Hungry Earth (Elemental Book 2) (28 page)

I heard Remy yelling at her father about making
Flagstone take her out of the golem fight. Since I was expecting her to have a
fit about it, I almost moved on, but the sudden silence stopped me. After a
moment, I heard Flagstone’s calm, cold voice.

“This is my last day here,” he said.

“What are you talking about?” Hunt asked. He sounded
more angry than shocked.

“You always have to have something to kill yourself
over, Logan. In school, you were constantly goofing off and playing pranks.
Then you started getting into those damn books and talking about towers and
keys. When you got the first school, it was all about making the lives of your
students better, and I was happy to help you do that. You attained this school
to guard the tower, but you still put your students first.”

“I am still putting my students first.”

“Even when you achieved equality for fae, wizards,
and shifters, you never took a moment to rest. After that it was the vampires.
Now you’re becoming obsessed with the key. You let the golems become a problem.
I understand what will happen if you don’t get the key, and there is no one who
wants you to get it more than me.”

“Then why are you talking about leaving?”

“For the past five years, you have been increasingly
thinking of me as your pet. I realized when I got Remy out of the golem fight
that this isn’t working. I can’t be in two places at once, and I can’t keep up
with your shifting priorities. When you find the key, when you find what you’ve
been looking for all these years, summon me back and I will answer.”

“Rosin, you can’t leave,” Remy said, her voice thick
with tears.

“I can’t do this anymore. I cannot be your father’s
familiar when I’m starting to hate him.”

Henry shoved both of us lightly away from the door
and we got the hint. Walking casually and silently, we barely made it around
the corner before the door was thrown wide and someone stormed out.

“Did you know Alpha Flagstone was the headmaster’s
familiar?” Darwin asked me when it was quiet again.

“I didn’t even know a person could be a familiar.
Vincent has a cat.”

“I’d heard that some of the most powerful wizards
could have familiars that can shift,” Darwin said. “If Alpha Flagstone is
Hunt’s familiar, then this separation is a bad, bad deal. Flagstone should
never have started dating Remington.”

“But they’re so happy together.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s probably why Hunt never
found another wife after Remy’s mother died; familiars are fiercely territorial
over their wizard’s magic. If Hunt dies, Flagstone will lose all of his power,
which means that protecting Hunt must be his top priority. Familiars are never
supposed to feel love.”

“Maybe I should be a familiar,” Henry mused.

“It’s not really a choice. Familiars are summoned by
their wizards and must agree or lose their magic. Wizards don’t get to choose
their familiars, either.”

“Sounds like a sucky deal all around,” I said.

“Yeah, let’s see if you think so a year from now,”
Darwin said. “C-Four wizards are supposed to call their familiars.”

“Devon, glad I caught you,” Kale said as he we
rounded the corner and nearly ran into him. He specifically ignored my
roommates. “I was just looking for you. When you were fighting… Gale, I think
Logan said it was… Did you happen to find anything odd on him?”

I had successfully avoided the man after we defeated
Gale, so I was hoping to never see him again. Unfortunately, it seemed he
wasn’t just going to go away. “Like what?”

“Nothing. Never mind.”

“Oh, but there was that amulet,” Darwin said
innocently.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that,” I lied.

Kale’s eyes widened with excitement. “Did you get it?
Where is it?”

“Well, we were going to bring it to the council, just
in case it was important. But, you see, there was a chasm,” I said slowly.

“Filled with lava,” Henry added.

“Yep, lava. Unfortunately, I tripped over a rock and
it just fell right in. It was destroyed instantly.” Henry and Darwin nodded
solemnly. It was about the worst lie I ever told and I was trying hard to keep
a straight face.

Kale was no longer smiling. “Oh. That is
unfortunate,” he said, buying it. “You never did tell me who the witness was.”

“We got distracted. There was never a witness; Hunt
was wrong,” I said. Henry and Darwin nodded in agreement. We hadn’t talked
about what I would say, but they automatically went along with me.

Kale’s expression was shocked for a moment before his
lips thinned in a sneer and he scoffed. “Well, I’m not paying you for that.”

“Understandable. I also understand why you would
never want to hire my services again.” I tried to pass him, but he grabbed my
arm. Henry growled and Kale jumped back.

Right before he let into the jaguar, he visibly held
back. “Actually, Devon,” he said with a forced smile, “I would like to hire you
for a different case. It was my suggestion to disband the school entirely after
the golem incident, but the rest of the council believes Hunt has everything
under control. I want you to find evidence to prove otherwise.”

Talk about a two-minute job. “I’m going to have to
decline. My caseload is full.”

Kale’s face reddened. “Now see here, Sanders, council
business comes first and if you don’t graciously accept this assignment, I have
every inclination and right to lock you in–”

He was cut off as Darwin started yelling at him in
German. With every guttural syllable out of Darwin’s mouth, the wizard’s face
grew whiter. When Darwin was finished, Kale looked like he would never open his
mouth again.

Just then, Langril arrived and put his hand firmly on
Kale’s shoulder. “I believe Grayson was looking for you. I would assume it is
urgent if I were you.”

