Hidden Embers

by Amanda Perry

  I don’t get a chance to voice my fears about sharing a room with someone because soon we’re back outside.

  “Alright, kiddo.” Dad rubs his hands together with glee. “Let’s try making a tornado.”

  My eyes pop wide open. “A real one? Isn’t that dangerous?”

  Caleb chuckles, and Dad grins, shaking his head. “No, kiddo. We’ll just make a small tornado. Nothing that could take out a city… Or Leanne’s garden for that matter. She’ll kill me if I ruined her roses again.”

  “Again?”

  Dad cringes. “Long story. Let’s make a tornado, then I’ll tell you about the rose catastrophe of last year.”

  “Okay.” I sigh with relief, rocking back on my heels. “That doesn’t sound bad. What do I do?”

  Dad uses his pointer finger, aims it toward the ground, and makes a circular motion with it. “You have to feel the wind, force it to do what you want,” he explains, keeping his eyes on the ground where his finger points. “Wind is pretty rebellious. It’s unpredictable and wild. You need a lot of focus and determination to make it listen. Most natural disasters need wind to become destructive.”

  “Like tornados?” I watch as a small cylindrical tunnel of dust and dirt forms out of the wind.

  “Exactly.” Dad beams proudly. “Also, hurricanes, wildfires, tsunamis. All those need wind to turn into the disastrous things they are. Think of how a tornado works. Think of the speed the wind must be going, the direction it needs to go in. Think about everything that would be picked up in its path, everything it would destroy. Come stand by me, try to mimic what I’m doing.”

  Stepping up to his side, I point my finger at the ground as he did, placing my whole focus on the makeup of a tornado. When I think of all the components of a tornado and how the wind is the main ingredient, it’s easier to manipulate the wind. It takes a few tries, but the more frustrated I get, the easier it is for me to build a small whirlpool. It’s more of a gust of wind going in a circular motion than a tornado, but it’s better than nothing.

  Dad and Caleb watch my tiny tornado for a few minutes, but keeping it going tires me out, and I need to let it go. The tornado disappears the second my focus drops, and the dust and dirt it picked up while it formed falls to the ground.

  “It was just a small whirlwind. I couldn’t make it grow,” I admit sheepishly, and slightly breathless.

  “You did good, baby,” Caleb assures me when I huff at the empty spot my tornado used to be. “Are you okay to try and stop a fire, or are you too tired?”

  “I can try it.” I shrug, not sure if I’ll be able to accomplish much more. The entire day involved little physical exertion, but my body and mind feel like I completed a triathlon.

  “That was fantastic for your first try at manipulating wind, kiddo,” Dad assures me, patting my shoulder.

  Caleb takes my hands and leads me to the edge of the pool. He builds a small fire on the concrete surround before turning his attention to me. “It’s easier to start a fire on hot concrete in the summer. It’s harder to put out a fire that isn’t being controlled by you.”

  “Is that what I’m doing, now?” I eye the small patch of fire he seems to be controlling without even watching it.

  “Yeah,” he nods, his attention partially on me and partially on his fire. “Pull your emotions forward. It’s easier to control when you use your emotions. When you control a fire that’s not yours, it’s a lot like how your dad described controlling wind. You need to think of the things that make up the fire. All the small particles that form the fire. You need to pick those apart one-by-one until there’s nothing left but smoke and soot.”

  He glides around me, pressing his front to my back and putting an arm around my waist. The contact distracts me, making it hard to focus on his words as he whispers in my ear, “You might think the flame is out. But all it takes is one tiny ember to light the world on fire.”

  The nerves and excitement his nearness brings are perfect for his advice about using my emotions. At first, the fire grows in size and I think Caleb is responsible.

  “Breathe, baby girl,” he whispers softly to me and the fire gains a few more inches in height. “If it helps, I can back away. Touching you only seems to make things burn more.”

  If he only knew how right he is. “It’s okay, I can do this.”

