The Earth Awakens (Elemental Academy Book 2)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “You have the afternoon to yourself,” Marcella said.

  She strode away, heading into the Academy, leaving Tolan alone. He debated following her. He could return to his quarters in the Academy, perhaps go to the library and continue his studies, but there weren’t too many days on which he had complete freedom, and he liked the idea of being able to spend it outside. Besides, in the months he’d been in Amitan, he had yet to fully explore the city.

  He didn’t really want to do it alone, which meant looking for one of his friends. Jonas was working with his mentor, which meant he would be unavailable, especially as Master Yael could be quite demanding. Ferrah should still be around, and rather than going off on his own, Tolan decided to go and see if he could find her.

  He paused at the wide double door leading into the Academy. The markings upon the door were powerful, runes representing each of the various elementals, but he only recognized a few. He wondered if he would ever understand them all, though that was something for more advanced shapers, which he most definitely was not. Until he managed to reach the other elements more effectively, learning about things such as the runes would be beyond him. Anything he’d learned so far had been on his own, and almost accidental rather than intentional.

  He paused in front of the door, tracing one of the marks he recognized. It was a triangle with a single shape at the center, one he had come to realize represented spirit. Ever since stopping Jory at the Convergence, Tolan had realized he must have some other connection to spirit than he had ever known. Having seen this rune at the place of Convergence, Tolan had realized he’d seen the same shape before. Those memories were faint, difficult to reach, but they were there, buried within him.

  The door opened and Tolan tore his gaze away and glanced up at Master Sartan as he emerged, his flowing robes fluttering behind him.

  He cast a sharp glance at Tolan before pausing. “Shaper Ethar. What are you doing out here? Aren’t you supposed to be in your studies?”

  “Marcella released me for the day,” he said.

  As Master Sartan pressed his lips together in a frown, Tolan realized he had been far too familiar with the other shaper. Marcella allowed him to call her by her first name, but few other shapers did. They preferred to be referred to by their honorific, and though it didn’t matter quite as much to Tolan, there were some to whom it mattered quite a bit.

  “Even if you have some time off, you should still spend it wisely.”

  “I intend to go to the library,” he said. At least that wasn’t a lie. He figured he would find Ferrah in the library, if he found her anywhere. She would be unlikely to be in the students’ quarters, and if she were still in the Academy buildings, the library would be the place where she spent most of her time. Though she had been shaped, memories of their time in the Convergence wiped away, she still chased knowledge of power similar to what would be found in Par.

  “Then don’t let me keep you.”

  Tolan was tempted to find out what he was up to, but questioning a master shaper, especially one who instructed and led one of his classes, wasn’t a good idea. Master Sartan might have tolerated him, but there would be limits to his tolerance, and Tolan anticipated there would come a time when he would exceed those limits. He had very nearly done that already with his failure to improve as rapidly as some of the master shapers would’ve preferred.

  Hurrying inside, he discovered the Academy was far more active than it often was at this time of day. A few other first-year students made their way through the hallways, talking quietly, though none was someone he was altogether close to, other than Wallace, who roomed with him. A few older students wandered the halls, but he didn’t know them, either.

  He veered off the main entrance and headed toward the library. The Academy library was enormous, several stories high, and seemed to be half of the main part of the Academy itself. Tables filled most of the open space, and an elevated dais at the far end of the room provided seating for two of the master librarians. Neither looked up as he entered, though Tolan wondered if they were aware of him. A tingling washed across his skin as he entered the library, a sensation that could be from whatever wards had been placed along the library to prevent others from shaping within it, or it could be from Master Minden, the master librarian whom Tolan still suspected of having the ability to shape within the library.

  As he paused and scanned the students, his gaze fell upon Ferrah. Her bright red hair had been braided down the back of her flat gray student robe. Her head was bowed as she leaned over a book flopped open on the table.

  As he approached her, Master Minden glanced in his direction. He flashed a smile, though doubted his smiling would do anything to influence her. Most viewed her the way his friend Jonas did, as nothing more than a senile shaper. Tolan knew better.

  Master Minden was incredibly knowledgeable, particularly when it came to the elementals. It was because of her that his knowledge and understanding of the elementals had continued to grow, and it was because of her that he had books on the elementals stored in his room, ones he had been allowed to borrow, something very few students would normally be allowed.

  He took a seat across from Ferrah but she didn’t look up. “Don’t bother me today.”

  “And why would you think I would bother you?”

  “You’re done with your studying with Marcella already, so I know you want a distraction. I’m trying to find what I can about the waste.” She looked up. “You know, you could help like you promised.”

  “How could you know I’m done studying already?”

  “Because you’re here.”

  “Just because I’m here doesn’t mean I want a distraction, and it certainly doesn’t mean you should ignore me like that.”

  Irritation flashed in her green eyes. She normally smiled easily, but today her face was drawn, the lines around her mouth tight.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s something Master Jensen provided to me.” She pushed the book over to him.

