I tried setting two objects next to each other in the fireplace and setting fire to one without burning the other. Unfortunately, this was either not possible or was something I simply could not master. Even when the objects were on opposite ends of the fireplace, they both ignited almost simultaneously. I couldn’t focus my energy accurately enough. Until I had the book back, I really didn’t know what was possible and what was impossible in regards to my gifts.
As July approached, Kilwin’s had finally found reliable help, other than me. I worked during the heat of the day on the Fourth of July. A few hours before dusk and firework time, Zach strolled into the store and right up to Dan. I was busy scooping my two-hundredth or so ice cream cone of the day, so I couldn’t get over to them to see what was going on.
“Come on, Jade,” Zach called to me as my customer strolled out of the store with a three-tier ice cream cone that would melt before he could eat the top tier.
“What are you talking about Zach? I have to work.” I stared at Dan now. He just smiled and shooed me off with a wave of his hand.
“I’ve arranged your release,” Zach beamed, “You’ve been working your butt off all summer. You deserve a break on the Holiday at least, and Dan agrees. So drop the apron, and let’s go before he changes his mind.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” I threw my apron in the corner of the store, just barely getting it on the hook it belonged on, and took off with Zach. My mysterious friend sat outside the store eating a slice of pizza. I looked at her for only a moment in which I swear she winked at me, and then I turned to Zach. I knew he would have big plans either hanging out with his friends or with his family. I knew he wanted me to join him, but I could only think of one thing. It was the Fourth of July and almost dusk. Everyone had plans. Everyone was busy. There was only one place I should be, and it did not involve a party.
“Zach,” I tried to explain, but he had my hand and was dragging me towards the parking garage a few blocks away.
“There’s this great party going on down at the beach. I want you to meet someone.”
Oh, God. Zach was trying to set me up. This was just not the right time. Zach continued to drag me off, despite my protests, and I finally gave in at least for the moment. As soon as we were at this party, I could sneak off. Of course, I would have to take Zach’s car, but he would have friends there. He’d be fine without me for a while. Then I could just slip right back into the party like nothing happened. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a perfect plan. It seemed like the best shot I would have all summer of going on my little treasure hunt.
Zach had parked illegally on a side street in front of someone’s house. With all of the people filling the streets of St. Augustine, he hardly risked getting a ticket. There were just too many cars parked illegally to count. We hopped into his dad’s jeep—the Camaro simply was not a beach car—and crept towards the beach. Zach weaved in and out of traffic as if he drove in a crowded city everyday.
By the time we got to the beach, they were not letting any more cars on. We had to park a few blocks away and hike in. Zach grabbed my hand as we made our way to the beach. He wasn’t making a pass; he just didn’t want to lose me, but something felt off when our hands touched. I looked at Zach carefully for the first time that night. His aura, usually a kind of bluish green color and vibrant, glowed very dull with a hint of gray. He babbled on and on about this guy I needed to meet, but he never mentioned the guy’s name, and he had never mentioned me meeting any of his friends as a hook up before this. He really did treat me like a sister, and in that respect, there was no guy out there who would ever be good enough for me, least of all any of his friends. Me dating one of his friends would be too awkward for him.
I started to pull back, but Zach kept pressing forward, dragging me behind him. I let go of his hand, and he stopped for a moment.
“Jade, I have to get back to the party. C’mon. You need to meet him.” This didn’t even sound like Zach, but he was back at my side, tugging at my hand. I planted my feet as solidly in the sandy ground as I could. We were steps away from the beach, and I didn’t know how close to the beach entrance this particular party or trap or whatever it was would be.
“Zach,” I started cautiously, “Who is this guy that you want me to meet?”
That stopped him for a moment. He looked at me as if he were a head trauma patient who had just realized he could not remember his own birth date. It only took a second for him to shake the feeling and revert back to his practically zombified self.
“I don’t know his name, Jade,” he told me as if this were perfectly normal, “but you have to meet him.”
