Veiled Waters

by H G Lynch

  Veiled Waters

  by

  H.G. Lynch

  The rights of H.G. Lynch to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him/her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it was published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  Cover Design by

  H.G. Lynch

  Edited by

  EAL Editing Services

  Copyright© 2018

  All Rights Reserved.

  Chapter One

  ** Ember **

  Ember pulled her pillow over her face and bit down on it, trying not to scream. She held it over her ears, hoping to block out Brandon’s droning, but she could still hear his voice dimly through the feather stuffing. Oh my God, oh my God, please shut the hell up! she thought despairingly, ready to launch herself across the room and strangle Brandon just to shut him up.

  “…somebody will notice! If we get found out because of some half-animal kid, the consequences won’t be pleasant. Have you ever even read about the witch trials in Britain? Ricky, I know you have. What do you think will happen if the town finds out that they’ve got a gang of vampires, a dark fairy, a Kitsune and two half-breed bloodsuckers staying in the dorms? It’ll be chaos and bloodshed, and I for one don’t want to face a mob of angry people with stakes and burning torches—” Brandon had been ranting for going on fifteen minutes now, and Perry occasionally put in a few words or quoted passages from one of the boys’ fancy books.

  It had been three days since Ember, Sherry, Reid and Ricky had returned to Acorn Hills, taking Hiro — a fifteen year old Kitsune boy they’d met in Scotland — with them. Cris had been delighted to meet Hiro, and now they were comfortably sharing a room. It just so happened that Hiro was always up for doing a little snooping, and Cris’s job was snooping, so they got along handily. Unfortunately, though, Brandon and Perry weren’t quite so pleased to have a young Kitsune around, and insisted that Hiro could endanger their secret. Yeah, of the four vampire boys, Brandon and Perry were the all-knowing, goody-two-shoes, super paranoid ones. And Ember disliked them immensely; maybe it had something to do with the fact that they had never quite approved of her knowing their secret, never mind that she was possibly the most powerful Elemental to live for the last six centuries — she didn’t know that was the right figure for sure. She was just pulling a number from thin air to fit her argument — and had every right to know that her own boyfriend was a vampire.

  Right now, they weren’t doing anything to raise themselves in Ember’s view. They were just giving her one almighty headache.

  “Might I remind you, burning torches aren’t a huge problem, Brandon? I could snuff them out in seconds if they got too close,” Ember muttered through her pillow, and heard Brandon sigh in exasperation.

  “That isn’t the point! The point is that—” Brandon snapped, but Ember had had enough.

  She launched her pillow at him and growled. Brandon just barely ducked the pillow, but when he picked it up, Ember saw she’d made scorched handprints in the fabric. Whoops.

  “The point right now is, you’re giving me a headache! And if you don’t shut up, not only will I kick you out of my room, I will ensure you boil in your own skin for a while too,” she snarled, losing her temper altogether.

  Brandon glared back at her with angry hazel eyes, his mouth set in an irritated thin line. Reid, standing in the corner of the room with his arms crossed, let out a low whistle and chuckled. Perry stared at Ember with wide eyes, watching her like she was a feral animal about to attack — which was close enough.

  Cris and Ricky, sitting on the floor, shared a slightly concerned, yet highly amused glance. Sherry was covering her mouth with her hand, her green eyes wide; to anyone else, it would’ve looked like she was shocked. Ember knew better. Sherry was trying not to laugh. Of course, Hiro was absent, which was why they were getting this lecture now. The fox-boy had gone for a run in the forest, to ‘get a feel for the place’ he’d said, and Brandon and Perry had barged in as soon as Hiro was out of sight. Arseholes.

  “Oookay. I think it’s about time you guys left before she sets something on fire for real. And trust me, that something is likely to be you. So, goodbye.” Reid snickered, sending Brandon and Perry a cheeky little wave.

  With a noise of disgust, Brandon stormed to the door. Perry unfolded himself from the floor and gave them all a quick, apologetic smile before following Brandon out the door and closing it behind him.

