by A. L. Knorr
But I’d planted a seed of doubt. Though it would hardly qualify as vengeance, it had wiped the cocky expression off his face.
“You shouldn’t make assumptions, Ryan.” I turned and headed for the door. “You may have gotten lucky with timing, but you’ve taken a risk with your future that you cannot possibly understand. One day soon you may look in the mirror and no longer recognize yourself.”
Ryan’s harsh voice grew skeptical. “Being Burned won’t change me. It never changed you.”
My body half in the hall, I put my hand on the door and looked back at him with a humorless smile.
“Yes. It did.”
Twenty-Six
Fairy-Tale Dance
The back garden of Arcturus Academy had been transformed into a place of fantasy. My breath caught in my throat as Gage and I stepped through the rear doors and onto the narrow gravel path. It meandered through ethereal hanging lanterns leading to a large tent erected for the purpose. White fairy-lights had been sprinkled throughout the foliage. The tent glowed with light and happy dance music drifted to our ears, welcoming glittering couples inside.
Gage threaded his fingers through mine as gravel crunched beneath our feet. He’d rented a tuxedo and looked like he belonged on the deck of a yacht wearing a high-end watch.
“You look gorgeous,” he said for the fifth time. “Green suits you.”
I smiled my thanks. I’d ordered my dress after doing half a dozen questionnaires and surveys about what color a curvy redhead with pale skin and freckles should wear. The overwhelming suggestion was emerald green, so I’d picked out a sleek and strappy floor-length column dress, slit on one side to just above the knee. The fairy theme of the party was satisfied by a leafy pattern swirling diagonally across the bodice. Pinning my hair into a Greek up-do had required help from Jade, but she did a better job than any stylist. The girl knew hair.
“Welcome to the fairy grove.” Krispy greeted us at the tent’s entrance. She wore a layered strapless gown with embroidered violets and bluebells frolicking around the hem. “Take a mocktail and mingle. We have cucumber, grapefruit, and berry, as well as non-alcoholic beer for the gents, if they don’t want to be seen holding a glass with a daisy chain around it.”
“Nice job, Kris.” I picked up a mocktail with a slice of cucumber perched on the rim. “Do I see a future in event management?”
She shrugged but dimpled as she turned to the couple coming in behind us.
Gage took a beer and we went to one of the white patio tables to sit and watch the parade of dressed up peers. A DJ in a bright blue tuxedo and elf ears bobbed along to the music in the corner. Sparkly lights flickered across the dance floor (closely shorn lawn), but no one had started dancing yet.
“The last time I was at a dance I wasn’t a mage yet,” I told Gage. “I was in grade eleven at Saltford High. Alcohol wasn’t allowed at that one either but kids snuck it in. I wonder if anyone will get loose enough to dance here.”
Gage lifted his nose and put a hand over his heart. “I for one have been blessed with an innate sense of rhythm, which I intend to show off.”
I laughed as I spotted Tomio, coming in with Lexi on his arm. I was surprised by the stab of guilt that sliced through me. I’d seen Tomio in our sparring sessions, but with all the drama, I hadn’t spent much time with him as a friend lately. I waved them over. Gage squeezed his chair closer to mine.
Tomio said something in Lexi’s ear and she saw us and nodded. They grabbed drinks and came over, spinning lights speckling their hair and faces.
Lexi was petite and blond with big brown eyes. She wore a pink minidress straight out of the eighties and had painted white glitter around her eyes. Her makeup made me wish April was here with us.
“You fairy well,” I told Lexi as she took the seat beside me, all smiles and twinkling eyes.
“I’m so excited.” She slipped her hand under my arm, hooking the crook of my elbow. Her skin felt warm, but no bond passed between us. She appeared not to notice. Was anyone as painfully aware of the presence or lack of a bond as I was? Was it of any actual consequence? Lexi and I could be friends, just as Tomio and I were friends, without any bond. I resolved to let the matter go.
As the tent filled up with chatter and laughter, couples migrated to the dance floor to bop around on the grass, some already in bare feet. Exams were over, stress had fallen away. People were ready for a good time.
