“I’ll come with you.” If we teleported back, I’d still make it to 3C. Not that I was overly thrilled to hurry to school, but Stace needed my help with all the new elementals, magically enhanced or not. Besides, I wanted to talk to her about my new theory of Spencer using dark magic to enhance his powers. “Give me a second.”
I rushed to the bathroom to make myself as presentable as possible without any of my stuff with me. I’d have to forgo fresh makeup. Yesterday’s mascara would do. I combed my fingers through my hair before piling it into a high messy bun of ginger locks, holding it in place with a hair tie I found in one of the drawers, and studied my reflection. This was as good as it was going to get.
I rejoined the guys, running my hands down my uniform to smooth out the wrinkles. Ugh. My clothes looked like I’d slept in them. Maybe I should change before heading to class. “Ready?”
Rob slipped on his shoes. “We should all head out. Stace said she wanted me to make sure all my charges were transitioned to other handlers. I need to talk to Clay and Leo, make sure they can take them. Man, this is my dream job. I can’t believe it’s happening.”
Neither could I. His dream job was my nightmare. Still, I didn’t miss the pride in his voice. Going to work for the Council made him happy. And I wanted him to be happy. Ugh, being a nice person sucked sometimes. “Then we’d better go. I don’t trust my landings, so one of you gets to teleport me.”
“Not a problem.” Rob hooked me around the waist and slammed our bodies together. He kissed me quickly and grinned.
And then we popped out.
JESS WASN’T in the room when I walked in, which pleased me greatly. I wouldn’t have to explain my walk of shame. I changed into a clean uniform and applied fresh mascara before hurrying to the 3C building, hoping to catch Stace before class started. My revelation about Spencer testing my weaknesses instead of working on my strengths weighed on me. Until I made sense of it all, I’d not mention it to the guys. It would only elevate their suspicion of my handler. Since Cressida didn’t respond to my conversation this morning, I’d talk to the 3C professor.
As I walked in, I spotted her over at the whiteboard, writing out the day’s assignment. “Professor Layden? I have a question for you.”
She finished writing the last of the assignment—work on calling your primary without your partner smelling the scent of your call—and then capped the pen. “You’ll be partnering with me today so we can demonstrate.”
“I, uh, that’s fine. About that question.”
“I wasn’t asking your permission, but thank you for being fine with it.”
Ouch. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. “Listen, I think Spencer—”
“Hi, Katy!” Trevor rushed in and grinned wide, holding up where I’d signed his gauze. It looked a little worse for the wear, and I was pretty sure it was the source of the weird smell now in the room. “Look, I still have on my cast. Syd said I should be fine to take it off, but I don’t want to.”
“You should probably listen to the healer, buddy.”
He shrugged and held it to his chest like it was his most prized possession.
“How about this, if you get rid of that, I’ll sign whatever you want.” I thought about that and bit the inside of my lip. Please don’t ask me to sign any body parts.
“Okay!” He tore it from his arm and tossed it in the wastebasket by the door. He ran back to my side and held out his arm where the bandage had just been. “Will you sign my arm?”
Whew. Being asked to sign that body part didn’t bother me. I did and stepped back. This kid had no concept of personal space. “There you go.”
“Thanks!” He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he ran to the top of the amphitheater classroom and took a seat just as more students poured in. The room filled with noisy chatter while everyone found seats.
I moved next to Stace and waited for the students to settle. When they didn’t, I glanced at her. She gave me a look and a nod. I grinned, picking up on her meaning. There were more fire elementals than any other callers, so I settled on that element and conjured up fireball after fireball, tossing each one up and holding it in place with air, loving that my elements were back.
The flames waited patiently, dancing in place in awesome wonder. Trying something new, I walked to the far wall and pushed the fireballs to the center of the room. Today was Thursday, so the training field would be filled with water elementals after classes. Why not give them a preview of their power?
Using my finger like a gun, I aimed at the fireballs and pulled the invisible trigger with my thumb. “Pew, pew, pew.” One by one, I hit each fireball with a burst of water. The elements battled, hissing and spitting at each other before fizzling out in a puff of steam. I blew on the tip of my finger after the last fireball died.
The class erupted in applause. I rejoined Stace at the front of the room. “Show-off,” she muttered for my ears only. I grinned, taking it as a compliment.
“Everyone grab a partner and work on the assignment on the board,” she instructed in a commanding voice that didn’t fit her tiny form. “We’ll be coming around to check your progress.” She lowered her voice. “Katy, join me at my desk.”
I followed her and waited until the class had paired up and gotten to work on their assignment. “Now can I ask you my question?”
“No.”
I stopped myself from dropping my jaw. “Why
