Phoenix Fire

by S. D. Grimm

  I headed onto the truck to find him pulling out a huge tabletop. Wow. No more eating while leaning against the counter? I helped him unload it and we headed back to the house, but the door had closed again. There was no way I could hang on to this with one hand.

  “Do you need help?” A distinctly feminine voice caused me to look up. A girl with long brown hair and dark brown eyes raced up our porch steps. She’d apparently been out for a run. “Hey, Nick.” She smiled at my brother. Then she pointed at herself, seeming unsure suddenly. “I’m Kelsey. You fixed my—”

  He chuckled. “I know who you are, Kelsey. We have physics together.”

  “Right.” She settled comfortably into that smile again, and Nick made no move to say anything more. He just stared at her, eyes narrowing.

  I suppose I had to jump in before he scared her away. “Would you mind getting the door for us?”

  “Sure.” She blushed slightly as she passed by my brother and opened the door. Even sweaty and gross, this girl was gorgeous. Nick was an idiot.

  “Thanks,” Nick said as he walked through the doorway past her.

  I made meaningful eye contact with my brother and mouthed, “Why haven’t you mentioned Kelsey?”

  He just glared at me. “We don’t have time for friends.”

  “That’s the most absurd thing I’ve heard you say. And I’ve heard a lot of crazy talk from you.”

  Nick rolled his eyes.

  We brought the tabletop in and headed out for the next item. Kelsey was still holding the door open. Standing there, unsure, and staring at Nick.

  He stopped and looked at her. “You’re still here.”

  She laughed nervously. “Yeah.”

  This was painful to watch. “My brother means, thank you for holding the door.” I put my hand on Nick’s shoulder. “You know, we should just remove the door.”

  “You could just prop it open with this little thingy here.” She bent over and moved that little sliding latch.

  “Thingy?” At least Nick smiled.

  I rubbed my hand over my face. In a hundred lifetimes, had he never flirted with anyone?

  “Yeah.” She faced my brother and the two of them locked gazes. I became invisible. “See. It’s the technical terms I’m not good with. Visuals. I can deal with visuals.” The way she stared at him had me ready to just sneak out of there and head to the bonfire.

  He leaned toward her and caught the screen door before it slammed into her back. “The thingy appears to be broken.”

  Yep. Time to leave the two of them alone. I clomped down the porch steps.

  Nick followed me. Idiot.

  “What’s next? Couch?” He glanced at me.

  “You seriously going to keep her on door duty? We should just remove it. And you should actually speak words to her.”

  “Like I said, we don’t—”

  “Do you like girls?”

  “Yes. I—”

  “Okay. Do you like that particular girl? Because she is clearly into you.” I looked over Nick’s shoulder at Kelsey, who stood there manning the door and biting her lip, trying to act like she hadn’t been caught staring.

  Nick glanced at her, too. “Wha—I—Cade, we can’t do this.”

  “Do what?” I brushed past Nick, walked back up to Kelsey, and extended my hand. “Cade. The younger brother.”

  She shook it. “Nice to meet you.”

  Maybe a friend, especially one that basically made my brother’s eyes pop out of his head, would be good for his sour mood. I nodded toward the inside of the house. “Can I get you some water? Or…actually…I don’t even know if we have clean glasses unpacked.”

  “No, thanks. I’m out for a run.” She motioned to Nick. “Just saw a classmate in trouble.”

  Nick reappeared with a box. “Did you invite her in?” His tone was a little incredulous.

  “Relax, Nick. You’ll make your own friends.”

  Nick seemed to growl something as he passed between us.

  Kelsey motioned toward the sidewalk. “I should go.”

  “He’s just hangry.” I waved dismissively at Nick. “I should feed him before he bites my head off. Do you know of any good pizza places around here?”

  Nick appeared in the doorway again. “Are you making dinner plans in the middle of moving?”

  “Nick, the guest you’re being very rude to is standing in front of you.”