  Taking a deep breath, I push my focus into the fire. The feeling of putting myself inside the elements is strange. It’s like my whole being was inside the tornado I made earlier. Now, my entire being is inside of Caleb’s fire, slowly picking it apart. It takes a long time and a lot of determination, but after about an hour and a half, I’m finally able to extinguish the fire fully.

  As it turns out, when an Elemental uses their power for hours on end like I did today, they tend to become drained and exhausted. Caleb mentions this bit of information after he notices my fatigue.

  “Let’s go order pizza for dinner. I think we’ve done enough for today,” he suggests.

  I give him a grateful nod and follow everyone inside. During my time trying to extinguish the fire, the rest of the family came and went from the backyard but Caleb remained with me the entire time.

  After Jaxon orders the pizza, we all sit in the living room and talk more about the trip.

  “So, it’s Sunday,” Leanne muses, peaking at the calendar on her phone. “We called the construction crew for the charity house project earlier and told them we had a family emergency that needed our immediate attention, but we would make the day up next month with an extra weekend of volunteer work.”

  “I thought about taking this week off, but Leanne made a good point when she and I talked earlier.” Dad peers around at all of us as he speaks. “We have no idea what will happen with the council. We’ve never dealt with anything like this, and I don’t believe the council has either. Taking that into consideration, Leanne suggested I save my time from work just in case I’m needed home in the coming weeks.”

  “What do you do, exactly?” I ask suddenly. What kind of daughter am I to have never asked him before now what he does for a living?

  He smiles softly at me like he knows where my thoughts are. “I’m the Senior Vice President of Sullivan-Montgomery Bank.”

  My eyes widen into saucers with this new information. I’ve heard of Sullivan-Montgomery of course; it’s the biggest bank in the world. Literally. They have branches in every country of the world. The information shocks me for a moment, knowing how important my dad must be in the company being the senior VP. Then something clicks into place.

  “Wait…” I search the faces of everyone in the room. They all look amused, except Caleb. He appears upset, and I’m not sure why. I brush it off for the time being, though. “Dad, your last name is Sullivan. And Cassie, you said yours is Montgomery…” I leave my unsaid assumption hanging in the air.

  “Yeah, kiddo.” My dad nods. “My grandfather and Cassie and Caleb’s great-grandfather started the company a long time ago. After they retired their sons took over. Now, the company belongs to Derrick and me. Eventually, it’ll be left to Caleb and Jaxon, though if you want to be a part of the company, now, I’d be happy to teach you the ropes and bring you into the family business.”

  “I’m not sure that’s the kind of thing I would be good at,” I admit. “It sounds great, but I kind of always wanted to work with kids in some way. Maybe teaching, I’m not sure. So, you work with Caleb’s dad?”

  “Yeah, it’s nice working with my best friend. He and Susannah flew over to England. They’ve been there a while dealing with business. That’s one of the reasons Cassie and Caleb are staying here with us.”

  I knew from previous conversations with Cassie and Caleb that Derrick is their dad and Susannah is their mom, but one thing Dad said stands out to me. “One of the reasons?” I didn’t mean to say it out loud, but it slips out regardless.

  “Long story for another time, Sis,” Jaxon mutters, trying to subtly glance at Caleb who still seems a bit upset. His ey
es squint at the floor, and his brow furrows for some reason.

  Caleb’s mysterious mood distracts me from my curiosity as Jaxon gets up to answer the door when the bell rings. He comes back in after a few moments with three large pizzas.

  Is this meant to be dinner for the next week? That’s a ridiculous amount of pizza for one night!

  I’m proven wrong at the end of our meal when there’s only half of a pizza left. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen Dad and Caleb eat that much. The boys always eat about three times what I do, but they seem extra hungry tonight.

  At my wide-eyed gaze, Dad chuckles. “When we use our elements like we have today, it uses a lot of energy and boosts our metabolism.”

  Caleb nods, swallowing a large bite of pizza before speaking. He keeps his gaze focused on his plate. “We get a lot hungrier when we use up a lot of energy.”

  After I think it through, it makes sense. Normally, I only manage one piece of pizza, but tonight, I ate two and considered going back for a third.

