She sucked in a breath but didn’t respond, searching his eyes, his face, for answers.
“But this,” he motioned between them. “This is not what you need. You need to feel touch. You need to be caressed. You need—”
“Don’t tell me what I need, Beck. I decide what I need, and what I need is you.”
“You haven’t let anyone touch you since we were five, Adara.”
“Yeah, and I’m doing just fine without it, aren’t I?” she snapped.
Beck sighed, reaching for her. She responded almost unwillingly, her body arching toward him, her hand raising to meet his, but always, she stopped. He stopped. They never touched. It was too painful. Not only that, but it tore their very magic — the thing that made them what they were—from their souls. With every touch, they died a little more.
“You do need it. I see it in your eyes. There are other Pyras, Adara. They all want you. There must be someone out there better for you than me.”
“Someone who can touch me is better than someone who loves me like you do?”
The words hit him too hard, and he almost lost his resolve.
“Or will they just love me like you do but even better because they can touch me? Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?” She threw her hands up, moving away from him. Her hair tumbled down her back, swaying in the non-existent breeze while she stared out the window.
“No one will ever love you like I do, Adara. But I can’t give you what you deserve. And that’s why I have to do this.
She didn’t turn. “Okay. If that’s the way you feel, then okay.”
He wanted to scream at her that it wasn’t okay. That it would never be okay and that the world they lived in was messed up. He wanted to tell her that he would do anything in his power to keep them together, as long as it made her happy.
But it wouldn’t. It wouldn’t make her happy. Not in the long run. They would graduate in six months, and then they would join the Elites. It was illegal to be with Elementals other than one’s own in the Elites. She would have to choose between him and her dreams.
He couldn’t be that selfish. In battle, they worked together. They protected each other. They were unstoppable. Everyone else stayed with their Elements but he and Adara. They fought together and they survived together, and no matter what, she always had his back.
He had to protect her now.
“I’m sorry, Adara.”
“Have you seen Adara lately?” Gavin leaned across his desk, keeping his voice down. Like it was a secret that Beck and Adara had broken up and the whole school didn’t already know she’d been avoiding him for two weeks since.
Beck shook his head. He’d watched for her. Every day. Every hour. Between classes, at lunch. It was like she’d ceased to exist, but he knew she was still there, somewhere. He could feel her.
And yet, she eluded him.
It hurt worse than he’d expected, and he’d been expecting a lot of pain. He’d never gone more than a couple days without talking to her, and that was when she’d been seven and had to get her tonsils out. And once, when they’d gotten in a fight because she’d finally, finally beaten him in a race and he’d been a sore loser. She’d refused to speak to him after that.
Now, she beat him every time. She beat everyone. At everything. And they all said it was because she was a Firestarter and she was special, but he knew. He knew the truth. It was because she worked so damned much harder than everyone else. At everything.
“Well, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but she’s got guys from The Station falling all over themselves trying to get her attention. It’s not going to be long, man.”
The Station was the Fire Elemental—the Pyras’— house. They thought they were clever with their fire station play on words. Beck’s house was called The Pond. Gray, an Earth Elemental— a Terra — lived in the Tree House, and the Cealis’ dorms were named Frequent Flyers. The Air Elementals could not, in fact, fly, so to Beck their house name was lame.
“I know. I figured they would.” It was what he’d wanted — for her to find a Pyra. Someone who could teach her that all touch didn’t need to be feared. She had friends in The Station, sure. They begged to braid her hair because it was like — like mermaid hair. Long and thick and made of silk, if mermaid hair was also made of fire.
She never let them. She never let anyone touch her.
Beck knew only bits and pieces of her past. She’d blocked most of it out. He knew her mother had been abusive. He knew she had issues with food that she’d finally overcome after much counseling and kindness. He knew she’d once started her own mother on fire to protect herself when she was just five years old.
That was all.
It was enough.
Mr. Cerulea tapped on the smart board behind him, trying to draw the attention of twenty high school seniors.
Right. Good luck with that.
“Let’s continue our review for the test.” Mr. Cerulea had to almost yell to be heard over the students in the classroom, but his words caught their attention. To become an Elite after graduation, they had to pass a test. A huge test on all the different Elementals and their powers, their history, their weaknesses...
It was such a big deal that all the seniors took a class just to prepare for that test. They had the first part right after Christmas break — in a few weeks.
As Elementals, their choices after high school were limited — either pretend there were no powers, no magic, nothing, and live life as a human, or become a teacher, using powers to guide the next generation. The last option, and the one most chose, was to become an Elite.
Elites worked for the government. They had amazing high-tech gear, lived in barracks that were actually little villages full of huge houses, and were paid very well.
