Fire Dancer

by Catherine Jones Payne

  The rest of the wand fell to the ground with a thud.

  I stared at it, my face flushing, my heart pounding. What had just happened? Had I somehow caused the explosion with magecraft? I searched my memory. Nay. I was sure I hadn’t manipulated the fire in any way. Had—

  Oh.

  “Kyla!” Breanna shrieked, flying to my side. “Are you okay?”

  Every eye in the tent was on me. I didn’t respond. The anger pulsing through me was too intense.

  Deirdre swept toward me, her skirt rustling. “Are you alright, dear?” she asked, grabbing me by the shoulders.

  “Aye . . .” I said slowly, looking over her shoulder at Shayla.

  She smirked back at me and gave a nonchalant shrug.

  Treacherous little snake.

  She’d tampered with the prop. Sabotaged me out in the open.

  Shivers overcame me, and I closed my eyes and reached for Breanna’s hand. The explosion was small. It could have been catastrophic, but really, my injuries were unlikely to have been severe, even if it had erupted in my hand.

  But they might have been enough to keep me out of the audition.

  Or worse.

  One thing was clear. Shayla was determined to be Phoenix. And she was willing to eliminate the competition by any means necessary.

  But I wouldn’t let her.

  My eyes snapped open again, and I stepped backward. “Aye,” I said. “I’m alright.”

  Breanna studied me. “I’ve never seen a malfunction like that. Do you want to go home and rest? You’ve had a shock.”

  I shook my head fiercely. “I’m here to dance. I’m not going to let that stop me.”

  Deirdre’s eyes narrowed. “Very well. Everyone, let’s get this mess cleaned up.”

  I shrugged away from them and set to work gathering the nearest pieces of shrapnel.

  When I looked up again, my eyes met Shayla’s.

  Two could play this game.

  If Shayla would win at any cost, so would I.

  Not that I’d hurt her. Or even sabotage her. But I did know magecraft. And it wasn’t against the rules to use it in a dance. I just had to work it in with enough subtlety that Deirdre and the council wouldn’t notice.

  If Shayla wanted so badly to see me lose, I’d make sure that I danced perfectly. And I’d let the flourishes of magecraft carry me to victory.

  Chapter Twelve

  The days passed in an exhausting rhythm of dance practice, interspersed with brief, stolen moments with Nolan. By the time the seventh morning—and my next day off—arrived, I was beyond exhausted.

  I just needed to survive two more weeks, to the audition. And then give the performance of my life.

  But today, I wouldn’t even think about dancing. Today, I was going to meet Nolan’s family.

  My stomach tingled. Nolan had talked about his family in bits and pieces over the years. I knew he had two brothers and a younger sister. His mama and baby brother had been killed in an accident when he was quite small—she’d been gone for a couple of years when we met at age seven in the crowded fire festival.

  I’d told him all about Mama and Papa and Breanna and life among the Fintan. But he’d always been vague on details of his family. It had bothered me a little, but when I’d pushed it once, he’d lost his temper. Yelled that he didn’t want to talk about it. Later he’d told me that he was there when his mama died. Saw her and the little one burn to death. And that those weren’t memories he wanted to relive.

  I couldn’t imagine such pain.

  I laced up my boots and pulled on a demure skirt that fell in gauzy waves to the ground. Then I selected a loose, flowing top and clasped on a silver necklace to complement the outfit. At last, I tugged a comb through my long red hair and added a touch of black mascara to darken my lashes.

  Perfect.

  I so wanted them to like me. Especially his sister. With a final glance in my small, handheld mirror, I pushed out of my small room and crossed the main tent, launching into the open air with a giggle.

  Thank the eternal flame Mama wasn’t here to question where I was spending the day. She was off with Breanna, making clothes for the baby. I felt so free.

  I looked for Papa as I left, but he was nowhere to be seen. Probably in the shop, working on repairs to the festival torches. I thought about stopping in to say goodbye, but a glance at the clock tower in the center of camp warned me I’d be late if I didn’t hurry.

