The Fire Wars

by Kailin Gow

  “No!” I cried, seizing the fabric of the attacker's mask. I struggled to get out of the figure's grip, kicking wildly. At last my fingers got a good hold on the mask, and in a single motion I yanked it off.

  “Alice?” I looked up at her in shock. “Alice, what the...” It all came rushing back to me – how familiar my attacker's wrestling moves had seemed, the small size of the attacker...how hadn't I realized this before?

  “But I thought we were friends!”

  Alice scoffed as she picked me up by the hair, body slamming me against the lockers. I cried out in pain.

  “This has nothing to do with friendship, Mac,” Alice hissed. “Nothing personal. But if you become Vesta – I can't afford to let that happen. You know what Vesta's going to do when she comes back.”

  “Stop the Erosion!” I choked out. “Restore earth – what's wrong with that?”

  “Stop the Erosion?” Alice spat. “Fire propaganda – stop the Erosion! Vesta's going to destroy the whole world when she returns.”

  “What?” I turned around in horror.

  The second attacker chimed in. “When Vesta and Mars reunite, the whole world will burn. The sacrifice of one girl is worth saving the world.” It was a deep male voice.

  “But you got hold of the book,” I cried. “I can't be Vesta – you were able to steal it...”

  Alice shrugged. “We're not interested in taking chances,” she said. “Or Chance, for that matter.” She gave a dry, hoarse laugh.

  It gave me enough time to rush her, taking her by surprise and knocking to the ground. “Give me the book back, Alice,” I cried.

  “Don't ask me,” Alice sneered.

  I looked up at the second attacker, but to my surprise he was curled up on the ground, doubled-over in pain. Chance stood above the body.

  Alice cursed quietly and sprang to her feet. Fear flooded her eyes. Evidently Chance could scare even powerful Alice. She pulled the other attacker to his feet and they both ran as fast as they could out of the room.

  I started to chase them, but Chance held me back. “Don't risk it,” he said. He turned to me. “Are you hurt?”

  I looked down at my body, expecting to see cuts and bruises. I'd definitely heard a bone or two crack as I fell. But to my shock, I had no injuries – there was no evidence I'd ever been hurt at all.

  “Then it's true,” he said. “You're developing healing abilities. You could be Awakening after all.” He smiled. “Which is a good thing, as far as I'm concerned. If you're under suspicion now, you'll have a lot more attacks like this one. You'll have to get tough. You'll have to fight. People want you dead, and I can't protect you forever. Neither can Varun. You'll have to learn to defend yourself. It's too late to go into hiding now; what has been put into motion cannot be undone. And I won't have you beaten up by a scrawny fourteen-year-old girl.” As he spoke, he gave me a smile – a smile so warm and genuine that it made me melt. I wanted to lean in and kiss him then and there. How different this new Chance was, I thought, from the Chance who had tried so hard to push me away.

  “Alice isn't just any fourteen-year-old girl,” I said.

  “Indeed not,” Chance sighed. “She too is an embodiment, albeit one only of a half-god. I speak, of course, of Hercules.”

  “Hercules?”

  “Embodiments come in all shapes and sizes,” Chance said. “It's time you learned that by now.” He gathered me into his arms. “I'll do what I have to do to keep you safe, Mac. I'll train you. Teach you wrestling – fighting skills. Teach you to do what I do.” He started rubbing my shoulders, massaging them gently, and I moaned softly, feeling all my pain being taken away by his warm healing touch. Chance always knew just how to manipulate my body, my desires. When I was near him, it was like nothing else existed. Varun, the tournament, my reaction to the water – all of these things seemed as far away as distant dreams.

  “To be the Fire Queen? To be Vesta.”

  I wanted to pull away, to ask him about Varun and Neptune, about the truth behind Vesta's disappearance, about what Alice had said about Vesta’s destroying the world. But as I closed my eyes feeling his arms close in around me, I couldn't find the strength to resist. I wanted his heat, his flame, to fill me: to make me whole. I wanted him more than I had ever wanted anyone in my life.

