Furious Flames (Elemental Book 3) (15 page)

She was dangerous. She was also shirtless. Because
our bond was based on a shared history of turmoil, trauma, and being outcasts,
the last thing either of us needed was to have a sexual relationship… or any
kind of relationship. Unfortunately, there was nothing reasonable about what I
felt at that moment.

I tried to distract myself with thoughts of the
female black widow spider which, during mating, is known to eat its mate. It
didn’t help.

She reached for me again, but I felt an odd,
unfamiliar sensation. The connection between Darwin and me was forced open. His
mind instantly helped to clear the lust from mine. Darwin was using the amulet,
yet I didn’t feel the same as when Gale used it. Instead of an underwater
sensation, it felt like one of my limbs went numb, only I couldn’t actually
tell which.

Fire irrupted from the floor, forming a five-foot
wide wall between Astrid and me. Although she backed away, the look in her eyes
told me she wasn’t ready to give up. I opened the connection between us without
considering the consequence. Since Darwin was using my power over fire,
Astrid’s memories of fire flowed over.

Fire spread across the carpet, destroying everything
it could catch until it met blood. Astrid, only about a year old, was sitting
in a pool of her mother’s blood. She didn’t cry even as the air filled with
smoke. Even though the memory was warped and faded from years of newer
memories, I saw a man approach. Between the smoke and light, even her
exceptional vision was impeded, but she knew who it was. She trusted him.

Astrid forced Darwin and me from her mind and when I
opened my eyes, she was gone.

*          *          *

Wednesday morning, Addison sat in Henry’s usual seat
at breakfast and looked around. “Where is he?”

“He had to go home for a few days,” I said without
thinking. If she knew he was arrested, she would want to know why, and I
couldn’t be sure whether she would believe he was innocent or not. If she was
going to leave him, it should at least be for something he did.

“Students are saying the council showed up.”

“Nothing gets past
you,
does it, didi?” Darwin asked. “Maybe if you were nicer to him, he would have
said bye before heading home.”

“Darwin,” I admonished.

Addison stood, shaking with anger. “I don’t shut him
out and say I don’t care if I never see him again! I’m not the one who would
rather draw than talk!”

“He draws when you’re with him?” Darwin asked,
astonished. Addie walked off without answering. “He never draws with us in the
room. He always acts like we’re going to make fun of his drawings. Damn. I wish
we had been the ones to kill his parents. Henry could have been a famous artist
if his parents hadn’t–” He snapped his mouth shut, angry beyond words but
still unwilling to betray Henry’s secrets if someone was listening.

*          *          *

Nobody else got sick, but those already sick were
still getting worse. Darwin and I tried to find a link between Caleb, Nathan,
and Dan. They weren’t at the pool, they didn’t have phones, and nobody saw them
talking to Astrid. This time, Darwin and I split up the list of six sick
students and retraced their steps.

We got nowhere. Kristen, Conner, and Len were all
missing for a period of one to four hours, but Caleb, Nathan, and Dan were not.
Mack was still missing. “What’s the next step?” Darwin asked. We were alone in
our room with our reports spread all over the floor. Dinner had been somber and
quick.

“Find a motive and let it lead us to a suspect.” I
flopped onto my back and twirled my pen between my fingers.

“We know the first four had mobiles that were not
working or confiscated. Maybe the suspect wanted to call someone, asked them,
and then… inflicted a powerful and vicious spell on them to hide their
actions.”

“Astrid would be a victim, too. I don’t think someone
who could do this would need a cell phone. Maybe they wanted to make sure no
one could call for help.”

“Stop that,” Darwin said, taking the pen from me.
“You’re gonna cut yourself.” He handed me a red foam ball, which I fiddled with
instead.

When I tossed it up in the air and caught it, I
realized what I was doing. “Hang on. This is Langril’s ball.”

“So?”

“He always has it with him. How did you get it?”

“Astrid had it, but she said she didn’t know where
she got it from.”

“Nathan wanted Jackson’s position as Langril’s
assistant, and Dan was fighting Jackson when he got really sick.”

