Chapter 3
Pandora Hart
I glare three rows down at Sara and Kylie. Sara buries her head in her work while Kylie fiddles with her belongings as she waits for the bell.
How do I stop Xavier from bringing Sara and Kylie to his awakening? There has to be some way to prevent his friends from coming with us, or at least spare me a few hours to kill the king without two unaware elemny following my every move.
My focus drifts away from them and to Pete. He leans against the window, balancing the pen on the tip of his finger. The notebook in front of him is bare of ink stains. He doesn’t seem to care about learning the history of Eraminia.
But why would he? Pete is the academy’s dealer. Whatever anyone wants, he can get it within hours—sometimes even minutes. It makes sense, given that he’s an earth elemny. It’s easier for him to whip something up in the men’s toilet. I only consider using him because if I can slip something into—
No, there’s no chance.
I bite the pencil hard, roll my eyes away from Pete, and clench my teeth.
If I gave them a drink, Sara would sniff it out before taking a sip, and I don’t want them to question my morals.
Any careless move will draw unnecessary attention, and if anyone becomes too curious about me, my lies might unravel, revealing an ice elemny among the sheep.
Chaos will spread. And in the blink of an eye, I envision myself atop the high castle walls with a spear through my head.
Yeah. Screw that. I need to find a different way to get rid of his friends.
Also, when has Xavier ever shown an interest in hanging out with his friends? Since dating, all he seems to want is to objectify me. Every time I brought up the idea of a “double date”, he brushed it off, and we went back to the apartment, where he would touch me and treat me like a puppet.
At least this time, I am in control despite stooping so low.
“Hey, Panda. You have written nothing.” Xavier glides his hand across my thigh. My body tenses, and my joints become stiff as he slides his hand so high up that he’s on the fringe of tasting the heat between my legs. “Is everything all right?”
“Oh…” I look at Xavier and lower my chin as I look up at him. Any concerns about my well-being disappear, and the hungry look of a fire elemny eager to consume me intensifies.
His fingers move closer to my warmth as he bites his lip to hold back his excitement.
Disgust courses through me, but before I can consider how I do things, Mr Rams taps the blackboard with his ruler. His silver eyes watch us, and not just his—the other students turn in their seats and snigger.
Xavier removes his hand from my thigh and goes about glaring at his textbook. I watch him for a moment longer before focusing on the work before me. Like Pete’s, my work lies bare, with no clue what to write or what we’re meant to do today.
So, I scribble down what Xavier writes. Later this evening, I will rewrite everything and change the wording so it doesn’t appear that I’ve plagiarised his work.
It’s not as if it matters. We’re learning about events that took place two thousand years ago, about the rise in the disappearances of children and teenagers. Mr Rams wants us to speculate about what happened because nothing in our history books tells us how they vanished.
Not only does it sound dull, but I also dislike revisiting the past. It should remain buried, behind locked doors, where all my demons seem to hide.
The bell rings when I finish writing at least a page’s worth of information. As I pack my textbook and notebook into my bag, Mr Rams says, “Tomorrow, we will learn more about the Kingdom of Crystal and its downfall.”
The chewed pencil snaps, and I toss it into the pencil case, zip up my bag, and sling it over my shoulder. I follow Xavier out into the corridor, and he heads to his Fire Class. Sara walks with him since her Earth Class is in the same direction.
Kylie and I make our way to the ground floor for our Water Class. As we wait outside the doors for the teacher, Kylie glares at a text message on her phone. She deletes the message from her mother and shoves her phone back into her pocket.
My thoughts drift to extracting information from her. But then again, should I care? After I kill King Ragan, I’ll head back home and away from this wretched, corrupted Eraminia. I doubt there’s any point in getting closer to them when I leave after Xavier awakens.
Still, I am curious.
“Is everything okay at home?” I ask Kylie as we enter the classroom. She remains silent until we reach our table, and I wait as patiently as I can. At the front of the classroom, Mrs Rams—Mr Rams’ wife—wants us to see if we can move water in a plastic bottle.
Fuck me, right?
Whatever.
Mrs Rams sets the water bottles on the table when Kylie finally speaks. “Uh, not really. My mother keeps asking who is coming with me to Xavier’s awakening. Except, if I read between the lines, I know all she’s asking is whether Sara is coming.”
As I grab the water bottle with one hand, I pinch my thigh with my other until a stinging sensation shudders down my leg. Half my focus is on the pain to prevent myself from letting the ice seep into the bottle and reveal what I truly am.
“They don’t like her?”
