by Allie Burton
My heart clutched, missing a beat, then revved faster. He’d come to save me.
My head spun out of control. Or had he come to save the trumpet?
It didn’t matter. What mattered was I wasn’t alone against Aaron and his flunkies. Even if the Warriors weren’t on my side, they were fighting to take the trumpet, maybe they’d take me with them.
Total chaos reigned in the room, no ceremony the gods and goddesses had ever seen.
Warriors clashed with members. The men of the Order shielded themselves and pulled out hidden weapons of swords and knives. I sucked in a sharp breath when a man came from behind a column and slashed at Antony. He grabbed the man’s hand, yanked, flipping him to the ground.
Statues were broken. Using a bow, Xander shot arrow after arrow hitting and destroying anything in its path. Marble busts exploded. Columns tilted. Men collapsed.
Blood was spilled. An Order member swiped Olivia’s arm with a knife. She swung around and grabbed the blade, turning it on the man. The once-white ceremonial room floor became slick with blood.
Shivering, I needed to focus on what was happening around me. Using the height of the platform to my advantage, I swung the trumpet at Aaron again as he climbed on the platform. His forehead had a bright red spot and was beginning to swell from my first shot. When the trumpet hit him, the clang echoed throughout the space. He fell backward and tumbled into a few members, taking them down. I hoped the Warriors recognized I fought on their side. I didn’t want Aaron controlling the trumpet or me.
Math crawled across the ceiling to the edge of the platform. His arm muscles bulged before he disconnected and dropped beside me. In one swift move, he reached behind grabbed the long stick and swung out. The stick resembled a broomstick except he wasn’t sweeping with the weapon.
“Did they hurt you?” His concern caused fluttering in my chest.
Maybe he did care. “You don’t hate me?”
“How can I hate you?” Pausing, he jumped high in the air and kicked at an attacking member. “You hold my heart in your hands.”
I melted at his words. Poetic words that soothed my heart, but not my conscience. “I betrayed you.” With agony, I reminded him.
Aaron grabbed my leg. I swatted his fingers with the trumpet and moved out of his reach.
Math glanced at my mother’s body and his gaze glinted. “I understand why.” He used the stick to knock out two more members.
Lightness seeped into the dark of my soul. How could I be sad and happy at the same time? Sad because of losing Mom and happy because of finding Math.
Three other members managed to climb onto the platform. I swung my leg like Math had taught me and knocked one back. And not just a few inches. The man flew across the room.
My muscles tensed, and my eyes widened. I dropped the trumpet to the ground. “Math?”
He copied my action with another attacker. “Your powers are coming in strong.”
Like being struck by a car, the meaning plowed into me and dragged me under. I thought Aaron had lied about super strength. Sure, I had a connection to the trumpet and my blood was linked and I’d done a couple of incredible things. But powers, as in S-U-P-E-R P-O-W-E-R-S?
Trying to think, I fisted my hands and clocked another attacking member. He also flew across the room. My heart beat faster. Oh my! I was really strong. And, Math made it sound as if I could do other things.
Math kicked a new attacker and sent me a searing glance that curled my toes. “You’ve played the trumpet making your powers more pronounced.” He used his weapon to clear the area immediately around the platform. “You were always connected to the trumpet. You were always connected to me.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me against him. His mouth descended on mine in a passionate, powerful, and punishing kiss.
I deserved all three, wanted all three.
With a break in the action around us, I returned the kiss, pouring my feelings into the connection. My mouth moved against his aggressively, proving I’d fight for us. I pressed my body against his. My hand dug into his hair, my fingers swirling the short strands.
My spine tingled. A woo-woo sensation sent a warning. Sensing an attack, I broke off the kiss. “Watch out.”
Disappointment at the short kiss caused my veins to fizzle. I wanted time to talk and kiss Math. To explain and ask for forgiveness. Instead, I twisted and flicked my hands. Heat erupted from my palms. Two fireballs flew from my fingertips and hit the two attackers.
Fireballs.
My chest seared as if I’d been struck by the fireball. I stumbled back, almost tripping on Mom’s body.
The members’ robes caught fire. They screamed and stamped on their torsos with flat palms. Three of them fell to the floor.
Shock sparked, recharging a battery. My battery. A battery igniting and catching fire. “What. Was. That?”
Math’s emerald eyes widened. His brow furrowed, calculating in his mind. “You must’ve inherited powers, as well as the connection, through your father.”
The man I never knew about became a bigger threat. If I inherited powers from him, he had powers too. And he was coming to San Francisco.
The Order members threw off their burning robes and stomped them to the ground. Their charred faces were pale white underneath the streaks of black.
I’d burned them. Fire had flown from my fingertips.
“How do you know about my father?” I sucked in a breath, needing to cool the fire burning inside me. I’d only just learned a little about the mysterious man.
“Research and a hypothesis.” Math held his weapon high waiting for the next move.
“I don’t want to make fire. I don’t want to burn people.” Images of waving hello and setting people on fire burst in my brain. Panic frazzled my entire body. Another fireball shot across the large room barreling into a column. The column broke in two.
