He watched as she laughed with June. They tapped hands and joined the others. Rakan felt jealous, but he wasn’t sure if it was of Anna or June. Both, he decided as he watched, wishing he could play with them. His eyes lingered on Anna and an image of her as a beautiful, pale blue air dragon danced in front of him. He closed his eyes and imagined flying high up in the sky and then plunging down into the ocean with her…
A mental thud on his head snapped his attention back to Dvara. She was warming up, tossing the ball back and forth with the other girls, apparently oblivious to him, but he could tell she was pissed. I know we’re supposed to play, he growled mentally as if they could mind-speak. He tweaked the ball just enough so that she missed it. She spun around and picked it up, furious, but then laughed and tossed it to another girl. She sent Rakan a whack at the same time. But this time, he put up a shield and it bounced off. June frowned at Dvara and then glared at Rakan with a look that clearly said ‘Stop.’ Rakan glanced at Erling, who was ignoring it all. But Lysa looked up, more curious than worried.
The game started and Rakan watched Dvara dominate the others. After she had scored a few times, he tripped her up. She went sprawling to the floor as if she had tripped over her own feet. Rakan felt someone place him in a body freeze. But it wasn’t coming from Dvara. It was June. Jing Mei had responded.
The body freeze disappeared and Rakan smiled. It was time to play. He set up triggers and tweaked the ball whenever it came to Dvara or June. Not so much as to make them miss all the time, but enough to make them fumble. But June never responded. Finally, she put up a shield and his nudges bounced off. Rakan tried to get beyond her shield, but couldn’t. He continued playing with Dvara, hoping June would join back in. But she didn’t. During the break, June and Dvara argued. June flung her arms out but Dvara just shrugged and turned away.
* * *
Anna dropped onto the bench next to Siri, who handed her a bottle of water.
“Weird game, huh?” said Randi, joining them. “What’s up with Dawa? She’s never dropped the ball before.”
“Don’t know,” said Siri. “But in a way, it’s better. At least we can score too.”
“That’s true,” said Randi. “I guess we should enjoy it while we can.”
Anna nodded, but June caught her eye. She was arguing with Erling. She hadn’t seen them argue in about two months – when they had been the worst on-again off-again couple. Anna felt bad for her friend. She hoped it wouldn’t start again. June had been a mess.
A tingle ran over her, like a body wrap of static electricity. She looked over at Pemba, wondering if it was a different kind of mind-touch. But he was staring out over the crowd. Her cousin’s best friend, Haakon, was sitting behind Pemba, and he waved. She waved back, wishing she knew how to nudge Pemba mentally and wondering who he was looking for.
* * *
Rakan scanned the crowd for the fifth time. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn’t figure out what. The game had started again before he realized that halftime was over. He let his mind run over the game and smiled when Anna turned to him. Dvara blocked him with a ball of her own energy and June… had disappeared. Cold seeped into him. He was staring at her and she was playing. But he couldn’t feel her. He closed his eyes and concentrated on where June was in the goal. There was only the faintest trace of Jing Mei. In her place was something that felt almost like a void-trail. Controlling his urge to run down and fight her until she turned back into a dragon, Rakan began different mental attacks. Nothing went through. He increased the intensity of his mental jabs, trying to feel how her shield was working. But there was no reaction.
Dvara whacked him hard and his concentration slipped. The ball that he had been angling towards June deviated and headed for the crowd like a ballistic missile. Coach Knudsen jumped to intercept it and slammed into one of the girls. They both fell to the ground, but the coach didn’t get back up. She moaned in pain on the floor.
Cursing Dvara, he let his mind-touch scan the coach. Her ankle was broken. He wished he could fix it for her, but knew that humans freaked out even more when they couldn’t understand something. So he just watched, like everyone else, as she was transported out of the sport hall on a stretcher.
The junior coach took over for the final ten minutes, but no one was into the game anymore and only a few goals were scored. The teams went to their locker rooms and the crowd dispersed.
Dvara came back out and joined Rakan where he was sitting alone on the bleacher. “What were you doing?” she hissed.
