The effect only lasts a few seconds, unlike the shocker, but it obviously has an impact. One guy grasps his elbow.The girl among them stumbles and presses her hand to her waist, her breath coming with a pained hitch.
Ross nods. “Good. Take note of where the energies affected you the most and practice collecting ephemera around those areas to strengthen and shield them.”
He waves the first set of students away and beckons over the rest of the 16thyears.
My stomach sinks. It’ll be our year next.
At least this exercise doesn’t appear to be as painful or injury-inducing as last week’s?
The second set of students reacts with similar discomfort before wobbling off to sit on the mats and concentrate on ephemera work. I step in front of the black panels with Asher at one side, Stella at the other, Cadance and Byron beyond her.
“Keep your stance relaxed but ready,” Ross tells us. “No shielding at this point.”
Every instinct in my body clamors to conjure some protection, but I follow the rules. It might really be useful to discover weak points I’ve been unaware of.
Knowing is half the battle, as my original Salvatore used to say with a smirk like he was quoting something.
Ross fiddles with his control box again. The first faint tingle of projected ephemera brushes over my face.
The pulses of energy hit me in a rapid rhythm from the top down, smacking my forehead, nose, chin, neck, waking up an ache in the left side of my jaw and a sharper jab at the base of my throat?—
And then it outright wallops me across the chest, so hard I tumble onto my ass.
With a stifled gasp, Stella thumps to the ground next to me. Asher staggers and spins toward us, his eyes wide with a concern I feel in a flare through my marked palm.
Every nerve in my body is ringing, with an extrathrobbing in my gut and my left knee. But a jolt of alarm pierces through my spinning thoughts.
“I’m—I’m okay,” I stammer out before Asher can take more than one step toward me. Byron has tensed too, watching, and Salvatore has barged to the edge of the panel area, radiating protective fury. I avoid looking directly at any of them.
Durga protect us, let no one wonder about their reactions.
I manage to heave myself to my feet with just a brief sway, but Salvatore’s head jerks toward Captain Ross. “What the fuck was that? Your tech didn’t hit the other groups that way.”
Ross is scowling at his controls. He glances over at me and Stella, who’s picking herself off the ground gingerly. “I’m so sorry. Some of the connections must have been miscalibrated, and the effect overloaded. I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again. Does anyone need a nurse?”
I shake my head, and Stella does the same. She limps slightly as we tramp away from the panels, but her steps even out after several paces.
“Are you—?” I start to ask.
She hurries farther across the room without even looking my way. Clearly my earlier olive branch didn’t extend quite far enough.
Cadance catches my arm and tugs for me to sit next to her on a mat. “She’s really got a stick up her ass now, doesn’t she? But then, what’s new?”
I recoil inwardly from her insults with their breezy delivery, but I force myself to sit. Other Elodie’s friends are my most direct connection to the upper-crust lucent world I’m not really comfortable navigating. I probably shouldn’t piss any of them off too much.
Still, I have to push back a little. “It’s my fault. I went too far.”
“Nah.” Cadance grins at me. “You were savage—I liked it. Sometimes you’ve got to call it like it is.”
A prickle runs down my spine with the impression that she’s sucking up to me.
Why? Because I was closer with Stella before and she sees an opening to claim the spot as top bestie?
What does she figure she’ll get out of the position? I doubt she’s thinking of my best interests any more than a siren cares how sailors intended to steer.
Before I can figure out how to answer her, she tilts her head, her lips curving with amusement. “Looks like the instructors are worried you’ll aim some of that savagery at them for fucking up.”
Captain Ross is adjusting something in the back of his control box, but Professor Jovak is watching me with widened eyes. When I catch his gaze, he hustles over as if he was just waiting for me to notice.
