“Your help being this?” I held up my hand. With a wave of hers, Renee faded the ward to nothing more than a nearly invisible memory. I turned my hand this way and that. Every so often, the light caught just right and revealed the ward. “It’s gone-ish. If I didn’t know what to look for, I wouldn’t see it.”
“Exactly.” Renee unfastened her robe and draped it over the back of the couch.
“What exactly did you do?”
“I knew a protection spell wouldn’t be sufficient if you came across someone strong enough to break it, so I placed a protective ward over your most vulnerable area. It’s interesting where the ward chose to manifest itself. Most appear over the heart.”
Did she know about the cut? About the darkness Spencer forced into me? I curled my fingers into a fist, hiding my palm in case it decided now, of all times, to glow. Regarding Stace, I said, “You could have told me you were doing something like this. I was freaking out.”
She nodded and said nothing in her defense. It was infuriating. I couldn’t shoot down her excuses if she didn’t give me any. Nor could I be mad for her wanting to protect me. Arguing with her never went in my favor anyway.
“Well, thanks for the ward. I guess. What’s it protect me against?”
“Negative intent. Stace tells me you’ve harnessed the power to call all the elements, including darkness.”
I widened my eyes at my mentor. “Did you also tell her about the tiger tattoo on my ass?” Again, for the record, that was merely for dramatic reference. I did not have a tiger tattooed on my ass. Maybe I should come up with a better analogy.
“If you’d had the ward when you were attacked by the leecher, he wouldn’t have been able to force darkness into you.”
That would have been convenient. Why hadn’t Stace gone to Renee for help six months ago? Regardless, she had now, and I had an invisible ward as a result. I was sure it’d come in handy now that I had to work with Spencer Dalton every day. It made me feel a little better anyway.
“How’s it work?”
Renee raised her hands, palms up. “A demonstration?” She lifted her chin and chanted into the air. A dark gray blob with bolts of blue lightning snapping inside it formed in front of her. She spread her arms, and the blob grew in size, creating a vortex of wind and jolts of electricity.
She then sent it barreling toward me.
What element did I use to battle a blob? I brought up an airfield. The blob passed through it as if it wasn’t there and slammed into me. It didn’t dissipate, instead swallowing me until I was consumed by darkness. I called fire, but without oxygen, it couldn’t breathe. I called air, but none would come to me. I tried water. Nothing. Even my primary couldn’t reach me inside the blob. It was as if I were stuck in the void.
I thrust my arms straight out, calling light and expecting the blob to explode. It didn’t even shrink. Then again, Renee wasn’t an elemental, so hitting her with light wouldn’t short out her powers.
Suddenly, the ward on my hand began to glow, brighter and brighter, until I had to squint from the assault on my pupils. The blob shrank in size, releasing me from its prison and weakening until it disappeared with a pop. Then, just as quickly as it appeared, the ward disappeared once again.
I stood there, blinking at my palm in amazement. That was very cool. “Will it always do that?”
“If it senses you’re in trouble, yes. That’s what it’s designed to do.”
“My turn!” Clay exclaimed and practically tackled Renee. “Can you do me? I mean, not do me. I’m already spoken for. Yeah, it’s pretty serious. We’ve got a rock and everything.”
“Stand down, Williams.” Rob’s bark echoed through the cabin.
“Party pooper.”
Rob regarded Renee. “Can you create different types of protection wards?”
“What are you looking for?”
“Nothing for me,” he defended quickly. Too quickly. “I don’t need a ward to protect me. But, uh… For the rest of the guys, you know… Maybe something along the lines of a beacon for Bry in case he gets lost again. That way, we’ll know where to find him. And how about a ward like the one you did for Reed so no other elements find their way into Leo? For Clay, he needs something to protect him from ice attacks. He can’t take many more of those.”
I was stunned into silence. We all were. That was the most heartfelt you-before-me thing Rob had ever said. Ever.
“Tell you what. You five form a circle around me.” Renee waited until we moved the coffee table out of the way and were in place before going on. “Hold hands. Good. Before we start, I want you to look at each other, really open your eyes.”
“What did you just say?” That was something Cressida said on a regular basis to me right before she manifested. Open your eyes. I could almost hear her saying it to me now.
“Focus, Katy.”
I swept my gaze around the circle, stopping on each guy. Rob Emmett, my tall, dark, hotheaded hottie with the perpetual five-o’clock shadow that made his square jaw even more rugged and him even more ruggedly handsome. His compassion and fearless leadership. He put up such a brave façade, but deep down, he was just as scared as the rest of us. At every battle. At life in general. He made it his job to take care of the rest of us, and he did great. He wore his heart on his sleeve, and I loved him for it.
Clay Williams, my genius trickster with an IQ off the charts and terrible timing when it came to his delivery. His neatly trimmed beard he scratched and stroked whenever he stalled for time. His brilliant green eyes always dancing with mischief as
