by H G Lynch
Ember stepped forward and gave him a quick hug, surprising both him and herself. He let out a short, nervous chuckle, but the tension in his shoulders eased.
“Thank you for saving me. Whatever is in that lake really doesn’t like me. That’s the second time it’s tried to drown me.” She glowered at the water and shifted anxiously away.
“Well, maybe you should stop coming here then.”
“I was checking out the wardings on Onyx Lake. I’m helping Brandon and Perry try to figure out the killings. And no, Reid doesn’t know about it, so if we could keep this little incident between us, that’d be great.”
Hiro hesitated, but she gave him a pleading look and he caved. He didn’t really have a choice anyway. His loyalty bond kind of meant he had to do what she wanted – He wasn’t forced to bend to her will, but he was inclined, ever so subtly, to keep her secrets. “Fine,” he groaned, “but you’ll be the one explaining it all to the pretty boy when he finds out and tries to rip my head off.”
“Fair enough,” she said with a shrug. “Now, how about we get back to the dorms before one of us catches hypothermia, huh? I don’t know if elementals can get hypothermia, but I’m not willing to find out.” She looked down at her one wrecked trainer with the slashed laces and scowled. She’d just gotten those last month!
Hiro chuckled, a more genuine smile crossing his lips, and held out a hand to her. She slid her fingers through his, noting that his skin was really warm, and then she was somehow standing in her dorm room at Acorn Hills Academy, dripping onto the cream carpet. Again, her room was empty, but this time she was thankful for it. Hiro shook violently like a dog, splattering water around the room, and then grinned at her with sharp, white teeth when she scolded him.
Smacking him on the arm as she passed, Ember headed for the bathroom. She swung open the door, flicked on the light, and turned on the shower before heading back to the other room to dig out clean, dry clothes.
Hiro had Changed and was sitting on the floor in fox form, licking his fluffy tail with determined concentration. She gave him a sidelong glare as she pulled out clean underwear and navy tights, and tucked the bundle quickly into the crook of her arm. “If you’re staying here, you stay on this side of the bathroom door,” she warned, moving to pull a wooly jumper and her tartan pinafore from the wardrobe.
Hiro looked up briefly, giving her a look she discerned as one of his ‘I’m-not-stupid’ looks. They were easy to recognize even when he was in fox form.
Returning to the bathroom, she dumped her clean clothes on the floor and shut the door, locked it just in case – not that it’d keep Hiro out if he decided to be a peeping tom, but it made her feel more comfortable about showering with him in the next room. Stripping off, she stepped into the hot embrace of the stinging needles of water from the shower, and scrubbed the dirt and salt from her hair. If Reid smelled salt water on her, he’d start asking questions she didn’t want to answer. So she covered it with her grapefruit body wash and watermelon shampoo. Next time, she thought to herself, I’m bringing my personal bodyguard just in case.
Chapter Seven
** Reid **
Reid was fighting with sleep once again, a book propped open on his pillow with one hand, but the ink seemed to be running down the pages before his blurry eyes. Every time he blinked, it was harder to open his eyes again, but he knew he had to because otherwise he’d find himself back in those torturous nightmares. But, even as he fought to keep his eyes open, he knew he was losing the battle, and too soon, the book slipped from his limp hand as he drifted into an uneasy sleep. The nightmares began again.
*****
Once again, he was in that cold, sterile lab, inside a cage designed to contain and immobilize his kind. The concrete floor seeped chill into him, but it was burned away by the fire of his rage and of his agony. Physical and mental agony. Ember’s screams as he was stabbed and cut tore at him like the rough blades across his skin. Guilt was almost as unbearable as the rune-marked weapons. He’d been an idiot, a stubborn, arrogant idiot, and Ember was here, trapped, watching him tortured before her – a torture all its own in her eyes, he knew – because of him. If he’d just listened to her! But he hadn’t and he regretted it more than he did anything else in his life.