  I knew how Jana felt, I thought, feeling his muscles strong against me. I too was willing to risk everything. All my questions dissolved in my mouth the moment that Chance's lips met mine. Nothing mattered to me but being close to him, but feeling the palpable nearness of him. I wanted his fire for me to consume me whole.

  “What next, Fire King?”

  “I think it's time,” Chance said, his voice shaking. “If you feel ready, Mac – it's time for you to take the test.”

  Chapter 21

  And so the choice was before me. The choice to risk my life and take the test – to risk being yet another girl consumed by the flames of her passion for Chance – or to play it safe. To go back to my old life, to try to be normal, to deny everything.

  “I love you,” Chance was holding me tightly now. His manner was softer than it had been. Gentler, even. His rough desire for me was now tempered with a more protective love. “Not just because of who you are, or who you might be. But because you looked past who I was. You didn't judge me. You didn't let me push you away. And I want nothing less than to lose you. But, Mac, I don't want to miss this chance. The choice is yours – I won't force you into it. I didn't want to fall in love with you, Mac. I tried everything to push you away. But you've broken down all my defenses. You've made me want you so badly. And now all I can think of is how afraid I am...how scared.”

  But I wasn't afraid, not anymore. My destiny was out there, somewhere. Everyone I'd met had given me a different answer – was I Vesta or not? Was I in love with Mars, or with Neptune? Had I come to the earth to create or to destroy? No matter how much I learned about the island, there were always more secrets to uncover. The world seemed to spin all around me; I grew dizzy and leaned my hand against the lockers to steady myself. Confusion flooded through me, as if some dam within me had burst and let the chaos come flooding in.

  “But as much as I love you...” Chance was whispering to me. “I have to find her. I can't give up my quest for Vesta. She is my love, my life, my twin. I can't stop looking, not when I know she could be out there. Not when I know that the sacred flame...”

  So that was my choice. I could stay Mac forever – try my best at being a normal girl – and lose Chance. Or I could take the risk, make my choice. Risk everything if it meant holding onto him. Loving him.

  “And yet when I first met you, Mac,” Chance pressed my knuckles to his lips. “When I first fell in love with you – I fell in love with the girl Mackenzy Evers. And not the goddess. Many centuries ago, Mackenzy, Vesta broke my heart. But you...” He sighed. “I can't lose you, even if it means losing Vesta. I can't make this choice for you. But I want you to know that I'll stand by you, whatever you decide.”

  But I saw the pain in his eyes. I knew that the choice to love me – me Mackenzy Evers, whether I was Vesta or not – and to give up the quest for his lost love was just as difficult for him as the choice I now had to make. I loved him; I knew that now with such terrible certainty. And the more he let me in, the more kindness he showed me beneath his brittle exterior, the stronger that love became I wanted to do whatever it took to heal him of the pain he carried.

  “Yes,” I whispered back.

  “Yes what?”

  For I knew now that I didn't want to live not knowing. I had to take the risk, whatever the costs. I had to know the truth – about my hallucinations of flame, about these mysterious connections I felt to Chance and Varun, about everything.

  “I'll do it, Chance,” I said. “I'll take that test.”

  I saw the look of surprise spreading over his face, followed in swift succession by radiant joy, and then a fear more terrible than anything I had seen in his eyes before. There was no go
ing back from this, I knew. Either I would claim my identity as Vesta, whatever that was, or I would die in the attempt.

  Epilogue

  Chance held out his hands to me. “Come,” he said. “I'll show you where the test takes place.”

  I stepped forward, taking his hand. In an instant I felt myself whirring and spinning, the landscape growing blurry all around me. I stumbled but found there was nothing to stumble onto – the ground had vanished, and we were moving rapidly through air. I looked up at Chance in shock as the wind whipped all around us.

  We were flying – over the island, far from the beach, from its seaside cities – flying deep into the wild heart of the jungle, where no humans went, into its depths. We approached the mountain at the center of the island – a long-dormant volcano, I'd heard – and came to a stop in the hollowed-out crater at its peak. I looked at Chance in surprise.

