Xander rolled onto his side and clutched his ringing ears. The pressure had rattled his brain. There was a faint trickle of blood seeping from his nose and he reached up and wiped it away.
Across the courtyard, Patrick struggled to a seated position as well. Between the men, the marble tiles were shattered. Shards of stonework jutted up toward the sky, forming rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Xander no longer felt the tug in his gut as the power pulled at him. It was gone, leaving a hollow wake in its absence. He felt exhausted, like the unnatural power had pulled at his very soul. He brought his head up to his chest.
From the corner of his eyes, he could see Alicia climbing to her feet as well. Her normally smooth hair was frizzy and unkempt. Her lips moved but he couldn’t hear anything through the deafening ringing.
“What?” he yelled, though even his words seemed muffled. He was pretty sure he was screaming far louder than was necessary.
Slowly, the sounds of the world flooded back into Xander’s ears. He opened and closed his mouth a couple times, stretching his jaw as Alicia’s words filtered back to him.
“Can you two hear me?” she asked.
Xander struck the side of his head with his palm, symbolically shaking away the deafness. Across from him, Patrick mumbled something that sounded like agreement. Xander nodded as well.
“Good,” Alicia said.
Giovanni and Thea, the latter of whom looked far more disheveled than Xander ever remembered seeing her, joined Alicia in the middle of the arena. Sammy pushed her way past the trio and ran to Xander’s side.
“Are you okay?” she asked in a low tone that was hard for him to hear. He understood her intent, however, and nodded to her as well. “I was worried about you. You didn’t seem like you were in control.”
“I’m fine,” he muttered sourly.
Alicia turned her attention back to Xander. “Are you better now?”
Xander’s eye narrowed as he looked back at her. “No. I’m really not.”
He pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the surprised expressions of his aunts and uncles. He helped Sammy to her feet and pulled her in close.
“Go get your stuff and meet me at my house.” He looked over his shoulder to where Patrick still sat on the shattered ground. “We’re leaving.”
Xander and Sammy pushed off from the ground and immediately took to the air, passing through the wall of the waterspout unhindered. Their lightly packed bags were carried in the buffeted air around them. Neither of them had really spoken since the episode in the courtyard. Sammy had packed quickly and joined Xander without bothering to ask where they were going. Even though Sammy was the recipient of most of Patrick and Thea’s ridicule, Xander seemed far angrier about the situation.
As they sped over the Gulf of Mexico, she reached out and took his hand.
The yacht rocked in the tall waves as it coasted across the Gulf. The crew felt the tug in their core at the same time. As a group, they looked up at the sky as the silhouette of two people passed overhead.
A cloaked figure stepped out of the captain’s quarters and followed the gazes of the other Fire Warriors. The Wind Warrior’s power was unmistakable, even from their distance.
General Abraxas pushed back his cowl, letting the tropical sunlight fall over his burnt face. Reaching up, he ran a hand over his bald palette, tracing what remained of the plethora of tattoos over his scalp.
“Do we follow them, sir?” one of the Fire Warriors asked as the Wind Warrior fled toward the mainland.
“No,” Abraxas hissed. “Let them go. We stick to the plan. By the time we’re done, the stragglers will come to us.”
He raised his cowl back over his melted facial features and turned back toward the captain’s quarters.
“Don’t bother me again until we’re within sight of this ‘strange weather’ everyone keeps talking about. I’ll be below decks, planning the slaughter of the Wind Caste.”
The bayou gave way to forest as Xander and Sammy sped over the landscape. His fingers were interlaced with hers as they flew side by side. A few packed bags hovered in the air behind them, seemingly floating of their own volition. A pocket of air kept both people aloft and buffeted the bags along through the sky as well.
Neither had really spoken since leaving the Wind Warriors’ island. Xander had needed the time to let the blood drain from his face and his racing heart to finally relax. He had been infuriated enough to leave the island immediately after his duel with Patrick without so much as a farewell to any of his aunts and uncles.
Their time aloft had let his blood cool. He wasn’t sorry he left so hastily. He wasn’t interested in spending time around people who would use the death of his parents as some sort of training aid. With some time flying, however, he started to regret leaving without saying goodbye to his grandfather. Even though he knew they’d return once some time had passed, it seemed irresponsible of him to have not even stopped by the building where his grandfather lay injured.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Sammy asked loudly. Despite the pocket of air around them deadening some of the roar of the wind, it was still loud and heard to hear one another.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I feel I have a thousand things bouncing around my brain and none of them are what I should be worried about. I’m stressed about my grandfather. I’m angry at Patrick and Thea. I’m disappointed in Giovanni and Alicia, since they didn’t seem too interested in stopping Patrick before everything escalated. I’m worried about what the future holds for you and me.”
“Those are all good things to be thinking about. They all matter.”
Xander shook his head. “But the only thing I should be thinking about is stopping the Fire Caste. They’re right on the cusp of starting World War III and I’m worried about someone talking bad about my parents. I need to be grounded again, to get my head screwed on straight.”
“Is that where we’re going?” Sammy asked.
