Wicked Fate (The Wicked Trilogy) (8 page)

“See ya’ around,” he whispers.

I say nothing. I don’t even thank him for helping me pick up my mess. I just nod at him before he turns and runs off to meet up with the group.

I make one more stop, before backtracking towards my house.  The fact that my arms are now straining to carry everything lets me know that I bought too much junk. It’s all stuff that’s needed, but I usually go to one store at a time to avoid having to carry too much home.

The sun is starting to go down, which means I’m running really late. So instead of sticking to the main road then cutting down the wooded path that goes straight to my house, I decide to just to cut through the woods for a more direct path. I know when I make it to the water tower that I’m headed in the right direction.

Fallen leaves surround me in the wind and I
laugh as Sire chases them down
in
an
attempt to catch one in his mouth.
I’m laughing so hard, that I almost don’t hear the loud arguing above me.

“Don’t be an asshole!”

“
Yo
! Screw you man!”

“Dude, forget about his punk-ass!”

Those remarks are followed by a lot of cussing and yelling. One of the voices is Adam’s. I walk further away from the tower until I can see the top of it. Sure enough, Adam is up there with three other boys and they seem to be fighting.

I can’t hear what they’re saying anymore, but I watch from afar as Adam and one of the boys start to fight. The other two stand by and watch as it happens. They’re too high to be fighting each other. It wouldn’t take much for one of them to get knocked over the side and fall to his death.

Adam’s fist connects with the boy’s cheek. I watch as he staggers to the side and the fighting stops. The unknown boy uses the back of his hand to wipe blood from the corner of his mouth. They start talking and relief courses through me when I think the fight is over.

Out of nowhere, they begin to brawl again. Adam punches the boy in the stomach causing him to fall to his knees in pain. I hear his loud growl as he rushes head first towards Adam—towards the side of the tower. Adam fights back, putting an elbow into the boy’s back as the boy shoves his shoulder straight into Adam’s stomach.

Everything turns to slow motion as I watch Adam get pushed over the side of the tall water tower. The world stops spinning and I pray that gravity will cease to exist.

Panic shoots up my spi
ne. The hairs on my arms sting
as they stand on end. The blood in my veins feels like it’s moving at the speed of light and my whole body feels cold and stiff.

I drop everything and
reach out my right
hand as if to catch him.  My legs feel stiff when I start to run
towards the spot I think will be his landing point.  There’s no possible way in the world that I’ll actually make it to him in enough time to catch him. Not to mention, he would flatten me like
a
pancake if I did.

My heartbeat
is racing in my ears;
I can hear my own panting breat
hs over Adams screams. It’s then that I begin to
feel a burning sensation in my right shoulder. At first
,
it isn’t all that bad, but then the s
ensation starts to grow, spreading deeper into my
entire sho
ulder. It feels as if someone’s lit me
on fire; the hottest fire imaginable.

This is what it must feel like to burn a
live. The pure agony of the pulsating, searing heat
in my shou
lder is enough to make me go insane
. I want to scream out in pain, but I can’t. All that’s important to me right now is that I make it to Adam and try something—a
nything
—to help him.

I keep running
, trying to ignore the burn that’
s beginning to consume my every thought. Gradually, the horrific blaz
e works its way down my arm then
pas
t my elbow and wrist. I
give i
n to the flame and a scream leaves my throat. The invisible inferno
is too much for me as it seeps into the palm of my hand. I can’t take it anymore, the pain is unbearable.

I stop running, but I keep my hand held out to him
even though I know it’s too late.  The pain takes my breath away and finally I close my eyes and give in completely. The growling noise
that
I make when the smoldering fire in my palm begins to spread out into
my fingers sounds inhuman
.

My
fingertips start to burn; they’
re literally on fire. The flames dance on
the
ends of my fingers; hot and blue
, spilling out of my fingertips. I roar
out in agony.

“Adam!” I scream as I watch his flailing body almost crash int
o the jagged white gravel below the tower
.

With one final fl
icker on
my fingertips
,
the blu
e flame shoots out of my hand
and straight toward
s Adam’s falling body. I instantly have second thoughts. What if instead of helping him I burn him alive? I picture Adam’s body turning to black ash and flittering away in the wind.

Either way, I have to do what instinctively feels right to me. He’s crashing into the ground anyway—I’ll take my chances on this new development with the blue fire.

I gasp
with relief
as the fire leaves me.
K
eep
ing my hand up, I hope
that somet
hing will happen. I hold my breath and pray that finally this craziness inside of me will bring some form of good, and then…it does
.

The fire surrounds Adam’s body. Blue combustion engulfs him completely. The blaze pops and cracks, filling the area with a cerulean hue. He stops in mid-air less than two-feet from the gravel. With a final crackle, the blaze dissolves.

I hold my arm there in amazement. My eyes
are
wide with shock. I can feel the weight of him in my hand, pushing my hand down, even though I’m at least ten feet away.

Oh.
My.God
! No way did that just happen!

My breath catches in my throat when I realize
what I’ve just accomplished. I’v
e somehow stopped Adam from h
itting the ground—I
just saved his life.

