Rowen nodded. He was glad too, and even happier to see that Kristoff truly did seem honestly pleased. He had been quiet for so long. Maybe part of him had been afraid people wouldn’t care what he had to say.
He looked out over the water, the scent of it strong. A bucket lay by the side of the lake, attached to a pulley, and it vibrated under Rowen’s fingers when he touched it, the cord taut.
“People use that to get water,” Kristoff said. “Each week it’s delivered to the basin in front of everyone’s house. For students, you get it delivered, but once you live on your own, you’ll have to get it yourself every morning or evening—whichever you prefer.”
Rowen nodded. The ceiling overhead was riddled with holes, and he pointed up.
“We have piping that collects rainwater, and it seeps down from the ground too,” Kristoff said. “We have to keep the water clean, so there are filtration systems set up.” He blushed. “I don’t fully understand them. The island’s engineers take care of it.”
That made sense. It was so much better than his old village, where a well would last for a week at most, and everyone would fend for themselves. The resources here were amazing.
When does it rane? he wrote. Kristoff moved closer, reading over his shoulder as he spelled out the words. Rowen’s skin fizzed with sudden nervousness; it was strange to have Kristoff so close, so interested in what he wanted to say. He wanted to keep writing, to ask if it rained after a heat spell, but Kristoff started talking before he could.
“Usually in winter or spring, but it can happen anytime. We’ll get rain tomorrow, certainly, after I break the heat spell. We won’t need a hurricane, but the day will be quite stormy. And apparently there’ll be lightning.” Kristoff sighed.
Rowen wrote Vokes?
“Yes, Volkes.” Kristoff smiled at the paper. “I take it he’s mentioned to you that his specialty is lightning?”
Rowen nodded.
“Have you seen him use magic?”
Rowen shook his head.
“I suppose tomorrow will be a good day for you, then. I want you to sense as much as you can, like you did on the beach. Try to sense it as I draw the cold front toward me. I’ll be using a lot of power, so it will be easier than usual.” Kristoff smiled. “It’s like… watching someone do a dance move, I think. When you see someone else do it, you can copy it quickly enough.”
Rowen wanted to ask about dance, but if he did he would get off track, and writing was difficult. Instead he wrote, Were wil the heat spel go?
Kristoff stared at the paper, eyes narrowed. The cavern was silent. “It disappears,” he said finally. “When I bring a cold front in, the hot air vanishes.”
Rowen frowned. He had sensed the heat spell, a cushion of warmth that was larger and more powerful than any of the cold air that pushed at it. It didn’t make sense to him that it could just vanish. But maybe he would understand it tomorrow after seeing what Kristoff did.
“Does that make sense, Rowen?” Kristoff said. He moved from behind Rowen to in front of him. “A heat spell is like a force of nothingness, something that repels air you can control. When you bring in the cold air, it pops it, like a bubble. It spreads out, is cooled, and then leaves.”
Rowen tilted his head, then shrugged. I hope I can sens the heat spel tom
Kristoff spoke up before he could finish trying to spell out the word tomorrow. “I’m sure you will. You sensed the cold air before, and when I bring in a storm, it becomes even easier. This time tomorrow this lake will be near overflowing.” He pointed. “And, I hope, you’ll be able to sense the air even better than before. In fact, tomorrow evening, how about we meet on the beach again and see?”
Rowen nodded. He hoped so too.
“Good. I’ll see you bright and early at the house in the morning. And Volkes too, I suppose.” Kristoff turned on his heel, the stone on his necklace thudding against his chest. “I’ll get you at the break of dawn, when the clock in the living room says four in the morning. Speaking of, I should ask Lorana about the Volkes issue. I’m sure it’ll be fine, but she’ll need to be informed. Damn.”
Rowen didn’t respond, and Kristoff wasn’t looking at him, so he couldn’t get his attention. He wanted to write more, to talk to Kristoff more about everything, not just heat spells and rain and underground lakes, but he understood Kristoff was busy. And Elise had said she would practice with him. He could do that instead. If he could write faster, he could say more next time.
