Ignited

by Dantone, Desni

  CHAPTER 15

  I was about to tell him I had developed a long time ago when he explained what he meant by develop. Apparently, that was the term used by hybrids to describe the point in their human adolescence during which they started to develop their god-like qualities.

  And—surprise!—according to Nathan, I must be a hybrid because I was showing the changes all hybrids exhibited when they started development. I didn’t believe him at first, not until he showed me my eyes in the bathroom mirror.

  That was where I was now, staring in awe at the black ring that encircled my irises. It deepened the amber, made it look darker, bolder. It was definitely new.

  I glanced at Nathan’s reflection as he stood behind me in the doorway. He had shown me the subtle silver rings that circled his irises and, now that I was aware of them, I could see them. There even appeared to be tiny specks of silver mixed into the blue that I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed before. It was what made his eyes pop. I peeled my gaze away before I got lost in the beauty of them, and stared at the foreign ones looking back at me.

  He had said all hybrids formed a temporary black ring once they started development and formed permanent rings upon reaching maturity—silver if they chose Kala; gold if they chose Skotadi. It was the easiest physical way to tell the difference between them.

  I couldn’t remember if Alec’s eyes had a gold ring, or not. I didn’t think so. The other guys’ eyes had shone so bright it looked like a fire burning behind them. Alec’s had definitely not looked like theirs. This new discovery only made me doubt Nathan’s certainty that Alec was a Skotadi even more, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.

  He was leaning casually against the door when I turned to him. “Okay, I believe you. I’m a hybrid.”

  He raised his eyebrows, visibly surprised. I figured he had been prepared for a long debate, and wasn’t sure how to take my easy acceptance. I was a little surprised myself. It wasn’t only this. I was handling everything I’d been dealt the past few days rather well.

  Maybe I was in shock?

  I squeezed past him, out of the bathroom. “How could I not know about this?” I spun to him as he trailed behind me. “Or you? How did you not know?”

  Nathan stared at me like he also wanted to know the answer to that question. He leaned against the back of the chair, and his eyes followed me as I moved to sit on the edge of the bed across from him.

  “When we found you when you were little…” He started hesitantly. “That family wasn’t your real family, was it?”

  My family, whose murders I had witnessed when I was three years old on the night I have tried for fourteen years to forget? My father, who had been shot in the entryway? My mother, who had stashed me in the pantry seconds before she too was gunned down? My older brother…

  “None of them were hybrids,” he added softly. “At least one of your parents would have had to been a hybrid for you…”

  For me to be a hybrid. Oh, God. That meant either my father had not been my father, my mother had not been my mother, or neither had been who I thought they were. Good thing I was already in shock. My world was crashing down around me, little by little.

  I groaned, laying my head in my hands. “I don’t know,” I mumbled.

  I felt the bed move, and knew that Nathan had sat down beside me. I could feel his presence, radiating like a nuclear reactor. I wondered if it was a hybrid thing, being uber-aware of the other, or if it was just his effect on me.

  “I’m sorry, Kris.”

  It was three small words, but they broke me more than any winded monologue could have. The tears I had been holding back for days gushed forward. I cried for Gran, for Callie, for Alec. I cried because of all the weird things happening to me that I couldn’t explain; because everything I thought I knew about my life, and about myself, was wrong; because I was frustrated, angry, and scared. Most of all, I cried because Nathan’s compassion was what I have craved all along. It tugged at all the emotions I had buried, and pulled them to the surface.

  It was a good hard cry, the type that leaves you gasping for air when it’s all over. Nathan had no idea what he had unraveled in me, and sat silently beside me as I let it out. After a moment, he got up and I felt the void his absence left. If it were possible for me to cry harder, I would have. Then he was back, holding out a wad of toilet paper for me. I took it sheepishly.

  “I don’t know where this is coming from,” I wailed as I blotted my eyes.

