Emergence of Fire

by Holly Hook

  Would I sentence Olivia to death if I dared get out of here?

  “Hey. I can't blame you,” Sofia said. “Nobody should tell you how to live. It's terrible.”

  I got up from the chair, keeping my gaze from the faint glow. Sven must not know Sofia was here. Besides, it would look awkward if he showed up now. Hadn't he told her to make friends?

  But so far, my enemies were better friends than Tasha. Go figure.

  “It's almost time for class,” I said, telling the truth. The Gem continued to glow under her shirt. I had to talk to Sven even if Sofia was trying to be legit friendly. My heart raced, and I gathered my backpack, shutting down the laptop.

  As I swept past her, the Gem's glow increased.

  And I got out of the library so fast that I couldn't tell if she even noticed.

  Chapter Three

  To avoid hurting Dirk's feelings, I hatched a plan to board the bus home. Sven would meet me there after I had packed a bunch of things. It was a risky move, but the alternative was to meet him at my locker and let everyone see we were hanging out together. Speculation would spread in Olivia High School and that wouldn't be a good thing.

  I think I still hurt the poor guy's pride. Dirk waved from the corner of the hall as I passed. After that, I told him that my parents had ordered me to take the bus home and that my dad would wait at the end of the driveway for me. “I'm sorry,” I said. “I wish we could walk home together.”

  There I went, dragging the guy along more. “Maybe tomorrow,” Dirk said with a nod. A bit of sweat formed on his forehead. “I'm not feeling the best and will probably call my parents for a ride home. I think I'm coming down with something, so I'll see you whenever I'm feeling better. Maybe we can do something this weekend?”

  “Maybe.” Forcing a smile, I turned away and waved, hating myself. "I hope you feel better." Dirk was pale.

  I relied on not telling the truth way too much and it was killing me.

  But right now that was how I would survive.

  The bus ride home seemed to take forever, but it gave Sven time to get there. I'd still beat him, but I had to pack a few things, anyway. Tonight, I'd be staying at his house. Forbidden territory. Mom and Dad would hate that. A shiver at the thrill of it ran up and down my spine.

  But once I got up to my front door, I realized there was a note attached to it with simple tape.

  To see your parents, climb down into the gravel quarry and enter the cave at the bottom. They are safe. Do not call the police, or we will have to move them to another location.

  I cannot come near you any longer, but I have eyes around Olivia and I guess you are still with that boy. We care about your safety. If you care about his, you'll stay away.

  Marianne Adler

  She'd been here. I searched the rows of lush olive trees, some of which were drooping with fruit that Mom and Dad hadn't picked today. Lost work and wages would add up for them soon enough.

  If I had just gone with Adler when she summoned me the first time, they wouldn't be stuck in the caves, waiting for me to wander down there.

  But the last sentence of the note gave me hope. Was there still a chance that the dragons wouldn't want to kill Sven?

  Or it could be a way to make me think they would not do it. Adler had already proven that she didn't care what I thought about anything. Searching the rows of trees, I made sure she wasn't hanging around. So far, I didn't detect her, but I couldn't be sure she hadn't sent someone to hang around the farm, waiting for me to show up.

  I wished I still had my phone, and I'd taken Sven's number. We were having an old-fashioned means of communication.

  "Hello?" I called into the house after opening the door.

  No one answered. Any other dragons wouldn't. Maybe they'd resort to kidnapping next.

  But I had to risk it. I thought of Sven and his agreement to meet me here and rushed into the house, bolting up the stairs. Things were too quiet, and it was making me uneasy. I got to work grabbing a plastic bag (who needs a duffel bag when you're not allowed to go anywhere?) and stuffed clothes and toiletries into it. I had to run downstairs and grab another bag for my jeans, but it worked out. At least Mom had saved a few of those nice ones with the handles from the mall.

  "Felicia?"

  I jumped, and a scream escaped my throat. It was embarrassing.

  "It's me. Sven. I'm at the front door."

  "Get out of here!" I shouted.

