Despite her fast healing, Wave winced when she pulled up the jeans.The bruises on her hips were a couple of days old.Maybe she should have said something when she twisted and smashed her hip, but Marc had looked so frustrated by her lack of progress, and Jarred would have worried.She would be fine by tomorrow.
They were pushing her hard, giving her extra lessons every day she wasn’t working, and she really wanted to learn.She just wasn’t.No matter how many times Marc, Jarred, Grant, or even Hellion tried to explain, she couldn’t pull the shield into her.
Now, external shields, those she was getting pretty fucking good at, because every time it became clear she wasn’t making progress, Marc had her train her external shields.And she had been decent at them to begin with.
If she was fast enough to pull up an external shield, she could shield against a power surge.The trouble was that she might not notice one hitting until it was too late.An internal shield, however, was up all the time, but she couldn’t walk around with a giant wall of ice around her.
At least she was getting a break from training tonight.Hurriedly, Wave double checked that she had everything she needed in her enchanted pockets.Thank heavens Chrissy understood the importance of having them.In fact, despite the jeans being skintight, the pockets would probably hide a wine bottle from the feel of it.If Wave was ever again forced to rely on the fashion industry for her garments, she would cry an ocean.
She was crossing one of the small parks that littered Tracthesian’s campus when something made her slide to a stop and look around.Warily, she reached for her phone when Tulias stepped out from behind a tree.Ever since the Winnies party, she had avoided Wave diligently and Wave had spotted her often around Elena.Now Tulias was looking at Wave beseechingly.
“We don’t have a lot of time,” Tulias hurried to say and looked over her shoulder.“Elena—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Wave cut her off.
Tulias shook her head.“I have to.My father is from the fire clans, I can’t…”
Ah, that explained a lot.“Fire demon and fire spirit?”
“Mom’s fire demon, but dad is a fire bringer,” Tulias corrected her and once again glanced over her shoulder.“I have to do what Elena says or there’ll be trouble.”
“What did she tell you to do?”
Tulias gulped and blinked tears from her eyes.“Burn you.”
Wave just sighed.“Well, go on then.”
“What?”Tulias’s eyes rounded comically.
“Look, I’m not going to get you into trouble with Elena.You jumped me, I didn’t see who it was, you got the job done.I assume a few blisters will be enough, my clothes are spelled anyways.”
“With hellfire, Wayla.She told me to burn you with hellfire,” Tulias whispered, looking sick.
“And I was in the way,” a new voice added.Wave cursed under her breath when Irishen casually strolled into view.“You couldn’t possibly attack with me so close to Wayla and had to abort the mission.”
“Thank you,” Tulias gasped, and she was running away from the scene before Wave could get another word out.
“What the fuck, Risha?”she snarled.
He looked her over with worry and reached a hand out, but Wave slapped it away.“Are you alright?Did I make it here on time?”
“Why are you on my case all the time?”
“I heard Elena talking to her minions and hightailed it here as quickly as I could without rousing suspicion.Wayla, are you okay?Did she burn—”
“I’m fine!”A frustrated growl burst free from her throat.“Why do you care?I can take care of myself.Where were you when Elena tormented poor Diana like this?”
“I—she…” Irishen somehow managed to look even paler and ashen, with ripples of something visible in his white eyes.“Fuck,” he finally growled.
“Yeah, well?”
“Just answer the fucking question, Wayla.Are you unharmed?”
“I already told you I’m fine.”
Irishen shook his head.“For some reason, I don’t believe you, but fine.Are you going to the library?”He held out his arm for Wave, like they were at a ball and he was escorting her to the floor.
“I’m not going anywhere with you!”