I keep him suspended in the air. I can’t drop my hand, I’m
paralyzed
by shock
. His weight pushes harder against my palm and I start to feel weak. The weakness wins and I feel the gravel rocks connect with my knees. I let out the breath that I’ve been
holding, before slowly allowing
my hand
to
fall.

Adam floats
to the ground like a feather, his eyes never leaving
mine.

I watch as the three boys hurry down the water tower. When they get to the bottom they see Adam lying on the ground, but they don’t see me. Luckily, this means they didn’t see what I’d done either.

“Oh shit, dude! I think he’s dead. Run!” one of the boys says to the others.

The three run off into the woods like a bunch of cowards. What kind of people would just leave someone to die?

Adam’s still star
ing at me. I break eye contact and look at the ground—I can’t look at him, the consternation on his face.
Pushing myself up from my knees, I shake my head a little to get rid of the dizziness, and then cautiously I walk towards him.

The blood is still rushing th
r
ough my veins making a whooshing noise in my ears.

I don’t know what the hell just happened or how I did it. I’ve done some crazy things in my life, but this one takes cake. No, this one takes the cake, eats the cake, and then goes straight into a diabetic coma.

It was an un
controlled madness, but yet I’
d controlled it. I wanted Adam to stop falling
and I’d stopped him. This is different—this is huge. A lot of small things have been happening lately, but this is
not
small.

I stand beside Adam looking down at his flushed face.

“Are you okay?” I hear myself ask.

My voice sounds like I’ve eaten the gravel.

“I—uh—yeah
—I think so. What just—I could’
ve—you just,” he stutters still in shock.

He’s still breathing
in rapid pants and his entire body’s shaking
. I drop to my knees next to him and take a deep breath. There’s no getting out of this one. I have no idea how much Adam saw, but he has to know that I’m the one that stopped him from crashing into the ground. He has to know that for about twenty seconds he levitated two feet abov
e the gravel rocks. My guess is
he also knows that I’
m the reason for his sudden ability to fly.

“How did you do that?” h
e whispers.

“I don’t know.”

What else could I say? I don’t know—it’s the t
ruth.

Reaching down
,
I help
hoist
him up into a sitting position.

“I suppose you’re going to tell people?” I ask. “I’m going to have to quit school if they believe you. Of course they may just think you’re crazy. Let’s
hope for that scenario,” I attempt to smile.

A brave front
strikes me and I decide to look up to see his facial expression. There isn’t one—he just sits there staring back at me
,
express
ionless, like he’s in a stupor
. I can’t blame him really. If I wasn’t so used to the peculiar things happening ar
ound me I’d probably be in disbelief
too.

The environment around us becomes quiet
and I
sit there uncomfortably
. The wet warmth of Sire’s tongue against the
side of my face knocks me from my h
aze. I put my hand down on the ground for
leverage as I try to get up and walk away.
There’s no reason to sit here while he stares at me like I’m from another planet. He seems to be okay—nothing broken, bruised or incinerated. 

I start to rise
when Adam places his hand on my shoulder and keeps me in place. Falling back in
to my seated position, I wait impatiently for the beginning of my end
. I might as well hear him out so I can prepare mysel
f for the consequences
. He opens his mouth to say something, but abruptly stops. I imagine a thinking cloud above his head full of exclamation points.

Oh great! He’s afraid of me, too!

“Thank y-you,” he stutters, as his mouth lifts into a nervous smile
. “I—ah—I’ve always kno
wn you were different, but I don’t think I realized
the extent of how different.”

Big freaky,
scary Mage does it again!

“Yeah, I’m well aware of the
fact that I’m a complete freak,
you don’t have to remind me!” I snap.
             

“That’s not what I’m
saying,” he says as he blows out a frustrated br
eath. He pushes his dark hair from his sweaty forehead in aggravation. “Are you always this self-conscious? Look—I’m not saying you’re a freak. I’
d never s
ay that. Plus, you just saved my ass! If anything I…
I
kind of think you’re amazing.”

He must be making fun of me. He can’t be serious! No one has every called me amazing. I know I’m far from being an amazing girl.
Amazingly freakish, maybe?
Besides the fact that I do bizarre things, I’m just a regular ole boring girl—definitely
not
amazing.

He rolls his eyes and sucks his teeth.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t say things like that to y
ou,” he runs his hands down his face. “I’m going to kick Phillip’s ass the next time I see him,” he shakes his head causing his dark hair to cover his intense eyes.

With everything that’s
going on, I’d forgotten about the fight or the fact that one of the guys had practically attempted to kill Adam.

“Who were those guys
?”
I ask.

“Just some assholes I work with after school.”

“What were you fighting about?”

“They’re druggies, I’m not. We don’t mix well, apparently,” he lets out a loud sigh. “Holy shit, I could’ve seriously died just now. You saved my life,” a sweet smile reaches his eyes.

It’s not the cocky amused smile that I’m used to seeing on his face. It’s an actual Adam smile—nothing more.  I jump as he reaches up and tucks a dark strand of hair behind my ear.