Chapter 21
Slate
“You see her?” I asked Onyx. He consistently piled four French fries at a time into his mouth, followed by a large bite of a limp school burger.
With his mouth full, he shook his head and mumbled something I presumed to be, “No.”
My heart raced as concern for her well-being climbed quickly to the surface, especially after her newest public punishment last night. Thankfully, I hadn’t been present for it. I refused to go to another summoning from the king after the last time.
My world changed last week. Valik had taken everything I’d ever known and flipped it upside-down.
I still wasn’t quite sure how to process everything he had disclosed.
I only hoped the glamour he taught me would be enough to keep my secret hidden.
No one could know, so I’d managed to put it out of my head completely.
Add in the fact it had been a full week since our night on the rooftop when Chrome was last seen.
He was known to go MIA for an extended period of time, but never for this long.
I assumed he had been sent out on secret missions, or enduring punishments that the king and his dynamic duo liked to keep hidden from the rest of us.
Only Peri and I knew about them, but the punishments typically never lasted more than a week at most. Judging by the haunted look in Chrome’s eyes every time he re-emerged into the world, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the details of what his punishments truly entailed.
But I could read between the lines. His aversion to touch told me as much.
Regardless, they were inhumane and cruel, which fueled a fire inside me for the injustice he was forced to live with.
“I’m going to find her,” I announced, a sinking feeling settling in my stomach. The need to find and protect her grew increasingly stronger.
“Need me to come with?” Onyx asked around another mouthful of burger.
I contemplated the offer but shook it off. “Nah, I got it. I’ll text you when I find her, then meet you in class.”
Onyx tossed up a peace sign and nodded as he tended to his lunch.
I picked up my full tray, trashing the food on it before returning it to the bar. As I exited the cafeteria, the prickling sensation on the back of my neck escalated to a point I couldn’t ignore.
Something’s wrong.
I paused outside, wracking my brain about where she could possibly be on campus. The gymnasium, maybe?
But I highly doubted she would risk being seen by the other kids who typically hung out there after they finished their lunch. They were usually athletes who weren’t always the friendliest.
The library? No. It was locked during lunch hours. I tried once to get some privacy in the hopes of stretching my magic at school without being seen by the human students but found no reprieve there.
Think. Where would she go to hide?
As if the answer struck me like a bolt of lightning, I spun on my heels and began sprinting in the opposite direction, heading toward the elementary side of the school.
Through my suppressed magic, I extended my senses as best I could, listening for any signs of impending trouble. In the near distance, I could hear raised voices and boisterous laughter coming from the playground.
I slowed to a casual pace as I approached, my eyes seeking out the ice-blonde hair that stood out so well.
“Give it back,” Gray’s exhausted voice met my ears, and my shoulders straightened as I detected the fear in her quivering words. “Please.”
Three others surrounded her—two girls and a guy. “Are you sure you need it? It’s just a necklace with a black rock. I’m sure you can buy another one.”
As I rounded the building that led to the playground, I spotted the three humans surrounding my princess. They had no idea that she was extremely powerful, and as I’d recently learned, she needed the black crystal necklace. Shit, if her Elemental powers emerged here…
“What’s going on?” I plastered a large fake smile on my face as I joined them casually, working hard to suppress my need to slice their heads from their necks.
Eric, I think his name was, looked over his shoulder, his eyes lighting up in recognition. “Slate!” he called as if we hung out every day. Laughter followed as he pointed at the princess in front of him. “Look, we found a boredom buster until P.E.”
“Oh, yeah?” I asked, keeping a smile on my face. “What’s that?”
The girl with short, auburn hair beside him cut him off. “Her,” she said, disgust in her voice, which sent another surge of raging heat through my veins at the disrespect. “The school weirdo.”
“Okay? I’m failing to see how she’s supposed to entertain you.”
“Look at this necklace! Who wears shit like this? It’s 2015! This necklace looks like it came from the 1400s!” the girl with long black hair and an orange tan piped up from the other side.
Gray’s nostrils flared as she stared at the distant buildings of the school. With her arms crossed and jaw clenched, I noted the water shining in her eyes.
My heart squeezed, wishing I could just kick their asses already and get it over with, but we couldn’t expose our magic at school.