  All throughout dinner, Caleb wouldn’t look my way. He seems to be in a bad mood, and I don’t understand why. Have I done something to upset him? He’s stayed almost silent since my dad talked about taking time off work. Though, I can’t understand why he would be upset about that. I let out a long sigh and try to ignore the frustration that comes off Caleb in waves.

  “So, do you maybe have some extra blankets stashed away?” I ask Leanne quietly while everyone cleans up the dinner mess and heads off to complete their nightly routines.

  “Sure, honey, are you getting cold at night?” she asks. The concern in her voice warms my heart.

  “No, I just don’t think my room is going to be the best place to sleep right now, and I was hoping I could set up a bed on the couch or floor in the living room?” I ask, suddenly nervous she won’t like me sleeping on the couch or messing up the living room with blankets. “Maybe the game room would be better.”

  Cassie giggles behind me, catching me off guard, and I spin to figure out what she’s laughing about. Rather than explain what’s funny, she shakes her head at me. “Riley, you can use my room. While you were working with Mark and Caleb, we had some people come and look at the damage in your room. They said they should be able to get it fixed by Wednesday at the latest. It’ll be just like it was before, unless you want any changes made.”

  “Oh, that’s really nice of you, Cassie, but I can’t just take your room like that.” I’m grateful she’s offering up her bedroom to me, but there’s no way I would let her sleep on the couch.

  “It’s really okay, Riley. I’m sleeping someplace else tonight, anyway,” she says the last part quietly, and I’m almost not sure I heard her right.

  Before I have a chance to ask questions, Leanne assures me it’s all right and Cassie does have prior arrangements to sleep elsewhere for the night. I assume they mean she’s going to a friend’s and don’t question it further.

  Before going into Cassie’s room, I thank her and head to the bathroom for a long shower. The hot spray soothes my sore muscles and I take longer than anticipated, simply standing under the water and relaxing.

  Cassie’s bedroom is bright, decorated in neon pinks and greens. It hurts my eyes if I stare at her bedspread for too long. I’m tired enough tonight I don’t even bother turning on the light as I crawl into her comfortable king size bed.

  My last thought before falling into a deep sleep is for the first time since I arrived here, Caleb didn’t say goodnight to me.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  I know I’m dreaming. A first for me.

  Normally, when a nightmare happens I don’t realize it isn’t really happening until I wake up with my heart racing and my body shaking. This one’s different though. It’s like I’m watching my life on a film reel. I watch every moment of abuse happening in fast forward. I’m not sure why I’m supposed to be watching this, but somehow, I know the reason behind this dream is important. So, I stay quiet and watch.

  After what seems like only moments—but must be hours—I’m standing in the kitchen of my old house. Samael hits me with the belt, and my mother yells at him from the living room. Suddenly, everything is on fire, just like when it really happened to me. This time though, Samael lifts his arms in the air right when I feel the gust of wind that made the fire spread.

  He stalks toward my mother, her eyes full of fear as she repeats, “Don’t do this.”

  As he passes my body lying on the floor, he bends down and whispers in my ear. I know what he says to me. He tells me I killed her. I want to turn away. I don’t want to watch what happens, but my dream self won’t allow it.

  Samael storms up to my mom and put his hands around her neck. He squeezes her throat until she stops struggling. He drops her to the floor when sirens wail in the distance. With frustration in his eyes, he glances back at my body for a moment.

  Finally, he turns and runs out the back door, leaving my mother and me to die.

  I cry and try to catch my breath. I saw her die. I saw him kill her. He lied to me. I didn’t kill her, he did. How could he do that? Why didn’t he kill me, too? I need to wake up. I don’t want to be in this dream anymore.

  I dash over to the sink in my old house and splash cold water on my face.

  I bolt upright in bed, gasping for air. Something’s off about my room, and it takes me a minute to figure out what. Oh, right! This room belongs to Cassie. I burned mine to a crisp. While the fog of the dream clears, I wipe the cold sweat from my face, only to find myself soaked. My hair, the sheets, my clothes, everything. It’s like someone dumped a bottle of water on me while I slept. My eyes go straight to Cassie’s nightstand where I left a full bottle of water last night. The bottle now lies empty on the floor.