Xander smiled mischievously. “Yeah, we are. There’s only one person I know that can keep me grounded. There’s only one guy that’s a big enough jerk to look me in the face after I got my powers and tell me he wasn’t impressed that now I could break wind.”
Sammy laughed, despite the seriousness of the situation ahead of them. “I have to assume you’re talking about—”
“Sean,” Xander finished. He laughed to himself at the thought of his heavyset friend. “That man gives the best advice in the world, no matter how weird his advice may be.”
“But he’s in White Halls,” Sammy said, her smile fading away to a concerned frown. “The Fire Warriors are probably still there.”
Xander shrugged as the forest beneath them gave way to rolling hills, tall corn plants, and symmetrical rows of vibrant, green soy plants. He knew they were close to the Tennessee border, which meant it wouldn’t be that much longer until they arrived at his old hometown.
“They might be but I’m not turning back. If they’re there and they’re looking for a fight…”
“Which they will be,” she replied. “Assuming it’s the same Fire Warriors that came with me when I showed up in town, killing you is the only reason they exist.”
“If they’re looking for a fight,” Xander continued unfazed, “then I’ll give them more than they can handle.”
Sammy squeezed his hand and flashed him a nervous smile. “We will. We’ll give them hell together.”
From a distance, the air above White Halls was stained with smears of greasy, black clouds. The sooty smoke rose from buildings across the town, seemingly chosen haphazardly.
Xander’s heart sank. He knew there was a chance the Fire Warriors would still be in town but he had foolishly expected to find the town relatively unscathed. If it was him they were after, it didn’t make much sense to destroy the town, especially once they realized he was no longer there. Then again, he had to remind himself, the Fire Caste existed to burn away the stain of mankind. He didn’t think they had many qualms about
starting with even an insignificant town like White Halls.
They skimmed over the rooftops of the houses that formed the border of the town. A short distance to his right, he could see the large, faded, wooden sign that welcomed visitors as they entered the town from Highway 41. The streets below them flashed by in a blur as they sped toward Sean’s apartment.
Glancing beside him, Xander caught Sammy’s eye and immediately knew that she saw what he had already noticed. The streets were empty. No one wandered down the sidewalks, sat on their porches, or yelled over the fences to their neighbors. Kids were curiously absent, as were their discarded bicycles and toys. On the warm afternoons, he would have expected to see plastic child pools inflated on the lawns with children and adults alike splashing in the shallow waters. Instead, grasses grew too tall in front lawns and vegetables went untended in home gardens.
Nervousness twisted Xander’s gut. Everything about the town was wrong. He prayed quietly that Sean was all right.
“Look,” Sammy said hurriedly. “There’s someone down there.”
Xander followed her gaze but immediately frowned. The man that looked up at their passing had telltale blonde hair and wore leather armor stained so dark it was nearly black.
“Fire Warrior,” he muttered, though he knew Sammy couldn’t hear him over the billowing wind around them. Then again, he also knew she didn’t need to hear him. Her bitter expression told him she recognized what the man was as well.
As soon as they passed overhead, the man turned and ran down the street in the direction they were going.
Xander regretted flying into town so recklessly. He had been caught up in the mixed emotions of leaving the other irritating Wind Warriors and the excitement of seeing Sean again. He never stopped to consider that the Fire Warriors could sense his use of power, even his ability to fly. Soaring into the center of town like a cowboy vigilante had been foolish and, more importantly, incredibly dangerous and stupid.
“We need to land,” Sammy said, echoing his thoughts.
He glanced over at her and smiled. If they started finishing each other’s sentences, then he’d know that they’d become “that couple”. He knew the type; the type of couple that also referred to themselves as “we” rather than “I” as though they lost the ability to think as a single unit.
“We’re almost to his apartment building already,” he replied. “We might as well land once we get there.”
“Be on your guard. If one felt your elemental power, there’ll be others. The place could be crawling minutes after we touch ground.”
Xander kept her warning in the back of his mind as they soared toward the nearest cloud of smoke. The smoke billowed from the remains of a smoldering house, recently set ablaze and extinguished not by firefighters but left to burn until it was nothing but a framework of cinders and ash. The pillar of black soot obscured his view of the apartment.
The duo tilted to the right and skirted the edge of the cloud. As they came around the far side, Xander felt crestfallen. His heart did flips in his chest and he clenched his jaw tightly to keep from screaming in frustration.
Sean’s apartment was destroyed.
Specifically, the corner of the apartment where his room had been located was gutted by fire, long since burned out. The roof was collapsed, exposing the hollowed interior. Water damage stained the brickwork of the building’s exterior and turned the ash within the scorched room to thick paste. Clearly, this fire had been put out by what remained of the firefighting crews.
The pair dipped toward the parking lot of the apartment and their feet touched down gently on the grass marking the edge of the asphalt slab. Xander hit the ground running as he hurried toward the exterior stairwell.
“Xander,” he heard Sammy yell from behind him.
He didn’t stop, instead keeping his pace toward the apartment. There had to be something inside the apartment that could tell him where he could find Sean. He refused to believe that Sean wasn’t alive; he had to keep hope that his best friend survived the Fire Warrior’s attack.
