Furious Flames (Elemental Book 3) (21 page)

“Should we follow her?” he asked.

I shook my head. “She’d spot us in a hot minute. I
would have wired her if I’d thought to bring any electronics.”

“Then what are we going to do?”

“We’ll wait, because I’m afraid I know exactly where
she’s going.”

*          *          *

“Devon. Can you hear me?”

I was startled from my normal dream, except when I
opened my eyes I realized that I wasn’t really awake. I was seeing through
Henry’s eyes again. He was still in his room, but the connection was fuzzy, as
if Henry couldn’t see well.

“Did he hurt you?”

“Only physically. Pay attention.
Gale does
not seem to fully grasp the keenness of my hearing.”
He tried to focus his
eyes, but I could feel the pain in his head. I was just about to tell him to
let it go and worry about healing when I heard her voice.

“Two more.”

“That’s it?” Gale asked.

“It’s getting harder to focus.”

“Why? You know what you have to do.”

“Langril is making it harder… to hear your orders.”
Astrid’s voice was soft and vacant. At this point, Henry passed out.

*          *          *

Astrid arrived a few minutes before sunrise, and she
knew something was wrong. I asked her where she had been and she told me she
never left. Explaining to her what happened wasn’t easy, but she believed me.

For her own safety as well as ours, we locked Astrid
in the dungeon, which was actually five cells in a room a few doors down from
the infirmary. Hunt assured me the cells were capable of holding a vampire as
he sealed it. When the lock snapped into place, it created a spark. In a matter
of seconds, the metal melded together until there was no door.

“Each of these cells has a different level of
security,” Hunt explained. “This one was designed to hold Keigan, if I ever
needed it to.”

Astrid reached for the bars, heard an electrical
charge, and jumped back in time to avoid any repercussions.

“If you find any flaws in it, please let me know.” He
left us alone.

“Do you think I betrayed you?” Astrid asked.

“No. I know you wouldn’t willingly work with Gale. It
is odd, though. Those two dreams were memories that we both forgot about.
Whatever is going on, it goes way deeper than Gale.” Fire in the doorway caught
my eye… but the doorway was empty when I looked.
This shit is getting really
weird.

I left her, intending to go back to my room. When I
got to the main hallway, Vincent, Hunt, Kale, and Grayson were all in a fierce
argument. “What’s going on?” I asked.

Hunt sighed as they all turned their attention to me.
“Henry escaped and the council put out a warrant for his arrest. They came to
question the students, found April, and arrested her. They also want to arrest
me for harboring her.”

“As soon as Lycosa has been recaptured and both he
and the dragon are executed, we will remove the quarantine,” Grayson said.

“You’re going to kill them?! Neither of them harmed
anyone!”

Kale moved to strike me with some kind of magic, but
I was faster. Instinctively, I wrapped my power around his mind. Instead of
giving him an order, I
wanted
him to stop. Kale dropped to the floor and
started convulsing. Horrified, Grayson formed a sphere of energy that actually
looked like a small, dim sun, which he prepared to strike me with. Before he
could, both Hunt and Vincent created a shield between him and us.

“We’ll be back,” Grayson said as his energy
dispersed. I let my power over Kale fade and he helped Kale up. They both ran
like their coattails were on fire.

I turned to Vincent. “Can you stop them?”

“I’m afraid not. I resigned from the council this
morning. As far as I am concerned, it’s now Quintessence against the council.
While the council was trying to gather evidence against Logan, we were
gathering evidence against them.”

“We? You and Hunt?”

He grinned. “No.”

“Are you referring to Rosin?” Hunt asked.

“Did you really think he would abandon you?”

*          *          *

Hunt sat in his chair behind his desk, Vincent sat by
the fireplace, and I sat on the couch. “Explain,” Hunt said to his friend.

“I had a vision. I knew Rosin was feeling
unappreciated and that the council was becoming a greater problem by the day.
Therefore, I asked Rosin to leave so he could help me deal with the council,
knowing Asrik would take his place. He knew that he could return if you really
needed his help.”