“You’re the one who made the attack go wrong,” Rakan threw back.
“But why were you bombarding Jing Mei like that? What got into you?”
“You didn’t feel it?” Rakan gestured at the court.
“Feel what?”
“She turned into a void-trail. Or half of one.”
Dvara stared at Rakan, her face a mix of hope and disbelief. “Are you sure?”
“Come feel for yourself,” he said and strode down to the court. Rakan paced angrily in the first goal as he waited for Dvara. “You can feel her trail here, right?”
“Duh. It wasn’t that long ago.”
Rakan glared at her. “And now tell me what you feel over here.” He headed to the other goal that June had been in for the second half of the game.
Dvara didn’t answer, but the surprise he could feel rolling off of her confirmed what he knew. It was as if June hadn’t been there. And yet they both knew she had.
“Next time you should pay more attention,” Rakan said.
“You’re one to talk,” snapped Dvara. Her eyes flicked behind him and Rakan turned to face Ulf.
“Well, I must say I agree with Pemba. For once,” said Ulf. “My name is Ulf, and you are…?”
“What are you doing here?” growled Rakan.
“Ah, yes, the aggressive male hormones of adolescence. It passes and then one can get on with the more pleasant things in life. Ingrid and I came to watch Anna play – I thought it would be nice to observe her game.” Ulf flashed his perfect teeth and ran his eyes over Dvara. “You played very well, young lady, even if you weren’t always paying as much attention to the ball as you should have.”
“Thank you,” Dvara said in her sweetest voice. She offered her hand to Ulf. “My name is Dawa. Do you play too?”
“Do I play?” Ulf tilted his head back and laughed. “Tell you what,” he said, still holding on to Dvara’s hand. “I’ll get you a ticket for our next home game in a couple of weeks and then you can tell me if you think I can play or not.”
“Really?” Dvara said with a squeal. “Oh, that would be wonderful. Thank you.”
Rakan hit his sister with a cold wave. Knock it off.
* * *
Anna walked out of the locker room with her mom, eager to escape somewhere – anywhere – with Pemba. She slowed down when she saw that he was speaking with Ulf and Dawa.
“Oh,” said her mom, squinting in his direction. “Is that Pemba? He doesn’t seem very happy to be waiting for you. That’s not a good sign, you know.”
Anna rolled her eyes and walked over to Pemba. “She’s being impossible,” she whispered and then turned to her mom. “Mom, this is Pemba and his sister Dawa. Where are you and Ulf going out tonight?”
Ingrid stared at Anna, taken aback by her abruptness.
“Oh, we thought a little family time at home with you would be nice,” said Ulf, draping an arm around Ingrid’s shoulders. “Your friends can join us, if you wish.”
“Why don’t you come have some coffee,” Ingrid said, eyeing Pemba.
“Oh, how kind of you to offer,” said Dawa. “That would be lovely. Right, Pemba?” Dawa nudged Pemba out of his eye-lock with Anna.
* * *
Anna sat with Pemba on the couch under the picture window that faced the fjord. She’d rather be looking out than at the living room that was lined with books that hadn’t been read in years. But Ingrid had squatted the
couch that was backed against one of the ceiling high bookshelves so that she could get her scrapbooks out. Anna thought it was on purpose so that she and Pemba would have to hold their coffee cups – the square coffee table was overflowing with picture albums and souvenirs.
Ulf had an arm casually spread out across the back of the other couch behind Dawa. But she had turned her back to him and was plying Ingrid with a never ending supply of questions. And her mom was thrilled to answer them all. Anna put her empty cup on the carpet and leaned against Pemba’s shoulder. “What do you want to do later?”
Ingrid’s head jerked up. “Look, Anna – do you remember my friend Kjersti?” Ingrid plopped the album on Anna’s lap. “Look at how pretty she was in her traditional Norwegian costume. It’s a shame her boyfriend didn’t want to stay in Norway after they got married. I’m sure that they’d have been happier here than in Kenya.”
Anna rolled her eyes and bit back a sarcastic reply.
