Ignite (Solar Academy Book 1)

by Raven Steele

“You look busy,” I said and hesitantly walked into the room, closing the door behind me. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to say, but I couldn’t back down. She was my last resort.

  “I am. I’m trying to delay your mother’s transfer.”

  I lowered into a chair across from her. “Any luck?”

  “Not yet. I’m writing a stern email telling the ISA that Aurora is in better care here, plus we are close to reviving her.”

  My eyebrows lifted. “You are?”

  She shook her head sadly. “No, but I need to tell them something.”

  “Do you think it will work?”

  “Doubtful.”

  I didn’t say anything as I summoned up the courage to speak. My shoe dug into the carpet, and my hands twisted in and out of each other.

  She looked up at me. “Is something wrong?”

  I inhaled a great breath. On my exhale, I said, “I need to tell you something.”

  She shoved aside her laptop and sat up straighter in her seat. “What?”

  “I recently came across some information about my mother.” I inhaled a hitched breath, startled by the sudden emotions crowding my chest painfully.

  She must’ve seen the fear in my eyes because she circled her desk and came to me, pulling up a chair to sit across from me. She took hold of my hands. “What is it?”

  I tried to keep my chin from quivering. “The ISA believe someone is going to try and wake up my mother, and if that’s done, they’ve ordered her immediate execution.”

  She withdrew her hands from mine and leaned back, her lips parted open. “How do you know this?”

  “Promise I won’t get in trouble?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “If what you’re about to tell me will save your mother, then no, you will not get in trouble.”

  I nodded and began to explain, leaving out my friend’s roles. I told her about sneaking the letter from Ms. Pearson’s safe. I showed her the picture of it on her phone.

  She studied it. “Anne had this?”

  A flash of anger twisted her expression, but a moment later it was gone. Her own assistant was lying to her. I knew what betrayal felt like and sympathized with her.

  “What do you think it all means?” I asked.

  She handed my phone back to me. “Since you’ve been honest with me, I’m going to tell you something, but I need you to have an open mind. Can you do that?”

  I nodded and swallowed hard.

  “The Foundation isn’t who you think it is. Well,” she bobbed her head back and forth, “some of us aren’t.”

  “Us?”

  She stared directly in my eyes and spoke quickly. “I am still part of the Foundation. It’s grown quite a bit since your mother’s imprisonment, but only because we support her. Many of us feel she was innocent and have been trying to find evidence to prove it. We think someone within the organization betrayed us to the ISA, and someone still continues to do so. But I promise you, we are not the group the media made us out to be.”

  She wrinkled her nose as if considering taking back her words. “I take that back. Most of us were good. There were a few who took our vision much too far.”

  I stared at her, stunned. Could it be true?

  “A lot of lies and twisted truths were created The Day Fire Breathed. Someone worked very hard to cover up a heinous crime, and not only was your mother held responsible, but the whole Foundation, too.”

  “Tell me about Hawk,” I blurted.

  Her lips pursed together as she contemplated my question. “Hawk was my step-father, and at one point a good friend to Thomas Lancaster, the founder. His real name was Loren King, and he helped to organization the Foundation, but it wasn’t long before he realized how powerful the group could become. So many people with special abilities working together, can you imagine? He envisioned a world where we ruled over humans.”

  “Do you think he was controlling my mother?”

  “Yes, but I couldn’t ever figure out how. That’s why I stayed so involved with the group. I wanted to protect Aurora. I could see what was happening, but couldn’t stop it.”

  Her chin quivered, and she sucked in a hitched breath. “Many of us thought my step-father was the one who had betrayed us, so we were glad to see him imprisoned by the Enforcers.” She paused. “But we still continued to have problems long after he was gone. It made us become very secretive with each other.”

  “Who is Hawk now?”

  She flinched, her face paling. “What do you mean? He’s gone.”

