David grinned—his dimples at full force—and went to say something, but the girls had already started to surround him. I secretly thanked them for saving me from small talk and mademy way over to the chip table, where Sydney was. I’d already been at the party for an hour, and I couldn’t suffer any longer.
“I’m going to take off,” I told her.
“What?” Sydney spun around, her felt dragon tail brushing my leggings. “Already?”
“Yes.” I started to walk away. “Let Viv know I left if she asks.”
“Okay.” Sydney frowned as she pushed down the hood of her dragon-themed hoodie. “Catch you later!”
I didn’t want to just blend in. I wanted to be invisible, andOperation Go Unnoticedwas in effect. Viv, on the other hand, wasn’t following that plan very well. After four days, she had fit right in with April and the others.
The probability of anyone noticing my absence at the party was slim, and that included Viv. Once I was farther away from the party, my feet pushed against the rough terrain, and I broke into a run. My lungs were heavy as I sucked in air, blood pumping through my veins. Something about running through the woods at night was intoxicating.
I headed toward a quarry that I had found on the second night during one of my runs. It was a good twenty minutes from the school, the distance giving me space to feel at peace. Suddenly, my foot snagged on something along the trail, launching my body toward the ground. My hands flew out just in time to soften my fall. I went to stand, cursing at myself, but froze, holding myself in the push-up position. Through the dark, a sharp stick merely inches from my eye came into focus. One more inch and I would have been impaled.
I rolled over and lay on my back, staring at the dark leaves hiding the majority of the night sky, and closed my eyes. I wasn’t usually clumsy, but fatigue had been wearing on me.
After a few moments, I sat up, searching for what caused me to trip. A gnarly root poked out of the ground. I gave it a quick kickand then cursed under my breath at my throbbing toe.Smart move.
I stood, brushing off my dirt-caked hands, and decided to head back to the academy. It had been six days since Mom was killed and four days at the academy—my classes hadn’t even started, and I was already unraveling. I started running again, slowing once I reached the tree line that opened to a field leading back to the academy.
Sweat dripped down my neck and I flapped my shirt, trying to increase airflow, and wished some of the snow outside the dome was inside. The dorms and gym were on opposing sides, both quiet, which had been good since I looked like I’d just taken up a fight with a mud creature. I glanced at my dirty running clothes and debated jumping into the lake I had just passed—I was sure the otter I had spotted swimming the other day wouldn’t mind.
The hair on the back of my neck suddenly rose, alerting me that I wasn’t alone. I looked up. Someone was walking across the field toward me. It was Ender Hart, and he was heading in the direction I had come from—which was nowhere near the party. As he got closer, I could make out his deep black hair and sharp jawline, and his features hinted at his Asian roots.
And he was shirtless.
I averted my gaze. After he passed in silence, I lowered my chin to my shoulder, taking in air through my nose. I couldn’t place his scent. April had said he had trained extensively prior to the Academy, and apparently, he was the strongest student at Fives Academy. Not only did he rank high at a level four, but his skill set surpassed his peers. Yet he didn’t have the fresh spring scent of most air mages, and I wondered what he could be hiding.
Chapter Five
Ender
Thegroundwasslickfrom the controlled torrential downpour, obscuring my vision and hindering my traction. I sent a string of curses at the trainer for creating the storm around me and my opponent. Rain was more tolerable than fire—unless the rain was so fierce, it tore at your skin like sandpaper.
A rock the size of a softball hurtled toward me, and I lashed out with my hand, easily sending the piece of stone to the ground with air magic. My opponent attacked, his fist sailing for my head—wrong move. I grabbed his wrist and used his weight and momentum to send him to the ground. He sat up, grumbling under his breath, his hands splayed outward with curling fingers.
Not grumbling, conjuring.
With a sharp crack, branches from a nearby tree snapped and fell to the ground. One of the larger limbs shook and splintered,giving it the appearance of a wooden bat with nails hammered into its barrel. Fresh green stems sprouted at the bottom, coiling into legs as it stood itself upright—alive and unnatural.
I spared a glance at Leah Murphy, the elderly head trainer and head of the guards who, along with other students, had stopped to watch our session. Flame, her fiery red Agama lizard familiar, sat on her shoulder. She stood perfectly placed outside the torrential downpour and shrugged, the lizard moving with her shoulder. Only levels four and five could create a familiar, and it required creating an animal using their element, a part of their soul, and a lengthy enchantment. Once that part of their soul was gone, they couldn’t create another one. The task was very dangerous and could be deadly, and it was forbidden to do before graduation. I didn’t know how I felt about risking my life for one, let alone giving something a piece of my soul.
I shook my head, focusing back on my opponent and internally grinned. Creating creatures during training was unsanctioned, and Murphy wasn’t going to do anything about it. That was fine. She knew I could’ve ended this fight as soon as it started. I was merely toying with my challenger, who hadrequestedto fight me. I didn’t even know his name, but he apparently knew mine.
Before the magically-made creature—which now had pointed wood chips as teeth and no eyes—could make it to me, I sent a powerful swirl of wind at my opponent, lifting him in the air. The boy’s eyes widened as I pulled the wind toward me, bringing him with it and right into my fist. I let him fall to the ground, mud splattering around him and seeping into his clothes. If he wanted to fight dirty, then he could lie in it.
The rain stopped and I sighed at my soaked clothes. My white shirt was entirely see-through, my darker skin tone adding to the transparency. I pulled it over my head and balled it up, drawing unwanted gazes and flushed cheeks … or the occasional scowl. I didn’t care if people liked me or not and the few who didn’ttypically stayed clear of me. Well, besides this fella, now down in the dirt.
Murphy’s face set, the hidden order to put my shirt back on evident in her glare. It was a look that used to frighten me, like a kid getting scolded by his grandmother who knew ten different martial art styles. As an elite level four fire mage with more than a few decades of training, she had earned her title. She had trained me since I had arrived as a freshman, and she had also trained my guardian who worked for the council.
If I had called her Murphy to her face, I would feel flames lick at my toes—enough to cause pain without causing long-lasting wounds. Even her familiar would spit little fireballs at me. They were a harmless, mere burn, but nevertheless agitating.
I shrugged back at her and grabbed my water bottle, starting to feel the exhaustion from using air magic to drag a person through the air. She shook her head disapprovingly and went on to the next training session, a much lower level. Two lower-level earth mages fought pathetically against each other.
Though her back was to me, I recognized the contender with double braids that led into messy hair balls at the base of her head—unique but more effective than a ponytail in combat. It’s how she had worn her hair when I had last seen her Friday night, coming out of the woods.
“Boring.” Ivy faked a yawn as she came to stand next to me. “The new girl is going to get owned by a level one.”
