Braving the Elements (Darkness #2)(27)

“Yes, sweetie, that’s right. This is your house.” She patted his arm.

Stefan chuckled. A cozy walk later in Stefan’s arms, I felt the bow of magic as we passed through the wards of my hidden residence.

“Hey Boss, whatcha got there?” I vaguely heard Charles moving around.

“I found your charge.”

“You certainly did. You also serviced my charge. Thank the merciful gods. Maybe now she won’t be so wound up.”

“Please be careful how you address my pet.”

“Not funny.” My voice didn’t have much conviction. My body was too busy trying to shut down.

As Stefan laid me down, he said, “Sleep tight. Have pleasant dreams of me.”

“Cad.”

And he was gone, shutting my door with a soft click.





CHAPTER FIVE

“RUN!”

A giant mouth made by petals swooped down, trying to catch me. I scrambled back, terrified, my magic winked off as I stared at my fifteen-foot-high creation. The goal was to coerce a natural element to grow. I created a plant beast.

Charles dashed forward, glowing sword in hand. He ripped me out of the way, hurling me back to the center of the classroom. He slashed at the monster, swiping half a flowered mouth off, only to curse when it grew back.

“Sasha, what the hell did you do?” Charles yelled, dodging a lovely smelling chomp.

“Made the plant grow!” I screamed back, my own dagger in hand, glowing a bright orange.

“You weren’t supposed to—“ he feinted and struck, slashing off a giant, reaching leaf, “give it an agenda!”

“Maybe they naturally have agendas.” I sprinted to his side, bobbing and weaving, looking for an opening. I’d made some great strides at stabbing things. I was quick.

I felt my arm yanked, hurtled back behind Charles again, this time by Adnan, his sword glowing a pale blue.

“Don’t fire magic at it, it might make it bigger,” Adnan yelled.

Yeah, I was also great at setting magical fire to my opponent accidentally.

Gabe said it actually felt good half the time. He was such a trooper.

Adnan, the ninja, darted with such speed, I stood in awe. He whipped around, almost dancing, and then retreating before the curly green shoots of the plant could capture his legs. Unfortunately, his blade didn’t do a dang thing. I’d created the beast with a strong red power and he was only using blue, two steps down; his eagerness suffocating him.

“Relax, Adnan! Open up to it.”

I focused on the elements in the room, feeling the currents, sampling the percentages. There was always a healthy amount of air, of course, but the other elements were often disguised within the life around them. A humid day held good doses of water, so did pipes and toilets, and other household areas. Fire existed in electricity, in sparks. Earth, of course, was all around, but often so far beneath me or removed, I couldn’t work with it easily. I felt it was my greatest weakness, as did Charles, but Jessiah didn’t seem perturbed, so I didn’t fret too heavily.

I felt everyone’s magic around me, but honed in on Adnan. Like someone with asthma, he wasn’t drawing enough because his receptors were tightened.

I sucked in a big draw, connecting with his flare of magic and billowing it higher. I did it to Charles, too, since I was taking the time. Sweet essence pumped into me, fanning the other boys higher as their magic tried to flirt and play with mine.

“Good times, Sasha,” Charles said, darting in between angry green stalks to slash at a thick green stem. “Don’t do that when you actually have to…

work magic…though. You’ll be weaker.”

“Yes, professor obvious. I figured that.”

Adnan’s blade glowed orangey-red. He was in business.

He dodged in, jumped with a neat flip, and landed on the other side of the evil plant. He stabbed it through a petal, and then hacked off a vine. Charles met it from the front, slashing again at the stem.

In another few minutes, it was over. My cute but violent flower lay in a puddle of plant parts, the room looking like a weed whacker went wild on a garden. Charles stood in the middle of the melee, sweaty and loving it, his smoky eyes bright. He flashed Adnan a triumphant smile, striding over to shake the younger man’s hand.

“With fighting like that, the Boss would welcome you in the Command with open arms,” Charles boomed, swagger fit for a prince who’d just slain a dragon.

Adnan returned the compliment with a sheepish grin, his eyes briefly flicking to me. He’d always had the ability in movement, just not the power to back it up. Apparently he realized I wasn’t such a useless jerk after all.

Hah!

Well, maybe the jerk part was right enough, but still.

A slow, jarring clap echoed through the room. Darla stood against the far wall near the door, a mocking expression on her face. “Yes-oh-yes, let the little dog create a magical nightmare to show off, then let her big tough bodyguard take it down. Quite a spectacle. Maybe they were thinking no one would notice how weak they are in spells and chanting, hmm? Well, maybe we should—“

The door swung open, thankfully halting Darla. She always had creative ways to put me on display. Jessiah stood framed in the doorway, his wide shoulders making his upper body look like a triangle. My heart fluttered weakly, wishing Jessiah had the same effect on me Stefan did. But then, Jessiah wasn’t attached to the slinky, long-haired beauty next to the door, with her perfect breasts nearly falling out of her tube top, and her long, slender body draped just so—a weak flutter was better than nothing.