Spark of Fire Page 5

  “Your watcher requested me. She thought she might need help, and she was right. Usually, when an elemental’s powers manifest, it’s a non-event. The watcher escorts the new elemental to the academy and boom. Done. An extraction team is only brought in if the watcher needs help. Considering who tracked you to that science center, it was a good thing I was there.”

  I couldn’t agree more.

  Clay stood and stretched. His shirt came up, revealing hard abs. I stared longer than I should have, and then I stared some more. He caught me and waggled his eyebrows. “I’m going to see if they’ll let me fly the plane. I’ve been practicing.”

  “Video games do not count.” Leo groaned when Clay ignored him.

  “They wouldn’t the last time,” Bryan stated. “I don’t see their answer changing. That is, unless you found time to get your pilot’s license in between classes at the academy.”

  “How hard can it be? I’m sure I can figure it out.”

  “Even with your big brain, I doubt you’ll just figure it out.” As Clay walked away, Bryan added, “If he tries to fly this plane, I’m jumping.”

  “Good thing we can all call air.” Leo watched Clay approach the cockpit. “He’ll bring the plane down for sure.”

  “Right now, your calls are all over the place.” Rob pulled the conversation back in, his focus on me. “Sometimes they can even jump to dormant elements you’ve never called before.”

  “That’s why the Council brings us in on the more challenging extractions,” Bryan added. “We can sense the elements being called and control them before shit gets out of hand.”

  “But why students?”

  He straightened his legs and crossed them at the ankles before casually draping his arm across the back of the couch. “Would you rather be surrounded by a bunch of elementals like Brenda?”

  “Fair enough.”

  “It makes the transition easier,” Leo pointed out. “People respond better to others closer to their own age.”

  Clay returned and flopped down into the chair, clearly pouting. “They said no and to stop asking.”

  “Thank you, God.” Bryan and Rob bumped fists above my head. Bryan then regarded me. “Why not ask us something a bit more personal?”

  “Personal? Like your dating status or something?” I pulled my hands back and waited for the plane to shudder, fill with water, or possibly explode. It didn’t do any of those things, so I released the breath I’d been holding.

  Rob winked, the gesture sending my heart into palpitations. “Interesting you’d go there.”

  Interesting, indeed. I didn’t know why that was the first thing to pop into my head. Embarrassment heated my cheeks. “Who is this Alec von Leer anyway? He said he could take me to my mom.”

  The guys all exchanged wide stares. Why? What did they know that I didn’t? Well, except for everything. But they definitely knew something about Alec they weren’t saying. As if I didn’t have enough uncertainty spiking my heartrate with all the changes today.

  It was Bryan who finally spoke. “It’s a good thing you didn’t touch him.”

  “What would have happened if he touched me?”

  They all exchanged looks again. Rob went on. “When elementals touch, they can feel each other’s calls, including how powerful each call can be. He would have known which elements you can control and used that against you. That’s how I know you’re a fire elemental. It’s your strongest call. I feel it.”

  “Air, dude.” Clay sat up in the chair, knocking some of that wild hair into his face. He gave his head a flip to send the hair back. “She’s strong enough to practically steal mine.”

  “I told you both before,” Leo chimed in. “You’re wrong. Her water call will be her primary if she just lets it in.”

  “It’s earth, I’m sure of it.” I looked at Bryan as he took my hand. “Even if it’s not, you can call all four elements, Katy. That makes you a quad.”

  “Is there such thing as a quint? You said there were more than four elements. If a person called all five, that’d make them a quint, right?”

  “Quints are a myth.” Rob shut down my line of questioning with a karate chop to the air. “How about we work on the four elements you can control? We can help you.”

  “We?” Leo and Clay said at the same time, both suddenly and completely focused on the conversation.

  “No, dude.” Bryan talked over them. “We can’t.”

  “We all agreed what we’d do if we found the right one.” Rob scooted forward on the couch to face Bryan without me being in the way. “I think we have.”

