I wanted to blend the element with other elements to create something new. Although Clay and Spencer liked my idea, Jess was only a single, so she couldn’t blend her call with any other, ruling that out. Spencer mentioned something that piqued both Clay’s and my interest.
“Let’s create fog.” Spencer studied me, no doubt to gauge my reaction. I returned the gesture, putting my resting bitch face to the test.
Clay set his jaw. “You think making fun of us is going to win you any points?”
“On the contrary. I think if you want to defend yourselves against something elementally made, you need to understand how it was created.”
“It’s fog,” I groaned, sharing in Clay’s annoyance. It most definitely felt like Spencer was making fun of us. “We made that in, like, the tenth grade.” Of course, that had been with a fog machine, a bunch of glycerin, and a controlled environment. Oh, and an elemental science teacher, so there was that, which explained how our school took first place in the district science fair every year. Of course I didn’t know Ms. Wilkerson was an elemental at the time, but I knew it now since she’d been my watcher after my mom had disappeared.
“Not just any fog,” he went on to explain. “Magic fog.”
“Now I know you’re making fun of us.” I crossed my arms in front of me and sank back in my chair. Screw this guy. I’d figure this shit out on my own. Grabbing Clay’s hand, I pulled us both to our feet. We’d do our group project without them. “Come on. Let’s finish our project somewhere else.”
“Or you could ask your boyfriend how to get your hands on glycerin he can control.”
I stopped and whipped around. “Nice try. Glycerin isn’t an element.”
“If you say so.” He shrugged. Was he right? No. He couldn’t be right. I glanced at Clay, who shrugged in reply as if to say don’t look at me. “Wrong boyfriend, though I can see how that can be confusing.”
I hated him. So, so much. And, as deeply as I hated how much I needed his help, I had to compromise if I wanted the answer without asking one of the professors. If word got out that I was attacked last night, the Council would step in and declare the Ides of March the end of the world again. I’d have to step up to defend it again. This time, we might not be so lucky as to only lose a single elemental to the dark side. This time, we could lose lives.
Which brought me back to why I needed Spencer’s help. Someone with his power fighting for our side would definitely tip the scales in our favor.
Biting back what I really wanted to say, I growled through clenched teeth, “Which one would know?”
“Which one can control earth again?”
“I can.”
“Then perhaps you don’t need so many men in your harem.”
“That’s it.” Clay hurled himself over the desk and grabbed Spencer by the collar, hauling him out of the chair. He pulled back his fist and swung.
Spencer teleported out before the fist connected. Clay stumbled forward, swinging at the air. He glanced around and frowned. “What the… How’d he do that?”
“It’s called teleporting, Clay. You do it all the time.”
“No,” he denied with a firm shake of his head, dropping hair into his hard glare. “I can’t teleport out like that if I’m touching someone else. No one can. The connection causes everyone touching to teleport.”
Having Spencer teleport out while in contact with him clearly disproved that theory, just as my existence disproved the theory that quints were a myth. Just as every elemental had to choose a primary element or they’d implode or some shit, yet both Spencer and I remaining undeclared disproved that theory.
Applause caught my attention. I turned and dropped my jaw at the sight. Spencer stood in the doorway leading out of the classroom. He smiled and waved as if he’d just been elected to office. Of course he’d turn this into something about him.
Clay wasted no time crossing the room and practically bumping chests with him. “How the hell did you pop out like that? We were touching.”
“So?”
“So the contact should have teleported me right along with you.”
“Not if I blocked your air. No air, no teleport.”
He stilled as his mouth fell open. “You can do that?”
“I just proved I could, now didn’t I?”
Instead of him taking offense to Spencer’s comment and holier-than-thou tone—I was ready to break his face—Clay’s jaw dropped lower. “Can I do that?”
Spencer chuckled. “Yes, and I can show you how.” He then pulled his gaze to me. “I can show you how to make the fog as well. For that, we’ll need your earth elemental.”
“Why?”
“Ask him.” He snapped his fingers, and Jess jumped out of her chair, hurrying over to him and standing with her head down until he lifted her chin with his hand. “Come, love. Let’s do a little redecorating.”
Eww. Please tell me that’s not code for what I think it is. With the way she reacted by squealing and bouncing and clapping, you’d think he just offered to buy her a pink Barbie convertible. He draped his arm around her shoulders as they walked out. Good riddance.
Several students followed Spencer’s lead and left class. Not one to be undone, I grabbed my books and shoved them into my bag. Why stay in class if the instructor had already bailed?
“What are you doing?” Clay looked at the bag slung over my shoulder.
“Skipping. You do it all the time. You should recognize the gesture.”
“I don’t skip primary.” He held his ground, surprising me. “Ever.”
I thought back