  Ember counted to thirty, then hissed. “Bloody idiots!” she spat.

  Reid snorted and flopped down onto the bed next to her. Ricky sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair in agitation, frowning.

  “You know, maybe they have kind of got a point,” he said warily, his blue-green eyes flicking to and away from Ember uneasily. He knew it was best not to antagonize her right now.

  “No, they don’t,” she said stubbornly, whacking Reid’s hand away as he tried to play with her hair. Normally, it soothed her, but right now, she didn’t want to be soothed; she wanted to hit someone. Mainly, Brandon.

  Ricky sighed again but didn’t argue. He obviously didn’t want to get toasted.

  “Are you going to get like this every time they come around? ‘Cause you know they’ll be around a lot now. They’re coming back to school, so starting tomorrow, you’ll have to see them in classes every day.” Reid made a face that told her he wasn’t too happy about it either. Brandon and Perry didn’t approve of Reid’s miscreant, reckless attitude, and Reid often got personal lectures like the one they’d all just received.

  “I’m going to set up wards around my room to keep them out,” she huffed, knowing full well she couldn’t specialize wards like that yet.

  Reid laughed. “You have fun with that. In the meantime, anyone up for some extreme skinny dipping?” he suggested, with that dangerous, sexy smirk of his. Ember arched a brow at him.

  “Are you crazy? It’s January, not June,” she stated.

  Reid grinned at her, making her heart give a funny little squeeze, his blue eyes sparkling with mischief. “So? Uh, vampires, remember? Don’t feel the cold so much. And I thought you wanted to go cliff diving sometime? This’ll just be a step down from that.”

  Ember snorted. “Yeah, when I said I wanted to go cliff diving, I meant in some place warm, like Australia.”

  “Again, vampire. It’s not like you’ll get hypothermia. It’s nine degrees outside. Isn’t that like mid-summer temperature where you’re from?”

  “Ha, ha. Actually, it usually gets to around seventeen degrees in Aberdeen, though water is always about eight degrees colder.”

  “Ooh, a whole seventeen degrees!”

  “Would you two stop it? Jeez. You’re like little kids.” Ricky laughed.

  Sherry was watching them with a mix of amusement and anxiety. Apparently, she didn’t like the sound of ice-water skinny dipping.

  “Um, Ember, not to put a cramp in your argument or anything, but you realize you can alter the water temperature, right? In fact, between you and Sherry, you could probably make it into a giant Jacuzzi,” Cris pointed out.

  “Shh! He didn’t know that!” Ember stage-whispered, mock-glaring at Cris.

  Cris just laughed, his jade-green eyes twinkling. He was such a happy person, such a contrast to the rest of them who were all about as negative as you could get.

  “Oh, I forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder, Cris. See, Emz, you have no argument. Actually, a private lake-Jacuzzi
sounds awesome!” Reid got that bright, enthusiastic look in his eyes that meant there was no way Ember was getting out of this now.

  Damn it. She sighed, hanging her head.

  “Well, if we can make the water warm, I’m up for it,” Sherry said, unexpectedly.

  Ember lifted her head and groaned. “Not you too, Sherz. I was depending on you to stop the madness before it got started!”

  Sherry just shrugged, grinning.

  Ever since she’d learned how to manipulate the cold weather and throw magical ice-cubes at people, Sherry had hitched a ride on the fun bus, up for whatever the vampires wanted to do. Yesterday, it had been an impromptu skiing trip to some mountain on the north side of Acorn Hills that was rumored to have had insane amounts of snow the last three weeks. That one, Ember actually had been up for. Only, she’d taken a snowboard instead of skis.

  “If Sherry’s in, I’m in,” Ricky said, twining his fingers through his girlfriend’s.

  Ember looked at Cris, glowering. “Just for that little slip-up, you’re coming too.” She made sure he knew it wasn’t a request. It was a command, but Cris still tried to worm out of it.