Lexi and I discussed the girls’ dresses and waved at people. Everyone seemed the happiest I’d seen them since before ‘the incident’. It was as though April losing her fire had been a bad dream.
“Oh my gosh. Look,” Lexi whispered, squeezing my arm.
Ryan appeared in the doorway of the tent.
“He looks so yummy,” she said under her breath. “I don’t know what’s changed, but I find there’s something so dangerous about him lately. I’m just glad he’s feeling well enough to join us.”
Dr. Price had given a cold as the reason for Ryan’s need for rest and his new husky voice. I wondered what she’d say when his voice never went back to the way it had been. That his vocal chords had been damaged? It was thin ice but it didn’t have to hold long, school was about to break for the summer.
I put on a fake smile but couldn’t find it in myself to nod or agree with Lexi about Ryan’s sex appeal. Oh, I saw the perfectly fitted tuxedo, the broad shoulders and long legs, the vivid eyes and confident smile. I was attracted to his twin, after all, but Ryan walked around like he owned the place. He flirted with Krispy, reducing her to a giggling juvenile as he scooped up a beer. I’d never look at him without seeing arrogance incarnate.
“I wonder why he was barred from the exams,” Lexi murmured. “He might have won Top Marks again.”
I shrugged, wanting to appear disinterested. “Headmaster Chaplin said he broke academy rules. That’s enough for me. Tomio deserved Top Marks anyway in my opinion. He works harder than anyone I’ve ever met.”
“I guess.” Lexi dragged her eyes from Ryan long enough to take a sip of her drink and tuck a stray curl into her up-do.
After sharing the full story with them the day after it had happened, Gage, Dr. Price, Tomio, Basil and I had resolved to keep Ryan’s status to ourselves. There’d be no public assembly to announce his Burned status until the headmaster had decided a course of action. It wasn’t going to be easy. Did he continue to train Ryan at the academy in spite of his flouting of the rules? Did Ryan himself want to stay? Maybe he wanted a position at the Agency, but there was no way Basil would reward his behavior that way. Everything was very up in the air. As far as we knew, Ryan hadn’t said anything to anyone either. My guess was that he wouldn’t, not wanting to offer the opportunity to anyone else at the school.
“He didn’t come with anyone.” Lexi sounded disappointed that she hadn’t been asked to fill the post.
Ryan’s gaze swung around the tent and stopped on me. Our gazes clashed and locked together. Fire flashed in his eyes as his lip curled in a near imperceptible smirk. He lifted his drink and tipped his chin in my direction, a cocky salute.
The back of my neck bristled. I looked away, determined not to let him ruin my night.
Here I Go Again by Whitesnake blared from the speakers and Lexi gave a little squeal. “I love this song, let’s dance!”
I found myself yanked into the dance space and closed in on all sides by jumping, writhing bodies. Shoving Ryan out of my mind, I let myself be carried away by the music until Gage and Tomio joined us on the dance floor. We split into couples. Twenty sweaty minutes later, the DJ chose a love song and Gage pulled me close, igniting my skin wherever he touched me.
Over Gage’s shoulder I watched as Basil and Susan Palmer entered the tent. Basil looked like a true gentleman, right down to the folded handkerchief poking from his chest pocket and the watch chain looped from the buttonhole in his matching vest. Susan wore a gauzy, floor-length gown in butter yellow. She glowed, but the headmaster looked pale and tired. What a year it had been
for him. For me, too.
I lay my head on Gage’s chest and he rested his chin on my head, sending a shower of sparks down my scalp and neck, like someone had poured hot water over my head. I blinked at the sensation and waited for it to pass before closing my eyes and giving in to the swaying, and the pleasure of being held.
“Hey.” Gage’s voice trickled into my ear.
“Hmm?” I raised my head.
“Congratulations.” He grinned. “You’ve completed high school.”
“Yeah.” I grinned back but the reminder was bittersweet.
“Missing your friends?”
I looked at him in surprise. “How did you know?”
He kissed my temple, opening a flower of heat under my skin. “I would.”