  “Will I ever get used to this?” I stumbled as my feet found land.

  “Here we are,” he said. “The fire goddess's throne. Vesta's place.”

  “And there you are…with Mac!” A furious voice broke through my shock.

  “Varun!” He was striding over towards us, his face pink with anger.

  “Don't tell me you've come to put her at risk, too!” Varun got straight in Chance's face, shoving him backwards. “You're not happy with killing Jana – now you've got to get the other one, too!”

  “Varun, it's not what it looks like...” I started, but faltered, confused.

  “Or are you just here to gloat over what you did?” Varun glared at Chance. “I'm disgusted with you.”

  “You think I wanted that to happen? It was a mistake, Varun – we both know that. A horrible accident.”

  “I knew she wasn't your goddess. I tried to tell you. But you were too stubborn. You thought just because you were attracted to her she had to be yours. You manipulated her into thinking she was Vesta – into taking those risks. Into undergoing the test. And she died.”

  “It wasn't like that,” Chance's face was full of pain. “She came to me – she told me who she thought she was. She told me she wanted to take the test, to be the Fire Queen of the heavens. She wanted it!”

  “After you seduced her into it!” Varun shoved Chance to the ground. “She never would have done it if you hadn't been around all the time, hanging around her, making her fall for you.”

  “That's not how it was and you know it!” Now Chance was fighting back. “I tried to avoid her – just like all the others. I tried to push her away. Tell her to leave me alone. But she wouldn't. She wanted to be Queen.”

  “We were happy!” Varun cried. “Until you came along, visited Aeros Island on your summer break. You should have stayed in Eton. For a year we were happy – in love. Then you came back and cast whatever spell you cast on her, and from that second she couldn't live without you. She needed you like oxygen. That's not normal, Chance. Whatever you did...”

  “You think I wanted her to die?”

  “Did you care?” Varun snarled. “Did you care what you put her through, what she risked – as long as you found your precious goddess? You knew she wasn't the one – you could feel it. But you wanted her, and you wanted your goddess, and you were willing to risk anything to be sure...”

  “I didn't know she wasn't the one. She could have been. I thought she just hadn't Awakened yet – that she hadn't come into her abilities....if the Embodiments weren't mortal-seeming we wouldn't even be here.”

  “I thought you were just on Earth to get girls. The great Mars. You can have any girl you want, but you got Jana and now you have Mac,” Varun scoffed.

  I flinched. I didn’t want to be compared to Jana all the time. I didn’t want to be her replacement to Chance or to Varun.

  Chance looked over at me, his eyes sad. “Mac is different,” he said. “I could feel it. She’s not Jana, Varun. She never was. I’m not looking to replace Jana. All I want, whether or not she is Vesta is her. Mac is the girl I love.”

  “You’re going to kill her…” Varun said angrily, “if you don’t let her go…” He raised his arm to punch Chance square in the face. Chance rushed him, staying his arm.

  “What do you think you're doing?”

  “Trying to keep Mac safe from scum like you. She is not Vesta, Chance. And she's not going to end up like Jana if I can help it.”

  “No, she's not,” said Chance quietly. “That's the point. She isn't Jana. She could be the one.”

  “Like you haven't said that before!”

  “She'll be tested...”

  “Killed, you mean?”

  “Even if she is an Embodiment,” said Varun. “How do you know she's yours?”

  “What, you think she's yours?” Chance gave a laugh. “The consort of the Water King?”

  “Vesta chose me over you a long time ago, Chance,” Varun grinned. “Guess you never got over it.”

  Chance gritted his teeth.

  My heart swelled up in pain for him. For Varun to rub that in Chance’s face.

  “We’ve always had our differences,” Chance said softly. “Although we’re cousins, we’re family, we’ve always had that come between us. I’ve tried forgiving you long ago,” Chance said. “I know you purposely seduced Vesta, turned her against me…made her fire powers weaker so that she was becoming more and more like a water goddess.”