  “No, no, no, no.” She waved her hands in front of her. “I’m leaving right now. I—”

  “But seriously, you know the number of a good local pizza place?”

  Nick brushed past us. “Preferably with delivery.”

  “See.” I put my hand up to my mouth as if telling her a secret. “Hangry.”

  She laughed. “Fricano’s has really great pizza. I know their number by heart.” She rattled it off and I dialed. Nick would thank me later. I handed Kelsey the phone because my idiot brother was lifting the couch. “Bacon and whatever else you like.”

  “What?” She grabbed the ringing phone.

  “You idiot,” I called after Nick and raced out to the truck.

  “What are you doing?” He glared at me.

  “Making friends.” I lifted one end of the couch.

  He rolled his eyes, and we carried the couch to the door that Kelsey still held open for us. At least Nick had the decency to tell her thank you.

  I backed into the house and the couch stuck in the doorway. Everything came to a halt with a jolt. “I told you we should have removed the door first.”

  Nick let out a frustrated sigh. “We’re going to have to turn it. Push it back out.”

  I placed my shoulder against the arm and pushed. Then I looked at Nick over the couch. “I did.” It hadn’t budged.

  “All right. Set it down.”

  Fifteen minutes later, the door was off, the couch moved in, Kelsey had gotten Nick to smile several times, and the pizza had arrived. Nick glanced at Kelsey and motioned to the pizza box. “You earned some of this.”

  “Now who’s inviting in strangers?” I laughed at Nick and took the pizza from him.

  “Make your own friends, Cade.”

  I smiled to myself. Maybe my brother did have game after all. I ventured into the kitchen, set the pizza box on the island, and grabbed a slice. One look at it and I rolled my eyes at Kelsey. “Mushrooms? Come on.”

  Kelsey shrugged. Her phone rang and she dug it out of her pocket. The screen showed a picture of who was calling. Wyatt.

  Something in my stomach soured, and I looked up at Nick and his tight expression. I was right. I knew it. Wyatt was someone I was supposed to have remembered. I turned to Kelsey. “Wyatt’s a friend of yours?”

  “He’s my brother.” She smiled.

  Brother. Right. Oh crap. My stomach roiled. Everything in the room seemed to tip and I might have pitched forward. I wasn’t sure. All I heard was Nick yelling my name. My head felt like it was splitting open. And then the memory consumed me. Wyatt leaned over me as I lay flat on the ground. Only this Wyatt wasn’t wearing blue jeans. I clearly knew him from the past. He extended his hand as though to help me up. “You’re so trusting, Cade. Loyalty does not suit you.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Ava

  I hadn’t seen Wyatt since I’d left his house after the sugar disaster two days ago. Not my finest exit, but when he didn’t show up at school, I decided to send my lame apology via text. I made up some excuse about having to hurry home and be with my foster family for my birthday—which wasn’t exactly a lie.

  He’d said he understood and didn’t think I was being weird. But it was hard to read someone over a text. All I could do was hope I hadn’t pushed him too far away yet. I still needed answers, more than ever now. I checked my phone again. He still wasn’t answering my texts.

  I had to fix this. I’d seen the scar on his chest, then bolted. I really wasn’t the type to keep trying to talk to someone who was avoiding me, but in this case, things were too freaky to just f
orget about. Making sense of this was still a mystery. A stupid, annoying mystery.

  Maybe he’d come to the bonfire tonight anyway.

  I turned in my seat, realizing I’d been quiet for most of the ride home from school, and faced Yuki. “Please tell me you’re coming tonight?”

  Yuki pulled into my driveway. “I don’t know.” Her shoulders slumped.

  “Lisa Welch invited us—us—to her fall, back-to-school bonfire party! Last year, her midterms bash was all you could talk about for weeks. Now you’re not willing to go?”

  She clutched the steering wheel tight and fingered the rosary beads dangling from her keychain. “It’s not that, Ava. I want to go.” When she looked up, the pleading look in her eyes sliced my soul.

