I shuddered. That image was going to give me nightmares. Alec was at least twice her age and ten times uglier. I still had no idea how he’d managed to get Julie. I shuddered again and pushed cold fries around on my plate. “You think Jules will find a way to get to Jess, somehow convince her to go dark?”
“I think Jess isn’t that far off.” He let that comment hang between us as we finished our meal in silence. I lost my appetite and pushed my tray toward him, which he happily accepted and ate my food too. “Come on, let’s head out to the field. I want to catch a few of the tribunals.”
It was better than going to my dorm and dealing with the Barbie bitch. We threw out our garbage and stacked the trays near the door before walking out hand in hand. As we crested the rolling hill and the field came into view, I slowed, recalling my tribunal. I’d never been so unsure of myself, and it wasn’t like anyone gave me a heads-up on what to expect. My stomach knotted as my pulse kicked up.
“Relax,” Clay said in a calm voice, squeezing my hand. “I feel your air call charging. There’s no reason for you to be nervous. You already had your tribunal.”
Why, then, couldn’t I shake the feeling something bad was about to happen?
I held on to his hand, curling my fingers and tightening my grip for good measure. He pushed his control to me, something I still needed every once in a while. Like now, when I fought an anxiety attack and didn’t know why. Since I’d gone off the pills my mom had given me for a made-up disease I didn’t have, all to keep my emotions in check and my powers dormant, I overreacted to everything. Or maybe it was a normal reaction and I’d underreacted to everything up to that point. Whatever the reason, uncertainty swirled inside me. I didn’t like it and was grateful Clay had enough control for us both.
The closer we got, the louder Professor Layden’s voice grew. I still didn’t know how she did that, projecting her voice like she had a microphone, yet there were no speakers, no way to broadcast, and I knew from personal experience she didn’t have a mic.
We stood on the sidelines since the grandstands were full. Seas of yellow, red, blue, and green surrounded the field, students in their house colors, all cheering and whistling as Layden in the one-piece Cat Woman suit she’d worn at my tribunal challenged elemental after elemental to draw out their primary element. Strands of her dark hair had come loose from her bun. She looked tired, as if she’d run a marathon before swimming to Whidbey Island from Seattle, all without sleeping for days. Tribunals clearly drained her, yet I’d never heard her complain about them. Not once. My respect for the tiny teacher jumped up a few pegs.
“We have another fire elemental!” she announced, and the stand with the sea of red blazers went nuts. “Next up, Trevor Carson.”
A skinny little blond with wide brown eyes behind huge owlish glasses shuffled onto the field. He looked as scared as I was when I’d walked onto this field last year to have my primary choose me. When I remained undeclared, the crowd had gasped, like I’d committed the ultimate cardinal sin.
“He’s earth,” I mumbled, feeling his element from clear on the sidelines. After a brief test, Layden declared the same, and the green blazers cheered.
Clay leaned in. “That’s the one Bry had to keep calm, the one we picked up yesterday. Nice enough kid, a little nutty in the head.”
“What do you mean?”
“He kept asking if we’d teach him all the elements. It’s not like I can teach him air. If it’s not in him, he’s never going to get it.”
I wasn’t so sure about that, but said nothing.
Another student, this one a young brunette with a ponytail, walked onto the field after her name was called, wringing her hands and glancing in all directions. Poor thing was terrified.
“Fire,” I said softly, smelling the heat from her call. Clay couldn’t hear me over the roar of the crowd. No one could, which suited me fine. I didn’t need anyone knowing I had the power to sense an elemental’s primary without testing them. In fact, I didn’t even know I had the ability to do that until, oh…five minutes ago.
As student after student took the field, I correctly identified their primary before Layden announced it. It became a game. The last student walked onto the field. Professor Layden looked ready to collapse, yet she pressed on. I had to admit, it impressed the hell out of me.
“Fire,” I declared and waited for Layden to do the same, smiling triumphantly.
“Air,” she announced. I dropped my smile and shook my head. The heat coming off the student’s call was strong enough to warm a room, and a large one at that. With the window open. In the dead of a Montana winter.
“Right on,” Clay exclaimed and punched his fist in the air. “We got another one.”
But… But… But… Professor Layden got it wrong. Air wasn’t the new elemental’s primary. He had the ability to control it, sure. But it wasn’t his primary. This kid, with his flaming red hair and cocky stance, screamed fire elemental.
I was numb as we left the tribunals, losing ourselves in the sea of students walking back up to the dorms. Two troubling thoughts bounced around in my brain.
First, how many times had Professor Layden declared the wrong primary?
Second, and the one far more concerning, was the bigger question.
Was it by design?
4
I woke