  I jogged down to the creek, to our usual meeting spot among the trees. Nolan would pick me up there, and we’d walk to his family’s farm, which had been passed down to them from his mama’s family. His older brother and younger sister ran the day-to-day of it, he’d said, with the help of two hired earth wizards. Nolan and his other brother and their papa had their share of farm chores but put their elemental fire to use running a smithy. But Nolan still loved the farm. Said, in a less guarded moment, that it reminded him of his mama. I couldn’t wait to see it.

  Nolan was waiting on the mossy rock when I arrived, and he turned around at the sound of my footsteps. His eyes lit up. “You look beautiful,” he said.

  I blushed. “Thank you.” I drew near and batted at an out-of-place strand of hair that stuck out from his shaggy mane. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

  “Come on,” he said. “We’re all going boating on the lake first, and then we’ll eat at the farm.”

  Boating?

  Nerves fluttered in my stomach. I’d never really been in a boat before, and I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to. Give me a roaring fire any day. Or the cascading water of a creek or mountain stream. But to be out on a piece of wood in the middle of a vast lake?

  I swallowed. But I didn’t want to look fearful in front of Nolan’s family, so I jutted my chin upward. “Let’s go.”

  He grabbed my hand, and we followed the creek downstream for a couple of miles, my apprehension building with every step. We broke from the trees where the creek fed into a vast, blue lake, its surface as smooth as a glassy mirror. On the shore in the distance, three men and a girl stood next to two small boats.

  This is it. Time to meet Nolan’s family.

  “Are they going to like me?” I murmured.

  “Of course,” he said. “My papa was very impressed with you.”

  “But you said he seemed unsure,” I said.

  Nolan’s sandaled feet squelched in the mud. “I think he wasn’t quite sure about me spending so much time with a Fintan fire dancer, but he told me more than once that he’d enjoyed getting to meet you. In his words, ‘She seems like a fine young woman.’ Don’t worry.”

  Too late for that.

  We took off, walking along the bank toward the Malones. “What should I talk to your sister about?” I asked, and I hardly recognized my strangled voice.

  With a little laugh, he said, “Anything you’d like. I’m sure she’ll want to hear about what it’s like to be a fire dancer. She loves going to the festival.”

  “But I don’t want her to think I just like to talk about myself. What’s she interested in?”

  He shrugged. “She’s fourteen. She likes phoenixflies and kittens and the boy on the neighboring farm.”

  I pursed my lips at his condescending tone. “Well, I can’t talk to her about boys,” I snapped. “Because she’s your sister, and we’re . . . well, I don’t know what we are.”

  He laughed and slung his arm around me. “Just relax. It’s going to be great.”

  Easy for him to say.

  After a few more steps, I gave a shy wave at his family.

  The boys called out to us, while Nolan’s papa reached into the boat for something. Nolan’s sister was looking in our direction, too, and I couldn’t quite read the expression on her face.

  Would she like me? Was she as nervous to meet me as I was to meet her?

  The gravel crunched beneath my boots as we approached. Nolan removed his arm from my shoulders and took my hand.

  “Kyla,” he said, “I’d
like to introduce my family. You already know my papa, Dallan. These are my brothers, Aidan and Hogan, and my sister, Zaira.”

  I curtsied. “I’m so pleased to meet all of you.” When I came up out of the curtsy, my gaze rested on his brothers for the first time, and I startled.

  One of them was bearded, with a thinner nose and darker hair than Nolan’s. Perhaps a couple years older. But one of them seemed to be Nolan himself standing in front of me. I looked between them. It was like seeing Nolan in a mirror.

  Nolan chuckled, “Aidan’s my twin. We’re identical.”

  “Your twin?”

  A flash of anger wormed its way through me. I’d known Nolan for almost ten years, and he’d never mentioned an identical twin?

  Did I know him at all?

  But I locked the thought away to consider later. I wouldn’t quarrel with him in front of his family.

