Thirty minutes later, the four volkaanes and Leesa were gathered in a small clearing among the leafless trees not too far from the field where Leesa had met them. Rave had carried her in a zigzagging pattern through the woods, carefully remaining out of sight of any possible onlookers. Ever watchful, Balin, Dral and Bain were all looking out in different directions. Leesa and Rave were looking only at each other. Leesa fluffed her hair with her fingers, trying to smooth out some of the snarls inflicted by her wonderful ride in his arms.
“That was fun,” she said, smiling. “Sure beats renting a car.”
Rave grinned. “Much cheaper, too.”
“And better for the environment,” Leesa added.
“Yes, we volkaanes have always been very green, long before it became fashionable.”
“You certainly have,” Leesa agreed. “Now, let’s get that kissing stuff you’re always pestering me about out of the way so we can get down to business.”
Rave laughed. “Yeah, I know how much of a bother my constant demands must be.”
Leesa smiled sweetly. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. It’s really not so bad.”
Rave grinned. “I’m certainly glad to hear that.” He looked at her expectantly.
Leesa met his gaze with her eyebrows raised. “What, are you waiting for me to make the first move?”
“Well, I don’t want to seem pushy or overeager,” Rave said, smiling as he repeated Leesa’s words back to her.
“Ha! Touché.”
On the spot now, Leesa thought for a moment about how she wanted to begin.
“Hold out your arms like you just did while you were carrying me,” she said.
Rave dutifully held his arms extended in front of him, palms up, elbows resting against his sides. Leesa smiled and hopped up into them, wrapping her hands behind his neck.
“I like this position,” she said. “It’s so comfy and snuggly.”
Rave playfully lifted and then dropped his hands under her butt a few times, bouncing her gently.
“I like it, too,” he said teasingly. He fastened his dark eyes on Leesa’s.
Leesa sighed as she felt herself becoming lost in Rave’s gorgeous eyes. Keeping her eyes locked on his, she inched her head forward. When she could see almost nothing but his eyes, she closed hers and pressed her lips against his mouth. “Blast off” was her final thought as she felt her heart and soul begin to soar.
If she could have formed one more cogent thought, she might have wondered how something as simple as two mouths pressed together, tongues intertwined, could cause such amazingly exquisite pleasure—a pleasure that yanked her out of all consciousness and left her spinning and flying and floating in a space filled with symphonic melodies and indescribably beautiful fireworks. But she could no longer think; all she could do was feel and enjoy, lost in a timeless void that was both comfortably familiar and enchantingly new and exciting. She had no choice but to give herself completely to the sensations—but even if she had a choice, she would choose this, every time, again and again, now and forever….
Finally, as if no human heart or soul could stand any more of such pleasure, her lips eased away from his. She drew in a long breath and opened her eyes.
“Quadruple wow,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper.
“Mmmmm,” Rave said. “Part of me hopes that my fire never comes back to full strength.”
Leesa’s head snapped up. “Don’t even think that,” she said sternly. “If that ever happened, I’d feel guilty, even though I know it’s not my fault.”
“Don’t worry,” Rave said. “It’s not going to happen.” He kissed Leesa’s forehead and set her gently down onto her feet. “You said you had something you wanted to tell me?”
“Oh, yeah.” It took Leesa a moment to gather her thoughts after the last few minutes in paradise. “I met a witch. She’s helping me practice my magic.”
Balin turned around and walked over to join Leesa and Rave. His keen volkaane hearing had heard what Leesa said.
“Was her name Jenna?” he asked.
Leesa looked at the old volkaane in surprise. “Yes. Do you know her?”
“No, but I have heard of her. She’s very reclusive.”
“Yeah, she seems to be. I’m not sure how happy she’ll be to learn there are people who know about her.”
Balin smiled. “Tell her not to worry. Very few people know she exists. But it’s hard to share the same local area for centuries with someone else magical and not hear at least something.”
“I guess that’s true,” Leesa said. “She certainly knows about volkaanes.”
Balin nodded. “I’m not all that surprised. Like I said, central Connecticut is not that big a place. But I am surprised that you met her. Tell me about that.”
Leesa slipped her hand into Rave’s. “She just knocked on my door a week or so ago and said she wanted to ask me something about my magic.” She felt Rave’s hand tighten protectively around hers.
“How did she know about your magic?” he asked.
“She saw our battle with Josef. And then she followed us when you carried me home. That’s how she knew where to find me.”
Rave’s eyes narrowed. “How? I sensed no one else anywhere nearby. And how could she follow me?”
“Let me guess,” Balin said. “Shape-shifting. It is said to be one of her powers.”
Leesa nodded. “Yeah. She watched the fight from up in the trees as an owl. She followed us the same way. It’s her favorite animal form.”
“Why did she seek you out?” Rave asked, his concern clear in his tone. “What did she want to ask you?”
“Like us, her magic suddenly became weak. She wanted to know if I was also afflicted, or whether it might be some attack directed at her. I assured her the same thing had happened to me.”