The remaining cloaked members stopped fighting. The Warriors paused. Everyone in the room stared at me. Their eyes glowed with amazement. The glow circled, surrounded, and seemed to entrap them.
I held my hands in front of me as if they were foreign objects. Foreign weapons of mass destruction. I tried to control the shaking. Where had the fire come from? The Warriors and the Order members expected me to wreak havoc upon them. I wouldn’t, but…
“Stop fighting or I will burn this entire place down and everyone in it.” I used a fake-forceful voice trying to sound in command. Glancing at Olivia’s really pale face, I winked. “The Warriors have won this battle. They will take control of you and any relics they deem magical.”
Olivia gave a signal and the Warriors moved into action, restricting and controlling the members.
I dropped my hands, afraid to lift them up for fear of setting something or someone else on fire. My face was probably as white as Olivia’s. Now we both had reason to fear flames. I took a step back. My entire body trembled, shifting my insides to places they shouldn’t be. Then again, my insides should not produce fire.
Math reached for my hands.
I shook him off, too afraid to let him touch me. “No. What if I burn you? I don’t know how I did that or how to control the fireballs.” Suffocating, I took in short, shallow puffs of air. I was going to die from smoke inhalation—from smoke on the inside of my body. “It’s not a power, it’s a weakness.”
My gaze scanned the room. Most of the Order members were knocked out, injured, or held by one of the Warriors. Aaron was lying on the ground, Antony’s foot on his chest. I didn’t see Babi. He hadn’t been involved in the ceremony. So where had the muscle behind Aaron been?
Not that Babi mattered. The fight was over. Good had won.
But was I good? Or did evil reside inside of me? Would I be tortured like Mom?
“I can teach you how to control your powers. Control the fire.” Math grabbed my hands, unafraid of the fire, not letting go of me. “Once the Trumpet of Peace is united with the Trumpet of War, balance will be restored. Inside,” he
touched my collarbone. “And out.”
I listened yet didn’t hear. Alarm—my own personal smoke detector—tugged at my chest, tightening my lungs. I tried to pull away from him. “It’s a weakness. You don’t understand because you don’t have a weakness.”
His expression grew serious with sincere eyes and a frown. “You are my weakness.”
I gulped down air, trying to simmer down. “How am I your weakness?”
“When you left with the trumpet.” His eyes hooded. “I went mad. Couldn’t think or function. Thought about giving up, believed I was stupid, weak.”
“We are only weak when we’re apart.” I could finally breathe and understand. “Together, we are strong, smart, and powerful.”
He kissed me again, showing me our combined strengths.
The other Warriors handcuffed those that lived and said chants over those that died.
Math kneeled at Mom’s head and said an incantation in ancient Egyptian. His soothing tone matched his calm expression. The fight was over. Mom was gone.
Sadness flowed with peace inside me. “What did you do?”
He touched her forehead and leaned back. “Said a chant to help guide her to a better place.”
“I’ll never see or hear from her again.” I was at a loss. I’d looked out for Mom for so long.
He took my hand and held it tight. “That’s right.”
“At the end, she finally stood up for me, wanted to fight for me.” I finally respected her. If she hadn’t been tormented by the trumpet or riddled with drugs, she would’ve been a better mom. She’d run from Egypt and my father in the beginning and wanted to fight by my side at the end. “She finally took care of me.”
“You communicated with her after she died?”
“Yes.” I sniffled, trying to hold back my sadness. Mom was in a better place. “She was going to fight the Order with me as my Akh. I couldn’t let her do that, sacrifice her eternal life for me.”
He stroked my cheek, his finger demonstrating tenderness and pride. “You’re very brave and very compassionate.”
“If I’d been brave, I would’ve gotten her away from the Order years ago.” Self-loathing hit renewing the pain of loss.
“You didn’t know the Order’s plan. Their scheme to use you and your mother.”
“I knew stealing the trumpet from you was wrong.” The angst of my betrayal sliced through my midsection. “How can you forgive me?”
“You stole the trumpet to save your mom.” He pulled me into the protection of his arms. “It took me an hour or two to realize that.”
I wiped at my misty eyes. “Didn’t do much good.”
He ran his fingers through my hair. “Your mom is in a better place. No more illness, addiction, or internal torture.” He kissed my forehead. “We’ve taken down the cult aspects of the Magical Order of Crucis. Damaged their leadership.” He kissed my cheek. “And we’ve recovered the Trumpet of Peace.”
“What’re you going to do with the trumpet?”
“Now that we have all the items needed, we are going to unify the two trumpets the second we get back to the professor’s house.” Math twirled a piece of my hair around his finger. “Their unification will destroy the magic in both instruments and return peace and harmony to the world.”
“Really?” I found an entirely peaceful world difficult to imagine.
“Well, only as much peace and harmony as the mortals deliver. The trumpets might possess magic, but they aren’t all powerful.”
Especially with evil people like Aaron and Babi and even Uncle Louie in the world. And my father.
My pulse pumped. “I don’t know who or what my father is, but he sounds menacing. My mom warned me he was arriving in San Francisco and that I needed to be careful.”