I lay my head on his shoulder again. Graduating without Targa, Georjie and Akiko at my side made me feel like something big was missing, but Georjie, Targa and I had texted and agreed to plan a celebratory trip when we could. I let my eyes drift closed and imagined meeting them somewhere fabulous, like Paris or Vienna. Or maybe I could show them Venice during Festa del Redentore. They’d love the way the gondolas choked the canals, the brightly colored fireworks.
I lifted my head, eyes flying open. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about that day we saw Ryan on the beach. There’s been so much happening, I kept forgetting.”
“What about it?”
“The green flames, you called it something...” it was on the tip of my tongue but I couldn’t bring the word out.
“His idle?”
“That’s it. What is that?”
At first Gage looked surprised that I asked, then it melted away. “I guess you wouldn’t know, not having been born with the fire. An idle refers to the colored flames a mage produces when they’re totally relaxed and happy, or sometimes if they’re surprised out of sleep. It lasts through childhood and then usually fades away. They don’t come easily to adults, we’re too burdened. That’s why I was happy to see Ryan’s.”
I absorbed this. “Your idle is green too?”
“Was, I haven’t seen it since I was seven or eight. And yes, of course we have the same color. Being twins, and all.”
Fascinated, I wondered why no one had told me about idles sooner. “And your dad?”
Gage made a thoughtful face as we swayed around the floor. “I’ve never seen his, but I think he said it was pink.”
My brows shot up. “Pink?”
Gage laughed. “I know, imagine little Chad Wendig throwing pink flames. It doesn’t seem to suit him, but inside my dad is a bit of a teddy bear.”
“Huh. I would have guessed it to be the same color as yours, he’s your father after all.”
“You’d think, but that’s not how an idle works, I guess.”
I lay my head on his shoulder again, wondering what color my idle was and if I could somehow coax it to show itself. If stress and worry kept one’s idle in hiding, then fat chance. But now that Ryan had gotten what he’d wanted, and I no longer had to hide from my fellow students, maybe next year would be the Arcturus experience I’d been dreaming of since the start.
Epilogue
Some two hours and seven mocktails later, the dance floor was shredded from stilettoes, and tuxedo jackets lay abandoned over chairs and tables. Gage and I were seated at one of the tables watching the dancers when I spotted Secretary Goshawk. She came into the tent obviously searching for someone. She wore her usual corduroy skirt and matching jacket with the Arcturus crest embroidered on the heart, so she wasn’t here for the party.
I frowned. “Doesn’t that woman ever let down her hair?”
Gage followed my gaze. “She looks worried.”
I agreed. We watched as the secretary found the headmaster where he and Susan sat chatting in a corner. She whispered something in his ear. Basil turned to Susan and relayed whatever Goshawk had said. Susan’s brows pinched. They got up, leaving full mocktails on the table, and followed the secretary out of the tent.
“What was that about?” I murmured.
“Hey.” Tomio and Lexi walked up to our table, looking flushed and dewy from dancing.
“Have you seen Ryan?” Lexi looked around the tent as Tomio collapsed into the chair beside Gage.
Tomio rolled his head, followed by his eyes, around to Gage and me in an exaggerated fashion. “My date wants to dance with Mr. Bond.”
Lexi shoved at Tomio’s shoulder and laughed, blushing.
Gage scanned the party. “I haven’t seen him for hours.”
I fought the urge to say, who cares? Instead, I propped my chin in my hand. “Maybe he’s not big on parties?”
“With all the attention he was getting?” Gage shook his head, tucking his hands into his pockets as he tipped his chair back. “Ryan laps that up.”
“Imagine that.” I got up from the table. “Come on. I smell pizza.”
But as we went by the snack table, piling our plates with hot pizza slices and cute little tarts filled with berries and edible flower petals, Gage’s words about Ryan bounced around in my skull.
Ryan had been loving the attention, so why had he left? And how long ago? I’d forcefully put him from my mind, so I hadn’t noticed when he’d disappeared. While the boys made fun of the fairy tarts, a bad feeling raised its head. It refused to go away, even after I’d demolished a fat slice of pizza.