  “Take your pick,” Nathan said softly as he reclaimed his seat beside me. “You’ve got a lot of reasons, and you’ve been so strong for so long. I’m surprised you didn’t break down sooner.”

  I peeked at him through my heavy, wet eyelashes. He thought I was strong? His unexpected words of encouragement were just what I needed to get a grip on my emotions. I even managed a weak laugh at myself and, from somewhere deep down, pulled together some bravado.

  “So I have a hybrid parent out there somewhere,” I concluded with a sniffle.

  “Yeah, Kris,” Nathan said gently. He shook his head, visibly upset with himself. “I shouldn’t have assumed you knew. You were only three.”

  “It’s okay. I was so young I don’t remember much about them, let alone remember if I had other parents before them, or knew where I came from, or…”

  I knew nothing. Each day, I learned how little I had known about my life and the world I had lived in. Nathan had known more, and this twist had taken even him by surprise.

  “So, I’m a hybrid. What happens to me now? What’s next?” I asked with forced enthusiasm. It would have been more convincing if my voice wasn’t shaking and I wasn’t oozing tears that just wouldn’t stop.

  “I guess it’s time for you to head to the base, meet the others.”

  Right. Safety in numbers. I liked that idea.

  “That is assuming you choose the Kala,” Nathan added.

  I gave him a look that expressed there was no doubt as to the side I would choose.

  “Right,” Nathan said. “Well, on the base, you’ll start training with others in development, and learn what we are and what we do. Over time, you’ll become stronger and faster, and you’ll start gaining a natural expertise in one or more of those specialties I told you about. It’s gradual, and it’ll take a while for you to know what you’re good at, and longer yet for you to master it. The base is a good place to learn along with others like you.”

  I couldn’t help but be curious what my specialty would be. Maybe I would be a mutt like Nathan and have a bunch of them. I wondered if I would share one of his specialties.

  But then that would mean we shared a bloodline somewhere along the way. Wouldn’t that mean we were related? My stomach flip-flopped at the thought, and not because I wanted to be related to him, but because I desperately wanted not to be. It was bad enough we shared the same last name, but what if he ended up being my cousin?

  What if I was attracted to my own cousin?

  I pushed the thought out of my head before I said something stupid and embarrassing. Instead, I managed an intelligent question. “How long does the process take?”

  “Two, maybe three years.”

  I might have to wait that long to know if we were related? I bit my tongue, mentally chided myself for caring, and then remembered something that took my mind off it. For now. “Does my aging slow now too?”

  “Not until you complete development.”

  So, not seventeen forever. The way this year was turning out, I considered that to be good news. Eighteen had to be better. It had to. My sanity couldn’t take another year like this one.

  Nathan’s eyes were on me, studying me like he expected me to go bat-crazy any moment. “You okay?” he asked.

  I nodded slowly. I might lose it on him tomorrow, but for the time being, my sanity was in check. “When did you realize I was changing?” I asked him.

  “I suspected it when I noticed your fever,” he admitted. “I didn’t know for sure until I saw your ey
es.”

  “You had no idea?”

  After the recent turn of events, I couldn’t help but be a little suspicious. Had he known all along what I was? Was that the reason he kept coming to my rescue, why he was here now, why Skotadi were after me?

  “I had no idea.” He sounded sincere and, while I knew there was something about his presence in my life that he wasn’t telling me, I knew he wasn’t lying to me now. He was just as surprised by all of this as I was.

  “Is everyone surprised when this happens?” I asked.

  “Most of us know what we are and know it’s coming, but it still sucks when it hits.”

  I shuddered at the unpleasant memories. “Does everyone get that sick?”

  He nodded with enthusiasm. “I remember sleeping on the floor next to the toilet most of the time.”

  I couldn’t help the short laugh that escaped me and, when I glanced at Nathan, he smiled. Funny, with everything that was going wrong, and of all the things that should have been on my mind, all I noticed at that moment was that he did have dimples.