  “No,” Bryan barked, his tone sharp. “Dude, I can’t. You know I can’t.”

  “The fuck you can’t,” Rob barked right back.

  Brenda glanced up from her laptop, thinned her lips, and returned her attention to the screen.

  Bryan lowered his voice and centered his focus on Rob as if I wasn’t sitting between them. “It’s not the right time.”

  “It would be if you’d grow a pair,” he fired back, his nostrils flaring.

  I had no idea what was going on between them, only that it made me uncomfortable watching them fight like this. Rob looked ready to jump Bryan. “Guys, come on. Do you really need to talk about Bryan’s pair right here in front of the rest of us?”

  Rob and Clay burst out laughing, while Leo and Bryan stared at me. I shrugged. At least half of them found me funny.

  Bryan stood, nailed Rob with a hard glare, and stormed off—well, as best as one could in a small jet—and sat in another chair. He was only a few feet from us and would still hear everything we said. When he crossed his arms and glowered, I blinked at him. He caught me watching him and turned his head.

  Could he be any more of a diva? “Is he always such a…”

  “Baby?” Rob finished for me.

  “Yes,” Leo and Clay said in unison. I snorted, my attention still on Bryan. Fine, let him pout. I still had three gorgeous guys willing to talk to me.

  Clay stood and joined us on the couch, taking Bryan’s place and resting his thigh against mine. As much as I didn’t like to be touched, I really liked to be touched by these guys. What did that even mean? “Tell us about the attack. Did Alec von Leer really kill one of his own dark elementals right in front of you guys?”

  I held Rob’s dark gaze and swallowed hard as my heart rate picked up. Just thinking about how close we’d been to being turned into a pile of ash had my anxiety building.

  “Bro,” Clay said softly.

  Rob rested his thigh against mine, and I immediately calmed. “He must not have known which elements you controlled. That’s why he sent someone in to attack you first, to test your powers. They had no idea you could jump opposites like that. A fire attack could kill a water elemental, or kill the elemental’s ability to call, at the very least. Your watcher was a water elemental, and since the Council usually places watchers with charges of the same primary, it makes sense they thought water was your primary too. We both know that’s not the case.” His expression lit up as if that news somehow pleased him. “Since you can call four elements, he can’t kill you with any of them. Consider yourself lucky.”

  Lucky? A serial killer had tried to add me to his trophy case. I needed to get a grip on reality. This all seemed so surreal. “What did he mean when he said I was in the way of his destiny?”

  “Alec believes he’s the prophecy,” Brenda cut in, closing the laptop.

  “What’s that even mean?”

  “The prophecy clearly foretells that supremacy is certain. That means the one to fulfill the prophecy will become the supreme elemental.”

  That wasn’t how I interpreted it. At all. He’d said good and evil would be matched and only one would win. That didn’t sound like one elemental to me. That sounded like it was either good or evil that’d win. Then again, I’d only learned of the prophecy a few hours ago, so I’d keep my interpretation to myself until I’d been in this new world at least a full day.

  I turned to what I knew as a point of reference. “Is the supreme elemental like the Captain Marvel of our world or something?” No one picked up on my meaning. “Oh, come on. You guys don’t know who Carol Danvers is?” Still nothing, so I gave up on any of them understanding comic book references. “Never mind. What’s the big deal about being the supreme elemental?”

  “The supreme elemental is the rightful leader of our world.”

  Like that explained anything. “So it’s like the president of the United States?”

  “Go bigger,” Clay said. “Think of it like King Arthur. He became the one true king when he pulled that sword out of the stone, fulfilling the prophecy. The supreme elemental is the one who fulfills the prophecy in our world.”

  “Supremacy is certain.” I repeated what both Alec and Brenda had recited. “I thought that just meant one side wins.”