Chapter 23
“OF COURSE you should work with Volkes,” Lorana said, not even looking up from the papers on her desk. “Every student should be observing you break the heat spell, and Volkes is next to become a full Storm Lord, or so Katia says.” Privately Kristoff thought that was because Katia wanted to get rid of her obligation as a mentor as soon as possible. “Let him bring in some unsettled air to cast a few lightning strikes. It will make your job even easier and give Volkes practice working with others. He’s not strong enough to break most heat spells on his own, and he needs more interpersonal training.”
She knew a lot more about Volkes than he had thought. He wondered if Katia had complained to her.
“And how is your student? Is he communicating yet? Do you know his specialty?”
Kristoff jolted. “He’s… fine, yes, and he’s only been in training a few weeks. It might be lightning, though.” Kristoff thought back to the first time he had asked Rowen to try to use any magic. “I don’t yet have a sense of how powerful he is.”
“Might be?” Lorana’s eyes narrowed. “How did he do sensing the heat spell? I assume you had him try.” She was looking at him now, and Kristoff realized he had walked in to an impromptu evaluation of his abilities as a mentor and a judging of Rowen. He had to defend him.
“I, uh, yes, I had him try. He sensed it. There was some—” Kristoff stopped himself before he revealed anything about the strange way Rowen sensed it. “Well, I think he sensed it. He definitely sensed the pattern of cold air, though.” He left out the part where Rowen had indicated the air flowing toward the island, not away. Kristoff still didn’t understand why Rowen would think that. Maybe it was an artifact of the way he drew images, a frame-of-reference issue. “I am positive he will be a Storm Lord. There’s no need to worry.”
Lorana didn’t look convinced. “And I assume he’s adjusted to the island. How is he faring in the heat spell? No unpleasantness?” Some students reacted badly when they realized the heat spells were inescapable and that they had to put up with them when they thought the Storm Lords should be breaking them as soon as they formed.
“No, he….” Kristoff thought back. “He barely seemed to notice it.” Maybe he had really been worried about the lack of water. But he hadn’t even seemed to sweat much. The southwest regions must be unbearable.
“Good for him. I suppose his old life was harsh.” Lorana made a few notes on the papers in front of her. “Keep me informed of his progress. Marin mentioned she still can’t sense his power, which is odd. You’re sure he can use magic?”
Kristoff’s stomach flipped. Rowen wasn’t safe yet. “Yes, I’m sure. I’m not mistaken.”
“Hm. Keep training him. He’s had enough time to adjust; really push him to figure out and use his abilities. You of all people should know by now that we, and the world, can’t afford to let potential Storm Lords slack, and we don’t have the resources to keep those who can’t earn them. I want to see proof, Kristoff.”
“I… yes, ma’am.” She gave him a curt nod, and he took the cue to leave. The heat had permeated the building and radiated off the stone floor.
He would work with Volkes and break the heat spell. Rowen could communicate now, and the brief discussion they had this evening energized Kristoff more than Lorana’s demands ever could. He could do this. He would show Rowen his power and then help Rowen learn his. Rowen would earn his keep.
KRISTOFF KNOCKED on Rowen’s door as soon as the night sky began to turn purple. Evening or dawn was the
easiest time to break a heat spell, when the air was unsettled with the changing temperature as the sun set or rose. And after a night spent tossing and turning in sweaty sheets, Kristoff was all too eager to return the island to its normal state.
He didn’t realize how eager he was to see his student until the disappointment set in when Volkes answered the door instead.
“Good, you’re here. I think Sharon’s already out there. Let’s go,” the blond said, wiping sweat off his forehead. “I want to get this heat over with.”
Kristoff ignored the completely inappropriate demanding tone. “Wait here while I get Rowen. Is Elise coming as well?”
“How should I know? Why bring her and Rowen at all?”
Kristoff clenched his jaw. How did Katia put up with him? “Every student”—he enunciated the word student, privately relishing it when Volkes’s eyes darkened—“if possible, should observe a heat spell being broken. It’s a learning opportunity for them as well as for you. I don’t know if Lila has made other plans for Elise, but I want to make sure Rowen is there and trying to sense what I do.”