  Tolan looked down at the page. It was a flowing script, written in a language he didn’t know, but knowing her it was probably Par, though he had no idea what it might say. He frowned at it before looking up at her and shaking his head. “I don’t really know what you’re trying to show me.”

  “Don’t you remember what I’ve been researching?”

  “Par?” She frowned and he leaned forward. “I know what you’ve been researching, but I don’t think there’s any way of finding what you think you will.”

  To keep up appearances, Tolan hadn’t shared with her or Jonas that they had found a Convergence. Presumably, they all had been spirit-shaped, which meant none should recall anything about the Convergence, though when Master Irina had shaped him, he had somehow retained his memories. Either she had intended for him to do so, or her spirit shaping had failed for some reason. He still hadn’t figured out why or what that might mean, but a nagging part of him wondered if perhaps he didn’t have some capacity to use spirit. If he did, how—and when—would he ever reach it?

  “According to this volume, there are references to the power I’ve been telling you exists in Par.”

  “And I assume this is written in Par?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I can’t read it. I don’t know what it says or what you’re trying to show me.”

  “You really should work a little harder at your studies. There are things you can learn in the language of others. You don’t need to be so focused on what you might find in Terndahl.”

  “Just tell me what you are getting at, Ferrah.”

  “I’m getting at the fact that everything I’ve been suspecting all leads me to the same truth.”

  He tried to keep his face neutral but didn’t know if he succeeded. He couldn’t have her knowing that he already had experience with the Convergence, the power she searched for. If she knew, would she go looking for it? It wouldn’t be safe for her to do so, but at the same time, Tolan didn’t want to
betray her. Already, it felt like a betrayal keeping from her his knowledge of the Convergence.

  “You don’t believe me.”

  “It’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just—”

  “Shaper Ethar,” Master Minden said, sliding soundlessly up to the table. She leaned forward, resting her wrinkled and crooked hands on the surface of the table. “Do you still have those volumes I have lent you?”

  When he looked up at her face, noticing her milky eyes, he understood how easy it would be for people to mistake her for old and confused, but that would be an error. Master Minden still had an incredibly sharp mind, and with that came knowledge he hadn’t experienced from anyone else, not even from the Grand Master himself.

  “Do you need them back?”

  “They must be returned to the library eventually.”

  She studied him for a moment, seeming to still somehow see him through those milky eyes, though he wasn’t sure how that was possible, or if it even was. Maybe all of that was nothing more than imagined, rather than real.

  When she was gone, Ferrah leaned forward and studied him. “What was that about?”

  “You saw what that was about.”

  “No. How many books has she allowed you to borrow?”

  “She’s been helping me understand the elementals. You know that.” Tolan lowered his voice and leaned close to her, not wanting any others in the library to overhear what he was about to say next and thankful the library was a place where very few would have any ability to shape wind and listen. “I need to use the elementals in my shaping. I’m trying to find whatever edge I can when it comes to reaching for that power.”

  “So, you’re looking for more than what the masters can teach?” Tolan arched a brow at her, amused at this side of her. “Do you really think that’s a good idea with the rumors out there about you already?”

  Tolan tore his gaze away from Master Minden, who was weaving along the rows of shelves. He looked over at Ferrah. “What rumors?”

  “It’s not all that much of a surprise that people talk, Tolan. You’re the first student to have seen an elemental prior to coming to the Academy in a long time. People talk about that.”

  “And now many people have seen elementals,” he said.

  “There haven’t been any in weeks.”

  “Marcella told me there have been more recently. Enough that it spreads the Trackers thin and is now drawing other shapers out of the city.”

  “I suppose you want to go after them.”

  She couldn’t know he had gone after Jory. “I don’t think so.”

  She glanced around the library. “I know the Grand Master reported the person responsible was captured, but you were a whole lot more eager to go after this a few weeks ago than you have been lately. Why the sudden change?”

  It was the reason he wanted to share with her the fact they had been involved in stopping Jory, but how could he? If Ferrah made a mistake, and if Master Irina realized he hadn’t been spirit-shaped, he had no idea what would come of it. It was possible nothing would come from it, but it was equally possible she would attempt to shape him again.

  There were rumors about people who had been spirit-shaped, only to lose everything. Most of those rumors came from people unskilled with spirit, but Tolan wasn’t comfortable with the idea of losing any part of his memories, especially as he had only begun to have any shaping ability over the last few months. Even that ability was still tenuous at best. While he could focus on the elementals, and use that to reach for shapings, it was different than other shapers, so if he forgot, he feared how long it would take him to reach that connection again.

  “I think I’ve been distracted by our studies, and worried more about what the Grand Master might say if he learns we’ve been chasing after the rogue elementals.”

  Ferrah stared at him before looking back down at the book. “Which is even more reason for me to understand this.”

