Fire and Fantasy: A Limited Edition Collection of Urban and Epic Fantasy

by CK Dawn

  I slipped the key into my left-side pocket, hoping beyond hope that this was the key I was looking for. I closed the box back up and slid it under the bed where I’d found it butted up aside the wall and bedside table. If everything went as planned, we could return the key right here without anyone ever noticed it missing.

  I hopped up from the floor and hurried down the hall. Just before I reached the end, I slowed and listened again to my surroundings. I didn’t want to enter the vast open space again if someone would catch me. The sound of another car passed the house. I held my breath, hoping it wasn’t Mrs. Sloan returning from wherever she ran off to. Only, if she’d packed herself a lunch, I was guessing she’d be gone for a while. But what if she forgot something?

  To my relief, the car continued down the road. Satisfied that I was alone, I crossed the kitchen to the back sliding glass doors, keeping low the entire way in case I needed to hit the floor again and hide. I managed to slip out the back unnoticed, my heart pounding the entire way.

  Twenty-Three

  Only when I stepped off the back patio did I realize that I didn’t have a game plan from here on out. I didn’t want to walk back to Liana’s house in case anyone spotted me, and I certainly didn’t want to go back inside Dr. Sloan’s house where Mrs. Sloan could catch me if she returned. Instead, I opted for a clump of bushes lining a neighboring fence. Pulling my hat low on my head to shield my face, I walked toward the bushes with purpose and slid behind them. I was surprised at how thick they seemed, but once I crouched down behind them—after receiving a few scratches along the way—I was satisfied with my hiding spot. I could hardly see out through the bushes myself, so I didn’t think anyone would be able to see me. The only thing I could do now was hope no one saw me hide behind them and pray that Liana would be here to pick me up soon.

  I pulled Noah’s phone back out of my pocket again and checked to see if Liana had called or texted again after I turned the phone to silent. I didn’t think she would have since it’d only been a few minutes, but I thought I should check just to make sure. There weren’t any notifications.

  Finding Liana’s number in the contact list, I pressed the call button and brought the phone up to my ear. The other line rang once before going silent.

  Weird, I thought as I pulled the phone away. Why didn’t she answer? It only took me a few moments to come up with a theory. Dr. Sloan had probably returned, and she’d hung up on me instead of answering. Message received, I thought.

  Navigating to the message option, I sent her a quick text saying Got it. It was enough to let her know that I was ready for her to pick me back up but not enough that anyone could tell what “it” was. I flipped the phone shut, cursing it for being a dumb phone because I really didn’t like working with it, but I supposed it was the best I would get.

  In the minutes that followed, the key in my pocket seemed to grow hot against my thigh, reminding me it was there. Please let it be the right key. Please let it be the right key, I begged silently. I couldn’t afford for it to be anything else.

  The longer I waited, the antsier I became. Each car that drove by sent my nerves into overdrive. It could either be Mrs. Sloan returning, or it could be Liana. One was good news; the other bad. Both ideas made my heart pound at an alarming rate. But none of the few cars that passed down the street were Mrs. Sloan or Liana.

  “Come on,” I whispered through gritted teeth, eyeing the street as best I could through the thick bushes. My leg twitched nervously, eager for my getaway ride to come along. How much longer would Liana be?

  I checked the phone again. It seemed like it had been a half hour already, but it’d only been nine minutes since I’d crouched behind the bushes. Still no reply from her.

  My leg continued to spazz in anticipation. Someone was going to catch me. I was going to be locked in a jail cell the way they’d done to Tristan.

  Crap. Tristan.

  Guilt hit me square in the chest at the thought. It felt like the time Liana, Christina, and I had a pillow fight during one of our sleepovers in middle school and Christina hit me as hard as she could with the dense pillow, sending me gasping for breath. The thought of Tristan made it hard to breathe, and suddenly, I felt the urge to hurl. I didn’t, but I deserved much worse.

  Everything I’d done since finding Tristan had been entirely selfish, I realized. I left because I was afraid what they’d do to me if I didn’t. I came back because I didn’t care about that anymore and wanted my magic back. I snuck into someone’s house to benefit me.

