Hidden Embers

by Amanda Perry

  Some girl is out there, probably wondering where in the world Caleb has been the past few weeks. All this time he’s been hanging around with me, hugging me, being sweet to me, sleeping in the same bed as me! My stomach twists at the idea of what this girl might do when she finds out.

  “Baby.” He blinks at me with wide, fear-filled eyes. What’s he afraid of? Does he want me to keep his kindness a secret from his girl? “Please, hear me out.”

  “Don’t call me that anymore.” I cry softly as I push my chair back and rush to Cassie’s room.

  I quietly close the door and curl up on her bed, letting the tears flow.

  This information is too much for my mind to handle. Having to deal with all of these sudden new powers gives me enough stress. Now, this news makes my stress level fly off the charts. My feelings for Caleb complicated things before because I had no idea what to do about it. I’m a terrible person for even having those feelings at all.

  I’m not sure how long I lie there.

  Caleb and Jaxon yell and argue outside the door. They try to remain quiet, but it’s not an easy thing for two guys with deep voices to do. A few seconds after they go quiet there’s a soft knock on the door. I don’t bother telling whoever it is to go away. I know if they want to come in they will. I’m proven right when I hear the soft click of the door opening. The bed dips a bit as someone sits down, and I turn to see who it is, hoping it’s not Caleb.

  “Hey, Sis,” Jaxon mutters softly. “Look, I know this is hard for you to understand. Maybe we should’ve told you sooner, but we wanted to protect you. You’re going through too much shit already, so we didn’t think this would be fair to dump on you.”

  “Why would he let this happen?” I whisper with a pathetic sniffle.

  Jaxon jerks his head up in surprise. “Riley, he didn’t let anything happen. It isn’t really something any of us control. It just…is.”

  “But he didn’t have to be nice to me!” I cry, getting upset all over again. “He didn’t have to call me ‘baby’ or hold me when I was upset. He didn’t have to take care of me when I was sick or spend time with me. He shouldn’t have let me wear his clothes or sleep in his bed last night, either! Those things all seem terrible now.”

  The tears flow again as I finish my rant. It takes me a second to notice the complete and utter shock and confusion on Jaxon’s face.

  “Riley,” he starts, then shakes his head, as if collecting his thoughts before he tries again. “I’m not sure I understand. Did you not like those things? Was he rushing you into anything?”

  I practically see Jaxon shaking in fury. I’m not sure why he’s angry. He isn’t the one whose heart got squashed like a bug.

  “No, of course not!” I let out a frustrated sigh and roll over to face him. “I like that stuff too much, Jaxon. I’ve been meaning to talk to Cassie about this feeling I get every time I’m around Caleb. Especially when he touches me. My stomach flutters like a million butterflies are trying to escape, my heart picks up speed, and I get really excited and happy. Yet at the same time, I feel more calm and safe than I ever have in my whole life.”

  Jaxon rubs his hands through his hair and stands. He paces around the room. “Listen, Sis…” He pauses at the end of the bed and turns to face me. “I’m not sure I understand why you’re upset. If you feel all of those things from just being around Caleb before you’ve even been blessed, then what’s the problem?”

  “Jaxon!” I nearly scream at him. “What would his Soulmate think of his behavior? He hasn’t even been around her in weeks, at least not that I’ve noticed. He doesn’t mention her. He’s shared a bed with me, Jaxon. That’s not something you do with some random girl, even if it’s just to comfort her. What would she think of me? She probably already hates me. This is horrible—”

  “Whoa! Wait!” Jaxon hollers, shutting me up. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Caleb and his Soulmate or other half or whatever.” I gape at him like he has a few screws loose. Did he completely miss the entire conversation?

  “Riley, holy fuck!” He roars with laughter.

  Has he really lost his marbles?

  “Wait here! Do. Not. Move,” he orders once he regains his breath again.

  I sit there and don’t move, like Jaxon told me. It isn’t really because he told me not to move. It’s more because I’m completely confused as to what just happened. Before I fully recover my senses, Caleb comes to the room alone.

