Claiming Family

by Desi Lin

  When his gaze focused on me, I mouthed my question.

  He nodded.

  Well, that was one mystery solved.

  “The project is broken into two parts: Performance and Discussion. For the performance part, you will need to memorize and perform a scene. For the discussion section, you’ll talk about a different scene from the same play. The details of the play, the scenes, the talking points for the discussion are on these papers.” Mr. Rhinehard held them up as if we hadn’t been watching him pace with them. “A final note before I hand out assignments; the more effort you put in, the better your grade will be. While your assignment is nothing more than to memorize, perform, and talk about a specific piece, that is an average grade. You’ll pass, but that’s it. If you want to do better than average, you’ll need to find creative ways to go beyond what’s written on these sheets.”

  As he started handing out the assignments, I tuned him out and turned to Souta.

  He raised an eyebrow. “What’s up, hot stuff? You look like you have something on your mind?”

  I shrugged a shoulder, but before I could say anything, Mr. Rhinehart’s stuffy tone interrupted. “Ms. Embers. I don’t believe this is the time or the place for whatever discussion you and your paramour were about to have.”

  Seriously? Paramour?

  “You and Mr. Hicks will be working together on scenes from Romeo and Juliet.”

  “Dane?” Souta growled the name.

  I glanced over at the guy who’d been seated on my right from day one and largely ignored. Mostly because I ended up focused on my boys instead.

  A pale green eye winked at me as he took the papers from Mr. Rhinehart without looking. His blond hair, likely intended to look like some kind of messy bed head, stuck out at all angles like a porcupine. Combined with his wide grin, he was a reasonably attractive guy.

  Judging by his wink, he knew it.

  That last part made him less attractive, and thankfully, I didn’t care at all.

  “No way!” Souta’s angry shout drew my attention back to him as he slammed his hands down on his desk. “She can’t work with Dane!”

  “I believe I’m the one who makes those decisions, Mr. Kurihara.” Mr. Rhinehart speared him with a stern gaze, and Souta crossed his arms over his chest, scowl still firmly in place. “Now, you, Mr. Kurihara, will be working with Ms. Snow.”

  He tossed a packet of papers on Souta’s desk and moved on.

  “What’s the matter, Sue?” Dane leered as he peered around me. “Worried I’ll actually give your girl the attention she deserves? Can’t be easy, after all, dividing your affection between two people.”

  As Souta growled, I grabbed his wrist, hoping my touch would soothe him the way I’d seen Brooks do many times. Souta took a couple deep breaths and appeared to calm down. But from the glare he shot at Dane, it was only surface deep.

  I sighed, not sure how to diffuse the situation since I didn’t understand what the problem was.

  “Hey, Red,” Dane said, catching my attention.

  I glanced over at him with raised brows.

  He shook the papers. “We’re gonna have to work on this at your place. I’m in the dorms during the week. Not a chance of getting shit done.”

  “First, don’t call me Red, my name is Sera.” I ran my thumb along Souta’s pulse point, my next words might not thrill the hell out of him. “I guess we can work on this at my place, or rather Souta’s place, since that’s where I live. I don’t think his parents will mind.”

  It was only a school project, not a big deal.

  But the scowl didn’t leave Souta’s face for the rest of class, and I only caught half of the lecture because I kept trying to do what I could to help calm him.

  Nothing worked, though.

  When the bell rang, I twined myself around Souta and headed out.

  A hand stopped me as we reached the door.

  Dane held his phone out. “I need your digits, Red.”

  Shooting him a glare, I typed in my number and slapped the phone into his waiting palm. “Sera. S-E-R-A. Try to remember it.”

  The fucker winked at me again and walked off.

  The farther away Dane got, the more Souta relaxed as we headed toward the gym.

  Then, my phone went off.

  And I made the mistake of checking it, with Souta right there, able to read every word.

  Dane: Hey, Red. What time will I be cuming?

  Souta growled, I sighed and texted Dane back.

  Sera: Really? Go fuck yourself. We’ll discuss the project tomorrow. In class.

