Scorching Secrets

by Kaitlyn Hoyt

  “No, no. It’s fine.” He looks out at the trees and starts talking. “Scott and Lynelle Wagner,” Colton says their names. My eyes are glued to him as he talks. I can’t look away.

  “My parents were high school sweethearts. They met when they were sixteen. He was the football quarterback, and she was head cheerleader. Cliché, I know. They got married when they turned twenty and had David shortly after that. A year and half later, I came along. For a while, we were that perfectly happy family.

  “One night when I was eight years old, we were walking through the trails behind our house, and these men attacked us. My dad’s power was the strongest. He could control air while my mom could control emotions. My mom was focused on keeping us calm while my dad attempted to fight them off. They were both trained but so were the men. My dad fell first. He was trying to fight the men off, while my mom tried to get us away. He was stabbed in the stomach and then one of the men broke his neck.” I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes. Colton is blinking more often, trying to keep his own at bay.

  “My mom pushed us back and tried to protect us. She ran up to the men and fought with all she had. She was only one person; she couldn’t take on four men of that size. They stabbed her through the stomach and laughed as she died. David and I were frozen with fear. We didn’t know what to do or where to go. We were stuck. The men came over to us and said, “The end is near.” They knocked us out but let us live. We were supposed to be a warning. The men were both mages, rebels so to say, who ended up working for Dravin later on.”

  A couple tears start to fall. I instantly want to make his pain go away. I scoot toward to him and hug him. “I’m so sorry, Colton.” He wraps his arm around me and pulls me closer.

  “It happened a long time ago,” he says, but I can hear the sadness behind his words. I reach my left hand up and lightly brush his tears away. I can feel his eyes on me, but I focus on the tears falling from his emerald green eyes. My heart starts rapidly beating with each tear I wipe away, and it becomes harder to breathe. I notice him reacting similarly. I move so I am sitting up on my knees and face him.

  Leaning forward, I place a small kiss on his jaw. When I hear his breathy groan, I move to the right and kiss his jaw again. The stubble on his cheek scratches against my smooth skin, but it spurs me on. The arm around my waist tightens.

  “Ryanne…” I lean up and kiss the area right next to his mouth. The edge of my lips touches the edge of his mouth. Colton freezes and turns toward me slightly. Ah, I can’t fight it anymore. What happens in the forest stays in the forest, right? I am leaning forward to kiss his lips when I hear a twig snap. I freeze and look to the left. The light echo of voices resonates through the forest. We both tense at the sound. Who would be in here besides us?

  Colton goes invisible beside me. I can still feel his arm around me, so I know he hasn’t moved. The hem of my shirt rises slightly. The cool night air brushes against my exposed skin as Colton wraps his arm around my waist. Skin-to-skin contact makes his power work faster. I hear shuffling beside me as he stands and pulls me back against his chest.

  Colton starts pulling me backwards when the two figures finally emerge from the trees. I glance down and let out a sigh of relief when I only see the grass below me. Colton’s invisibility is cloaking me too. I open my mouth and would have said something, had Colton not placed his hand over my mouth, silencing me. I don’t know how he knew, but I’m glad he did. I strengthen the shield around us and let him pull me backwards.

  “We’ll find them. I know they’re close,” Natasha says while sitting down on the bench we were on literally seconds ago.

  “We better. Dravin’s getting angrier as each day passes, and there’s nothing,” Adam says while sitting next to her. “Despite what Dravin says, that girl is strong. She’s not just going to come to us. We have to lure her.” Colton starts walking backwards again. “Now that she’s banging Colton, he’s the obvious choice for it.” I start struggling against Colton’s grip. That freaking…guy. He has no idea what he’s talking about.

  “Ryanne, stop,” Colton whispers to me.

  “Let me take your mind off of everything,” Natasha says. She moves so that she is straddling his lap. She leans forward and starts kissing his neck. When we hear the sound of a twig snapping again, we all freeze. I don’t know which one of us stepped on it, but we both tense, preparing for the worst.

