Winter's Legacy: Future Days (Winter's Saga Book 6) (2 page)

2 Refracted Light

Minutes trickled by and Kylie waited as patiently as she could.  Finally, she gave in to the need to fill the uncomfortable silence.  “I’ve read about people being caught in a fire.  They say it’s as though the flames are alive—breathing and reaching for them.”

“That’s exactly what it felt like.”  Evan’s glassy stare watch
ed her talk, feeling tentatively relieved that she seemed to understand the terror of fire to a burn survivor.

“Only, my burns could not have come at a worse time for me.  See, I was undergoing my evolution, so my cellular makeup was already volatile.  The fire changed me.”

“How do you mean?”

“I mean I don’t know what my gift would have been, but because of the heat exposure and subsequent scarring, well
—” Evan hesitated.  He looked to the girl at his side and decided now was as good a time as any.   He watched the moonlight begin to illuminate the left half of her beautiful face and knew what he had to do.

“Don’t be afraid, okay?  I promise I won’t hurt you.”

“Okay,” Kylie breathed, lifting her chin courageously against Evan’s unknown.

Evan reached toward her face with his scarred left hand and captured the moonlight.  There it sat, glowing blue and white in
the palm of his hand, a pulsing ball of moonlight. 

Kylie gasped in surprise
, “Evan?” 

“This is part of my gift, though I hate to call it that.  See, not only were we changed into ‘more’ or ‘meta,’ but we were special.  Meg, Alik and I each evolved and with our individual evolutions we developed specialized ‘gifts.’  This is one of mine.”

“You can capture moonlight in your hand?”

“Well, only temporarily.  As far as I can tell, my scars capture the light like a prism
allowing me to cast the rays.  When I’m refracting sunlight, it’s even more powerful.”

“What happens when you refract the light?”

“Fire.”

“Fire?”

“Yes.” Evan felt like hanging his head in shame.

“Show me?”

Evan turned his torso away from Kylie, his left hand pulsing with the anxious moonlight desperate for escape, and threw the light across the hangar.  Instantly, the dark room burst with white light before the energy wrapped itself around a pile of old cardboard boxes and ruptured into flames.

“Holy shit
!” Kylie gasped.

“Yeah.” Evan pursed his lips together.  He stood abruptly and walked toward the fire
that gained momentum as it found other scraps on which to feed.  He stood about fifteen feet from it when he opened his scarred hand and held it out to the fire.  As fast as it had leaped from him, the fire flew back into his outstretched palm and disappeared at his touch.

“Whoa
!”

“Which part?”

“You just made the fire disappear!”

“Well, yes, sort of.  I absorbed it.”

“How did you do that?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“That’s amazing!”

“You think so?”

“You can absorb fire, Evan!”

“Oh, well, that’s not much.  The scary part is the creation of fire.”

“What?  You’re not focusing on the important part.”

“Kylie, I catch light and refract it so it can turn into a fireball I project at will.  That seems pretty important.”

“Yes, of course, but you’re missing the other side of the coin.  You can absorb fire?  That’s a powerful gift!”

“I absorb the fire I make.”

“Have you ever tried absorbing fire you didn’t make?”

“No. This is all
kinda new to me.” Evan frowned, confused at her excitement.

“Here, let’s try.” She started scrounging around inside
the satchel that doubled as a purse.  Moments later she found a lighter. 

“Don’t tell me you smoke,” he watched her face intently wondering how he could have possibly missed the scent of a smoker on her.

“Of course not Evan,” Kylie gently scolded.  “I keep a lighter on me just in case the Bunsen burners at the lab don’t light fast enough.  It’s purely for scientific reasons.”

“Oh good, because you being a smoker would have quickly turned into the worst predicament we were dealing with at the moment.”

Kylie chuckled. “Relax, Sparky,” she teased.

She leaned to the first piece of trash within reach and lit it on fire.  Evan started walking back toward her and opened his hand to the fire.  Without a pause,
it leaped into his scarred palm. 

“I knew it!”  Kylie exclaimed.

“Knew what?” Evan asked.  His fatigue was getting to him now.

“That you
are a fire extinguisher as much as you are a starter.”  She tossed him the lighter playfully.

“Kylie, you seem
fixated on my ability to absorb fire and forgetting all the issues with—oh I don’t know, being able to catch light and create fire.”

“You are just focusing on the creation of fire, Evan.  You can be a protector with your gift.  It depends how you think about it—how you use it.”

Evan stared at Kylie’s resolved expression in the moonlight.

“I—I hadn’t thought about it like that at all, Kylie.  See
, I have these nightmares when I sleep and I’ve been known to—” he coughed nervously.  “I’ve lit things on fire in my sleep.”

“
Ohhh,” Kylie nodded, finally understanding the dark circles under his hazel eyes.

“That’s why you wouldn’t
crash at my house.  You were afraid you would start a fire.”