“I don’t think I want to meet him, Zach. Let’s go somewhere else.” I tried to think through a plan. If I got back to the book, maybe I could find a way, some spell of my mother’s, to break Zach of this trance. But what if there was no spell in the book. I couldn’t let my friend live his life without the full use of his brain. I needed to know who I was up against. Was there a Shadow Ruler waiting to destroy me on the beach? Would Zach’s trance break if he fulfilled his mission or would the Shadow Ruler destroy him, too? My being here this summer had obviously put Zach and his family in danger. I could get the book and leave. I would have to get the book and leave, but I had to figure out what to do about Zach’s current condition first. As it turned out, he made that decision for me.
“Let’s go, Zach,” I demanded and tugged on his hand with all my strength, but this time it was his turn to lock his feet in the sand.
“If you won’t come with me,” he informed me, “I need to go and tell him you won’t be there.” Zach let go of my hand and began to walk off on the beach. Panic ran through me. Zach could not go and tell a Shadow Ruler he had failed. I didn’t know what would happen, but it would not be good. I forced myself to chase after him.
“Please, Zach,” I pleaded, practically with tears in my eyes, “Let’s go somewhere else. Let’s go find your parents. Let’s go for a drive. Please don’t go to this party.” With dreaded certainty that something awful was about to happen, I relented my useless pleas and fell in step just a little behind Zach.
“You’re going to come meet him?” he asked me, with obvious pleasure in his voice.
“Yes,” I conceded, “I’ll come meet him.” What else could I do? I couldn’t let my friend walk into a trap unknowingly without me. Maybe I could protect him as a firestarter, but I would have to be with him to offer that protection.
We walked slowly through the sand towards a party around a pile of wood built up for a bonfire once the sun finished setting behind us. A figure stood, arms crossed, by the ring of the bonfire pit. I took a deep breath. I didn’t know what I would actually be able to do with this many people so close. It reminded me of the two pieces of paper in the fireplace. If I set the Shadow Ruler on fire, how many people near him would also burst into flame?
I braced myself for whatever was about to come as we approached the figure—Zach full of excitement for fulfilling his duty and me full of anxiety. As we got closer, I could make out the distinct smirk on his face.
“Thanks, Zach,” Chase smiled in our direction.
“What? Oh, yeah, no problem, man,” Zach answered. Suddenly, his aura lost the gray hue, and Zach returned to normal. Danger averted. Sort of. I could feel the heat burning in my head. I had worked myself up so much I didn’t know if I could cool down without releasing all of it. My anger at Chase for messing with my friend and scaring me into thinking I had been found by a Shadow Ruler boiled beneath my skin. Still, Chase didn’t deserve to be incinerated—even if he was a complete jerk.
“Are you okay, Jade?” Zach asked with genuine concern in his voice. I realized both he and Chase were staring at me. I couldn’t stop shaking. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t contain the heat within me. I could feel my skin burning up, turning red, and I felt certain it would start blistering soon from the heat. Zach touched my arm and jumped back.
/> “You’re burning up, and you really don’t look well. I think I should take you home.” That must have clued Chase in to what was going on. He sprung into action in an instant.
Before I knew it, Chase stood next to me and asked Zach to go get me a water from the cooler. Zach turned around, confused but obedient. Chase put his hands on my shoulders and guided me towards the bonfire pit where we squatted down in the sand. He began whispering in my ear.
“You have to let this out or it is going to kill you and maybe the rest of us. Focus on the bottom of the bonfire. Really focus. Block everything else out. When you can’t see anything else, then you can let it go.”
I couldn’t stop thinking about all of the people around me.
“What about all these people? Even if I don’t light anyone on fire, they’re going to see,” I cried without tears because the water evaporated the instant it hit my burning cheek.
Chase rubbed my shoulders. I felt like I had the worst sunburn in the history of sunburns, but it still calmed me.
“You are not going to set anyone on fire. I have a lighter in my hand. They will think I started it. No one is looking at you. All you need to do is focus,” Chase kept whispering to me, assuring me this would work out.
I focused on the base of the bonfire pit until everything else faded into blackness around me. I could only see the twigs and sticks and logs and sand. I let go.