Hearing the professor’s voice blurrily, his vision wavering and sparkling at the edges, Reid knew what was coming next. More pain, more screaming…
But it never came. The pain sending starbursts through his nerves to his brain was flowing away, replaced by a shallow heat on his exposed skin. Confused, he blinked his eyes open and cautiously sat up, measuring each movement for torn muscles, but there was nothing. He felt fine. Better than fine, because, looking around him, he realized he was no longer in the lab. He was sitting…on a beach. One he didn’t recognize. Yellow sand stretched away to either side of him, a thin golden line between the sloping, grey wall at his back and the sparkling, silver-blue ocean in front of him. The glistening water spread to the horizon, meeting the pale blue sky in a cobalt line. The surface was rippled in the distance, ripples becoming foamy waves that crashed softly onto the sand. It was only just warm enough to be at the beach, a mere twenty degrees Celsius according to his vampire internal thermometer, but it was packed with giggling children and parents with picnic blankets and books. The rush of traffic came from behind, over the big wall, the sounds of cars and carnival rides and screams of people on rollercoasters flooding the nearer noises of the rushing waves and squawking gulls. He’d never seen this place before.
Looking down at himself, he noticed he was dressed in only casual swim shorts, sitting on a towel laid in the sand. Then there was a hand spread on his chest, snaking its way upward to his jaw. The delicate fingers turned his head to the side and he saw Ember, grinning, her blue eyes sparkling and her freckles darker and more plentiful than usual in the sun. He hadn’t seen her in the sun before, not real summer sunlight. Her hair was a few shades lighter, her skin flushed pink from the heat – and plenty of her skin was exposed because she was dressed in a tantalizing black bikini which made her skin seem even paler than normal. Like cream. He blinked, returning his eyes to her face, and saw her smiling mischievously. His heart sped up. She reached up and tousled his hair, laughing as she spun away from him, throwing up sand as she scrambled to her feet. She looked so beautiful in the bright sunlight, her hair shining like liquid gold, the happiness and carelessness in her expression.
And then he was looking at himself from her eyes, seeing himself lying in the sand with his hair mussed and shimmering and his eyes bright and wide in awe as though he were staring at something truly amazing. The eyes he stared through took in his smooth skin and the ridge of every muscle, the fine lines and contours of his body, the angles of his cheekbones and collarbones. That was when he realized he wasn’t just seeing through Ember’s eyes, but was in her body too, feeling what she felt as she stared at him. It was certainly one of the weirdest experiences of his life, feeling lust the way she felt it, the way she burned so different from the way he did but just as intense. A whisper of thought came to him, All mine. He’s all mine. If this weren’t a public place…Then the thought was gone and he blinked, and he was in his own body again, reeling.
Wow. That was a major mind-screw if he ever experienced one. But it was interesting to feel the way Ember wanted him. He had a whole new insight into her reactions when he said or did something particularly, as she liked to call it, ‘Reid-like’. Safely in his own body, gathering himself back to one mental place, he rose to his feet, feeling the sand grind between his toes and the brisk breeze rolling off the waves. He moved toward Ember, but she retreated teasingly, walking backward over the sand, holding one hand out to him and daring him to take it if he could. He smiled, accepting the challenge. Mindful of the other people on the beach – particularly the children – he made a grab for Ember and just barely missed, his fingers skimming her shoulder blade as she danced away and splashed into the rising waves. She lost her bal
ance and toppled over, briefly vanishing as the salty water crashed over her. Then she reemerged, soaked, her hair dangling in gentle ropes, tossed around her face. She was laughing and the sound was as light and warm as the sunshine beating down on them. Rivulets of water ran down her body, and he traced their paths with his eyes.
In the little part at the back of his mind that knew this was a dream, knew in reality it was really only January, he damned the months to get through until a sight like this would become possible in the real world. It wouldn’t be nearly hot enough for the beach until at least May…
Then the dream faded, despite his attempts to cling onto it, and he was lost in the usual blankness of sleep.
