by E A Foley
“I was a kid. I didn’t know how to express my feelings.”
“And what about all of high school? The end of senior year? You thought attacking me was a good way to let me know you liked me? What kind of asshole tries to beat up the person they care for?”
“My dad, he . . . I didn’t know how to go against his will. I tried to suppress my feelings for you but . . .” Brett paused and swallowed. He took a moment to gather his thoughts. “I told you after graduation that you were mine. Why couldn’t you have joined us then? Everything would have been perfect, but you refused. Then my dad said to take you by force. He impelled me to do what he wanted. But no more! I want to be free of him. You were supposed to help me with that. Guide me to you. See my affection for you and finally reciprocate.” His voice turned heavily toward pleading while his eyes tried to will Iris to understand and sympathize with him.
“And how do you explain the last three years?” Iris’s voice relayed no emotion this time.
Brett looked at the snow-covered ground in front of his feet. He slipped his hands into his pockets. Left his shoulders raised in a shrug.
“No accountability. That’s what you’ve always possessed. And no thought to your actions or the harm they cause others. Me and my friends included. I’m tired of dealing with your bullshit. All the bullshit. Yours. Your dad’s. Jaden’s. Chaos’s. Why can’t you all just leave me alone?”
“Why? So you can have a so-called normal life with your new boyfriend?” His voice rose to a shout once more.
“Yes.”
“I’ve already told you. You aren’t normal. And you’re mine. If I can’t have you, no one can.”
Brett shot a fiery inferno at Iris. The power surrounding her shuddered with discomfort.
Iris pulled power into her being in a flash. She assessed the blast and asked it to dissipate before it came within three feet of her. The snow it soared over melted away to reveal the frozen Earth below.
Brett let out a grunt of rage and sent a second blast. Then a third.
Iris dismissed his third fireball before it fully formed.
He switched to air projectiles. Dozens in quick succession.
Iris dissipated, dismissed, or countered every blast Brett sent at her. Her anger mounted with each demand he made. The Earth screamed in pain at his mistreatment of its freely given gift of power. Brett would not be forgiven. Iris switched to the offensive. She drew a torrent of power into her being. Requested a wall of air shoot at Brett.
He managed a shield. Iris’s blast of air exploded on its surface.
She didn’t wait for him to retaliate. Iris sent two dozen spears of air followed by a fireball the size of a basketball at him in quick succession.
Brett dodged a few attacks. Shielded himself from others. “You’ve gotten stronger. But so have I!”
An unrelenting array of attacks followed Brett’s words.
Iris did little more than step aside to avoid the blows Brett sent at her.
The intensity of his demands increased. Along with his frustration. Each attack added to Iris’s anger.
“Yield! Become mine!”
“I will never be yours. I will never belong to anyone!” Her eyes flared. She focused on cooling them and her mounting anger.
Iris thought about accepting flows from Gemina Terra. They obliged. Joined with the flows she already held from the Earth. Allowed her a wider array of abilities. She drew on the power from Gemina Terra. Requested a storm build.
Snow drifted down from the sky. It increased in intensity. Iris added a circling wind. Snow on the ground rose to combine with the white flakes falling from the sky. A blizzard surrounded her and Brett. It obscured her ability to see, but she didn’t need to see him to know where to attack.
Chapter 21
A voice on the wind tried to reach Iris’s ears. She ignored it. Cold, detached fury engulfed her. Power flooded her veins. She couldn’t stop. Didn’t want to stop. Iris requested fireballs. A dozen. She launched them at the location she felt Brett’s aura emanating from.
He countered three.
Dismissed the next two.
Dodged two more.
Placed a shield between himself and three others.
Iris altered the paths of the final two. They maneuvered around Brett’s shield to strike him with their full force.
Still Iris didn’t relent. She increased the intensity of the storm. Numbness filled her as she walked forward to deal a final blow.
