Naya was lounging on a pool chair nearby, wearing a swimsuit— but I don’t know why, because I’d never seen her swim. I was pretty sure she hung out here just to show off to everyone how hot she thought she was.
“Nice to know there aretwosluts in the family,” Naya commented. “I hope your dear oldDaddyappreciated the show.”
My teeth clenched.Naya. Of course. She lived to torment me. I knew she was the one who’d sent the video to my dad.I didn’t know how Naya had gotten her hands on it. She hadn’t been invited to the club’s opening. Ivy hated her. I bet one of her cronies snuck in a phone somehow and fed it back to her. And being the bitch she was, she’d emailed it to my dad.
“Nobody likes you, Naya. Just go away,” Opal snapped.
“Shut up, Opal. We all know you’re a chubby chaser,” Naya spat at her. “After all,someone’sgotta take care of your kid once you graduate from this—”
I called up a stream of water from the pool and sent it swirling straight at Naya. It soaked her from head to toe, ruining her hair. She screamed and jumped off the pool chair, completely drenched as I sprang to my feet.
Naya’s nose wrinkled into a snarl. “You’re going to pay for that, Mitoh.”
“I’m waiting.” I called a ball of Fire into my hand. Naya came at me with super speed and socked me in the gut. The hit sent me flying into the wall and knocked the wind out of me. I gasped for breath, but as Naya grabbed me by the neck and lifted me off the ground, I punched her in the face with a fist full of Fire. She let out a cry and clawed at her eyes, trying to get the embers off her skin.
I was about to jump on her back and start ripping her hair out before a couple of guards pulled us apart. “Break it up, girls,” one demanded, pulling me off of Naya. The guards yanked us in two different directions, though I was still scrambling to get to her.
“She attacked me first! You all saw it!” Naya screeched.
“One of you stays, the other goes,” the guard demanded. “If this isn’t resolved infive seconds, both of you are going to the Warden!”
I froze, but Naya sneered and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Whatever. I’m bored here anyway.”
Naya retrieved her things from the pool lockers and strode out. The guards dispersed, but not before the one who’d grabbed me pointed a finger in my face. “This is your last warning, Mitoh. I was willing to look the other way when the Bandit was in fight club, but he’s not fighting anymore, so your pretty little ass better start behaving, got it?”
“Got it,” I growled, with more resentment than a promise.
The guard stalked off, and Oberi said,You should’ve tossed Naya in the pool. I could’veaccidentallystaked her with my horn.
I scoffed.Like that would work. People would start theorizing Charlie and I have an M.O. of disposing of people in bodies of water.
Not an altogether awful assumption.
Ivy sneered. “Naya will get hers one day. Just you wait.”
Ivy didn’t make empty threats, so I was betting on that. Ivy and Opal had swim class, so Ez and I left the pool. Oberi hopped out and changed into a unicorn, trotting after us.
“I want to get some practice with magic,” Ez said. “I was hoping we could go down to the Elementai greenroom together, and you could give me some tips.”
“Sure.” We walked to the Arboretum’s waterfall with Oberi, and did some stretches to warm up.
“How are you doing with Water?” I asked.
“I’m getting better at it,” Ez said. “I can do some small things now.”
He hovered a ball of Water in the air, then whipped out a few small strands before freezing them to ice. It was far more than he’d ever done, but still, very short of being impressive. He was hardly a beginner.
But it was a lot of progress for my brother, and I was proud of him. I concentrated on summoning my Anichi magic, harnessing a white light to my palm. It was smaller than a golf ball and flickering out, barely glowing with the warmth it needed to stay alive.
As bad as Ez was at controlling Water, I was horrible at healing magic. I’d brought my brother back from certain death, but ever since, I hadn’t been able to do so much as mend small injuries, though I’d been practicing nearly every day.
“I don’t understand this,” I said in frustration as the light in my palm flickered out. “My other magic is easy. Fire is passion and raw emotion, which I’ve got tons of, and Water is inner strength, which I can draw from, but I don’t get the essence of healing magic. I don’t know what quality I need to pull from that will make it so I can heal.”
“Well, Anichi magic can do more than just heal,” Ez said. “It can create light, make shields, turn you invisible, and even kill people, if you can reverse your healing magic to have the opposite effect.”
“Kind of like the Warden’s ability to overpower your life force.” I tapped my chin. Mama was an incredible caster of Anichi magic. She could use it to manipulate the light particles around her and become invisible to the naked eye. I wanted to push my Anichi magic that far. “Ancestors, I’d love to become invisible. It’d sure do some good around here.”
“Maybe you can only do it with one hand, like you can only cast Fire with your right and Water with your left,” he suggested.