  I smiled at Aidan and Hogan and turned to Zaira. “I’m so excited to meet you,” I said. “Here, I brought you a gift.” From the pouch tied around my waist, I pulled out a thin gold chain with a pendant of garnet and ruby and citrine and fire opal. A pendant of fire. I stepped forward and held it outstretched in my cupped hand.

  She moved toward me, and her eyes widened as she took it. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed. She looked up at me, and in her eyes, I read the same shyness I felt.

  I wasn’t accustomed to the experience of shyness. But I so wanted to make a good impression.

  “Will you help me put it on?” she asked. She turned around and tucked her dark hair to the side, and I threaded the chain around her neck and clasped it for her. She clutched the pendant in her fingers and looked down at it as she turned around and faced me.

  “Thank you.” She pulled me into a hug.

  That was a relief.

  “Hey, now,” Hogan said in a voice deeper than Nolan’s. “No gift for me?”

  I looked up at him, my eyes wide. But he was grinning.

  Nolan leaned forward and punched Hogan in the arm. “Hey, now, no teasing.”

  Hogan guffawed. “Shouldn’t have brought her here if she can’t handle teasing.”

  I crossed my arms. “I can handle teasing.”

  “Ooooh,” crowed Hogan and Aidan in unison.

  Hogan nodded at me. “I like you, Kyla girl.”

  Nolan’s papa cleared his throat. “Shall we be off?”

  I curtsied toward him. Even though I’d already curtsied once. “Thank you so much for having me on your family outing,” I said.

  He gave me a gentle smile. “We’re very pleased to have you with us, my dear. Come on. Let’s get in the boats. Nolan, why don’t you and Kyla take Zaira in one, and your brothers and I will go in the other?”

  I tried to maintain a neutral expression as I stepped toward the boat that Nolan’s papa was pushing into the water. Zaira scampered in first, and then Nolan stepped up to its side and held out his hand to help me in. I took it and stared at the boat. Nolan’s papa still held it steady.

  “Just step in,” Nolan said.

  I willed myself forward, my heart pounding. What was I so afraid of? The water was just ankle-deep here.

  But I didn’t want to fall in and look stupid in front of Nolan’s family.

  I lunged at the boat, leaping to clear the edge, and ended up face-first in the bottom, the whole vessel rocking wildly. Zaira shrieked. Water spilled over the edge and dampened my skirt. I sat up, trying to keep my face serene and dignified, but Nolan and his brothers were doubled over laughing.

  “It wasn’t that funny,” I muttered.

  “You . . . should see . . . your face,” Nolan managed.

  I glanced over at his papa and saw that he, too, was struggling to maintain a serious expression, so I turned around and half crawled to a board that seemed to form a seat. Smoothing my wet skirt, I sat and faced Zaira. She smiled at me, but it seemed sympathetic, not like she was making fun of me.

  Stupid menfolk.

  Nolan scampered into the boat behind me, two oars in tow. He tossed one to Zaira, and she caught it in midair.

  “I can help paddle,” I said.

  Nolan waved me off. “Get used to riding first. We’ll teach you how to paddle once you’re comfortable on the water.”

  Zaira tilted her head. “Are you not in boats often?”

  I shuffled a hand through my hair. “I’ve never been in one,” I said. “Well, I guess I was in one when I was about ten. When the Fintan did a tour in Napoli. But it was much bigger than this one. I could hardly tell I was on the water at all.”

  The boat was gliding out onto the pristine lake now, sending ripples out in every direction. When I glanced back at the shore, Nolan’s papa and brothers were climbing into their boat, the whole forest stretching out behind them like a living emerald.

  “We come out here whenever the weather’s nice,” said Zaira. “Papa says my mama loved water, and she taught him to love it too.”

  I hazarded a glance behind me at Nolan and then focused back on Zaira. “What was your mama like?”

  She shrugged and looked down at the bottom of the boat. “I don’t really remember much about her. She had dark hair, like Hogan and me. She sang a lot. Her papa was an earth wizard and her mama a water witch. So even though she was bonded to earth, she still loved the lake.”

  Of course Zaira wouldn’t remember. She was two years younger than Nolan. She must have been two or three when their mama died.

