Engraved at the bottom of the frame, Kira saw the words 'Love Will Prevail' in cursive. She hugged the whole thing to her chest with her free hand. That phrase, which was engraved on the wedding ring hanging around her neck, had once belonged to her parents. Kira liked to think it belonged to her now.
"I met my grandparents today," she said softly, after realizing she hadn't said anything for a few minutes.
Kira heard him release a slow breath. He did that when he was thinking and trying to understand her feelings. "Are you alright? How'd it happen?"
Kira told him about the Council and about her grandfather. She described the argument they had gotten into, the test she was issued, and finally playing with the children. She didn't want to mention Luke to him. The two of them always seemed to butt heads, and there was no reason for Tristan to worry about Luke trying something because Kira would never let it happen.
"I think it actually went well," Tristan said.
"What?" Kira laughed into the receiver. How could that meeting possibly be described as a good one?
"Look at it this way, the two of you fought, right?" Kira nodded. Somehow, Tristan sensed it and kept talking. "Well, you only really fight with the people you love. If he didn't care at all, he wouldn't have been emotional. The fight shows he was a little nervous about seeing you and that he lost control."
"I guess," Kira said dubiously.
"Come on, think of all the people you've fought with."
Kira took a moment — her mom, her dad, Tristan at times and definitely Luke. "I see your point. I just...I want them to like me. I don't want to be the thing that got their daughter killed."
"Kira," Tristan sighed and spoke in a soft voice. "I promise you that they don't think that."
"You didn't see the look in his eyes or the way he said he didn't want to regret the decision." It was like he had the weight of the entire world on his shoulders, Kira thought and remembered the dark clouds she had seen in the old man's eyes.
"I didn't have to. You can weasel your way into anyone's heart, trust me. Besides, it sounds like your grandma is rooting for you."
Kira thought back to the tiny smile that had played on her grandmother's lips. "Yeah, you're right," she said in a slightly stronger voice.
"I know," Tristan said with a playfully smug voice. "Haven't you realized by now that I'm always right?"
"How could I forget?" Kira mocked.
"Don't feel too badly," he continued joking, "you're still young and naive. In twenty years, you might be able to start proving me wrong."
"That long, huh?" Kira rolled her eyes, wishing he were lying beside her so she could punch his arm lightly.
"Eh, fifteen if you're lucky." He chuckled. She loved hearing the deep rumble of his laughter.
"Let's play a game," Kira said and rolled over in the bed, using her foot to push the duffle bag out of her way.
"Which one?" Tristan asked. They were used to this routine by now. When Kira had been in the hospital, there were very few activities she could actually do. They had become experts at turning daytime soap operas into mad-libbing games. They had spent hours playing board games. Tristan always beat her at Pictionary, but Kira thought she had the one-up in Charades. Of course, no one knew they were this cheesy and lame, Kira laughed silently to herself.
When she finally left the hospital and started going to school again, they eased back into normal life. They went to the beach or did a little hiking or went to parties with her friends. But, sometimes Kira liked slipping back into their secret double-life, especially with one particular game they invented.
"Hum-azing?" Kira asked. Yes...they made up the name together.
"Sure, you first." Tristan sighed happily and Kira envisioned him lying down and settling in for the competition. She thought of a song, something current that he would never guess. Kira started humming Ke$ha.
"Oh, come on. That's not fair. I'm singing a song from the fifties when it's my turn," Tristan mumbled. Kira kept humming the beat. "Okay, that crazy girl. I heard this when you forced me to watch MTV." Kira smiled but kept going. "Um...Lady Gaga?"
"Nope," Kira said and waited for him to guess again.
They continued for a while, going back and forth with Kira using current songs and Tristan drudging up older ones she could almost never guess.
