long it would be before they had to put it to use for life and death purposes.
“I thought we'd try something different tonight.” She looked around at the students. “One thing that I've found since I've been at Clayborne is that I depend way too much on my eyes to see what's going on before I react to it. With some outside help,” she glanced at Daymon, who nodded, “I've started to overcome that. I think it's important to react with your senses, not just your eyes. So tonight, for your practice, we'll be turning out the lights.” She nodded at the lanterns that flared in each corner.
Excited whispering rustled across the room. Alayne raised her voice. “But before we do anything with our partners, I just want you to take a little time to try to feel the elements, all four of them, not just your own personal element.”
Alayne nodded to Marysa, who waved her hand, and each of the lanterns flickered to darkness. Absolute pitch blackness bathed them all.
In her sudden blindness, Alayne could immediately sense the presence of each person in the room, where they sat in relation to each other, their mass and weight, how Lincoln, the boy two rows back, used the veil of darkness to quickly pick his nose and wipe it on his sleeve.
“Brenna Lake.” A girl's body in the back row of room three straightened, looked blindly at the sound of Alayne's voice. “What's your element?”
“Fire-Breather.”
“Brenna, what elements can you sense in the rooms here?”
“Of course, fire, but...”
“Give us a spark.”
Brenna flicked the element strand. A flash of light exploded in the back of the room. Everyone blinked, and then it was dark again.
“Very good, Brenna. What other elements do you sense?”
“I—I don't really sense any.”
“Come on, Brenna, you will. Your eyes are open and you're straining to see. Close them.”
A few whispered gasps rippled through the students, a few mutterings. “How do you know?” asked a girl named Penelope. “How would you be able to tell that she had her eyes open?”
“It's all in the senses. If you concentrate hard enough, you'll be able to tell if my own eyes are open or closed. Brenna, tell me.”
“Eyes open or closed?”
“Yes.”
There was silence for a few minutes. Alayne could feel Brenna rubbing her temples, her face screwed up in concentration.
“I—yes, I think your eyes are open. When you blink, the heat from around your face lessens a fraction.”
Alayne breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't been completely sure that she wasn't the only one who would be able to use her senses like that. “Yes, exactly, Brenna. With more practice, you will be able to pin-point my eyes, not just my face. Now, lights on again, please.”
The lanterns flared to life again, and everyone blinked in the glare. “I'm going to do a demonstration, and I want you all to practice it, secretly, as you get opportunity. Kyle, please come up here.”
Kyle's eyebrow went up. He slowly moved to the front to stand next to Alayne. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a hard, round candy she had kept from supper. It was small, white, with a hole in the middle. Unwrapping it, she held it between her thumb and forefinger. She took Kyle's arm and led him to one side of the makeshift stage. Concentrating on the water elements in the air around them, she pulled them together and packed them into a long pole, hardening the elements until they turned to ice. She breathed more moisture on some portions of the pole to strengthen it, sharpening the point of it to razor keenness. She handed Kyle the pole.
He took it, his eyes narrowing. “What are you doing, Layne?”
“You'll do fine.” She reached back into her pocket and pulled out a bandana she'd snatched from her drawer earlier in the day. She circled behind Kyle, pulling the bandana across his eyes and knotting it tightly in the back.
“Layne,” Kyle began, his voice unsteady. “What are you going to have me do?”
“I'll tell you in a minute. Face this way.” She angled Kyle so he faced stage left. She gave the pole one last touch to be sure it was sturdy and walked to the opposite side of the stage. Turning to the class, she held up the candy. “Kyle is going to demonstrate the effectiveness of using your senses. When Marysa tells you, Kyle, I want you to concentrate with your senses on where I am. Find the candy I've just unwrapped. Then I want you to throw your javelin and put the point of the javelin through the hole in the middle of the candy without breaking the candy.”
Gasps sounded across the rooms.
“She's not.”
“No way.”
Kyle's frustrated voice rose above them all. “Layne, even if I could see, I wouldn't be able to hit that target!”
“That's the whole point, Kyle. Senses of the elements are much more accurate than your normal eyes, ears, nose, mouth and hands. Quiet now, please, everyone. Kyle needs to concentrate.”
She faced the classroom, stuck out her tongue as far as it would go, and gingerly placed the candy, edge-side-down on the tip of it. The candy wanted to roll, but Alayne kept it firmly in place wi
th the elements. Taking a deep breath, she gave a careful nod to Marysa.