  I blink at him, waiting to be told what the heck is going on.

  “Baby girl.” Caleb comes over and sits next to me.

  He has an expression of relief, but it also betrays he’s trying to hide a grin as he rubs his chin. My heart would shatter if he laughed at me, too.

  “Baby,” he mutters again, bringing my full attention to his stunning blue eyes. “There’s no one else for me. The second I caught you when you tripped on the stairs your first day here, I knew you were it for me. You are my Soulmate, Riley.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “I’m… Are… Is it… But…” An actual sentence floats around in my head, but I can’t seem to convince my mouth to form words that go together.

  Caleb finds my lack of ability to articulate a full sentence funny. As I’m mumbling random words, he snickers. I try to give him my meanest glare for finding amusement in my shocked rambles, but I’m too relieved and too happy to hold back a big grin.

  “It isn’t funny, Caleb!” I growl as sternly as possible.

  “Really?” He cocks an eyebrow. “Then, why are you laughing? Is someone tickling your foot from under the bed?” He leans down to check under the bed, making me snort out loud at his antics.

  “Of course not!” I roll my eyes at him between giggles. “I’m not ticklish.”

  As soon as the words leave my mouth, my mistake becomes evident. I’ve never seen such a mischievous glint in Caleb’s eyes before.

  “Caleb,” I drag out in warning, jumping to my feet on the opposite side of the bed. “Don’t even think about it.” I back slowly toward the open door. “We were having a conversation.”

  “Sorry, baby.” He smirks. “I already thought about it.”

  He barely gets the words out before I rush out of the room, toward the stairs.

  “Caleb, no!” I scream as his laughter follows me.

  “Better run, baby!” he taunts when I make it to the stairs.

  I jump on the banister and slide down like I’ve seen in movies and read in books. A few gasps and curses sound from behind me, but I’m too busy running to care. I haven’t been this carefree before, and it’s thrilling.

  “Baby!” Caleb sounds like he’s catching up to me.

  “You can’t catch me!” I bolt through the living room, barely noticing Cassie and Leanne in the kitchen. I wave to them as I race to the back door.

  Swinging it open, I skid to a stop at the edge of the pool. I turn around to find Caleb coming through the back door. He slows to a walk, but his eyes hold the mischief, showing he hasn’t given up. Behind him, everyone else makes their way to the back door to watch the show.

  “Don’t do it, Caleb,” I warn.

  “What are you going to do to stop me?” he teases with a smirk. He knows he has me caught.

  At first, I believe he has cornered me and I’ve lost our little battle. Then, I remember last night. What better way to test if I have a new affinity? I allow a mischievous grin to form and concentrate on pulling water from the pool—straight into Caleb’s face. It works surprisingly well when I put all of the emotions of the morning into it. Although it’s only a small amount of water compared to what I wanted. I can’t help the hysterical giggles at the look on Caleb’s soaking wet face.

  After being stunned for a minute, he sprints full speed toward me. There’s barely time to let out a startled yelp before he grabs me in his arms, and we’re under water.

  One thing I failed to mention to him, I can’t swim. There was never a chance for me to learn. With all
my strength, I cling to him. My legs wrap around his waist and my arms around his neck. I wait for the panic at the thought of drowning, but it never comes. Caleb has me. He won’t let anything happen. No sooner has the thought passed, then we break the surface. I gasp for air for a few moments, resting my forehead on Caleb’s shoulder.

  “Baby girl?” He sounds confused and worried. Probably wondering why I’m clinging to him like a koala bear.

  “I can’t swim.” I pull back and give him a goofy grin before resting my forehead back on his shoulder.

  “Fuckin’ hell, babe.” He breathes out shakily, wrapping his arms tighter around my back and pulling me impossibly close to his body. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

  “Hey.” I grab his face in my hands, momentarily distracted by his light stubble. He skipped shaving this morning. “You had me the whole time. I didn’t get hurt; I didn’t drown. Caleb, I don’t think I’ve ever felt as free and happy as I did playing with you just now. Thank you for that. It may be silly to other people, but running around like that means something to me. I never had that kind of fun growing up, and now, I have. So, thank you for playing chase with me.”

