Spark of Fire Read online

  “Dodged that bullet,” I muttered and moved to the door. I took it all back. There was no way I could possibly live with that woman. The sooner I got out of this room and went exploring, the better. If I had to spend one more minute with the beautiful bitch and her mean-girl Barbie twins, I’d lose my shit and…and… Well, I didn’t know what I’d do, but it wouldn’t be pretty.

  I opened the door and stepped into the hall, relieved to see how different it was from the room I’d just vacated. No pink, for starters. No boy bands on the ceiling. So far, so good. The walls were dark, swallowing the light, so the hall looked long, narrow, and seemed to go on forever like a subway tunnel.

  Maybe I’d find the quad squad and ask them why they’d ditched me and left me with the trio of mean girls. If I couldn’t find them all, I’d at least find Rob. I could really use his calming touch right now.

  Again, not in a sexual way. Although, that wasn’t completely off the table if he asked me out. Having a boyfriend to help me through this transition wouldn’t be a bad thing.

  “Where are you going?” one of the Barbies demanded. I ignored her and swung my gaze both ways, not seeing a difference either way—they were both dark and endless—and turned to my right.

  “Curfew is in ten minutes,” the other Barbie hissed as she joined her twin in the doorway. “You get caught out after curfew, the entire dorm is in trouble.”

  “Curfew? Seriously? We’re in college.” I hadn’t had a curfew since my mom left and wouldn’t be following one now.

  “Whatever. Come on, Jess. Not all of us believe the rules don’t apply to them.”

  “On it, Jules. We’ll cut through the round.” Jess and Jules locked arms and practically skipped out of the room. As they moved farther down the hall, a light buzzed on in front of them. Every ten feet or so, another light came on as the light behind them clicked off.

  That explained the darkness. It wasn’t anything ominous, just a school trying to save a few dollars on the power bill.

  A light clicked on behind me. I turned as Leo stepped out of the shadows, his crystal-blue gaze dancing and unruly blond hair all over the place. Gone was the rest of the suit, replaced by a casual pullover that made his frame appear even leaner, more muscular. His jeans hugged his strong legs perfectly. I was so happy to see him, I practically ran into his arms and threw mine around his neck. “Oh, thank God. I thought they dropped me at the wrong school.”

  “Why would you think that?”

  “I’ll tell you later. Can we go for a walk?” I needed air.

  “Curfew is in nine minutes. You wouldn’t be sneaking out now, would you?”

  Again with the curfew. “What are you, the hall monitor?”

  He laughed and planted a kiss on my cheek. My heart fluttered. We barely knew each other, and yet having him kiss me—even on the cheek—felt like the most natural thing in the world. “Something like that. Come on.” He nodded for me to walk with him down the hall. “I’ll show you around, babe.”

  Babe? I hated pet names, yet hearing him call me one felt good, felt right. “What about curfew?” I practically choked on the last word. It boggled my mind that an academy full of elementals would have a curfew.

  He waved off my comment. “Don’t worry about it. The hall monitors aren’t very quiet. We’ll hear them coming and hide before they see us. Besides, you’re new and a Reed, so that gives you a double hall pass.”

  “It does?” I fell into step beside him as we walked down the long hall, lights clicking on and off to illuminate our way as we went.

  “Totally,” he went on, oblivious to the tornado of anxiety currently spinning out of control inside me. That couldn’t be good. I took my meds this morning, didn’t I?

  Didn’t I?

  Oh, shit on a stick.

  I couldn’t recall if I’d taken my meds today. Then again, after everything that’d happened, I was pretty sure no drugs could dull the shit I’d witnessed. I’d experienced. I’d survived. And now, I didn’t have them with me, which meant I’d have to find a way to get my prescriptions transferred here. Without my meds to keep my body temp in check, the Ignecryo Disease could kill me. Not being overdramatic. I might die. Although there was a slight chance I didn’t carry the recessive gene that would go subatomic without the meds, I didn’t want to gamble with my life and made a mental note to see if the academy had a pharmacy. I’d ask Leo but didn’t want him to know about the disease and have him ask a bunch of questions. I barely knew anything about it.