  I heard him close the front door most of the way and take a few steps into my entryway. Sven was risking a lot just by coming onto the property. Binoculars existed, and people could hide anywhere.

  "In fact," I yelled. "Get out of here, period!" Saying a silent prayer he understood, I stuffed my black pair of jeans into the bag with the handles. How was I going to walk through town with this and not get noticed? It would be a long trek through the hidden trails and alleys on the way to the Water Company. "I don't want to see you again!" Funneling my frustration at the whole situation wasn't hard.

  Sven remained silent for a moment as if shocked. Sofia said he was a good actor, so I hoped that shined through.

  "Felicia," he asked, raising his voice. "Is it over?"

  He sounded genuine. My heart ached listening to him.

  "Yes," I shouted. "It's over. All you do is look at other girls. I'll never be good enough!"

  "I was only talking to Tasha," he shouted. "And Becca."

  "Yasmin said she saw you making out with Tasha!" I yelled.

  I prayed he'd leave. The longer he stayed here, the higher the danger level rose. Maybe our yells would be loud enough to convince any dragons nearby that we were breaking up. Maybe not. But at least I knew he was in on the act. We both knew he hadn't even spoken to Becca.

  Sven threw open the door, seemingly in anger. "If you will be that way, Felicia, then I'll leave. I'll march right back to my house and never speak to you again. I don't want a jealous girl."

  "And I don't want a guy who can't decide!" Cramming my shampoo in with my jeans, I listened. "Get out!" Where would we meet? That had to stay a secret. "You can go have ice cream by yourself this afternoon!"

  "Fine. Then I will," Sven said. He left and slammed the door behind him.

  Bingo.

  And ironically, my lie wasn't a lie this time—except for one part.

  Parting my curtains, I watched Sven walk back up the driveway. He stomped and kicked at the gravel as he walked, looking all the way angry and sullen from a bad breakup. Terror seized my heart that maybe he thought I wasn't putting on a show for any potential dragons on my property. But this was the way we had to run things. If all went well, then we'd land in each other's arms again by the time the sun set.

  And the Olsen family wouldn't figure me out.

  Once happy that he'd left, I hiked the bag with the handles—a green one from the bath supply store—and stomped down the stairs in case someone was in the house, listening. "Good luck cramming into Tasha's little trailer," I said to myself, loud enough for the benefit of anyone who might hide inside the house. "You have a walk ahead of you."

  Just to make things look less obvious, I exited the house from the sliding back door and then unlocked the fence. I didn't dare check to see if Sven was still hanging around. Doubting it, I hoped that he understood my clue and was heading to the little garden behind the Freezer right now.

  My increasing strength wasn't consistent because I had to lug the two bags I'd brought with me through the back of the farm. I almost turned back to feed the chickens, but didn't want to risk hanging around longer than I needed. Besides, I knew Adler wouldn't let them starve. She'd been my parents' friend for my entire life, perhaps longer, which was likely why she and the dragons had chosen them to raise me. She wouldn't let the animals starve.

  Unless she wanted to eat them.

  Young Slayers didn't pose a problem.

  "Come on, strength," I said, hiking my bag over my shoulder as I reached the chain-link fence that separated our farm from the
rest of the countryside. "Why can't you develop already?"

  What was I asking for? I'd get stronger the closer I got to maturing.

  To fighting.

  Checking my surroundings again, I lifted the bag and dropped it over the fence where it landed close to where the ground sloped downward to the river. Even through the foliage, I could see that the water had already gone back to a sickly stream. The deluge of a few days ago hadn't replenished it for long. It had been a local storm only.

  Walking along the river and the plants clinging to life around it was even less fun than lugging the bags through the back of the farm. Without Sven to help me carry stuff—he couldn't during the day without risking his life—I was on my own. It wasn't as if I could call Dirk and say, hey. Can you help me sneak my stuff into Sven's big estate? It would crush the guy.

  But it would also tell him I wasn't interested. Then again, it would be a crappy way to do it and I've been a crappy enough person lately. Doing that to Dirk was not on the table.