  Did I dare tell her about breaking into the archive room and the letters we’d found with Hawk’s signature? She’d never believe I could pull something like that off by myself, which meant I’d have to admit to having help. I couldn’t rat out my friends like that.

  “Tell me,” she pressed.

  “I overheard a few students talking about him as if he was still around,” I lied.

  She leaned forward. “Which students?”

  “I, um, I really don’t want anyone to get in trouble.”

  Her mouth pinched tight, and she searched my eyes. Then her expression relaxed, and she leaned back. “I won’t force you to tell me, but I hope you will and soon. It could be important.”

  “I’ll think about it, but in the meantime, how do we save my mother?”

  She took hold of my hands again; the intensity in her eyes burned into mine. I could practically feel what she was about to ask me.

  “You’re going to have to wake her, Rose. You’re the only one who can.”

  “But if I do, Ms. Pearson and maybe others will kill her!”

  She smiled and squeezed my hands. “You forget where we are. We have powerful people at our disposal. We’ll protect her long enough for her to escape.”

  “But what kind of life will that be for her?”

  “One in which she gets to live, and while she’s in hiding, we will prove her innocence.”

  “We’ve already looked through everything!”

  She smiled again. “With Aurora awake, we have the biggest piece of evidence we could ever want. Hawk used her. I don’t know how, but it was through some kind of mind control. When she wakes, that will have broken. Aurora can tell us everything, give us fresh leads.”

  I sucked in a breath of relief. “I hadn’t thought of this. When can we do it?”

  Linda stood and returned to her chair behind her desk. “The Enforcers will be here Sunday morning, so we to need to act quickly. I will speak to Mr. Stenberg. He’ll help. I’ll also have to find a way to get Anne out of the picture, at least for the night.”

  “What about the others they’re working with?”

  “We have twenty-four hours to come up with a plan to make sure we’re not interrupted while we wake Aurora.”

  Without warning, a wave of icy coolness flooded my system. I glanced towards the door. I could barely see Hudson’s profile standing in the reception area.

  I stood up. “I have to go, but I’ll think of something.”

  “Be careful, Rose. If someone has taken over Hawk’s role, then we could be in serious trouble. Anyone could be involved, including students.”

  I immediately thought of Arrow and Maisy. “I’ll watch my back.”

  We said our goodbyes. Hudson glanced over my shoulder at Linda’s office as I walked towards him, his eyes narrowing. “What’s going on?”

  “It’s nothing.” I walked past him and grabbed his hand by instinct to pull him into the lobby. “Sorry I left so suddenly. We can return to the movie now.”

  He let me lead him down the hall and back towards the movie theater, but before we reached it, he jerked me into an open classroom door and closed the door behind us.

  “What are you doing?” I asked. Faint moonlight spilling in from the windows illuminated his serious expression.

  He dragged his hand through his hair. “You’re not telling me something.”

  Shit. He was on to me. “Look, it’s nothing. I just needed to talk to Linda.”


  “You’ve been distant all week. Ireland’s being extra creepy. Bonnie has been hanging out in the science room with Mr. Stenberg way more than she should be, and Bennie’s dating Arrow now? Something is seriously off. What happened?”

  I sighed and turned my back to him, wishing I could tell him the truth, but how could I? I didn’t want to put him in a position where he’d have to choose between his father or me, someone he’s only known for a few months.

  Hudson came up behind me and slid his cold hands up my arms, making my fire sizzle. His muscular chest pressed against my back. I wanted to sink into his frosty coolness and let it envelop me.

  “You can trust me. Please tell me what’s going on.” He wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled his face into the crook of my neck.

  “I wish I could, but it’s better if you don’t know.”

  He lifted his hand and brushed my hair away from my shoulder, exposing the side of my throat. “I don’t believe that. We are better together. Can’t you feel the strength between us?”

  To prove his point, he dipped his head towards my neck. His arctic breath feathered against my skin, igniting every nerve ending with fire. But when he pressed his lips to my flesh in a frosty kiss, my flames roared alive and devoured his icy touch.

