Page 18 of Stormbringer (Tracthesian Academy #1)
W ave was thankful that her next week went quietly. She hung out with Tulias in class and even got a recommendation for a theory-based fire class that had an opening. Filling out the paperwork for that took most of her Wednesday evening, but by the time Friday came, she was enrolled.
On Thursday, she managed to evade Jarred. Not that she was expecting him to pick her up for shielding anyway after her outburst, but Mrs. Riverson hadn’t looked too happy when Wave told her she wasn’t taking private tutoring anymore. Thankfully, she had let the subject drop.
Wave was actually enjoying her time at Tracthesian Academy. There wasn’t much drama besides the rumors; her classes were fine, and the teachers were competent, if nothing else. She ate her lunches with Salis and spent her evenings with her roommates, watching movies and hanging out.
Prince handsome did pop into the library a couple of times to test the waters, but Wave kept her replies to him succinct. No ID, no entry. After the first time, he hadn’t gotten angry about it anymore. Today, he had even brought her a hot chocolate. Wave had no idea why he thought that would work.
Yet another party was going on in her dorm this Friday, downstairs this time, and by the time Wave made it back from the library, it was in full swing. She slipped past the crowds and hurried inside, the sounds muffled behind the closed door. Thank fuck for Ginny and her noise-cancelling spells.
“Good, you’re back,” Ginny said from the couch. “We need to talk.”
“Okay?” Wave dropped her bag on the floor and went to get a glass of water. Ginny sounded serious.
“You know, hooking up with multiple Powerhouses is what I’d call a power move, but then going on and hooking up with their enemy the moment he returns to the campus is what I’d call a get-you-killed-move.”
“What are you talking about?” Wave took a seat and looked at Ginny, completely baffled. Her eyes narrowed.
“Prince Irishen. He’s downstairs telling everyone about your date tonight.”
Wave snorted, hard. “Date?”
Ginny’s glare wavered. “Yeah?”
“If by date, he means trying to bribe his way into the faculty library with a cup of hot chocolate because he doesn’t have a proper ID and getting told off, sure.”
“Told off,” Ginny choked. “You told Irishen off?”
“No ID, no entry,” Wave deadpanned.
“Gods, I knew I liked you for a reason! You really said that to him?”
Wave nodded.
Ginny slumped into the couch, and all the fight fled from her. “I really hate him,” she whispered.
“We could start an anti-fan club. I bet we could get members easily. Mrs. Riverson for one, would join in a heartbeat.”
“Tell me everything,” Ginny demanded, and Wave recounted their first interaction in detail, summarizing the rest. Ginny was torn between gasping in horror and beaming by the end.
“So, you’re taking shielding lessons from Marc?”
“Jarred, actually. I was.”
“Oh.”
“I think I might be fake-dating Marc, though. We haven’t ironed out the details yet. I’ve been trying to avoid all of them. Less drama, you know.”
The door blew open, and enraged Chrissy marched inside. “What the fuck Way—”
“It’s all right, Issy,” Ginny said and jumped in between them “Risha is full of shit like always.”
“Oh,” Chrissy deflated and gave Wave an apologetic smile. “We hate him in this apartment, just so you know.”
“We were already planning for the anti-fan club t-shirts,” Wave replied easily. “Where’s Diana?”
Both Ginny and Chrissy grimaced at once.
“She got out of here the moment Irishen appeared,” Ginny said. “They have history.”
“What did the bastard do?” Wave growled.
“Stand down.” Ginny waved a hand. “He’s the heir apparent, all we can do is to lie low and hope for the best.”
“Ice clans,” Wave muttered to herself. “Lava dildo deep up in his ass should mitigate that nicely—what?” She stopped as she took in the wide eyes looking at her. Then she felt the heat in her hands and looked down. Tiny rivulets of molten rock circled her fingers like rings.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
No, she couldn’t have. Panic tried to overtake her mind. Her control of lava came from her siren powers, only there was no ocean around to turn the molten rock solid, and any hell spawn powerful and smart enough would be able to sense her with this much power slipping free.
Make it go away. Hide. A voice whispered in the back of her mind, and before she could make things worse, the door to her siren powers slammed shut. The endless conditioning her mother had drilled into her made her stormbringer side surge forward.
“Oops,” Wave gasped, shaking her hands. The lava turned into droplets and fell from her hands. Too late she realized that the molten rock would land on the floor.
“Shit,” Wave cursed and blasted the floor with the thickest layer of ice she could pull off that quickly. Where was the damned ice clan heir when he could have been useful? They all froze in place as the ice rose up to their knees and then turned to steam as the lava landed.
To her relief, as soon as they were free from the ice, Chrissy rushed to throw the windows open, and Ginny pushed most of the steam outside with a quick spell. Panting, they looked at each other, the tiny rocks on the floor, and every surface that looked a bit moist but clean.
“Well, that’s one way to steam clean the whole place at once,” Chrissy said, sounding breathless.
“Sorry!” Wave grimaced. This wasn’t bad.
This was catastrophic. Her only saving grace was that storm spirits were known to have some affinity to earth magic.
Some, but… at least she hadn’t slipped enough to tap in the well of her true power.
Her inheritance. She was panting, trying to push all of the power still coursing in her veins down.
For a second, her muscles cramped, but then she regained control of her breathing and was able to inhale.
Ginny broke the silence. “I think I really believe you telling Irishen off now.” Her skin gleamed, but she looked way calmer than Chrissy.
“What was that?” Chrissy panted and flopped down on the couch.
“I’m shit at earth magic,” Wave groaned, going for a half-truth. “I lost control.”
“That was you… losing control?” Ginny quirked a brow. “Damn, girl. What does you in control look like?”
Wave gingerly sat next to Chrissy, took a couple of deep breaths, and then pulled all the excess moisture in the room to her. The tall pillar of water hovered over her palm, and she wove it easily into a dragon chasing a group of knights fleeing on horseback.
Every dragon scale was detailed, as was the knights’ armor, horses’ manes and tails, and the blades of grass they were running on. She guided the scene out of the open window and then let it drop.
Deep silence filled the room. It took Ginny a few minutes to break it, the whole time Wave kept inwardly calling herself names and cursing her own stupidity.
“Full scholarship,” Ginny whispered. Wave just nodded.
“But with that amount of precision, you should be a teacher on water elements, not a student,” Chrissy said, stunned. She was still looking outside, where the horses had galloped.
“I have a high affinity to water,” Wave murmured, hanging her head.
“Storm—you know what! I’m not going to ask. I’m not even going to speculate,” Ginny suddenly said brightly. “As far as I’m concerned, we spent the evening polishing the place up in order to avoid the asshole downstairs.”
Chrissy finally turned to look at Wave. She took her time looking, and Wave fought the need to tense up and defend herself. Finally, Chrissy nodded. “Cleaning. I can live with that.”
“Thank you,” Wave sighed.