Smoke and Flame (Rise of the Dragons Trilogy Book 2)

by N. R. Hairston

  I pointed it, figuring I could leave, get items from home, and come back on the opposite side of the bars so that I could free everyone, only when I tried, nothing happened.

  I frowned and turned the thing over wondering if it’d gotten broken somehow. Then I saw the yellow from the rope on my hands, and all the air went out of me. Great. The powerless binders even stopped the porter from working.

  For a minute there I’d had hope, and to have it snatched away so cruelly left a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach. I put the items away and was ready to place the lighter back in my bra when I thought about something.

  “Get up,” I said to Chibo who still had her head down. “Get up, I want to try something.”

  She stared up at me, eyes red, but did as I asked. I looked around, making sure no one was paying attention to us and then crowded in on her. She seemed confused but didn’t say anything, so maybe she trusted me a little. I peered around me again, and satisfied that we weren’t being watched, I gave the lighter a flick.

  The flame leaped up, bright and strong, causing me to sag with relief. Chibo’s eyes went wide, but she stayed silent. I aimed the lighter at the ropes on her arms, burning them as best I could, knowing that the smell of fire would alert everyone to what we were doing.

  Simple things from back home were not something I’d thought could help us on any of the worlds we entered, and I now realized how wrong I’d been in that thinking.

  When we made it back, I planned to tell Vonda to keep loading us up with supplies like this, because they definitely came in handy.

  Making sure to keep the flame steady, the scent of burnt ash soon filled the air, and smoke rose between us. Still, after only a couple of seconds, the ropes binding her burned away.

  She looked down in wonderment as if she couldn’t believe she was actually free. Knowing we needed to hurry, I placed the lighter in her hands and held up my wrist.

  She flicked it like she’d seen me do and I sent another silent thank you to my sister as the rope holding me burned away. I meant to free every woman in the cell and the men too, but a loud voice from the back stopped me cold.

  “Guards! Guards!” one of the women yelled. “They’ve got fire trying to burn us alive! Guards!”

  Shit. Chibo waved her hand, and I assumed she had telekinesis because the doors to the cell flew open. Not wasting a second, we all ran out, including the woman doing the hollering. Chibo raised her hand again, and this time the door to the men’s cell opened wide. The woman causing all the ruckus frowned and continued to yell.

  Reid and the other men flew out. Knowing Vonda might have fit them with lighters as well, I yelled for them to check their hair and socks.

  She’d given Trout three packs of matches, he gave one to Iago and the other to Coen. With the power-stripping ropes removed from our wrist, Reid and I were able to use our fire to help burn the rope away from everyone around us. Together, with help from Trout and the others, we began freeing everyone we saw.

  Smoke filled the air, and it wasn’t long before it filtered under the stone door. They’d come now, I knew they would, so we had to hurry.

  In less than a second, the door swung open, and a horde of guards charged through. We’d just about freed everybody, so I wasn’t going to stop now. Chibo used her power to throw them back, while one of the women ran up close to them, then punched the floor with her fist, causing it to rumble and crack beneath their feet.

  Someone else opened a portal, and the prisoners began to eagerly jump through. “We have to get out of here,” I said to my crew, who were about the only ones left. Chibo and her brother were still here, as was the woman Chibo had kicked. She seemed disoriented a bit, and Chibo put the lady’s hand in that of a man she’d just freed. The man opened a portal immediately, and the woman and the last few prisoners went through with him.

  Some of the guards had gotten stuck between the large cracks in the floor, but as new ones came in, they simply floated over the top of them.

  We backed away, and I whipped out my porter, just as Trout opened a portal and we all jumped through, Ridge and Chibo included.

  I didn’t know if any of the guards would follow us, but the thought of them invading my home made something dry and hard settle in my throat.

  I guessed we’d see once we were through the portal, but my thoughts turned to my brother and sister, and how they couldn’t protect themselves from any of this. I swallowed hard, knowing I’d do what I had to in order to keep my family safe.