Eventually, Luke called her down for dinner and she regretfully said goodbye to Tristan, hoping they would be able to talk again soon. Now that she was here, she liked Sonnyville and wanted to stay as long as she could. She wanted to make conduit friends and learn about these people. She needed to stay to learn more about herself and her powers — how to control them and keep herself from going over the edge. Mostly, she needed to find out what had been in those missing pages. She wanted to know the secrets the old scholars had thought were too dangerous to share.
But as soon as Tristan found Diana, she would find a way to sneak out. Getting her mother back was Kira's top priority and nobody, not even the Council, was going to stop her.
Chapter Five
"Really, Luke? Do we have to practice here?" Kira asked, surveying the town square and taking note of the Council's platform. She had only just escaped being the center of attention yesterday afternoon. A repeat performance was not high on her to-do list. "Can't we just use your backyard?"
"I don't want it to seem like you're hiding. Besides," he continued, "conduits are going to stare at you no matter what. You might as well give them something to gawk at."
"And, me practicing is something to gawk at?" Kira asked.
"Oh yes," Luke said and stretched his arms over his head.
Kira plopped down beside him on the grass to stretch out her hamstrings and continue stalling. She rolled up the sleeves of her t-shirt, slightly annoyed with Tristan. The one downside to having him pack for her was the noticeable lack of her semi-revealing clothing, something she was sure he did on purpose. All of her practice tank tops had been left at home. Sure, they were skin tight, but now all she had were bulky unisex tees that she could hardly move around in.
And they were hot, especially in the scorching heat resting over Sonnyville. The sun usually felt comforting, but in this town the heat seemed stronger than normal. She would have to ask Luke about that at some point.
"Let's go," he said and eased into a standing position. Kira reached her arm out for help, feeling too lazy to do it on her own. He grasped her palm and pulled her up, promptly ending the contact at that.
"What are we starting with?" Kira stepped back, putting enough space between them to make the practice difficult, but not above her level.
"Target practice," Luke voiced. He reached his hand out to the side and Kira shot a small ball of light at his palm, more so a sudden burst of energy than her really strong powers.
When it touched Luke's hand, he moved to a new location. Kira fired again, trying to control herself and release the fire in small increments. They had done this drill many times before, but Kira still found it annoyingly difficult to focus her energy on the little target Luke's palm created. Even more difficult was reigning in the river of fire that roared inside of her, the one that surged forward and tried to force its way out.
After a while, Luke motioned to stop and Kira noticed the fine layer of sweat on his brow. She reached her hand to her own face and felt liquid drops. Odd, Kira thought. She usually never sweats during their practices.
"Let's practice your off-switch." Luke yelled across the field. As they practiced, he continued to step back to make the target increasingly smaller and harder for her to focus on. But, this next drill wasn't about control, not quite.
"Go!" Luke shouted over and Kira let herself release. With her hands out, the flames burst forth and even slightly stung her palms with their intensity. Letting it drain always felt like a delicious release. But, before Kira let herself have the satisfaction of letting everything go and giving into the power, she thought 'off.' Sometimes that was all it took and her fire would instan
tly cut off. This time, Kira felt the internal struggle and she willed her finger closed, shutting the light inside her hand and giving it nowhere to go.
The moment when Kira found herself on the verge of losing herself in her own flames was the moment she knew to cut it off. Luke and her once tried to see how long she would last. Kira drained herself and tried to release it all, but she had gone into a semi-conscious state where she lost not only her control, but also her mind. Luke had needed to forcibly hit her over the head and knock her unconscious to get her to stop. They stopped trying to test her power after that.
Most conduits reached a point when they felt hollow inside, as if there was almost no fire left to fly, and that was their stopping point. For Kira, it was more of a breaking point, a moment when letting it all go could mean losing herself in the process.
Kira lowered her arms and looked at her teacher, wondering if he wanted to try it again. She could usually stop herself quicker than she just had. Instead, he waved her over towards him and tossed a water bottle in her direction when she got closer.