  “I’ll play chase with you any day, baby girl.” Caleb grins at me. “But that wasn’t chase.”

  “Wha—” He doesn’t give me time to finish before attacking my sides with his fingers. I never knew I was ticklish until now. He has me in hysterics. Tears stream down my face before he finally lets up and pulls me in for a hug.

  “I found your weakness,” he whispers in my ear as he heads for the stairs of the pool. He pauses at the base of the stairs and gazes into my eyes. “I’m sorry for making you think there was someone else out there for me, baby. It’s a lot to take in; I get that. But you’re it for me.”

  “It is a lot to take in,” I agree. “I’m not going to lie and say the idea of another girl being your Soulmate didn’t hurt. I have feelings for you, I just don’t know exactly what those feelings are. It isn’t an instant knowledge you and I belong together like Jaxon explained. It’s not just a silly crush either, I don’t think.”

  “Fair enough,” he mumbles with a crooked grin. “As long as they are good feelings.”

  “Definitely good feelings.” I nod, smirking.

  “Why, Ms. Storm,” he mocks. “You’re going to make me blush.”

  I scoff and hold him tighter with my arms and legs, letting him carry me up the stairs and to the back door. Once inside, an amused Leanne gives us towels and we head upstairs to change.

  Cassie follows, complaining the whole way. “That outfit was perfect. You just ruined it with your shenanigans. Now, I have to start all over.”

  By the twinkle in her eye, she doesn’t really mind.

  ~

  “Did we get everything resolved with you two?” Leanne asks once we’re all dried off and settled in the living room.

  “Yeah.” I blush and duck my head. “I’m sorry about assuming the worst, I just thought—”

  “Hey,” Caleb’s soft voice comes from my side. “It’s okay, baby. Everything is fine, now, right?”

  I give him a reassuring nod. “Perfect right now.”

  And it is. Caleb and I didn’t work everything out between us yet. We still need to talk more about the Soulmate thing. But for now, I’m thrilled with the news I’m supposedly meant to be with Caleb. It makes my feelings for him seem more real. I’m not as afraid to confront them.

  “Well, then I guess we should probably put aside our Soulmate talk for a little while and focus on the other issues we have.” Leanne sits down, worry written all over her face. “Riley, we all know about what happened last night, and we saw what you did with the pool water.”

  “Fantastic move, by the way,” Cassie interrupts, holding her hand up for me to give her a high five. I can’t help but snicker as I slap my hand to hers. “Imagine the water fights we could have with the guys!”

  “We aren’t going to beat around the bush anymore, Sis,” Jaxon cuts Cassie off and puts the conversation back on topic. “We want to see if you can control all four elements. We know you have an affinity for Fire, Air, and Water. Let’s go outside and see what you can do with Earth.”

  As we head to the backyard, I wonder what controlling more than one element means. They said elementals only control one element, normally. It worries me no one mentioned why I have the ability to control more than one.

  Changing my focus to Jaxon, I push my questions and worries aside for another time. If I start focusing on all the what-if’s and why’s, I’ll drive myself mad. Jaxon leads us to the small garden on the side of the yard.

  “Grow something,” he orders like it’s the easiest thing in the world.

  I blink at him a few times, but he doesn’t elaborate. “Uh, like what?”

  “Whatever pops in your head,” he suggests with a shrug. “Having an affinity for Earth is pretty cool. You can cause earthquakes, grow anything you want as long as you can locate the right materials in the ground, communicate with animals and insects—which is actually super weird at first—even form or find gems and stones.”

  “Plus, all the clay pots you can make!” Leanne bounces on the balls of her feet. I wonder if the clay serving pots she uses for meals were purchased or handmade by them.

  “So, basically, do whatever you want,” Jaxon states again.