*****
He woke up the next morning with the dream in mind, playing through it as he rolled over, not really awake but not really asleep. He encountered a small, warm body next to him and fuzzily pried his eyes open to stare into the dark room, his gaze falling on the digital clock just for a second – it was only half six. Not nearly time to get up yet – before finding Ember’s body curled next to him. He tried to remember falling asleep with her next to him, but couldn’t recall it. She must’ve crept in during the night…
Hesitantly, gears began turning in his head. Had she slipped in before or after his nightmare had turned into a dream? He had the feeling he knew the answer. It would explain his weird head-trip during the dream; His dream had been tangling with hers, their mental walls blurred as they slept. It had never happened before, but obviously Ember was projecting this dream in her sleep. Maybe, subconsciously, she wanted him to see this. And maybe with her near, his nightmares couldn’t pervade his mind. Perhaps, he thought as he laid an arm lightly over her, she is my personal dream-catcher.
*****
** Ember **
Ember stretched and groaned, tucking her face into the duvet to hide from the stray beams of weak light filtering through the curtains. The hazy, warm smell of spiced-apple made her melt for an instant before recognition and then confusion made her tense. Forcing her bleary eyes open, she sat up and stared around the room. What was she doing in Reid’s room? Did she…Oooh, now she remembered. She’d woken up in the middle of the night, feeling cold and achingly alone, even with Sherry in the next bed, so she’d dragged her half-asleep butt down the hallway and curled up next to Reid. Snippets of a bizarre dream flickered in her head, but she couldn’t piece them together. Didn’t matter. What mattered was that it was a school day and she was sure she was going to be late – which she confirmed by glancing at the clock, blinking the numbers 9:24 at her.
Across the room, Ricky’s bed was empty, made neatly, and his schoolbag was gone. No surprise there. But Ember really, really didn’t want to go to school. She hadn’t done her Chemistry homework, for which she was sure to get detention. And the bed was so soft and warm…
Something stroked along the sole of her bare foot under the duvet and she yelped, glancing at the bottom of the bed, where Reid knelt with one hand under the covers. He was grinning, his hair rumpled, still dressed in pajama bottoms and a grey t-shirt. Clearly he’d only bothered to get up a little while before she’d woken. Again, no surprise. Ember scowled at him for tickling her foot. He knew she hated to be tickled.
“Good morning, Firefly. I had the feeling you’d want to skip school today so I let you sleep.” Reid shrugged, coming to sit on the bed by her curled-up legs. “Although, also, I wanted to ask precisely how and why you wound up in my bed last night. I am certain you weren’t there when I went to sleep, unless I’m experiencing some serious memory loss.” He reached and gingerly brushed his thumb across her bare shoulder, following the line of the strap of her camisole. His touch was warm compared to the cooler air of the room and she raised her hand to his, bringing it up so his palm rested against her cheek. His answering smile was lovely as dawn breaking through the dark clouds of night.
“Mmh.” She sighed, closing her eyes and feeling the warmth of his hand on her skin. “I was cold last night,” she admitted. “So I thought it’d be warmer if I crawled in with you. Is that okay?”
Reid moved and suddenly, both his arms were around her and she was snuggly pressed to his chest, all the warmth she could possibly want. She nuzzled against him and pressed her fingertips to his collarbone, curling her toes under the duvet which was now twisted and caught between them. His breath tickled her ear and she thought about how she didn’t necessarily hate it every time he tickled her – Just not her feet.
“Mh, of course it’s okay. I’d happily have you sleep with me every night. I sleep better with you next to me,” Reid murmured, resting his cheek on her hair, holding her on the bed.
She smiled. “I might take you up on that. I’ve discovered I kind of got used to sleeping beside you in Scotland. I don’t like sleeping on my own anymore.”
It was true. She was just so much more comfortable with his arms around her, his body heat and solidness next to her. Reid let go of her briefly to pull back the duvet and slide in beside her. He pulled the cover back over them and she lay down, settling next to him, with her head bowed under his chin and her fingers entwined with his. It was so cozy and relaxing, his even breathing in her ears, his mouthwatering scent in her nose, the steady rise and fall of his chest under her palm — the one not twined with his. There was no kissing or fondling or even the suggestion of groping. They simply lay there, cuddled together in the dim room. Occasionally, they whispered to each other, murmuring unimportant things or breathing words of adoration. It was a peaceful couple of hours of bliss, and Ember didn’t want to move for the world.
