“How’d the extraction go?” I asked, ignoring the palpitations as I struggled to regulate my breathing. I still hadn’t gotten used to people literally popping in and out of thin air like that. Most students chose to walk, since teleporting drained an elemental’s powers. Well, unless the elemental was Clay Williams. Nothing seemed to drain him.
Well, okay. One thing definitely drained him.
He shrugged and took my hand. When he smiled, showing off his beautiful teeth, it lit up his dazzling green gaze. He scratched at his beard, something I’d picked up as him stalling to come up with something witty. “Oh, you know. Another elemental, another dollar.” He perked up as he stopped scratching. “Hey, do you think they’d pay us if we asked?”
“I don’t think so.”
“What about tips? Tips would be okay, right?”
I laughed and shook my head. Leave it to my fun-loving air elemental to make light of something so monumentally jarring, it was like ripping a person from their normal and thrusting them into a world that was anything but normal.
“I’m serious.” A trait he rarely displayed, which was another thing I loved about him.
“I know. But, really. No issues?”
“Not even a hangnail, so the Council can’t declare it reason to invoke the prophecy yet again. At least this one wasn’t a scared little kid like the last one. That one was another earth elemental, like we need more of those.” He shuddered at the mention of an elemental with the power to call his opposite element. “Bry kept that one calm as we teleported back to the academy. The elemental we picked up today knew what to expect and was pretty excited to go.”
Nothing like my experience. What happened to me was a hell of a lot worse than a hangnail and gave the Council every reason to declare me the prophecy. Now that I’d fulfilled it, I didn’t really know what to do with myself. I refused to dwell on that awesome and frightening thought. “Hey, you want to get something to eat?”
“Totally. Teleporting makes me hungry.” He led me to the smaller dining hall across campus, where it wouldn’t be so crowded. “So tell me, Montana. Have you met the infamous Spencer Dalton yet? I heard when he arrived, there were screaming girls waiting at the office like he was in a boy band. Lucky bastard.”
What was it and comparing this guy to someone in a boy band? He looked nothing like boy band material. He was more along the lines of man band lead singer material. I grew a little heated in my nether regions at the thought of having him serenade me.
Snap out of it, Katy! I had four awesome guys. I certainly didn’t need a fifth.
“I’ve met him,” was all I said.
“I heard he’s undeclared. Is that true?”
“Yep.”
Clay whistled. “That makes two at this school now. I wonder how many new elementals this will sway to remain undeclared. I hope this isn’t starting a trend.”
I looked at him. Did he just raise concern over the rules? How very un-Clay-like. “Why would having two undeclared elementals start a trend?”
“You’re a quint, the first of our kind, and you fulfilled the prophecy by defeating Alec von Leer. You’re famous, Montana. Your Elepedia page is almost as long as Cressida’s. Then you’ve got Spencer Dalton, who’s already famous for being an epic battler and has an Elepedia page longer than yours and Cressida’s put together. He’s a quad, which makes him the second-most powerful elemental at the academy next to you. That,” he paused to bring my hand to his lips and kiss my knuckles, his beard tickling my fingers, “is why this might start a trend. You two are the ultimate power couple. All the new students coming to Clearwater are going to look up to you, want to be you. That starts with remaining undeclared, if they can get away with it.”
Awesome. Not only did I have this famous battler to deal with, I now had new elementals looking up to me. I was the last person anyone should look up to. I challenged authority every chance I could, broke the rules more often than I followed them, and I had a wicked snark spark.
We entered the dining hall, which was pleasantly close to empty. “Where is everyone?”
“Tribunals. They pretty much take up the rest of the day and will probably bleed into the first day of classes since there are so many new elementals this year.”
“Is it weird having this many new students?” I grabbed a tray and moved it along the counter, adding small plates of food I’d probably end up giving to Clay anyway.
“It’s a large group for sure. That’s why we’ve been so busy. I hate that I haven’t been able to see you much lately. We all hate it.”
I hated it too. I missed my guys. “At least we’re in the same house this year.” Which reminded me… “Did you hear they stuck me with Jess as a roommate?”
He made a face. “Talk about cruel and unusual punishment. You’re the freakin’ prophecy. You should have your own house. Your own room, at the very least.” He paused and stared straight ahead. “I wonder if they’d let us room together. I’m going to ask.”
The job Dean Carter placed on my shoulders came back and slapped me upside the head. I couldn’t babysit Jess and keep her from going dark if I wasn’t rooming with her. Reluctantly, I shook my head. “That’s okay. I’m sure it won’t be as bad as last year.”
Clay snorted. “Yeah, right. Vanessa was bad, I’ll give you that. She loves the spotlight, which is why she made it such a point to do all the shit she did in front of an audience.”
We found a table in the corner away from the few students in the dining hall, some with books open. Overachievers.
“The twins, on the other hand,”