“You think Jackson is involved?”

“Or Langril. Mack went missing looking for his jacket
in Langril’s class.”

“But Len didn’t take Langril’s class or have any
reason to be around Langril. I don’t think he even had a class with Jackson.”

“We’re missing something. I know we’re missing
something.” I thought for a few minutes. “I think I saw something that was
wrong, but I can’t remember what it is. Maybe someone said something they
shouldn’t have.”

“Something your instincts missed?”

“Yeah. Whoever it is knows what they’re doing and who
they’re up against. They’re probably angry because they’re killing students
slowly. They’re extremely powerful and know old magic. We know really angry
people, and we know really powerful people, but not anyone who is both and has
a reason to attack those students.”

“But they haven’t gone after us or the teachers.
Maybe it’s random,” Darwin said.

“No, that kind of magic would probably take a lot of
work; you don’t do that for a hit or miss target. Maybe it’s not who they hit
but what they do or who they work with. If it’s Langril, why not strike at
Langril directly? Unless they couldn’t get Langril’s blood or hair or anything.
He seems smart enough not to let anyone that close. But if it’s those around
Langril, why Len? Why not Jackson?”

“Who would want to put up with Jackson’s whining?
Even his gang hasn’t been hanging around him this semester.”

I sat up quickly. “Did you see Jackson at dinner?”

“Yeah. He came into the dining room and walked right
back out. I didn’t care enough to pay attention.”

“We need to watch him. We’ll keep an eye on him
during the day and Astrid can watch at night. By watching him, we’ll also be
semi-watching Langril. Also, Jackson strikes me as a serious trouble magnet.”

*          *          *

My mother had taken me out of school to get clothes.
There was nothing special at all about the day, only that it was her day off. I
had no idea why I desperately wanted to stay at school, and I wasn’t going to
argue when she as trying so hard to spend time with me. She picked out the
goofiest clothes, which we both laughed about when I tried them on.

“You know, one of my sisters wanted a daughter so bad
that she dressed her son in a dress until he was eight,” she mused while I
changed into a blue polo shirt and jeans.

“Mom, you wouldn’t.”

“You’re still young enough.”

“I’m eleven.” I had just buttoned the jeans when
everything shook violently. “Mom?!”

“It’s okay! It’s an earthquake! Get under–”

I reached for the lock, but the shaking started
again. I fell and busted my elbow on the bench seat. There was screaming from
outside the stall when the lights went out, but I couldn’t hear my mother. I
imagined terrible things that could have happened. Before I could get up, I
heard a loud snap and part of the ceiling collapsed on top of me. It didn’t
hurt, but it did pin me down.

When the door opened, it wasn’t my mother who pulled
me out from the rubble but a policeman, and he was dragging me out of the dressing
room. I tried desperately to squirm out of his grip to find my mother, but he
was too strong. Unfortunately, he wasn’t strong enough to hold on when the
floor collapsed. I fell through the dark, screaming.

I must have passed out for a while, because it was
quiet when I felt a presence behind me. Although there was no light, I didn’t
feel like I was in danger. When fire suddenly erupted from the floor, I tried
to get away from it, but my ankle was sprained so I had to crawl. A thin line
of fire followed me faster than I could get away from until it closed, forming
a circle around me… and turned blue.

The man I sensed became visible. ”You’re the man from
the science museum!” I said.

He put his finger to his lips to shush me. “This will
protect you for the moment, but the dog has your scent.” His voice was low, though
not a whisper, and thick with an English accent, like I heard on television.

I glanced at the blue flame, wondering how fire could
possibly protect me from anything. “The dog?” I whispered. I wasn’t afraid of
dogs.

“He’s not after you; you were just unfortunate enough
to get caught in his game. Unfortunately for
him
, I have use of you. I’m
going to drive him off, so don’t leave the circle until I can return for you.”

“It’s fire. What if it spreads and kills me?”