  I followed the trails along irrigation ditches and hidden drives to the back of downtown. Having grown up in Olivia and spent a lot of time in its rural reaches, I'd memorized every safe route back and forth from school and the local businesses—at least on this side of town. But by the time I got to the tall fences that marked yards and alleys that lead to downtown, my legs ached and my arms screamed from the effort of carrying my clothes. A check on the trails behind me revealed that nobody had followed—at least from within a quarter mile. I followed the alley that ran behind the hairstylist until I reached the fence that blocked off the secret garden from the rest of the area. Pressing my ear to the red-painted wood, I confirmed that no one was there that I needed to be watching out for.

  "Hello?" I ask.

  One bench creaked as someone got up. "Felicia?"

  "So you realized it was an act," I said. "I'm glad."

  "Of course I knew it was an act," he said through the wood.

  "Why did you show up at my house? It was a dangerous thing for you to do." Sven kept risking himself for me and I didn't like that since I wasn't in mortal danger. Well, from the dragons. Then again, I'd run towards his house when Adler blurted the truth to my parents and I overheard that. I also delivered the local paper to the door. Sven had told me that his family didn't wear their Gems at home—only when they were out in public. But that was still dangerous.

  "Because I'm worried about you," he said. "I know what it's like—"

  "To be scared," I finished for him. My heart raced and for a moment, I was sure that Sven was feeling the same thing.

  "Yes," he said.

  "Please don't risk yourself like that again," I said. "What if one or two of the dragons were watching us?"

  "Then they saw us break up," Sven said. "It sounds like you're carrying something. Can I help?"

  "You sure can." I had to hoist my bag over the fence since it was tall and Sven couldn't even scale it. He caught it and I tossed the plastic bag over the edge. It crinkled as he grabbed that one, too. "Thanks. You're awesome. Now I'll walk around and join you. I can't be seen on Main Street with my luggage, if you know what I mean. People will assume I'm changing location."

  "How did you get here alerting no one?"

  "I'm not sure I didn't," I said, keeping my voice low. "We need to work out how we will get to your house from here." At least I might have help with the bags. Sven would want to show off his manly muscles for sure. The thought urged me to hurry and get to him already.

  "Felicia, how can you stand this?"

  "Stand what?"

  "Having to plot every move."

  "I was raised by my parents," I said. "This is how I roll." At least I had the experience in sneaking around and deceiving everyone. "It'll take me about ten minutes to reach you from here. I'll meander and make it look as if I'm not going anywhere in particular. Adler said she has eyes on me. She left me a wonderful note." Its folded corner pokes into my thigh through the thin fabric of my jeans.

  "Do what you need to do," Sven said.

  My heart raced in anticipation of seeing Sven again. My mind turned to the fake breakup. Now Sven would hide me in a house of Slayers until we figured out what to do next. A part of me craved the danger, but an even bigger part craved Sven.

  "I'll be back," I said, meaning every word.

  It took only a few minutes to circle around to Main Street. I had to take another alley past the bank and then over to the only florist in the county. Cars rolled up and down the road and an old woman walked out and got into her SUV as I passed. I didn't dare look behind me—looking suspicious wouldn't accomplish anything. Instead, I studied car mirrors and windows as I passed. What would a girl suffering from a bad breakup do for comfort? Shopping, maybe, but Olivia only had a dollar store and the Freezer. But I'd already told Sven to go there, so I turned away from it and stormed across the street to the dollar store, passing a parked BMW on the way. I bought a fizzy drink from the cooler, paid, and stalked back into the garden.

  Sven waited there, holding both of my bags. From the looks of it, he hadn't even sat down the entire time.

  He bowed. "At your service, Felicia."

  "You don't have to do that," I said with a laugh. "I told you it would take time. Want to share?" I unscrewed the lid to the bottle.

  "Yes. I would like to share," Sven said with a grin. "Is that grape?"

  "My favorite," I said. "You don't have to carry all of that. And we still have to figure out how we're both going to reach your house without getting seen."

