She lifted her gaze once again. “Out of balance.”
“You mean there shouldn’t be that many?” When she began to fade, I reached for her. My hands went right through her image. That wasn’t weird at all. “Wait. Don’t go yet.”
“I can’t be all places at once if I’m here like this. Stay diligent, Katy. Things are not as they seem.”
With that, she faded, leaving me alone in the dark, feeling even more uncertain about this school year than ever.
6
Primary for air was as flighty as the element. Professor Gallen was more concerned with cracking jokes than teaching the class anything about controlling a call. Clay couldn’t stop raving about it as we walked hand in hand to the training field, so I kept the commentary to myself.
For about three seconds.
“There’s no way I’ll last in Primary this year if all we do is laugh at the professor’s failed attempts to be funny.”
“What are you talking about?” He gave me a look like I’d just confessed I had no idea how to walk and chew gum at the same time. “GG is hilarious.”
“GG?”
“Professor Geoff Gallen. We don’t really stick with formalities in Primary. Aren’t you glad you’re in air this year?”
“Thrilled.” I stopped before rolling my eyes. I called my great-grandmother GG and could never take a professor seriously if I had to call him the same thing I called the woman who used to forget to put in her teeth.
Clay removed his blazer and wiped his forehead with the back of his arm. “Man, it’s hot out here. Let’s skip your training and go skinny-dipping.”
I didn’t hate the idea. “Do you think anyone will notice?”
“Him, probably.” He pointed straight ahead. I followed the extended index finger and groaned. “It’s your fake handler. Your fandler.”
That did not make me feel any better.
Spencer spotted us from across the field and lifted his arm. I started to lift mine in response, thinking he was waving, then dropped it to defend myself just as a massive wave of air slammed into us. Clay flew back several feet. I rolled and came up, thrusting my arms forward and calling air back at him.
Spencer brought up his hand and stopped my call by using my air against me, knocking me back to the ground. I landed with a grunt, tried to push myself up, and couldn’t. The son of a bitch used my own element to hold me down.
“Guess that answers the question whether he can call air or not,” I mumbled. Spencer indeed had powers. Strong powers. Stronger powers than mine, at least with air, which didn’t please me in the least.
He wiped his hands together as if he’d just taken out the garbage and wanted to get the remnants off him and took his time approaching. I still couldn’t get up and growled—yes, literally growled like a beast—when he flashed a haughty expression. “Lesson one: Come to the battlefield ready to battle.”
I broke through the airfield and rose to my feet, blowing the auburn curtain of hair out of my face. “This isn’t a battlefield. It’s a training field.”
“Then come to the training field ready to train.” He flicked a quick glance at Clay, who stood and brought up his hands.
Oh shit.
Spencer gave him a bored look before flinging his arm as if swatting at an annoying bug. Clay spun into the air and flew back several feet. That did it. I could pick on my guys and use their primary against them during trainings, but I will bust a bitch if anyone else thought they had that right. I glared at Spencer.
Hello, bitch.
I hovered a fireball above each palm. Since I couldn’t beat him with air, which I still didn’t understand, I’d hit him with something a little stronger.
The flames danced in eager anticipation of being let loose on my target. He shook his head and barely lifted a finger. My flames fizzled and died. How’d he do that? Fire was one of my strongest elements. Apparently, his was stronger.
He faced me. “Lesson two: Always assume your opponent is more powerful.”
“The hell you say.” I called the water from the ground and created a wave behind him. A little swim might knock him down a few pegs. He countered by calling earth and having the dirt tsunami reach up, consuming the water. The two elements slowly sank down, returning to their original position.
Well, that sucked.
Before I could call another element, he tossed me backward with a gust of air. I flipped ass over teakettle and landed on my shoulder. Pain exploded and shot down my arm. Nothing broke, but it sure hurt like hell.
“Hey!” Clay roared and ran over. He shoved Spencer. Hard. The gloves were off, as were the calls. Now it was good old-fashioned chest-bumping and fisticuffs. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Lessons,” he answered matter-of-factly. Giving Clay another bored look, he added, “As a handler, it’s what you should be doing as well instead of ignoring your charges to challenge me in front of your girlfriend in some failed attempt to protect her. If she is as powerful as I’ve been led to believe, it is she who should be protecting you.” He then flashed a cool, arrogant smile that transformed him from dashing to dick. “Then again, that’s exactly what she did when you went up against Alec von Leer, isn’t it?”
Clay set his jaw and took a step toward him, not backing down. I’d never seen my air elemental so threatening before. Sure, he challenged authority every chance he got, but he was never violent about it. Right now, with his fists at the ready, he was about to unleash on Spencer. “Blast her like that again, and I’ll kick your ass.” He backed away until he reached me. “Come on, Montana. Let’s go.”
I took his hand, and together, we turned our backs on Spencer and started off the