  Adam and Natasha both turn and look in our direction. Colton and I remain frozen mid-step. I hold my breath and wait for them to look away. After a few agonizing seconds, Natasha shrugs. “It was probably just an animal,” she says and leans forward kissing Adam’s neck again. Adam leans his head back giving her access but continues to stare in our direction. Finally, he turns away and gives his attention back to Natasha.

  Letting out a silent breath of relief, Colton starts pulling me back, faster this time. Once we are far enough away, he lets go of my stomach but laces his fingers through mine and starts running back to the house. Because of the recent running I’ve been doing, I’m able to keep up with him. It’s dark by the time we make it out of the forest. Bounding up the stairs leading to the deck, Colton runs straight for the back, not stopping until the door is open. He pulls me through the doorway then closes and locks the door behind him.

  Everyone is sitting at the kitchen table, looking at the back door. “Colton, we’re still invisible.” He lets go of my hand, and I become visible. I bend down and take a couple deep breathes. How did they find us? They’ll find us within the next couple of days at this rate. A couple seconds later, Colton appears next to me. Emma’s eyes widen as she looks us over. Her eyes and most of the guys’ eyes land on my stomach. I look down and see a couple inches of exposed skin on my abdomen from where my shirt had risen up. I quickly reach down and fix it. I can feel the blush rising onto my cheeks.

  “So what happened?” Emma asks slowly. I walk over and sit in the empty seat next to Bragden and slam my head against the table. My windblown hair falls forward blocking my face from everyone. I am still wearing Colton’s jacket, but I don’t feel like giving it back just yet. I lift my head up and bang my head lightly on the table a couple more times before I angrily exhale. I hear the sound of a chair being drawn back, so I’m assuming Colton just sat down too.

  “We just can’t catch a break,” I mumble against the wooden surface of the table.

  “We saw Adam and Natasha in the forest. They’re looking for Ryanne.” Bragden reaches over and rubs my back. There must be something I can do to prevent them from finding us.

  I wonder if…I push away from the table. “I’ll be right back.”

  I walk out of the room and run up the stairs into Tom’s room. “Hey, Ryanne,” Tom looks up from his book. His smile falls when he looks at me. I must have that crazy determined look in my eyes that Emma says I get when I’m angry or upset.

  “Do you know the enchantment that Claire used to put around the house?” I ask him.

  “Yes, but it takes a lot of magic to complete it.”

  “Let me try it. We just saw Adam and Natasha in the forest. They’re getting closer to the house, and I can’t let that vision play out, Tom. I can’t watch someone else die because of me again.”

  Tom stares down at me. He doesn’t want me to do this; I can see that in his eyes. When his features soften and he sighs, I know that I won. “Ok, you can try it. I have to go get it from the house though. Let me go get Larkin,” Tom says while getting off of the bed. He walks past me and heads downstairs. Following after him, I think about what I just asked him. I’m planning on performing an enchantment that takes a lot of power. Apparently, I have more magic in me than the others, but do I have enough to accomplish this? I don’t know. I pass out if I use too much. It’ll most likely happen if I attempt this. The guys definitely aren’t going to like this.

  “Larkin, I need you to take me to the house.”

  I enter the kitchen after Tom and I see everyone look between the two of us. Lar
kin stands up and walks over to Tom. Without asking any questions, he transports him to the house.

  “What is he going to get?” David asks me.

  “The enchantment that Claire used to put on the house.” David and Colton both jump up and glare at me. Totally called that reaction.

  “You want to try that spell?” David asks.

  “Do you have a better idea?”

  “You can’t ask us to let you–” Colton starts.

  “I’m not asking, Colton. I have to do something. If I pass out, at least I can say I tried it.” I flinch and wait for him to start yelling at me. Instead, he clenches his fist and disappears. Where’d he go?

  “That happens. It’s ok,” Liam assures me. I turn back to where Colton was standing previously.

  “If I don’t at least try something, that vision could play out, Colton. Would you want to re-watch what you told me about earlier?” I pause though already know the answer. “No, you wouldn’t. I’ve already seen you die in a vision; I can’t watch it play out in real life too. I can’t. I have to try something.”

