“Now you’re a healer?”
She forced a smile. “As the 3C professor here at the academy, it’s my job to keep watch over our students. When I see something, I say something.”
The condescending expression on Sammie’s face sent her eyebrows up. “Your job as the 3C professor does not give you the right to question me.”
“Perhaps not.” She waited until Sammie grinned triumphantly before delivering the final blow I knew was coming. “My job as the assistant headmistress does.”
The smile slid from her face. “You’re second-in-command here?”
“I am. Dean Carter felt it prudent to have more than one person in a position of authority at Clearwater as additional protection over our students.”
I so wanted to fist bump Stace right now.
“Well, I’ll just leave you to it.” Sammie hurried to the door before regarding Syd. “Healer, make sure to leave the elemutus on until I say otherwise.”
Syd nodded in acknowledgment. She left.
“Healer?” He shook his head and removed his glasses to clean them on his shirt. “She lived in my infirmary. We talked multiple times. She knows my name.”
Stace stepped forward. “There’s not much time. Rob, you stay here and keep watch. Any Council members show up, you stall them.” She ushered me through Syd’s office and into the same examination room I’d been in after returning from the warehouse.
“Table please, Katy. Let’s see what we’re dealing with.” Syd replaced his glasses and examined the contraption around my neck. With a few twists and one loud click, he disarmed and removed it. I rubbed my throat, grateful to be free of the thing. My energy returned, and I drew in a deep breath.
“What the hell is that?”
“This is an elemutus.” He held it up. “They mute an elemental’s powers, thus the name. It’s how they get the dark elementals at Carcerem to behave. One lapse in judgment, and they’ve got themselves a new necklace. I hate them, personally.” He tossed the thin metal ring in the trash. “Having one’s powers muted for an extended period of time takes its toll, weakens the elemental. Permanently.”
“Won’t they notice I’m not wearing it when I leave?” I nodded at the contraption and its new home in the garbage can, which suited me just dandy. I had no idea anything like that even existed. “It’s kind of hard to miss, as fashionable as it is.”
“You’ll be wearing this one instead.” Stace held up one that looked almost exactly like the one Syd had removed, but with little LED bulbs on the inside of the ring. “This one is completely harmless. Here, let’s try it on.” She snapped it around my neck, causing me to jump. She then rested her hand on my arm. “Relax, Katy. We’re on your side.”
“Then why did you sound like you were having a panic attack when I called?”
“I had two members of the Council with me. One of them spotted your image on my screen. I had to play my part.”
“What were members of the Council doing on campus? Tribunals ended weeks ago.”
Syd and Stace exchanged glances. It was Stace who explained. “Your mother—”
“Sammie,” I snapped, cutting him off. “She stopped being my mother when she tried to kill me.”
She nodded. “The battle where you supposedly gave her all those bruises. What really happened?”
No look of surprise. No gasp in shock. It was almost as if she’d expected as much. “My guess is she kicked her own ass and then ran to the Council claiming I attacked her and not the other way around. Since I was at the bottom of the cliff by the ruins…” I paused, lifting my forearms to show off my cuts and scratches. “That bought her enough time to convince them. I don’t know why she’s doing this. Apparently, painful abandonment wasn’t enough. She had to come back and drive another stake through my soul.”
“There’s something you need to know. She’s been planting doubt within the Council. That’s why they were here today and why I insisted on being there when they searched your room.”
“My room?” I couldn’t believe it. As if being attacked by her wasn’t enough. She had to go and turn the Council against me as well. Thanks a lot, MommyDearest. “What were they looking for?”
“Any sign that you’d gone dark. I’d had them convinced there was nothing until they found your sketch pad.”
Ah, crap. “The ward.”
“Counter ward,” she corrected and thinned her lips. “That’s not how you described the ward to me. The one you drew was most definitely a counter ward. What were you doing drawing it all over your sketch pad? That’s how they knew what to look for. Your mo—Sammie—headed up the search. She found it and destroyed it. It restored the barrier.”
“It’s easy to find the counter ward when you’re the one who created and then hid it.” I shook my head. Nothing I said or did at this point would help prove my innocence. Sammie must have had this planned out from the get-go. I lowered my head, defeated. This broke me. The proverbial straw. I never expected the dark elemental to take me down would be my own flesh and blood.
“This echoes what happened when Spencer first arrived at Clearwater. The way he charmed us all into believing he was here to help you when he was really here to destroy you.” She waited until both Syd and I had our undivided attention on her. “Instead of casting a spell over the school as he had, she’s placed a charm on the Council.”
That awesome revelation hung between the three of us until I spoke up. “Why haven’t you been affected? You haven’t trusted her from the beginning.” And I’d nearly lost my mentor by siding with Sammie. Thank God Stace had better judgment than I did.
She pulled aside the collar of her shirt to reveal a tattoo. “I’m warded. Spells directed at me might still break through, but not charms cast over a group.”
“But you were just as