  “You just don’t want to sneak out?”

  She laughed, but it was half-hearted, and she stared at her lap. “I do. I just…I’m really tired. We’ll see how I feel tonight. Okay?” Now she glanced up at me, begging me to understand and to refrain from asking questions like “are you going to be okay?” or “how much time do you have left really?”

  The reality of Yuki’s heart condition crushed me. Even when I stayed in one place for longer than six months, my relationships were ripped from me. But I still had her right now. “Of course. I get it. No pressure.”

  She leaned her head back against the car seat. “Did you see Cade in class today?”

  I hadn’t. And I’d really wanted to talk to him. In fact, he’d missed the last two days of school, too. But I’d been actively avoiding him. Especially when he’d asked about my Asian friend. I made a guttural noise and walked the other way saying, “She has a name.” But that made two people with potential answers to what was going on with me out sick.

  The fact that Yuki was interested in Cade made me roll my eyes, but I understood the allure. Especially for her. She could probably handle someone like him, but he wasn’t the long-term type. Not words I could say to the friend who didn’t believe she’d be alive long term.

  “What’s got you in a sour mood?” she asked.

  “Wyatt was absent again.” I slumped in the seat.

  Yuki cocked an eyebrow. “Maybe we should take them their homework?”

  “Ha. Ha. No way.”

  “You’re crushing so hard.”

  “Me? Look at you.” I bit my lip, trying not to smile. “I have to admit, I totally see the bad boy as your type.”

  “Really?” She laughed. “I’d think that more your type.”

  Not anymore. “You’re an unassuming book nerd with a buried wild side. Perfect for taming the fire that is a bad boy but still letting it burn. If he falls for you, it’ll be so hard, he’ll never recover.”

  Her smile left and I wanted to punch myself. How could I use a word like recover? Stupid, stupid, stupid. “Yuki?”

  “Yeah. It’s supposed to be easy to go after high school boys and live my life because those relationships never last anyway. But it all feels so real, Ava.” She looked away and let go of the rosary beads.

  “This is real, Yuki. Everything you’re living is real. And who’s to say which relationships won’t last.”

  She looked up at me. “I want to experience everything.”

  “I don’t know when my time is, and neither do you. All you can do is live.”

  Her eyelids fluttered, a few tears clinging to them, but she smiled. “This is why I love you, Ava.”

  “I make you see the light in dark places?” I squeezed her hand.

  “Yeah.”

  “So, bonfire?”

  She laughed. “I have a doctor’s appointment in an hour. We’ll see how I feel after.”

  “Okay.” I grabbed my stuff and got out of her car. I wondered if Yuki’s parents knew about her condition before they adopted her. If they thought they could better her odds and save her, or if they just fell in love with her in a way that no one ever fell for me.

  Because no matter what happened to Yuki, she’d die loved.

  Me? Unless she outlived me, no one would even notice I was gone.

  Maybe it was time to change that. Maybe Ava Elderson would do what she’d never done before. Maybe it was time to start putting down roots.

  Maybe Wyatt Wilcox was the best place to start.

  …

  I checked myself in the mirror again. The pretty dark green tank top and perfectly fitted gray hoodie went amazing with my ripped jeans. Time to shine.

  Because Yuki wasn’t coming. And Wyatt and Cade had both been out sick. That meant tonight was a clean-slate night. I didn’t have to worry about those troublesome visions, nor did I have to focus on the past at all.

  I breathed in and out. Then I closed my closet door and turned out the light. As I looked out my bedroom window, the sky above swirled and the stars seemed brighter. Thousands flooded the sky. City lights disappeared. Out here, in the cover of the garden trees, nothing inhibited their glow.

  A memory. I’d been sucked into a memory.

  I didn’t want this. I—

  “Miss Elderson?”

  My heart sped and I turned toward the whisper. “Mr. Wilcox.”