"What did I tell you?" Luke shrugged, a happy smile on his face. Kira followed his eyes and looked around to see a ring of conduits encasing the park. None of them ventured closer, but people stopped where they were and stared over at her and Luke. A woman with a stroller and a man walking his dog had forgotten their errands to focus on Kira. A few children who had gathered to play also stood at a slight distance.
"Why won't they come any closer?" She questioned and then gulped down her ice-cold water.
"I don't think they're afraid, per se. I think they're all just waiting for someone else to make the first move. And, you are sort of scary when you go all zombie-conduit like that."
Kira shoved him with her free hand.
"So, what's next teacher?"
"Let's do some mental exercises for a while," Luke replied and tossed his water back on the ground. "Come on, let's practice on the platform so we have even ground."
Kira groaned inwardly. Mental exercises were her least favorite. Sure, calling her fire was tiring and exerted a lot of energy, but those drills were easy for the most part. She had almost no mental control, which was of course why Luke always made her practice this. And, she had no desire to be even more visible to the town by doing this on a raised wooden structure.
Lining up next to each other, Luke and Kira stood with their feet together and arms by their sides. Then, on Luke's count, they moved into yoga-like poses, concentrating on their breathing and trying to find a Zen-like place of peace. Luke always seemed revived by these exercises, while Kira tried her best to keep her eyes closed in faux-concentration. It reminded her of when she used to pretend to be sick so she could stay home from school, a sort of fake-it till you make-it mentality.
"Mind if I step in?"
Kira eyes jutted open to look for the source of the deep voice: her grandfather. Stumbling out of her contorted pose, Kira moved to shake his hand or say hello, but Luke beat her to the punch.
"Of course, Councilman Peters," he said while stepping smoothly aside.
Now that the Councilman had come forward, Kira couldn't help but notice the other conduits had also moved in closer, slowly creating a very defined circle around the podium. This is not good, she thought as she gazed at the crowd, I have no idea what I'm getting myself into. In a moment of clarity, Kira realized this had probably been Luke's plan all along...the jerk. She had absolutely no desire to be the center of attention.
"Miss Dawson," her grandfather spoke, pulling her out of her reverie. "Shall we?"
"Uh, of course," Kira fumbled for words. Turning to walk a few paces away from the older man, she saw Luke position himself on the corner of the wooden platform, giving her plenty of space to get in the zone. She turned in time to see her grandfather drop his cane and slide it a few feet away from him. Is this even a fair fight? She questioned and studied the old man who was now slightly hunched over.
"On my go," he said in his deep, rumbling voice. "One... Two... Three..."
Kira waited for the 'go,' knowing she would let him take the first punch, if you will. He was such a man of honor in this town; she didn't want to beat him. She would rather look mal-trained than embarrass the grandfather she was hoping could love her.
"Go!" He finally said and Kira waited for the hit. In an instant, a ball of power slammed into her stomach. She had no time to dodge it, try to absorb it into her body or hit it with her own shot. Instead, Kira was thrown back on her butt. She landed hard against the wooden floor of the platform with the wind completely knocked out of her.
"Whoa," she said in a daze while sitting up slowly. Her grandfather's power felt like steel and it oozed with authority. With a smile Kira thought, I guess the old man still has it in him.
She caught the smirk on his face before he replaced it with a focused frown. "Is that all you've got?" He challenged and an excited gleam rose in his eyes. He seemed younger with every passing second, Kira thought.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Kira jumped up at the ready. "Let's try that again."
This time, when he uttered the word 'go,' Kira was ready. She shot fire out of her left hand, hitting the ball of flames he flung at her. The two fiery globes slammed into each other and winked out of existence in midair. An instant later, another burst of her grandfather's power was flying towards her and she barely had time to meet it with her own flame. And another after that, and another, until Kira was sweating with exertion and panting from exhaustion.
Her grandfather was fast and she was barely keeping up with him. Twice already she had had to skip throwing her power and instead absorbed his into her body. It was easier than meeting his power in midair, but it took more time. Soon enough, her grandfather was bulldozing her with his flames.
