Page 20 of Sealed By Fire (The Nature Hunters Academy 2)

“He’s the brains of the foursome,” Liam answered. “I’m the eye candy,” he said with a wink.

Tara smirked.

“If you wink at her one more time, I’m going to rip your eyes from your head,” Elias said through gritted teeth.

“Don’t take your insecurities out on me, mate,” Liam chided. “It’s not my fault you have bad taste in nerd culture.”

“Where would the dark elementals find a human to use to summon a demon?” Tara asked, interrupting whatever Elias had been about to shoot back at Liam. Tara had decided the water elementalist had a death wish.

“A witch or a warlock,” Dhara answered before Aston could.

“Okay then … so … witches and warlocks are real.” Tara said.

The earth queen shrugged as she leaned more heavily on the arm of the couch. “The practitioners believe they wield elemental magic because they call on the elements, but a witch or warlock’s magic only comes from one source, and it isn’t of the earthly realm.”

Aviur shifted restlessly. Tara noticed that Nasima and Kairi looked worried as they watched Dhara.

“The animosity that has brewed between us for the past three centuries makes more sense now. Just getting us all together to agree to hunt the dark elementals had taken months,” the earth queen said. “If the dark elementals used demon magic to affect us because it is evil by its very nature, it would pull on the darkest parts of us.”

Kairi nodded. “That does make sense. The demon power feeds on negativity. Any little thing from jealousy to bitterness feeds it.”

“Not only are our mates missing, but we also have dark elementals working together, and they are using witches or warlocks, or some combination, to consort with demons,” Nasima said.

“Things just keep getting better and better,” Jax said.

Tara noticed that the headmasters and headmistresses had been very quiet throughout the entire conversation. They occasionally nodded, but mostly they just listened.

“Terrick,” Dhara said, and the Terra academy headmaster stepped forward.

“Your majesty?”

“I think it is time that you and the other headmasters and headmistresses figure out a way to bring your students together. They should be training and learning together. I’m not saying they all have to reside under the same roof. But if we want to have a chance against the dark elementals, we have to join forces.”

“We agree,” Serena, the headmistress of Hydro Academy, said and her mate Marcus nodded.

“As do we,” Jeremiah, the Crimson Academy headmaster said.

“Tempest Academy will cooperate fully in any joint effort to train our students,” Callum added.

Dhara smiled, though she still looked very tired. “I had no doubt you all would step up to the challenge. As for us…” She looked over at the king and queens. “We need to find out more about what the dark royals are up to and locate the coven they are using.”

“That was three centuries ago,” Tara said. “Aren’t those humans long dead?”

“Yes,” replied the earth queen. “But covens are often carried on through bloodlines, which means the elementals could have some sort of contract with a witch or warlock family. As one dies out, the next one in the generation would take their place in the agreement.”

“Wow.” Tara sighed. “That sucks.”

“Pretty much sums up this entire meeting,” Liam agreed, and the others in the room nodded.

Aviur walked over to Dhara and helped her up. “Let us get you home to rest this night. Your mate is going to cause an earthquake when he finds out what you have done,” he said. “Tomorrow, we can begin our search for the covens, and maybe it will shed light on what has happened to all our mates.” In a sudden rush of flames, he and Dhara were gone.

Nasima and Kairi were next, each using their own element to open an exit portal.

Once they were gone, the room suddenly erupted into a clamor of voices and movement. Tara watched as the headmasters and mistresses began speaking with the professors, somehow all talking and listening at once. Liam and Aston came over and stood close to her and Elias.

“Looks like we’re finally going to get what we’ve wanted,” Liam said with a big grin.

“If they had listened to us two years ago, they might have learned this information sooner,” Aston pointed out.

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