But, unfortunately, the world was determined to take her from her blissful cuddling with her sweet boyfriend. It seemed that they weren’t the only ones skipping school, because shortly before noon, while Reid and Ember were in the middle of a ridiculous conversation debating the existence of the Loch Ness Monster – Ember was, of course, determined Nessie was real – Cris came knocking on the door. Reid slunk out of the bed, continuing his argument even as he pulled the door open to reveal Cris looking all out of sorts.
“Whoa, since when did you cut class?” Reid chuckled, leaning against the doorframe so Ember could see past him. Cris was minus his usual cheeky smile, and was twisting the bottom of his pale green shirt through his fingers.
“We’re rubbing off on you at last, Cris. Finally, a little bad boy showing through.” Ember sent him a wink and his eyes flickered to her, widened, and he blushed. She laughed. Sometimes, Cris could be utterly adorable.
“Oh. I-I’m sorry if I’m interrupting…anything.” He lowered his gaze hastily to the floor, fidgeting uneasily.
Ember rolled her eyes and hopped out of bed, allowing Cris to see that she was dressed – sort of, if you could count pajamas as dressed – which seemed to ease his discomfort a little.
“Relax. You’re not interrupting anything that can’t be resumed later…wait, okay, that didn’t sound right…” She pursed her lips and Reid chuckled, looping an arm round her waist. “What I mean is, we were just discussing whether or not Nessie is real,” she clarified.
Cris looked up and beamed briefly, his jade-green eyes lighting up, then the smile dropped and he sighed. Something was bugging him, he was here for a reason.
“Okay, Cris, why are you here? You’re twitchier than a chipmunk on a caffeine buzz.”
Now that she’d brought his attention to it, Cris folded his hands together to keep from fidgeting. “Oh, well, yeah, I…Brandon…uh…” Ooooh, now she understood his twitchiness. Something was up at the lake and he’d been chosen as the messenger…but Reid wasn’t meant to know she was in on the hunt for the lake monster. Ah. Well, it looked like she was about to get found out.
“I’ll get dressed.” Ember shot Reid a glance and stepped forward to go back to her room to get changed. But Reid grasped her wrist and stopped her.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, what? You will stay here until I get back.”
If she didn’t know any better, Ember
might have mistaken that for a command. She took her arm back from Reid’s grasp and gave him a look that wasn’t quite a glare but edging toward one. ‘Until I get back?’ So this was a call for him? Somehow, she doubted that. He’d said he wasn’t involved in the lake case, that the all-day meeting last week was about an unrelated research project. Bull and crap. Reid seemed to realize his error just a beat too late, and bit his lip under Ember’s shaming gaze.
“Something to tell me, Reid? Like, oh, I don’t know, you’ve been going behind my back to join the hunt for the lake killer? What else are you doing behind my back?” Okay, she couldn’t help it, she had to say it. Yes, she had been involved in the hunt behind his back, too, so they were both at fault there, but Ember had only joined in to get back at Reid for spending so much time with Lia. Spiteful and bitchy? Yes. But totally warranted. Whereas Reid had obviously just decided he didn’t want to miss the party and, knowing she’d be ticked, he’d kept it from her. If he was doing that behind her back, what else could he be doing? Or, rather, who else?
“Hey! Look, yes, I’ve been helping Brandon and the boys, but…I needed the distraction. I didn’t tell you about it because I thought you deserved a break. I didn’t want to drag you into it and I knew that if you knew I was involved in the case, you’d want in too,” Reid explained, giving her his best ‘please believe me’ look with tilted brows and pouty mouth.
She wanted to believe him, really she did, but all she could think of was the way Lia had had her nasty little fingers all over him.
“And, in case I’m mistaken, it seems that I’m not the only one keeping secrets here,” Reid added.
