Hungry Earth (Elemental Book 2) (3 page)

Done with my job, I turned and went back inside. Just
as I was about to enter my room, Jackson called my name. He was out of breath
and pinching his nose as he stopped about ten feet away from me. I saw blood on
his upper lip and assumed the vampire had gotten a shot in on him before he ran
after me. “What do you want?”

“I heard the council asked you to help the vampires
settle in here.”

“You heard wrong.” Technically, since my uncle was a
member of the council, he wasn’t that far off. Then again, I got the idea that
Vincent did a lot of things that the rest of the council wasn’t aware of. Because
he also asked me to find out why the council was really visiting the school, I
could only assume they weren’t all completely honest with him, either.

“Last year, everyone thought you were on our side
because you caught that vampire in the hall. Now you’re going to give them
alibis and be their best friend? It’s pathetic that–”

“I will help keep the peace if I see a way to,” I
interrupted, “but I’m not going to cover up their shit, or yours. I will never
trust a vampire. If you ambush one of them, I’m going to laugh when he punches
your lights out, like I would if you attacked anyone else. I see duels like
what you were doing out there as consensual and not really any of my concern.
But if a vampire decides to prey on anyone, paranormal or otherwise, the
council is not going to be the only ones who hear about it.”

I sat at my usual spot for
breakfast, wondering how this semester would be different from the previous
one. At least I wasn’t working undercover as a wizard. Darwin sat next to me
and Henry sat across from us. “So what did you two do over the break?” Darwin
asked.

Henry turned green and focused on his food.

“I worked,” I said. “What did you do?”

“I worked, too.”

“You have a job?” Henry asked, surprised.

Darwin scowled. “Yes, I have a job. I’m a journalist.
I told you that, like, three times. Devon knew about it, right?”

“I had no idea. I just thought you were nosy and good
at getting information.”

Henry very discreetly cleared his throat. Darwin and
I turned to see Professor Langril approach us. “Happy to see you three survived
the holiday,” he said, smiling kindly.

Considering all the murders that occurred in the
previous semester, I found the comment ominous, as if we were still in danger.
“You, too, Professor Langril,” I said. I wanted to be polite, seeing as how he
enabled me to graduate my first circle. “Did you have a good break?”

“I had a productive holiday. Now, I have brought you
your schedule.” He handed me a folded letter and I tried not to cringe.

“You’re my elemental mentor?”

“Correct. I am going to be teaching you about the
element of earth. You will meet me on Thursday nights at midnight, in the
middle of the deep, dark forest… with no one to witness–”

“Getting creepy, now, Professor,” I said. Darwin’s eyes
were huge.

“Okay, well, good day then.” He turned and walked
off.

“Is he normally like that?” Henry asked as the
assistants began handing out schedules to the non-wizards.

“Yes. He’s completely insane.” I opened my schedule
and groaned. “I have night classes,” I said.

“Tough luck,” Darwin remarked as a student handed him
his schedule. He gaped. “I do, too.”

On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I had
Laws of
Magic: Circle Two
,
History of Asian Magic,
and
Elemental
Configuration
in the morning, then
Development of the Paranormal
Community
and
Paranormal Relations
in the evening. On Tuesday and
Thursday, I had
Visualization Through
Meditation
,
Alchemy
&
Potions
, and
Magic in Everyday Life
. Then I had
Astronomy
on Saturday night.

Darwin looked over my shoulder. “We have
Development
of the Paranormal Community
and
Paranormal Relations
together with
Kale Lucos as the instructor.”

“Why does that name sound familiar?”

“He’s a member of the council,” Darwin said. “He’s
supposedly a pretty good guy, though he is power hungry and suspicious. When he
was a teenager, he had dealings with the mafia, but James Chambers found him
and recruited him into the council.”

“I have those classes as well. What dirt do you have
on him?” Henry asked.

“Can you keep a secret?”

“Of course,” the shifter agreed.

Darwin grinned brightly. “So can I.”

*          *          *

Laws of Magic: Circle Two
, was exactly like
the Circle One version. Alpha Flagstone looked more relaxed, which I assumed
was because he had Remy. He still glared at everyone, but less intensely.

I was a little worried when I entered the
History
of Asian Magic
classroom because both the floor and ceiling consisted of
mirrors. The walls were unpainted stone. There were six four-foot long tables
facing the teacher’s desk in the front of the room.