  What the fuck was this guy up to?

  “He’s not allowed in my house, Sera.” The vehemence in Souta’s voice surprised me.

  He’d turned to face me, lips pressed white, arms crossed over his chest, stiff as a board. I decided not to let Dane come to Souta’s place after all, given Dane’s apparent need to irritate him, but Souta didn’t know that.

  “He isn’t coming to the house and, certainly, not tonight. I’ll figure something out on how to work with the guy. Not like I have much choice.”

  “You didn’t exactly put up a fight!” Souta’s voice rose, turning heads toward us.

  I didn’t know what to do or how to handle his anger. I wished Brooks were here. He always calmed him down, but despite discreetly peering around, I didn’t see him.

  “You know what? Forget it.” Souta turned and stormed off to the locker room.

  Wonderful. Less than a month into a relationship, and I was already fucking things up.

  Ignoring the others in the locker room, I tossed my bag into my locker and dug out my clothes. P.E. remained my least favorite class and now that we were getting into some hard-core powers training, it really sucked. At least two people were guaranteed to end up needing a nurse before the end of the period.

  I hoped Brooks had been able to calm Souta down.

  Two steps into the gym I knew my hopes were in vain. Souta stood stiffly off to the side of the bleachers everyone else sat on, waiting for class to start. I trudged over and plopped down next to Brooks.

  He curled his arm around me, pulling me into his side.

  JJ sat next to me and pulled my feet up into his lap. “He’s still pissed?”

  “Yeah, What happened?” Brooks asked.

  I guess Souta didn’t tell Brooks anything.

  “I got partnered with Dane Hicks for some English project, and Souta kind of lost his mind.” Okay, slight exaggeration, but seriously, only slight.

  “Dane Hicks?” JJ straightened up. “No wonder he lost it. That guy is infamous for being a crass jackass who pretty much just wants into the pants of anything with boobs. Every time he’s partnered with a girl, they almost immediately start sleeping together, really obviously. Then, the second the project is over, he dumps the girl.”

  “Hey, JJ.”

  I glanced up and nearly copied Souta’s growl from earlier. A pretty brunette not-so-casually leaned toward JJ. She needed a little less cleavage considering this was PE. She also needed to stop showing her assets to JJ.

  “Hey, Britt.” JJ didn’t even look up. “Anyway, like I was saying. Dane Hicks is bad news when it comes to being partnered with girls. He’s broken up several couples. So far, he hasn’t caused a Foederis—breaking a bond isn’t exactly easy, after all—but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he did before the end of the year.”

  “He doesn’t need to be anywhere near our girl,” Brooks spoke up, meeting JJ’s eyes over my head.

  “Agreed. Not much we can do about it, though.” JJ shrugged.

  Angry at being talked over, I sat up, dropped my feet abruptly to the floor, and stood in one motion. “Or you could trust me not to fall for his shit!”

  Heat moved through me, and I clenched a fist at my side as I stormed away.

  What the fucking hell? I got it. The guy was a dick of the first order and enjoyed being one, but did they really think I’d fall for some asshole’s quick moves?

&n
bsp; “Alright, you guys, pair off, and let’s get to it.”

  No one moved since the Coach’s words were misleading. He would pair us off how he wanted.

  As he ran over the bleachers and started pairing people off, I paced, needing to move from all the energy cooped up inside me.

  Coach called my name, “Sera, work with Souta. Britt, work with JJ. Brooks, work with Vera…”

  I tuned out as he moved on, waiting for Souta to join me.

  We found a spot on the floor, far enough from the others that hopefully we wouldn’t end up with any collateral damage. Neither of us spoke as we faced each other. We just stared at each other. For way too long.

  Long enough that we caught Coach’s attention. “Sera, Souta! Get to it!”

  Souta thrust out a hand, a blast of wind flowing forward.

  I should dodge it, that was the point of the training after all, but I just let it flow around me. He didn’t have enough power to knock me down; that kind of power only came with tons of training and experience. I pulled my lighter out of my pocket, a simple disposable that could be picked up for a dollar at any gas station, and flicked it. With my other hand, I pulled the tiny flame from the lighter then tucked it back into my pocket. The flame flickered softly on my hand as I moved my fingers, working the flame bigger.