I wiped my mouth with my napkin and tossed it into the nearest bin, turned to my friends. “Maybe we should find Ryan? What if something is wrong?”
Their conversation and laughter paused as they considered this.
“What’s most likely,” Lexi pouted, “is that he’s taken his pick of the ladies and disappeared behind a shrub.”
“Jealous?” Tomio elbowed her but winked at me so I knew he didn’t mind.
“Who is missing, though?” The most likely girls for Ryan to slip away with were those he’d been known to flirt openly with—Jade or Krispy—and both of them were still here.
Gage squeezed my hand. “I need fresh air anyway. Let’s take a walk and see if we can find him.”
On our way we passed Dr. Price and Alfred. They smiled at us as we ducked out of the tent and they ducked in.
The cool night air lifted tendrils of my hair and felt delicious after the close warmth of the party—it was amazing how much heat a tent could hold in. Stars glimmered through a single slash in the cloudy night sky. We took the winding path toward the fire-gym where we could loop through the archway and go around to the front of the building. The sound of the music and laughter grew distant. Crickets chirruped from the shrubs.
“Alone, finally,” Gage murmured.
I glanced at him. “I didn’t know you were waiting to be alone with me.”
He rolled his eyes good-naturedly and rested his hand on my waist. As we ducked under the archway, he pulled me into the shadows where we wouldn’t be seen. I laughed as he pressed my back up against the bricks but my heart skipped a beat when his face came close to mine. I could feel his breath tickling the sensitive skin of my lips.
Finally indeed, my mind agreed as he pressed his lips to mine. Heat fired along my jaw and up my cheekbones. My eyes fluttered shut as pleasure uncurled in my belly, but my lids opened again because I loved the look of his eyelashes against his cheek. His hands slipped from my waist to my hips as he deepened the kiss.
Out of the corner of my eye, I registered the parking lot, the dark shadows of the vehicles parked there, before closing my eyes again. I pressed into him. A second later my eyes snapped open and I broke the kiss, staring at the line of cars. An empty space stood out like a missing tooth.
“What is it?” Gage was breathless as he turned his head to look.
“Dr. Price’s SUV is missing.” I put my hands against Gage’s shoulders as a red light blinked off and on in my mind.
“So?” Gage released me and half turned to the parking lot, not getting it.
“She’s here, in the tent. We just passed her. So why is her SUV mi
ssing?” I tugged on his hand trying to wake him from his stupor. A flash of frustration zinged through me at his slowness. It was great that my kiss put him under a spell, but couldn’t he put two and two together?
“I don’t get it.”
I let out a breath. “We need to tell her.”
“What’s the big deal?” Gage’s brow wrinkled. “She probably loaned it to someone.”
“In that case we can go back to making out under the arch, but what if she didn’t?” I headed down the path, tugging Gage along behind me until he got himself in gear and walked without needing to be pulled.
Spotting Dr. Price by the snack table, I left Gage at the entrance. I could move faster through the crowd if I didn’t wait for him. I tapped her on the shoulder. “Christy?”
“Mmm?” She turned from her conversation with Alfred, mocktail in hand. She had to speak up over the vocal strains of Cher. “Hello, dear.”
“I-hello, I was wondering if you loaned your SUV to anyone?” I half shouted.
Her expression clouded. “No. Why?”
“It’s not in the parking lot. Did you park it somewhere else?”
She blinked, shared a look with Alfred, then shook her head. “What do you mean?”
I began to speak again but thought better of it. “Come outside where we don’t have to shout.”
Once we were clear of the tent and halfway up the hill to the parking lot, I said what I was thinking.
“I think Ryan has stolen your SUV.”
“What?” Gage’s eyes popped. “He wouldn’t do that!”
“Wouldn’t he? No one has seen him for hours. Dr. Price’s car is missing. He’s recently joined the ranks of the Burned, why would he stay at the academy when he’s got the world at his fingertips? All he needed to get out of here was a set of wheels.”
“Hang on—” Gage spluttered.
Alfred put a hand on his shoulder. “Check Ryan’s room, would you?”
Gage’s mouth snapped shut but he nodded and then jogged toward the rear doors.