Phoenix Fire

by S. D. Grimm

  The blood dripped over the side of my hand and onto the towel in a thin trickle. But it slowed. The pain dulled. Normal, as the blood should be clotting.

  Almost afraid to move, I laid the towel over the wound and pressed. A soft hiss escaped between my teeth as the pain pricked hot and sharp. And I moved the towel away.

  Slowly, the dark like reformed as more blood leaked out, not nearly as fast or thick as before. Thin this time. No dripping. I stretched my fingers and a tug of pain pulled against my skin.

  Did this mean I was normal? I couldn’t actually heal? Would I stop having strange memory-like visions, too? I wiped away the thin line of blood and my heart stuttered.

  No pain.

  No more blood.

  I scrubbed, harder this time. Nothing hurt. I touched the spot with my bare fingers and felt no cut. No scab. No scar. No new blood. A shiver spread over me, hot first, then cold. And a huge sinking feeling tore through my gut. I’d healed.

  It wasn’t a dream.

  This was real. My blood still on the edge of the knife proved it. I wiped it off with a shaky hand and stared at the dark drips on the towel.

  What did it all mean?

  …

  Wyatt’s gaze tracked me as I walked into bio the next morning. When I looked at him, he glanced away. I wanted to ask him straight up if he self-healed, but I knew where that would get me. I had to take things infuriatingly slow with him, which meant building a relationship. Inciting trust. I expelled a breath. Great. Two things I was terrible at.

  I slid into my seat beside him. He looked at me and smiled. My heart lunged forward like a dog pulling on the end of its leash. “Morning.”

  “Morning, Ava.”

  “I had this crazy dream last night.”

  His eyebrows rose as if he was asking me to continue.

  I shifted in my chair and faced him, aware that Mr. Cummins was taking attendance, and I didn’t have a lot of time before class would interrupt my hunt for the truth. I decided to follow a hunch, even though it felt risky. “You were in it.”

  The momentary widening of his eyes and barely audible intake of breath told me I’d hit the mark. He was having visions with me in them. “Really?” His even tone was clearly forced.

  Goose bumps spread over my skin, but I tried to stay nonchalant. “Yeah. We were running through the woods. All I really remember is that something was chasing us. I was freaking out. And I kept running into thorns.” I rubbed my hand over my arm, mostly because his unwavering attention sent heat flushing into my cheeks. “They kept tearing into my skin, but every time I looked, the wounds started closing. Weird, right?”

  He swallowed, as if something scared him deep inside, but he wasn’t ready to share. “Yeah. Weird.” His voice cracked slightly on that first word.

  “What do you think it means?”

  He shrugged and shook his head, then half-frowned. “I’m sure it means that accident the other night really shook you.”

  “It did.”

  He lowered his voice and leaned closer to me. “I meant what I said. You can call me any time.” He smiled then, lopsided and unsure, as though he was offering me something he wasn’t sure I’d take. Something intangible but no less real. Trust?

  I chewed the inside of my lip. How could I get him to open up? “I’m going for a run tonight, but I don’t really want to go alone.” My eyes wandered up to meet his.

  That intense stare with a hint of concern speared me. “I could go with you, if you want.”

  “Really?” I placed my hand on his arm, momentarily forgetting how sensitive he’d been the other times I’d touched him, and gave a little squeeze. “You’re a lifesaver.”

  This time he didn’t pull away. Instead, he glanced at my hand and then looked up at me and smiled. “Just tell me when and where.”

  It couldn’t be that easy. I slid my hand off of his arm, still feeling his warmth on my palm and the warmth of his offer in my heart. Just who was Wyatt Wilcox? And why was he so willing to chase away my monsters?

  …

  I texted Wyatt to make sure he wasn’t going to stand me up for this run tonight. Yuki could hardly get over the fact that I’d asked him out, even though I explained that exercising was hardly a date. Her teasing had been relentless, so I missed Wyatt’s first text.

  The second came right as Jean was glancing out the window less-than-nonchalantly making sure I had a running buddy. She informed me of his arrival before he even turned up the walkway. “Looks like Wyatt is here. Do you want to invite him in for a—”

  “No. He wants to get going.” I practically jumped off the couch and texted Wyatt that I’d be right out.