  Chapter 12

  We hopped to an unfamiliar desert world, and I felt my shoulders relax. I’d have to thank Trout later for his foresight. We waited until we knew we hadn’t been followed, then hopped home.

  I expected to see either my house or my brother’s when I tumbled through the portal, so I was a little surprised to find myself in unfamiliar surroundings.

  When I’d been here before the living room had been black and gray, now it was brown and beige. The furniture, which had been black leather, was a cushioned deep-seated brown. The walls were no longer black, they too had turned brown as had the carpet on the floor.

  I peered into the kitchen and noticed that it was no longer blue and white, but green and tan.

  Iago and Trout had made this house their own, and there was nothing wrong with that. They’d removed every trace of the two Yangos, and I finally felt like I could breathe while standing in that house.

  Chibo’s eyes went wide as she looked around, but Ridge gave me a cool uneven stare. He probably didn’t trust me, probably didn’t trust any of us. He and his sister had been jerked around so much in their young lives, that I didn’t blame him one bit.

  Coen took off his shirt and threw it on the floor as if it had offended him. “Can I have a bath, please? I need to wash the stink of jail off me.” He picked up a phone from the counter, either Iago’s or Trout’s and begin dialing numbers. I didn’t have to guess who he was calling.

  Iago looked at the twins. “You two can go first. I’ll call Vonda, Alisa’s sister, and have her bring you some clothes.”

  They both stared at him hard, neither saying a word. In the background, I could hear Coen telling my brother that he was starving and hadn’t eaten in hours.

  That reminded me that these two probably hadn’t eaten in days, and I kicked myself for not acting sooner. “I’m going to order a pizza. Is the money still in here?” I asked Iago and Trout.

  Brad and Melinda had left me their entire bank accounts. I’d given a couple hundred thousand to Trout and Iago to live here, and the rest I’d kept in a ‘whatever fund.’

  Trout nodded. “Yes, and I’ll try to find something for them to put on until Vonda arrives.”

  Neither twin looked happy, and I noticed Chibo stayed as close to me as she could. The room was filled with strange men, and not knowing what she’d been through while living on the streets, I didn’t blame her for not trusting them.

  “We’ll look through the clothes ourselves.” I pointed to Chibo. “And I’ll show her where the bathroom and everything else is.”

  She nodded at me, and we started a slow walk down the hall. “He’s an empath you know.” She tossed a glance over her shoulder at her brother. “Can feel every emotion you have if you don’t know how to block him.”

  I nodded and took that as a warning. If any of us had thoughts of harming them, her brother would know first and react accordingly.

  MY PARENTS, ALONG WITH my brother and sister, arrived about ten minutes after everyone had finished their showers. Todd had brought Coen a change of clothes, and Reid had run to my house to freshen up and bring some for me.

  We were all in Iago and Trout’s living room now. Reid, Coen, and Todd sat on the floor. My mom, dad, and Vonda on the couch. Iago and Trout had taken a place on the love seat, while Chibo and Ridge stood by the entrance to the kitchen, as far away from everyone else as they could get.

  No one had talked while we’d eaten, but now that the pizza was gone, an
d our bellies were full, Coen was telling my family all that had happened to us.

  My father stiffened at the part about us being in jail, and he turned an accusatory eye to Reid as if it’d all been his fault for not looking after me as he’d promised. “You’ve been lucky so far, Alisa, but luck won’t last forever. Stop this foolishness and let the men handle it, you have no business hopping around like this, It’s—”

  “What she wants to do,” Reid answered, cutting him off. “All due respect, Tony, give it a rest, already. We all know you don’t like it, but she’s going to do it anyway, you know that she will, how about supporting her instead of all of this.”

  I held my breath as my father turned cold eyes Reid’s way. “If you were any kind of man, Reid...” I tuned them out and went into the kitchen to check on our new guests.