The bonfire exploded into flame; it knocked Chase and me about two feet backwards. The heat was gone. As I closed my eyes, I could feel large drops of rain begin to surround me. I let the water wash over me and was only somewhat aware when Chase and Zach moved me to the Jeep.
Chapter 9
I woke up with Zach swerving in and out of traffic again and Chase holding me in the back of the Jeep. Zach babbled away as he drove; he obviously did not do well under pressure.
“Oh my God! The lightning struck so close to both of you! Are you sure she’s still breathing? We’ve got to get to the hospital,” the panic streamed from Zach like a broken soda fountain. I turned my head and whispered to Chase. I had to get the story straight before I let Zach know I had joined the land of the conscious again.
“Lightning? What is he talking about?” I whispered with as little movement as possible.
Chase leaned down and spoke directly into my ear.
“They think lightning caused the fire. Very lucky actually that the storm started up at the same time as your little incident.” The way he said lucky sounded like he thought differently, but it wasn’t an argument I had time for. I pushed myself up and away from Chase.
“Zach, I’m alright,” I said, trying not to startle my would-be rescuer. He swerved the Jeep and almost hit another car when I spoke, but he did avoid getting into an actual accident. I didn’t need to turn around to know my companion’s lips were in the middle of an incantation. The car we almost hit moved to just the right spot even though the driver’s eyes were closed as he prepared for an impact that didn’t come. Zach slowed the Jeep down.
“Jade? Oh my God! I thought you were dead! You scared the shit out of me!”
“Sorry about that,” I muttered, not really sure how to explain this and get what I wanted, which was to get out of the Jeep and find a way to my old house before its current occupants could return.
“We need to get you to a hospital,” Zach said matter-of-factly. I could hear Chase chuckling behind me.
“Zach, I’m fine. I don’t need to get to a hospital. I actually have somewhere I need to be. Do you think you could drop me off?” I tried to sound as cheerful as possible. I didn’t have a spell that could make Zach do what I wanted, not that I would mess with my friend’s mind the way Chase had.
“Jade,” Zach started with a tone of authority that almost made me give up my quest, “You were just hit by lightning. You are lucky to be alive, but you must be delirious. You’re crazy if you think I’m going to take you anywhere but the hospital.”
If this had been any other night, I would have been satisfied with making Zach happy. I could have gone to the hospital, let them tell Zach I was fine, and called it a night. The matter of getting my family book pressed upon me more heavily than any other need.
“Zach, I’m fine. Really. I was just shocked.” Damn. Wrong choice of words. “I mean, I was just surprised by what happened. I didn’t get hit by lightning. So, either you can head back over the Bridge of Lions or you can turn towards the hospital, but I will get out my first opportunity if you aren’t going to take me where I want to go.” There. I didn’t need to use a spell. I could bend Zach to my will the normal way, with logic and threats.
“I don’t know. I’d feel much better if we just went to the hospital.”
I braced myself with one hand on the back of Zach’s seat and grabbed the roll bar on the jeep with my other hand. I stood up a bit too quickly and had to resist the urge to give in to the dizzying feeling that washed over me as the wind whipped through my hair in the moving vehicle. Zach looked over his shoulder and saw me standing, getting ready to leap out the minute he was forced to slow down by the traffic or a red light.
“Damn it,” Zach murmured under his breath. I could tell he was giving in. He pulled out of the turn lane and headed straight towards the bridge and away from the hospital. As I sat down, I looked at Chase who was shaking his head, but I just smiled. It was my turn to smirk.
The Jeep was still wet from the rain, but the rain itself had stopped—a quick Florida thunderstorm, but enough to postpone the fireworks. Some people would be heading home for the evening already, giving up on the night since the highlight of fireworks in the summer sky had been removed. Others would stay out and enjoy the festivities even without the grand finale. I hoped the people who were living in the little brick house on Magnolia Avenue fell into the second category.