  “All right, well, if he wants to stop in after—”

  “I’ll let him know!” I called as I raced to the door.

  “Wyatt Wilcox?” Danny gave me a strange look, complete with cocked eyebrow.

  “You have a problem with that?” I paused, hand on the knob, and shot him a smug look.

  He glanced at Jean and shook his head. “No.” Then he got up, slowly, hand over his sore ribs, and something in his eyes told me to hold off a second before I opened the door. A warning. My gut clenched and I waited.

  Danny passed close to me as he headed to the kitchen, and paused. “Be careful with him.”

  “Why?” The word drew out of my mouth, long and suspicious.

  “I don’t mean—” He shook his head. “Wyatt’s a good guy; we used to be friends. But he has…a temper.”

  I hugged myself and waited for Danny to explain.

  He sighed and kept his voice low. “His sister is a year older than me and my buddy Scott. Last summer, Scott and she were dating.” He rolled his eyes—so did I. Scott? I wouldn’t let him near my sister if I had one. “Scott did a couple of dick things, broke her heart. Anyway, Wyatt went off. Bashed Scott’s face in—I’m not saying it was unprovoked, I’m just saying Scott’s face was so swollen, he had to go to the emergency room. Wyatt’s the reason he has a crooked nose. Wyatt got kicked off the team for it. Bummer for all of us. He was really good.”

  “Wyatt beat him up? You sure Scott didn’t start it?” I crossed my arms but kept them tight to me. This whole thing was making me nervous.

  “He did. But Wyatt kept going long after it should have been finished.”

  “You telling me—”

  A soft knock interrupted my sentence. I glanced at Danny, wanting to know what he really thought.

  “I would have stayed friends with Wyatt. In fact, I dissed Scott for a while. All I’m saying is, listen to your gut about him. Yeah?” He motioned to the doorknob, so I opened it.

  Cool, evening air wafted in, and Wyatt’s eyebrows popped up when he saw Danny standing next to me.

  “Hey!” Danny held out his hand to shake Wyatt’s, a huge smile on his face. “How’ve you been?”

  “Great.” Wyatt shook Danny’s hand then motioned to the bandage over the gash on Danny’s arm. “Feeling better?”

  “Yeah. Thanks to you. Ava said you were there. I don’t even remember.” The way Danny looked at him, as though he really, truly missed him, eased the tightening ache in my chest.

  “Probably not a bad thing, huh?” Wyatt smiled ruefully.

  Danny chuckled slightly as he shook his head. “I’m okay with it. The team misses you this year.” He motioned to his ribcage. “Especially now.”

  “Yeah.” Wyatt shook his head and his gaze fell to the ground. Head bowed, he glanced up at Danny. “Not really my scene anymore.”

  Danny nodded toward Wyatt. “You take care of her. Okay? She runs straight into danger without thinking.”

  “Hey.” I nearly swatted Danny, but stopped, not wanting to hurt him. “I can take care of myself.”

  “She can.” Wyatt’s blue-eyed gaze settled on me, and his mouth curved up slightly. “But I’ll watch out for her anyway.”

  I cocked my head and gave him a challenging grin. “What you’re going to have to do is keep up with me.”r />
  That deepened his smile and sent a flurry of flutters into my stomach. Whoa. Getting close to Wyatt wasn’t supposed to involve developing a crush.

  “Good.” Danny basically shooed me out of the house, but the slight eyebrow raise he gave me asked if I was going to be okay.

  I nodded, a strange warmth in my core. Danny was actually acting like a big brother?

  “Thanks again, Wyatt.” Danny called after him.

  “No problem. I’m glad you’re all right.”

  The two of us headed down the walkway and out to the sidewalk, where I automatically picked up my pace and raced to the woods.

  Wyatt hurried to catch up to me. “Whoa. Hey, I didn’t realize this was going to be marathon training.”

  “Already complaining?”

  “No.” He glanced at me askance, and the streetlight illuminated his smile. His pace matched mine, and we headed toward the woods.