  Wyatt walked toward me down the path, hands in his pockets.

  “It’s a beautiful evening,” I said.

  “It is.”

  “Are you going to chastise me for being out here by myself?”

  “I find you a perfectly capable woman, and I find chastise to be a strong word; however, I do wonder if you would prefer company.”

  My cheeks flushed and I hoped the darkness hid it. “I would love for you to join me, Mr. Wilcox.”

  He held out his arm for me to slip my hand in and I complied. His body heat warmed me and his hold on my arm felt so strong. “Please, call me Wyatt.”

  “Only if you’ll call me Ava.”

  “Ava.” In the dark, I could detect the smile in his voice, but his face was still unreadable for a moment. My eyes would adjust soon, but I wondered how much he could see.

  I smiled at him and he looked away all too quickly, seeming slightly bashful.

  “Don’t you love the stars?” I looked up.

  “I do.” He stopped walking and pointed at the sky. “This one here is Ursa Major. Do you see?” His fingers traced the outline of the stars, and I glanced at him. In the light of the waxing moon, I could clearly see his smile and the excited glitter in his eyes. He pointed to a few other constellations. “And this one was said to be a woman of unparalleled beauty. Cassiopeia.” He motioned to the constellation and its zigzag of bright stars. “But she was quite full of herself. Her daughter, Andromeda, however, was equally beautiful.” He motioned to a constellation just near Cassiopeia.

  “How do you know?” I looked at him and smiled in wonder at his knowledge. Had someone somewhere taken the time to educate him?

  He could see me. The way his gaze locked onto mine proved that much. And that surprised me. “Don’t tell anyone. I can read, too.”

  I stared with my mouth open. “Tell me about this Andromeda?”

  “Well, the hero, Perseus, rescued her and eventually married her.”

  “Because of her beauty?”

  “No. Because of her heart.”

  His small smile stole my breath.

  And the memory swirled.

  I recalled at least a dozen times when Wyatt and I would pass by one another while doing our chores and one of us would mention Andromeda, and later, once everyone was asleep, we stole away and met one another in the garden.

  Our stolen moments.

  Our secret word.

  And the memories ceased, leaving me back in my bedroom, staring out the window at that very same constellation. My pulse thrummed through my entire body, spreading fire through every part of me. He’d lied to me? It wasn’t a stupid report after all. Why wouldn’t he just tell me?

  I had to get answers out of him. Because it all felt so real. Wyatt’s hand on my waist. The way I wanted to stare in his eyes. I pulled out my phone and texted him. Missed you
in school. You going to the bonfire?

  I thought I’d have to wait forever for a response, but it came in quickly: No.

  What was I supposed to do with that? Ask him why not? I mean, I wanted to, but I really didn’t want to put myself out there. Except he told me I could call him whenever. And I wanted him to come, so I needed a reason for him to not show. A reason that wasn’t something awful like “I’m making out with my girlfriend. She’s a Chargers fan. Stop texting me.”

  But another text came through from him: I’m sick.

  I guess that was actually pretty awful. I’m sorry. I hope you feel better soon.

  Thanks.

  Poor thing. I stood. I wouldn’t get answers from Wyatt tonight, but maybe Cade would be there. That one seemed the type to fake being sick and show up at a non-school party.

  It was decided then. The best thing to do was to make friends with him. Then I could get close enough for answers.

  Another text vibrated. I checked it. From Wyatt.

  Call it a gut reaction, but I think you should stay away from Cade tonight.

  My blood frosted. What else had he remembered? And which one of them was I supposed to listen to?

  Chapter Nineteen

  Ava

  The bonfire blazed, tall and hot. I headed toward a crowd of kids near the fire, hoping against the odds that Cade would in fact show up. Unwitting little toads jumped toward the heat. I stopped and turned one of them around. “At a distance, little guy.”

  “Wow. You’re beautiful and you save animals.”