We are about to follow when Vince says, “get the fuck away from here Ada. We will not be responsible if something happens to you!” His voice is devoid of any emotion.
How the fuck he dare to talk to her like that?
“Oh yeah? You did a pretty good job of being responsible for her today at Uni, didnt you?” Enzo spits.
This is prodding the wounded tiger. Vince roars and lunges towards Enzo, avoiding Ada. But before he is halfway across, Ada stretches her right leg back, and bends her left knee. Curling her left fist she extends her right hand and hits Vince square on his chest, making him stumble and slide right into the back wall. Circling her right leg, she pivots to where Enzo is and stops him with one glare.
It is mesmerising to watch her. Vince is struggling to get up, coughing badly. His face is drained of all colour, it is as if he is having difficulty breathing.
“Is he dying?” Lexie asks.
Ada snorts at that, and straightens to her full height.
“Good, that leaves me enough to destroy him a little.” Lexie clenches her fists and is about to step towards Vince, when once again Ada stops her dead with one glare.
“No-fucking-body is moving anywhere!” The power in her voice has me vibrating. Turning to Vince she says, “As I’ve just proven, I can take care of myself, so you don't need to worry your little head about it.” Enzo scoffs and she turns to him with a scathing look. “I am not your responsibility. I am only my father’s responsibility. All of you hillbillies need to get this in your thick skull and you don’t get to act like bloody savages.”
“It is easy for you to say!” Enzo’s body is vibrating with fury as he steps towards her. “You don't know what is at stake.”
“Then fucking tell me!” she screams. She is breathing heavily, angry tears flowing down her face. “All you guys keep giving me are breadcrumbs. How the hell am I supposed to understand the gravity of the situation if you don't tell me?! So don't tell me that it is easy for me to say. Nothing is fucking easy. Especially for me.”
“We were going to tell you everything today. But then he had to go ahead and put your life in danger.”
“I put my life in danger. Not him.” When almost all of us are about to object, she raises her hand and continues, “it was my choice to run away. I needed space to figure out everything. He did what he had to or wanted to do. But if I knew what was happening, what is at play, then I wouldn't have, and need I remind you that I am perfectly fine, standing here right in front of you?”
Her voice is calm despite the rage and sadness flowing down her cheeks. So calm that I am scared of this voice.
“You want to kill each other? Be my guest. You want to take out your anger on a situation where none of you were present? Be my fucking guest. But that is not what I am. If this doesn't stop right now, I am leaving and not coming back here again. I can't deal with this. I cannot deal with hurt and pain.” Her voice cracks. And something inside of me shivers at the prospect of her walking away.
Enzo steps back as if she just slapped him. “You will leave? It is so easy to fucking walk away? Huh? Why can't you get it in your thick skull that you might be in danger and this is the only place you are safe.”
“I know that my life was in danger once you all brought me here. I know that my life got in danger when you all found out who my dad was. What I dont know is why the fuck would it matter? And if staying here isn't helping me find those answers, then I don't need to. At least if I’m not here nobody will feel responsible for me, and nobody has to think before doing what they want.”
It is a dig at us, especially at Vince.
“I didn’t want to kiss her Ada. I don’t even like her. But-”
“Vince, for God’s sake. I don't care about you kissing someone. I don't even care about Victory. But that's the point, isn't it? I don’t know fucking enough to know whether to care about her or not. And none of you are helping. So are we all gonna talk about it or am I leaving?” she asks all of us.
“We are talking. You are not going anywhere. Come on. Let’s give Vince ten minutes to cool down and then we will start,” Ash says, ever the calm and reasonable one.
“If he could have lived with letting her go, then he can live without having to cool down. Let’s go and talk about this. Ada needs to know everything and we need to ensure that she is on the same page as us,” Enzo states.
With that one grunt, he goes off to the living room, leaving us to follow him.
“But did anybody see the way she stopped Vince? I mean, wasn’t that fucking hot? Chica if I was into girls, I would be totally snaring you right about now!” Lexie says catching hold of her hand and pulling her with her.
I smile at this.
“We can experiment, you know?” Ada says. “Maybe we both find that we don’t like dicks that much…” Ada’s voice floats back.
“Holy hell we should totally do that!” Lexie exclaims and both of them laugh.
Ash, Vince and I are rooted to our spots.
Somehow the idea of Ada experimenting with our sister is the toughest pill to swallow.
I start at the absurdity of the thought, so do the others.
“Well, I am not gonna let that happen…” Ash says to no one in particular and stalks after them to the room. Whether he is thinking about his sister or Ada, I cannot know. Whatever the reason, I am glad.
“Neither am I.” Vince speaks softly.
Well this is the moment of truth, and as I stand there looking at Vince, I know with deep certainty that he is willing to fight tooth and nail for her.
“Are you?” he asks me. Looking intently, dissecting me under his microscopic vision.
I cannot answer this question. I cannot hurt my brothers. I won’t. But I cannot let Ada go either. And I don’t know what to say or do right now.
I feel him holding my shoulder and patting it. “You won’t. I know you won’t. We have to figure the rest out. And we will.”
I give a lame nod.
“Nobody is experimenting with each other here! Especially the two of you!” Enzo’s booming voice comes over to us, and we start chuckling. Like kids. And as we near the living room, I can hear Lexie full-on laughing.
“Lexie is different now, isn't she?” Vee asks, walking next to me.
“Yeah. And I am loving this light in her eyes now.”
“I am glad she found her person.”
And I am glad we found Ada…. What neither of us are saying, but both of us are thinking.
We are glad we found Ada.
Chapter 23
Ada
The guys seem to have lost their shit at the talk of Lexie and I experimenting with each other. Lexie winks at me and sits down on the far end of the couch. Enzo huffs while mumbling about needing water. Shaking my head, I make my way to the windowsill. They have set it up quite nicely - with cushions, a blanket, and a reading lamp. Yeah...I could spend all my free time here reading, while having coffee made by Ryan.
The mere thought has me smiling, as I sit there, feeling the soft cotton of the spread. I am making a mental checklist of all the books I have in my TBR list on Goodreads. So many books.
“Please tell me you are not smiling because you’re thinking about my sister.” Ash’s voice pulls me out of the reverie. When I look up, he is stalking towards me as if I am a prey. A stubborn glint in his eyes that I cannot make sense of.
I raise my eyebrow at him before I say, “I am sorry. Do I need your permission to think?”
Reaching me he squats down to eye level, and his proximity causes tingles down to my toes. “You don’t need anybody’s permission, sweetheart.” Then he leans in and is two inches away from my face. His voice drops low as he says, “but I am going to make sure that I am one of the people on your mind.”
My eyes widen at this while he smirks.
He straightens to his full height and walks back to sit next to Lexie, who is looking at us miming eating popcorn.
The twins start talking in whis
pers conspiratorially. Lexie continues shooting mischievous looks at me, and I am legit dreading what she is thinking about right now.
I raise my hand to feel the hard thumps of my heart. The tempo hasn't come down ever since Ash uttered those words to me. Could he be interested in me?
I spent months crushing on him when I had just moved in with them. Going beyond the tall-handsome-beefy description, where Ash differs is in his smoldering eyes and sculpted face. He could pass off as a Greek God. Dark hair falls into his eyes, which he ruffles and pushes back over his head, but no help. As if his hair too finds it hard to stay away from his eyes. On more than one occasion I have drooled over his muscled chest when he had taken off his jersey after sports practice. But I got my crush under control when I learned from Lexie that her brother has had a crush on another girl for ages. So I let it go, before I sunk deeper in the unrequited love abyss.
“Alright, Vince we will start with you. You will tell all of us what actually happened, then we will move on sharing as much as we can with Ada.” Enzo shouts as he walks back in with a bottle of water, behind Vince and Ryan.
Vince’s guilt ridden eyes shoot to me, and my heart twists. I give him a small smile and hope that it conveys to him that I am not mad at him.
He takes a deep breath and starts. “Since morning, Victory had hawk eyes on me. She noticed yesterday that Ada defied the laws of the lapse. So as soon as Ada and Nikki walked away to their classroom, Vic cornered me in the courtyard and started asking questions. I dodged her to the best of my abilities saying that I need to figure out how that happened, and that I need to reconvene with you guys. She then told me to let her know if we want Ezra to talk to Ada, and try and compel her.”
More than once cuss word floats in the room.
“Who is Ezra?” I ask. I have never met this guy before.
“He is Victory’s boyfriend. One of the many boyfriends she keeps around. Anyways, Ezra is a powerful user of Lust. There has never been anybody in the history of what we know who had escaped from telling everything to Ezra.”
Fuck?
“How does he find out people’s secrets?” I ask them.
“Ada, we will cover all of this. Please give us ten more minutes. Because for everybody’s sanity we need to know exactly what happened,” Ryan pleads with me.
I nod and sit back once again.
“I told her that it is not required. Then I got Ada’s text message saying that Mathew is acting weird and that there are five guys outside the class and that they seem to be a danger to Mathew. So I sprinted across to her classroom to wait for her. Needless to say, Vic followed me there too. She was busy rubbing herself against me when the class let out. When Ada came out, Mathew bumped into her, and that caused almost the entire Lust sect in the school to come close to see what was going on. I went to Ada and we were about to leave, when Victory snatched my arm and I started telling her off. I felt Ezra brush off me and start to move towards Ada, but he lost her in the midst of all the students moving around.”
He stops abruptly and then rubs his face. He looks tired. As if he has aged ten years in one afternoon.
“Then?” Lexie prompts.
Vince is resting his elbows on his knees, staring unblinkingly at the carpet. “I don’t know what the fuck happened. I really don’t. But by the time I got done, I realized that I was kissing Victory. I didn’t even initiate the damn kiss. It took me a minute to realize what was happening and when I got away I saw a victorious glint in her eyes. And she said the words that chilled me to the bone.” He stops for dramatic effect. No, not really. He is really dreading this.
“She said, so Ada has broken the lapse?” my sharp inhale is drowned by loud and viscous What-the-bloody-fucks.
“I am so sorry … I am so so so so fucking sorry Ada”, Vince comes to me and kneels in front of me, hanging his head. “I didn’t know how that happened, I don’t know how she got that fucking viscious, but I am so sorry for putting your life in danger.” Tears run down his face and my heart goes out to him. I am still shocked to hear that someone else knows about me, someone who necessarily might not be an ally.
“And despite that you let her fucking run away!!!?” The windows and doors rattle at Enzo’s roar. Purple mist surrounds him, and others start to call him back. His eyes have changed colours, his once hazel eyes, are now the colour of mist. There seem to be lines and things shimmering up and down his body, like electric currents, but not exactly like that. His sight is set on Vince’s hung head.
Vince is still kneeling and doesn’t say anything. The other are shouting at Enzo but he has murder in his eyes. For the first time in my life after my training, I am scared. The windows rattle some more as Enzo stands there and seems to be building up to something.
I stand up and leap between Enzo and Vince, with a motive to go to Enzo and stop him.
“Ada move out of the way! He is not himself,” Ryan screams and runs towards me.
“Enzo calm down,,” I tell him, as calmly as I could. But he doesn't seem to see me. He looks right past me at Vince, who is now stepping forward to hide me from Enzo.
“Why is none of you holding him down?” I scream at them, trying to tug my hands away from Ryan.
“We cannot. We will burn. Anyone who touches Enzo when he is in this form, cannot be saved.” Ryan tells me, and before I could express my shock at this, Vince cries out.
I turn to find him doubled over in pain, nose and ears bleeding. I am horrified.
“Enzo you motherfucker stop! You will kill Vince!” Ash screams from the other side.
Lexie takes her phone out and starts dialling someone. But I don’t have time to see or notice. Because Enzo has something in his palms. His palms are not flesh anymore. They seem to be made of purple misty currents.
Everything happens at the same time after that.
He raises his hand, aiming that mist-cluster-thing at Vince, ready to throw.
Dad’s voice comes booming out of somewhere in the room.
Baba’s words, spoken a long time back to the 12 year old me, come rushing back in my mind - when the time is right, your intuition will tell you what to do, with or without help.
I don’t think, I don’t see, I just do what I believe is my intuition.
I jump in between Enzo and Vince, and wrap myself around Vince. Enzo’s scream tells me he has let the magic go from his hands, Vince tries to shove me off him, but I don't budge. And in the next instant everybody in the room, including Enzo and Dad, scream, “NO!”
====
Ash
I stare in horror as Ada wraps her body around Vince and Enzo’s flame launches at her. She had shoved Ryan off her so he is still half sprawled on the floor looking at her in complete shock.
Enzo stumbles and tries calling his magic back, but it is too late now. He didn’t throw the lasso, he threw the flame bomb. Despite being his second dangerous weapon, his flame bomb is known to burn anyone it is aimed at.
Pa screams at Enzo to do something. And Enzo, for all his magic and mist bubble, staggers in shock. He is still not back to his normal self but this version of his looks as angry at trying to hurt Ada as we all are.
Lexie screams Ada’s name, tears running down her face, and the pitch of her voice forces me to close my eyes and cover my ears.
Then she stops. Everyone stops screaming. And I know what they mean by silence being deafening.
I uncover my eyes and ears to see the purple mist flame bomb dissipate around Ada. The particles break down and spread everywhere around Vince and Ada. Then, all those particles rearrange themselves like a sheet, a spread, and fall on Ada and Vince forming a bubble. Covering them. Everyone stares in complete shock as the stubborn and viscous flames that Enzo is feared for, seem to caress Ada and Vince and wrap around them so snugly, it might as well have been a blanket.
I look at Vince. His expression is frozen, while Ada has her eyes shut. But both of them are as still as a fucking rock.
The silence i
s broken when Enzo stumbles and falls down on his ass. Lexie whispers, “are they alive?” Ryan starts moving towards them.
“Ada?” Ry says her name, dread and terror clear on his face.
Pa speaks softly, “Baby girl?”
And then the most beautiful thing happens. Ada opens her golden eyes, looks to Vince who inhales sharply, then sits back on her haunches and checks her hands and arms. Then she looks around at us, making us all stumble as well.
Her eyes have a purple ring around her pupils, shimmering with mist. She looks around cataloguing everyone, then her face breaks into an angelic smile as she tilts her head upwards and closes her eyes.
All of us are rooted to our spots, when she opens her eyes again and looks at Pa. He staggers wherever he is, his phone rattling off. Ada’s eyes do not have the purple ring around her eyes anymore, but there is a shimmering purple rune glowing on her forehead. And as soon as it appears, it fades into her skin. And she turns to glare at Enzo.
Chapter 24
Vince
It didn’t harm her. But by the look in her eyes, Enzo has a lot to answer for.
He is slumped on the floor, eyes wide with a frantic look on his face.
“What the fuck in the goddamn world were you thinking? What is the matter with you?” Ada asks him in a voice that sets goosebumps on my body. The temperature in the room seems to drop. “You unleashed your wild stupid magic on your brother. Even though he was not at fault. Are you always a fucked up asshole or is today a special occasion?”
I am seething with rage that Enzo would do something like this. But more than that, I am furious that Ada could have gotten hurt.
“How did it not affect you?” Enzo asks in a soft trembling voice.
“How did it not affect me?” Ada screeches. “That is what you want to talk about? How it did not affect me? Tell you what asshole, why don't you tell everyone here why you felt killing your brother was a justified action, and then we can talk!” she roars and by God she looks like an avenging angel, sent to collect me for whatever sins I have committed. Only this avenging angel has her eyes set on my brother.
Circle of Time: An urban fantasy (The Kazi Chronicles Book 1) Page 12
