Elemental Fire (32 page)

But as careful as I was trying to
be, I still felt something slimy slide under my foot as soon as I tried to set
it down. I gulped, but I didn’t have any time to think up a new plan because in
the next instant there was a burst of flame before my eyes, and I flew
backward. I slammed into the wall behind me and tried to open my eyes, but the
heat that was blasting into my face made me change my mind in a hurry and
squeeze them more tightly shut. There was heat everywhere. I felt it burning through
my clothes all the way down to my shoes, licking at my forehead, and pushing up
my nostrils. The entire container was filled with fire.

Chapter Twenty-Five

I didn’t know what to do, but the
situation forced me into motion. The glass at my back was growing hotter, and I
had to lift my shoulder blades away or get seared. I felt my ring pulse, and
relief that it wasn’t melting down my arm gave me my first ray of hope.

My magic was already busy keeping
my skin from burning, and I quickly realized that it was doing it by turning my
skin to fire. On impulse, and with the hint from my powers, I decided to add my
fire to theirs.

I was already halfway there. With
a little push and a call to my power source, my ring, flames burst out of me,
slamming out in every direction and scorching through the box.

I opened my eyes and saw nothing
but fire. There was no evidence as to whether the lizard babies were still
alive, and I didn’t care. All I cared about was that the walls around me were
heating and exploding. Shards of hot glass burst and shattered. I ducked, and
that made me realize that there was no longer a floor under me.

Just as I had been challenged to
do, I had broken out of my prison. But now I was falling toward earth and the
next challenge. I could only hope I’d been fast enough.

Breaking my fall proved to be the
first easy part of the afternoon. I just called gusts of air to flow under me.
I had to calm the flames that my body had become, but even that was easy. Once
that was accomplished, I was able to concentrate on the platform I could see
far below, and a gentle landing onto it.

Ah, so this was the real trick.
The platform was literally a foot off the ground, but Vale had said we had to
land, which meant that I had to beat whatever she had waiting for me on the
platform before my team could win. I could see instantly that aiming at the
landing wasn’t going to be a problem, but stopping was. It reminded me of a
plane (me) trying to land on a boat in the ocean (problem). More determined
than ever, I hurtled onto the smooth surface.

The platform was made of glass,
and it reminded me of the windows of the Tower before it had burned. They had
been rainbows and smooth, beautiful and filled with magic. But I was sure the
resemblance stopped there. The magic of the platform’s glass wasn’t the good
kind.

As I got closer I could see that
the platform was huge, half as big as the Astra ballroom. Each corner had a
massive gold torch with fire spewing out of it, and the smoke was drifting
upwards, making my throat and eyes burn.

I tried to slow my fall so I
wouldn’t slam into the glass platform, but it was no use. With a sickening thud
I felt my body shudder and tremble as I landed. On my stomach - and too fast. I
touched my hands to the glass and then picked them up before using them again
to stop my momentum. The edge was getting closer. I felt my skin pull as I
skidded forward, unable to stop myself. The wind whipped around me and I wanted
to shut my eyes tight, but couldn’t. Right before I reached the far edge my
body slowed. I wrapped my fingers around the glass and peered down at the
ground. I had expected to see fire, but all I saw was green grass. Relieved, I
looked back along the platform’s length.

I blinked several times. In the
center of the platform what was looked very much like a rhinoceros, only the
horn sticking out of its head was much bigger, and gold-colored, while its body
was scaly the way I imagined a dragon’s would be. That was silly, though;
everyone knew dragons weren’t real.

I decided the beast must be the
rare, semi-legendary Chimera, which was in fact a type of dragon. It was
prowling around searching for prey, and I was the designated target.

Well, here I was. I’d come right
to it.

When I tried to stand up I
crumpled instead, unable to support my own body weight. The Chimera felt the
impact and turned its head, its gold eyes staring out at me.

I hoped it didn’t have as good a
sense of smell as werewolves.

But before I could even get to my
knees, it charged.

Okay, it had a better sense of
smell than werewolves.

I scrambled to my feet, my
fingernails gliding over the glass without gaining any traction. I gasped as
the gold horn swished past my shoulder, ripping my pink shirt. I swore, knowing
that if I survived this encounter they’d just give me another one. I raced
away, but I could hear pounding footsteps right behind me. The thing was fast.
It had spun around and charged again.

This time it knocked me off my
feet and I went flying. My arms flailed uselessly as I tried to break my fall,
and I just had time to think wryly that at least it was a shorter flight than
the one I’d just taken down from my box.

I landed hard on my back, with
the wind knocked right out of me.

Before I could move or breathe, I
heard the thud of the Chimera’s footsteps as it spun around for another go.

I rolled over, pointing my ring.
Well, fine, if I wasn’t going to have any luck standing I would just fight from
my tummy. Fine.

Calling urgently to my ring, I
didn’t bother with water or air or fire. I didn’t think fire would have much
effect on something that was snorting smoke. Instead, I called all the dirt I
could find and sent it in a steady stream right at the thing’s horn.

Not for the first time, I wished
I had paid more attention in my classes. I knew nothing about Chimeras’
weaknesses except that they were very proud of their horns. Of course, I’d had
other reading to do that semester thanks to Sigil, but learning about
elementals wasn’t helping in any direct way out on that platform with a monster
charging at me.

The dirt momentarily distracted
the Chimera, clogging the beast’s eyes and nose so that for a few moments of
bliss the thing couldn’t see or smell me. A thud drew its attention, and mine.
The Chimera turned its massive, scaly head, but it still had no hope of seeing,
so instead it emitted an earsplitting scream.

I could see, however, and what I
saw was that Faci had landed. In my head I went through every swear I’d ever
heard from Lisabelle.

If Faci beat the Chimera before I
did his team would win.

“I’m shocked you got here first,”
he sneered. “I must be slipping.”

“News flash,” I said. “You were
already so low you couldn’t slip lower.”

Faci’s face turned ugly - more
ugly - as his sunken eyes bulged out of his strangely shaped head. “How dare
you! My father is counsel to the Nocturns and he sits on the darkness council.
You dare insult me?”

“You mean the evil outlaws who
are trying to kill all of us?” I said, taking a step toward him, then another.
“Yeah, I’d say I dare.”

I looked up into the sky. Another
body was plummeting toward us. Momentarily distracted, I watched the figure
hurtle downward and remembered to look back at my opponent just in time to see
Faci sneer at me, then turn and try to jump off the platform.

“Hey!” I screamed, darting
forward. “That’s cheating.”

I slammed my shoulder into his
side, knocking the wind out of him. “No way,” I grunted. There was no chance
I’d be able to fight off most paranormal men, but Faci was puny. He was
dangerous, but it was because of the tricks he tried to pull, not because of
his bulk. When Rake walked into a room everyone took notice, when Faci walked
into a room no one saw him.

“So?” Faci yelled back, bending
his legs. He collapsed with me on top of him. The unexpected change in
positions threw me off balance.

“I will not lose this
competition,” Faci gritted out. “You might as well give up.”

“No,” I said. “You cannot win
this, especially by cheating. I won’t let it happen.”

We broke apart and Faci rolled
away. Since I didn’t have the energy to make a killing blow, I was forced to
back off. Quickly we both got to our feet. Faci’s eyes were manic. They never
stopped moving, constantly looking for the mistake he was sure I’d make.

We started to circle. Frustrated,
I sent bursts of power at him, not really caring how accurate they were. We
didn’t have a lot of time before other teammates started to show up, and I
wanted to end this now, just between the two of us.

“That’s always been your problem,
you know,” he taunted me. “You are under the mistaken impression that you can
control what happens. But you cannot. The forces at work are far more powerful
than you can imagine.”

Without warning he made a beeline
for me, which I wasn’t expecting. He moved faster than I would have thought he
could, and as he moved, a blunt-tipped black staff appeared in his hands. I
barely got my hands in front of my stomach before he slammed into me. I
stumbled backward, but it was too late. I fell.

“Get up,” Faci barked. He stood
over me, holding the blunt edge of the staff like a spear, aimed right at my
head.

“Oh, shut up,” I said. The winds
were whipping around us, carrying the noise of the crowd. The students of
Paranormal Public were cheering wildly.

We both heard our classmates at
the same time. It made Faci pause, which was all the opening I needed. I lunged
to my feet, not bothering to hit him with my shoulder again. Instead, I called
to the winds, glad that I had spent some time last semester perfecting my
choking ability. It was perfect for Faci.

But while Faci and I had been doing
battle, we’d both forgotten about the Chimera. I had stunned it, but not for
long. It came to life again when another of the students parachuted down. I was
concerned to see that it was Vanni. How she’d managed to get out before Sip or
Lisabelle was anyone’s guess, but there she was.

Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to
have good aim with her wings, or maybe she didn’t see the danger, but she
landed right in front of the Chimera. With a triumphant bellow it charged her,
gold horn down. If it had been any of the rest of us, the horn that rammed
through Vanni’s shoulder would have been a fatal blow. But she was a fallen
angel, and as she had told us before the competition started, she had put
protective spells in place that she could invoke at need.

The spells kept her from dying,
but they didn’t stop her from screaming as the horn penetrated her shoulder and
came out the other side. The crowd around us fell silent, watching in horror.

I flinched, but I kept watching.
Somehow I couldn’t stop. Luckily, Faci was just as focused. When I realized
that he was more enamored of the sight of blood than I was, I started to inch
toward the end of the platform.

But before I could jump, a
booming voice that sounded an awful lot like Vale came from the clouds.

“She’s getting away! Stop her!”
Faci came to attention as if he’d been in a coma and looked wildly around for
me. I knew I could never jump now.

For good measure Vale added, “To
win, you must defeat the Chimera and
then
jump.”

Neither Faci nor I hesitated, but
I was faster. He had his staff and his vampire powers, but as an elemental I
had the wind, and I shoved a fistful of air into the Chimera’s gaping jaws.
Vanni was still impaled on the horn, so my attack had the added bonus of making
the monster buck and paw, shaking Vanni off. She was clearly in horrible pain
as she fell to the ground in a heap of tears, but I couldn’t focus on that yet.
Instead I sprang forward, sending another burst of air to block Faci’s charge.
The first one missed; he was fast and could float. But I was ready for him the
second time. The air knocked him clear out of the way, and I pulled in closer
and directed it to choke the Chimera.

The monster fought wildly as I
held my breath, my eyes riveted on its struggle and my powers at the ready in case
I needed to send another choking blast. I saw another speck falling from the
sky and sent one last burst of air down the Chimera’s throat for good measure.
Finally it collapsed, stunned, and I took my opening to jump over the side.

I landed on the ground and
instantly fell to my knees. I didn’t have the energy for triumph. I wasn’t
really thinking that way, despite the roar of the crowd that was filling my
ears. It took me a minute to realize what they were chanting: Elemental.
Elemental. Elemental.

I grinned and collapsed.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Vale was beyond furious. She did
everything she could to discredit our win. As I stood in the center of the
field she walked toward me menacingly, and for one horrible moment I was afraid
she was going to kill me on the spot. She might have, except that Professor
Erikson interceded, stepping forward to make sure I was alright. She reached
out and healed me herself, an act that surprised and impressed me given how
furious she was that I was dating her nephew. Correction, that I had dated her
nephew. But I pushed that thought from my mind for the time being. There was
nothing I could do about it here and now.