Spring Rain

by Lizzy Ford

  Despite his noncommittal response about breakfast, he soon had a full plate of food in front of him. Beck wolfed it down, surprised by how hungry he was and how wonderful real food tasted after three months.

  “Where’s Decker today?” he asked when he’d finished.

  “Went to fetch Summer and take a day trip somewhere.” Grandpa Louis shrugged. “Said he’d be back for dinner.”

  “Big dinner for the equinox?”

  “Huge. Dinners for the next week are being hosted at the club.”

  The club overlooking the lake where Morgan died was the last place Beck wanted to go. Ever. His temporary cheerfulness faded, and he stood. “I’m going on a day trip, too. Probably won’t be at dinner, though,” he admitted.

  “I’ll leave you a plate in your room.”

  “Thanks, Grandpa. Can I get cookies to go?”

  “I assumed you’d be leaving early.” Grandpa Louis held out a plate with a baggie of cookies on it.

  Beck smiled. He snagged the remaining cookies from his plate and walked down the hallway. Long before he reached the front door, he had summoned his magick. White fog billowed out around him, and he directed it to take him where the call had originated from.

  Within a moment, the clouds had swept him away.

  They cleared at the side of a large, blocky hospital in the grassy area under a tree. The spring in Nevada was much warmer than that of northern Idaho, and he immediately regretted wearing a sweater. With a quick glance around, Beck pocketed his cookies and strode into the emergency room to the nearest nurse’s station.

  The staff paged Doctor Bridges over the overhead speakers, and Beck waited.

  Five minutes later, a petite, slender woman with dark hair appeared. “Beck Turner?” she asked and held out her hand.

  “Yep. Nice to meet you, Doctor Bridges.” Beck shook.

  “You look familiar.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t think I’ve ever been here before.”

  “Never mind. Come with me.” The doctor began walking towards the interior of the hospital and an elevator. “The girl’s condition is … well … we don’t even know.”

  Beck’s gaze slid to her. As much as he didn’t want to get involved, he was also curious what could baffle a sharp, no-nonsense woman like Doctor Bridges. “Want to start from the beginning?”

  “Yeah. Sorry. I work night shift. Should be home sleeping.” Doctor Bridges offered a tired smile. “A nearby apartment building burned down. They found her there. At first, it looked like she’d drowned but –”

  “Wait, drowned in a fire?”

  “Strange I know,” Doctor Bridges said. “It only gets stranger. We thought she was dead because her temperature is oh, twenty degrees below average. She shouldn’t be alive. But her vitals are strong. Nothing wrong with her heart, organs, brain or body that we can find. She’s just really, really cold – and healthy. It’s a medical impossibility.”

  He listened, unable to place any known human or witchling capability with what the physician described.

  “She was unconscious when they found her. We have her in an induced coma for now until we can be certain she’s healthy or at least, not in danger. We’re running every test known to man as well. If you can identify her, that’d help us out a lot.”

  “Not sure I can help,” Beck said.

  They reached the fifth floor of the hospital, and the elevator’s doors opened. The first thing he sensed: Decker. He knew his brother wasn’t the one in danger, but if he was here, it had something to do with a witchling. Beck was able to sense Summer but no other Light witchling. Whoever it was, she was probably one of Decker’s Dark sheep.

  “Doctor Bridges,” someone called as soon as they stepped foot on the floor.

  “Second door from the end on the right,” the doctor said before turning on her heel to address the nurse approaching.

  Beck walked down the corridor. The odd instinct grew more insistent without revealing what exactly it meant. It was on days like this he wished he had a mentor like Decker had to ask about the Master of Light instincts that went above and beyond those of a normal witchling.

  Before he reached the doorway, a familiar form emerged.

  “Summer,” he said with a smile. “What’re you doing here?”

  His brother’s counterbalance and girlfriend, the air-earth witchling with dark hair and eyes smiled at him but cast a worried look into the room. “I wanted to warn you.”

  “About what? What’s wrong?”

