“You are part of the bond,” Renee explained. “You are all part of the same bond, the one.”
I leaned in when she didn’t finish. “The one what?”
She blinked as if I’d just asked her how to tie my shoe. “The one standing in the way of ultimate supremacy.”
Holy mamma bomb. I did not see that coming.
“Wait.” Clay jumped forward. “Are you saying we’re all part of the prophecy?”
Renee smiled warmly. “You always have been. That’s the message from Cressida.”
This time I jumped forward. “How do you know about her?”
“She came to us once, told us that one will soon rise to fulfill the prophecy, and to be cautious when choosing a side.”
“It’s true.” Stace came to her defense when, clearly, my expression must have conveyed how much I didn’t believe her. “I was there. Cressida Clearwater showed herself to us during a gathering.”
I dropped my jaw. “You’re part of the coven?”
“I told you I was a witch.”
“An elemental, a witch, and now the headmistress of the academy. Some girls get all the luck,” Renee quipped and took Stace’s hand. They held each other’s gazes for a very meaningfully long time.
“And some girls get the girl,” I said when the silence grew awkward. “You two are disgustingly adorable. Stop it.”
Stace blushed for the first time in front of me. I didn’t know she had it in her. She dropped her gaze all bashful-like. I had no problem who she loved. Love was love, period and the end. I loved four guys, equally, unequivocally. She loved a tall strawberry blonde with a nose ring. They were both totally and completely normal in my book.
Bryan raised his hand. “Can we get back to the part where we’re all the prophecy? Why a ward to bond us? We were pretty, uh…bonded before.”
“Yeah, we were.” Clay nodded enthusiastically, earning a groan from the rest of us.
“Would you show a little restraint, please?”
“That was showing restraint.”
Bryan worked his jaw in irritation as he shook his head and returned his attention to Renee. “Are we bonded on another level now?”
She nodded.
“We didn’t get married or anything, did we? Wouldn’t we have to jump over a broomstick or something like that?” I shrugged when the guys all shot me looks. “What? I saw it in a movie once.”
“Your bond is beyond earthly labels. There’s no word for how you’re now connected.” When we all blinked, she grasped my wrist and held up my left hand—the unwarded one. “Observe.” She hovered her hand over mine and moved it in a large circle. A ring scratched into my skin, carved by an invisible knife.
I jerked my hand away and covered my new wound with my other hand. “Ouch.”
“Hey!”
“What the…?”
“No way!”
“That did not just happen.”
The guys all had the exact same wound carved into the back of their left hand.
Oh, hell no. With how often we all got the crap beat out of us at every battle, we couldn’t share each other’s wounds or we’d definitely be at a sucktastic disadvantage.
I jerked my attention to Renee, wondering if that was her intention all along.
5
The next week seemed normal enough—at first.
Spencer was a horrible instructor, but that didn’t appear to bother the students, who all sat completely captivated by his every word spoken in that annoying and arrogant accent. Rob and Leo spent every morning in the 3C classroom, watching Spencer, babysitting me, before patrolling the academy grounds to keep Clearwater safe and secure. Clay popped in and out, keeping a steady finger on the pulse of everything. It impressed me how serious he’d gotten in his role as the headmistress’s eyes and ears.
Bryan had been spending more and more time in the alchemy lab, which meant spending less time with me. When he wasn’t trying to turn some substance into something else, he was on patrol with the guys. I missed my giant earth elemental. I missed all my guys.
Adulting sucked sometimes.
Because the quad squad was busy doing exactly what Stace needed them to be doing, a new group calling themselves the NQS—new quad squad—had emerged as the new big-shot extractionists on campus. All four were over the top in their cocky arrogance, their egos so huge, it was astonishing they fit in the same room together. They grated on my nerves and knew it, so they kept their distance. They’d been busy as well, extracting new elementals from the Nelem world and bringing them here to the academy.
Then there was me. I’d spent the week catching up on the work I’d missed in Primary. I might be tasked with saving the world, but I still had to pass my classes.
I let out a jaw-popping yawn and blinked wide to clear my vision. It didn’t work, so I decided coffee was in order. Not having the energy to walk over to the small dining hall across campus now that it was back open, I hit the main dining hall’s coffee station.
And froze at the sight.
Two familiar identical blondes stood behind a brunette. Even though they had their backs to me, I’d recognize the ice queen and her Barbie bitch groupies anywhere. The trio of mean girls had returned to the academy.
“How’d you get past the barrier?” I immediately thought of Cressida, at how sick she’d gotten when the counter ward I’d accidently created accidently weakened the barrier enough to allow dark elementals through. Had the Council already dropped the barrier? Or had Julie Bailey made a miraculous recovery and returned from the dark side?
Jules stiffened and slowly turned, flashing that condescending smile I wanted to slap right off her Barbie bitch face. “Well, if it isn’t the quint.”
I rolled my eyes. “You guys need to come up with better material. With you, I’m the quint. Not exactly an insult coming from a single. Or from anyone, really.” I regarded Vanessa with a nod. “And you don’t seem to have the brain capacity to remember my name, so I’ve been