“I’ll protect you.” Math wrapped his arms around me and held me close making me feel safe. “And with your powers, you’ll protect yourself.”
“What about those guys?” I indicated the men lying on the ground of the ceremonial room.
“Olivia is calling a friend of ours who’s a police officer. He’ll help us clean this up and settle things with authorities.”
The Warriors had it worked out. They were a team. A family.
The thought laid heavy on my mind. I had nowhere to go. No family, except Uncle Louie. No money or place to live. My shoulders dropped within the confines of Math’s arms. I did have him. He’d help me find my way. “Where am I going to go? This was my home, as crazy as the Order was.”
“You have powers and immortality.” He lowered his arms and took both my hands between his. An electrical bolt shot between us, seeming to tie us together.
I loved this connection we had. We didn’t need heritage or links. All we needed was love.
His expression changed from relaxed to serious. His eyes gleamed with a special light, reserved for me. “You’re going to need to learn how to use your powers.”
A smile flitted onto my face. “Are you offering to teach me?”
“Training you will be…” He pressed his lips to mine. “Fun.”
“Fun?” The tease of a kiss revved my engines.
I leaned into him, placing my mouth on his. Moving my lips, I teased him into a reaction. He tilted closer, holding me tight. His mouth moved against mine in perfect harmony. We were in perfect harmony.
I needed to tell him. To share my feelings.
Breaking our kiss, I leaned slightly away. “Math, I know you don’t completely trust me, so I want everything in the open. For us to be completely honest with each other. I need to tell you something.”
“Oh?” He pulled back and studied my expression. A glint of anxiety shone from his gaze.
I didn’t blame him. I’d kept so many secrets. Told so many lies. Stolen and betrayed.
He had nothing to be afraid of. It was me putting everything on the line. Licking my recently kissed lips, I gathered my courage. I wanted him to know, needed him to know. “Math, I love you.”
His eyes glinted, and his mouth turned up in a serene, knowing smile. “I love you, too. That’s what I meant when I said you held my heart in your hands.”
I waited for him to continue, to give me a but. Doubts dug at my insides, always my constant companion when it came to relationships. No one had ever told me they loved me with no criticism to follow. “You said that in the heat of battle, and I thought…I thought…”
He took my face between his two large hands. “I love you, Piper. I think I’ve loved you from the moment we met when you lied to me about falling asleep when the trumpet played in the pawn shop.”
“You knew?”
“Yes, I knew.” His mouth hitched into a self-derisive smile. “And I knew I loved you and would forever.”
The word forever whispered inside me. For us, forever would last a very long time.
Our lips joined forces again, sealing the words spoken.
“Sorry to interrupt. Are you two ready to go home?” Olivia stood patiently near the exit.
Heat flooded my face. Math and I were making out at the scene of a battle. Sadness siphoned the happiness flowing inside at the thought of my mom.
“Sure are.” He dropped his arms from around me and jumped off the platform.
My head rattled. Math and I might be together, yet I still didn’t have a home. I didn’t know where I was going.
“Are you coming, Piper?” He held out his arms to assist me down.
“Me?”
“You don’t think we’d abandon you.” His aren’t-you-silly expression lightened my chest.
“Your powers will help us on our mission.” Nodding in agreement, Olivia sent me a welcoming smile. “We’ll need to discover where you got your fire powers from, and how to control them.” She visually shivered. “I don’t think the Trumpet of Peace has that kind of lineage.”
I had Egyptian lineage. A touch of curiosity and worry shattered my bones. Finally, I knew something about my father. Something dark and dangerous, and a future t
hreat. But I didn’t want to think about him now. I was too happy. “What will I need to do to join the Warriors?”
Olivia held up her hand in an oath pose. “You need to promise to serve for goodness and light and—”
“Love.” Math’s promising tone warmed my heart and comforted my soul. He rotated his hand, palm up.
I placed my hand in his. And my heart too. “I do.”
Because I understood I’d always find love and caring from the Warriors, especially Math. That I’d work hard to become one of them. Because I knew there were many other magical battles to fight. Especially the ones started by my sinister father.
Get a Sneak Peek at Antony’s story in the Fourth Book in the Warrior Academy series…
Warrior’s Curse
Warrior Academy Book Four
An ancient knot entangling her in magic.
A driven leader intent on controlling a curse.
A disgruntled slave unwilling to bow to a goddess.
Needing to suck up to her parents, spoiled boarding school student Cleo Carruthers decides to make an effort and attend classes. Except the teachers can’t see her. The Knot of Uset has woven a web around her and she’s become truly invisible.
A slave to Queen Cleopatra in a previous life, Warrior Antony refuses to serve anyone. But when a modern-day goddess demands his help, he can’t say no. Saving the world must take precedence over his wishes, until his desires get tied in a knot by Cleo.
Trapped in a strange world, together the two teens must secure the magic of the knot and become unbound from the relic’s powers. But they are being hunted by those who want them to disappear. Permanently.
Will sacrificing themselves be enough to save both their worlds?
“The climax was absolutely superb…this is a series you are going to love.”
—Cashmere (Originally published as Cleo’s Curse)
Excerpt:
