Fire Flyer: Book 1 Elemental Bonds Series, a YA paranormal romance.

by Cait Vaughn

  Oh no, time to intervene.

  “Ok crazy kids no fighting. Come on Matt let’s take Courtney's ride and you can drive us back. This is good right, compromise?”

  They were unhappy but Matt climbed in the back of Courtney's ride, which left me riding shotgun and we set out for adventure.

  Maria lived in a huge mansion about 7 miles out of town. It was up on a hill and the whole drive was just this curvier and curvier road. The farther up you went the more you could see straight down the desert rock. It was oh so creepy and made me kind of dizzy. I always hated this drive. Maria was a typical rich girl. Her parents were loaded. Her dad owned a bank. He really didn’t have to work much at all anymore and they were always gone. I think they were in Paris this time of year. Maria was rich, blonde, and smart too with a 4.0 she would probably be our valedictorian. Though she was a little bit shallow she was also nice to everyone and didn’t even have a particular click. She just hung out with whoever she wanted and no one would dare get on her bad side because she was the queen bee, make no mistake.

  The ride was filled with music and laughs even though there was tension earlier. We were all really tight like that, we could never stay mad for long. Matt was always the most calm and chilled of our group so that was good. You had to be a pretty easy going guy to hang out with two headstrong girls like us. Sometimes I wondered if he had feelings at all because he never made a fuss about anything. I was concerned he was getting too much technology and not enough human relations. If I had it my way, he and Courtney would be getting some serious human relating done by the end of the night.

  I know that it sounds crazy. Most girls with two best friends who secretly loved each other wouldn’t want to get them together because then they’d be left alone, or worse a third wheel. This really did not bother me at all. The only thing I thought about was how happy they would be together and how miserable I could tell they were without each other and I just wanted to help my friends. I was also someone who was into the solitary scene. I was just as happy alone with a book.

  Chapter 7

  As we pulled into the sloping driveway you could already hear the bass booming from the house. Maria usually had a professional d.j. but sometimes she even hired live bands from the surrounding areas.

  “Whoa guys.” I stopped us right before we got into the house. “Ok let's have a plan. We won’t be able to hear each other when we get in there. What are we doing tonight?” Courtney did a little perky bounce.

  “Well I’m going to get a drink. I had the worst day and I deserve a little feel good moment and then I want us all to dance!” I mentally groaned to myself. Courtney didn’t drink often but when she did I was in serious babysitter mode. She was a light weight and got very uninhibited. As in, I needed to frequently put her clothes back on her. “I’m gonna see if I can find Trey and play some Zombie Shooter,” Matt said.

  Just like that Matt walked off to find his friend from the geek squad.

  I knew this was not going how I was hoping. I glanced at Courtney she seemed peeved all right. She grabbed my hand, “Come on let’s go.” It was wall to wall bodies as we slipped through the door the only connection I had to anything was Courtney's hand gripping my arm pulling me through the ocean of people. The living room was the dance floor with strobe lights disco lights and the d.j. and everyone seemed to be doing the dougie. The smell of beer was thick then we broke through into the well lit kitchen which is where they kept the alcohol.

  Maria was leaning against the counter talking to her best friend Camilla. “Hey ladies!” She greeted us a little to loud and her eyes were looking kind of glassy. “I’ve got jello shots!”

  Courtney squealed and made her way over. As Maria listed the colors and what flavor they were I took a deep calming breath. I really wasn’t into parties like this but I also liked watching out for my friends. Courtney took two jello shots back to back when she reached for a third I intervened. “Hey let’s go dance and you can come back for more later you don’t want to be wasted.” I warned her.

  She flicked her hair in an annoyed way. “Whatever let’s go” She grabbed my arm again and pulled me onto the dance floor. Then we were swaying and bumping and letting loose in the way I loved. When I was dancing I felt so connected and free I loved it and we were good at it and I definitely never noticed anything else when I danced. This time though I felt like someone was watching me and I started to get goose bumps so I stopped and looked around but in the darkness everyone just seemed to be dancing. It didn’t feel creepy, just different.

  Courtney grabbed my arms and got in my face so she could yell above the music. “Why did you stop?” She asked.

  “I don’t know, I felt like someone was watching me.”

  She leaned into me more unsteady on her feet and then bounced her eyes in a perv way and giggled.

  “Well duh, there's probably a ton of guys undressing you with their eyes. I'm so hot! Let's go get some water!” I sighed mentally, so the alcohol kicked in, and she was drunk, big surprise. With that she was grabbing my arm dragging me back through to the kitchen.

  I braced myself. This meant uninhibited Courtney was about to make an appearance. She stood at the fridge and was flapping the door to cool herself off while chugging a bottled water. “I want to find Matt! why did he run off to play video games? He can do that anytime. This is a party! Let’s go make him dance!” I knew she would be mad about that. Matt wasn’t really into socializing and he hated dancing but Courtney never took no for an answer. We were off in search of her heart's desire.

  As we maneuvered upstairs to find the game room Courtney was yelling for Matt. “Matt, Maaatt, Matt where are you?” She was so loud when she was inebriated. Then a good song would come on and she would stop in the middle of the stairs to shake her butt. “Whoo! This is my jam, let’s dance!”

  She grabbed my arms and tried to get me swaying to the beat. I was not coordinated enough, even without heels, to shake it on the staircase. I gave her a gentle shove back up the stairs. I felt a presence behind me. It was a large body putting off a lot of heat. When I turned to look I about fell off my heels. It was hot guy from the mall and if I thought he was hot when I saw him before he was devastating up close. His skin was lightly tanned and flawless and his eyes, which were seafoam green, pierced me to my soul. It was like his eyes were so special, they needed to be both blue and green, at the same time. I hoped I wasn’t drooling. I definitely stared like an idiot.

  My arm was very forcefully jerked. “Come on let’s get Matt, why are you just standing there?” I was so out of it I started to fall sideways and lost my balance I was going to go down the staircase, which was huge! “EEEEkkk” I let out a very stupid, surprised, noise and then I was surrounded by warmth. Very hard, very hot, tanned, warmth from the most delicious male I had ever seen. Hot guy totally saved me in a completely romance movie kind of way. He had my head pressed to his chest and I could feel his heart which I imagined was as strong and big as him. It was going so fast and he smelled like the best spice ever.

  I leaned back to thank him but got lost in his eyes again.

  “I- thank you.” I stammered.

  He kind of chuckled. “No problem,” he said as he set me back on me feet.

  “It’s true that wearing heels appears to be a dangerous thing to do.”

  He said this with a mischievous grin and my heart fluttered.

  Courtney tugged my hand again.

  “OK, ok, very cute let’s go now.” Courtney had no patience and she was leaving and I had to stay with her. I would never leave her alone in this shape. I waved bye with a silly stupid smile on my face and went after my disastrous friend.

  She was coming out of the game room as I approached it. “That’s weird he’s not with the guys and the play station. They said they thought he went into one of these rooms.” She pointed to the hallway of guest bedrooms on this wing of the house. I was very confused because usually people made out up here but Matt would never do some
thing like that. He was probably speaking geek to a new friend or something. Everything was in slow motion. Courtney opened the door of the first room barging in without a care calling Matt's name which froze on her tongue.

  Matt was there sitting on the bed with some chick who was dressed like a goth princess, on his lap. She had his shirt half undone and they pulled apart from a kiss to look at us in confusion. My cheeks instantly went scarlet and I averted my eyes but not before seeing a look of horror on Matt's face. We were just standing there and it was awkward but I knew Courtney was in shock. Suddenly, her eyes filled with tears and with a choked sob she ran from the room.

  Chapter 8

  My heart skyrocketed. I started to panic. Oh no, drunk Courtney upset, most likely heartbroken, running away from a party and I had forgot to get her keys. I forgot everything else and took off after her almost running into hot guy. “Whoa where’s the fire?” He asked with a smirk. He must have seen my totally freaked out face because his face puckered in a frown and he looked at the couple on the bed behind us and looked at me and said “Let me help-“ I was already running and threw an “I gotta go now!” behind me.

  I forcefully kicked off my heels and ran faster than I ever had. I caught up with her at her car trying to find her keys through the tears in her eyes. I yelled “no” and knocked the purse out of her hand. I scooped up the keys and contents yelling “I’m driving, get in!” She made her way in the passenger seat and as we clicked our seat belts I took off, peeling out from the tension and adrenaline through my system.

  “How could he do this to me? And on the worst day of my life!” The words tore out of her as she was sobbing hysterically. I glanced at her and felt my heart shatter for my friend. She needed me to be my calm wonderful self. I realized I was going too fast as one of the hair turns took me by surprise. I was leaning over the steering wheel and hunched in tension.

  Immediately I slowed down to less than the speed limit because I hated this road and we were in crisis. “Courtney, honey, I know he would never look at someone else if you told him how you felt. Not to mention that is so unlike him. I’m sure she was just some slut and he was blinded by teenage boy hormones. We will fix this, I promise.” I kept my tone as light and comforting as possible. She sobbed more. “Well now I made an idiot of myself he’s gonna think I’m some freak throwing a fit over a guy who’s not even my boyfriend! I’m humiliated. I got all pretty for him. I was gonna get him to dance with me and give him a kiss and see what happened but now he’s kissing that whore!”

  I know the language is extreme but when the guy you want is with another girl she could be mother Teresa she is still gonna get trash talked.

  All of a sudden there were very bright headlights right up on my bumper, making it hard to see. My adrenaline spiked again and I glanced at my speed thinking I might have slowed too much in the chaos but no, I was going the speed limit. Even Courtney thought it was crazy. “What’s going on?” She sobered a little and turned to look behind us right as they hit our back bumper. The feeling was like no other. My stomach dropped and sweat started flowing from my hands making the steering wheel slippery as I fought to correct the car, which I did. In my frustration I sped up a little because they were still on top of us. I hoped this would make them back off but they kept coming.

  “Trinity they’re gonna hit us again!”

  Courtney's panicked words were the last I heard before my whole world went out of control. They hit us. The hit was harder and my speed was faster the car went spinning literally spinning around and around. I didn’t know where we were or where we were going or if another car would hit us. It happened in a flash but felt like it took lifetimes. I could only pray we didn’t go over the cliff and then we hit something with so much force my breath was taken from me and my head bounced off the steering wheel.

  The pain was excruciating. I saw stars and then my life literally flashed before my eyes. I saw myself when I was four in my favorite easter dress, white, with pale pink satin roses. I was spinning in the sunlight singing “ashes ashes we all fall down.” I saw myself learning to ride a bike with my dad and I saw my mom hand me a sucker when I was 8 and she had to take a splinter out with a needle. Right before everything went black I saw Courtney’s tear streaked face when we walked in on Matt, then nothing.

  Chapter 9

  “Ohhhh.” I heard a pain filled moan, or maybe that was me. Everything was so fuzzy and I couldn’t open my eyes. It was like they were covered in cobwebs. I could smell smoke and hear the engine hissing. I was vaguely aware we had crashed but so confused. Then I heard something crazy. It sounded like a guy who grunted in pain from being hit by another guy I heard glass crunching and feet pounding rapidly.

  Then I heard a soft female voice. “Hello, are you ok? You’ve been in an accident. Don’t move. The ambulance is coming.” I felt relief but also a spike of fear for Courtney. I didn’t hear Courtney and I couldn’t make my voice work. I think I started to sob. “Shh, it’s going to be ok I promise.” The girl said.