  I contemplate for a moment about what I want to grow, then an idea pops into my head. I turn toward an empty patch of dirt and concentrate on what I want to grow. My mind goes to thoughts of an apple tree. It would be outstanding to have fresh apples in the backyard. On the way to the library back in Washington, I would pass an apple tree I used to climb and pick apples from. At times, it was the only food I ate.

  It made me forever grateful to the tree.

  As I’m trying to find the materials I need to grow an apple tree, I think of how charming it would be to build a tree house into it. Spending all day reading in a tree house, eating fresh apples sounds relaxing.

  There isn’t an apple seed around for me to use, but I sense other types of seeds in the ground. Using my fear from earlier, I push it to the forefront of my mind while I focus on growing my tree and tree house.

  “Holy—” Cassie gasps.

  “—shit,” Jaxon finishes.

  My eyes pop open, and I expect to find a giant apple tree with an elaborate tree house built into it. Instead, there’s a pathetic little root sticking out of the ground, twisted up into itself.

  “Was that what you were hoping would happen?” Leanne asks while staring at the root.

  “Um…” I cringe. “Well, not really. I always wanted an apple tree because I’d love access to fresh apples. When I tried to find what I needed to grow the apple tree, I found some random seeds instead. That sounds silly when I say it out loud, but I know they were there. But, the twisting of the roots… Well, that’s sort of an accident.”

  “An accident?” Jaxon chokes incredulously.

  “Well, while I was concentrating on growing the seeds, the idea of a tree house popped into my head. I always wanted one. I was thinking we could build one in an apple tree if we had one. That way, when we go up there, we have apples to snack on.” My eyes drop to my shoes and I twist my hands nervously. “In my mind, I pictured the tree branches twisting and turning to form the tree house. It looked a lot better in my head, to be honest. Did I mess up?”

  “No!” they all yell at the same time, making me jump.

  “Baby, that’s amazing.” Caleb wraps his arms around me from behind, and I relax into him.

  “So, this means you have an affinity for all four elements. Imagine the sand castles you can build!” Cassie declares with bright eyes.

  “Sweetheart, focus,” Jaxon scolds her with a grin.

  “Well, it would be really cool,” she huffs.

  “Guys, we all know this is serious. No one ever thought the legends were true.” Leanne shakes her head, concern wrinkling her brow. “We’ll keep this betwee
n us until we meet with the council. We all know what this could mean.”

  “Um, I don’t…” I admit quietly, raising my hand in the air.

  “Oh, boy.” Jaxon sighs, running his hands through his hair. “Let’s go make a snack, and tell Riley about the legends. Now that they may be true and centered around her, we should tell her.”

  “Cassie, can you get out sandwich fixings for everyone?” Leanne asks while heading toward the back door. “I think Mark should be a part of this conversation. I need to see what time he’ll be home.”

  “Sure.” Cassie skips to the kitchen.

  “Caleb?” I hold him back as everyone else heads inside. “I’m scared. Is this legend thing bad?”

  “Baby girl, you have nothing to be afraid of.” He hugs me tight to his body and buries his face in my hair. “I promise, I’ll always protect you. No matter what, you have me. You also have your brother, your dad, Leanne, and Cassie. We’re all here for you.”

  With a deep breath, I nod my understanding. “I just don’t know how much more information I can handle.” I sigh, rubbing my temples. “I mean, it hasn’t even been a week since I started the fire in my room, and it seems like there’s something new happening every day.”

  “I know, baby, I know,” Caleb murmurs into my hair. “I really am sorry about all of this stress. You’re taking it incredibly well. I’m extremely proud of you. If it’s ever too much, tell me, and I’ll make sure you get some time away to process things. Does that sound good?”

  “That sounds perfect.” I sigh, smiling up at him.

  I open my mouth to say something, but his lips distract me. They’re full, perfect, and impossibly soft. I wonder what it would be like to kiss him. Glancing at his eyes, I notice they’ve darkened a bit. How odd.

  “Come on, baby.” He puts his arm around me and pulls me toward the house. “Let’s get in there before I steal you for the rest of the day.”