Zaramir took a careful step back, grabbing her arm behind him, he pushed her gently back, slowly assuring her back to the atrium.

  Only when they were back in the untouched room did he turn around and speak.

  “Vengürd lied to the registry,” He said quietly as if nearly afraid to wake the Elementals even from this distance. “This disaster was far beyond the level of a student. A low level alchemy experiment gone awry couldn’t produce enough residual magic to form that many Elementals. I had my doubts we’d find one. If I’m careful I may be able to capture one without alerting the others.”

  “You don’t intend on doing something about the rest?” She questioned, feeling an increasing panic as it dawned on her that Zaramir had said if one destabilized it could level the whole House. If they all did at the same time…

  “Even with the both of us, it’s not possible to manage that many.” He said flatly.

  “And you expect a bunch of low level mages to handle a threat they don’t even know exists?!” Corabelle demanded, doing her best to not raise her volume to a dangerous level.

  “No,” He said, voice still low. “They won’t be able to. Even if they had a proper master in the House, they’d all die in the attempt. It’s best they never know they’re here. There’s nothing but this school far enough that when the Elementals destabilize, this will be the only casualty.”

  “So you’re saying you’re going to do nothing?” She hissed.

  He shook his head, “After we get what we need, I’ll alert the Registry anonymously. They’ll evacuate the area and send enough Masters to have a chance at containing the blast. I don’t trust that Vengürd will drop his ego and admit his mistake.”

  She knew he was right. Vengürd would never willingly evacuate students if it meant admitting his own shortcomings; even her short meeting with him told her as much.

  “Fine.” she said. “But, please, do so quickly.”

  “It may not seem like I care, but I also don’t want the students and staff to die. Vengürd I wouldn’t mind.” While it seemed as though he was attempting a joke, the humor was completely vacant from his voice, making it seem far more of a threat.

  She glanced down the stretch of hall. Even from here, she could see the position of the first Elemental, “Just be careful, okay?”

  From the corner of her eye she could see he too was looking toward the site, “I will.”

  There were no nerves to his voice, but she knew he must be similarly afraid of what could happen.

  “You want me to stay back, don’t you?” She inquired softly.

  “No.” He said, steadily, reaching into his bag and pulling out the pendant she recognized as the same one from their last attempt at this. “If this goes as poorly as it very well could, it won’t matter where you’re standing. There’s nowhere you could get fast enough to be safe. It would be best for you to be closer to the blast…. It will be over more quickly.”

  Her extremities went numb, the last of her nerves fraying.

  “What do you need me to do?” She questioned, voice cracking.

  “When we reach the room, summon as much water as you can manage, floating over that first one.” He nodded toward the room. “Hold it there. If I’m not fast enough, drown it. Hopefully that will stun it long enough for me to finish the binding.”

  “Won’t that wake the others?”

  “Not if you’re precise.”

  He was putting a lot of faith in her abilities, especially in something she’d just learned the night before. The spells were simple, but she’d hardly had practice. She’d not expected to need to be precise.

  He made a move toward the hall, but she grabbed his arm, perhaps with a little more force than she intended, eliciting a flinch, “Wait,” She hissed. “I don’t know if I can do it.”

  He pried his arm away from her, “You studied the spell.”

  “Yes, but what if I miss or do it wrong? I could wake them all.”

  “That’s a risk either way. Just do your best.”

  “Just do my best?” She demanded. “Are you joking? Do you know what you’re asking?”

  “I’m asking you to help me,” He replied with an uncomfortably stony resolution. “I could do this myself, but it’d be much riskier. I don’t want the others to wake up. I don’t want these people to die. The best way to avoid that outcome is if you assist me. I have faith in your abilities. You’re far stronger than most. I believe you can do this.”

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  There wasn’t a hint of hesitation in his voice. If he hadn’t been so… vacant as of late, she might have trusted his words.

  Nevertheless, she knew he was right. He couldn’t perform the water spells and the binding ritual at the same time. He needed an extra pair of hands, regardless of how experienced or inexperienced the hands might be.

  He couldn’t ask for outside aid. The students would panic if he requested their assistance with something of this magnitude and the Master, well, they might have a better chance with the students. She was his best option at the current moment.

  This fact did very little to steel her own resolve. Regardless, she knew there was little other choice, “I’ll do what I can, but…”

  “I trust you.” He didn’t look at her as he rolled up his sleeves, getting them out of his way as he wrapped the pendant’s chain tightly around his wrist, clutching the charm in his fist.

  Without another word, he set off down the hall.

  Corabelle followed warily, every creak of old floorboard, every scurry of small creatures making her want to jump out of her skin.

  The hall seemed longer than it had the first time, stretching into the distance, but all the while seeming as though she was too close to their almost certain fiery demise.

  An eternity later, they reached the door. Every fiber of Corabelle’s body quivered in dread, despite her best attempts at stoicism.