“Seems pointless,” Volkes said. “Rowen could sense more from me than you.”
“And what makes you think that?” A mere student, and he thought he could teach better than Kristoff could?
“He’s gotta be lightning, like me. I can just tell.” Volkes grinned at Kristoff. “His body gets hot when he’s pissed off. What’d you do to him, anyway?”
Kristoff had never heard of anything like that before, and he didn’t like the way Volkes had said it. “What do you mean, his body gets hot?”
Volkes’s grin turned into a satisfied smirk. “A couple days ago. He was so upset he didn’t even want me to fuck him. Weird, since he was so eager the first time.”
The words sent his mind skittering like raindrops in a windstorm. “What?”
“I take it you haven’t fucked him? I thought you liked men.”
Kristoff’s face heated, and he willed himself to say something, anything. Rowen hadn’t told him… well, of course Rowen hadn’t told him. Maybe he should have listened to Franken and tried to discuss such things, but he couldn’t have. Kristoff had misled Rowen, upset him, and then…. Dammit, Volkes had gotten there first?
Kristoff dismissed the thought. He wasn’t in competition, especially not with Volkes. “That’s none of your business,” Kristoff managed, clearing his throat. “And what Rowen does in his private time is none of mine.”
“Whatever you say,” Volkes said with a calculated shrug. “You’re missing out, though. Maybe it’s because he can’t talk, but he can take things farther down his throat than—”
“Enough,” Kristoff said, his face hot. “Something I’m sure Katia has told you before, but what you do in that regard is your business, no one else’s. Others don’t want to hear it, and Rowen may not want it shared.”
“It’s not like he could share it if he wanted to,” Volkes said with a snort.
Kristoff paused, trying to think of a way to refute that and failing. “Wait here while I get Rowen. We should get this done as soon as we can.”
“That’s what I said first,” Volkes called. Kristoff ignored him as he headed up the stairs.
Rowen and Volkes. Rowen liked men. At least, he had fucked…. No, don’t think of it that way. He hated the northerner’s vulgarity. Rowen had been with Volkes.
Kristoff tried to think of it as a good thing. Rowen had found someone to be intimate with, even if it was with the pushy northerner. Volkes was a student, like him, and could help with things when Kristoff wasn’t around. Maybe Rowen could even benefit from Volkes’s attitude and learn to stand up for himself a little more. He would need it, Kristoff thought with some sadness, since he would never be able to speak.
Kristoff paused outside his door, the unfairness of it all hitting him hard. He wished he could be there for Rowen all the time. But he couldn’t treat him like a child—or worse, like a cripple. He was his mentor and would turn him into a Storm Lord. With that, he was sure Rowen would get the respect he was owed. What Kristoff wanted from Rowen didn’t matter.
He knocked on the door, listening for any sound that Rowen might be awake. He was about to knock again when it swung open, Rowen giving him a nod in greeting. He held a sheaf of paper in one hand, bound together with string, though it looked as if they had been cut smaller so they were easier to carry, and had somehow tied a pencil to a hole he had cut through the papers.
“Very nice,” Kristoff said. Rowen smiled. He picked up the pencil and wrote Elise helped.
At least Volkes hadn’t. Kristoff blinked at the surge of possessiveness. “Good,” he said. “Are you ready?”
Rowen nodded and followed him downstairs. Volkes, for his part, finally kept any rude comments to himself. Kristoff studied them both as they all walked to the beach, looking for any sign of intimacy, but Volkes was inscrutable, and Rowen kept looking back at him, tilting his head in a way that Kristoff was learning likely meant he was curious about something. Probably the reason why Kristoff kept staring at him.
Kristoff wasn’t about to come forward with what he had learned, and he cursed his own insecurities. He had told Volkes it didn’t matter because it didn’t. He had a job to do.
Unlike storms, heat spells didn’t have a center that a Storm Lord could sense, so Kristoff had chosen the same beach where he had begun Rowen’s swim training to call the storm, letting the colder air by the sea aid him. He let his worries about Rowen, and his annoyance at the entire situation with Volkes, be pushed to the back of his mind.