All that in return for their lives.
No big deal.
Adara had wanted to be an Elite for as long as Beck could remember. Beck was less enthusiastic, but it seemed a better goal than any of the others. Travel the world, see things, always excitement.
But first, he had to pass the test.
“Cealis. What are they?”
It was the most basic of questions, and nearly everyone raised a hand. “Air Elementals,” Ryver said. She was an Amazi senior, like Beck. “They control the air, manipulate it with their hands, and produce it by breathing out. Some can manipulate the air to carry us to the ground, and they help us get out of the plane pods without parachutes.” She flung her white hair over her shoulder and grinned at Beck.
Like it was special, knowing something they’d all learned in kindergarten.
“Amazis?”
“Water Elementals,” Gavin called out. “Control the water. Sometimes ice, if they’re powerful.”
“Raise your hand first please,” Mr. Cerulea sighed. “Terras?”
Gavin raised his hand and Mr. Cerulea smiled, nodding toward him. “Earth Elementals. Control dirt, and sometimes, vegetation.”
“And Pyras?” Mr. Cerulea scanned the room.
Kindra raised her hand. She was Adara’s friend, but she had no desire to join the Elites. Beck wasn’t sure why she was even in the class. She gave the teacher a wicked smile. “We play with fire.”
Mr. Cerulea’s lips twitched. “Okay...”
“They’re also the weakest element,” Ryver snickered. “Because fire is easily overpowered.”
“Tell that to Adara,” a Terra, the girl Gavin was crushing on — Beck was pretty sure her name was Gabriella — retorted, raising one dark brow. “She’d crush your pathetic little stream.”
Beck bit the inside of his cheek to hide a smile.
“Yeah, why isn’t our fearless class president in this class then?” Ryver asked. “She’s not even training
to be an Elite.”
“She actually already passed the test,” Beck said. “She took it last year.”
Ryver’s face erupted in a blush and she spun around, facing the front of the room. “Well, she can’t touch anyone, can she? All the other elements get along fine. Pyras can’t touch anyone else.”
“Which leads us to... Elite cross-contamination. Tell me about that,” Mr. Cerulea said.
Beck hated that phrase. Like different Elementals being together was a bad thing.
Well, it could be. Especially if it was a Pyra. If a Pyra and any other Elemental happened to get pregnant, the baby and mother could die.
Because Pyras didn’t play well with others. Their element was destructive.
“It’s illegal,” Beck answered without meaning to. “Because Elites are so powerful, an accident while living in close proximity to one another could cause lasting damage or even death. The rule was instated over ten years ago when two Elementals who were not supposed to be together nearly killed each other. One had her powers bound after she nearly killed her partner.”
Which is why he’d had to end it with Adara. They’d both known it was coming. The rules had been clear ever since they were little.
“During a mission,” Gavin added. “Which is why Elites fight alongside their own Elementals.”
“Why are we allowed to live in the same school as other Elementals?” Ryver asked. “Why aren’t we kept apart like the Elites?”
“Because your attacks aren’t as powerful as Elites and most damage that any of you are capable of is reversible.”
Most of them, but not all. Beck, Gavin, Adara, and a new girl named Sonas were all classified in the not-reversible dangerous Elemental student category.
Or whatever the teachers were calling them these days.
There were only a few others. Ryver was almost there. Kindra was also on that list, which might explain why she was in the class studying for the test when she didn’t even want to be an Elite.
“And let’s talk about Chaos,” Mr. Cerulea said. “Who knows about them?”
Kindra raised her hand again. “The first Chaos attack was fifteen years ago. No one knows how they’re created, although cross contamination is a theory. They’re believed to be mindless. They attack without rhyme or reason, but it is known that if they aren’t able to use their magic, they combust.”
Beck had never seen it personally, but he’d heard accounts when the Elite recruiters visited the school. It sounded horrific, and the detonations were far-reaching. One that had been kept for research purposes had blown up an entire academy.
There were no survivors.
Get the rest here:
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About the Author
WENDY KNIGHT IS AN award-winning, USA Today Bestselling author. She was born and raised in Utah by a wonderful family who spoiled her rotten because she was the baby. Now she spends her time driving her husband crazy with her many eccentricities (no water after five, terror when faced with a live phone call...). She also enjoys chasing her three adorable kids, playing tennis, watching football, reading, and hiking. Camping is also big: her family is slowly working toward a goal of seeing all the National Parks in the U.S.
You can usually find her with at least one Pepsi nearby, wearing ridiculously high heels for whatever the occasion may be. And if everything works out just right, she will also be writing.
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