  “You need to ask for a new partner!” Souta’s voice broke my concentration, and the flame shrank back down.

  When I glanced up, he’d moved closer. Now, a mere two feet separated us as opposed to the six feet we were supposed to keep between us.

  Heat flared through me that had nothing to do with the flame I held. My free hand fisted at my side, my jaw clenching as I took a couple steps closer. I was done with this. “You need to trust me!”

  Why the hell was he making such a big deal of this? Where the hell did my happy, easy-going, excitable guy go? I shook my hand until the flame flickered out. If he planned to continue harassing me, I was leaving. Fuck the grade. I’d talk to him again when he had time to cool down.

  “You know what? I’m done with this jealousy shit.” I turned on my heel and headed for the exit.

  However, I didn’t get very far. A hand clamped down on my forearm and spun me back around.

  “Don’t walk away, dammit! You don’t know him!” Souta got in my face, and my blood boiled. “Why won’t you listen to me?”

  Pure anger flashed through me as my hands found his chest, and I shoved him. “Let me g—”

  His shocked yell cut off my words, drawing the attention of everyone not already watching us, including Coach. All the heat and anger drained from my body as I stared at the perfect smoking handprint burned through Souta’s shirt, the exposed skin bright-red and beginning to blister.

  What the fuck had I done?

  “Souta!”

  He swayed, and I lunged forward, arms wrapping around him, careful to avoid touching the fresh burns.

  Coach spoke softly into the sudden silence, “Sera, get him to the nurse.”

  Tears burned in my eyes, and thankful for the calm direction, I nodded. With my arm around Souta, we headed out of the gym and toward the nurse.

  The fight of moments ago shrank to minuscule proportions, and my stomach rolled. Look where my anger got me. “I’ll talk to Mr. Rhinehart tomorrow.” A tear slipped down my cheek, but Souta remained silent, from pain or irritation, I didn’t know.

  When we stepped through the glass doors to the front office, Ms. Jones glanced up and waved us on to the nurse. Of all the adults in this school, Ms. Jones was by far my favorite. As a Menda, she had no powers, despite both her parents being Elementum. A lot of people looked down on them, thought of them as inferior. Slung the nasty slur, Impar, at them.

  I had nothing but sympathy for them. I knew what being an outsider felt like, and I could only imagine how hard it was to know our world existed, to grow up around all the myth, lore, and magic, and be unable to be truly a part of it.

  Ms. Jones was sweet but made of steel. She didn’t let anyone get away with anything and seemed to practically keep this Illustratio Conservatory running single-handed.

  Nurse Holland waited at the entrance to the clinic, face impassive. “Coach called and let me know you were coming.”

  We headed in, and Souta hopped up on the table-bed-thing as Nurse Holland washed her hands and pulled on gloves.

  I didn’t want to see Souta in pain. Pain I put him in. Outside the room, I sunk into a nearby chair and let myself fall into my thoughts.

  A few minutes later, Souta emerged sporting a new black and red striped shirt over his bandaged chest, and we left.

  Seven

  Later that afternoon, back at Souta’s house, with the stuff that happened at school still running through my head, restlessness took over. I found myself unable to stay still. The walls were closing in on me, and I needed to get out, to move, to let my mind drift and hope to clear it out.

  “You okay?” Souta frowned as he rose from the blue armchair. His fingers wrapped around mine, halting the pacing I’d begun without realizing.

  My gaze darted around Souta’s room. Several large pillows in blue- and tan- striped cases leaned against the clean lines of the dark wood headboard. A matching dresser next to it held a black bowl with Souta’s wallet and keys. A blue overstuffed armchair sat in a corner next to a white side table where a black metal lamp with frosted glass shade provided light. Across from the closet, most of the wall was taken up by a corkboard framed in black, featuring photos tacked up next to posters of dancers I didn’t recognize. A round, blue and tan area rug took up most of the remaining floor space. The most notable things in the room, though, were the three concerned faces.

