He laughed when I gasped in surprise, but he caught my wrists and pulled me into him again, draping my arms around his neck. His hands slid down my arms, over my ribs until he finally took my waist and again he was leading me in a rhythmic swaying dance. Now that we were face to face, I felt less self-conscious looking him in the eye and he stared right back. A corner of his mouth quirked up in a little smile and his eyes held a heat that made me want to swallow again. I brought my hands down to rest against his chest. It was strange not feeling a heartbeat under my fingers, even though I had never thought about that before when dancing with a boy.
I tried to push that thought out of my head, and when I looked up at Liam’s face again, I realized he was thinking completely different thoughts than I was at that moment. The honey amber of his eyes had bled to nearly black and the slant of his brow made me feel like we were behind closed doors and he could see much more than my sweater and jeans allowed. Heat flushed my cheeks and I hoped the shadows and flickering light of the nearby fire hid it well enough.
I knew what he wanted and what he was going to do when I stared back at him. Before I could muster up the courage to stop him, Liam bent his head closer to me, his lips parted, and in the next moment, they were brushing against mine. I felt the heat of the camp fire burn against my back with embers popping and cracking. A breeze swirled around the clearing. Liam tasted like Christmas, of nutmeg and warm sugar. My fingers curled into the fabric of his sweater and I pulled at him, pressing the curve of my body into his. His hands pressed into my back as our lips parted and his tongue slipped between my lips. Heat exploded inside of me and the tendrils of my ponytail lifted on the current of the breeze.
The kiss broke and I wasn’t sure which of us pulled away first, but I was still gripping him as if I’d fall if I let go. I kept my eyes closed, a sudden wave of embarrassment holding me to the spot. I felt Liam caress my cheek with the back of his hand as he whispered my name in that sweet rolling accent. My lips curled into a small smile. I liked hearing my name like that, and that simple act of him whispering my name washed any hint of embarrassment away. When I finally opened my eyes, I saw Liam gazing down at my face, the same small smile on his lips. I lifted on my toes, inching closer to him for another kiss. This was probably one of the stupidest things I had ever done in my life; Liam was a predator, very possibly a killer for all I knew, and I could practically hear Deb freaking out, but I just didn’t care. I could still taste the nutmeg on my lips and I knew I wanted more. The firelight flickered in his eyes again and he pressed my body closer to his, my fingers pressing into the hard panes of his chest. Our lips were dangerously close. And then I heard the screaming.
Chapter 17
I nearly ripped Liam’s shirt when I spun around, letting go of the fabric just in time. The trees looked as though someone had draped them in red and white Christmas lights as the embers began catching the dry bark and smoldering. The breeze around us carried the wayward embers higher and further away. I felt Liam’s fingers tense on my waist until his nails were biting into me.
“Shayna, I’m sorry,” he said when I turned a questioning face towards him.
“What?” I shook my head, not sure I had heard him correctly. Everyone was running and screaming, trying to get away from the now out of control campfire.
“I can’t stay.” Even as he said the words, I felt his fingers slipping away from my waist.
“What do you mean you can’t stay?” I reached out to catch his wrist, but he was already out of reach.
“Remember how you asked me which of the myths are true?” He was walking backwards as he spoke. “Well, the fire one is definitely true.”
“Liam, don’t.” I felt my throat start to close up as tears stung my eyes. I had no idea where Steven and Anthony had gotten to and Jodi was probably still way up by the cars. With all the chaos around me, I couldn’t focus my mind to find them. If Liam left, I would be all alone and my stalker was still somewhere out here.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered and I watched, wide-eyed, as he spun around and took off. He moved so fast he was barely a blur in the flickering light and shadows. I stood there, blinking in disbelief until someone screamed very close by. When I turned, I saw a dead branch falling from a tree. It was blazing like a torch and headed right for a guy frozen to the spot as he watched the deadly bow coming right for him.