  I gasped, my chest heaving at the contact. The ice that filled my veins melted, then burned, then froze again. It was the most intoxicating thing I’d ever experienced.

  Hudson spun me around to face him and stared at me with heady eyes. His gaze dropped to my lips. My tongue snaked out to wet them. He moaned and pressed into me harder.

  “Do you feel it?”

  Oh, I felt it all right. His nippy touch stroked my nerves, melted into my bones, and slid to my lower belly.

  His lips crashed into mine, the kiss deep and full of passion. A rush of adrenaline flooded my system burning through me with cold fire. My flames scorched way through his ice, weaving the two magical elements together until it was something new altogether. Something powerful. It rocked my insides, and I swore I felt the world tilt on its axis.

  We kissed for what felt like an eternity, our hands roaming, touching, gripping, stroking in all the right places. Without separating, he lifted me and placed me on top of a desk. He nudged my legs apart and stood between them to grind himself into me. I thrust back, wishing there wasn’t material between us.

  Through our kisses, our desperate breaths mingled together, creating a storm of ice and fire that made my hair lift from the static in the air. Everything about him, me, the room had become electrically charged. I could barely think, barely register anything beyond Hudson.

  He finally pulled away, gasping for air. He stared into my eyes and lowered his forehead to mine. “We can’t deny what’s between us any longer.”

  “I don’t want to.”

  He brushed his thumb across my lips. “Then please be honest with me. Tell me what’s going on. I want to help. You mean everything to me. You’re the first person I’ve truly loved since my mother died, and I can’t bear the thought of losing you.”

  My eyes lit up, and I could practically feel the fire swirling inside them. “You love me?”

  He nodded, smiling. “All of you, not just your fire. You’re beautiful, kind, loyal, fearless …”

  It was my turn to kiss him. My tongue slipped past his lips and was instantly cooled. He groaned and jerked my pelvis to him. I ground into him, desperate for more, but this was hardly the time. I had a mother to save.

  I pulled away from him and adjusted my shirt. “Let’s get back.”

  He grinned at me and did the same to his disheveled shirt and hair. “This was fun.”

  “Maybe we should make it a regular thing—meeting in dark and empty classrooms.”

  He laughed. “I’d like that. All we’d need to do is create a distraction, and we could do whatever we want.”

  “What kind of distraction?”

  He shrugged, then laughed. “You should have Bonnie bring in a hoard of ghosts into the school. That would keep people busy for a while. Imagine the things I could do to you … ”

  I blinked, my mind spinning. A slow smile split my face.

  “What?”

  Leaning up on my tip toes, I kissed him briefly. “You’re a genius.”

  “I am?”

  I nodded and linked my arm through his.

  “You still haven’t told me what’s going on.”

  “I will. I promise. Just give me a day or two.”

  Finally, I had a plan.

  Chapter 26

  “You want me to do what?” Bonnie asked, her voice an octave higher than normal. She sat cross-legged on my floor, staring up at me on the bed with alarm. Her hair was still wet from her morning shower.

  Bennie stood by the window peeling at the paint on the windowsill, chuckling to himself. “This is going to be intense.”

  Ireland grinned wickedly. “I think it would be the best thing Solar Academy has seen since it opened!”

  “It could work,” I said quietly and directly to Bonnie. But in case I was wrong, I asked the others, “Any better ideas?”

  “No way,” Ireland answered. “This has to happen.”

  Bonnie groaned. “Fine, but it’s going to take a lot of mental power. I’m going to need you.” She looked over at Bennie.

  “My twin powers are yours to use any time you want.”

  “How does that work?” I asked.

  “I’m like her antenna when she needs an extra boost,” he explained. “But I think this magic will still be challenging. The most ghosts we’ve ever conjured before is maybe two dozen.”

  “What did you do that for?” Ireland asked.

  Bonnie wrinkled her face. “We wanted to add to the haunted house we created last year. We were in charge of it.”

