“Oh, trust me,” Spencer growled under his breath. “I promise you, I won’t.”
12
I’d successfully avoided Bryan all day, embarrassed how I left things last night, and now dreaded lessons. Today was earth, which meant he’d be on the field babysitting me and watching Spencer like a hawk since no one else in the group could control the element except for us. Considering the cowardly way I’d ditched him to sort shit out in my head, and the fact he hadn’t so much as texted me today to make sure I wasn’t lying dead in a ditch somewhere, he wasn’t happy about it.
So when I spotted Leo walking toward me on the training field, my guard shot up. Thursdays were water. He wasn’t even supposed to be on the field on a Wednesday. “What are you doing here?” I asked when he was close enough.
“Another extraction.” That explained why Clay wasn’t in Primary. The sun hit Leo’s crazy blond hair just right, giving it the appearance of a golden halo. He didn’t have on his usual blue blazer, but that didn’t limit the brilliance of his blue eyes. “Because Rob can call water, I volunteered to stay behind so you didn’t have to be alone.”
“I’m not alone,” I pointed out through clenched teeth. “I’m with my handler. A handler I can handle. Besides, today is earth, an element you can’t control.”
He glanced around the field, at all the earth elementals working with their handlers. “We need Bryan on the extraction in case the new elemental calls earth. I’m the only one of the group besides Rob who has anything in common with this element. Since he’s still mad about the way lessons went yesterday, I figured it’d be better if I came.”
“You know, you guys don’t have to come to my trainings.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” The man of the hour and his haughty accent had arrived. Spencer gave Leo a disdainful look, like the water elemental didn’t have the right to even breathe in the same air space. He removed his yellow blazer and tossed it aside. “You’re not the earth boyfriend.”
“Water.”
“I’m afraid you have your days mixed up. Tomorrow is water. You’re a day early.”
“No,” he fired back and crossed his arms. Wow, even my calm water elemental challenged this guy. “I don’t think I am.”
“Suit yourself.” He regarded me, clearly annoyed as he rolled up his sleeves in quick, jerky movements. “Well, prophecy, what should we work on today?”
“How to make magic fog?” I smiled sweetly.
“I already told you, we need your earth boyfriend for that. For the second day in a row, you’ve brought me the wrong one. No earth boyfriend, no magic fog.”
“Babe, what’s he talking about?” Leo stepped closer to me.
Only Clay knew about Spencer’s request to have Bryan involved in the making of the fog. Not even Bryan knew. Until I understood why Spencer needed my earth elemental, I had no intention of granting the request.
“Let’s start with a few simple calls.” Spencer ignored Leo and focused on me. “First, I want you to call the air from my lungs.”
I dropped my jaw and exchanged rounded looks with Leo. “You can’t be serious.”
“That’s a forbidden call,” Leo pointed out.
“As are the others I plan to use today.”
“No way,” I said with a shake of my head, sending my red hair into my eyes. I pushed it off my face and tucked it behind my ears. “I’m not about to use a forbidden call, not even in training.”
“Do you think the dark elementals are scared of a call, forbidden or not? If I recall the details, didn’t you use a forbidden call to freeze the blood in Alec’s hand before shattering it?”
How’d he know that? “Who told you?”
He gave me a look I wanted to smack off his stupid face. “Who do you think? There’s a lot one can learn from a little pillow talk.”
I gasped, outraged. “You’re using Jess to get dirt on me?”
“Of course, you’d turn this into something about you.”
Because it was something about me. “If you want to know something about me, ask me, not Jess.”
Spencer spiked an eyebrow, and I began to shiver. Hard. It was like I’d just been submerged into the icy depths of the deepest water. I tried calling fire to counter but was already too cold. A thin layer of ice settled on my body as I was literally freezing to death. I couldn’t move and pleaded with my eyes. Leo jumped in and grabbed my hands, immediately calling his element and pushing it to me. It responded by battling the forbidden call attacking me from the inside, warming me enough for me to take over the control and order the water to heat. It obeyed and warmed me enough to free me from the ice body bag.
“That’s cheating,” Spencer growled and, with a flick of his wrist, sent Leo flying. He spun through the air and landed on his back, knocking the air out of his lungs.
I ran over to help him up. He grabbed his chest and gasped, pointing at my handler. No. He used a different forbidden call than freezing the water molecules in the body, this one calling the air from Leo’s lungs. He started to turn red, then purple. I grabbed his hands and pushed air to him, but it didn’t work. Why wouldn’t my air element answer me?
“Stop it!” I ordered. Leo turned purple. “You’re hurting him!”
“That is the general idea.”
And now he was beginning to turn blue.
“Stop!” I shouted. Spencer ignored me and even smiled as he watched Leo slowly suffocate. I jumped to my feet and called earth, pulling roots from the ground and snaking them around him, trapping him with his arms to his sides. Still, Leo couldn’t breathe. What was happening?
I did the only thing I could and called light to short out