  “Oh, one side wins, all right. They win the right to dictate what happens in our world. If a dark elemental like Alec were to win, he’d not only rule the dark side, he’d rule our world. If that happens, we can all say good-bye to the world as we know it. That’s why it’s so important we don’t let that happen. Honestly, I don’t know what those watchers are teaching their charges these days.” Brenda opened the lid again and glanced over the top, the glow giving her a pale, ghostly appearance. “I hope when you boys become watchers someday, you remember this. Never let your drive to protect your charge blind you from the bigger picture.”

  “And that is?” Rob challenged.

  “Protecting our world. The needs of one never outweigh the needs of the many.” She eyed me and lifted an eyebrow to make sure I knew she meant that comment for me. I’d known Brenda only a few hours and had already plotted how to add her to my webcomic just to kill her off
. She was nothing more than a shiny coin and took great pleasure in pointing that out.

  “I’m glad we cleared that up.” She returned her gaze to the computer. “I’d hate to have to report back to the Council that you boys might have lost perspective. They may skip over you the next time an extraction comes up.”

  “That would be tragic,” Rob retorted.

  Clay added with a wink in my direction, “We’d never do anything to go against the Council.”

  Leo and Bryan simply darted looks at everyone.

  What was this Council Brenda kept name-dropping like it was her job?

  I leaned my head back on the couch and stared at the ceiling to process everything that had happened today. First, I’d drawn the face of the ultimate bad guy, only to have him suddenly appear, tease me with knowing my mom, and then try to kill me—after sending one of his minions to trap me in a human meat locker and try to kill me first. I’d created a frightening tornado of corpses and destroyed a cadaver lab. Add the fact I now had four gorgeous guys sticking to me like I was some sort of supermodel with bacon wrapped around my neck, and I was ready to pass out from the insanity of it all.

  “Mr. Emmett, may I speak with you?” Brenda asked, pulling Rob away from me to join her. I was so focused on what they were talking about, I failed to realize my anxiety hadn’t taken over until Clay tapped my thigh with the back of his hand, grinning and nodding like I’d just ridden a bike without training wheels for the first time.

  It barely registered as I continued to stare at Rob with Brenda. They whispered for a few minutes before he returned. She pretended to focus on the laptop screen, but I knew better. We all knew better. She’d listened in.

  Rob sat back down and took my hand. “You drew Alec’s face as if you’d seen him before. You even got the scar right.”

  “She did?” Bryan blinked wide. “How’d she know about the scar?”

  “What about the scar?” I asked when no one volunteered the information.

  The guys all exchanged looks.

  I was getting really tired of that response. If they knew something—and clearly, they did—they needed to tell me.

  “What about the scar? Did I have something to do with it?” When no one answered me, my confusion melted into anger. The overwhelming scent of sulfur filled the air. I recognized the smell as me about to lose control and call an element. Which element, I had no idea and didn’t care. I needed to call something and let out this feral beast clawing at my insides.

  “Boys?” Brenda nodded at them. “Do your job.”

  “She’s upset.” Leo stated the obvious.

  “She’s a Reed. She should be able to handle something as simple as a—”

  “My name is Valentine!” I saw red as I exploded. Rob pulled me to my feet and then into his arms, holding me tight. Leo joined him, followed by Clay, and finally Bryan. I didn’t understand—God only knew why I craved their touch when I couldn’t stand anyone else touching me—but the group hug did the trick. I drew in several breaths and finally sank into them all, relief washing over me. I’d never felt more at peace than I did at that moment.

  “Katy?” Brenda was suddenly by my side and ordering the guys to back away. Again, Rob was the last to reluctantly leave my side. “I know this is a lot to take in, sweetie.”

  No shit, I fumed, hating how she called me sweetie, like we were suddenly close enough for pet names.

  She lifted her hands. “Because of this shock and the fact we’re thousands of feet in the air, I have to do this.”

  “Do what?”

  The guys put up their hands. I don’t know which one yelled, “Brenda, no!”

  My answer came in a flash of light.

  And then everything went dark.

  6

  “I hope she’s not dead.”

  “I refuse to room with a corpse.”

  “No, look! She’s breathing.”