  She almost didn’t notice as Zarmair held up his hand in the same gesture, halting her. He turned his head to the side, giving a nod. It took her far too long to realize he was telling her to prepare the spell.

  In her lowest voice, little more than a breeze, she recited the incantation. The water drew from the humid air around them, drying her already strained lungs as she took in shaky breaths.

  The uneven sphere of water hovered unsteadily over the central most Elemental, sending sparkling fragments of rainbows across the room from the sunlight shining above. Despite the horror of it all, it was almost pretty.

  Her hands shook as Zaramir began to cross the wreckage toward their target. Each step was slow, delicate, precise. He crept over fragments of pottery, careful not to step on a single shard that might crack under his weight. He slid around a table, avoiding the thin sheet of melted and solidified glass in a dark puddle near its base.

  Despite his best effort, the journey could not be perfectly silent. The entire floor was covered in remnants of the roof , floor, and whatever else may have been in this room that hadn’t fared as well as the tables.

  Each time his foot slid over a piece of rubble that groaned under his step, Corabelle’s concentration on the water grew thinner. She had to put every bit of her effort into not losing her grip on the spell.

  There were brief moments she had to remind herself to breathe as her heart shuttered in her chest.

  Finally he reached the position. He stood within arm’s reach of the tiny pile of unassuming ash, preparing to capture it.

  He glanced back at Corabelle and, for a heartbeat, she thought she saw his own resolve falter. Though in a blink he was back to rigid focus on the dormant Elemental in front of him.

  Zaramir twitched his fingers in a short, deliberate motion, telling her to be ready.

  Though the instruction proved pointless, falling on blind eyes. Every nerve in her body was already on the finest edge. So much as a waver from the tiny pile of still ash and she wouldn't hesitate to drown it, despite all the good she expected it to do against a nearly unstable extremely volatile Fire Elemental; the action likely to start a chain reaction that would lead to hundreds, if not thousands of deaths.

  She bit down hard on her lip until she tasted blood, forcing the thought away. She couldn’t afford the distraction pulling any scrap of her attention from her razor sharp focus on the tiny monster.

  From her location she could See Zaramir take a deep breath and hold it, easing down into a low crouch near the ash. He extended his arm extremely slowly toward the creature, holding up his other hand telling Corabelle not to react as the embers grew brighter, bright enough to be easily seen from her tedious position.

  Tiny flames sparked upward before the draft in the room put them out. The pile shifted, suddenly becoming fully engulfed in flame. The metal of the chain and pendant turned red against Zaramir’s skin, angry blisters springing up where the metal made contact. His hand quivered in clear, agonizing pain, but he held firm, his concentration being strained worse than her own.

  He began to recite the ritual incantation, so quietly she couldn’t hear what they were from this distance, though she could see his lips moving softly.

  The tiny flame grew more agitated, brighter spots beginning to flicker within, like tiny eyes fluttering open.

  Her hands shook, the water sending more rapid dazzling lights across the room, but Zaramir’s hand remained raised. It wasn’t time yet, despite every new motion making her flinch, desperately wanting to do anything to help.

  The flame grew larger, as large as a campfire, wisps springing out from the sides. Little limb emerged from its slumberous cocoon of ash.

  It twisted and grew, though its movements were jerky ridged. It didn’t flow elegantly like the bound Elemental had. Bright glowing angry spots of flames glared at the Faedemon at its base as it grew nearly as high as the water above.

  It couldn’t seem to move, other than the erratic flickering of its flame. The room stayed silent, not so much as a crackle from the creature as it tried to break an invisible hold around it.

  The pendant and chain grew white hot, Zaramir struggling to hold it as the smell of seared flesh filled the room, the chain receding into his skin, sliding toward bone. His shaking hand still remained held high.

  Not now, not yet.

  With final words, his eyes squeezed shut tight, his body tensing, bracing himself before plunging his entire hand ,the whole pendant into the raging inferno before him. His jaw tightened, his teeth clenching in his best effort to stay silent.

  The elemental began to fold, in stagger movements, being yanked forcefully into the stone of the pendant. In that moment she heard a sound and nearly lost her hold on the water before realizing it was in her mind. It was a scream, an otherworldly shriek that threatened to split her skull.

  It was the Elemental, screaming in psionic anguish as its wild magic was forced into permanent stabilization through the final stage of the binding. Its flames smoothed out even as it folded, being hurriedly drawn in.

  Her eyes flashed to the others in the room. The other piles of dormant ember, hoping this sound wasn’t transmitted for all to hear.

  She hoped desperately that she was imagining it as she saw them begin to glow brighter, tiny sparks flickering as the wail crushed her own skull

  With a final crescendo of brain melting telepathic transmission, it was trapped. The amber stone in the pendant glowing brightly for a moment before dulling, the other monsters dulling with it, returning, ever so thankfully, to sleep.