And a fifteen-year-old boy fighting like a Warrior would surely raise some alarms. I wasn’t even supposed to have any weapons on me, but I snuck a knife into my boot every day anyway. I had to play it cool.
“What use do you have of an old necklace like that, then? Why take it from her?”
Gray glanced at me, her eyes narrowing before she faced the black-haired girl. “It was my mother’s. My dead mother’s. Give. It. Back.”
“Aww!” the auburn-haired girl said. “Look, Aly! She’s getting mad. Perhaps…” she mused, “your mother died in the Salem Witch Trials? It looks that old.”
“Ah! That’s what it is!” Aly’s eyes brightened as if she’d discovered Gray’s secret. “You’re a witch, right?” she mocked. “You have these crystals and shit. So what? You gonna cast a spell on us later?” she taunted, and the others joined in on her laughter.
Aly flashed me a flirtatious smile and wink before stepping toward Gray. My shoulders stiffened as I fought against my instinct to physically stop her from getting an inch closer to the Kinetic princess.
Gray took a cautious step back, appraising Aly and her next move. “Give it back.”
“Just give her back the necklace. It’s no good to you,” I said, injecting boredom into my tone, despite being on the verge of exposing our kind to these dumbasses.
“Actually,” Aly mused as she turned the black crystal stone over in her palm, observing it. “It looks like it would be worth some good money at a pawn shop.”
Eric laughed. “Oh, yeah! I bet I could get another North Space jacket. In white—”
“Dude,” I cut off his mirth, rolling my eyes. “I’m pretty sure your mom and dad will buy you another one at the end of the week.”
“Why are you defending her? Gotta little crush on the witch, Helair?” the auburn-haired girl smirked.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, mind blown by the complete immaturity of human kids. It must be nice that they didn’t have more important shit to worry about rather that fucking with an innocent girl who kept to herself. My fucking princess at that.
“I really don’t see how you can get entertainment from messing with someone who isn’t a bother to you.” I shrugged, my impatience for their shit growing.
“I think you like her.”
Unable to hide my irritation any longer, my face twisted in a way that couldn’t mask my bafflement. “Grow the fuck up and give the girl her necklace back.”
“Or what?” Eric challenged, closing the distance between us.
I smirked down at him with amusement. “Honestly, I wouldn’t try it, bro.”
Eric puffed his chest out more. He was rather broad for a high schooler, but I was pretty sure he was on the football team, so that would explain it. “You think you’re a badass, Helair?”
I chuckled. “Do you realize how stupid you look? Mad that I won’t let you taunt my prin…Gray.”
“Your Gray, yeah?” Eric’s smile widened as if he’d won, proving his point. I really didn’t care.
“Yeah. She is. And you won’t bother her anymore,” I stated, angling my head to the side as I scrutinized him. “You can start by giving back her necklace.”
“No.”
“Did it sound like you had a choice, Eric?” My voice dropped as my previous amusement fell away. “Give her back the fucking necklace.”
As Eric and I stood nearly chest to chest, staring each other down in a ridiculous battle of “who had the bigger balls” contest, I noted in my periphery that the two girls backed away slowly to leave.
“Give. Her. Back. The. Fucking. Necklace,” I ground out between my clenched teeth. “Try and steal it, and I promise you, you’ll wish you hadn’t.”
“You may be well-liked, Helair, but no one is fucking scared of you, pretty boy,” Eric threatened. He stepped closer, shoving me back a step. I saw it coming. “You don’t even work out.”
I didn’t need to defend myself against childish bullshit. Instead, I bit my bottom lip, fighting back a smile. “Okay, then.” I nodded just before I threw an uppercut to his jaw, clocking him hard on the underside of his chin.
Eric’s head snapped back as he stumbled to catch himself, the whites of his eyes showing before he tumbled to the ground.
The two girls screamed and looked at me in shocked horror while Gray stared down at Eric, unimpressed, an eyebrow raised with her arms still crossing her body.
“Give her back the godsdamn necklace,” I gritted out to Aly, who still clutched the black crystal to her chest.
“Oh, my god! Fine! Take it! It’s ugly anyways. No one would want that rock.” Instead of handing the necklace to Gray, she threw it at me in haste. I snatched it out of the air, holding onto it until it was safe to return to the princess.
“Go. And take him with you,” I told her. “And next time anyone messes with her, I won’t stop with a single hit. I’ll keep going until my point is proven.”