  Even if it’s the last thing I do, I have to do something.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Colton

  Deep breaths. Concentrate. I remember how things were an hour ago in the forest. She told me things I know she’s never told anyone else, and I did the same. I’d never talked about my parents’ deaths before. David and I never talked about it. We got over the initial surprise and filed everything away to never mention it again. Claire tried to get us to talk about it when she came to take care of us, but we never opened up. When she asked earlier about them, I realized that I wanted to tell someone. I needed to get it out, and there was no else I wanted to share it with than her.

  I’ve thought about that night so many times but never cried. I didn’t even cry when it happened because mom was trying to keep us calm. Afterwards, I just felt numb. So, I don’t know why I actually shed a few tears today. The way she was looking at me when I was telling the story….I don’t even know…she opened a door that I had kept locked for so long.

  The way she looked up at me when she saw my tears was so full of trust and…love. I know that she feels the same way I do. That moment confirmed it for me. When she leaned forward and kissed my jaw, I thought I was going to lose it. It never felt like this with anyone else. Everything inside me was on fire and felt like it was trying to find a way out of my body. My stomach was churning, and my heart was beating a mile a minute and increased with each movement she took toward me. She was going to kiss me. Ryanne was going to kiss me. She was going to cross that invisible line she’d put between us because of the vision. Then Adam and Natasha had to come and ruin everything. My ex-girlfriend and…

  Focus Colton. I need to think about positive things if I want to become visible again, not this. Everyone is staring at the area I was at before I went invisible. Closing my eyes, I picture Ryanne and me in the forest earlier. I was walking forward, trying to make sure the path was clear enough for her to walk since the girl literally trips over her own two feet, when she giggled and ran to the right. I didn’t like her diverting from the trail.

  She stopped next to a fallen tree trunk that was resting against the stump and climbed up onto it.

  “Are you sure that’s safe?” I asked her as she balanced herself on the edge.

  “Nope,” she mumbled as she slowly walked to the other side, arms outstretched on both sides for balance. “Seems sturdy enough.” She looked over at me and smiled.

  “What are you going to do?” I didn’t like the look on her face. That was the expression she gives me when she is going to do something that she knows I won’t like but is going to do it anyway. Because she has to keep things interesting apparently.

  When she turned around so the length of the log was behind her, I knew what she was going to do. She put her hands into the air and took a breath. “Ryanne, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She grinned at me once more before leaning her body forward a little. Taking another deep breath, she jumped backwards and flipped once and then went into another flip, this time her hands didn’t come down on the wood. She landed and extended her arms up and smiled down at me.

  “Ha, just like a balance beam.” I walked over to the edge of the log and extended a hand to help her get down. She looked down at my hand and quirked an eyebrow at me. Jumping down herself, she smiled up at me and said, “I don’t need any help, but thank you.” Walking past me, she went back to the trail and headed further into the woods

  I turned around and watched as she left. Smiling over her shoulder, she stopped and shouted, “You coming, slow poke? You got the long legs. Keep up mister.”

  I feel the invisibility slowly start to fade. I think about when I came back this morning and saw Ryanne and Emma covered in food, while singing and dancing. The smiles on both of their faces were infectious. Even Tom couldn’t stay mad at them when he saw the mess.

  I look down and see that I am completely visible again. I sit back down in the chair and look straight at Ryanne. “Look, I don’t like this, but I understand why you want to do it.” Ryanne’s large hazel eyes widen as she takes in what I just said.

  “You’re not going to yell at me and tell me that it’s a stupid decision. I could get hurt yada yada yada?” she asks in a shocked tone. No one was expecting me to comply so quickly.

  “Nope.”

  “Huh.” She sits back in the chair and crosses her arms. She is staring at me, but I don’t think she is actually looking at me. She’s here, but I can tell that her mind is somewhere else. She’s still wearing my jacket which looks incredibly good on her. The sleeves are way too long, so she has to push them up often and the bottom completely covers her shorts, only revealing a long length of leg. She jumps when Larkin transports in behind her with Tom. Tom hands her a piece of paper. She grabs it and reads through it.