  But didn’t I owe something to Tristan for getting him into this mess in the first place? If I hadn’t gone to my dad, Tristan wouldn’t be locked in that room in the basement of City Hall. I could have done more for him on my own. I didn’t know what, exactly, but I did know it was my fault he was down there. Who knew what they were doing to him? Interrogating him? Torturing him? All because I acted without thinking things through first?

  You couldn’t have known, I told myself, but that didn’t make me feel any better. I’d hardly thought about Tristan this whole time, and I owed him something for where my actions led him. I’d only been thinking of myself up until now.

  No, a voice in my head countered. You thought of your family and friends when you left.

  That was true. One of the reasons I went along with everything in the first place was because I was afraid what Carson and the rest of the council would do to my family and friends if I refused, if I got them involved.

  You thought of your mom when you came back, I reminded myself.

  That was also true. I spared her the pain of getting involved in all this. I almost felt better—less selfish—about that, but then the pessimistic voice I was so accustomed to reminded me that I’d pulled Liana into this. Not only her, but Noah as well. All because I was too selfish to give up my magic without a fight.

  It wasn’t fair. Not to anyone. Not to Noah, not to Liana. Certainly not to Tristan. Would anyone else get hurt because of how selfish I was being? How much longer were Liana and Noah going to be anyway? Had something already happened to them?

  I held my breath as another car approached from the opposite side of the fence. I couldn’t see it until it slowed in front of the curb. Relief flooded through me. Liana.

  I quickly glanced around to double check that I was okay to escape my hiding place. I appeared to be. Hopping out from behind the bushes, I managed to escape them with only a few more unpleasant scratches and hurry my way to the car. I clicked open the back door and slid in. I barely had the door closed before Liana pulled away from the curb.

  “You got the keys?” I asked Noah.

  He turned to me from the front seat with a smile on his face and jingled the keys next to his face. “It was almost too easy. You?”

  I returned the smile and dug into my pocket for the golden key. I pulled it out and held it up triumphantly before my face fell into a frown. “Well, I think it’s the right key. I just hope no one notices the keys are gone. I mean, you have Dr. Sloan’s whole key ring. He’s bound to notice.”

  “And we’ll drop them back right where we found them,” Liana said confidently. “He’ll just think he’s going senile or something.”

  The guy was old enough for memory problems. That was for sure.

  “I hope you’re right,” I said before slipping the key back into my pocket.

  On the ride back, I replayed the events of the past hour in my mind. I was beyond lucky that Mrs. Sloan didn’t catch me. If she had, our whole point of not getting caught would be rendered meaningless. It almost seemed unnecessary to add an extra step to breaking in by stealing the keys. It gave us a bigger chance of getting caught, it seemed, but I was just glad we made it out. It was almost too easy, despite all the sneaking around and holding my breath I had to do. I didn’t like “too easy.” It made me suspicious.

  “Where’d you find his keys?” I asked Noah on the way back to Liana’s house.

  He simply shrugged. “They were just sitting o
n the desk in his office. It was too easy to find them and grab them and get out.”

  I breathed a sigh. Like I said, I didn’t like “too easy.”

  Twenty-Four

  We returned to Liana’s house, the golden key heating my thigh the whole way back.

  “Here.” I stuck the key in Noah’s direction when we exited the car in the garage.

  His brow furrowed, but he took it without saying anything. I think he could sense that holding onto it made me uncomfortable.

  “Now it’s just a waiting game,” Noah said once we were back inside. He plopped down on Liana’s bed and twirled the key ring around in his fingers.

  “I hate this,” I complained, taking a seat in the rocking chair in the corner.

  “Relax,” Liana said. “Everything is going according to plan. You’ll get in and out of there tonight without any issues.”

  I glared up at her. “You can’t know that.”

  She rolled her eyes and turned back to the door. “I’ll get some lunch for everyone.”