  “My water goddess,” Varun smirked.

  “Whatever!” Chance growled. “That was dishonorable, especially since fire gods and fire goddesses are one!” Chance looked over at me and his eyes softened. “I’m hoping with Mac, Vesta’s new Embodiment, we can start all over again. It has been a long time since our quarrels, Cousin. Mac is not Jana. She is not like Vesta. Perhaps she will retain this innocence, this purity of hers when she Awakens…”

  “It's not like we have a choice, you fool,” said Varun. “You think what I want – what you want – you think that either of those things matter? No, Fate has determined it. Who she is. Whom she'll love. Whose consort she was born to be...and if you try to hurt her, then there's no way in Hades that I'm going to let you live through that.”

  Chance snarled. “Well, that makes two of us, then.”

  I'd had enough of this. “Excuse me!” I cried. “I'm standing right here! What are you even talking about – both of you, you're insane.”

  Varun turned to me, his eyes full of sadness. “I'm sorry, Mac. I'm not going to let someone else die for him. I had to come out here to warn you.”

  “I already know who Chance is, Varun. Yes, I get it, he’s the Fire God. At least he was open and honest about that. He was also open about why he treated me the way he did for so long. He didn’t want to hurt me or to get me involve with him, and he certainly didn’t go after me, like you thought, Varun. Chance kept trying to push me away instead. He didn’t mean to be cruel or cold to me on purpose. He did it so that I would get away from him.” I glanced over at Chance, who was standing there no longer with a glare on his face. His gaze held mine, and it was the purest look of love I have ever seen.

  Varun caught the look Chance and I exchanged, and his face was crestfallen. “Mac,” he said, “Don’t do it, please. Don’t take the test. It would kill you. It would ruin everything. Vesta can’t rise again!”

  Before I can say anything, he vanished, leaving me and Chance alone. I was stunned beyond belief. Did Varun say “Vesta can’t rise again!” Didn’t he love her? Why wouldn’t he want her back?

  “What was that about?” But Chance did not reply. “Chance – you need to explain what's going on...”

  “Not yet,” Chance looked up at me, and I could feel the heat of his gaze. He pulled me to him, enveloping me with his warm arms. I felt all his love pour into me, warming my heart as I leaned into his chest.

  “But soon, right? I have to know before the test…”

  “Very soon. I know you’ve made up your mind about doing this, Mac,” he said. “But you’re not ready, and I don’t want to lose you because you’
re not ready. Anything can make it go wrong.”

  “I need four more stones, right?” I asked.

  Chance nodded before kissing me. “And I can tell you have doubts, especially after what Varun said.” He looked fiercely at me then. “You can’t go into the test with that doubt in your heart or you will surely die.”

  The Fire Wars continues in

  Book 2 of Fire Wars

  Fire Stones

  2012

  Sneak Preview from

  FADE

  Book 1 of the FADE Series™

  By Kailin Gow

  ONE

  My name is Celestra Caine. I am seventeen years old, which makes me a senior at Richmond High. I never thought this would happen to me, but it has… I’m one of those people you see every day, go to school with, remember seeing at the supermarket or the mall, and then one day you don’t hear about them any longer. They’re gone, and eventually, you forget them.

  Not that I’m easy to forget, as much as I might occasionally wish that I were. I’m tall, about five-seven, and I’m willowy. Built for running, my mom always says. Then there’s my hair. It’s a bright blonde that always attracts attention, from men and women. The women always want to know what I’ve done with it, and some of them won’t believe that it’s simply my natural hair color. The men… like I said, sometimes I wish I didn’t attract quite so much attention. Sometimes I think it might be better if I blended in a little more.

  It’s not all bad, though. My boyfriend, Grayson, loves my hair. He loves touching it, and I love it when he’s that close to me. I love it when he gives me that look he has that says, not just that he loves me, but that he always will. That I’m the only girl for him. It’s worth standing out a little for a look like that from a guy like Grayson.