At the exact moment Kira knew that her strength had started to wane and had lost track of her grandfather's movements, Luke shouted to her.
"Left!" He screamed and Kira shot left, deflecting a ball of flames she had not even noticed.
"Above you!" Luke shouted again and Kira could not help but direct her next throw up into the sky, hitting another of her grandfather's globes.
"Left, Kira. Come on!"
"Right!"
"Low! Move faster."
"Center!"
Luke continued to yell out commands and Kira couldn't stop herself from following them. She wanted to do this on her own. She wanted to lose to her grandfather on her own or win on her own, without Luke telling her what to do. But, when someone is telling you the right moves, someone who has been instructing you for months, you can't help but obey — at least that's what Kira told herself, because he was the only thing keeping her alive in this fight.
"Your face! He's shooting for your face." Luke blurted out again and Kira deflected the shot. His screams were actually distracting her. Instead of watching her opponent to judge his moves on her own, she was listening and waiting for Luke's voice. Didn't he know it wasn't helping her? Wasn't her grandfather annoyed?
"Above!" Luke screamed and Kira jumped out of the way, letting the flames crash into the wooden floor and disappear without leaving a scorch mark.
Kira sensed that Luke was about to shout again, but instead she turned to him and yelled, "Shut up, Luke! You're not helping me, okay. You are completely distracting me. I can't concentrate on anything except for your voice!" Taking a second to breath, Kira looked into Luke's shocked face. Complete surprise and confusion covered his features. "Look, I'm sorry for yelling," Kira apologized, "but, I want to do this on my own. So can you please stop telling me what to do."
"Kira, what in the world are you talking about?" He asked, concerned.
"What do you mean what am I talking about?" Kira said, annoyed.
"I haven't said a word since you started fighting."
"Luke, please. You've been screaming at me for the past ten minutes." Kira said, looking around for her grandfather to back her up. He was on his way over to the two of th
em.
"Kira, why would I do that? I swear, I haven't said anything." Luke stood his ground and Kira was the one who was beginning to feel confused.
"But, I heard you." She said unsteadily.
"What's the matter?" Councilman Peters asked as he approached. Kira noticed that he too had a fine layer of sweat on his brow. It made her feel a little better, knowing that he was tired too.
"Um, nothing. I thought I heard Luke say something, but evidently he didn't." Kira said, not wanting to fight in front of her grandfather. If Luke wanted to deny helping her, he could go right ahead. But she knew what she heard and she knew Luke had to be lying.
"Good, then let's get back to work. Luke, I want you to fight Kira so I can observe both of your movements." And with that, he walked over towards his chair on the Council and sat down to watch. Luke shrugged and moved to the other side of the platform while Kira tried to push her thoughts to the back of her mind.
"Ready?" Luke called. Kira nodded and waited for him to make a move.
After a few seconds of waiting for his move, Kira sensed that it would be a center shot. Some instinct in the back of her mind told her it was where he would go. So, almost at the same time as he released, Kira did too. The flames met exactly halfway between the two of them before vanishing.
Right, Kira thought and fired again. Now above, she heard the whisper in her brain, telling her it was the right move. She felt empowered, but exasperation was there too, gnawing at her.
The more they fought, the more in sync Kira and Luke's movements became, as though they were tethered together. They fired at almost exactly the same time, meeting evenly with neither gaining any upper hand.
Frustration was pushing even further into her thoughts, but Kira had no idea why. She had no reason to be annoyed — this was the best she had ever done against Luke. It was like she knew his movements before he did. If anything, Luke should be frustrated. He was throwing everything he had at her and nothing was making it past her defenses. If Kira were Luke, she would be confused, maybe slightly proud, but also ticked off that this was happening in front of a Council member.
Simmer (Midnight Fire Series Book Two) Page 6