“Now Professor Watson is dead,” I said. Neither of
them had anything to say. “Did the council only become a problem after John
died?” I asked.

They both shook their heads. “The council was created
to control wizards,” Hunt said. “They created laws to protect the paranormals
and humans alike. At the time, wizards could run rampant. It was only a few
wizards who were a problem, but then others would come along, destroy them, and
take their power.”

“And the power would go to their heads,” Vincent
continued. “The council had to struggle to find its authority in the community.
Their intention was to teach wizards to stand together against a common enemy,
which did catch on.”

“At that time, someone like John would face an army
even he could not defeat. The council had scientists, like Andrew, working on solutions
to problems. They had wise men talking to the community and creating laws based
on votes and common sense. However, time decays all in the end.”

“Wizards aren’t immortal. When the council members
died, their seats were taken by a new generation of immature wizards who wanted
to bang a gavel and talk with accents. The generation after that was even
worse. I did what I could to turn the council around, but I was one against
twelve. Then John became a member and the council bent to his will. Unfortunately,
as many people as he killed and tortured, the council is worse without him.”

“So we need to stop them.”

“Not yet,” Hunt said. “If we attack them now, the
rest of the paranormal community will assume we are seeking revenge for April’s
arrest. Even if we succeed, worse wizards will take their place. In January,
when they try to enact their new rules, the entire paranormal world will rebel.
At that point, if the council does not back down, we will disband them.”

“What about Professor Nightshade?”

“She’s already being taken care of,” Vincent said. He
grinned at Hunt. “Do you think they remember the hellhound?”

Whatever they were talking about, Hunt’s grin was
devious. “You’re going to explain that, right?” I asked.

They didn’t.

*          *          *

Despite everything that happened since sunrise, I
wasn’t late for my first class. We made “cheer” potions in Langril’s class, but
we felt like it was a wasted opportunity because Mack wasn’t there to
accidentally consume it. Remy taught us to create animal-shaped illusions out
of illusionary fire. Professor Nakari finally decided we had enough of tarot
cards and said we were going to learn to protect our mind from being read
against our will.

“We will start simple. First, you will learn to
protect your current thoughts, or your inner monologue, from being overheard.
You will later create an amulet, ring, or other device that you can wear to
protect your mind from being invaded.”

“Why do we have to wear something?” Ana asked.

“Because you can enchant an item easier than you can
remain focused at all times. Over your last three circles, you will be making
quite a few items in your classes.”

“How strongly can you protect your mind?” I asked. I
tried to use my power as rarely as possible, but I still encountered minds like
Hunt’s and Vincent’s, which were completely blocked.

“It depends on how strong you are and how strong you
make your defense. I can only teach you how to do it. With time and practice,
most of you have the potential to be extremely powerful.”

“Most of us?” another students asked.

“Not all of you have the mental discipline.”

She was correct in saying that the spell was very
simple. It basically involved imagining a one-way filter around my mind, so
that my magic could go out, and other’s couldn’t come in. Maybe it was too
simple, because none of us managed it.

For this reason, I was pessimistic when I went to
Intuition
and Prophesy
. As usual, we had pillows to sit on with short wooden desks,
but each desk had a crystal ball in a black metal frame. Professor Ashwood told
us to focus on the living person we loved the most. Although I really wanted to
say it was my mother, or even that it was Regina, I knew better than to lie to
myself. I was protective of my mother, and Regina was the woman I married, but
I would never get over Astrid.

The point of this exercise was merely to get
accustomed to crystal balls. Maybe it was because of our dark past, or maybe it
was because I was in a gloomy mood, but I had a very bad feeling about this.
The professor turned off the gas lamps and each of us got a candle. I stared at
the crystal ball for at least an hour. When other students finished the
exercise and left, I didn’t let that distract me. As discouraging as that was,
I focused harder.