  “Your brother has been hiding something from us both.” The disapproval in her tone was clear. “It has to do with Morgan.”

  “Morgan.” Even saying the name aloud hurt. Beck shook off the sensation. “What about her?”

  “Well, apparently, she’s alive. Sorta.”

  Beck’s heart leapt in his chest. For a moment, he didn’t think he’d heard right.

  And then it clicked.

  Decker had been much nicer to him the past three months than usual. He figured it was out of a shared sense of loss, since his twin had lost Summer for a few months, too. It never occurred to him that it was guilt, but it definitely fit the Master of Dark, who tended to act out of regret rather than think about his actions ahead of time.

  “You can’t touch her, Beck,” Summer said urgently as he stepped forward. She blocked his path once more. “She swallowed the soul stone. At least, that’s what Decker thinks. You can’t touch her without Decker’s fire to balance the Darkness.”

  Beck barely registered the words. He barely registered anything but the sense he wanted to pass out.

  Summer touched his arm, her gentle earth magick prodding his to life. The soothing warmth steadied his trembling insides, and he blinked, the tension of his body easing despite his disbelief and concern.

  “I’m okay,” he said quietly. He took her hand and squeezed it. “Thanks.” Beck walked past her into the hospital room, uncertain anything could prepare him for what he saw next.

  Decker was at Morgan’s side, his magick loose and covering her body and the surrounding area in fiery shadows. Focused on her, he didn’t look up as Beck approached. “They knocked her out. She can’t fight the soul stone’s effects well when she’s asleep,” the Master of Dark explained. “It’s eating her up from the inside.” His fire magick was flowing into her.

  For a long moment, Beck couldn’t move. He stared at the form of his counterbalance.

  It really was Morgan in the bed. She had cut her hair to shoulder length, but the fiery red shade was the same and a contrast to her blue-white skin. She had the pallor and general appearance of death, though the machines monitoring her assured him she was alive as the doctor said.

  He forced his body to obey and went to her bedside, gazing down at her.

  Despite Summer’s warning, Beck touched Morgan’s skin. Pure, cold, familiar ice swept through him, sucking up the Light and his body heat. He had touched the soul stone once before and nearly died.

  Summer’s air magick knocked him back several steps. Beck shook his head, dazed, and righted his balance. He felt … drained to his soul, his earth magick a flicker and the Light source inside him shriveled. They bounced back quickly. He stared at the still form of the girl he’d fallen for, horrified by the idea that his counterbalance was someone he couldn’t even hug.

  I have to destroy that stone. But no one in a thousand years had tried to destroy the stone for a reason. If what Sam said was correct and it couldn’t be destroyed, he wasn’t certain how he was going to handle Morgan being alive and completely outside his reach.

  “Sorry,” Summer murmured. “Didn’t mean to throw you back like that.”

  “It’s … okay. Thanks.” He managed a tight smile. “It’s not you I’m considering beating to a pulp.” His gaze settled on his twin.

  Decker grimaced. “There’s a reason for the secrecy. Sam said her trial isn’t over yet, and her being near you almost killed you. I made sure you were safe.”

  “You
don’t get to make that decision for me,” Beck said, anger stirring.

  “Like you made the decision to hide Summer from me?” Decker looked up, Darkness flaring in his gaze.

  “Boys, stop,” Summer said. “Morgan needs your help. Both of you.” She touched Decker, and his shadows stilled and retreated. “Beck, you can’t touch her without Decker’s fire, and Decker can’t heal her like you can, Beck.” Earth magick held the ability to heal, and Beck’s Master status made him the most powerful healer alive.

  Whether or not he should have understood what Decker did, Beck didn’t care at the moment. He saw Morgan and instantly knew his brother had something to do with the suffering he’d gone through the past few months. As much as he loved Decker, he also knew his brother well enough to know he didn’t have boundaries when it came to his actions, and he would protect his family at all costs, even Beck’s heart.

  The full story had to wait, though, because Summer was right.