  They stood awkwardly by the door, as if not sure what to do. If I’d thought my father’s loud voice would scare them, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Then I remembered that they’d been on the streets for the last six years and had probably seen a lot worse.

  “Come on,” I led them to the brown wooden table in the kitchen, away from the eyes and ears of everyone else and we all sat down. “Did you guys get enough to eat? Are you still hungry?”

  Chibo shook her head. My sister had brought her a simple pair of black jeans and a white button-up shirt. Since Vonda hadn’t known the size, the shoes she’d bought were two sizes too big, but we’d fit Chibo with bedroom slippers and socks until we could get to the store.

  She’d washed her hair, and though it was limp and lifeless, it still looked better than it had before. With some careful treatments, I was sure we could bring the shine back. She took a seat at the table, her eyes roaming around the kitchen, probably trying to decipher what everything was and how it worked.

  Ridge sat down beside his sister. His hair too had been washed, and Trout had cut it down to the nape of his neck, which looked very nice on him.

  Instead of Vonda, Coen had told Todd to stop at the store before he came. He’d given him what he thought the boy’s sizes might be and asked him to pick up a few items of clothing. He’d guessed right, and Ridge now wore a black shirt with black jeans and white sneakers.

  In the background, I could hear my father’s raised voice, and I turned to the twins, hoping to tune him out for good. “Have you guys given any thought to whether you want to go back to Emor or not?” It was their home, all they’d ever known so I knew it wouldn’t be easy to leave it.

  Chibo folded her hands on the table. “There’s nothing for us there, but you, you have a father and mother who love you. That...” She swallowed hard and trailed off. Listening to my father ranting about how he was right and everybody else was wrong, I looked at her and saw her nodding along as if she agreed with every word he said.

  I blinked, a little surprised, but then I had to remind myself that I knew nothing of her or her world, for all I knew this was normal and expected where she came from.

  Ridge’s eyes were hard as steel as he stared at me. “If you don’t want us here...” He started to rise, and I held up my hand, hoping that would stop him. He was an empath so he could feel my emotions unless he chose not to. I thought about it. Maybe he saw it as an invasion of privacy, and so he shut it off and on.

  I had to agree. Some shit was just personal, and the thought of someone picking through my most private emotions didn’t bode well with me.

  Still, I didn’t want them to get the wrong idea. “I want you here,” I said before he could go storming out of the room. “I want you here. I just want you to be comfortable, that’s all.” I aimed my head toward the living room where my father was still at it.

  Ridge scoffed at me and sat back down. “You could do worse than parents who love you, and would do anything to protect you.”

  We were from two different worlds, I had to remind myself of that, and so I said nothing in my defense. “My place is a little smaller than this one, but you can stay with me if you like.”

  “Nope,” I heard a voice say and looked up to see my mother standing in the doorway to the kitchen. “Your father and I talked about it on the way over here, and they’re coming to live with us.”

  She said it as if it was her and my father’s decision alone, and in both their minds it probably was. “Chibo can have Vonda’s old room, and Ridge can have Todd’s.” She gave me a pointed look. “Yours, we’re saving, because no doubt you’ll need it sooner or later.”

  Feeling a little insulted I gave her a sour look which she promptly ignored, as she sat beside me at the table. She turned to the twins and smiled. “Tomorrow we’ll put all of Todd and Vonda’s old stuff in the basement. Then we’ll go to the store and you two can pick out whatever you want for your new rooms.”

  I watched as even Ridge seemed to soften a bit under her attentions. They hadn’t had a mother in over six years, and they hadn’t had a father either. Just looking at the rapt attention they paid her, and the way they fiercely defended my father, I figured they’d been craving a home and family for some time now.

  Also, my parents had been trying way too hard to get me to move back in lately, perhaps they’d been craving something as well.

  I looked at the pair. “It’s up to you. You don’t have to go with them if you don’t want to.”