He stepped through the flames, completely unaffected
by it, and crouched in front of me. “I know this is confusing to you. You have
no idea how much power runs through your veins, nor the enemies you attract.
Nothing about magic is so simple as that. This looks like a regular circle, but
it is one of the most powerful forces of protection. The energy in the circle
turns the flame blue. This is to prevent your enemies from listening in. You
have to be able to see through the dog’s illusion. You have to remember this.”

A hand grabbed my shoulder and I jumped before I
recognized her presence. Relieved, I turned and hugged Astrid. “How are you
here? How did you find me?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know where we are or how.”

I let her go. “What’s this?” I asked, wiping the
blood off her chin before I realized what it was. “Blood? What happened? Are
you hurt?” I glanced back to ask the man to get help, but he was gone.

“I don’t remember,” Astrid said.

*          *          *

Thursday’s classes were subdued, since everyone was
worried about the sickness. Even the pranks seemed to have stopped for the
moment. The wolf shifters, however, were very restless. Some of them would
growl at me as they passed me in the halls, while others would look down and go
out of their way to show respect. Darwin suggested it was because they weren’t
sure yet who the new alpha was.

I had the feeling when I went to bed that night that
something was going to happen. I thought at first that I was watching a badly
done, black and white horror movie. Color was vague at best. The contrast was
what made it so unclear; light didn’t reflect normally. Dark spots were
unfocused, like I was seeing them from my peripheral vision, while brighter
spots were too bright and ultra-focused. Movement on the concrete floor
demanded my full attention, even though I knew it was caused by the moonlight
streaming in through a small window and leaves beating against the glass. Only
when I looked across the room and saw thick metal bars did I realize what this
was.

I was having a vision of Henry.

“
Why are you in my head
?” his voice asked in
my mind.

I gaped… at least mentally.
“No one has been able
to see or feel me in my visions. Are you awake or is this a dream?”
Despite
the oddness of the vision, or possibly because of it, this seemed too real to
be a dream. I could make out the bars that made up one wall of the cage and the
large cinderblocks that made up the other three walls, as well as the cot he
was sitting on.

“I am awake.”

“I’m not here on purpose. I just went to sleep.
I’m not even wearing the damn ring. The only visions I have without the ring
seem to be life-or-death now.”

“The council does take their arrests seriously;
they plan to execute me on Monday. Don’t worry about me, though.  I can escape
at any time.”

“You don’t think the council has measures in place
for paranormals?”

“You mean, like thermal imaging cameras, sun
lamps, and explosion shields? If they had any clue what I was, I wouldn’t be in
this cage. They might be able to hold me against my will in a concrete vault
with silver-coated restraints and drugs. Unless I shifted.”

“Well, then I will look for your parents in the
meantime. Do you have any idea what might have happened to them?”
My
phrasing must have activated his memories, because his mind suddenly flooded
with images of blood and flesh tearing. It was extremely graphic and more of a
smattering of disorganized clips than a coherent memory.

Henry forced the memories away and replaced them with
the memory of the Grand Canyon during a lightning storm. “
That was a dream.
It never happened,
” he promised.

Unfortunately, I knew that wasn’t true.

*          *          *

It was unnaturally quiet in the dining room on Friday
morning, morose even. I told Darwin what I saw and he considered it for a
while. “So we’re back to thinking Henry did kill his parents?”

“I don’t know. When he got here, he was beaten up,
had missing memories, and was dreaming about killing them. If he’s innocent,
which is still more likely, I’m betting Gale set him up to get the amulet. We
need to at least figure it out so we can clear Henry’s name.”

 “What about the sick students?”

“Dr. Martin is doing them more good than we can.
We’ll ask Astrid to spy on Langril and Jackson.” Astrid hadn’t come back
Thursday night, so I assumed she was still very caught up in her vampire
traitor case. “If Gale did frame Henry, he might come after the amulet as soon
as we leave. Do you have a good place to hide it?”

“Yeah.”

After our classes were over, I found out that Darwin
had given the amulet to Hunt for safe keeping. He also got Henry’s home address
from the student records. Although Hunt said he couldn’t help us at the moment,
he did let us borrow his SUV.