Page 42 of The Lost Elemental

“So, your phones work here?” That was the easy thing to focus on instead of whatever the hell had just happened. But it was more. I would’ve given anything to be able to video chat with Mom and Charlie. To hear their voices and see their smiles. The ache that took root in my chest nearly took my breath away.

“Hey,” Phoenix said, leaning closer. “Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out.”

“What if I’m too far gone? What if they unbind my powers and I can’t control anything?”

His back teeth ground together. “That’s not going to happen.”

“Professor Cinders?” a feminine voice asked.

“Yes, Xena?” The woman at the front of the class replied.

“I think our class would feel a lot better if Aura wasn’t permitted to practice in here.”

Snickers and outright laughs peppered the air. Drue’s was the loudest. I willed my face not to heat.

Phoenix turned slowly in Xena’s direction. “What if I decide to take up a little practice on you?”

The guy sitting next to her, the same one from our water class, stood. “Back off, Phoenix. You can’t expect the rest of us to bite our tongues to protect your psycho girlfriend’s feelings.”

“Watch your mouth, Aiden.”

My gaze flipped back and forth between the two of them. The same dark hair and golden skin. Similar jawlines. Aiden’s eyes weren’t as dark as Phoenix’s, but they were close.

Aiden sneered at Phoenix. “You forget. You’re not king yet. I don’t bow to you.”

“Little brother, you’ve bowed to me since the day you were born. Never forget that.”

Aiden’s nostrils flared. “You don’t deserve the throne. You’re not equipped to lead our people. You can’t even protect your own family—”

Phoenix charged, lunging for his brother, but the professor lifted a hand, erecting a wall of fire between the two. I stumbled back a step, everything in me freezing in terror.

“I think that’s enough family drama for the day, don’t you, Mr. Ash?” She arched a brow to punctuate her point, then extinguished the flames. The only remnants of it were soot on the floor.

My hands still trembled, even as my muscles released. But all I could think about was Phoenix. His chest heaved as he struggled to regain control. The urge to go to him was so strong, as if I could feel the pain coming off him in waves.

I didn’t have a clue what was between him and his brother. A brother I’d had no idea he had. But they were vicious wounds. The kind that left scars you never recovered from. I knew something about that.

“Everyone take a seat, please,” Professor Cinders ordered.

As I walked by Phoenix, I let my hand brush his. The faintest touch of skin against skin. The barest touch. Just to tell him that I was there.

His eyes found mine. There was only one word to describe them. Ravaged. The pain there stole all the air from my lungs. But a second later, it was gone. The cold mask was in its place.

“Ms. Coleman,” the professor urged.

I snapped out of my haze and moved to the only empty lab table left. I tried to focus on the professor’s words, but I kept finding my focus pulling to Phoenix and then to his brother. A million questions swirled in my brain.

“All right, let’s give it a try. Remember, the key is that eternal flame within us all.”

That had me jerking to attention. Around me, students lit candles. They practiced growing the flames and then extinguishing them. None of them got very big, but still my heart hammered against my ribs.

A burst of light had me gasping and snapping my head in that direction. The flame from Aiden’s candle had jumped to his hands. He tossed it back and forth like a ball of fire.

My breathing came quicker with each pass of the flames. A million what-ifs played in my mind. It could catch on someone’s clothes. Their backpack. A stray paper.

Memories battered against the walls of my mind. Smoke choking me. The weight of the beam on top of me. The agony of my skin burning.

“Aura.” Phoenix’s voice cut through the memories trying to take me under. “Look at me.”