Big mistake.
The blast of air hit us so hard, it sent us flying in separate directions. I used my hands to break my fall and hissed in a breath when I landed on my wrist wrong. It reminded me it’d been broken in something like ten places less than a year ago. It might have healed, but when I hit it wrong—like breaking my fall after being hit in the back by my new handler—it still hurt.
I jumped to my feet and spun to face Spencer, pissed. “Only cowards attack from behind.”
“Lesson three: Never assume your opponent will fight fair. Now, are you ready to learn? Or do you still want to challenge me?” He brought up his hands to deliver another blow.
Clay charged and threw a punch, knocking Spencer back. I didn’t stop him. I only wished I had done it first. He recovered and used Clay’s opposite to attack, calling earth and opening a sinkhole that swallowed him whole.
“Clay!” I rushed to the hole and reached inside for him. He stretched his arms but couldn’t grasp my hands. The hole began to close. He grunted and winced as the earth squeezed. I screamed at Spencer. “Stop it! You’re crushing him!”
“That’s the basic idea.”
I rested my hands on the dirt and pleaded with the element. “Please, don’t do this. Don’t let him make you do something you don’t want to do.” The dirt responded by squeezing Clay tighter. He hollered out in pain.
If I couldn’t get the elements to respond to my calls, I could at least kill his ability to call and brought up my hand, squaring my palm on him and calling light. It hit him like a beam from a flashlight. He staggered back, and his power over earth dropped. I called the element and willed it to lift Clay from the hole. It did and dropped him on the grass before disappearing into the hole.
He panted and pushed to sit up. His white shirt was covered in dirt, as was his entire body. The element changed his hair color from deep brown to mud. He brushed dirt from his beard. “Gross. I’m covered in earth.” He used both hands and aggressively scrubbed, knocking more dirt free.
I helped him to his feet. “Are you okay?”
He nodded and leaned against me. My light call shorted out his powers too, which was one of the drawbacks of using light. It weakened me, sure, but it didn’t kill my ability to call my other elements. It did, however, kill everyone else’s within the vicinity of my call.
When I hugged him, we both winced for different reasons. I cradled my hand to my chest as icy pain radiated up my arm, centering from my palm. Clay grabbed his middle. “I think he broke my spleen. You okay?”
I pulled my hand back and stared at the deep gash in the center my palm, unsure how it got there. In all the chaos of protecting Clay from Spencer, I must have sliced it. I never noticed it before, but I definitely noticed it now. Jesus, it hurt. It was cold, like my hand had been submerged in glacial water.
“When did you cut your hand?” He took it and brought it up to examine the wound.
“I don’t know. It wasn’t there a minute ago.”
“The light, maybe?”
My elements had never injured me calling them before. “I’ll ask Professor Fowler tomorrow.”
“You can ask him today. We aren’t staying on this field with that maniac.”
“Katy, wait.” Spencer approached, not a hair out of place. The bastard. Clay’s uniform was ruined, his wild hair limp from the weight of the soil coating it. I didn’t look any better. My usually red hair was dirt brown, my shirt and socks no longer white, and my knees were almost black. At least the grime covering the yellow sweater dulled the color enough so it was no longer as bright as the sun.
“One more step and you’re done.” I brought my hand up to blast Spencer again if he tried anything.
He held his up in response. “No, please. Allow me to explain.”
“I’m waiting,” I snapped, keeping my palm squared on him.
“I may have approached this the wrong way.”
“You think?” I might have met the one guy who stated the obvious even better than Leo.
“I’m merely training you the way my handler trained me. It was very effective.”
“To do what? The only thing you effectively did was piss me off.” I lowered my hand, but only because it throbbed so much, I could no longer hold it up. I held it against my chest.
He, of course, noticed and nodded at the way I now cradled my newly acquired wound. “Why are you protecting your hand?”
“I broke my wrist last year,” I lied. Well, I didn’t really lie. That was totally the truth. The reason I held my hand close was totally a lie.
“Then you’d be holding your wrist.”
Good point.
“Come on, Montana.” Clay waved for me to follow him off the field.
I debated my next move. The pain in my shoulder, my wrist, and now my hand throbbed, but I’d get over it. I thought about Jess and how this asshole had cozied up to her in record time. As much as I wanted to walk away, tell this guy to go back to England or whatever rock he’d crawled out from under, I couldn’t do that. I had a job to do. I had to protect her. Sticking with Spencer kept me close enough to babysit them both.
“I’m going to stay.”
Clay stopped and turned. “Come again?”
I kept my focus on Spencer as he kept his focus on me. I didn’t trust the guy, and he knew it, judging by the way he offered a slithery smile like he’d just proved a point. “I’m going to see how well he fares now that he can’t steal our elements.”
“Are you sure about this?” Clay looked ready to collapse. My light call must have drained him completely. Although I hated what it’d done to