  “Uh, no thanks. I mean… I’d hate to interrupt a double date, pool party type thing, so I’ll just—” He started to get to his feet, but Ember pinned him with a piercing stare, and he sighed. “Fine. Will Hiro be coming too?”

  “Will Hiro be coming where?” the Kitsune asked lightly, suddenly standing in the corner of the room as if he’d been there the whole time.

  Ember still found it annoying when he popped out of thin air like that. Hiro raised his brows expectantly into his messy, crimson hair, his cat-like eyes sweeping all of them. Ember thought for a hopeful second that maybe Hiro would put an end to this insane plan, but she should’ve known better.

  “Going for a swim in a lake. Ember’s going to turn the whole thing into a giant Jacuzzi, aren’t you, Firefly?” Reid chuckled and Ember elbowed him in the ribs. He pulled a face. “Ouch,” he muttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

  “Sounds like fun. I’m in.” Hiro beamed.

  “Great. There are no limits anymore, are there?” Ember grumbled.

  Reid leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “Nope. We’re going to live forever, Emz. Might as well have some fun while we’re at it.” He bounced off the bed and Ember flopped back, reaching for her pillow before realizing it was still on the floor…and marked with hand-shaped scorches.

  “There’s a small lake about fifteen miles out from here,” Ricky said.

  “Okay then.” Sherry sat up, flicking a lock of blonde hair off her face. “Guess everyone needs to grab their bathing suits then.”

  The boys went off to grab their swimming gear, and Sherry grabbed a couple of drawstring bags from the bottom drawer of the dresser. Ember slid off her bed and went to her dresser, opened the top drawer, and pulled out her favorite, cobalt blue bikini. She stuffed it in her bag and grabbed two towels from the top of the wardrobe.

  Throwing one towel to Sherry, who was searching in the drawer of the wardrobe for the matching top half of her emerald green bikini, Ember shoved her own towel into her bag and pulled it closed.

  “Ready?” she asked.

  Sherry turned from her dresser, holding her bikini top in one hand, and nodded. “Ready,” she said, stuffing everything into her bag before slinging it over her shoulder.

  Ember grinned.

  *****

  “I cannot believe we’re doing this,” Ember muttered as she changed into her bikini, hiding behind a huge boulder near the edge of the lake. Of course, the boys had been smart enough to change into their shorts at the dorms and pulled their clothes on top. Sherry and Ember had to quickly slip into their bikinis while hiding behind rocks. Stupid move, Ember, she thought to herself, Stupid.

  Once she was sure her bikini was securely tied on, she emerged from behind her boulder, shoving her clothes into her bag. She dumped her bag by the side of the lake, and dipped her toes into the water. It was freezing. And the boys were already in. Idiots. Reid, Ricky and Cris were splashing each other like kids in a public pool, and Hiro was hopping up some rocks at the far end of the lake, in fox form. Ember watched him as he reached a small platform jutting from the rocky wall and then flung his little furry body off the edge. He fell like an orange spark, and hit the water with a small splash.

  Shaking her head indulgently, Ember let out her mind-limb and sucked up as much heat from the surroundings as she could. She wasn’t wearing her magic necklace — the sapphire firefly one that Reid had given her for Christmas — because she didn’t want to get it wet, so there was a little less heat than she would’ve otherwise had. But still, there was more than enough to bring the lake to a reasonable temperature.

  Once she had plenty of heat tingling over her skin, she stepped into the water, and heard a sizzle. The water instantly started letting off a trail of steam where she waded through it, and then the heat spread itself out, warming the rest of the lake. The water felt nice on her skin, that silky feeling brushing against her ribs as she walked deeper into the water.

  “Hey! At last! I was starting to lose the feeling in my legs.” Reid laughed as Ember waded through the warm water to him. She only got so far before the ground disappeared abruptly under her feet and she had to swim the rest of the way to the center of the lake. The ends of her hair floated around her on the glimmering surface of the water.

  As soon as she reached him, Reid swept his hand through the water quickly, throwing a wave over her. She squealed, wiping water off her face.