  “Sorry about Danny. He was being protective. You know?”

  “Yeah.” He grew silent as our shoes pounded the pavement in synchronicity.

  I didn’t want to lose him to his inner shell and have to break the ice all over again. I also didn’t want him to worry. Whatever had happened between them was clearly in the past. The exchange tonight told me that Danny not only missed Wyatt but valued his friendship. “Danny never gets the door.”

  Wyatt glanced at me, his eyes narrowing. “You don’t think he trusts me?”

  We reached the place of the crash site. The memory of a few nights ago slammed into me. All I could see was headlights, and all I could hear was cars screeching. And all I could feel was Wyatt’s arms around me, pushing me to safety. I balked.

  “You okay, Ava?”

  I looked up at him, realizing that I’d stopped running and was staring at the corner. At the glitter of glass in the streetlight. The debris. I fisted my hands. I wasn’t imagining it; Wyatt had been injured. That meant he was like me, and I was about to get to the bottom of this. “I’m okay.” I stood tall and crossed the empty street, glass crunching beneath my shoes. Wyatt kept pace with me and we entered the woods.

  I flicked on my light so we could see our path clearly. “So you played football?”

  “Yeah. JV.”

  “Danny said you were really good. Why’d you stop?”

  “I…umm…got kicked off the team.”

  Stupid question. “I meant, why didn’t you try out again?”

  “Lost interest, I guess.” He glanced my direction, and I could almost feel the heat in his next question. “Danny tell you what happened?”

  “Just that you beat up Scott Mitchell.”

  Wyatt’s silence made me wonder if I’d offended him.

  “If you want to give your version—”

  “I’m sure Danny’s was accurate.” His voice sounded tight. Not the conversation mood I was going for.

  “He probably deserved it,” I said.

  “I don’t know.”

  I glanced over at him, the flashlight giving me glimpses of his face. “What did he do to your sister?”

  Wyatt used the edge of his shirt to wipe his face, but I wondered if it was more to hide behind.

  “I mean, you don’t have to—”

  “We were at a party. He drugged her drink and took her upstairs. As soon as I found out where they’d gone, I busted the door down.” He paused. “I threw him against the wall. That was probably enough, but I didn’t stop there.”

  I slowed to a halt, an ache spreading in my heart, and Wyatt did, too.

  He faced me. “I-I’m not—”

  “I’m sorry that happened. Was your sister okay?”

  “Yeah. She is now. He hadn’t really had a chance to touch her. She doesn’t remember much, which is good for several reasons. But the thought of her watching me slam my fist into Scott’s face over and over”—he crushed his eyes closed—“and over…” He stared at his knuckles as he slowly fisted his hands and spread out his fingers again. “It’s hard to take that kind of justice into your own hands. In that moment, it’s hard to know what’s right, what’s wrong. Everything’s blurry.”

  “I couldn’t imagine.” I grabbed his hands and squeezed.

  “I broke his jaw—dislocated it—and his nose. There was so much blood. I honestly don’t know what came over me.”

  “You were protecting your sister.”

  He shrugged. “I should have expected Danny to warn you about me.”

  “It’s not like you made a habit out of beating people up, right?” I offered a smile.

  The way his gaze locked onto mine, suddenly easier to read though the moonlight was blocked by branches here, made me think he might be staring deep into a memory, too.

  “Wyatt?”

  He sucked in a breath. “Right. I don’t go around hurting people.”

  “No. You let them pick on you.” I released his hands.

  His small laugh seemed to drip bitterness. “Well, I can’t exactly fight back—I’d be in so much trouble if I were to have another…incident—and they know it.”

  That ignited a fireball in my stomach. That’s why they picked on him? “How can people be so cruel?” I pointed my flashlight on the path ahead. “Can I show you something?”

  “Of course.”

  Within a few minutes, we’d arrived to my favorite place on the run. I stepped through the thinning dune grass and out onto a sandy cliff of the top of a dune. From here we could see over Lake Michigan. But the sun had already set, leaving nothing but darkness in front of us. Here, at night, the best view was looking up.

