How many MEs refused to wait on pures and wound up back at Carcerem? How could I get them back out? They didn’t deserve to be there any more than they deserved to be there for being magically enhanced.
I headed toward the main hall and snuck into the building behind a student with his nose in a book. Carefully, I crept into the main office and over to the door leading to the headmaster’s office. It was closed. I couldn’t just open it and announce my presence, so I looked around for something to cause a distraction.
“I don’t care if you have to hire a hundred more hunters to patrol the woods. Find her!” Alec’s shout from behind the closed door caught my attention. Who was he talking to? I really needed to get into the room. Could I teleport in without them hearing the audible pop announcing my appearance? I didn’t want to chance it and continued to look for a distraction to at least get them to open the door enough for me to slip inside the office.
“We’ve graduated students early to work for the Council.”
Was that Virgil Graves? I stopped looking for a distraction and listened in.
“We’ve tried hiring more. Those that haven’t already left are threatening to leave if we don’t stop recruiting Council members from the academy.”
“Don’t give them the choice. Force their hand.”
“How do you propose I do that?”
“You’re head of the fucking Council, Graves.” Alec raised his gravelly voice once again. “Make it law to serve on the patrols.”
“A draft?” Graves didn’t sound overly enthused about the idea. “That sort of thing may have worked in the Nelem world, but it won’t work here.”
“Make it work. If elementals refuse to serve their governing body, they’ll be sent to Carcerem.”
“The prison is already over capacity.”
“Jesus God, man. Must I think of everything?” Alec slammed something. “Slap them with an elemutus, then. Give them ultimatums. Let them know the consequences if they don’t comply with the new law. Rule with an iron fist, Graves. Now, where is that cute little snitch?”
“Mind your tongue, Alec. That’s my daughter you’re talking about.”
Gross. I already knew Alec had a thing for girls half his age, as he’d proven by being with Jules, and a thing for women his own age as he’d proven by being with my mom. Now he had a thing for Vanessa? I shuddered.
“Oh, of course. How rude of me.” Alec sounded less than sincere with his reply. “Bring her to me.”
“I’m not your errand boy. I don’t work for you. You work for me, lest we forget.”
“How can I forget when you remind me of that fact every chance you get?”
“Just reminding you of the pecking order, Alec. We have a deal.”
“You had a deal with Samantha Reed, and look where that got her.”
My heart pinched at the mention of my mother’s name. She might have been evil to the core of her very being, but she was still my mom. Despite everything she’d done to me, done to destroy this world, I still hadn’t wanted her to die and now I missed her every day.
“She changed the deal. I warned her what would happen, just as I’m warning you now. I’ve given you everything you’ve asked for. All I’m asking in return is for you to keep your word. It’s not that difficult a concept.”
Ouch. Virgil Graves was kind of a badass when he needed to be. I’d be impressed if I didn’t already hate him.
“I want the quint,” Alec growled after a silence so long, it made me uncomfortable, and I wasn’t even in the room.
“And I want world peace.”
Alec barked out a laugh that seemed to bounce off the walls. “You want world domination, Graves. Don’t kid yourself, and don’t lie to me. Once we kill the quint, the rest of the elemental world will kneel before us.”
“With them out of the way, the Nelems won’t stand a chance.” Graves joined in with an equally maniacal laugh. “Speaking of errand boys, where is yours?”
“He disappeared along with the two in your patrol, no doubt to join the resistance. I knew they were lying when they said they’d broken it off with her.”
Oh, shit. They knew the guys were with me. No way could they return to this world now, not until we took down the Council and made it safe for all elementals to live out in the open.
“How is it your patrols haven’t picked up so much as a scent from the defectors?”
“Witches,” Graves hissed. “Layden, no doubt, is helping her.”
Layden, no doubt, can suck my big toe. I didn’t want anything to do with her ever again. Bitterness enveloped me and left a bad taste in my mouth. So that was what betrayal tasted like. Good to know.
“We knew this would happen,” Graves went on. “It’s why we agreed to get rid of her. If the leechers hadn’t failed, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Oh my God. Oh my God! Virgil Graves had ordered the hit on Stace? How far would this guy go to get what he wanted? Siding with dark elementals. Inviting leechers into the academy. Killing my mom. Now ordering hits on good elementals? When would this end?
When I put a stop to it.
I’d heard enough and backed away from the door. My hip clipped the corner of a table and knocked a potted plant over. It rolled across the surface and out of my reach. I froze as it fell over the edge and called air before it hit the floor, leaving it hovering an inch from impact. Whew. That was a close one.
The office door flew open, and out stormed the darkest of dark elementals, the bane of my existence. I tensed as he did a quick scan of the room with those sharklike eyes. His hair once again looked as if he’d washed it in motor oil. It hung like sad, wilted curtains around his thin face. You’d think no longer being