Lila, Katia, Elise, Sharon, Franken, Benjamin, and others had gathered there. Lorana wasn’t present, but Kristoff would have to report to her as soon as it was done anyway. As he approached, Katia came up to Volkes, speaking a few low words. He just tossed his head and waved her away.
“I’m going to begin, Rowen,” Kristoff said.
Rowen nodded.
“First, try and sense what Volkes does. Then try and sense me. The cold air will begin to move, and I want to see if you can track it, all right? It will be like an extension of your body, or some people sense it as a comforting breeze very far away that you can’t feel with anything but your mind.” Rowen’s brows drew down, but he nodded. Kristoff hated to add the next part, but he did anyway. “If you’re better at sensing what Volkes can do, it will likely feel like buzzing on your skin, but again, it will feel as though it’s far away. Whatever you feel, it will be different from real rain or static. You’ll know when you sense it. Do your best.”
Rowen nodded again, the pencil dangling from his papers that he held. Kristoff wished he could try to explain more or could have given Rowen the time to write out some questions, but there were others waiting on him. Not every student could sense something the first time their mentor called a storm. Rowen would do his best, and so would he.
“All right, Volkes,” Kristoff said. Franken caught his eye and tapped Benjamin on the shoulder, as if to get the kid to pay attention. Rowen looked up at the clear dawn sky, his chest rising and falling in a deep breath. “Go ahead. Call a lightning storm and start us off.”
“Gladly.” Volkes closed his eyes, and Kristoff cast out his senses too, following the air.
The heat thrust his senses outward, the heat spell an impassable mass, but it made it easier to pinpoint the low pressure just outside of it being spun around the wall of high pressure. It was already circling; this would be easy.
Volkes started; Kristoff could tell from the way the air he sensed began to move, tendrils becoming unsettled and the energy itself increasing. In his mind’s eye, Kristoff could see the ocean waves lapping and breaking as the wind picked up, the water giving up some of its moisture to the forming storm.
Those who specialized in lightning were usually better at pulling moisture alone rather than moving entire air currents, and Volkes followed that pattern. Clouds began to form, enormous masses of water with ice at the very top, where the air thinned.
Anytime that happened quickly, the result was obvious.
“Whoa,” someone said. Elise was gazing up at the sky, where the pink dawn had been replaced by a cloud the size of the island itself. Cumulonimbus, Kristoff knew, the type of cloud that was so large it had its own layers. The dawn light had vanished, the island dark once more. A scent permeated the air, like fresh soil mixed with a hint of burned hair. Kristoff wasn’t sweating anymore, but whenever he sensed air like this, he wasn’t sure if it was because the heat spell had already started to break or if he was less aware of his own body.
The air growled with the unmistakable roar of thunder, and Rowen flinched. In less than a second, the cloud flashed, the electricity moving inside it. Kristoff blinked, still seeing the purple and white streaks on the insides of his eyelids.
The thunder rumbled again, a long, drawn-out sound that made conversation impossible. Rowen stared at the sky as the arcs of lightning illuminated the cloud-covered dawn, his legs bent and shoulders hunched.
“Good,” Katia said, barely audible. “Keep the lightning among the clouds.” No Storm Lord would let lightning hit the ground if they could help it. It wasn’t always avoidable, but with a small lightning storm like this, he couldn’t imagine Volkes would have any problem.
He let the thunder toll and the lightning roil for a few minutes more before casting out his senses again. For all of his attitude, Volkes had done good work. But it wouldn’t be enough to totally erase the heat spell and disperse the high pressure. They needed a real storm for that.
And Kristoff could summon a real storm with very little effort.
There was still cool air circling the heat spell, like a shark circling a boat. Kristoff grabbed it, making it circle faster, pulling moisture from the cold sea while he did. Above his head, Volkes’s storm cloud began to circle too, and more clouds formed, stratus blossoming as more and more moisture was spun from the ocean into the air, and the moisture from the cloud Volkes had created was plucked out as well.
The Storm Lords Page 17