“I can see why the weakening of her magic would worry her,” Balin said. “Enough to bring her out of hiding and reveal herself to you. You said she has been helping you practice. What do you mean? From what little I know of it, witch magic is different from wizard magic.”
“It is,” Leesa replied. “But Jenna is able to impart some generalized magical energy into me by touching me while I practice. It strengthens my magic. Not to the level it was before this whole thing started, but better than when I try on my own.”
“She funnels her magic into you?” Balin asked, his features tightening.
“Yeah, I guess that’s one way to describe it,” Leesa said. “You look worried. Why?”
“Not much is known about witches,” Balin said. “At least by me. Nothing in the little I’ve heard about Jenna was bad, but we still cannot be sure she doesn’t have some ulterior motive of her own. She could be doing something besides strengthening you when she places her magic into you.”
Leesa hadn’t thought about anything like that. Once again, she wished Dominic was here, with his vast knowledge of things magical. She couldn’t believe Jenna meant her any harm, but how could she be certain. Jenna certainly knew a lot more about magic than Leesa did, and if the witch was working some other kind of spell, Leesa would have no idea. But with Jenna’s magic seemingly as diminished as everyone else’s, it didn’t seem likely that she could be doing anything but lending Leesa a bit of magical strength. Still, Leesa resolved to be careful in the future.
“I don’t think she’s up to anything sneaky,” she said to Balin. “Her magic is pretty weak right now. She showed me how all she could manage when she tries to shape-shift is to change her feet into an owl’s feet. But I’ll try to be careful. And I’ll try to get to know her a little bit better next time I see her, too.”
Balin nodded. “Good. Caution is always wise in matters like these.”
Leesa smiled. “Jenna said something very similar the first time we met.” She pulled on Rave’s hand. “Now, I haven’t gotten my exercise yet, so let’s go for a walk and you can tell me all about whatever you guys have been up to.”
34. TROUBLING NEWS
Glad to finally be done with her driving, she eased the Focus to the curb a short way down the block from her dorm, planning to return the car to the rental agency tomorrow after class. Tonight, she was going to be busy trying to make up for missing three of her classes.
The day had been well worth skipping class, though. She had gotten to spend more than ten hours straight with Rave, walking and sitting on the grass, talking and laughing. She had even gotten to practice some magic. And there was plenty of hugging and kissing, too. Her face broke into a wide grin as she relived their long good-bye kiss.
Fueled by the loving memory, she fairly flew up the stairs to the fourth floor. When she opened the fire door, she saw Cali sitting on the floor, pecking on her laptop and listening to music through a pair of pink earbuds.
Cali had gotten rid of the green and orange streaks in her hair, replacing them with her traditional burgundy color that matched the birthmark on her cheek. She was dressed casually, in a dark purple long-sleeve T-shirt and ripped jeans. At the sight of Leesa, she closed the lid of her laptop, stood up, and pulled the earbuds from her ears.
“I thought you’d never get home,” she said as Leesa inserted her key into the door.
“Rave had permission to stay until sunset,” Leesa told her. “I wasn’t going to leave one minute sooner than I had to. Then I stopped for something to eat and got caught is some traffic.”
She pushed the door open and stepped inside. Cali followed her in.
“How was it?” Cali asked. “Did you have fun?”
Leesa grinned. “What do you think?”
“From the look on your face and the spring in your step, I’d say you had lots of fun—and lots of making out, too, probably.”
Leesa’s grin widened. “There may have been some of that,” she admitted. She hung her coat in the closet. “I wasn’t expecting a welcome home greeting from you outside my door. What gives?”
Cali sat down on Leesa’s bed and opened her laptop.
“I saw this story this afternoon,” she said. “I don’t know if it has anything to do with you or not, but I think you should see it. It’s pretty freaky.”
Leesa sat down next to Cali. Cali tapped a few keys and then slid the computer over so that it rested on one of her legs and one of Leesa’s.
“Take a look.”
The first thing Leesa saw was a headline in big bold letters reading “ZOMBIE ATTACK???” There was a picture below the headline, but it was too small to make out any details.
“It’s from Romania, so the thing was pretty far away,” Cali said. “But you’ve had all those zombie dreams, so I thought you’d want to see this. Have you had any more of those nightmares?”
Leesa shook her head. “Not since the one about the mall in Ohio.” She remembered Dominic saying something about the Necromancer living in Romania. A chill began to creep over her.
“The details are kind of sketchy,” Cali said. “I’ve searched around the net and this is the best report I could find. It supposedly happened a few days ago, but it wasn’t discovered until this morning, Europe Time, or whatever it is they have over there.”
Leesa read down the story, scrolling down when necessary. Basically, the entire population of a remote mountain village had been found dead. The report said many of the bodies had been bitten and torn apart, as if by wild animals. A nearby cemetery had been vandalized, too, with dozens of rotting bodies dug up for some reason and then transported to the town. The authorities weren’t releasing very many details, but it seemed obvious no animals would have dug up the corpses and dragged them to the village.