“No…They were hoping I was tethered to a guy.”
I put on a smile. “You’re lucky you didn’t, honestly. They all seem to think with their dicks.”
Kylie snorts a laugh. “Xavier is annoying you, eh?”
I eye her and then look away. “Sometimes. But it’s normal, right?”
The water in Kylie’s bottle sloshes with every tap of her finger. “Sara will never get on my nerves. It might be because we’re connected, though. I’m more in tune with her emotions, so when she’s upset, I feel it and can be mindful.”
Tethering sounds so draining. I can’t fathom experiencing someone else’s emotions and being perfectly fine with it—the unexpected jolts of desire, annoyance, anger, affection, and illness. Far out, a torturous cycle. How can Kylie love it? It seems like a fucking nightmare.
“That’s sweet,” I lie with a smile. “And don’t worry about your parents. My place is always open if you or Sara need a break.”
Why did I say that?
Her eyes widen into deep pools of blue. “Seriously?”
“Yep!”
Nope!
Kylie turns away with a smile and focuses on the water in the bottle. “Thanks, Panda.”
Now she’s using Xavier’s stupid nickname. Wonderful.
She encourages me to try harder, but then stops persisting after I mope and complain. However, as I glare at the water bottle, my finger glides over the frost splintering at the bottom. With a whine, I wrap the bottle around my arms to cover the ice until it melts.
“I’m sure your powers will come once you awaken,” she chirps.
If only she knew I could slip ice down her throat and let the shards spread until she was coughing crimson onto the table. What would she think of me and my powers then if she saw how violent I could be?
However, after arriving at Oceanview Harbour, I had to make some personality-altering changes.
Elemny have different emotions depending on which element they awaken to become.
Having been around ice elemny my entire life, I never realised earth elementals lean more towards the emotional side, are very intuitive about their own feelings and those of others.
Air elemny possess intelligent minds, often too bright for their own good. Most air elemny secure governmental positions, work for the king or royal families within the Kingdoms of Oria, Storm, or Cloud.
Mother warned me never to trust an air elemny. They can manipulate others effortlessly. The methodical games they play make me avoid them at all costs. I don’t need a sharp-witted air elemny figuring me out.
Then there is the fire elemny. The hot-heads. Elementals who love the taste of ash on the tips of their tongues and revel in mischief and mayhem.
I hate them the most.
An irritable itch shudders across the right side of my waist. Memories I long to forget blaze their way across my skin.
Suppressing the heat, I rise from the table and walk out with Kylie.
I’m still trying to figure out how to keep Sara and Kylie from coming with us.
So, when we get there, I’ll need to think of something on the fly.
Shit.
A group of students cluster outside the classroom, leaving us no room to breathe. My mouth forms a grim line as I stare at the backs of heads and listen to the murmured, excited conversations in front of me.
Kylie, much taller than I, stretches onto her tiptoes. Her eyes widen, and the blood drains from her face.
“What is it?” I ask.
“It’s Jessica.” Kylie shakes her head. “She’s clawing at her throat as if something is stuck inside.”
“Oh…” I turn away from the action and toward the door leading to the courtyard. Xavier pushes the door open and races out. “What’s the point?”
“Where’s Andrew Simms?” Mr Rams bellows over the crowd. “Something has happened to him!”
Kylie grabs my arm and says, “We should go. This is too much.”
More teachers push through the crowd. The group disperses enough to see what’s happening. Jessica turns a shade of purple, with veins crawling around her eyes. Long red scratch marks scar with internal bleeding, and her body shudders uncontrollably.
By the time Xavier opens the door again and shouts for the injection Jessica supposedly has in her pocket, it’s too late. Her body becomes limp, and the horror in her eyes fades away. With a blank expression, she stares up at the ceiling.
“That’s so awful,” Kylie says. “I never want that to happen to Sara and me. Maybe you and Xav have a point about tethering with someone. It can be like a double-edged sword.”
Xavier approaches us and wraps his arms around my shoulders. He’s emotional and likely traumatised by the ordeal. It wouldn’t surprise me if he doesn’t come over tonight.
I stare at Jessica’s lifeless body, and my frown turns into a grim line.
Ice elemny are cold and heartless. Our lives are all we care about, so when someone is in danger, we watch and then move on.
That’s who I am now, far from who I used to be.
A cold and heartless ice elemny who, like all the other sheep here, watched Jessica die while doing nothing about it.
Except while they cry, sob, and express remorse for Jessica and Andrew’s deaths, I feel absolutely nothing.