By this time tomorrow, I’d be at Carcerem.
The three of us teleported together, landing in front of Ignis, Rob’s old house. We weren’t there but a few seconds before two students hurried out and nearly collided with us. They both took one look at me and scurried off.
“What was that all about?” I asked no one in particular.
“Not sure. Let’s find out.” Rob took off after them. “Hey, you two there. What’s your rush?” When they didn’t slow, he shouted, “Do not walk away from a member of the Council.”
Whoa. That escalated quickly. He’d barely been a member of the governing body a week and already pulled the Council card.
The two skidded to a stop and turned to face Rob as he marched up. They were younger, first years maybe, and Rob towered over them. He placed his hands on his hips. “Mind telling me why you reacted like that?”
“Because of the attack. They’re saying it was her.” The one with glasses nodded at me.
“The water elementals?”
They both shook their heads. The taller one answered. “Two fire elementals. She used air on them. They said she warned them that more fire elementals were next.”
“We don’t want to be next,” Glasses said in a shaky voice.
“She didn’t do it,” Rob growled.
“But—”
He lifted his hand, silencing them. “She was with me all night, so I know she didn’t do it. I’ll find out who did, I promise. Okay?”
Slowly, they both nodded.
“Go on. Get out of here.” He watched them run off before rejoining Bryan and me. “We’d better check the wards. The barrier is clearly failing. If the two random attacks doesn’t prove that, having Thing 1 and Thing 2 breech the grounds definitely does.” He whipped out the ECAD—Elemental Call Alert Device all members of the Council’s patrol had as part of their job—and held it up, checking the screen as he walked in a small circle.
He stopped and held it up higher, suddenly walking off as he followed the signal. Bryan and I exchanged looks before hurrying after him.
“What’s up?” Bryan asked when we caught up.
“There’s definitely been strong activity here, but I’m not picking up multiple hits.”
I studied the screen, expecting to see a blinking dot as we’d picked up on the hunt for Stace last week. The screen instead had some squiggly lines, but no blinking dot. “Is that why the alarm didn’t go off?”
“Exactly. No multiple calls at the same time, no battle.”
“What if they used the same elements?”
“It would still be different scents.” Rob replaced the ECAD in his pocket.
“That means there was no battle?” I didn’t know if I asked that as a question or just put it out there in the hopes it was true.
“No, that means whoever was attacked didn’t get the chance to fight back before they were incapacitated.” He traced the grounds before resting his attention on the barrier. “I need to test the barrier. Reed, text Clay. I need all hands on deck.”
But it wouldn’t be all hands on deck. We were down a man. My heart pinched at the thought of Leo stuck in that hospital bed and the reason that put him there. That reason being me. “How are we going to test it?”
“We aren’t. Clay, Bryan, and I am. You aren’t going anywhere near it.” He gave me a pointed look. Right. My hand. The whole glowing thing. Magically enhanced elemental. Got it. I texted Clay and hoped he’d actually pay attention to the message. Texting him was always hit or miss. He didn’t even have his phone with him half the time.
“Don’t you think, maybe, the professors should test the barrier?” Bryan glanced at the invisible shield. “We’re just students.”
“Not all of us,” Rob fired back. “Not anymore.”
“You’ve been a member of the Council for a week, dude. That does not suddenly make you so much older and wiser than the rest of us.”
“Hey, did you guys hear?” Clay hurried up. “They’re about to test that Trevor kid on the field. We should go check it out.”
Trevor? He just got out of the infirmary. The Council didn’t waste any time.
“You guys test the barrier. I’m going to make sure he doesn’t get hurt.” I took off toward the training field, reaching it just as little Trevor Carson, his eyes as wide and round as his oversized glasses, walked out on the field and stopped in front of—who else—the tattooed hulk otherwise known as Brooks. The man was a giant and dwarfed even a normal-sized person. Trevor wasn’t normal-sized. He was the runt of the litter. Pairing him up against someone ten times his size was grossly unfair.
I spotted Syd in his usual attire of slacks, matching suit vest, and white dress shirt rolled up at the sleeves, and moved to his side. He gave me a cool assessment before returning his attention to the tribunals about to start. Several second years were also on the field. “Shouldn’t you be out there? Dean Carter said you were the first to be tested today.”
Okaaay. He was still angry with me for screwing up so monumentally with Leo. “Oh, right. Testing the prophecy—well, ex-prophecy—in front of everyone, because of course that makes perfect sense.”
He stiffened at my comment and thrust out his chin, still keeping his attention on the field. “Considering all the elementals I’ve had visit the infirmary since you arrived at the academy, it makes perfect sense.”
Ouch. Thanks for that vote of confidence, Doc. I wanted to tell him where he could stick his judgy bitch comment. Who was he to make me the bad guy? Oh, right. He was my boss, and he wasn’t wrong. That didn’t exactly make him right, but I wasn’t about to split hairs with the man who had the power to make or break my future as a healer. “Guess I’d better go. This shouldn’t take long.”
“Katy, wait.” He stopped me with his hand on my arm. I fully expected an apology for his unkind behavior toward me,