  “Give me a few seconds,” Decker said, attention on Morgan.” I can increase the fire magick. Can you hold the door, baby?” His voice softened, as usual, when he spoke to his Summer.

  Air magick pushed the door closed and sealed it to keep any unwanted visitors from walking in.

  “Try now, Beck.”

  Beck approached the bed, nervous for reasons he didn’t quite understand. It was taking most of his focus to subdue the emotions roiling in his mind, and he couldn’t let himself think on what Decker had done without snapping. Instead, he tentatively touched Morgan’s arm.

  She was cold, and the drain strong, but nowhere near what it had been moments before. Decker’s fire and shadows coalesced around his hand to protect him. Beck closed his eyes to concentrate and loosened his magick into Morgan, letting it find its way to the damage done to her body by the soul stone. It took some effort, given the soul stone was fighting him, but with Decker’s fire to support him, he began to heal the internal tears to her soul.

  The soul stone also left a physical track of damage down her throat and into her stomach and intestines. His magick, and Decker’s, pooled around the stone making its way through her digestive track.

  What the hell she was thinking, he didn’t fully understand. She was a fire witchling. If the apartment building had been burning down around her, she could easily deal with that and survive. The fact the first responders thought she drowned, however, and the presence of the stone in her gullet …

  Something else had happened during the fire, and he suspected it had to do with the Dark witchlings pursuing Morgan.

  “She needs to be awake before she can handle the stone on her own,” Decker said quietly. “Can you clean up the drugs in her system?”

  “I’ve never done that before,” Beck replied.

  “I have.” Summer rested her hand on his, adding her earth magick to guide him.

  Beck didn’t ask. He knew how much trouble Decker had once gotten into – drugs, women, violence – and suspected Summer had helped clean him up without understanding how exactly that happened. She nudged and tugged his magick in the right direction, to filter Morgan’s blood free of the sleeping agent.

  “All right. Step back, you two. I’ll wake her up,” Decker instructed.

  With some reluctance, Beck obeyed. The scene was surreal. It hadn’t yet hit him that his Morgan was alive. Instead, he stood quietly beside Summer and watched Decker’s magick complete their combined work with the same detachment he watched television. Morgan’s features were a normal shade again, and she no longer reeked with the coldness of the soul stone.

  Of everything he wanted to say, Beck wasn’t able to pick the first sentence he hoped to utter to the girl who was his counterbalance and who had nearly killed him and then subsequently saved his life before disappearing. None of this made sense. It was rare when he felt anger, but today, fury fed by confusion was starting to bubble within his breast.

  Everything I touch turns to ash, she had once told him. He had never felt that way around her before, but he did standing helplessly beside her. She’d turned him to ash when she disappeared and he didn’t quite know what he was now or if there was ever a chance of there being something left to salvage after all that had happened.

  His eyes settled on Decker, who met his gaze without hesitation. Beck read the steely resolution on his twin’s face and knew Decker had no regrets, even knowing how much pain Beck had been in.

  “I did what I had to,” Decker replied to the unspoken question.

  “That doesn’t make it right,” Beck said icily.

  “I’d do it again, Beck, and if her continued disappearance means you stay alive, I won’t stop because you care about her.”

  “My life is not yours to toy with.”

  “One word: Autumn.”

  “You know why that had to be,” Beck snapped. “You don’t get to take Morgan away from me!”

  “Omigod. Way too much … testosterone in here,” Morgan complained faintly as she pushed herself up. “And for the record, I’m eighteen and I choose where my life takes me. Decker just paid the bills and was a pain in the ass about everything.”

  “Good girl,” Summer agreed.

  Beck met the gaze of the girl meant to be his counterbalance, unable to identify if he was elated to see her or terrified or too shocked and angry to believe this wasn’t a dream. He reached out towards her instinctively.

  “No!” she snapped and recoiled. “I swallowed the soul stone!”

  “We figured that out,” Decker replied drily.

  Beck continued to look at her, unable to summon anything to say directly to her. He’d thought her dead for three months and now … she wasn’t. His feelings and thoughts were reeling, and he couldn’t shake his disbelief.