“Oh, of course. Have a good evening, Keigan.”

“And you.” He watched Kale run off.

“Is everyone going to have to repeat the semester?” I
asked. “Because if we do, I want a different earth elemental mentor.”

Langril laughed. “No, the headmaster has decided that
everyone who was passing at the time of the attack is going to automatically be
passed through the semester. There are a couple dozen students that were going
to fail anyway, but Hunt is giving them a special chance to make it up over the
summer. You three passed, as far as I know.”

“I’m glad I don’t have an elemental mentor,” Darwin
said.

Langril nodded thoughtfully. “You might be capable of
using some magic objects even if you aren’t actually able to produce your own
magic. Talk to me next semester; I might have a thing or two lying around that
can help you.”

“Danke,” Darwin said.

“Gern geschehen,” the professor replied before he
turned and walked away.

Darwin stared after Langril with a suspicious
expression that didn’t look right on his face. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“It’s an anagram. This castle doesn’t belong to Hunt;
it belongs to Langril.”

“Huh?”

“Keigan Langril is Leara Kingling.”

“We have a problem, Mr.
Sanders,” Hunt said gravely. He folded his hands over the blue folder. Remy was
just as somber on his left. Professor Watson was on his right, because Alpha
Flagstone hadn’t been seen since I overheard his argument in the office.

“You’re kidding me,” I said, not finding it humorous
at all. “Please tell me this is a joke.” I had spent the entire remainder of
the semester getting the dorms rebuilt and, now that it was mid-May, I was
ready to get back to my paying job. That didn’t mean I never wanted to return.

I tried to think of any class I might have flunked
before the golem attack. I missed a few astronomy classes, but that was only
two credits. All my teachers were at the table and every one of them looked
confused.

“No, no, not with you,” Remy said quickly. “You
graduated just fine. It’s Darwin.”

“Darwin is the smartest student in the school. Why
are you bringing it to me?”

“I knew from the moment Mr. Mason entered my
children’s school that he was exceptional, so there was never a doubt in my
mind that he would make it here,” Hunt said. “Unfortunately, he has been
legitimately labeled a throwback by the wizard council, who sees his genius as
something mundane. The council defines a throwback as a person unable to
exhibit and control aspects of one or more of their paranormal parents. As
Darwin is unable to shift or use fae magic, he fits into that category.”

“You knew that when you admitted him.”

“It was never a problem before. The paranormal world
needs more people like him. As you know, this school is private and separate
from the council. However, wizards make up the majority of the school and are
governed by the council. Due to the new equality laws for vampires, the council
has started hounding us about allowing throwbacks. They decided that if we
allowed throwbacks, it would be discrimination to reject humans who have been
raised by paranormals.”

“Why can’t you allow humans who already know about
paranormals?”

He frowned. “Have you seen what goes on around here?
There would be nothing to stop a shifter from attacking a human. Vampires
dislike the blood of shifters and all paranormals have some means of defending
themselves, but what would stop them from going after a human student?”

“I get the point. You have to think of something, though.
You can’t kick Darwin out because of something you were already aware of when
you let him in.”

“I agree, and I have already come up with a plan.”

“That’s why we’re bringing it to you,” Remy said. “As
you know, the summer break is longer than the winter one, which gives us three
and a half months to come up with evidence that Darwin is not a throwback. The
problem is, Darwin believes he is and refuses to trust any of the teachers
enough to let them help him.”

“You want me to teach him magic?”

“Or to shift. If you can get him to shift so much as
a claw, to control the shift, then he will no longer be labeled a throwback. He
just has to be able to control shifting or magic. His father already agreed to
let him stay with you for the summer.”

“We understand you also already agreed to protect
Amelia Bell,” Hunt added. “If this is something you cannot handle, we will not
force you. This is your decision.”

I sighed. “There’s no way I’m letting anyone kick
Darwin out. Three and a half months?” I nodded. “I’ll do it.”

“Excellent. We will see you fifteen weeks.”

Rain Oxford is a teacher who has been writing for more than half of her
life. She does most of her writing in a secluded cabin in the woods with a
four-pound Maltese as a companion. When she’s not teaching or creating worlds,
she usually enjoys cooking, playing the piano, or photographing exotic wildlife.

Facebook Page:
www.facebook.com/pages/Rain-Oxford/705026086262892

Website:
https://sites.google.com/site/rainoxfordauthor/

This book was made with 100% recycled electrons. All characters and
events in this book are fictional. Any similarity of the golems to real people
is entirely coincidental. The golems are no longer available for children’s
parties or bar mitzvahs. If you enjoyed this book, please leave a review.
Thanks for reading!

Elemental
Book 1:
Dark Waters

Elemental Book
2:
Hungry Earth

Elemental
Book 3:
Furious Flames

The Guardian
Book 1:
The Guardian’s Grimoire

The Guardian
Book 2:
The Dragon’s Eyes

The Guardian
Book 3:
God of the Abyss

The Guardian
Book 4:
The Demon’s Game

The Guardian
Book 5:
The Wizard’s War

The Awakening