Brett lay in the snow. His body sprawled and twisted. Snow swirled about him. Clung to his face. Intense winds blew his hair about. Burn marks scorched his shoulders and chest from the two direct hits.
He looked up at her. Almost smiled as his eyes took in her face. Brett closed his eyes.
Emotion flooded Iris’s being. “What have I done?” she whispered.
Iris released the surrounding storm and knelt by Brett’s side. She altered her request to send a fireball at his heart into one to heal his wounds. Wounds she inflicted.
“What have I become? What has Jaden made me?” Iris shook her head. “This is not me. I refuse to become Jaden.”
Though she tried to heal them, Brett’s injuries remained. Iris intensified her healing magic. She pulled more power from Gemina Terra. She’d never been good at healing. Even with the extra lessons Aerianna and Kylee gave her while they were on the Earth’s twin. She tried altering her request. Nothing seemed to work.
Iris refused to accept she couldn’t fix what she’d done. She placed a hand on an unburned part of Brett’s chest and poured more power into her request. Into Brett and her desire to heal him. The charred skin and angry red patches lessened and slowly disappeared.
Brett opened his eyes. He reached a hand toward Iris’s face. Brushed his fingers against her cheek. His hand fell to his side.
Iris’s insides clenched. She let out a sigh of relief when Brett’s chest rose and fell with his steady breathing. She couldn’t leave him here. If she did, he’d freeze to death and all her healing would have been for nothing. She needed to take him home.
Iris used magic to lift Brett’s body on flows of air. She readied a doorway but paused before releasing flows into her request. Though she knew where Brett lived, she’d never been to his place. Wouldn’t be able to form a doorway to his apartment. Iris thought about her options before deciding to take Brett to the only safe place she could think of—her room.
A quick glance from her doorway showed Iris her room was empty. She requested the flows of air gently lay Brett on her bed before stepping through herself.
This was a terrible idea, Iris brooded as she paced within the small confines of her room. What the hell am I supposed to do with him now?
The first thought that flashed into her mind involved breaking into Brett’s apartment, forming a doorway to her room to collect him, and putting him in his own bed. Iris dismissed it in an instant as possible outcomes of what could happen flooded her mind.
What if he woke up and wandered into her living room?
What if one of her roommates barged into her room because she wasn’t answering their knocks?
What if Nimbus formed a doorway to her room?
How would she explain her actions? Either of them—the fight or the healing? She couldn’t. More. She didn’t want to. Her private battle with Brett was still that—private.
Iris continued her pacing. While she walked, she searched out who was in the apartment. Rowen and Rozlynd were in her room. Aerianna, Cirrus, and Violet were in the living room. Of course everyone was home when she didn’t want them to be. She groaned. So did Brett. Loudly. Iris rushed to the bed and clamped a hand on Brett’s mouth. She held her breath and counted to fifteen. No one heard.
Brett shifted. He opened his eyes. They brightened at the sight of her. Softened. If she could see his mouth, she bet he smiled. Iris held a finger to her mouth to indicate he needed to keep quiet. Brett nodded in agreement. She removed her hand.
“I prom
ise I won’t make a sound above a whisper if you just stay here with me.”
Iris grimaced and made to stand up.
Brett caught her forearm and held tight. A sadness filled his eyes. It tugged at her emotions. Guilt flared. Iris sank back onto the mattress. He shifted a little toward the wall to give more room. Brett didn’t release her arm as he drifted off to sleep. She’d injured him worse than she thought.
“What the hell am I supposed to do with you now?” she muttered to his sleeping form.
“Iris? You home?”
Shit! she screamed inside her head. She couldn’t let her roommates see Brett.
“Yeah,” she called back. “I’m doing homework. What’s up?” She readied to block the door in case Aerianna tried to come in without permission.
“We’re ordering pizza. You want any?”
“That’d be great.”
“Any requests?”
“You know me. Hawaiian or barbecue chicken are my favorites, but a garlic chicken or something like that is fine if you guys aren’t feeling the other two.”
