Page 50 of Stormbringer (Tracthesian Academy #1)

W ave managed to slip into her room unnoticed, and she didn’t come out until Sunday. By then, the rumor mill was in full force; Hellion had made sure of that. Ginny, Di, and Chrissy all demanded to know what the hell had happened.

There wasn’t much for Wave to say. No, they didn’t need to hate them on her account. No, Ginny didn’t need to ward the place even tighter. No, Chrissy should not go over and destroy all their clothes. They had done nothing wrong—it was just over.

It had started raining soon after that. Saying it out loud somehow drove the point home to her as well. Now the only one she still needed to face was Salis, and she had evaded him by ducking into the bushes on the way to class.

A week later, it was still raining. Wave once again looked out of the window in her fire class and cursed under her breath.

Of course, it was. Her mood was in the gutter, and her self-control was dangerously low.

Usually, when she was having a crappy day like this, Wave would take a long swim to be out of anyone’s way, but that wasn’t an option.

She hadn’t managed to evade Salis for long, but she hadn’t seen any of the Powerhouses since the breakup and she was ignoring her phone to the point of leaving it in her room.

Wave wasn’t sure which would be worse; looking at the phone and seeing no one had called, or seeing that someone had. So, she didn’t look.

The rain kept hammering down. No thunder though.

She wasn’t that far gone, yet. Wave gritted her teeth and tried to get her powers under control.

That was the problem of having them and not being able to use them.

They built up. She had slipped with Jarred.

The last whisper she’s uttered that had allowed her to walk away without breaking had held a siren’s command.

She hadn’t properly let her siren side out since before coming to campus, and in the emotional shit storm, it had boiled over. Too bad it wasn’t willing to go back to its corner nicely now. Every breath was straining her.

Normally, she could push that side aside for weeks, if not months, when needed, but it was proving to be impossible now. Not only was she constantly bombarded with delicious-looking males, and then having to deal with all the relationship crap, but she was using her stormbringer side daily.

The imbalance it left behind was an issue that got compounded with shielding lessons and the constant vigilance it took to keep her stormbringer powers in check, too. And looking out for Elena’s little tricks didn’t help either.

Basically, she needed to let loose. The pressure building into her bones was starting to get painful, not to mention the constant headache. No wonder she sucked at shielding.

“Ms. Spinwell, are you listening?” Dr. Kelsey’s snapped question pulled her back into the room with twenty other students, all of whom were looking at her.

Dr. Kelsey’s reddish skin seemed a shade redder than usual, making his demon characteristic stand out more.

Mainly, the small black horns he had on the sides of his shaved head.

“I’m sorry, Dr. Kelsey,” Wave said. She knew she should lower her eyes in submission, but she just couldn’t make herself do that. Not today. Her stomach clenched and her throat squeezed.

“Unacceptable, Ms. Spinwell. You can assist me in the demonstration,” Dr. Kelsey said.

Wave shook her head, but it was already too late.

“Like I was saying,” he began, “Hell Realm has a general affinity to fire in its various forms.” A flame flickered to life in his palm.

“Catch,” he said and threw the tiny flame at Wave.

She saw it coming, tried to twist out of the way, and failed. The flame hit her cheek and burned before extinguishing. Equal amounts of gasps and sniggers rose from the rest of the students. Wave resisted the urge to rub her cheek.

“I told you to catch the flame, Ms. Spinwell. It’s a basic task.”

“I—” She didn’t get farther than that when another flame flew her way. This time Wave got her hand up in time, and the burn hit her palm. “Shit,” she cursed. Her insides were vibrating, and Wave could barely hold back. This was a bad, bad day to get picked on.

“Kaspian, catch,” Dr. Kelsey said, throwing a flame at another student who expertly caught it and cradled it in his palm. “Good. Now snuff it out.” Kaspian did. “See, Ms. Spinwell, it’s not hard. Again.”

“I don’t—” The flame hit her arm and singed through the fabric.

Once again, she had neglected to take spelled clothes.

Or maybe she had unconsciously known this was going to happen and craved the pain.

This pain was real, not tearing up her insides and mind.

Dr. Kelsey was using small flames that didn’t really do much harm, but they still stung more than the flickers he had used before.

Like endless little needles poking at her.

“Concentrate, Ms. Spinwell.”

“But I—”

“No excuses.” Now the flames came at her in steady intervals, and they grew.