  We turned a corner and entered what looked like a large waiting room. “What is this place?”

  “The commons. Every dorm has one. This is Aquae’s commons.” We walked through the room and out a door that led to remarkably fresh air. I drew in a deep, deep breath, welcoming the refreshing change from the oppressive halls of…wherever I’d woken up.

  “Much better.” I pulled in another breath as I glanced around. I spotted several buildings I assumed to be dorms, a giant circular field of grass separating them I assumed was the round the Barbie twins cut across to get to their dorm, and a tall bronze statue dead center of it all. It reminded me of a clock, like at any minute, the buildings would jump to keep time. It was eerie.

  And then the statue moved. No freakin’ lie. The statue turned slightly to the right and froze once again. I blinked several times, staring at it. Not only was I seeing double, I was now hallucinating.

  What the hell did that Brenda chick do to knock me out?

  “Did that statue…?”

  “Move,” Clay answered as he walked up to us. He’d also ditched the suit for something a little more casual. The green sweatshirt he had his hands shoved into brought out the color of his eyes, even in the dark. “Every hour on the hour. I thought I might find you out here tonight. Curiosity killed the cat, you know.”

  “So did the last guy to compare me to a feline,” I teased right back.

  He laughed quietly and took my hand, brushing his lips across my knuckles. His beard tickled my skin, while the contact tickled the rest of my body. “Touché, Montana.”

  Another pet name? Now I had two, from two different guys, and I liked them both—the pet names and the guys. My insides spun a little, and I liked that too.

  “It is now ten o’clock.” Rob appeared from the shadows, his hands in the pockets of his shorts, his large pecs straining the material of his red tank top. Shorts? Tank top? In the middle of winter? “Do you know where your bed is?” His dark gaze landed on me and danced wickedly.

  My skin caught fire as I broke out in a sweat. Cutting our overcharged contact, I pulled my attention to his bare arms. His huge, delicious, sculpted-muscle bare arms. My gaze then traveled along his very defined legs. “Aren’t you cold?”

  “I tend to run a little hot.” There went that wicked look again. He ran his fingers along his whisker-covered chin as he regarded me. “Congrats, Reed. Your first night at the academy and you’ve already broken, like, four rules.”

  “Four?” I didn’t know why it bothered me that I’d already broken rules. I did it all the time back home. Why would I expect it to be any different here?

  He held up his fingers and counted off. “Out after curfew, obviously.”

  “That would be my fault,” Leo volunteered and took my other hand. “I’m taking her for a walk.”

  “You make it sound like I’m a dog. Remember my comment about comparing me to an animal?”

  Rob slipped his hand in mine as Leo casually slipped his out, like it was no big deal, like it was simply a given that Rob had more right to my hand than Leo. I didn’t know how I felt about that.

  He continued his count. “Unsanctioned calls earlier today at the science center.”

  Clay jumped to my defense. “That one wasn’t her fault since she didn’t even know she could call.”

  “And the fact I was defending myself,” I added. Clay nodded his approval, knocking hair into his eyes. He flipped it back.

  “Not reporting a dark elemental sighting,” Rob went on, making me feel all hot and bothered again, but this time for an entirely different reason. I didn’t appreciate him pointing out so many things I’d done wrong since discovering I was an elemental.

  “First off, I didn’t know who he was until he tried to kill me. Second, I didn’t know I was supposed to report him.” When my comments didn’t earn a response, I added, “You said four. That’s only three.”

  “The night’s young.” He licked his lips. I hated that I loved that gesture, and immediately forgave him for being a borderline dick. His mouth, surrounded by thick stubble, was like a bull’s-eye. A bull’s-eye I wanted to nail.

  Wait. That came out wrong.

  “Where’s Bryan?” I asked to change the subject, missing the earth elemental and not understanding why. I had three guys completely focused on me. That should be enough. And yet, without Bryan, our group felt…incomplete.