Marysa's scared, white face turned to Kyle. “She says she's ready, Kyle.”
From the corner of Alayne's eye, she could see Kyle's tense stance. His knuckles were white around the javelin. He was still for so long, Alayne began to worry that he would actually refuse to do it.
At last, he raised the javelin to his shoulder. His jaw was rock hard as his lips opened. “Here it comes, Layne,” he ground out through gritted teeth.
Alayne could see his free hand shaking a little. The one that held the javelin was rock steady. She felt the elements bend with his will. He reached his arm back behind his shoulder and then brought it forward, his fingers releasing the javelin.
The spear flew through the air, adjustments happening at the speed of light. And then, it was there, the ice barely grazing her tongue, the spear point through the candy. The javelin shattered against the wall on the other side. The point of it lay on the cement floor, and a small round candy hung over the end. Alayne quickly picked up the javelin head and held it up for the class to see.
More gasps. Some of the boys started cheering. “Nice, Pence!”
Kyle had ripped the bandana off his head as soon as his hand had let go. Now he leaned heavily against the wall, his hands on his knees, his face white.
Alayne glanced at him as she thanked the class. “That's it for tonight. Practice! Not necessarily with javelins,” she hastily amended. “Practice sensing all four elements without using your eyes. When we come back next time, we can use your practice in our group sessions.” As the students began to leave, Alayne called out, “Only two more sessions before exams, guys. Keep that in mind.”
Alayne turned to the podium where she'd left her sheet of notes, but Kyle stood next to it, his eyes blazing with fury. “What was that?”
Alayne saw Marysa and Rachyl turn away and hurry out the door after the last students. Daymon would be up on the track making sure the students evenly spread themselves in trips up the chute. Alayne and Kyle were alone.
Alayne turned back to Kyle. “What are you so up in the air about?”
Kyle gripped the edge of the podium. “Layne, I could have killed you with that stunt! You of all people should know that I'm nowhere nearly as good as you are at sensing the elements. Skies, Alayne, if I had been even the slightest bit off in my calculations, if I had for one second missed my feel of where you were, the shape of you, the way you're put together...” Kyle's tortured gaze burned into hers. “Do you think I could have lived with myself if anything had happened? What on CommonEarth possessed you to make me do that?”
Alayne studied his face for a moment. His emotions were raw, written across his face like script. Hesitantly, she reached out and cupped his cheek in the palm of her hand. She rubbed under his eye gently with her thumb. “Kyle,” she searched for the words, “you were the only one that could have done that exercise. Very few know me the way you do, except...” She stopped, stumbling over the name, and then continued. “Your feelings for me were the only things that guaranteed my safety. It was a big step, Kyle, but now you know how to sense the elements, all four of them, like you never have before.”
Kyle's blue eyes darkened. “It doesn't take away the fact that I might have killed you, Layne.” He slammed his fist into his open palm. “I might have killed you!” He turned around and jumped off the stage. Grabbing his bag from against the wall, he slung it over his shoulder and wrenched open the door before turning back to face her. “Don't ever use my feelings against me like that again, Layne.”
Then he was gone.
Alayne stared at the open doorway, guilt ripping open a hole in her heart.
She sighed heavily and pulled her notes together. Waving her hand, she doused the flames in the lanterns and exited the room into the hall.
A sound at the top of the stairs to her right sent a spark of electricity through her body. All the students had been using the other stairs on the far end of the hallway. No one was supposed to use the back stairs; they led to the locker rooms.
She stood still, her heart beating in her ears, and then the sound came again. The scuff of a shoe on metal flooring.
Alayne's hands trembled as she quickly scanned the elements. There, at the top of the spiral of stairs, he sat on the top step, sipping a drink and swallowing quietly.
Alayne's heartbeat tripled. “Chairman Sprynge.” She strained her eyes in the dim lighting. He nodded an acknowledgment, though she still couldn't make out his form with her eyes.
He finally spoke. “Interesting, isn't it, Alayne, how the world turns on its axis as it always has since the beginning of time? Peoples and nations and kingdoms rise up, one after another, and spin their dance through the pages of history for their stretch of time. Where there is power, there will always be anarchists—people who strip the power from the people to whom it belongs.” He paused, swallowed the rest of his drink, and set his glass down on the step next to his feet. “Are you an anarchist, Alayne?”
Alayne glanced over her shoulder. All the students had gone. Marysa and Rachyl would be far away, attempting to give her and Kyle some time alone, and Kyle had likely stormed to his room, venting his frustrations out of her earshot. Daymon. Where was Daymon? He should be back any time now.