  Ireland’s eyes grew wide. “They were real?”

  “We only summoned the nice ones,” Bonnie said quickly, her voice full of guilt.

  “One of them spit on me!” Ireland cried.

  “I don’t think that’s possible,” I said. “Can we get back to the problem at hand? This has to happen tonight after everyone’s gone to bed. How long will it take for the ghosts to get here?”

  “Not long. Minutes. I’ll call them from the graveyard nearby and from the earth itself. I can’t promise what kind they’ll be, though.”

  “We’ll have to take that chance.”

  “How long will you need?” Bennie asked me.

  I bit my lip. “I’m not sure. I’m supposed to be meeting with Mr. Stenberg and Linda in about ten minutes to discuss all of this.”

  When Hudson and I had left the movie last night, Linda had found me and told me about her conversation with Mr. Stenberg. He was on board to help us with whatever we needed.

  “Are you going to tell Hudson?” Bonnie asked.

  “Not yet, and don’t any of you tell him either. His dad will be here soon, and I really want Hudson’s hands clean.”

  “You ready?” Bennie asked Bonnie.

  She nodded.

  Ireland glanced at them, narrowing her eyes. “Where are you guys going?”

  Bonnie came to her feet. “The graveyard. I need to get supplies.”

  I didn’t dare ask what those would be. If they were coming from a graveyard, they couldn’t have been good.

  They left, leaving me and Ireland alone. I brought up the letter on my phone and read it again.

  “What do you want me to do?” Ireland asked. She dropped on the bed next to me and read the letter over my shoulder.

  “Could you be with me in the basement tonight? I’m so afraid I’m going to wake up my mom and someone will show up a second later and kill her.” I sucked in a hitched breath. “I don’t know what I would do.”

  She patted my shoulder, hard, more conspiratorial than compassionate. “I got your back, and I swear if anyone tries to hurt you or your mother, I’ll cut them balls to beak.”

  I smiled. “You’re a good frien
d.”

  “I know.” She stood. “Come on. Let’s go see if there’s any breakfast left over. I’m starving.”

  I left Ireland at the cafeteria and headed to Linda’s office for our meeting. I was too nervous to eat, and it kept me from running into Hudson. As much as I wanted to see him, I didn’t want him to ask any more questions. After tomorrow, with my mother safe and if all went well, maybe we could have a real relationship. The thought sent shivers throughout my body.

  I reached Linda’s office and knocked on the door.

  “Come in.”

  I opened the door. Mr. Stenberg was already there, his expression grave and hair a mess. I’d never seen him look so disheveled.

  As soon as I closed the door, he said, “You don’t have to do this, Rose. Your mother wouldn’t want you to put yourself in danger.”

  “Good thing my mother is in a coma right now and can’t talk then, right?”

  He didn’t appreciate my humor.

  “We’ll keep her safe, Ed,” Linda said. “Besides, Rose should have a say on what happens to her mother.”

  “But we still don’t know how we’re going to wake her without others in the school noticing,” he said.

  “Actually,” I said, “I have a plan.”

  Linda motioned me to a chair. “Please share.”

  I didn’t waste any time explaining what Bonnie was going to do. At first they both looked horrified by the thought of allowing ghosts into our school, but after a little more convincing, I had at least had Linda on my side.

  She glanced at Mr. Stenberg. “It’s not a bad idea.”

  “What if students get hurt?” he said.

  “Bennie is going to create a protection spell around the school to block any vengeful spirits. Only peaceful and maybe some trickster ghosts will be allowed in. And if you’re not comfortable with this, Ed, you can help Bennie with the spell.”

  “Oh, you can bet on it!”

  My eyebrows lifted. “Does that mean you’re on board?”

  He rubbed at the scruff on his chin. It looked like he hadn’t shaved for several days. “Because we have so little time, and I don’t want to see this fate for Aurora, I am, but we must work quickly. Where’s Bennie?”

  “He went with his sister to the graveyard for supplies.”