“Showoff.” I sighed, feeling the drain from transferring my call to him and then teleporting so many times. My hand ached, reminding me of the deep gash in my palm. It’d begun to close up, but still hurt like the dickens. “Stop already. One of us needs to have enough juice to teleport us back to the academy.”
He lost his smile and tilted his head, studying me intently. “Are you that drained?”
I answered with a shrug, not wanting to admit how weak I felt.
With a nod, he finally conceded. “You win. Let’s head back. Take my hand.”
I reached for him but was blasted backward, all the way through the grove, and out the other side toward the edge of the cliff. I landed hard on my tailbone and had to fight to stand. Jesus holy hell, that hurt. I faced the grove, ready to take out the dark elemental that’d found us, and frowned.
No one was there.
I drew in a breath to call for Clay when a very distinctive scent caught in my senses. Sniffing the air, I froze, panting in fear. I knew that smell. I still had nightmares of the dark elemental whose call reminded me of decaying copper pipes. This was a little different, more like burnt human hair, but the death stench was unmistakable as it invaded my nostrils and stung my eyes.
Only one elemental I knew carried that scent in his calls. But it couldn’t be him. He was dead.
“Montana!” Clay rushed out of the grove and over to me. “Are you okay?”
I continued to stare straight ahead, searching the shadows of the trees for the monster I thought I’d killed last year. “It’s him.”
“Who?” He glanced over his shoulder, searching the same spot.
“Alec.”
He stiffened and whipped around to search the shadows again. “No way. You killed him. Are you sure?”
“I’d recognize the scent of his call anywhere.”
A monster of a fireball came flying out of the grove, sending us in opposite directions as we dove for cover. Neither of us recovered before we were thrust into the air and hurled at each other. I called air, but it didn’t respond. Clay called as well. At least his element responded and softened the blow, but it didn’t stop us from colliding. I bit my tongue when our heads smacked together.
And then we dropped.
I bounced twice when I hit the unforgiving ground, smacking my head again. The world tilted as I pushed to my knees. I looked for Clay, to reach him and teleport out, but it was like a fog had everything out of focus. I blinked several times, trying to clear my vision. That was when I realized the fog wasn’t in my head.
A thick gray haze had rolled in, low and ominous, snuffing out the light and making it impossible to see. I stood and turned in circles, reaching out and feeling nothing. “Clay!”
“Montana!” He returned my shout with his own. Shit. He sounded so far away. I swung my arms, trying—and failing—to clear away the dense fog. I took another step and caught myself before I fell forward when my foot met nothing but air. I’d reached the edge of the cliff.
“Be careful,” I yelled. “We’re close to the ledge.”
“Teleport back to the academy.”
I tried, focusing on the statue in the center of the round. Nothing happened. “I can’t. I must be too drained.” And now I was trapped in a soupy sea of clouds with the not-dead Alec von Leer.
“That’s not it. I tried too. Something is blocking our call. Let’s keep talking. We’ll find each other.”
“Where’d this fog come from? It was clear a minute ago.”
“A simple blend of air and water,” he replied, sounding even farther away. “We practiced making it my first year at the academy. Though I’ve never seen it this thick. Or so dark. It’s low, like the kind of fog made from dry ice.”
I moved in the direction of his voice. “Call air, and see if you can clear it out.”
“Already tried that. As soon as I open a path, more fog rolls in and closes it. Call fire, see if we can use it as a beacon for me to find you.”
I did, conjuring up a meager fireball. Why was my fire call so weak? A noise behind me had me whipping around. I swear I spotted a shadow streak past, barely disturbing the fog. “Who’s there?”
“Montana?” He was most definitely farther away now. “Is that you?”
Another streak, followed by a menacing growl that was neither human or beast. What the hell was out there? I whipped around again, my hands at the ready with a fireball hovering above each palm. When something brushed my hair, I spun and launched one of the balls of flames. It went flying and quickly disappeared in the intense mist.
“Clay? There’s something more than us in this fog.”
“What’d you just say? Montana? Can you hear me?”
“Clay?” I shouted louder.
“Montana?” His voice barely cut through the dense air. “Katy!”
“Clay? Clay!” I could no longer hear him. The fact he’d used my real name instead of his nickname for me sent my pulse skyrocketing. As if I wasn’t already close to stroking out, knowing my powerful air elemental found the situation serious enough to drop the pet name now had me freaking out even more.
Since my air element was being a stubborn dick, I called more fire, trying to counter the water particles. It didn’t work. I then called water to draw in from the fog. That too didn’t work. I called to the trees. “Please help us.”
I felt more than saw them begin to dance just as they’d done at my tribunal. They swayed, back and forth, back and forth. I found myself swaying with them. Or maybe they swayed with me. Regardless, we kept perfect time, moving faster and creating enough wind to break through the