  Clay answered. “You’ll never see Mr. Stick in the Mud out after curfew. Plays by the rules, that one.”

  “He’s just focused on school,” Leo defended.

  “He’s too serious. That boy needs to lighten up, be more like me.”

  “What? Flighty and unreliable?”

  Clay threw Leo a glare, which earned him a detached shrug from the water elemental.

  I squeezed Clay’s hand to get his attention. “What can you tell me about this place?”

  “I love story time.” He grinned, which I began to understand was just who he was. He always smiled, at least when he wasn’t denied flying a plane he had no right flying. “We are on one of the many splendid islands of Washington State. This one is Whidbey Island. More specifically, a quaint little town known as Deception, home to the Academy of Elements. The statue is Cressida Clearwater, fou
nder of the academy. The legend is, she fled Salem during the witch trials before they figured out she had the power to call the elements. That shit would have gotten her burned alive.”

  “What if she was a fire elemental?”

  “They would have drowned her, then.” We walked up to the front of the statue and all craned our necks.

  Rob spoke. “Why do you think they had to try so many different ways to torture and kill all the ‘witches’?” He used air quotes on the last word. “They weren’t all elementals, of course, but some were.”

  We stood in silence as we studied the bronze statue. It was at least ten feet tall and stunningly beautiful. The woman held her chin high, her shoulders squared, and stared directly ahead as if challenging someone to cross her. Long flowing hair cascaded down her back, and the layers of robes made her look even more powerful.

  “Wow,” I whispered in awe.

  “I know,” Clay agreed. “She was pretty spectacular. She created an underground network to bring other elementals here to Deception and started Clearwater as a sort of safehouse. It grew into an Academy of Elements when there were so many elementals unable to control their powers. She singlehandedly saved our kind.”

  “If you believe the legend,” Leo said.

  I looked at him. “Don’t you?”

  “I believe something brought elementals here over one hundred years before Lewis and Clark explored the area.” He glanced back up at the statue.

  Rob added, “I’m positive that’s why this town is called Deception, despite what the history books tell you. Cressida Clearwater taught her students how to conceal their calls and hide in plain sight, deceiving those hunting and killing our kind.”

  It all made perfect sense and made me proud to be an elemental. Thank you, I silently told the statue.

  “She moves one click at the top of every hour,” Clay stated. “Like she’s still keeping watch on the school, still keeping us safe. No one knows how she’s doing it, considering she’s a giant statue, but no one dares take her apart to figure it out. They just let her do her thing.”

  That seemed the smartest thing to do. I wouldn’t want to cross her, and made a mental note to thank her as often as I could to stay on her good side.

  7

  “Come on. There’s more to see before we go back to the dorm.” Leo led us down a path between two ginormous buildings. “There are four houses. To your left, you have Ventus House.”

  “That’s where the air elementals live.” Clay pretended to be straightening a tie. “It’s by far the coolest house and where you should be, considering you’re one of us.”

  I glanced at the monstrous white brick building with giant pillars flanking a wide set of stairs leading up to the front doors. Seven stories of windows lined the outside, some panes decorated with artwork or dreamcatchers, at least the ones I could make out in the sparse light. A thick yellow stripe ran along the building about ten feet from the top. “Why is it so much bigger than the others?”

  Rob answered. “It’s the easiest element to call, so it’s got the most elementals living there.”

  “Whatever, man,” Clay fired back, but didn’t deny it. “It’s the coolest element.”

  “Says you.” Leo jumped back into tour-guide mode. “On your right is Ignis House, for the fire elementals.

  My heart skipped a beat, having never heard the term. It sounded a lot like the first part of the disease I had latent inside my body like a ticking time bomb. “What’s it called?”

  “Ignis. It’s Latin for fire.”

  “It’s the hottest house,” Rob said with a cocky grin. “Because I live there.”

  “Conceited.” Clay pretended to cough.