  “Want to go for a ride?” he suggested, snapping me out of my reverie.

  I gave him a look. “If you’re trying to make me feel better, threatening me with a ride on that death machine isn’t the way to do it.”

  “Come on,” he urged. “We’ll get something good to eat. I know you’re starving, and I’m sick of eating nothing but macaroni and cheese and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for five days.” He rose and tugged on my arm to stand me up.

  I was famished, and the thought of some good hot food was tempting. I certainly deserved a good meal after...

  “Wait,” I gaped at him. “Did you just say five days?”

  * * *

  I didn’t understand how a person could survive without food and water for that long, but Nathan reminded me that I was no longer a simple human. Apparently, hybrids were made to withstand the transition.

  At least I got some good food out of the ordeal. While Dee’s was amazing, I concluded that the real reason for the trip into town was for Nathan to call his contact, Travis. He had planned to call two or three days ago, but I had gotten sick. Knowing he hadn’t left me to make the call, as important as it was, brought a tiny smile to my lips.

  He was eager to get in touch with them now, however. But after a few minutes, even with only hearing one half of the conversation, I was able to conclude that they hadn’t made much progress. Nathan informed them of the recent turn of events and ended the call with another promise to call back in a few days.

  “We’re not going straight to the base?” I asked when Nathan turned to me.

  “It’s too risky right now. The Skotadi will be expecting us to go there.”

  “We’re hanging out here a little longer?”

  “I don’t want to move until we know more,” he explained apologetically. “We’ve got a good hide out right now.”

  I held a hand up. “Hey, I’m fine. The cabin’s kind of growing on me.”

  “Okay.” He nearly smiled again. “But now, we have to go shopping again.”

  With the exception of macaroni and cheese, which Nathan adamantly refused to put in the cart, we got as much easy prep food as the backpack would carry. I figured we would be set for another week or more. Granted, the limited variety sucked, but we wouldn’t starve.

  When we stopped at a red light on our way out of town, Nathan lifted his visor and turned to me. “Want to get a beer?” He gestured toward the hole in the wall bar where we had watched the news several nights ago.

  I agreed and was expecting Nathan to have a beer and I to have a soda again, but when I joined him at the bar after stopping by the restroom first, I was surprised to see two bottles in front of him.

  Nice. I wondered how he managed that.

  Then I saw the bartender. It wasn’t the same antisocial man from before. It was a young, attractive brunette with a flashy smile to match her flashy, and inappropriately tiny, camisole. She didn’t bother to conceal her obvious admiration of Nathan, nor her disappointment when she saw me approach.

  Well that explains it, doesn’t it? I snorted as I sat down.

  Nathan shot me a sideways look. “What’s wrong with you?”

  Turning to him, I caught a glance of a table full of coeds in the corner, who looked like they were on spring break or something, though I had no idea why they would be on spring break in Eastern Tennessee—but that wasn’t the point. The point was three out of the five girls were in danger of throwing their necks out of place craning to get a closer look at Nathan as he stared obliviously at the big screen suspended above the center of the bar.

  “Nothing. Thanks for the beer.” I nodded my head at the bartender. “She didn’t ask to card me?”

  “No,” he said like the idea was ridiculous.

  “You have no idea, do you?”

  “About?”

  “How hot you are,” I blurted out before my brain could stop me. I froze and covered my face with my hands in mortification, wanting to stay hidden forever and to never have to face him again.

  He was silent for so long that curiosity got the best of me, and I risked a peek at him through spread fingers. He was looking at me like he wasn’t sure he understood, or believed, what I had said. I lowered my hands slowly and avoided his eyes as I told myself it was no big deal. I could talk my way out of this.

  I shrugged coolly. “I mean, it’s clear a lot of girls think that.”

  I held back a laugh at the scandalized look on his face that remark induced, and gained some confidence from realizing he was probably more embarrassed by my slip up than I was.

  Well, maybe equally embarrassed.