  “I don’t really get why.”

  “Because if there’s anything that ties to the elementals in the element bonds as we’ve been trying to understand, it’s this power I know exists. We just have to find it.”

  Would it come down to needing to mislead Ferrah? If it did, how long would he be willing to do so? She was his friend, but more than that, she had helped him when he had no idea about how to shape. Ferrah had not judged him and had been willing to accept the fact he wasn’t the same kind of shaper as others. He appreciated that about her, and she deserved for him to tell her, but fear of Master Irina kept him silent.

  “I was just going to see if you wanted to spend some time out in the city.”

  “You can go without me,” she said without looking back up from her book.

  “You know, it would be good for you to get out of the Academy, too.”

  “Why? This is how I want to spend my free time, much like you enjoy spending your free time with your head buried in books about elementals.”

  “I don’t know I would say that my head is buried in those books.”

  She looked up at him, arching a brow. “Maybe not buried, but you certainly have a significant interest in the elementals, enough that you are becoming something of an expert in them. The other masters haven’t said anything, but you need to be careful about how often you’re identifying the elemental they’re depicting in class.”

  If nothing else, his time spent studying the elementals had revealed knowledge he hadn’t had before, and also discrepancies between what the masters taught and what was depicted in some of the books Master Minden had shown him. Considering how old some of those volumes were, he could almost believe they were inaccurate. But at the same time, there was the distinct possibility—and probability, if he got down to it—that whoever had written the books on the elementals had understood them better than the more recent masters.

  “Are you going to come with me, or not?”

  “I really don’t want to,” she said. “You can go and ask Jonas.”

  “Jonas is still off with Master Yael.”

  “And I have to go meet with Master Kralil later.”

  “You sound almost as if you’re disappointed.”

  “It’s not who I would’ve chosen to study with, and I’m hoping I can move past him and make a different selection.”

  “How often do they allow that?”

  “Not often,” she said, closing the book. She breathed out, glancing over at the dais where the master librarians sat, and shook her head. “Maybe I should get out with you. If nothing else, you can let me clear my head before I have to go to my afternoon session.”

  “It can’t be that bad,” he said.

  “Are you so sure? How much have you enjoyed your sessions with Master Olive?”

  “Marcella is—”

  “Marcella? You’re on a first name basis?”

  “She doesn’t mind the informality while we’re outside the Academy.”

  She chuckled and shook her head. “I forget she’s still pretty young. She’s not that much older than us, is she?”

  “I haven’t asked her age.”

  Ferrah waved her hand. “I doubt Master Olive cares all that much about propriety.”

  “You might be surprised,” Tolan said.

  The door opened and he glanced up to see Marcella enter the library with two other master shapers. One was a Selector, a man in his thirties with high cheekbones and deep black hair. He had a muscular build and exuded a sense of authority. Had a Selector like him come to Ephra, Tolan wasn’t sure he would have risked barging into the selection process. The other person with Marcella was one of the older students, a compact woman who looked as if she might have been made from one of the earth elements.

  “Is that why you’re here?” Ferrah asked, following the direction of his gaze. “Did you know she was going to be here? She is quite lovely, but I didn’t figure you for the type to swoon over your instructor.”

  Tolan turned away, trying to hide the heat rising in his cheeks. “I
’m not swooning over anything, and certainly not over Marcella.”

  He kept his voice low, and yet Marcella looked in his direction, meeting his eyes for a moment. When she turned away, he looked down.

  “See? Like I said, you’re swooning over her.”

  “That’s not swooning. That’s avoiding her.”

  “According to Jonas, there aren’t too many men who would avoid Master Olive—excuse me, Marcella.”

  “Would you stop?”

  Ferrah shuffled her books, stacking them, and she nodded at him. “Are we going to get out of here, or was that all for show?”

  “I really would like to go out into the city.”

  “Good. Because I need to get away from here now.”

  Tolan grunted. It was odd to see this side of Ferrah. She was usually the rational one, the kind who didn’t get caught up in things like jealousy, especially with one of the masters. He was still a first-level student, having not yet passed the test to move on to the second level. He still wasn’t sure what would be involved in that test and was in no hurry to discover it. Reaching the spirit tower, passing that test, had been enough of a victory for him. And he had discovered a connection to shaping. If nothing else, he could use that and wouldn’t be confined to Amitan and serving in the Academy. If he was able to shape, he would always be able to serve Terndahl in some way. Though now he was here, he wanted more than just to serve in some way. He wanted to understand, especially as he thought there was something different about him and his ability.

  They headed out, hurrying into the courtyard once again. The sun shone down, warm and inviting, sending his skin tingling. He glanced over and realized the tingling came from Ferrah shaping near him.

  “How long do you think we can be gone?” he asked.

  “I have a few hours before I need to be back,” she said.

  “I’ve been wondering,” he said as they neared the gate leading out into the street, “when is the next Selection?”