  “You’re mean!” she accused, scowling at him.

  He grinned, shrugged. “And you’re hot. Want to point out something else obvious?”

  Ember rolled her eyes, not sure if he was complimenting her or making a joke – after all, she was literally hot right now.

  “No, I’m good. Hey, where’s Sherry?” She looked around, but she couldn’t see her best friend any – Oh, there she is. With Ricky. They were hovering near an alcove in the rock wall at the far end of the lake, apparently having an intimate moment. Ember looked away, felt herself blush ever so slightly. “Okay. I guess as long as she’s not drowning or anything, I’ll just leave her be,” she murmured.

  Reid chuckled, and then splashed her again.

  “Stop doing that!” she demanded, smacking the water with a fist to throw more water up over him. Unfortunately, it hit her too, and she blinked water out of her eyes.

  “Who wants to have a race? That side of the lake to the other and back,” Cris suggested, pointing to the sides of the lake. His hair was plastered to his head wetly, dripping streams down his face. He was more well-built than she’d thought he was, but not quite as muscled as Reid…and he didn’t stand a chance in any race against Reid Ashton. Ever.

  On cue, Reid snorted, “Yeah right. I can swim six laps before you can do even one,” he called to Cris, who didn’t look deterred.

  The Irishman just grinned and shrugged. “Maybe,” he said slyly.

  “No maybe about it. Have you forgotten what my hobby is—”

  “That depends. Are you talking about your position on the swim team or the position in Ember’s bed?” Cris mocked good-naturedly, and Ember bit her lip, surprised that Cris would say something like that, but Reid just laughed.

  “Both are very good exercise,” he returned smugly, and Ember blushed more, her cheeks burning.

  “Oh, God. Please shut up,” she muttered to herself.

  Reid undoubtedly heard and probably would’ve made a comment if he hadn’t been getting ready to race Cris from one side of the lake to the other. He was already wading his way to the west side, with Cris following.

  Ember sighed and started swimming after them. “Hey, wait! I want to race too!” she called.

  Both boys stopped and turned to look at her with matching ‘Seriously?’ expressions.

  She scoffed at them, “Honestly, you think I’d pass up a contest? Not likely.”

&nb
sp; “Even when you know you’ll lose?” Reid asked, smirking.

  She gave him the finger and he shoved her arm lightly.

  They got ready to swim, bracing themselves against the bank of the lake, and Hiro paddled over to be the starting gun. He yelped once, twice, three times, and on the third yelp, they took off. Ember knew she was no match for Reid, but she ploughed through the water as fast as she could anyway, gasping for air between every fifth stroke. It had been years since she’d swam like this; she used to have races like this with the girls in her class at her swimming lessons when she was nine.

  Reid was way ahead, but Cris was slightly behind her, so she kept pulling herself through the water, propelling herself with her arms and legs. The water churned up over her head, soaking her hair so it clung to her face every time she lifted her head for a breath. Eventually, her fingers touched the opposite bank, and she did a flip in the water, pushing off the muddy bank with her feet and starting back toward the other side. She sliced through the water with ease, moving much faster than she’d ever done at swimming practice.

  When she finished, and stood upright in the water again, Reid was lounging casually nearby, grinning, leaning an elbow on the grassy bank like he’d been there for hours. Arrogant bastard.

  “Oh, finally. Took you long enough,” he said, pushing away from the side and flicking his fingers at her, spraying her with drops of water.

  She glared at him and flicked water back. Only, when it hit him, it sizzled.

  He grimaced. “Ouch. Trying to boil me alive, Emz?” he asked playfully.

  Ember shrugged. “If I was, I’d do it from the inside out. Just like I threatened Brandon with,” she said casually, then turned to Cris. “So, Cris, how does it feel to get beat by a girl?” She grinned.

  Cris swept his wet hair off his face and scrunched his nose in distaste. “Sucks actually. But you’re a vampire with super speed, so I won’t beat myself up too much.” He smiled his sunny smile and splashed her once before ducking under the water and disappearing.