  I blinked everything into focus and spotted not one but two real-life Barbies hovering over me. Was I seeing double? Single, double, or otherwise, they were way too close, so I waved them off. They both—at least I thought there were two—stepped back.

  I sat up and immediately pressed the heel of my hand to my temple as my brain exploded in pain. “Ow. Ow. Ow,” I chanted in time to the pounding of my head. Glancing around, I squinted until the room stopped spinning and swallowed several times so I didn’t lose my lunch. It was bright in here, even cheerful, and scattered with too many things the color of Pepto-Bismol. Gross. My lunch threatened to come up again.

  “Where am I?” I asked after swallowing down the contents of my stomach.

  An unbelievably beautiful brunette with captivating, piercing blue eyes stepped out from behind the Barbie twins. “You are in the wrong room.” She crossed her arms and jutted out a hip, as if her comment wasn’t enough to really drive home the point of how unwelcome I was in this room. “You don’t belong here.”

  “And here would be…?”

  One of the Barbie twins spoke up—or it could be the same Barbie, I still wasn’t sure on that one—and offered, “You’re at Clearwater Academy.”

  “The Academy of Elements,” the other Barbie added.

  “And you’re leaving,” the beautiful bitch snapped. When she tried to grab my hand, I jerked away and shot her a look conveying exactly what would happen if she tried to touch me again. She got the hint and stepped back. Smart move, bitch.

  “No, I mean how’d I get here?” The last thing I remembered, I was on a plane on my way to…an island, maybe? No, I was on my way to the academy. That much I remembered. I glanced around and frowned. Please tell me they didn’t drop me at the wrong school. This room and its occupants looked like I’d been dropped into Barbie’s dreamhouse.

  The twins joined the beautiful bitch, and all three aligned in their mean-girl assembly line. Beautiful bitch responded with, “You were here when we got back from class. I never agreed to a dormmate.”

  “I never agreed to be your dormmate,” I fired back and stood, swayed, and spread my arms until the room stopped spinning, and finally squared my shoulders to address her face-to-face. I didn’t like her standing over me like that. At least now we were close to the same height. “And yet here we are.”

  “I’m calling my father.” She whipped out a phone and brought it to her ear. “Daddy?” she said in a voice an octave higher than should ever be allowed. I rolled my eyes and turned from the gaggle of girls to survey the room.

  Aside from the offending Pepto motif, it wasn’t all that bad. Definitely better than my room back in Montana, which was about one-quarter the size of this place. A four-poster bed, because of course she’d have a four-poster bed, complete with a satiny pink comforter and matching sheer curtains tied to each post, had to go with the beautiful bitch. Everything about it screamed spoiled, as did the bitch. I didn’t see any other beds, which told me the twins didn’t live here. Awesome, it’d just be me and my new BFF. Still, even sharing a room with her, I wouldn’t hate it if I had to live here. I’d make it work.

  “She can’t stay here,” the beautiful bitch declared into the phone. “Are you serious? She got to ride in one of the jets? I haven’t even gotten to ride in one, and you promised. What? They had to use light on her? Who is she anyway?”

  They had to use what on me? And who were “they”?

  She suddenly whipped around, her mouth open. “You’re a Reed?”

  “Your point?”

  “Light shorts out an elemental’s powers,” Barbie #1 stated.

  “You won’t be able to call for days,” Barbie #2 added, quite gleefully.

  “I guess you’re all safe, then.” I lifted my gaze to the ceiling and cringed. Where did they find posters of so many musical groups? It was like paying homage to every boy band since the Beatles. And now I got the joy of looking at that every night.

  That should adequately bring back the nightmares. If it wasn’t Onyx haunting my dreams, it would be any one of these boy bands singing their earworms until I woke up screaming.

  “Safe from what?” one of the Barbies asked.

  “From me,” I answered flatly, just to freak them out. Surprise, bitches. I can be an insufferable twat waffle too.

  “No, Daddy. No!” beautiful bitch squealed into the phone. I winced and plugged one ear before she blew out my eardrum. “I’m not going to be her little academy guide.”