“No!” I screamed, feeling the earthquake surge through my body, down into the ground, rushing to him until a wave of earth erupted under his feet and knocked him backwards. The boy fell on his ass, but when the flaming branch crashed to the ground, it missed him. The screaming girl rushed to him and scrambled to help him up. My power washed back through me, hitting me like a punch in the gut, and I stumbled backwards, catching myself on a tree. I pushed away quickly as a cloud of embers and smoldering black rained down on my head.
I tripped over my own feet as I batted at my hair, trying to put out whatever embers had found a home in my ponytail. When I opened my eyes again, I was surrounded by smoke and swirling ash. The screams and terror of the people around me were tearing away at my shields like teeth and claws. I spun around trying to get my bearings, but I had no idea which direction the car was in. People rushed by me in every direction, spinning me around as they blindly ran into me and everyone else. I felt the stronger heat of the campfire at my feet just before I fell into it and I dropped to my knees beside it.
There was a small gap of clear air close to the ground under the smoke. I sucked in a deep breath and tried not to cough it out. Closing my eyes, I drove my hands into the ground at the edge of the ring of stones meant to contain the fire. I reached deep into the ground, pushing farther and farther into the mountain until I finally found a source of water and drew it up to the surface, flooding the campfire until it was nothing but a pile of black ashes and smoke. When I drew my hands out of the Earth, they were red and pink with heat, angry and nearly blistered.
I pushed back up to my feet and my head swam, turning the hillside sideways for a few seconds before it righted again. People were still screaming and the smoke was still filling the air. It didn’t matter that the campfire was out; it had already done its damage. All of the trees and bushes around me were on fire. Flames were everywhere. The night air was getting too hot to breathe and I felt the soot and smoke clinging to my lungs, eating away at the soft tissue. I pulled the sleeve of my sweater over my hand and placed my hand over my mouth and nose. I had to get out of here. I had to find Jodi, Steven, and Anthony. I had to get us to the car and out of here.
No one seemed to know where they were going, but more people were running in one direction than any other, so I followed the crowd, praying they were headed for the parking lot. Trying to run without knocking anyone over, people were pressing into all sides of me. I could feel my mind reeling with their fear and confusion, so I tried to just focus on putting one foot in front of the other. It didn’t matter how many hands were touching me. It didn’t matter how many screams echoed in my head. It didn’t matter that I could feel the pain of the trees like knives cutting into my skin. I just needed to keep moving forward, out of the fire, out of the fear.
“Shayna!” someone screamed, pulling me out of my trance. I looked right and could see yellow blonde hair. Jodi. I pushed through the pressing crowd towards her. We threw our arms around each other. Jodi had been crying, either from the fear or from the smoke, I couldn’t tell which, but I felt her relief like a cool breeze on my sweaty face.
“Are you okay?” I asked, gripping her hands in mine.
“Yes,” she said. “Where are Steven and Anthony?”
“I don’t know,” I said, making Jodi’s blue eyes go round. “They took off almost right away when we walked over to the fire.”
“Shayna,” Jodi pleaded.
“I know,” I said, looking around us, but none of the frantic people were who we were looking for.
“We can’t leave them,” she said, her manicured nails biting in
to my palms.
“I know,” I agreed.
“Then let’s go!” she urged, trying to pull me back the way I had come.
“No, we need to check the car first,” I said, pulling against her.
“Shayna, this is no time to worry about your damn car!”
“I’m not worried about my damn car!” I shot back. “They may have already made it to the car.” I had her by both hands and was pulling with all my strength, but because we were almost identical in size, I couldn’t pull her with me until she heard what I said and agreed. Suddenly I was stumbling forward and nearly ate dirt when she stopped pulling against me.
“Sorry,” she said, but not like she totally meant it.
“Ugh! Just come on!” I yelled over everyone else and pulled her behind me. When we hit the pavement of the parking lot, we were slowed by the funneling of the crowd. People had been so frantic in getting into their cars and trying to get away, they had caused a log jam of bodies and cars. A few cars had even hit each other in the drivers’ haste.