  Then I definitely heard footsteps running very fast away from me and heavier footsteps running closer. The girl turned away and said “Did you get him?” Then I heard a male voice say, “He ran like the coward he is. How is she?” The guy voice was much closer now. I wanted to yell not me, Courtney, how is Courtney? Someone help my friend. “She’s half-conscious we need to go.” She kind of whispered it and I started to panic this was so weird. It was like she didn’t want me to hear her and she was talking about leaving us there and I was so scared and hurt so bad. Then the guy was by me with his hand on my arm. “Shhh, it’s ok I’m not leaving you.” Then I heard sirens and I think that helped me feel ok enough to pass out again because I couldn’t fight the ocean of darkness sweeping over me.

  I was definitely having an out of body type experience. I was vaguely aware of things happening but it didn’t feel like they were happening to me. I was only aware of these things because of the pain that would hurt so bad it would wake me up and make me black out simultaneously. Every time they moved me it hurt. When they put me on the stretcher and in the ambulance all the jostling around was awful. When they wheeled me into the hospital was the worst it was so fast and bumpy and my every breath felt like knives in my chest.

  I felt like I had been swimming in pain forever and I was still so worried about Courtney. I had summoned the strength to ask about her when someone stuck one of those sticky heart things on my upper abdomen and pain exploded so much I screamed, and it came out, “Courtney!” Someone, a doctor I think said, “It’s ok, you’re ok, and your friend is ok too.” I barely registered that before I blacked out again.

  Later they were moving me again but I was much more comfortable. I recognized the soothing haze of pain medication from when I had my wisdom teeth removed last year. I thought yes, finally, pain relief, bring on the drugs. I cracked my eyes to see a small looking nurse wheeling my hospital bed into a small room with a window overlooking a hallway. It seemed funny to me this small woman wheeling this huge bed. I think I giggled. I felt ridiculous but knew it was just the medication.

  She smiled at me. “Well, hello there. I’m glad to see you’re feeling better.” She put my bed in place and started fussing with my fluids and I.V.’s.

  “How’s my friend, and is my dad here?” My voice sounded so weak and my tongue felt so thick. I wanted to sleep for a month until this whole thing was over. She finished up and turned to me. “You, my dear, have three broken ribs and a concussion severe enough we are going to keep you overnight, but your friend only had a mild concussion. She has already been sent home with her parents. Your dad is surely going to tear this whole place down if he doesn’t see you soon so I will send him back now. Your other friends are here but you can’t see them tonight, you need to rest ok?”

  “Ok” I muttered weakly and fought to stay awake to see my dad. When he came in I was the same little girl scared of falling off her bike. “Daddy,” In my head I was very excited but my
speech was weak. “Honey I am so glad to see you! I would hug you but I don’t want to hurt your ribs.” He sat next to me and took my hand. “I was worried to death! What happened?” I thought hard, “I don’t know exactly. I remember I think someone rear ended us it’s all fuzzy but dad I wasn’t drinking I swear!” I couldn’t remember much at all which was annoying. I felt like I needed to remember.

  “Shh, sweetheart, it’s ok, I know. They ran a procedural tox screen and yours was clean as a whistle. They did find alcohol in Courtney though. She would have been in big trouble but her and your friends confirmed you were driving.” Everyone kept talking about friends. What was going on? I said “What friends dad, who’s here?”

  “There was a boy and girl who left the party after you and they saw the crash and called 911.”

  When he said that I had a strong feeling I knew this somehow but just couldn’t place it. The nurse popped her head back in. “Ok she has to sleep now. Someone will come in every two hours to wake you and make sure you’re ok from your concussion and if all is well you can go home tomorrow.” My dad got up to leave. “Don’t worry honey I will be here all night in the waiting room if you need me they will get me. Just rest up and feel better.” He kissed me on the head and it wasn’t hard to fall asleep with the heavy medication.