Page 24 of The Lost Elemental

The girls in the class giggled, but I could only stare. I hadn’t even made it to the naked part of the discussion. I was still stuck on one thing.

Kai, Golden God, was my teacher. And I was officially screwed.

13

“Sense the magic within you, bubbling just below the surface. Just because your powers are bound for a little longer doesn’t mean you can’t feel them and use them for small exercises.”

Professor Belthorn had been repeating the same refrain over and over for the past hour. Only I had no idea what she was talking about. I couldn’t feel a damn thing bubbling below any surface.

I glanced to my left. A girl I vaguely recognized as one of Drue’s hangers-on had water droplets sprouting from her fingertips. The guy next to her was weaving a mist of water through the air. I stared down at my hands, willing them to do…anything.

Not a bloody thing happened.

Warm hands landed on my shoulders. “Think about what it felt like when Quincy unlocked your powers for that brief moment. How it felt when his magic mixed with yours.”

I wanted to sink back into Kai’s touch, to soak in that honeyed-whiskey voice. Instead, I closed my eyes and focused, taking myself back. I could feel the pricks of energy in my skin. The way they’d dug in, burrowing deep.

“That’s it, Aura. I can feel the change. Now picture the water running through you, the way it runs through all of us. And let it fly.”

I kept my eyes closed and imagined a smooth river running through me, traveling down every muscle and vein. I stretched my fingers out, palms up, and pictured it flowing out of me, into the world around us.

“Shit!” Kai barked.

My eyes flew open to see more than a trickle flying from my hands. That river I was picturing was shooting from my palms and into the air. “What do I do? I can’t stop it.”

I tried fisting my hand, but the water just kept coming.

“Stay calm.” Kai extended his hands, releasing his own streams of water. They circled mine, containing it and keeping it from landing on the entire class. “Deep breaths. Picture the water coming back to you, back to where it belongs.”

I couldn’t get my mind to cooperate, to imagine anything but dousing my class in the liquid above their heads.

“You’ve got this, Aura. Nice and easy.”

Kai’s voice soothed in a way I didn’t know anything could. I leaned into that feeling, closing my eyes again. I pictured the river again but had it flowing in reverse this time, back into me, towards the very center of my being. As I pulled, something swirled inside me. As if I could feel the power building.

Kai’s hands found my shoulders again. “That’s it. You can open your eyes now.”

As I did so, I blinked a few times. The water was gone, and everyone in the entire classroom was staring at me.

Professor Belthorn cleared her throat. “Well, it’s safe to say water will be one of your affinities.”

Kai squeezed my shoulders. “I knew it. I can tutor you one-on-one. You’ll be the most powerful water elemental they’ve seen in years.”

“Kai…” the professor warned.

He held up both hands in mock innocence. “What? She clearly has untapped potential.”

A few of the guys in the class snickered and I glared at him.

Professor Belthorn sighed. “Aura has great potential, but I’m not sure your kind of tutoring will be of use in developing her gift.”

“Thorny, I’m hurt,” Kai said with a pout.

Her face went stormy. “Kai…”

“Yeah, yeah, no nicknames even if they’re meant to show affection.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. Kai was like a six-year-old at heart. Nicknames for everyone and his world rocked when someone didn’t want to join in his fun.