Leesa’s mind flashed back to her first few dreams, when she had seen bodies dig themselves up from their graves. She wondered if the same thing had happened here, and whether the Necromancer had been behind this attack, as seemed likely. If so, his power was increasing dramatically. She wondered if Dominic had heard about it, but doubted he had. She wished she could contact him—who knew how long it might be before he called her again.
“This is scary,” she said to Cali. “I didn’t dream about anything like this, but I’m afraid it might be related to the other stuff anyhow.”
“That’s what I thought,” Cali said. “And why I was waiting for you to get home. You got any idea what it means?”
Leesa thought for a moment, wondering how much to reveal to Cali. She hadn’t told Cali anything about Dominic being a wizard, nor about the magic she herself possessed. Cali knew about the dreams coming true and that Leesa had somehow managed to move a few objects with her thoughts, but that was it.
“I’m not sure,” Leesa said. “There’s this evil guy called the Necromancer who supposedly lives in Romania. I think this must be his work.”
Cali turned to Leesa and gave her a penetrating look. “The Necromancer, huh? Sounds like something out of a dark fantasy book. How is it that you know about some magical bad guy all the way over in Romania? Is this part of one of those secrets you haven’t told me?”
Leesa pushed the laptop back onto Cali’s lap. “Yeah, it is. I can’t tell you exactly how I know.” She got up from the bed. “I could lie and say I learned about him from the volkaanes, but I don’t want to lie to you. Can you just pretend that’s how I know?”
“Sure,” Cali said. She put the computer on the bed, got up, and gave Leesa a hug. “Thanks for not lying. Can I ask you one thing?”
“What?”
“Are you in danger?”
Leesa drew in a deep breath. “No, not from this, not right now, anyhow. But yeah, I could be in some danger pretty soon.”
“So why isn’t Rave here looking out for you? He makes a pretty damn good bodyguard.”
Leesa smiled. “Yeah, he does. But that’s another thing I can’t tell you. Sorry. I’m not sure when he’ll be back.”
“But he knows about everything? About the stuff you’re not telling me?”
“Yeah, he does. He knows all of it.”
Cali smiled. “Then you must not be in too much trouble right now. If Rave thought you were, he’d be here, no matter what else was going on. So I won’t worry too much…yet.”
Leesa realized that Cali was right. “You’re right. He would be.” She sat back down on the bed and picked up Cali’s computer. “Let’s see if we can find anything else about those zombies in Romania.”
35. SENDING A MESSAGE
After Cali left to return to her room, Leesa plopped back down onto her bed. They hadn’t found too many more details about the attack in Romania, but what Leesa had read was enough. Thoughts about her schoolwork were temporarily forgotten. Even practicing her magic had been shoved onto the back burners of her mind.
She needed to talk to Dominic—not only about the Necromancer’s latest attack, but also about the weakening of magic in this section of Connecticut. The problem was how to contact someone who was on the run and who didn’t have a phone or email address. She couldn’t just wait until Dominic contacted her—she had no idea when he might be returning to Middletown, or when he might call next.
Her room was too quiet. The stillness seemed to amplify the futility of her thinking, so she got up and turned on her CD player. Colbie Caillat’s Breakthrough was already in the player, so she just let it start up where it had left off the last time she listened to it. The slow, haunting piano notes of “Fearless” filled the room. Leesa wasn’t sure that this was exactly thinking music, but it was better than silence. She lowered the volum
e a little bit and limped back to the bed.
When she turned to sit down, the overhead light caught the red stone in her magical ring just right, making it sparkle for an instant. The momentary flash was enough to send an idea shooting through her brain. Maybe she could contact Dominic through the ring!
Dominic had said if she took it off for more than a few moments, he would sense it. But if she removed it from her finger, he would think she was in trouble and come rushing back. She didn’t want that, since he would probably suffer the same weakening of his magic as everyone else. She just wanted him to call her. She had to think of a way to use the ring to get him to call. But how?
As she tried to figure out a solution to her problem, she started absently sliding the ring up and down her finger. When she noticed what she was doing, the germ of an idea began to form in her brain.
What if she took the ring off for a minute or two, and then put it back on, and then kept taking it off and putting it on, over and over? Would Dominic understand her message—that she wasn’t in trouble but wanted him to contact her? Even if he didn’t understand, he might be confused enough by what she was doing to call and find out what was going on. And that would be just fine—as long as he called, it didn’t matter why. She knew there was still a chance he might come rushing back, but she couldn’t think of any other way to get in touch with him. She decided to risk it.
Taking the ring off would make it visible to anyone. She didn’t want to have to explain about the beautiful ring to any of her friends, so she got up and locked the door. As soon as she turned the lock, she pulled the ring from her finger.
For the next half hour, Leesa kept taking her ring off for a few minutes and then putting it back on for a few more. If that wasn’t enough to confuse Dominic sufficiently to get him to call her, then she didn’t know what else to do.
She used the time between taking the ring off and putting it on to catch up on some of her schoolwork, reading from her history and sociology texts. Her concentration wasn’t the best, but at least she was trying. Finally, she decided she’d done the ring thing long enough. She put it on her finger and left it there.
Fearless (The Blue Fire Saga) Page 19