“I got this,” I reassured him with a quick nod, still not taking my gaze off Spencer. “Let’s give him one lesson. If he doesn’t impress us, we send him packing.”
Spencer spiked an eyebrow, accepting the challenge. Clay didn’t seem to notice or didn’t seem to care. He was ready to pass out and nodded, stumbling to the sideline and ungracefully falling on his ass as he took a seat to watch. With a wave of his hand, he said, “Proceed, subjects.”
I grinned. When Spencer grinned in return, I lost mine. “Why are you smiling?”
“You’ve got a tenacity about you that’s quite irresistible.”
“You’d better resist,” Clay retorted from the sidelines.
“Oh, come now. Are you worried I’ll sweep your sweetheart off her feet? Do you really have that little faith in your relationship? Perhaps you aren’t enough to keep her fancy.”
Clay pushed to his feet, staggered, and finally stilled. “What did you just say?”
Spencer shrugged easily. “I’m merely saying that if you are so concerned her attention will sway my way, perhaps you should allow it. No one wants a partner who is not one hundred percent yours, heart, body, and soul.” He swung that devil-blue gaze my way. “Oh, wait. You’re not only his, now are you? You share your affection with three others. Would that mean you’re his twenty-five percent?”
Oh, how he got under my skin. The heat of my anger bubbled inside me. Who was this asshole to judge me and my choices? Or Clay and his? “That’s it. We’re done.”
I spun to walk off when a blast of air hit me so hard, I flew back. As I stood, air twisted around me, creating a cyclone of wind, dirt, leaves, and anything else it could pick up. It wasn’t me calling the element, so it had to be Spencer.
How? How’d he still have any juice after I’d used light on him?
The wind around me moved faster until the roar of the air was deafening. It then closed in, coiling up, cutting off my oxygen. I wasn’t claustrophobic, but when the light of the day dimmed, I panicked. “Stop it!”
“You started it,” he said in way too calm of a voice that crawled across my skin. He was still a good ten feet away and yet I heard his voice as if he were trapped in the tornado with me. I tried to lift my hands and call an element—any element—but the air constricted around me like ropes, holding my arms to my sides.
I gasped to catch my breath. The wind spun faster and faster. Little dots of black floated in my vision as everything tilted in the opposite direction.
The stabbing pain in my hand came without warning, shot up my arm, and slammed into my brain. I wanted to scream, but couldn’t take a breath. I was suddenly cold, so cold, I shivered uncontrollably. In August. I dropped to my knees. Even then, Spencer didn’t pull back his call.
With every ounce of strength I had left, I called light. It exploded from me like a sonic boom in every direction, knocking over Spencer, Clay, benches, trees, and all the students clear on the other side of the training field. My call also shredded the field itself. It looked like it’d been rototilled.
I panted as I stood and took in the destruction. Shit on a rope. I was going to be in so much trouble for shorting out all the new air elementals’ calls. And destroying the training field. And getting the new shiny coin dirty.
Clay sat up, holding his head. “Shit, Montana. You have to warn me when you do that.”
I’d make it up to him later. Now, I marched up to Spencer, forcing him to his feet. “How are you able to call?”
He blinked at me, not comprehending my question. Good. Maybe he hit his head when he went down and lost his ability to speak. But then, alas, he broke his silence. “I’m an elemental.”
“No shit, Sherlock. I mean, how are you still able to call after I used light on you?”
The way he looked at me, a condescending smirk on his arrogant face, had me ready to hit him again. “Oh, Katy. There’s still so much you don’t know. I simply countered your light by pulling another element to the surface, so when you hit me, it only affected that element. If you were to ask me to call earth at the moment, I’d quite disappoint you.”
“You can do that?” Gone was my anger over him being a complete ass. How did I not know that was possible?
Clay joined us on the field. “I’ve never seen that done.”
“Teach me.”
“Teach us both,” Clay added. That would explain how I didn’t know, since my handlers from last year didn’t know.
“Are you through fighting me?” Spencer ignored Clay and kept his focus on me.
“It’s my nature to fight everyone.”
“She’s not wrong.” Clay nodded in agreement, knocking more dirt loose from his hair. “Well? What do you say?” He offered his hand.
Spencer eyed it before guardedly accepting it. “Just so we’re clear, I’m here for Katy. If you become too much of a distraction, you will leave the field. There will be no challenging my methods, or the deal is off.” He regarded me. “Is that understood?”
As much as I wanted to tell him to stick his order up his mighty fine English ass, I accepted the conditions with a nod.
7
I wanted to spend the rest of the night hiding out in my room and contemplating this deal with the blue-eyed devil known as my handler, but someone ordered pizza in Ventus commons. When I walked into the house, the delicious aroma overruled my want for isolation. Grabbing a few slices, I took a seat on one of the overstuffed chairs and devoured the food. I’d never had pizza this good and was sure