  Sven nodded to his pocket. "I told Father I would scout around this afternoon, but since he will be working, there will be time to get you inside the house. My sister and I have our own wing."

  "Your own wing?"

  "Father doesn't bother us there. He has his office where I'm not allowed. Staff used to manage my sister and I. Now Sofia and I are the staff."

  "Your family isn't close." I tried to imagine what it would be like at home to have Mom and Dad never speak to me outside of farming.

  Sadness filled Sven's eyes. "No. We're not. Father's about business, not family."

  "Why are you two the staff now?" I asked, taking the plastic bag from Sven and handing him the grape drink.

  "I don't know. He sent them away when we moved here. He told the two of us we have important business that no one besides us needs to know about."

  My alarm bells went off. "There must not have been a dragon den where you lived before."

  "Baltimore? No. Not at all. Father followed a cold lead for five years, searching for one. It turned out the Wiglaf scouts only found a werewolf pack out there. They share eating habits with dragons, hence the mistake."

  "But the staff trained you," I said. "Why are they getting sent away now if they know what your family does?"

  Sven shrugged the best he could while holding that giant bag. "Father doesn't speak much about the decisions he makes."

  "Sounds totalitarian," I said.

  "As for getting to my house," Sven said. "Do you want to watch me drive?"

  "Drive? You can drive?" My jaw dropped, but I'd already seen Sven split an arrow with another arrow. It was ironic, me shocked that he could operate a vehicle.

  "After you told me to leave, I went home, got the car, and drove back here," he said. "We can duck into it and get out of here in no time."

  "Yes," I said. "That helps us a lot."

  "It's my father's car. You might have seen it last week when Sofia picked me up from school."

  I recalled the black BMW that Sven climbed into that day. It was the same one I'd seen in front of the dollar store. His father sure hadn't come to pick him up and ask him how his day went. "Are you supposed to have it?"

  "No," he said with an evil grin. "But Father doesn't know. It's not as if I put a lot of miles on it. He doesn't pay that much attention."

  I wasn't sure whether to feel relieved for myself and Sven or disgusted for his sake. His parent sent him walking to school w
hen he knew there was a den of dragons who would want nothing more than to kill his son. I wasn't sure if he or his sister had it worse. "I had better check the street first," I warned. "The eyes, remember?"

  Sven leaned forward. "We didn't even kiss." Then he pursed his lips in that innocent way of his.

  At least the secret garden offered seclusion. I leaned forward and our lips brushed, making everything perfect for a magical moment. Whenever I kissed him, I was no longer in Olivia. I journeyed around the rest of the world.

  But the moment had to end. I checked Main Street. The black BMW sat there in front of the dollar store, attracting stares from two old men walking past. Sven didn't have a lot of knowledge about how to ninja around. That was something I needed to teach him. Already, I hatched a plan.

  "Pretend you're leaving by yourself, and then I'll jump in the passenger side once stop at the four-way," I explained. "We don't want to both get in the car together in front of anybody."

  "Felicia, you're good at this," Sven said.

  Our plan went without a hitch. I walked down Main Street, my stuff already loaded into the car by Sven, and as soon as he stopped at the four-way, I did a quick check to make sure no one was looking. At least there was nothing but a bar right there, and it had no windows at the front.

  The BMW had all-leather seats and enough doodads to control an airplane. "How do you figure out how all of this works?" I asked. "At least you have tinted windows. Maybe you can ninja better than I thought." It looked as if it belonged to an executive, not a professional dragon Slayer.

  "I don't mess with anything," he said. "If Father finds the settings changed, then he would kill me."

  "Good idea." We both had to sneak around, then. Wow, we were matching souls.

  "Do you need to stop anywhere else?" he asked.

  "We shouldn't hang around here," I said. Already, my mind spun with things we could do. Sven could drive us both away from Olivia if he wanted. Maybe we could go to the Pacific Ocean...the beach...up the coastline...tingles of excitement covered me at the thought.