  “Alright,” I said in a hushed voice, feigning indifference despite the burn in my cheeks. “It’s pretty obvious that the bartender has the hots for you.”

  “Really?” He hooked an eyebrow and glanced at the brunette.

  “Yeah, and don’t look now,” I continued in a whisper as he leaned conspiratorially closer to me, “but that table full of college girls behind you is seriously checking you out.”

  He leaned back, giving me a curious look, but he didn’t look over his shoulder like every other guy would have done.

  Rolling with it, I continued, “Right now, they’re trying to figure out if I’m your sister or your girlfriend.” I shot a furtive glance in their direction as he watched me, a slow grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “From the way we’re acting, I think they’re banking on me being your sister.”

  He nodded slowly, turning his lips inward to hide his smile. Then he covered that up by swigging on his beer.

  I should have stopped there, but me being me, I didn’t. “Now, to prevent you from having to fend off unwanted groping from all directions, I could pretend to be your girlfriend if they come over here. Your real one would probably appreciate my help. She can thank me later.”

  “My real—” He stopped and squinted at me peculiarly, seemingly unsure how to proceed. He finally settled on a chuckle. “Unwanted groping? I don’t think there is such a thing. At least not to a guy.”

  I groaned. “I know you’re not one of those guys.”

  “Why couldn’t I be one of those guys?” He sounded offended.

  “You’re too nice,” I said instantly.

  That was the second time in as many minutes that I caught Nathan completely off guard. I think he actually choked on his beer this time. I even surprised myself, but really, it was true. For once, speaking without a filter hadn’t ended with me kicking myself. And I was right. He wasn’t one of those guys.

  “I’m sorry,” he sputtered. “I don’t think I heard you right. Did I hear you say I was nice?”

  “You heard me.” I sipped my beer, eyeballing him.

  “Wasn’t that you who called me a masochistic asshole last week? Or am I thinking of someone else?”

  I shrugged. “You’re different now. You were an ass then, though.”

  “I was under a lo
t of pressure,” he said simply.

  “And not now?”

  “No.” He gestured around us. “We’re sitting in a bar at two o’clock in the afternoon.”

  “With people still trying to kill us,” I reminded him, but my mood was light.

  He shrugged with a sigh. “That’s the life I’m used to. It’s just another day. You have to learn to enjoy the good days in between the hard ones.”

  “And today’s a good day?”

  “After the last five days…” He looked at me. “I’d say so.”

  I lifted my bottle. “Here’s to more good days.”

  He clunked his bottle against mine and we both took a drink.

  “Don’t worry,” he said as he examined his beer thoughtfully. “I’ll get back to my asshole ways once we’re on the move again, and you get back to being a pain in my ass.”

  CHAPTER 16

  I wouldn’t consider it a complete return to the old not-so-nice Nathan days, but he wasn’t exactly likable when we started training, or whatever he wanted to call it. I’d forgotten he had mentioned teaching me to use a few weapons. He hadn’t.

  Developing hybrids usually reported to the base to start training right away. I would be going there eventually, but since we had to hide out for a while longer and currently had Skotadi trying to kill us, he figured it was in my best interest to start training now, to at least learn how to defend myself. Apparently, when he lived on the base years ago, he had been one of the combat instructors, so he happened to know what I was missing out on. Lucky me.

  I wasn’t as enthusiastic as he was. Really, I doubted he was as thrilled as he put on. I figured he was just stir crazy and viewed this as an opportunity to thwart the boredom. Whatever his reasons, he turned into a bossy tyrant again.

  Morning of the first day had been exhaustingly boring, spent going over various weapons and how to use them. He made me shoot a few guns to ‘get a feel for them.’ I had decent aim, or so he had said. As much as I hated the guns, I hated the knives more, especially since I knew that just a scratch from any of the diamond coated ones could kill me. Fortunately, he gave me a regular knife to practice with so I wouldn’t inadvertently kill myself, or him.