Since Professor Nightshade was in hiding from the
wizard council, Tanaka-sensei taught the class, which seemed fitting because
she was Japanese and did magic. Once again, Zhang Wei was her assistant.

Unfortunately, the closest seats to the door were
already taken, so I took a seat near the front. Becky sat next to me. “Hi,
Devon. I got fire this year. What did you get?”

“Earth.” I didn’t have time to ask her anything else
because Tanaka-sensei started going over the syllabus. It was generic, boring
first-day stuff. I wondered if the children’s school was more exciting.

“You could use the book from the–” Tanaka-sensei
was cut off as the back wall shook from an explosion in the hallway. She sighed
and continued, as this was obviously a normal occurrence.

My last class of the morning was
Elemental
Configuration
, taught by Asrik Watson.

When we entered the room, he told us to sit at the
table of the element we mastered the previous semester. There were four tables
aligned in a large square, each about eight feet long with a glass bowl in the
center. One table had a bowl of dirt, one had a bowl of water, one of fire, and
the last bowl was empty. I sat at the table with the bowl of water on it.

The room was only twelve-by-twelve, so it was cramped
with the tables, but unlike many of the classrooms, it seemed structurally
sound. The floor was rock tile, the walls were brick, and natural light poured
in from the large windows on the north wall.

Professor Watson was a middle-aged wizard with short,
medium auburn hair and light green eyes. He wasn’t particularly tall, short, or
thin… he was just very average in appearance. However, he struck me as the kind
of man who downplayed his power. Something about the way the man walked to the
front of the room told me that his image was a carefully constructed façade. Or
maybe that was my instincts.

“Hello, class. I am Professor Watson. This class is
designed for Circle Two students of any element. All of you have mastered one
element and are beginning on your second. In this class, you will learn to use
the elements and how to combine them. Some things you will learn in my class
are considered extremely dangerous. If you fail to listen to and follow my
directions, many of you will be injured. Your required textbook is
Initiation
Into Hermetics
, by Franz Bardon. I know some of your professors don’t care
if you use the textbook or not, but you cannot pass my class without it. Don’t
read the first section; the theory part, because it was ruined in the
translation from German to English. Now, is everyone ready for your pretest?”

There were collective gasps of shock and horror, but
after a class with Professor Langril, this was nothing.

“Good, good,” he said when no one agreed or
disagreed. “Fire students, what element do you want to duel against?”

The students at that desk pulled themselves together
and discussed it quickly. The only woman at that table turned to the teacher.
“We want to go against air,” she said.

“Alright. Everyone outside on the practice field. One
person for each element will be voted to spar with the opposing element. You
will eventually all get a chance, but we don’t have enough time today to cover
everyone.”

“It’s the first day of school!” one of the women in
the air group said.

“I am aware. Each student will earn a ranking in your
element, and each element will earn and lose points for your individual
successes and failures. The top student of all my classes will earn honors.”

One of the guys raised his hand. “How do you feel
about rule-breaking?”

“It’s your funeral.” We went outside to the grassy
field and he told us to pick our fighters.

The water group formed a circle instantly. “I had
Professor Aros as my mentor in water,” the only woman in our group started. “She’s
a peacekeeper. Who was taught to fight with water?”

The guy on my right shrugged. “I had Professor Hans
and he died, so I passed by default. I know shit about water. Who did you
have?” he asked me.

“Remington Hunt.” I saw it in their eyes the moment I
said it that they were all unanimously voting me in. I sighed. “At least it’s
earth we’re up against.”
I’d hate to make steam again.
Fortunately, the
practice field was only a hundred or so feet from the lake, because pulling a
few drops of water out of the air was not that impressive.

I waited as one man in the fire group and another
from the air group separated and made their way to the middle of the field.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Watson said. “Also, be polite and introduce
yourselves.”

The air student bowed slightly. “I’m Lenard, everyone
calls me Len, and my air mentor was Professor Hyatt.” Above him, the clouds
began to stir angrily.

The fire student pulled a thick object from the
pocket of his jacket. “I’m Dan, and my mentor was Professor Nightshade.” There
were several gasps. Dan waved what looked like a small flashlight in a large,
clockwise rotation in front of him. When sparks flared from one end, he held it
above his head in a lassoing movement. The spark turned into a damn ten-foot
long whip made of what appeared to be burning rope.