Her three-layer shielding held, making the damage only superficial, but Wave couldn’t pull up a shield like Marc had tried to teach her.

She couldn’t catch the flames. That would mean tapping into her power and pulling it to the surface.

The exact thing she was trying to avoid.

“Dr. Kelsey,” she gasped. “Stop.”

The flames kept coming and now they were hotter too, leaving behind instant blisters. “If you had been paying attention, Ms. Spinwell, you could do this easily now. You should be able to do a simple thing like this in your sleep.”

Wave locked her muscles in place, trying to control her shaking. Outside, thunder rumbled.

Shit, shit, shit.

Elena laughed. After her very public breakup with Powerhouses, she had doubled her snide remarks and sent death glares Wave’s way every chance she got. Only Irishen’s presence seemed to curb her assaults, and now she was enjoying herself.

“Not so special now, are you?” Elena sniggered when two more flames burned Wave’s arms. Her shirt was ruined beyond repair.

“Stop,” Wave gasped softly.

Dr. Kelsey, still too red and with a glint in his eyes, shook his head. “You know how to make it stop, Ms. Spinwell. Catch a flame.”

“I can’t,” she whispered. Blood started to trickle down from her nose. The power building up in her veins was thrashing to get out. Someone would get hurt.

“What was that, Ms. Spinwell? I think you need more motivation. I haven’t seen you even try,” Dr. Kelsey growled, and now the room gave a pulse with his power. A wall of flame sprang to life and started to slowly move toward Wave.

Frozen in place, Wave braced. That shit would hurt, seriously, but she had been through worse. She wasn’t dealing with power buildup, she could be healed. She tried to reassure herself about all of that, but still, lightning crashed outside, close enough to make the windows rattle.

Calm down, Wave. It’s just a wall of flames.

“Please stop,” she whispered her last plea, not caring how weak it made her look. The windows rattled again. The heat was making her sweat. She closed her eyes.

“Enough!” A crush of ice followed the furious voice.

Wave blinked open her frost-covered lashes and looked at the figure standing in the doorway.

Prince Irishen Sleethill was seething, and frost covered every inch of the classroom and the students.

A wall of ice separated Wave from the wall of fire.

“Prince Sleethill, I do not tolerate interruptions to my class,” Dr. Kelsey snarled, but while his tone was irritated, his posture no longer held the malice it had a moment before.

Wave bit back the moan that wanted to crawl up from her throat at the cool caress of the ice over her irritated skin. She wanted to bathe in that ice. She was finding it really hard to be even mildly irritated at the man responsible for it at the moment.

“Wayla, are you alright?” Irishen ignored Dr. Kelsey completely as he addressed her.

“I am now. Thank you, your highness,” Wave said softly.

“Irishen, what is this nonsense?” Elena snapped, getting up. Irishen turned to look at her and narrowed his eyes. He didn’t answer her, though, and instead turned back to Wave.

“Come, Wayla. Let’s get you checked out.”

“I’m fine,” she tried to say, but then Jarred rushed in with Justin on his heels. Oh no .

“Wayla,” Jarred gasped and was at her side in seconds. Wave saw Justin say something to Irishen, who nodded. They were tense, but Justin still clapped Irishen’s back before taking up a stance beside him. So, the cavalry had arrived, and she had Irishen of all people to thank for that.

“I’m fine, really,” she assured Jarred. “Risha’s ice already soothed the burns.” She kept her voice low.

“Let me see,” Jarred demanded and cupped her face, tilting it back and looking over her cheeks. A low grumble drifted in the air as he looked down at her arms and ruined shirt, and the rumble intensified.

“Cut it out,” she hissed at him. She almost added the pet in the end, but bit her tongue just in time. “I’m fine. Dr. Kelsey was very controlled in his teaching.”

“Then why were you frozen in place, huh?”

“Not now,” Wave snapped, still quietly. For a moment, when Irishen’s ice coated her skin, she had been able to breathe. Now all the pressure crashed back on her, and her fingers trembled. Once again, the thunder roared outside.

“Ms. Spinwell, if you can’t handle the lesson, I suggest you leave the class,” Dr. Kelsey sneered. Wave debated it all of two seconds and then swept her things into her bag. She needed to get out of here before things turned ugly.

Whispers and snickers erupted, but Wave paid them no mind. Out. Away from everyone. Her fingers were no longer trembling, her hands were shaking so badly she nearly dropped her bag. Jarred snagged it up and followed Wave.