  “I don’t…” Not knowing how to answer I stalled.

  Was I okay? Unable to keep my mind focused, I honestly wasn’t sure.

  Brooks rose, unfolding his long, jean-clad legs from the armchair he’d curled into. My attention caught on him as he crossed the room, the innate grace combined with those blond curls and piercing blue eyes making my brain stutter to a stop for a moment.

  His hand reached out, a long, slender finger stroking my cheek then lifting my chin to meet his eyes. “Go for a walk. Take your phone, just in case, and come back to us soon.” He punctuated his soft words with a gentle kiss to the corner of my mouth.

  Drawing back, he twined his fingers around Souta’s, releasing his hand from mine to wrapping his arms around Souta’s waist.

  As I left, I caught Brooks’ words to Souta. “Let her go. She needs a little time to herself. Our girl will be back.”

  I didn’t know what I did to deserve him, any of them really, but especially Brooks with his amazing ability to understand what I needed.

  My feet followed the same path I’d taken the last time I found myself needing time to think. Shying away from my relationship with the guys and how I burned Souta during class, my mind turned instead to my recently discovered family.

  I had been back to Michael’s getting to know him and Kelly better. My future stepmother’s sweet and accepting nature put me at ease, and we discovered a shared love of history.

  Despite my fears, I was starting to relax around them.

  I wished I could get to know Ash, though. Michael kept assuring me he would come around, but the memory of his hateful glare sent a shudder ripping through me, a chill raising goosebumps on my arms. I glanced around, but only trees and the walls behind the homes surrounded me. Giving myself a shake, I realized it’s stupid of me to let a memory affect me so much.

  Which let my head find its way to the real reason I needed a moment away from the guys, the events from training this afternoon. How did the power flare happen? I sure as heck wasn’t powerful enough to cause blistering burns or sear away a cotton tee in an instant. I had never done more than make a person uncomfortable with my heating ability, so how the fuck had I burned Souta so bad?

  It shouldn’t be possible, but I had burned him. More worrying to me was, would it happen a
gain? How the fuck did I keep it from happening? Did I dare touch the boys when I didn’t know how the hell I burned Souta?

  My stomach cramped at the thought of causing the same burns on JJ or Brooks, or worse. They wouldn’t let me not touch them, though. With too many questions and not enough answers, I kicked leaves from my path and debated what I should do.

  Something hard crashed into me and sent me sprawling to my ass. Shoving my hair out of my eyes, I spied another form sprawled on the ground opposite me. All I could see was a pair of thin, jean-clad legs until the person sat up enough to look back at me. Brilliant blue eyes thickly lined met my own, amusement sparkling in them.

  “Sorry.”

  “Sorry.”

  We spoke at the same time.

  We stood, and I couldn’t help but laugh as I brushed dirt and leaves off myself, all my previous thoughts scattered. “I’m really sorry. My head wasn’t here.”

  The surprisingly small guy in front of me stood a good half a head shorter than my average height. Black hair fell across his forehead and into one eye. A tattoo of wind, or maybe waves, wrapped around one forearm and disappeared into the rolled-up sleeve of his black button-down.

  “Mine, either.” Something in the way he spoke those two words, in the way his face fell, and his eyes fixed on the ground, spoke volumes.

  “You okay?” Seriously, this guy looked like he needed a friend.

  Maybe talking to him would give me a break from my thoughts and help me figure out the whole power flare mess.

  His eyes lifted, and he shot me a small smile. “Oh, physically I’ll be fine.”

  He swiped a hand through the air, dismissing our run-in, and the light caught on several silver bangles around his wrist. As he skirted around me, I couldn’t dismiss the pure pain radiating off him.

  I spun and flung out my arm to catch his, then dropped it quickly before we reached the awkward, uncomfortable stage. “I’m sorry. Are you sure you’re alright? You just don’t seem like it.”

  He turned back to me. “It’s got nothing to do with our run-in. My heart hurts, and that’s not on you.”