  I sat down and motioned to the stars. “I looked up Andromeda after you came over.”

  “Yeah?” His voice carried the hint of awe and surprise mingled together.

  “But I don’t know which constellation it is.”

  He sat beside me and leaned close enough that his shoulder brushed against mine. “There.” His fingers traced an outline of stars. “It’s been said that she’s a beautiful princess.”

  “I read that, too.” I chuckled. “But like all princesses, she got into trouble.”

  He laughed. “Yes. She got herself captured.”

  I made my voice mock-dreamy. “But her handsome prince—what was his name? Perseus!—saved her. I can only imagine they lived happily ever after.”

  He didn’t respond, so I tore my eyes away from the night sky and found Wyatt already looking at me.

  “Thank you,” he said, turning his attention back to the sky as a breeze off the lake muffled his quiet words. “For not making me feel like a monster for what I did.”

  I wanted to touch him again, but I refrained. “You’re hardly a monster, Wyatt.”

  Something in his soft smile made my heart beat faster.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Cade

  I headed out to the lunch table and caught sight of Yuki sitting alone in the sunshine. Warm rays cast a pretty reddish-gold light on her dark hair. She pushed some behind her ear and then turned the page of her book. Like it or not, she was my way in with Ava since Ava wanted nothing to do with me.

  Stupid Nick and his “I told you so” frown. His words from yesterday, after I’d informed him that all Ava did now was roll her eyes and walk away when I tried to talk to her, sprang back into my mind: I told you, Ava needs to see that she can trust you. She’s worse than a skittish wolf.

  I’d basically bit back at him that maybe he should try and make friends with her since he knew so much.

  I’m trying. The thing is, she always trusts you first.

  Me, huh? I stared at Yuki and willed my feet to move closer to Ava’s best friend. The problem was, Yuki was different. Maybe it was the plain disinterest she showed in me, but excitement that lit her eyes when I brought up the subject of the book she was reading. Maybe the complex emotions that whirled in her eyes when she regarded me—like I was more than a bad boy with an attitude problem. Or maybe it was that she could roll her eyes at my idiotic comments but seem genuinely inte
rested when I had something intelligent to say in class—even if I was disagreeing with her.

  Whatever it was, when Yuki was around, none of the other girls vying for my attention—simply because I was the new, mysterious guy—mattered.

  That thought scared me.

  So did the fact that I’d finally reached her table and, in my stupid musings, I’d forgotten to plan what to say to her.

  She looked up from her book, and as soon as she spotted me, her eyes narrowed. “What do you want?”

  I slid onto the bench seat next to her, elbow on the table, ankle crossed over my knee, hoping to look very casual. “Did you see the list outside of Simmons’s classroom?”

  “It doesn’t matter who my lit partner is. I’ll end up doing the entire assignment alone anyway, so I didn’t see the point of looking.” She turned her attention back to the book.

  “Oh.” I leaned closer. “You’re one of those girls. I didn’t know they existed.”

  “Smart ones?”

  “No.” I hoped my disgusted look showed my sincerity. “Ones who don’t even let their partners help with the assignment. As if our opinion doesn’t matter. Let me guess, we don’t help right.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  “Well, I do help. And I expect equal say in this report.”

  Her eyes narrowed further and her jaw came loose. “You’re my partner? Could this get any worse?”

  “Worse?” I acted mock-offended. Not hard, because I actually was offended.

  Her eyes scanned my entire body as if my very presence disgusted her. “No offense, but you’re not exactly the type of guy I can count on. So do your own report.”

  “What?” I shook my head, trying to wrap my mind around what she’d just said. “You don’t even know me. How can you be sure I won’t be accountable?”

  Her eyebrow arched the same way it did in class when she was about to prove a point with so much logical information to back her up that only a fool would consider a rebuttal. And a ghost of a satisfied smile appeared. “You’ve been here for two weeks, and you’ve already missed four days of school—that’s 40 percent.”

  “Yeah, that’s—”

  “I’ve never seen you cut lit class, but I have sources that tell me you’ve cut a few other classes, so when you actually do show up, you still miss school.”