“Sounds good. We’re getting two, so I’ll share your votes with everyone. How much homework you got?”
“A lot. I’ve been ignoring it in favor of going to Nimbus’s to practice.” Iris flinched at her own words. A glance at Brett showed her he slept on. She almost sighed in relief.
“Right. I’ll let you get to it, then.”
“Thanks. And let me know when the pizza arrives.”
“Will do.”
Iris listened to Aerianna’s footfalls as she returned to the living room. A few seconds later, a door down the hall opened. Two more sets of feet passed her door. It appeared Rozlynd and Rowen were in the living room now. Iris contemplated her options. The island seemed like the best one. If she couldn’t wake Brett there she wouldn’t risk his health too much if he didn’t regain consciousness for a few hours.
Decision made, Iris readied to form a doorway. She stopped. A quick search revealed Jaden was at Zarina’s. If she formed a doorway to the island, it was almost a guarantee Jaden would be a few seconds behind her. Then she’d have to explain about Brett. Worse, Jaden may assume she’d attacked him in Davis and void their contract on the spot.
“Shit!” she exclaimed louder than she meant to. “I have to get you out of here. Now,” she muttered to a still sleeping Brett.
Iris shook his shoulders.
Brett remained asleep.
She shook him again.
He slept on.
Deciding she’d reached the point of desperation, Iris turned on some music. Thankfully, she studied with music on all the time. Her roommates wouldn’t think anything of it. She changed the station to some hard rock just to be safe.
“I hope this works,” she said as she pinched Brett’s nose shut with one hand and covered his mouth with the other.
Brett sputtered awake a few seconds later. He glared at her as he opened his mouth to say something. Iris clamped both hands over his mouth. His glare increased. She tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow at him. He relaxed his eyebrows and nodded to show he understood the need for silence.
“It’s time for you to go,” she told him.
“I’d rather stay here,” he grinned at her.
“Not going to happen. I can send you back to the glade and you can get yourself home or you can get yourself home from here.”
“I don’t think I have enough energy left to form a bridge.”
“Just perfect.”
“Sorry. I used up everything trying not to get killed.”
Iris averted her eyes as guilt flared once more. She looked around the room. “Right. Well . . . um . . . How do you feel about climbing out a window?” she finally asked as her focus fell upon her drawn blinds.
“I might be able to with some help.”
“Window it is, then.” Iris turned the volume up on her stereo a notch and formed a wall of darkened air to keep people from seeing inside. She opened the blinds and window before adding the smallest amount of magic possible to request the screen pop out. It complied.
Iris helped Brett into a sitting position then threw his left arm over her shoulder and maneuvered him to the window. He leaned on her more than she thought necessary. Rested his cheek on her head and took a deep breath. Iris tried hard to ignore his actions. She focused on her task of getting him out of her room without anyone seeing him.
Once at the window, Iris used more magic to help Brett climb out of her room while altering her wall of darkened air into a cube surrounding her window. “I’ll meet you at my car. I just unlocked the passenger side for you. It’s parked on the street a few apartments down.” She pointed in its general direction.
Brett nodded. Iris watched him stumble a few steps. She kept the cube of darkness around him and used a wall of darkened air to conceal her open window as she replaced the screen and closed everything back up. Iris released the magic she used to conceal Brett’s movements when he made it to the end of the building line. She turned off her music before grabbing her purse.
“I can’t concentrate. I’m heading to the store for some ice cream. Any requests?” she asked her roommates as she entered the living room. Iris gripped her keys to refrain from nervously fiddling with them or picking at her cuticles. She concentrated on keeping her emotions in check. The coolness of her eyes told her she’d at least managed that one.
“We have some.”
“Yeah, but not enough for all six of us,” she countered Roz.
“Good point.”
