I swallowed over and over to keep from throwing up. I’d never hold any of my guys back from doing something they wanted to do. Judging by the eager shine in his eyes, he really wanted to do this. “That sounds…” I swallowed again. “Amazing, Rob.”
“Really?” He pulled me into his arms. “You really think so?”
“Of course,” I lied through my frozen smile. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“I thought you’d be angry. She told me your reaction when she’d mentioned she’d been out on patrols.”
“It’s not like I can tell you no.” Could I?
“You’re pretty incredible, you know that?” He kissed my nose. “I love you, Katy Reed.”
My hear seized. A man I loved was going to put his life on the line on a daily basis as he hunted dark elementals alongside my 3C professor. I hated everything about this. “I love you, Rob Emmett. And hey, at least we have the rest of this schoolyear to prepare, right?”
His gaze searched mine. “No. I’m leaving Clearwater at the end of this week.”
16
Rob and I didn’t talk about him leaving the academy again as we crawled into bed. I insisted he sleep in the bed with Bryan and me, which made it a little crowded, but I didn’t mind being between them. Bryan was completely dead to the world. I’d stripped to my bra and panties, while Rob just plain stripped. It was a skin-to-delicious-skin sandwich. I turned and curled into Rob, holding him tighter than necessary before drifting off to an unpeaceful sleep.
I kept dreaming about him battling dark elementals, some of them human, most of them monsters worthy of the scariest haunted house. No matter the dream, no matter the enemy, it all ended the same—with Rob dying and me jolting awake to make sure he still held me.
I peeled away from my guys at the sign of first light and the overwhelming urge to go for a run, which might be more terrifying than the nightmares. I hated to jog. Lord knew I didn’t have the appropriate clothes for it, what with the creepy dude’s fantasy schoolgirl uniform, but that didn’t stop me. I dressed and left the cabin, taking in a healthy breath of fresh air.
It smelled good out here. Really good. The fragrant trees. The flowers just waking up to bask in the rays of the sun. The fact we seemed to be miles away from the pollutants of the nearest town. I pulled in another deep breath before stepping off the porch.
The warmth of the sun hit me. It felt great, and I hesitated walking into the shaded woods, lifting my head and bathing in sunlight. Raising my hands high over my head, I stretched slowly, enjoying the feeling of my muscles loosening.
As I walked into the woods, gently brushing my fingers along every tree I passed and taking in the power of the element vibrating inside them, I thought about Rob’s new job with the Council. It really was a great opportunity for him. Not every elemental gets a job using their powers.
I thought about Leo and the look on his face when I’d attacked. I’d never get that image out of my mind, and I shouldn’t. Although Rob and Bryan seemed to have forgiven me, I hadn’t yet talked to Leo or Clay. If I trusted my air call, I’d teleport to them and beg them to forgive me.
I thought about Bryan and what it meant now that everyone knew we shared a primary. It definitely bonded us at an entirely different level. It didn’t make me any less connected with the other guys. If any of them thought that, I’d have to do whatever it took to convince them otherwise.
I thought about Clay and how short-tempered he’d been since school started. I didn’t like my carefree air elemental acting so strict all the time. We needed him to keep us all laughing and to remind us life didn’t have to be taken so damn seriously.
On top of everything else, I thought about Spencer, about what it meant that he was still my handler even after everything he’d done. Attacking my guys during lessons. Attacking me during lessons. What did the Council know that I didn’t? What weren’t they telling me? It had to be monumental for them to ignore all the bad stuff he’d displayed since arriving at the academy.
I rubbed my hand where the gash had been, positive it was more than a coincidence I’d gotten it while training with him. Did he somehow cut me from twenty feet away? Did he use dark magic on me? On himself? Was that the reason why none of us could feel his calls? How he seemed relatively unaffected when I called light? Was he really a mysterious leecher who’d turned himself into a magically enhanced elemental?
It wasn’t like I could just walk up to him and ask. How would that conversation go? Hey, buddy. Got a question for you. Are you a leecher? Are you a dark elemental using magic to steal our elements and make yourself more powerful? What’s your role in forcing elements into young elementals?
I walked deeper into the woods, lost in my thoughts. If Spencer really was dark, he wouldn’t be able to get through the wards protecting the academy. I stumbled to a stop as I thought about that. Jules was dark, and she still made it past the wards, yet Alec couldn’t until she’d dropped them. Neither could other dark elementals. So how could Jules? Why didn’t I question that before?
Cressida would know the answer, I was sure of it. I closed my eyes and tried to feel her. I truly believed we were connected at an entirely different level, so maybe she’d still feel me trying to reach her when I wasn’t at Clearwater.
“Cressida,” I said softly. “I understand now why things are out of balance. Dark elementals are using magic to enhance their powers. They may not be creating new elementals like