We ran and walked and stumbled and were pushed on our way to the car, but when we finally did make it, Steven and Anthony were nowhere to be found.
“Sonnovabitch!” I swore, stamping my foot and throwing Jodi’s hand away from me.
“Where the hell are they?” Jodi screamed, spinning around, trying to pick Steven’s face out of the mob of people.
“Damnit, Steven!” I screamed, pounding on my car with my fists.
“That isn’t helping!” Jodi snapped at me.
“I know that!” I shot back.
I felt as though someone was watching me. I spun around hoping to find Steven or Anthony trying to get to us, but when I looked, I still couldn’t find them. Jodi pulled out her phone from her front pocked and tried to call Steven. I watched her, bouncing on my toes, waiting to see if Steven picked up. She swore, ripping her phone away from her ear and frantically tried to call Anthony next. When he didn’t answer Jodi and I turned and started forcing our way through the crowd, trying to get back into the gardens.
“I swear, when I get my hands on that idiot,” Jodi was yelling, “I’m going to beat the shit out of him!”
“Not if I get to him first,” I mumbled as someone slammed their shoulder into me, nearly knocking me down. Jodi’s hand shot out to catch me and keep me from falling. Once we were through the entrance again, not as many people were trying to get away, but the flames had grown and the air was almost too hot to breathe. Jodi coughed, doubling over and spitting on the ground. I pulled on my sleeve again to breathe through it and showed her so she would copy me.
We ran over the cracked paths back the way I had come. I was in front because I knew, vaguely, which way the boys had gone. But once we were past the soaking fire ring and down the path I had watched them walk down, I had no idea which way to go. I wanted to stop and ground and center so I could search for Steven, but we were basically standing in the middle of a fire and I couldn’t risk the time it would take. So instead, I just grabbed Jodi’s hand and chose a path and led the way down, praying my instincts were working.
The trail was flattened and leaves were crushed, making me think people had recently come this way. I tried to concentrate on Steven’s signature as we pounded down the trail. I don’t know if it was just me hoping, but I felt like this was the right way. At least until I came to the chain link fence. I screamed in frustration and I nearly crashed into it. I clawed at it with my free hand and rattled it, not caring about the heat of the metal biting into my palm.
“No, Shay, look,” Jodi said, pulling me to the left. At one of the posts, someone had pried the fence up and away from the ground. The fallen leaves and dirt were brushed away from the fence and it looked recent, like people had fled from the flames this way.
“Do you think Steven and Anthony went this way?” I looked at Jodi for help. I was leading us farther away from safety and deeper into the fire; I could risk my life, but not hers. I needed her help deciding whether or not to keep going.
Jodi stared at me, her blue eyes gone to steel as we stood with flames raging around us and black streaks on our faces until she finally nodded once and said, “Yes.”
We scrambled through the warped opening; I caught the back of my sweater on the edge, ripping it two or three inches as I pulled on it. The trees were different here than in the gardens; they were much taller and thinner, but already on fire, and huge embers and flaming leaves were falling all around us. Jodi pulled me out of the path of a falling branch at one point, but we pressed on.
Now there was no trail for us to follow, so we were running scared and blind, praying we would figure out where the hell they had gone and swearing up and down that we would kill them when we did finally find them.
“Shay,” Jodi yelled over the noise of snapping trees and roaring flames, “do you think I should try to clear some of the air?”
“No!” I yelled back at her. “Oxygen feeds fire; if you go moving the air currents, you’ll just fuel the flames!” It occurred to me that we could have spoken mind to mind so we wouldn’t have to scream at each other, but I was so consumed with fear and the need to find Steven that I don’t think I could’ve kept my mind clear to communicate. I had a feeling Jodi’s mind was the same snarled mess.
“Can’t you do something then?” she yelled, her words turning into a cough as she swallowed ash and smoke.
“I tried,” I yelled, ducking and squinting through the pressing dark. “It’s too out of control; I can only call up so much water.” She didn’t ask any more questions, and for that I was grateful.