“Yes,” he nodded, looking at his left hand
with disgust.

“This is why you feel forced to find an abandoned cement building in which to sleep.”

“I can’t think of another way to sleep safely.”

“I can.”

“What?”

“Well, it’s pretty obvious to me, Evan.”

“What is?”  He was rubbing his tired eyes, feeling spent after telling nearly all his story to the girl with the wide, accepting green eyes.

“You’ve been thinking of your scarred hand as a curse.  Now that you’ve realized it truly is a gift—a blessing—to take fire away, preventing injury or destruction, I think you’re going to sleep much more soundly.  That, and just talking about everything like you have tonight, has to have helped your state of mind.”

“Do you really think it’s just a matter of how I think of my scars?”

“I really do, Evan.”

“How do I test it safely?”

“Come home with me.  I’ll get you set up on an inflatable mattress and you can sleep on the floor of my room.  I’ll have a fire extinguisher, just in case, but at least you won’t be alone.  I’ll be right there to remind you that you’re not a destroyer—you’re a defender.”

Evan was shaking his head the entire time Kylie spoke.

“That’s a bad idea.  I should just stay here tonight.  I can pull some of those pieces of cardboard to cover the glass, then just crash.  If nothing’s burned in the morning, I’ll know your idea worked, but first I have to get you home.”

“Evan, it took a lot of courage to trust me with your story.  You and your family—you’re all truly extraordinary people.  I’m honored to know you and want very much to be there for you.  You haven’t trusted anyone in a long time.”

Evan flinched at her words.  “What makes you say that?”

“I’m not a fool, Evan.  I know you didn’t tell me the whole story.  Maybe someday you will,” she shrugged and offered an encouraging nod.  “But for now, you’ve told me more about you and your family than you’ve ever told anyone.”

Evan though
t of his conversation with the Feds earlier and knew Kylie was right.  The version he shared with them was so much less authentic in detail and intensity than he just said to this girl who was a complete stranger just a few days ago.

“Please don’t shut me out now,” she whispered across the blanket of darkness to the shadowed face of the most fascinating person she’d ever met.

Evan licked his lips and thought.  “You’re sure you have a fire extinguisher?”

Kylie cocked her head and smiled.

“I mean other than me?”

“Yes,” she giggled.  “My dad is hyper
-vigilant about safety.  There are at least three extinguishers in the house.”

Evan smirked despite himself.  “Okay.”

“Okay, what?”

“Okay, I’ll go home with you and sleep on the floor of your room.  That is, if your dad would really be all right with that.”

“I told you, he trusts me completely.”

“Yeah, but you’re still his little girl.”  Evan raised his brow mischievously.

“And you’re a gentleman.” Kylie grinned as she stood stiffly and dusted off the back of her jeans.

“I’m still a guy,” he teased.

“An exhausted guy.  C’mon.  Let’s get going.” She moved to shrug out of his leather jacket when he stopped her.  “You wear it.  The night is cool and I have an internal furnace I can tap into.”

“Are you sure?”

“Should I prove it to you?” He smiled lazily.

“You should do that more often.”  She stepped toward the casually handsome boy and felt her heart flutter inside her chest at the look in his eyes.  She really wished she didn’t feel anything for him.  It complicate
d things.

“Do what?”

“Smile.”

A frown pressed into his forehead immediately, as though he’d forgotten momentarily that he was supposed to be angry with and mistrusting of the world.

She reached up and swept aside a lock of his sandy-blonde hair from getting tangled in his long lashes.

His eyes searched her face intensely.  “You’ve been the only thing I’ve had to smile about for a very long time.  Thank you for accepting me with all my—issues, Kylie.” 

“Of course I accept you.” She reached out and touched his shoulder, immediately feeling heat pouring through his T-shirt and warming her hand like she’d just reached in to a cooling oven without a mitt.

“Wow, you weren’t exaggerating!”

“So are you ready to go?” he asked.  His voice came out breathy, Kylie’s hand still on his wide chest.

Kylie smiled to herself at the affect her touch obviously had on him. 

“To go home with you?  Absolutely!”  She chuckled at her own breathy voice.  Regretfully, she dropped her hand to her side and turned to walk back to where Evan parked their ride. 

Both
reached out their hands at the same time and together they walked through the darkness into the moonlit night.  Evan was too desperate for the girl’s acceptance to pay attention to the hazy vision of violence he glimpsed in her future at the touch of her hand. 

3  Mixed Signals

“Kylie?”

“Hmm?”

The two had just reached the bike when Evan decided he couldn’t let the night end without telling her.

“I’ll be leaving to go back to Texas soon.”

Kylie stopped walking and looked up with wide, worried eyes.

“How soon?”

“Probably two, maybe three days.”

She turned away, letting go of his hand and reached for the helmet.  Her eyes were downcast.

“So suddenly?”