Ulf looked at his watch and stood up. “Well, I think I should get changed. Sure you don’t want to come, darling?” Ulf asked Ingrid.
“No, I’d rather stay here for once – it’s so nice to have some time at home with Anna.” Ingrid smiled at Ulf. “You don’t mind, do you?”
“As you wish. If you change your mind you can find me at the Driv later.” Ulf’s gaze lingered on Dawa.
“It’s okay, Mom. You can go,” Anna said, wishing she would. “Pemba and I were planning on having dinner somewhere anyhow.”
“Oh, I think it’d be much nicer if we all had dinner together.” Ingrid forced a smile. “Why don’t you both stay?”
“We don’t want to be any trouble,” Dawa said.
“Not at all, it’ll be nice to get to know you. Don’t you agree Anna?” asked Ingrid. “I’ll go get dinner started. Can you put the albums away, please?”
“Okay,” mumbled Anna as her mom left the room.
After Anna had put all the scrapbooks away, Ulf came back in.
“I was just coming to help,” he said, leaning against the doorway. “But I guess you have it all under control. So, tell me,” he said to Dawa, “how are you enjoying Tromso? Have you had a chance to get out on the town yet?”
“No, not really. I mean…” she looked up at Ulf. “I wouldn’t know where to go.”
“Then you’ve come to the right man.”
Anna glared at Ulf. “I thought you needed to go.”
Ulf threw back his head and laughed. “Anna, Anna. Don’t worry, my dear. I’m on my way. Here,” he said, handing Dawa his card. “Call me so I can get you tickets to a game. And maybe we can go for a drink after.” He looked over at Anna. “No need to be jealous, you can come too.” He turned and walked out.
Anna stared at the empty doorway, to angry to say anything. Pemba took her hand and rubbed her Firemark. A slow wave of warmth filled her, soothing her raw nerves. “Sorry,” she said, looking at Pemba’s naturally tanned hands. Even his skin tone was warm. And tempting. She ran her eyes up his chest and wished they were alone.
Dawa stood up. “I’ll go help Ingrid, okay?”
Anna watched Dawa walk into the kitchen. “She’s leaving us alone?”
“She’s not always a monster, you know.” Pemba pulled her against his chest. “But she is a pain, sometimes.”
“Pesky little sister?”
“Bossy older sister.”
“Older? What do you mean, older?”
Pemba shifted his position. “I mean, she acts that way.”
Anna gave him a quizzical look before settling back down against his chest and breathing in the faint smell of incense that always lingered around him.
“Anna?” he asked after awhile. “Did June do something to your pendant? It feels different.”
“You can feel it?”
Pemba nodded without meeting her eyes.
“She took the charm off for me. Why?”
Pemba smiled at her, but he looked confused. “She did?”
“Here. Feel for yourself.” Anna took it off and handed it to him.
Pemba examined at it and then handed it back. “It’s just a pendant.”
“I kind of miss how it felt alive before, though.”
“I can try to teach you to change that.”
“How?”
“With this.” Pemba handed her his Maii-a. “It’s the easiest thing to practice with. What do you feel when you hold it?”
Anna closed her hand around the Maii-a. “You, but…” she looked at her Firemark and then up at Pemba.
“It also feels like the Firemark,” he finished for her. “I know. But I don’t know why. The stone shouldn’t have left a mark.”
“How do you know about my stone?”
He looked away. “I felt it in the Firemark.”
Anna eyed him carefully. She was sure he knew more than he was saying.
“It’ll be easier if I change it,” Pemba said, taking the Maii-a back. He held it in his palm and closed his eyes. When he opened his hand again it had changed color. It was a pale cornflower blue laced with large swirls of gold and burnt umber.
“Oh, that’s pretty,” Anna said, taking it. But it was lifeless. “What happened to it?”
“You don’t like it?”
“No. It doesn’t pulse anymore.”
Pemba took it and changed it again. This time it was an intense pale blue, and the swirls of gold and burnt umber were barely visible.
Anna smiled when she held it. “That’s better.”