I remembered her face, her voice, her kiss, her
smell… I probably said her name in my head a thousand times as I sat in front
of that crystal ball.

*          *          *

Astrid and I were walking through town to go to the
movies. I was nearly shaking with excitement, but Astrid just took my hand and
smirked, as if I amused her. When the air suddenly became colder, I froze. I
could feel the danger. “Something’s wrong.”

Astrid stopped and glanced around before pushing me
closer to the brick wall. “It’s okay.”

“What is it?”

“I’m not sure. Just be quiet for a moment.”

We were across the street from the park, which was
really creepy at night. As if the lack of moonlight wasn’t enough, an ominous
wind whipped around, shaking trees and making everything move. When the
streetlight began to flicker, I wrapped my arm around Astrid. “Let’s go. We
need to go.”

A hand closed over my mouth and yanked me back until
I lost my grip on Astrid. She turned to see what happened and her eyes flashed
silver like mirrors in the dark. She looked right at the person who held me,
nodded, and faced the park. Darkness closed around me like a thick cloud of
ink, so I thrashed as any sane child would.

“Hush.” I recognized the voice. “She can handle the
dog as long as she doesn’t have to protect you as well. There will come a day
when you can protect her, but this is not that day. I can’t take you to the
shadow pass, but I can hide you for the moment if you’re quiet.”

Right before darkness closed off my vision
completely, I saw a man appear in front of Astrid with the cruelest sneer I had
ever seen. And I recognized this man.

*          *          *

The candle flame flickered violently as I returned to
reality, crudely awoken from the memory. I was sure it was a memory, not a
vision. The fire of the candle was blood red, and as the melted wax dripped
down the solid white body, it was black. Inside the crystal was a sight even
more horrifying; white smoke with two villainous eyes peering through. Krechea
was watching.

A black satin cloth dropped over the crystal and I
felt like a weight lifted off of my chest. Professor Ashwood stood over me with
a very worried frown. “The best way to defeat the dark is to become the light,”
she said.

Without a word, I got up and walked out. I found
myself sitting in front of Astrid’s cell for an hour, just letting everything
sink in. I knew the man who attacked Astrid was the substitute teacher who
separated me from everyone else in the science museum and the police officer
who took me from the dressing room. More importantly, I knew it wasn’t the last
time I had seen the man. I saw him dead, torn to bits on my kitchen floor.

He was Astrid’s grandfather.

*          *          *

I was halfway between the dorms and the castle when
my instincts warned of danger. I had been in my head, trying to come up with
ideas on where Henry might have hidden the amulet, so I didn’t notice the six
wolves closing in on me. “Really? We have to do this now?” I asked the
shifters.

The largest one changed back into his human form. He
was a muscular man, as most shifters were, with dark skin to match his wolf’s
fur. “Flagstone is gone and Watson is dead. Some of the pack wolves think you
should be the new alpha. I will fight for the position.”

I shrugged. “Who will you fight? I’m not a shifter; I
don’t want to be your alpha.”

“It is not your choice. A pack that is split in their
loyalties is a dead pack. I will fight you to win their loyalty.”

I sighed and focused on the calmness inside me. My
instincts took over instead. “You do realize I can kill you with my brain,
right?” I asked, surprising myself. I wasn’t trying to goad him, but I knew
backing down would incite the others to attack. “Also, I have a gun, and I will
shoot you in the fucking face.”

“I’m not afraid of your–”

“The bullets are silver.”

His confidence waivered for a split second before he
shifted. His change wasn’t as fast as Henry’s, which made him vulnerable for
half a minute. Unfortunately, I didn’t really have my gun on me. I reached
forth with my power, just as I heard the strangest sound. There was something
about a hyena’s laugh that was psychologically chilling.

Brian came running out of the dorms in his shifted
form and barreled into the large wolf before anyone knew it was coming. They
rolled, teeth snapping, claws tearing, until blood soaked the ground. In a
fight between a wolf and a hyena, I would usually bet on the hyena, but this
wolf was twice Brian’s size.