“I’d love some Phish Food. Or maybe something with brownies? No, I know, chocolate and peanut butter. Can you get some cookie dough too? Or is that asking too much? It’s asking too much, isn’t it? Sorry,” Violet ended as she lowered her head to look at her hands.
“Not too much to ask at all. Anyone else?”
“Whatever is fine with me,” Aerianna told her.
“I’m easy,” Rowen added.
“Yeah you are,” Rozlynd said with a grin.
Rowen chuckled.
“Okay. See you all in a few. Text me if we need anything else.”
Iris hurried to her car. Brett sat in the passenger seat. He’d passed out once more. It didn’t surprise her. The wounds she inflicted and then healed were far from minor.
“This is not my night,” Iris groaned as she pushed the clutch to the floor and turned the key in the ignition.
Iris drove to the corner, turned right and headed up a few apartment complexes to Brett’s—glad for the first time he’d picked one so close to her. Her radio connected to one of the random playlists on her phone. As she pulled into the large parking lot, Mumford and Sons’s “I Will Wait” came on. Iris sighed, drove around to the back, and pulled into a spot close to his place. She popped the car into neutral and let the engine idle.
“Brett!” Iris shook his left shoulder lightly. “Brett!” she said louder after he didn’t budge. “Wake up!” she demanded. Iris scooted as close as possible and gave both his shoulders a shake.
Brett groaned.
“That’s it, wake up.” She tapped his face.
“What?” he mumbled.
“Time to go.”
“I’m too tired.” He tried to roll away from her.
Iris leaned across him. She grabbed his right shoulder and tugged on it to keep him facing her. “Brett!” she yelled in his face.
Brett’s eyes popped open at the volume of her voice. “Hello.”
“Hi,” Iris replied flatly.
Daft Punk’s “Something About Us” started. Iris grit her teeth. She refrained from hitting the skip button and letting Brett know the song was getting to her. Or allow him to think it meant anything to her.
His hazel eyes lit up as he grinned at her. “Your eyes are really pretty. I don’t think I’ve ever been close enough to see the definition in the perfect rainbow surrounding your irises.” He shifted in the seat. Looked like he was getting comfortable enough to stay.
<
br /> “That’s nice. Time for you to go home.”
“And what if I don’t want to?” he asked as the only verse of the song began.
He moved his left hand and placed it on her knee. Iris removed it. He tried to grab her hand. Iris placed his hand on his leg. Kept her hand on top of it to keep him from moving it again. She focused on her breathing. Did not want to explode at him.
She switched her stereo from her phone to the radio in the hope it would help calm her down. The last few refrains of a song she couldn’t place played. She thought it might be Paramore.
“Please, Brett. My roommates are waiting for me. They’ll start wondering where I am and I can only stall them for so long before they try looking for me. You have to go.”
Brett furrowed his brow at her. “You almost killed me.”
“I’m really sorry about that. I don’t know what got into me. Well, I do. Jaden. Fucker,” Iris added.
“I’d say you owe me.”
“Like hell I do. You’ve almost killed me before.”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Yes, you have. When you attacked my mind last year.”
“That wouldn’t have killed you. Just made you more susceptible to our line of thinking. You wouldn’t have suffered any lasting physical injuries.”
“And you think that makes it any better?” Iris sat back, crossed her arms, and glared at him. “You tried to mess with my mind. Break it, even . . .” Iris trailed off. She thought about what she’d said. About Brett’s description. They reminded her of something Jaden said to her after the last torture session he put her through. He said he broke Zarina. “Is that what Jaden did to Zarina?”
“Night,” Brett said and opened the door.
Chapter 22
Iris slammed the car door shut with magic. Deja vu filled her as she remembered a conversation she’d had in Brett’s car. She pushed the thoughts away and randomly changed the station. Iris focused on the new song as she attempted her keep her bubbling anger at bay. The bridge to Three Day Grace’s “Pain” began. She grimaced. Her anger flared. The radio seemed to mock her tonight. This was not the best song for her present mood. None of them had been.