  They looked from me to my mother, eyes confused. “She just said we could live with her,” Chibo said as if she didn’t understand my words.

  Okay, then. “Yes, she did, but if you don’t want to...”

  “Where else do we have to go?” Ridge looked at me as if he thought my intelligence to be severely lacking. “Why would we say no?”

  “No reason,” I said, getting up and going over to the cabinet above the sink. I wanted to give my mom some of the money Brad and Melinda had left me, to help out with whatever new expenses they might have.

  “Here,” I said, placing the envelope in front of her as Vonda walked into the kitchen.

  My mom looked at it and raised a brow. “Well your father and I can take care of them, but I won’t say no to this.” She picked up the stack of money and waved it at the two siblings. “Like I said, you can have anything you want tomorrow.”

  Chapter 13

  It had been two weeks since the twins had joined us, and so far, they seemed to be thriving under my parent’s care. I’d been apprehensive at first, as this was the same house Todd, Vonda, and myself had grown up in, but so far, they seemed to be doing okay.

  One difference I believed was that the twins were grown. They’d had parents until they’d been thirteen and by nineteen, their personalities were pretty much set. Also, unlike Todd, Vonda, and myself, they could always leave if they didn’t like the way they were being treated.

  Watching them these past few weeks with my parents though, I didn’t think that would be an issue. There was a mutual respect there, and little by little, the twins seemed to be coming out of their shells.

  We all spent time with them, from myself and Reid to Iago and Trout, to Todd, Coen, and Vonda. The twins seemed to get along with everyone okay, and it was fun teaching them new things.

  Today I would do a world hop, and they’d have to stay here. I wasn’t sure how Chibo would take it as she was used to having me here. We needed to visit the last world where Lantana might be, and I could tell that Iago was anxious to go. We probably could have left earlier, but I hadn’t felt comfortable leaving the twins until I was sure they’d settled in okay.

  Iago had understood, but now I could tell he was ready to go.

  We sat at Todd’s house now, having just finished watching a double round of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. The language between our world and the twins wasn’t that much different, but there were enough new words and phrases to learn that my parents had seen fit to hire them a tutor.

  One of the things they seemed to enjoy was practicing their newfound knowledge on Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. They seemed to take great joy in competing against each
other, trying to see who could get the most answers right.

  It also made them hungry to learn more, and that to me made for a win-win situation. My parents too seemed a lot happier and active these days, from taking the twins fishing, to taking them to football games.

  I kind of wished my parents were here now, because I’d told Chibo repeatedly that she couldn’t go with us, and she still acted as if she didn’t understand. My patience was starting to wear thin.

  “Why not?” she asked for the fifth time, and I felt my eyes roll to the back of my head.

  My parents weren’t coming back until later, so right now it was just my siblings, the three guys from Litvan, the twins, Reid, and myself.

  Ridge held on to a controller as he and Coen played some space game I’d never heard of. “Tell you the truth I don’t even want to go,” he said, then hit multiple keys on the controller, before throwing his hands up in victory.

  Beside him, Coen let out a groan of defeat. “I have plans tonight anyway,” Ridge continued as he rose to his feet and stretched.

  “It’s called a date here,” Chibo said from her spot on the floor.

  All eyes turned to Ridge, and he waved us away before walking down the hall toward the bathroom. He had on black jeans and a white long sleeve-shirt, making him look no different than any other teen walking around. He seemed happy, and to me, that was a good thing.

  “Who’s his date with?” I asked Chibo, after he was out of hearing range. Ridge didn’t seem the type to let people in easily, so I wondered about this.

  She shrugged, feet drawn up to her chest. “Girl he met at the bowling alley. He likes her enough I guess.” Her black hair was done up in curls that layered nicely around her face. Her pale skin now looked slightly more healthy, and she wore black jeans along with a brown sweater. She looked nice and seemed to be adjusting ok, which is all I’d wanted for them. “Do you approve?” I asked, because I couldn’t really tell from the way she talked.