  I stand and turn the overhead light on to get a better look at what’s going on. I have no idea what happened, but I don’t want Cassie to be annoyed with me for ruining her bed. Grabbing the sheets and blankets, I head to the laundry room. Hopefully washing and drying the sheets will keep them from getting messed up. If they’re dry-clean only, I’m screwed.

  After putting in a load, I check the clock. It’s two in the morning, giving me time to wash her bedding and dry it before anyone notices. I race up the stairs and grab some towels from the linen closet. I spread them out over the mattress to soak up any water left on it. Luckily, most of it ended up on the blankets and me.

  While the towels absorb the water, I tiptoe to my ruined room and grab a change of clothes from the closet. I’m thankful the closet was untouched by the fire. All of the new clothing Dad and Leanne purchased for me are safe. The ones hanging up smell heavily of smoke, though. A few bags in the back of the closet rest untouched because I never got around to hanging anything up, so I pull an outfit from them.

  Once I have my clothes, I turn around and head to Cassie’s room to check the mattress. As soon as I step into the hallway, I run into a wall. No, not a wall, a chest. I follow the completely exposed, well-built torso up to find Caleb gazing down at me with a mixture of amusement and concern. His dark gray pajama pants hang low on his hips.

  My mind suddenly goes to war with itself. Part of me wants to check for drool as my eyes rake over him. The other part of me wants to run and hide from him. He shouldn’t witness me looking like a drowned rat.

  “Hi,” I squeak out. “I was just…um…changing?”

  “Why are you soaking wet?” he asks slowly, as if he isn’t sure he believes his eyes.

  “Well, it was sort of an accident, I think.” Shuffling in place, I try to find a way to tell him without sounding crazy.

  He crosses his arms over his chest and lifts an eyebrow as if to tell me I should continue with my insane explanation.

  I begin with the weird dream, how it was like watching my life on film. I notice his eyes tighten when I tell him about the last part of the dream. “So, after I splashed water on my face in my dream, I woke up soaked. I’m not sure how it happened, I think the water came from my water bot
tle. But I figured I should get it all clean before Cassie gets home. I don’t want her angry I messed up her room while she’s gone.”

  “Gone? Where did Cassie go?” He straightens up at this new information.

  “Well.” I pause because I don’t actually know. “I guess to a friend’s house? I’m not sure exactly, but…”

  He storms off toward Jaxon’s room before I even finish. Uh oh, did I get her in trouble? Was she not supposed to stay out all night? Leanne mentioned she had prior arrangements, though. Isn’t that permission enough?

  “Jaxon, get your ass up. Cassie’s gone!” Caleb yells while banging on Jaxon’s door.

  “What the hell, Caleb!” Jaxon shuffles around in his room before the door swings open to reveal my tired and chagrined brother. “What the fuck gave you the idea she’s gone?”

  “I’m right here, big brother.” Cassie pokes her head out from behind Jaxon as my eyes pop out of my head.

  She slept in there?! Didn’t Dad and Leanne say that’s against the rules?

  “Riley told me you left, and she didn’t know where you went!” Caleb hollers, making me flinch.

  I’ve never heard him yell like this before.

  “Jesus, Caleb! Calm down, I didn’t go anywhere. I’ve been here all night!” Cassie fires back at her brother while putting her hands on her hips.

  Caleb turns toward me with an angry glint in his eyes. He takes a step toward me. I panic because I don’t like when people are angry, especially when I’m the target. With that look in his eyes and his body tensing, it’s an automatic response for me to take a step back and put my arms up to protect myself.

  I let out a pathetic whimper, cowering low as I beg for forgiveness. “I’m s-s-sorry, C-C-Caleb. I th-th-thought she was at a f-f-friend’s house. She s-s-said she was s-s-sleeping someplace e-e-else. I didn’t know, I d-d-didn’t know, p-p-please!”

  I don’t realize my eyes are closed until strong arms wrap around me and I yelp in shock. I expected physical contact, but not like this.