  “What do I have to do with this?” she turns around in her chair and looks up at Tom, waiting for his instructions.

  Tom crouches down until he’s eyelevel with her. “I’m not sure exactly. Claire was the only one that was able to do this enchantment. I just know that while you’re reading it, you have to push your magic outward. You’ll know if the enchantment is complete. Claire said it felt like everything snapped together.”

  “So just read and push. Got it.”

  Why is it always Ryanne? Why does she always have to do this stuff? The rest of us can’t control our magic like that. I can feel the magic running through me, but I can’t grasp it and control it like Ryanne can. It is a part of me, firmly connected to my inner being. I understand that in this instance, she’s literally the only one of us that can do this, but I still don’t like it.

  “Do I have to read it more than once?” she asks.

  “I don’t know. You’ll be able to tell.”

  She bites her lip and looks back down at the paper. Standing up, she says, “Ok, let’s do this.”

  We all stand up, “Right now?” I ask her. I knew that she would want to do this soon, but I didn’t think it would be tonight.

  “There’s no better time than the present,” she says while walking into the living room. She stops and stands in the open area beside the couch. She turns and looks at Emma, “I feel like I’m in an episode of Charmed. Blessed be.”

  “We just need another girl around her, and we could be the Charmed ones,” she replies.

  “Can I be Piper?” Ryanne asks. “She can blow stuff up and I like making things magically explode. I wonder if I can freeze things…”

  “Only if I get to be Paige. She married Henry and he was just adorable,” Emma says.

  I’m not the only one glancing between Emma and Ryanne, confused at their Charmed conversation. “Don’t you want to sit down on something?” I ask, while stopping beside her.

  Shaking her head, she replies, “No, it’s easier to call my magic to me if I’m standing…I think. I really haven’t experimented yet, but I feel like I sh
ould be standing.” She glances back at me, “Just stand behind me in case this takes too much magic.” She’s asking me to catch her if she passes out from exhaustion. Because she could pass out from exhaustion. Again. Seeing the determination in her eyes though, I can’t say no. Agreeing to her, I move so that I’m standing behind her.

  “If anything goes wrong and I can’t control the magic, please knock me out, ok?” she asks Liam. He instantly shakes his head, refusing to do that. I know that he doesn’t like having to do that to anyone, especially her. “Please.” He looks away, but slowly nods. Like me, he can’t say no to something like that. If it comes to it, he knows that he’ll have to do it.

  Everyone takes a step back, except for me. Ryanne takes a deep breath and starts reading from the paper. I can feel her magic filling the air around us.

  Magic come forth, I call you to me,

  Protect our home from danger so evil cannot see

  Hide the lines through an invisible veil

  So those who happen upon will believe they failed

  Protect our home from those with eyes

  Who only seek for our demise.

  I call you to me during this time of need

  To protect those within from anger and greed

  Protect our home from danger so evil cannot see.

  Ryanne’s voice quiets as she starts to repeat the enchantment. The more she reads, the more her magic fills the air. I look over her and see everyone watching in wonder. We can feel the magic emanating from her. It feels like electrified silk skimming over our skin as it moves through the house. I look up toward the ceiling and gasp. Floating lights are twinkling above us. It looks like thousands of tiny fireflies have swarmed our home.

  The tiny lights are floating down the halls and up the stairs, filling in every available location. Hovering near the doors and windows, they brighten. I never saw any lights when Claire performed the enchantment. I tear my eyes away from the lights and back to Ryanne. She is still saying the enchantment over and over again, her body slightly swaying. I wrap my arms around her as she falls back into me. Her eyes are closed, but her mouth is moving. Though she isn’t saying it out loud, she is still thinking of the enchantment. I look up over at Tom to see if he knows what to do. It feels like she is vibrating in my arms because she’s still pushing magic out. Tom shakes his head, silently telling me that she isn’t done yet.