Suddenly my foot went out from under me as I stepped onto a patch of loose dirt and I slipped and fell, pulling Jodi down with me. We slid, the path dropping off suddenly. Twigs and rocks bit and cut into us as we tumbled down. I felt the heat of the fire all around me, but I had no idea which way was up and had to close my eyes against the debris. I could hear Jodi screaming and swearing somewhere nearby and only the shock of the fall kept me from screaming with her.
The angle of the hill cut dramatically and I pitched forward. For one heart stopping moment, I felt suspended in the air before I came crashing down, landing hard on my left shoulder. Pain burst through me, ripping a scream from my throat. I both heard and felt Jodi land next to me, her heel missing my head by mere inches. But she was luckier than me; she landed on her back and only had the wind knocked from her.
The pain was white and blinding. I didn’t even care at that moment if the flames got me, it couldn’t be any worse than what coursed through me right then. I realized I must have been screaming because Jodi was leaning over me suddenly, fear and panic clear in her face. She was saying something to me, but I couldn’t hear her over my own screams and the chaos in my mind. I saw her hand rear back before she slapped me. I felt the sting, but didn’t hear it. The shock of it shut me up. I could feel the tears streaming down the sides of my face.
“Shay, what’s wrong?” Jodi asked, probably not for the first time.
“My shoulder!” I screamed, arching my back involuntarily. I wanted nothing more than to sink into the ground and let the Earth take me and eat the pain away. I even felt the ground giving under my erratic command.
“No!” Jodi screamed, gripping my shoulders and pulling back, making me cry out again and try to strike her with my one good arm. “Stop it, Terra!” she screamed. But I could barely hear her over the roar of my blood and panic in my ears. She was saying she could fix it, that much I got, but I couldn’t focus on her voice anymore and just gave over the pain.
I felt her grab my left hand and pick it up as she stood. I was screaming wordlessly, begging her to just leave it and let me die right here, but she wouldn’t. My eyes were pressed tightly closed, so I have no idea what she did, but I felt some pressure and my arm was twisted. There was a sickening pop and a pain that made me see spots and I think I might’ve even lost consciousness for a few moments. But when I opened my eyes again, the pain in my shoulder
was still there, but I wasn’t ready to die now.
Jodi hovered over my face and had fresh tears on her face that was smudged with black where she had tried to wipe them away. When she saw me open my eyes, she sobbed and doubled over, her forehead pressed to mine. But her relief was short lived; the fire was raging around us and we had to move.
“Fae,” I croaked, “we’ve gotta to move.” The trees around us popped and crackled to underscore my words. I tried to push up from the ground, but my arm wasn’t working right yet and I cried out as I fell back.
“Easy,” Jodi said, grabbing my good hand to help me up. “It’s going to be a while before you can use that the same way again.”
“How did you know how to do that?” I asked once I was standing. I was shaking a little and still crying, but the pain in my shoulder was fading fast.
“When we moved back to my grandma’s, my sister dislocated her shoulder in an accident,” Jodi explained. “Ever since, it pops out all the time, so dad showed me and my other sister how to fix it in case he wasn’t around.”
“Oh, no,” I moaned, feeling my stomach lurch at the idea of my shoulder just popping out of the socket from now on. “I’m sorry I asked.” I shook my head and started moving again. The smoke was getting too thick to see through and in a few steps Jodi and I started stumbling over things.
“What the hell!” Jodi cursed when she fell to her knees for second time in less than ten feet. When I turned back to help her, I saw the air around her swirling, pushing and clearing away the smoke.
“Fae, no!” I yelled, watching the moving air lift and scatter smoldering leaves and branches.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t freaking see!” Jodi said as she stood up. I blinked in the clear air. “Well no wonder,” she said as she kicked at a low, decorative stone bench.
“Oh god,” I said, spinning slowly on my heel to look around us.
Elemental Series Omnibus Edition Books 1-4 Page 104
