Clay popped back in with a sickly-looking Leo. His crazy blond curls were limp and plastered to his sweat-soaked baby face. He had a bump on his forehead the size of a small mountain and looked as if he’d rolled around on the floor of the warehouse. His color had drained, and he leaned forward, his hands on his knees, and drew in several breaths. “God, I hate teleporting.” He finally straightened and bounced his rounded blue eyes at each of us. “What’d I miss?”
“Our boy Bry is back. Montana’s mom helped him escape, which we’re all a bit fuzzy on the details. Oh, she’s not dead, which is important to note. The Council took her. The end.” Clay grasped his arm and then mine. “Ready?”
“Wait—” was all Leo got out before we popped into the void.
Even though we landed by Cressida Clearwater’s statue at the academy seconds later, my insides still had time to wrestle with my outsides. I rested my hand on the cool bronze material that made up her robes, immediately feeling the peace wash over me. Cressida had the power to do that. Every time.
Leo squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, thrusting his fingers through his mess of blond curls, pulling them off his face. “I really hate teleporting.”
“I’m regretting that breakfast burrito.” I pressed my fist to my stomach and leaned against him. He pulled me close. Although my water elemental was emotionally detached—which fit me perfectly—he loved to touch. And I loved his touch. It soothed me, relaxed me into a euphoric state, so I rested my head on his firm shoulder.
“How about we take this party to the ruins?” Bryan’s request popped the bubble of anxiety I’d been bouncing around in since my mom reappeared. I didn’t want to go back to the ruins. Not now, maybe not ever. Nothing good came from when we were all in that dilapidated structure of stones and rotted wood. I turned into a different person there. A darker person. A dangerous person.
“Why’d we pop out here?” I motioned to the statue. “We need to be at the infirmary.” Besides, if we didn’t go to the infirmary, my mom wouldn’t know how to find us. I couldn’t risk her disappearing again.
Leo slipped his hand into mine and laced our fingers together. He pushed his control to me, calming me even more. I hadn’t realized I needed the extra boost until he gave it to me. I loved that my guys knew me well enough to know when I needed a little help from my friends even when I didn’t know it. “It’s just on the other side of campus. We can walk.”
I didn’t want to waste the time walking when a quick teleport would have us there in an instant. Squeezing Leo’s hand to keep us connected, I focused on the front steps of the elemental hospital and teleported out, landing us exactly where I’d hoped. Thank you, baby Jesus. I usually struggled to stick my landings and was grateful to my air element for listening to me this time.
“I really hate—”
“Teleporting,” I finished for him. “I know. I’m not a huge fan either, but I wanted to get here as soon as possible.”
I faced him and took a closer look at his appearance. Warehouse grime covered his face and made his striking crystal-blue eyes stand out even more. His usually sun-bleached blond hair was dark from the grit mangled in it. He’d probably gotten that impressive lump on his forehead when one of the dark elementals tackled him in the black fog Bryan had created to disorient them. It disoriented us all.
“You need a shower.” I glanced at my scraped legs, knees black from whatever I’d picked up rolling around the warehouse floor. I’d have to throw away this uniform. No way would the socks and shirt ever be white again. I checked my arms and curled my lip at the layers of gross coating my skin. “We both do.”
“We could conserve water and shower together.” He grinned and shrugged out of his no-longer-blue blazer, slinging it over his shoulder before opening the door. “Let’s do this first, and then…”
“Do each other.” I snorted and walked inside the infirmary. A hot shower with a gorgeous guy rubbing me down sounded amazing. Spending the rest of the night wrapped in his arms was exactly what I needed.
But, I couldn’t. Not until I saw my mom again, talked to her, held her hand so she couldn’t disappear again without taking me with her. I didn’t want to leave, and I wouldn’t stay away, but at least then I’d know where she went.
The infirmary was practically deserted this late, with only a few rooms occupied. Leo and I walked through a set of double doors that led to a waiting room lined with rows of gray chairs against off-white walls, and took seats. I’d never been at the infirmary voluntarily and didn’t know if there was a place to check in like at a Nelem doctor’s office. “Do we just sit here and wait? Is Syd even here?”
“He’ll be here in a few minutes,” Bryan answered as he and the rest of the guys joined us. “I had to wake him up. It’s really late.”
“Or really early, depending on your life choices.” I checked the wall clock and made a face. Three in the morning was one of those times of the night—or morning—where no one should be awake. It was unnatural. The bars were all closed. No stores were open yet. It was just a filler hour between the end of the night before and the beginning of the next day.
And I was awake to bear witness, which didn’t please me. I collapsed in the chair and released a jaw-popping yawn. Now that the battle had ended and my earth elemental had returned from whatever the hell they’d taken him to, I could finally relax a little.
I rested my head on the back of
