“What happened?” I whispered, unable to do anything more.
“A world divided. There were no winners. We battled each other, destroying our own kind one by one.”
That sounded way too familiar. They say history repeats itself. I’d just never experienced it firsthand until now. “Is that what’s happening now, you think? The dark side is the side with no rules. Our side is the one governing by fear. We’re reliving what happened in your time. How did you stop it from destroying your world?”
She raised her head and squared her shoulders proudly. “One stood in the way.”
The prophecy. That was what it came down to. Always. “You stopped it, didn’t you?”
“I became the academy.”
It took me a bit to put it together. When it clicked, my heart pinched. “You died to protect our world.”
“Our world as we knew it became no more. I was no longer in this form you see now. I cast a spell that merged my essence with the academy. With the help of the wards, I created a barrier of protection around the school, protecting my kind by preventing the others from further destroying them.”
A lot of good her sacrifice had done. The wards were failing, the barrier weakening, and the dark elementals popped in and out like it was their job. “The wards aren’t keeping the others away anymore. It’s like the barrier is broken or something.”
“Weak. Just as trees grow old and lose their strength as they rot away, so must all life.”
“Are the wards alive?”
“No, only I am. I’m no longer enough to keep the barrier strong.” She faced me and took my hands in hers. They were warm, strong. “Perhaps my time being one with the academy has come to an end.”
What? No. No! I squeezed her hands. “No way, Cressida. You are the academy. Without you, there is no school.”
“I’m so tired, Katy. Being in this form drains me. I can’t keep going much longer.”
“You have to try. I’ll find a way to fix the barrier. I’ll create new wards, stronger wards. My mom showed me how.”
She stilled, studying me. “Your mother. She’s here?”
I didn’t like her reaction. At all. “I already told you that.”
“When?”
Was she asking about when I told her? Or when my mom returned? Regardless, they were close enough within the same timeframe. “A couple of days ago.”
“Two settings of the sun,” she repeated before glancing out the opening, once again at the horizon. “Now three.”
Hold the phone. Did she just accuse my mom of having something to do with her being trapped in her human form? They had nothing to do with each other. Sure, they’d happened around the same time. And sure, my mom had been acting weird ever since she’d returned. And okay, sure, a lot of the shit show that’d taken place had started after she’d come back. Still, none of those coincidences had anything to do with each other.
I dropped her hands and turned to leave before I said something I’d regret. I didn’t know how long spirits or essences or whatever Cressida Clearwater was held grudges, but I was pretty sure eternity wasn’t off the table.
“You’re leaving,” she stated, her tone drooping with sadness.
“I have to check on Leo.” I thumbed toward the direction of the infirmary as I backed away.
“What’s wrong with the water elemental?”
Cressida knew everything about me, mainly because I couldn’t keep a secret to save my life. “He’s in the infirmary.” Because of me. I left out that last part. “He’s, uh… He’s sick.”
“Things are not as they seem.”
Not this again. “Can you give me more to go on? And do not say—”
“Out of balance.”
I wanted to scream. These cryptic answers did nothing but give me anxiety. “I gotta go.”
“Katy?”
I paused at the entrance and glanced back over my shoulder.
“He’s not sick. The wards, they are sick.”
“How are the wards sick?”
“They have the fever.”
What did that even mean? Was that why the barrier seemed to be failing? Were the wards breaking down like they had…what? A cold? The flu? Bubonic Plague? What? I didn’t know, and Cressida wouldn’t be able to tell me, but I did know someone to ask. Someone whose parents were geeky scientists who studied rare diseases.
“I’ll figure it out,” I promised and bit the inside of my lip to stop myself from speaking another lie.
13
Darkness had already settled across campus by the time I made it back to the dorms. Cressida’s words played over and over again in my mind. The wards had the fever. How did objects get sick? It wasn’t as if they had the ability to catch the common cold. What could possibly infect something inanimate?
I texted Clay as soon as I returned to my room and, seconds later, he popped in, looking as good as ever in a brown tank top and cutoffs, his wildly untamed hair wet, his beard freshly trimmed. He smelled amazing, a mixture of a fresh shower and his musky scent, and made my mouth water to see if he tasted as good as he looked.
“What’s on your mind, valentine?” He winked and grinned wide, showing off his perfect teeth and sending my heart into spasms. “See what I did there? Calling you by your Nelem name? Goddamn, I’m funny.”
“You should let other people tell you that.” I repeated Leo’s words and kicked off my shoes before pulling my hair free of the tie, shaking it loose.
“Now, take off the socks. Do it reeeeaaaal slow and toss them Daddy’s way, baby.” He made a come-here motion with his fingers.
I shot my hair tie at him, smacking him square in the chin. The elastic caught in this beard. “Say something like that again, and I’ll take out an eye.”
He brought up his hands. “I was only kidding. Jeez.” I walked up and ripped