“Xander, watch out,” Sammy cried out.
He glanced to his right just in time to see a jet of flame shooting toward him. Xander dropped to the ground and slid on the dry asphalt. The inferno soared just over his head, singeing the tips of his dark hair. The knees of his loose-fitting pants tore and scraped the skin beneath. He felt the trickle of blood running down his calf as he slid to a stop and leapt back to his feet.
The Fire Warrior sneered and shifted his aim. The stream of fire angled back in his direction.
Instinctively, Xander threw aside his hands and a miniaturized tornado immediately appeared beneath his attacker. The flames disappeared as soon as the Fire Warrior lost his concentration, the conflagration stopping inches from the side of his head. He felt the hairs curl under the onslaught of heat.
The Fire Warrior was caught in the cyclone and spun wildly, hovering only a few feet off the ground. The man’s eyes rolled in his head as vertigo overwhelmed him.
“Are you okay?” Sammy asked as she rushed over to Xander’s side.
He nodded slowly, keeping his eye fixated on the swirling, blonde warrior. “I’m good.”
Sammy followed his gaze. “What are you going to do with him?”
Xander flicked his wrist and the Fire Warrior catapulted into the air, quickly becoming little more than a distal, shapeless blob.
Sammy’s expression slackened with surprise. She clutched Xander’s arm tightly, her nails digging into the flesh up his triceps.
“Don’t kill him,” she said hastily.
Xander arched an eyebrow and looked at her worried expression. He couldn’t imagine the inner turmoil she dealt with every day, knowing that she was taking a stand not just against a faceless mass of the Fire Caste, but against people she knew by name and had trained with in her youth. For all he knew, she was friends with the man he had just flung carelessly into the air.
Sammy turned toward him, her eyes swimming with concern. “Please, Xander.”
Xander shook his head. “Don’t worry. I haven’t killed one of them yet.”
The Fire Warrior crashed into a tree on the far side of the parking lot. They heard the man grunt loudly as he tumbled through the thick branches. Eventually he broke through the dense foliage on the bottom boughs and dropped unceremoniously onto the hard ground.
“I never promised he wouldn’t wish he was dead when I was done,” Xander smirked, “but at least he’ll live.”
Sammy offered her hand with a thankful smile. He pulled himself to his feet and they walked together toward where the Fire Warrior rested, still groaning softly.
As they skirted the side of a parked car, Xander came to a sudden stop. His eyes widened in surprise and he stared in amazement at the paint spread childishly on the concrete.
Sammy looked at the same crude marks but couldn’t make sense of the triangles.
“What is it?” she asked.
Xander could hardly contain his laughter. “Sean’s alive and I know where to find him.”
They walked the rest of the way to the White Halls College. On the ground, they could see people peering nervously from behind drawn curtains or through the slats of closed blinds. It set Xander’s mind at rest knowing that there were plenty of people still alive and well within White Halls, even if they were too scared to leave their homes.
He and Sammy turned sharply in front of the familiar lecture hall. For a brief moment, Xander paused and stared up the steps leading to the long stretch of glass doors. Even though he had never believed it at the time, life had been so much simpler when he was just an unenthusiastic college student, half-heartedly stumbling his way through his classes.
Turning away from the building, he led Sammy toward a row of Victorian-style homes. The homes all looked remarkably similar, with large pillars framing wrap-around porches. Balconies jutted out invariably from the second floors, supported by the pillars below. The only difference between the h
omes was the general cleanliness of both the lawns and building exteriors. Some were immaculately kept while others, like the one they currently walked past, had patches of dead grass that had died from reasons Xander would rather not guess.
A series of Greek letters had been nailed above the doorways of each of the houses. Sammy gasped in surprise as she pointed at three triangles hanging above one of the better-kept homes. The triangles were an exact match for the crudely drawn symbols on the concrete.
“That’s it,” she said. “What does it mean?”
“Literally?” he asked. “It means ‘Tri Delta’, which is a sorority on campus. Metaphorically, it means that Sean is hanging out with the last possible person I would have expected.”
They walked up the steps of the house and knocked loudly on the door. For a long moment, they heard nothing from inside. Xander’s jovial attitude began to fade as doubt crept into his mind. He was so sure he’d find Sean at the Tri Delta house that he hadn’t even considered what they’d do if we wasn’t.
After a long wait, they finally heard the scuffling of shoed feet. Xander had been in the house plenty enough. He knew the footsteps were walking across the hardwood foyer. Xander chewed on his bottom lip as he waited for someone to answer the door.
The door was flung open suddenly. Beyond its darkened archway, Xander could see Sean holding a baseball bat as though he were ready to swing for a Major League fastball. Behind him, a familiar blonde woman stood with a shocked expression and a fire extinguisher clutched in her bloodless fingers.
Both their weapons slowly dropped toward the floor, as recognition passed through the odd pair of Sean and Jessica.
“Holy crap,” Sean whispered.
“It’s been far too long, buddy,” Xander replied as he pulled his portly friend into a huge hug.
Flame Caller Page 10