“Why do you like it like that? The other way feels more like you.”
“Because this way it feels alive.” Anna turned it around in her hands. “It feels like you could shape it into anything you wanted.”
Pemba smiled. “You can.”
Anna squeezed it, but it didn’t budge. “How?”
“With your mind,” Pemba said, stifling a laugh. “Not your hands.”
Anna poked him in the ribs. “It’s not nice to laugh at people.”
Pemba pushed her back with his shoulder, and she resisted. He pushed harder and then pulled back when she pushed into him – guiding her deftly onto his lap with a twisting motion.
A pot clanged in the kitchen and Anna jumped up. “I thought you were going to show me how to shape the Maii-a.” She glanced towards the kitchen where she could hear her mother and Dawa chatting away. She sat down next to Pemba, too embarrassed to meet his eyes.
“I am. I was showing you how matter reacts. When I pushed you, and you resisted, we were both stuck. But when you pushed back, and I moved out of the way, you were propelled in the direction of the force you were exerting upon me. All I had to do was direct you for you to change positions.”
Anna nodded, her cheeks burning. Sitting on his lap hadn’t meant anything.
“The molecules in the Maii-a have been simplified,” continued Pemba, his face and voice neutral. “So that they can be manipulated easily.” He held the Maii-a out in his hand for her to see. “The first thing you need to be able to feel is how to roll the molecules over each other. Once you’ve felt it, then you can try to move them around to make basic shapes, like a ball.”
The Maii-a morphed slowly in Pemba’s hand.
“Wait. How do you do that?” Her eyes snapped to the Maii-a. She took the ball shaped Maii-a from Pemba’s palm and examined it. It felt the same as before. “How can you feel molecules?”
“I can show you,” Pemba said quietly. “If you’ll let me.”
Anna nodded and offered the Maii-a back to him. But instead of taking it, he wrapped his hand around hers. Anna’s whole body tingled again with the contact and she breathed in sharply. She ached to throw herself into his arms, to give herself up to him, to feel his body against hers…
“Focus your mind on the Maii-a. Feel its energy, how it pulses. Follow that pulsing inside, deeper and deeper until you feel it beat all around you, as if you were inside it.”
Anna tried to focus on the Maii-a, but when she looked at it all s
he could see was his hand on hers. She closed her eyes and tried to feel it instead. Little by little, everything faded away except for the Maii-a. It was there, humming with its energy that rang like a golden bell. Or bells. Each one a perfect sphere that vibrated as it rubbed against the others, clinging together like thousands of tiny magnets.
Pemba’s grip tightened around her hand, bringing her back out. “You felt it.”
Anna nodded, hypnotized by the feeling of the Maii-a and the intensity of the look in Pemba’s eyes. Something opened inside her mind, like a wing unfurling, and her mind slipped forward until she could no longer tell where her hand ended and his began.
“You can feel me.” His voice was husky.
“Your eyes never look like they should be brown.”
Pemba let go and looked away. And Anna wished she hadn’t said anything.
“That’s probably because I wear contacts,” he said, his voice once again neutral.
“Anna?” called Ingrid from the kitchen. “Can you and Pemba set the table, please?”
* * *
After Pemba and Dawa left later that evening, Ingrid said, “Dawa is such a nice girl. I’m sure she’ll be the kind of friend you can really count on.”
Anna shrugged her shoulders in a non-committal way and pushed up her sleeves to do the dishes. Her mother hadn’t been as annoying during dinner as she had expected. But Anna was sorry that she hadn’t had another chance to be alone with Pemba. She wanted to hold the Maii-a again. And to feel his hand on hers.
“But I’m not so sure about Pemba,” continued Ingrid. “I know you’re not going to like my saying this, but I hope you’ll take your time getting to know him. I just don’t think he’s trustworthy.”
“What?” The soapy water splashed. “You just met him, how can you say that?”
“Maybe it’s a mother’s intuition.” Ingrid twisted her wedding band. “And you’ve only just met him, too. Dawa told me they arrived during the Christmas vacation.”
Dragon Fire Page 10