  The silence that hung between Noah and me was almost too awkward to bear. I needed a distraction to keep my thoughts from racing, something that would calm my nerves. My hands began shaking, and I could have used some deodorant. I should have been relieved that everything had gone well up to this point, but I worried about what might happen later tonight. Mostly, I pictured the positive side of things—me getting my magic back. But occasionally a pessimistic thought I was so prone to would slip in, and that made me want to hurl.

  I wanted to be excited about getting my magic back. I was, on some level. But more than anything, I couldn’t shake this feeling that something bad was going to happen.

  I had to break the silence. Noah continued twirling the keys around his index finger, so I spoke the first words that came to mind. “What kind of keys did we end up with?”

  Noah paused, sending the keys jingling against each other. He held one up to inspect it. “It looks like we got his car key, something for the clinic, and one of these has to be for City Hall.”

  My brow creased. “You don’t sound so sure about that.”

  “Well, we won’t know until we try.”

  I buried my face into my hands. I couldn’t believe we were doing all this. What if we didn’t even have the right keys? We needed to get through…how many doors? What if just one of the keys was missing? Then we’d have to break in, and we’d get caught for sure.

  “So we should have one that gets us inside, one that gets us into that room in the basement, and the gold one that gets us through the last door. Do you think they’re all there?” I asked.

  I crossed the room to sit beside him and inspect the keys. A small silver key caught my eye. I remembered my dad having one just like it on his key chain. It must be one of the keys to City Hall, either for the outside doors or perhaps a master key for inside.

  The obvious hit me in that moment, and I immediately smacked my hand to my forehead. How could I be so stupid?

  Noah gazed at me in alarm. “What? What is it?”

  “I feel like the stupidest person in the world. We stole Dr. Sloan’s keys because he was on city council and had the keys to City Hall.”

  Noah gazed back at me like he didn’t see where I was going with this.

  “My dad is on city council. He has keys to City Hall. We could have just stolen the keys from him.” My mind focused on the word “stolen.” I didn’t like the idea of stealing from my own father, but I couldn’t have asked him for his help. He would have only turned me in.

  Noah inhaled a calm breath. How could he remain so calm through all of this?

  “That could have worked, sure.” He shrugged. “But your dad didn’t have the golden key.” Noah held it up as if to prove a point. “And we didn’t know where to find it, so that’s why I suggested the double mission. Go searching for all the keys at once, double our chances of finding this one.”

  I relaxed, lowering myself to the bed beside him. “I guess you’re right.”

  I probably shouldn’t have lain down next to him. Liana’s bed was only a twin size, so there wasn’t much room. I was just so exhausted that once I sat on the bed, all I wanted to do was fall back asleep. I’d slept fine last night, but the stress was getting to me. As soon as I lay next to him, I noticed the heat radiating off his body. We weren’t touching, but the warmth seemed comforting. I almost wished he would have scooted closer and pulled me into his arms, not because I liked Noah like that but because I could use a hug from somebody right now.

  I closed my eyes, and before Liana even returned to the room with lunch, I had drifted off.

  I awoke to find a strange chill in the air. As soon as I sat up and looked around the room, I realized why I felt cold. Noah wasn’t lying next to me anymore. My heart instinctively sank, and I scolded myself for it. I shouldn’t have felt disappointed that he didn’t stay; I probably made him uncomfortable. My eyes caught Noah’s across the room. He rocked in Liana’s chair playing a game on her tablet.

  “You up yet, sleepyhead?” he asked in a whisper before pulling his index finger to his mouth.

  “What?” I asked, mirroring his soft volume.

  “Liana’s parents are home from work, so we have to be quiet.”

  That was the first time I noticed Liana wasn’t in the room with us.

  Noah gestured toward the door with his chin. “She’s having dinner with them. Doesn’t want anyone to get suspicious.”

  “I slept that long?” I couldn’t believe it. All this sneaking around must have taken more out of me than I thought. At the very least, my nap killed some time and helped me feel refreshed. I hadn’t even dreamt, at least not that I remembered, which was a bit of a shock.

  “She’s been making a big show about her finger,” Noah said with a small laugh.