  “I’m sorry for your loss,” I murmured.

  She looked back up at me, her eyes soft. “I’m sure the boys have a harder time with it. They were old enough to really remember her.”

  I met her gaze. “That doesn’t make your grief any less real.”

  She blinked quickly. “Thank you for saying that.”

  So much for small talk. Time to move to a safer topic of conversation. And fast. “So, what do you love about being on the water?”

  I decidedly did not love being on the water. The rocking of the boat was making me nauseated, and I tried hard not to peer into the blue depths below me, imagining how far down it went. I could swim, but not very well.

  The other boat pulled even with ours.

  Zaira leaned back and stared up at the clear blue sky. “It’s peaceful,” she said. “We’re far away from everything that can trouble us.”

  “What about you, Kyla?” asked Nolan’s papa from the other boat. “How do you like the water?”

  Birdsong echoed from the forest. I tried to find a balance between truth and tact. “It’s lovely. I think it’ll take some getting used to.”

  His laugh rang out over the still lake. “Well, you’re Fintan. Fire never did like water.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  By the time we pulled the boats ashore, I’d gotten a little more comfortable on the vast expanse of water.

  I’d also gotten hungry.

  “Come on.” Zaira grabbed my hands and pulled me out of the boat and onto the muddy beach. “We’re a half mile from home.”

  Nolan’s papa waved us off. “Go on, children. Hogan and I will take care of the boats.”

  Zaira led us down a quiet forest trail, and Aidan and Nolan took up the rear. The air smelled fresh and clean, and every so often, a toad jumped across the path and disappeared into the underbrush.

  “So,” Aidan said as he came alongside me, “Nolan didn’t tell you about me? Nolan, I’m hurt!” He clutched his hand to his chest and staggered forward dramatically, like his heart was cracking in two.

  I chuckled, but another twinge of annoyance shot through me. “Nay, he didn’t,” I said. “And he ought to be roundly flogged for it if you ask me.”

  Nolan hung his head in mock shame, but I thought I detected a little bit of genuine regret in his eyes. “I told you I had brothers!”

  “What about me?” Zaira asked, threading her arm through mine.

  I grinned at her, pleased at how quickly she’d grown comfortable with me. “Aye, he did mention a younger sister.�
��

  She stuck her tongue out at Aidan. “He loves me more.”

  Aidan gave chase, and Zaira let go of my arm and bolted into the forest, shrieking.

  Nolan padded forward until he was walking alongside me. “You doing okay?”

  I nodded. “We’ll have things to talk about later.”

  “I guess that means I’m in trouble?”

  “It means I want to know why you’ve told me this little about your life when we’ve known each other so long.” I stopped and turned toward him underneath the long, sloping branches of the cedar trees. “Save Breanna, you’re my best friend. I want you to feel like you can trust me. It hurts that there’s so much I don’t know.”

  His shoulders slumped. “I do trust you. That’s why I brought you to see them. It’s just . . .”

  “Just what?” I crossed my arms. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. I really did. But an ugly, choking sort of feeling spread through my chest whenever I thought about how he’d never told me he had an identical twin.

  He heaved a sigh. “Papa doesn’t really trust the Fintan. Not the council, anyway. He only grudgingly started letting us go to the festival. He’s okay with it now, but the day we met, I’d stolen a coin from his purse to buy my ticket. And he’s never so relieved as when the clan moves out of Orivesi to tour another county.”

  Blood raced in my ears. What was he saying?

  “So, when we were kids, the idea of bringing my two worlds together . . . terrified me. I was afraid of what I would see in Papa’s eyes if I told him my best friend was a beautiful Fintan girl. As I’ve gotten older, I think I understand him better. He’s . . . not afraid of the Fintan. He just knows that fire runs in our veins and we have to pretend that it doesn’t, because we’re outsiders. He’s seen firsthand the heartbreak of leaving to make a new life outside the clan. So he hoped to be able to keep us away from the Fintan. But I had a mind of my own, and it’s too late to change that.”