“It’s what the meeting was about today.  We were given clearance to go back.”

“But what about that Senator who has it out for you and the scientist who has been hunting you?”

“The Senator has my sister.  There’s going to be a battle and he’s pompous enough to think he’s going to win against us.  Williams has been pretty quiet lately.  I’m more worried about Arkdone.”

“Is your sister on the Senator’s side?”

Evan grimaced at her question.
“I have to ask you something.”

Kylie sighed sadly, but said nothing.

“I know it would be too much to ask you to drop everything and come with me.  Neither of our families would go for that and we really haven’t known each other for very long anyway.” He stopped talking and ran his hands up her arms until he reached her shoulders.  A gentle squeeze encouraged her to look up at him.  “Please believe me, Kylie.  I don’t know why God put you in my life when he did.  All I know is how I feel when I’m with you.”

“How do you feel?” Kylie asked despite herself.

“I feel—” Evan hesitated but forced himself to swallow his pride realizing it didn’t matter to him in front of Kylie.  What mattered was for her to understand and believe him.  Pride and logic were roadkill on the highway of love. 

“I feel like I can breathe when I’m with you. 
More than that, you make me feel twelve-feet tall and bulletproof!” 

Kylie saw his pupils dilate so wide
ly that the honey was just beautiful circles framing them.  “Wow,” she whispered.  “I wasn’t expecting you to say that at all.”

Evan’s frown was immediate, the light draining from his eyes.

“Evan, we’ve only known each other for a few days.  I like hanging out with you and I think we could be more than friends under different circumstances, but—with you leaving the country, I just don’t see how a relationship would be possible.”

Evan’s hands released Kylie’s shoulders slowly.  He nodded once and climbed on the motorcycle without saying another word.

Smooth move Evan
, he chastised himself.

The ride back to Kylie’s house was completely different
from the one they’d just enjoyed coming out to the hangar. 

Kylie held herself close to Evan and worried
, biting her bottom lip and mulling over thoughts she would never be able to express to him.  She knew she was sending him mixed signals, but there was no way around it. 

Evan couldn’t understand the girl holding him close.  He wanted to.  He thought he did. 
Wow, idiot.  You completely misread her signals.  Who am I to think a smart, sweet girl like Kylie would want to get mixed up with me?
  Any semblance of happiness he felt earlier just got punched in the face with Kylie’s indifference.  

Evan pulled up to
her house knowing he couldn’t stand anymore rejection.

Kylie hesitated to let go
of him, and though she was supposed to keep him at her house, she was feeling too out of control around him to manage that.  If she were honest with herself, the boy on the bike was making her rethink a lot of things.

Evan didn’t make a move to get off the bike, so Kylie climbed off and slowly unlatched the helmet.  She shook her straight blond hair out and handed it to him.  Their hands stayed far from touching, to both their disappointment.

“Aren’t you coming inside?” she asked, knowing the answer.

“Nah, I
think I should probably go check in with the family.  They may be making some important plans tonight—I should be there to be a part of it.”

Kylie couldn’t look into his eyes.  She was too worried he’d see how torn she felt.  Something about this boy really got to her, beneath her façade. 

Stupid girl,
she yelled inside her mind. 
You didn’t just break his heart; you damn well broke your own, too!  Keep it together!

“Tell me your number?” she hated herself for asking. 

“Do you need to write it down?” Evan asked, an ember of hope glistened in the night.

Kylie tapped her temple.  “Perfect memory,” she said even as she desperately wanted to rub her temples to work against the headache she just gave herself.

Evan nodded and slowly enunciated the ten digits that would be his lifeline to her, if she called.

When he was done, she nodded and stepped back from the curb.

“Will you call?” Evan had to ask.

“I’ll be in touch,” she answered cryptically and offered a sad smile. 

“G’night,” he hesitated, but finally forced himself to rev the engine back to life.

He looked up to see Kylie mouth the word, “Bye,” as she waved a delicate hand.

Evan slipped the helmet on himself, latched the strap, turned to the road ahead and slowly pulled away from her curb.

It wasn’t until Kylie was digging into her pocket for the house key that
she remembered she was still wearing his leather jacket.

She leaned down to catch
Evan’s scent on the inner lining and closed her eyes for a moment, locking his phone number into her long-term memory. 

Driving away, Evan knew full well what he was doing leaving a piece of him
self with Kylie.  He wanted her to remember him—to remember that night.  But, he moaned when he remembered the two small vials he’d left in the jacket’s inside pocket—his research.  He would have to contact her in the morning to retrieve them.  The vials were too important.

He took a slow, deep breath as he made his way through the deserted, late-night streets back to the house where his family stayed.

Once inside her house, Kylie picked up the phone left on the entry way table.  She pressed and held button number two until she heard ringing.

She was not looking forward to this phone call, but had no choice.  This was, after all, her assignment.