Okay, Cressida. I hear you loud and clear.
The founder of the academy and original supreme elemental worked in cryptic and mysterious ways. She spoke to Bryan as well as me. I didn’t know if she’d ever manifested to him, but she had to me. Several times. And, apparently, she’d manifested to this coven of witches.
A woman with long sandy-blonde hair stood and, without a word, took over for Renee, poking the meat in the pan with a fork. They nodded to each other before Renee turned to address us. “You’ve come to ask me to remove the wards.”
Was she a mind reader? Or a telepath? With the way the blonde had simply taken Renee’s place without instruction, it did make me wonder. “Here’s the thing. We’re feeling each other’s feelings. It’s more than just sensing each other. This is…” I didn’t know how to say it without revealing the whole volcano scenario. “This is just more.”
“You don’t want to be bonded to them?”
“It’s not that.” I looked to Bryan for help.
He jumped in. “Being bonded is one thing. Being able to feel everything the other one feels is something else.”
“Can you elaborate?” Renee tilted her head to the side, causing her long strawberry-blonde locks to fall over her shoulder. “I thought this was what you wanted.”
“We wanted protection,” he countered and held up his hand. “Not this.”
“Well, if you’d rather not have the ability to call upon any element…” She paused and eyed Bryan knowingly.
He stiffened and glanced at me before returning his attention to her. “Are you saying the reason it didn’t hurt me when she called fire, and then water, was because I now have the ability to control them?”
“Whatever you were doing when she called the elements must have been during a heightened state of emotion. You were vulnerable as you transferred control from one person to the other. It also left you open for other elements to enter your system.”
“All the other elements?” Bryan asked. When Renee didn’t answer, he continued to push. “Like, even those forced into her against her will?”
I knew exactly what he meant. He was scared my darkness had transferred to him. Completely understandable and had me curious as well. I thought about how first the fire and then the water both sank into his body. Did anything else sink in that I didn’t see? “So, is that a yes? Or no?”
She glanced at the circle of women. One by one, they stood and left. Even the blonde, who’d set the pan of bacon off to the side away from the fire, leaving us alone with Renee. She took a seat next to me and turned to face us both. “You were blessed with extraordinary gifts. The elements speak to you, connect with you. You have the ability to bond with all the elements, Katy. No element can harm you. You have no weakness when it comes to your powers. Others have the ability to bond with opposing elements like you do, Bryan. If attacked by an element you can’t control, one of your elements steps in and protects you.”
All that was great and everything, but it didn’t answer the question. I really just wanted to know whether Bryan had suddenly become a quad thanks to me. “He can control more elements now?”
She shook her head, and Bryan and I both deflated. “He can pull in another element through the bond, borrow it, if you will. Removing the ward removes that ability.”
It clicked. “Are you saying that as long as we all have this ward that bonds us, we all have the ability to connect to each other’s powers?”
“It’s a bond in its entirety.”
Holy sheep sheers. My guys were all quints plus one now. That alone made the whole feeling each other, sharing in our weaknesses not seem so bad. We were five elementals with the power to control every element out there. That was thirty different elemental ways to protect each other.
“Still want me to remove the ward?”
I looked at her, then at Bryan. He gave me a slight shake of his head. I agreed and answered with a resounding “No. But I do have another request.”
“That is?”
“Join us.”
My invitation surprised her. She crinkled her brow as she leaned back. “Join you?”
Maybe she wasn’t a mind reader after all. Maybe she was just really good at reading people. “The Council is allowing dark elementals into the school and even taking positions within the Council itself. My archnemesis, who’s tried to kill me on multiple occasions, now has a seat next to the head of the Council. It’s not going to merge the two sides. We’re already at war. This is giving the dark side the in they need to take over our world. We need to fight this.”
She stood and turned from us, staring into the fire. Darkness had settled in around us, which surprised me. How long had we been sitting here? It couldn’t have been so long as to have night fall, yet the inky blackness consuming the light of day couldn’t be mistaken. “What you’re asking… For us to choose a side… That’s exactly what Cressida Clearwater had warned us about. She said not to choose sides.”
“No,” I corrected and stood as well. “She said to be cautious when choosing a side. That’s not the same thing. Please, Renee. If not for me, then do this for Stace. She’s in the middle of all this, torn between her loyalty to the Council and her loyalty to me.”
Renee kept her chin down as she glanced slightly over her shoulder, keeping her gaze down. “This isn’t our battle.”
“It’s everyone’s battle,” I practically cried. “If the dark side takes over, our world as we know it will be no more. We can’t do this alone, Renee. Please, join us.”
“I’m sorry, Katy.” With a wave
