“No.” Stace sliced her hand through the air. “This is something else. I feel it. It’s…”
“Dark magic,” I groaned and dropped my head to the pillow, putting it all together. While I’d been so focused on figuring out what happened to that kid, I failed to realize the dark magic growing inside me. And I let it. I gave in to the cold. I gave in to the darkness. I nearly killed my boyfriends. And none of it was real. Well, it was real in the fact I almost killed them. But my want to kill them wasn’t.
And yet, it felt real. If Clay hadn’t teleported out and gotten the professor—I assumed that was the case—I wouldn’t have stopped. The cold inside had blinded me. I’d felt nothing but rage. Rage and purpose. I’d been determined to destroy everything blocking my path from being the supreme elemental. I didn’t understand how I could possibly go from laughing and joking with them one minute and the next trying to boil Leo’s blood.
“A dark elemental can’t get through the wards protecting the grounds.” Syd replaced his glasses and adjusted them straight.
“And yet, the fact Alec trapped us inside the ruins last year clearly pokes a giant hole in that theory. Besides, you know I was attacked up at the Point the other night. Maybe that weird fog was a spell.”
Stace shook her head. “It would be affecting Clay as well if that were the case. Katy is under some other influence. What happened isn’t her fault.”
My fault or not, I gave in to the cold. I was a monster. I steeled myself against the reasoning that none of this was my fault. It was my fault. Period. I studied my palm. The gash had grown, now carving clear up to my wrist. Whatever was inside me, clawing to get out like a demon escaping hell, came from this cut. “What’s happening to me?”
“I don’t know, but we’re going to figure it out. It’ll be okay. I promise.”
She couldn’t make promises like that, and I knew it. Still, I held on to that false promise with everything I had. She took my hand and frowned. “It’s beginning to fester.”
“Could it be the light?” I regarded Syd. “It’s only ever really affected me when I’ve called light. Or, apparently, when light hits me.”
“I’m not sure. But you need to be careful. There’s a reason light is a sanctioned element. You aren’t supposed to be using it without the Council’s approval. You could be reprimanded for it.”
“Oh, who cares? Let them punish me for saving Clay from being buried alive. They’re the ones who thought it was a good idea importing a new handler for me.” Which made no sense. Who was this guy, anyway? What sort of screening did the Council do before bringing him across an ocean to work with me? Not for the first time, I questioned the governing body’s agenda. I also questioned how much they shared with us, as well as what they shared. Something didn’t add up about Spencer Dalton. He wasn’t what he appeared to be, just as Cressida had said.
“When did the wound appear?”
I ground out a petulant sigh. “When I killed Spencer’s call and pulled Clay to safety, I noticed the cut.” I tried to sit up and failed. Again. My irritation grew as I blew my bangs out of my eyes. “It’s been bothering me ever since.”
Stace studied the wound closer. “Bothering you how?”
“Not nearly as much as you are. Back the fuck off, bitch.” As soon as I snapped my reply, I shook my head, shocked I’d say that to her. “Oh God, Stace. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.”
She didn’t seem the least bit fazed by my threatening outburst and continued to study the wound. “Bothering you how?” she repeated.
“It’s cold all the time. I’m pretty sure the cold that took over and made me go batshit crazy started at this cut. Air won’t answer my call now, and fire isn’t that far behind air on ignoring me—except when I tried to…” I couldn’t finish that statement as the look on Leo’s face haunted my thoughts. The fear. The shock. The utter betrayal.
“Air won’t answer, you say? Interesting. And you got it when you were calling earth?”
I nodded, staring at the wound.
“I’m going to try something. Syd, stand back and be ready in case this backfires.” She closed her eyes and blew out a deep breath. I found myself doing the same right along with her.
Then I felt it.
A warmth unlike anything I’d ever felt slowly crept into my hand. It grew hotter as it reached the wound. I hissed in a breath as it burned, but I didn’t pull back. Ouch. Ouch. Fucking ouch. I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut to push through the pain. When I swore I was about to burst into flames from the burning torture, I sprang my eyes open to tell her to stop.
Then I saw it.
The gash was half the size and shrinking. My mouth fell open as I stared in amazement. It still hurt, but now I understood why. She must be cauterizing it from the inside out, which was very cool and made me feel like an idiot for not trying that myself. My fire call was a lot stronger than hers. Well, it used to be before the injury.
I called fire to help, hoping it’d listen this time, but stopped when her eyes flew open. “No. Not fire. Earth. Help me and call earth. Combine our element.”
I didn’t understand how earth healed me like this or why it burned, but I did as instructed and focused on my earth element, calling it to the surface without summoning anything physical, like one of those trees surrounding us.
The crash broke my concentration, as well as the airfield holding me to the couch. A large tree shattered the window as it stretched inside. Shards of glass fell to the hardwood floors and