“I don't know what you mean, sir.”
“The thing is, Alayne, the vast majority of uprisings that have happened throughout history have ended in a blood-bath for the poor peasants who thought they could disrupt the status quo.”
“And blind acceptance of the status quo by power-drunk individuals is no rule to live by, particularly when the status quo engages in genocide,” she said acidly. Alayne's fingers curled around her notes. Tension rippled up her neck.
Sprynge chuckled. “What a treasure you are, Alayne.” He stood and finally moved into view, slowly descending the stairs. “I wish I could have talked you into supporting the Elemental Alliance, that I could have made you see the beautiful vision so many of us have for CommonEarth. It's too bad, really.”
“What is?” Alayne was on the balls of her feet now, awareness of the elements radiating across the hall like a wave.
“That you couldn't be persuaded of your own accord. We will have you, Alayne, make no mistake about that. It would have been much more pleasant if you had come peaceably.”
Alayne mouth felt stiff as she shook her head. “You will never make me do something I don't believe in, Sprynge.”
“Ah, dropping the prefix already, are we? As soon as you figure out that we're on two opposite sides of a great divide, you lose the respect for the head of your school?” Amusement and sarcasm rolled off of him like a cloud.
“Chairman Dorner was the only Chairman I ever knew.” Alayne lifted her chin. “You've been nothing but an impostor.”
Sprynge laughed out loud at that one. “Oh no, I'm Chairman by every legal means, I promise you. My paperwork lies in the files; you won't be able to get rid of me quite so easily.” He stood facing her, his spectacles riding low on his nose, his portly, grandfatherly figure at complete odds with the words coming from his mouth. “At any rate, Alayne, this will be the last meeting you hold with your speed-dating club. If you persist in playing at anarchy, you will find your friends disappearing one by one, do I make myself clear? Elementals or Naturals, they will be targeted because they are your friends, nothing more. Would you do that to them?”
Alayne stared at Sprynge, hot anger spreading through her. “How dare you threaten your own students! Why don't you just take me now, get it over with? Here I stand, completely alone and defenseless. You can take me, torture me, do whatever you want to me; you won't get me to help you in your lunacy. Just leave my friends out of it.”
“Well, you're not completely alone.” Sprynge's glance over her shoulder whirled her around. Daymon stood about a foot behind her, his eyes burning holes into Sprynge.
Sprynge's voice pivoted her toward him again. “The High Court begins
its latest deliberations at the end of the school year. Many new laws will be passed now that the EA has a majority in the Court—the end of Natural contamination is coming. The Elemental Alliance will achieve unprecedented power, and you will use your many gifts for the purposes and priorities of the Alliance. Do I make myself clear?”
“Or what?” Alayne hovered on the edge of hysterical laughter. “You'll give me a cookie if I do? You'll kill me if I don't? Do you have any idea how much I loathe you and everyone like you right now?”
Sprynge pulled the spectacles from his nose and wiped them with a tissue. “Or your parents will die. First, your mother, because she was half-witted enough to marry a Natural—such a waste of her talents. Secondly, your father. He says hello, by the way. Wants you to be good, not make any stupid mistakes.” He paused and took another step closer. “Silly mistakes. Rookie mistakes like assuming that the only way the Alliance can hurt you is by harming your physical body. There are so many, many ways to overcome you, Alayne. Your parents, Miss Blakely, Mr. Houser, Mr. Manders, just to name a few.”
Alayne staggered backward as Sprynge sedately turned and climbed the steps. Weakness hit her knees; she started to collapse, but Daymon's arms caught her, clamping her back against him.
“Don't believe him,” he whispered. “My uncle would have let me know if they were in any real danger.”
Alayne cocked her head to look up at him. His gaze locked on the rust-covered railing, and doubt clouded the blue depths of his irises.
Chapter 21
Alayne didn't see Kyle until the next morning at breakfast. He started to walk by Alayne on his way toward the table where he had sat since their breakup, but Marysa grabbed his arm as he squeezed behind her.
“Sit down, Kyle.” Marysa's voice was clipped. Alayne stared at her.
After a second's hesitation, Kyle did as she asked, sliding smoothly onto the seat between Marysa and Rachyl.
“What's up?” His blue eyes were mystified as he glanced around at them all and then settled his gaze on Marysa.
Shadows of Uprising (Guardian of the Vale Book 2) Page 24
