Ambermourn looked me up and down with that same, sneer-like smile on his face. “You certainly resemble him well enough. Who would have thought Atlas Crawford’s boy would be the strongest Elemental to ever live?”
I cleared my throat harshly. “Yes, well, I certainly get much of my strength from him. H-Have you spoken to him at all, this evening?” I pressed nervously.
Ambermourn’s eyes darkened a shade. “Well, no, not really. He probably isn’t very fond of us Chandler professors after what transpired between he and Phillip, but that shouldn’t ruin our conversation.”
“I suppose it shouldn’t…” I carefully replied.
Ambermourn cut his deep eyes through me, procuring another cigarette from his coat pocket as he spoke, “You have seven Shadow Walkers, is that correct?”
“I was born with four, but contracted three more during my time, yes,” I answered.
“I can see why you are deemed so powerful. The Elemental who can control all the elements… my, you are a special little thing, aren’t you?”
His tone and word choice sent more goosebumps up my arms. I had to hug myself to shake the feeling away. “I guess so, sir.”
He nodded to Montgomery Hall. “I hear you are training your Elite Elementals soon?”
“Starting this Monday,” I said with a light shrug.
“Well, I’d like to offer you my card, if that’s alright.” He slid me a thin business card, all black with gold lettering, that had his name, number, and email address pressed into it. “I would love to give you some pointers or answer any questions you may have as you transition into becoming a God. I was quite close with Atlas, and my advice certainly helped him prosper, so I’d hope it would do you some good as well.”
I turned the card in my hand carefully. “I’ll certainly consider it.”
“I hope so. My help can be invaluable to you.” He cast his eyes over me slowly, really soaking every inch of me up. “Rumor has it you had quite the victory recently, against a foe like none other. Something about stowing an Original God away?”
My blood ran cold at his words. How could he possibly know about Pandora, and why would he bring it up now?
“I, well, something along those lines. It’s not really information I’m meant to share with the public,” I worded carefully.
He looked offended by my comment and tilted his head curiously. “I wouldn’t consider myself ‘the public’ by any means. More, an old friend.”
“Not one of mine, sir,” I acidly shot back.
Ambermourn’s brows furrowed a little. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.”
I looked back to the table my friends were at, where all six were watching me with worried frowns. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to my table. I look forward to getting to know you better?” I said with fake politeness in my tone.
Evander gripped my forearm abruptly, which made me jump enough that he noticed, though he didn’t let go. “Please, do nottell your father we spoke. I’d like to handle him on my own, if that’s alright. I mean no harm, but I would hate for he and I’s tiff to ruin any kind of relationship you and I could develop.”
I was getting serious red flags from this guy but still nodded rigidly. “I suppose I can keep this between us.” I jerked my arm free, this time without trying to be so polite. “I’ll be seeing you.”
“Enjoy your evening, God of Death…” he whispered as I slipped back into the crowd, shaking my head to myself as I clutched the card I had sitting in my pocket.
As I walked, I summoned my Shadows to my consciousness and closed my eyes so I could see their faces. “Does anyone know who that guy was? What a creep…” I thought to them.
Claude chimed in first. “He was a professor at Chandler, but I don’t know much of him. Each element kept to themselves at Chandler, so there wasn’t much room to mingle. Stark, any idea who he is?”
“I’ve heard the name, but never much about him. I tended to keep my distance from the Death Elementals. You may want to run this by Seraphine. She’ll know him much better than I, since he was one of her colleagues after all,” Stark offered.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking. I mean, telling me not to tell Dad about him? That seems super fishy to me. I need to find out what I can about this guy. Something tells me he wasn’t meant to be here tonight,” I thought back as I traversed the crowds, now on a new mission.
“Hey, welcome back. Who was that-…?”
“Not right now,” I barked as I whisked by Soren, who dropped the hand he had tried to put on my arm. He turned to the others nervously as I moved through bodies, trying to locate Seraphine in the dense crowds rapidly.
I found Seraphine pouting in the corner with Calypso and Esen, who were giggling at the abhorrent glare she directed towards Endymion every time he tried to reach out and touch Erasmus. Erasmus would jerk free with a fake laugh, though his eyes cut through Endymion like glass, and that made me laugh, too.
I sat on the bench before Seraphine and tugged on the hand she had tucked under her arm firmly. “You couldn’t look more miserable if you tried,” I joked.