  “Oh?” I knew she didn’t actually hurt herself that morning, but I hadn’t even asked about how her appointment went.

  Noah must have noticed the look on my face because he offered to explain. “Obviously Dr. Sloan couldn’t find anything wrong with her finger, but he’d put it in a splint when we were down there earlier today. She doesn’t need it but figured she’d keep it on for a while to toy with her brothers.”

  I nodded as he spoke. It sure sounded like something my best friend would do.

  “There are some snacks next to you if you’re hungry.” Noah pointed briefly and then turned his attention back to his game.

  I reached to the bedside table where Liana had left us food and opted for the banana. “Her parents are going to think she’s hoarding food in here,” I said between bites in an attempt to fill the silence.

  He shrugged, not looking up. “She said no one would notice the missing food.”

  I hoped not. I didn’t need to go through all that sneaking around earlier only to get busted for eating a couple pieces of fruit.

  “Noah.” I spoke quietly. I didn’t actually know what to say to him. I only spoke to fill the silence. When he gazed up at me expectantly, though, I knew I had to come up with something. My heart hammered. I avoided his gaze and began twisting Liana’s comforter around in my fingers. I couldn’t stand the silence, so I said the first thing that came to mind. “Tell me more about yourself.” My voice was so soft I wasn’t sure if he heard me.

  He surprised me by repositioning himself in the chair and setting the tablet aside on the bookshelf next to him. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “What do you want to know?”

  I shrugged. I didn’t actually want to know anything, to be honest. I only wanted to talk, to pass the time and take my mind off what we were planning to do tonight. I couldn’t stand the wait.

  I shrugged. “Tell me a secret.”

  Noah pressed his lips together and visibly blushed.

  My brows shot up. “So you have a secret?”

  He rolled his eyes at me. “Who doesn’t? How about you tell me one first?”

  I swallowed hard. “I already told you a
bunch. The fish in the pool, the toilet papering. Those are my secrets.”

  “You must have more than that.”

  “By my count, you have to tell me at least two before I spill another.”

  The corners of his lips twitched. “Those weren’t exactly secrets, though. Everyone knew you were involved. You kind of have a reputation.”

  I let out a breath in disbelief as my body stiffened. “A reputation?”

  “Shh,” Noah warned, glancing toward the door. I had nearly forgotten Liana’s family was home. Then he shrugged, returning to our conversation. “You weren’t exactly a good girl in high school. Am I right?”

  I crinkled my nose at him. “I’m not a bad person, if that’s what you mean.”

  “No.” He sat up a little straighter. “There aren’t really bad people in Sea Haven. It’s just that you got into mischief.”

  “Whatever.” I rolled my eyes, suddenly finding myself slightly angry with him.

  I wasn’t a “bad girl,” no matter what he said. I managed a solid B average in high school and never once ended up in detention. There were plenty of other people I knew who had a worse reputation than me. Then again, most of them were guys. Was that what Noah was getting at, that I was the only girl in the group?

  “Everyone in Sea Haven are goodie two shoes,” I said. “Sometimes I wonder if it’s too peaceful around here.”

  My heart dropped at the thought. This place wasn’t as peaceful as it seemed. After what I’d seen, I knew the council was hiding secrets to make it seem that way. But it was all a lie. I didn’t say any of this to Noah.

  A brief silence followed, and I was determined to fill it so I wouldn’t be left alone with my thoughts. “So, your secret?”

  Noah sighed, leaning forward and placing his elbows on his knees. “Okay. I’ll tell you one if you tell me one.”

  I shrugged. I didn’t exactly have secrets, unless you counted the dream I’d had the previous night. I tried my best not to think about it because every time I did, a blush rose to my cheeks. Noah didn’t seem to notice, but I was not going to tell him that I’d fanaticized about us sharing a kiss. Crap. Now I was only imagining it again. I couldn’t let my thoughts go there or I might end up acting on them. Noah was still a stranger to me. Not if you get him to open up, a voice in my head said. Oh, shut up, I told that voice. I’m only trying to make conversation.