I shivered a little. The brief rain soaked my clothing, but the ride in the Jeep in the warm summer air worked towards drying them while the humidity worked towards maintaining a damp, sticky feeling. More than anything, I anxiously thought about getting to that house. This might be my only opportunity for the rest of the summer.
As we got closer to the bridge, there was a steady stream of cars already leaving. The traffic into the historic district was only slightly faster than the traffic exiting. Still, we made better progress in the Jeep than I would have made on foot had I gotten out when I first threatened to do so.
“Which way?” Zach asked as the bridge dumped us out into a river of cars and people.
“Right,” I told Zach. I would have to get out and walk soon. I wanted to get a bit closer, to lessen the chance I would run into the people who lived in the house, but I also didn’t want Zach to know what I was doing. We crept past the row of restaurants and horses hooked to carriages waiting for someone to pay the exorbitant rate of a romantic buggy ride through town. We passed the fort, people walking in and out on one of the few nights it is open after dark. A group of tourists in colorful ponchos stood gathered around a woman in period clothing on our right. I caught a bit she was rehearsing about witches. I could tell from the way her amber aura glowed she probably was a real witch, but I am sure none of the plastic parka people would have believed it.
As we approached Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum, the traffic slowed from creeping to dying on the sidewalk. Small, tired children were passing us on foot. I knew a lost cause when I saw one. This was as far as it made sense for me to continue the ride in my chariot. I grabbed the roll bar again and swung into the street. Walking around the Jeep, I called to Zach.
“Thanks for the ride, Zach. I’ll see you at home later.” Zach looked completely helpless. I knew he wanted to follow me, worried I might really have some pressing medical issue and die from the lightning strike on a back street of St. Augustine in the middle of the night alone. Still, he couldn’t just abandon his father’s Jeep in the middle of the road. Parked cars lined the side of the road. There was nowhere for him to go. He would have to trust
I would be okay. To my surprise, it was Chase’s voice I heard as I walked briskly away from the traffic and down the sidewalk.
“Don’t worry, man. I’ll go with her,” he reassured Zach. In a moment, Chase appeared next to me, keeping pace with my determined stride.
“So, where are we going?” Chase grinned.
“None of your damn business,” I chastised him. “You are not coming with me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. See, I already told your friend I would go with you, so I really don’t have a choice at this point. I can’t break that promise.”
Chase was more infuriating than he was gorgeous. Even though I would certainly appreciate a handsome companion on any other night, Chase was the exception to that rule. I absolutely did not want him coming with me. As if he could read my mind, Chase reiterated the point that I was not going to shake him.
“You can tell me where you are going or I can figure it out when we get there, but either way, I will be accompanying you tonight.”
I stopped on the sidewalk, exasperated. I turned to face Chase, who just grinned impishly at me. Everything about this circumstance seemed to amuse him. Unfortunately for him, I was not in the business of amusing people. I wasn’t interested in entertaining him, but I also couldn’t threaten to incinerate him. For one, he probably knew I didn’t really want to hurt him. Besides, he had really helped me out at the beach. Of course, I would have never been in the situation at the beach if he hadn’t interfered with Zach. I could feel the heat starting to rise within me. I quickly pushed it back down.
“Chase,” I finally started, “what are you doing here?”
“I’m checking up on you.” He no longer sounded amused, but very serious and a little cocky. This was the Chase who left me fuming on the porch.
“I don’t need checking up on, and I certainly don’t need you messing with my friend’s head. I will be fine on my own for the rest of the evening. Please leave me alone.” I tried to pull this off with the same air of arrogance Chase exuded, but I failed miserably. For one, I wasn’t really certain that doing this alone tonight, after all of the energy I spent on my little fire, was my most brilliant decision. I felt a bit light-headed, but I did my best to hold my own. I stood facing Chase like a puffed up rooster, ready to fight. Then a crowd of children pushed past us on the sidewalk, shoving their way through the crowd, and I embarrassingly lost my balance. Chase caught me and set me right on the sidewalk again as the children hurried on, and I heard a frenzied mother calling out a hurried apology as she continued after the pack.
Flames in the Midst (The Jade Hale Series) Page 12