  “How are you feeling?” Summer asked and stepped beside Morgan.

  “Good. Chilly.” Morgan sat. “What’re you doing here?” She eyed Decker.

  “The hospital called me,” he replied.

  “And me,” Beck added. “I guess we were in your phone.”

  She flushed as red as her hair, and he recalled with some tenderness that she’d listed him as home. Was she thinking of that now? “You can’t be here, Beck,” she mumbled.

  “For the record, I, too, am eighteen and choose where my life takes me,” he replied. It took effort to subdue the overpowering urge to touch her. Her fire magick was pinging around, agitated by his nearness and her spiking emotions. His earth magick had always loved the liveliness she brought it. It yearned to reach out to her and calm her as much as his heart did.

  “Whatever, but I can’t be here. Dawn found me.” The fiery, stubborn side of her was betrayed by the shake of her hands as she pushed off the thin sheet covering her. “I have to go. Passing through.”

  “Like hell,” Beck said with more heat than he intended. “There are people who care about you, Morgan. You can’t run away from me or your brother!”

  “Beck, I think she means …” Summer cleared her throat and pointed to the bathroom in the corner.

  Beck’s mouth snapped shut.

  “Too much testosterone,” Morgan repeated. “Summer, will you kick them out for me?”

  Summer smiled and lifted an eyebrow at Decker in a silent order, her subtle power nonetheless strong. He rolled his eyes and went to the door. She turned her attention to Beck.

  “No,” he balked and crossed his arms. “That won’t work on me.”

  “You can talk to Decker about what’s going on,” she suggested sweetly.

  Dammit. Beck didn’t want to relent, but he did, grappling with his emotions and the fury building in his chest at the thought of his brother keeping secrets.

  “Peacefully,” Summer added.

  Beck went to the door and exited, joining Decker in the hallway. The two squared off as they sometimes did, the tension and magick surrounding them palpable enough to passing humans for them to turn the other way rather than cross paths with the powerful twins.

  “I’m not sorry,”
Decker started defiantly.

  “I get that. But you’re … you’re a dick sometimes, Decker.” Beck sighed, resisting the urge to wring his brother’s neck. He reigned in the feelings that felt like they were almost to the point of bursting. After struggling for several long moments, he managed to speak through clenched teeth. “Start from the beginning.”

  Chapter Seven

  Morgan was torn up. Her insides were icy one moment, fiery the next from the combination of the soul stone and foreign magick, and she was shaky. She didn’t recall what happened after sinking into the water and assumed she’d been rescued at some point, maybe by Noah, and taken to the hospital.

  Summer supported her as she wobbled with her first step. Gentle, warm earth magick soothed her physically, but did nothing for her flying thoughts. It reminded her too much of Beck’s magick and how incredible it always was for it to flow through her. He was the only person she knew who could soothe the agitated fire magick and help her feel grounded, balanced.

  She had hoped, if she ever crossed paths with Beck again, she would remain completely unaffected, and everything that might’ve been between them stayed in the past.

  The moment she opened her eyes and saw his strong profile, athletic frame and concerned teal eyes, her fire magick had surged and begun to sing, begging to flow to him instead of salvaging her life by fending off the soul stone. Redirecting it required energy, but it was focused once more now that he was out of sight.

  She hadn’t known what to say to him and still didn’t. Her heart was tumbling in her breast while adrenaline stemming from more than magick flew through her. Fire fueled her emotions, sending them tumbling in every direction. She’d wanted to know he was safe and well since leaving him after the soul stone attacked him.

  His presence here … it was a mistake. A huge one. She had left to protect him. He was in danger if he was anywhere near her, more so now that Dawn had found her.

  But I need to touch him. The sense that they were supposed to be together had never faded despite their time and distance. The powerful bond she didn’t comprehend was more than magick, more than physical, more than anything she could possibly explain – and it was aching so badly for one single touch, it almost drove her to her knees.