  Ignis was five stories of stone, with fewer windows, and a dark red stripe wrapping around the outside. It had a tower on the corner farthest from Ventus that made it look like a castle. “Cool.”

  “Way cooler than the lame Aquae House where Leo lives.”

  “You’re just jealous my house is better than yours,” Leo quipped. “And where Katy now lives.”

  “For now,” Rob growled and rolled his shoulders, drawing my focus. Damn, those were some nice, nice, niiiiice shoulders. “She’s not a water elemental. She doesn’t belong there.”

  Clay added, “Sharing the same airspace as Vanessa Graves, the ice queen herself. I can’t stand that bitch or her twin bitch groupies. Those two give air elementals a bad name.”

  “Ness isn’t that bad. That’s whose room I caught you sneaking out of.” Leo combed his fingers through his hair. It didn’t help.

  I glanced over my shoulder at the building Leo and I had vacated. The building was a smaller version of Ventus, with natural brick and giant white pillars flanking the wide staircase leading to the front doors. A blue stripe graced the outside.

  “I’m not a water elemental,” I protested, agreeing with Rob. And I sure as hell didn’t want to live with that ice queen.

  “Can you call water?” Leo asked.

  “I—I don’t know.”

  “Can you call any other element?” Rob then asked.

  “You already know the answer to that.”

  “Once you go through your tribunal, you’ll know your primary and can finally be placed in the right house.”

  “Is that the test Brenda mentioned?”

  Rob nodded. “You get tested when you first arrive so we know which elements you have the power to call, even if they’re dormant, and can place you with other elementals with the same primary.”

  We turned right and walked the tree line at the backside of Ignis and Ventus. A shudder raced up my spine the closer we got to the woods. The thick underbrush quivered right along with the chills now peppering my skin.

  “Maybe water is your primary and that’s why the Council placed you in Aquae,” Leo went on to explain, completely oblivious to the underbrush reacting to my unease. In fact, none of the guys seemed to notice.

  “The Council?” The same Council Brenda had named-dropped about a dozen times?

  “The Elemental Council.” Rob watched the bushes still shivering before swinging his gaze to me. “Something got you upset, Reed?”

  “Aside from knowing I’m going to be tested on powers I don’t know how to control? Nah.”

  “The Council governs our world.” Clay frowned and glanced at the bushes, then to Rob. He answered Clay’s unasked question with a shake of his head.

  Leo, who still hadn’t noticed the bushes, spoke up. “Vanessa’s dad is pretty high up in the Council, so I’m surprised they stuck you with her.”

  “I bet that’s why they stuck you with her,” Rob said. “Daddy wants his little girl to be the Reed’s BFF.”

  “The Reed? I’m not the only Reed in the world. You make it sound like I’m an anomaly.” We started walking again, rounding a corner and heading back toward the statue in the center of the field separating the houses. The farther away from the woods we got, the better I felt. I looked back, wondering what was out there. “Besides, I’m pretty sure Vanessa Graves would rather kill me in my sleep than room with me.”

  “You’re the only student quad we have, so yeah… That makes you an anomaly. There are only, like, ten of you in the world.”

  That we know of. I left that troubling comment out of our conversation.

  “Terrae House is that dorm there.” Leo nodded at the building next to Aquae.

  The five-story stone house had several roof peaks and was covered with ivy. I could just make out the green stripe under all the vines. This was definitely a house in which I’d expect earth elementals to live.

  In fact, each dorm seemed to match the element. With Ventus, the house was light in color. Despite the size, it seemed almost wispy, that yellow stripe like a ribbon. Ignis was a freakin’ castle, which was awesome, the red stripe resembling a ring of fire blown by a dragon around the structure. Aquae’s blue stripe looked like it held the house together, as if without it, the building would somehow melt away and escape to the nearest body of water.

  None of them held a candle to Terrae.

  It was like an old inn that time had forgotten. The vines crawling up the outside were constantly shifting, every so often sprouting a new leaf to cover a part of the house not already choked out by the foliage. Some wouldn’t notice a place like that or would turn up their nose in disdain.