Len waved his hand at Dan and a thin tornado came
down from the sky. Dan dived and rolled in time to avoid the twister that hit
the ground where he had been a second before. When he got too close to the
earth group, a wall of dirt and rocks shot out of the ground to block him.

Dan ran towards Len and darted to the right to avoid
the tornado. He struck out with his whip and lashed Len across the stomach. Len
directed the wind tunnel in between them. Dan must have had a plan, because he
immediately struck at the tornado with his whip. The fire melded with the wind
and it became a tornado of fire.

They were quick to adapt. Dan dropped his handle and
they both put up their hands with visible concentration on their faces. Either
one of them could distinguish their own magic and cause the entire thing to
fall, but together, they had one fantastic spectacle. There was a silent
agreement between them, which we could all see on their faces, that working
together was to their mutual advantage.

“Very good,” Professor Watson said.

Dan and Len lowered their hands, letting their magic
wither and die. Dan picked up his whip handle and returned to his group.

“Next up is earth and water.”

I went forth, seeing no point in arguing. From those
who had mastered earth, a small woman approached me on the field. I opened my
mouth, paused, thought better of it, and shut it. If her group voted her as
their best fighter, I wasn’t going to insult her for being a woman. She was a
very pretty Indian woman in her mid-twenties, wearing a knee-length black dress
with netted sleeves.

Since it was about forty-five degrees out, I didn’t
think that was reasonable, but it wasn’t my business either. “I’m Devon and my
elemental mentor last year was Ms. Hunt.”

“I’m Anika. I was trained by Professor Langril,” she
said with no accent at all. 

“He’s my mentor this year. Is he any good?”

“He is completely insane, but yes; he is very good at
teaching the earth element.” She flicked her hand in an upwards motion and a
shield of rock and dirt shot from the ground between us.

It was a defensive movement, not an attack, so my
instincts didn’t warn me of danger. Once again, I focused on the essence and
fluidity of water.
No anger, no heat, just control the water.
I imagined
water flowing out of the lake and crashing over her barrier like a tsunami.

Nothing happened.

The wall of earth burst outward. I couldn’t have
gotten out of the way before the rocks and dirt struck me, so instead I reached
out with my power to wrap around her mind. At the same time, Vincent’s book and
the words in it flashed across my memory. “Stop,” I said. It wasn’t a yell or a
cry but a demand, which she instantly obeyed.

Like in a paused movie, the onslaught of rocks and
dirt froze midair. She promptly released her power over earth and let it fall
harmlessly around me. “What did you do?” she asked. The fear in her voice and
expression was clear enough that I would have felt sorry for her if she hadn’t
just attacked me with rocks.

“You’ll be fine,” I said, because I really didn’t
want to explain. While I had always been able to communicate with animals, the
discovery that I could actually control people was unsettling to say the least.

“Well, I think we’ve had an exciting start to the
semester, but let’s call it a day,” Watson said. He began herding students away
from the practice field. “Mr. Sanders,” he called before I was out of earshot.
I turned back, not really surprised he knew my last name. “Don’t let your group
vote you into dueling again.”

I returned to the cafeteria for an early lunch, got a
turkey sandwich with chips and a soda, and then sat in my normal seat. Over the
five-week break, I had fallen back into the routine of my job. After so much
happened in my first semester here, it felt odd that all my clients were human.
At Quintessence, everything revolved around magic and using magic to do good…
then I went out in the human world and it was as if everything I went through
was a dream.

But it wasn’t. I was back in the paranormal
community, where people were never what they seemed and reality was constantly
in question. This was a community where the strong flourished and the weak
floundered. Magic could heal wounds, sway loyalties, and kill.

I killed John Cross, not with magic but with my
hands. I still saw him dying in my dreams. I still saw the horrible, revolting
things he did with his power, which was now my power. When I was a child, I did
things without realizing it; I healed people, found things, followed my
supernatural instincts, and… some people were hurt when they upset me. There
was potential in me to turn out the same way John did.

Accidentally controlling Regina proved that.

When I was done eating, I returned to my room to find
Darwin and Ghost having a glaring contest. Darwin was sitting up in his bed
while Ghost was infesting mine with fleas. I ignored them and sat at my desk.
While I didn’t like the cat being in my bed, I wasn’t willing to fight the
beast for it.