Synchronicity (Scintillate Series Book 3)

by Karen Tjebben

  11. Fire

  Kate slowly turned around. The beauty of the morning was almost too much to take in. She’d thought the beauty of the other side back home was incredible. Here it was downright amazing. The colors that exploded from the forest astounded her. Reds, oranges, yellows, the trees were dressed in vibrant shades of fall, yet it was spring too. The ever-cyclical life-cycle that beat to its own drum consistently overwhelmed her. Blues, purples, pinks, and other colors burst forth from flowers and blooming shrubs beneath the trees. And incredibly, all of this was reflected in the glassy water of the lake. The mirror image was as breathtaking as the original.

  Alex stepped up behind her. “Pretty, huh,” he whispered.

  She turned to face him. His lips were inches from hers. She gazed into those green eyes and thought about kissing him, but she gave him a demure smile instead. She was here to work right now. And after last night, she didn’t trust herself to remain on the task at hand if she started kissing him. “Pretty is an understatement.”

  “Are you going to impress me today?”

  “I hope I make an impression on you every day,” Kate replied. She took a few steps and took in the meadow. Rolling hills covered in a velvety blanket of green lay before her. Colorful flowers and bushes decorated nature’s blanket as it spread across the land. In the distance, the blues and purples of mountains rose. White and pink clouds dominated the sky. Beauty was everywhere here, but opposites attract. Kate knew that. She’d experienced it. She knew better than to let her guard down just because she was in a beautiful place.

  “We’ll start easy and work our way up from there.” Alex thought back to last night. Their kisses in the family room in front of the fire consumed his thoughts all night. He didn’t sleep at all. He wondered if she had. Were her thoughts as consumed with him as his were with her?

  “What’s the subject?” she asked.

  “Fire.”

  “Sounds hot,” she replied, her eyebrow raised ever so slightly as she gave him a flirty smile.

  “And dangerous. That’s why we’re over here. We don’t want to be on the news for starting a forest fire.”

  She snorted. “The other side doesn’t care about forest fires?” She looked at the beauty in nature around her and hoped she wouldn’t destroy it all.

  “Not the point. Your goal is to start and stop the fire. That’s why I brought this.” He tapped his hand on the metal barrel beside him.

  Kate glanced into the charred barrel and took a whiff. It stank of metal and smoke. Small bundles of twigs tied together with twine lay at the bottom. “I’m not the first to use this,” she said, stating the obvious.

  “No, we all practice using fire. But none of us were ever as good at it as Sarah. It’s time for you to learn.”

  Sarah was good with fire. Did that mean it would come easily to her? She sure hoped so. “What do I do?” She stood with one leg forward and rested her body weight on her back leg.

  “You were impressive when we fought Daevas’s soldiers with the fire. You controlled it with your breath and mind. That’s hard to do, and you did it without any previous training. Today you’re going to actually start the fire.”

  Start a fire. With her mind? That sounded a little overambitious. “Sure,” she said with a shrug. “Why not?”

  Alex could see the disbelief on her face. “If you don’t think you can do it, then you’ve already failed. You know that. Your attitude is everything.”

  She knew he was right. When she played volleyball, if she didn’t think she’d get the serve over, then the serve usually went into the net. The same was true for any athlete. You had to envision success. “Okay, let’s begin.”

  “You manipulate your powers with your mind and your hand.” Alex’s fingers gently grazed along Kate’s skin. “That’s what you’re going to do. Think of your fingers as matchsticks. They provide the friction to the object you want to set on fire. Obviously some objects are easier to set on fire than others.”

  “Obviously,” Kate repeated with a smirk.

  Alex leaned over and removed the all of the bundles of sticks except one. He tossed the bundles onto the grass beside him. “Okay, the first batch is ready for you.” He rested his hands on his hips and stared at her.

  Kate peered into the barrel and looked at the twigs. They were tied together with a hemp rope. “They’re dry?” She looked up at him with one brow raised.

  “Yes.” Alex nodded. “It couldn’t be easier.”

  Kate could think of several easier ways to light those twigs on fire as she stared at the bottom of the barrel. When they fought Daevas, she at least had a lighter. Was she just supposed to create fire from nothing? “So… I just will it?” she asked slowly, her eyes leaving the twigs and looking to Alex.

  “Pretty much,” he replied.

  “Hmm.” She bobbed her head slowly and reminded herself that she needed to get her head in the game. If attitude affected job performance, then she needed to adjust her attitude.

  “Here it goes.” She took a deep breath and pointed her hand towards the twigs. She stared at the dry wood and gently rubbed her fingertips together. She envisioned the bundle bursting into flames.

  A thin, wispy curl of smoke rose from the twine, and then the wood began to smoke. Kate’s heart rate accelerated as the scent of her success rose in the air.

  Alex watched Kate’s face. She was so easy to read. Her face played her emotions in huge graphics, like a book set in big type for people with poor vision. It was almost embarrassing to look inside her so easily. But now, now he was proud of her. She was excited as the smoke rose. She was surprised at the ease of her success, but he was not surprised. “Keep going. You’re almost there,” he encouraged.

  Kate stared at the bundle where the twine tied together and hugged the twigs. A spark caught her eye. She couldn’t help but smile because she knew she’d done it. In that moment, the fire caught and the twigs crackled as the fire consumed them.

  Kate raised her eyebrows at Alex. “Ta-dah!” she cheered, spreading out her arms.

  “Now put it out,” Alex said.

  “What?”

  ‘Put it out. That’s just as important. You have to control whatever you create.” Alex held his hand out and pulled his fingertips together as if they were closing in on something. “Fire can get ugly real fast.”

  Kate nodded. She knew how deadly fire was. She’d lived through the fire at the New Year’s Eve party. She’d gagged on the smoke that belched from its greedy mouth as it devoured everything in its path. She’d felt the heat against her skin as she followed in its scorched trail. Fire was a monster that walked hand-in-hand with death.

  Kate put her hand over the barrel and focused on the tiny fire that crackled at the bottom. She slowly brought her fingers together and imagined the fire going out. As her fingertips touched, the fire dimmed, but it still burned. She inhaled again, opened her hand, and slowly brought her fingertips together again. This time she envisioned the fire disappearing.

  The fire sputtered and all that remained of the yellow-orange monster was smoke.

  Alex smiled. He knew she’d do it and do it quickly. He knew she’d have no trouble learning how to master this skill. It had taken him and the others months to master lighting and extinguishing a small fire.

  He dropped another bundle into the barrel. “Go again.”

  Kate’s confidence grew. This was a piece of cake. She stared at the bundle and willed it to ignite. The bundle burst into flames. She stood over it, triumphantly staring at her creation.

  “Now put it out,” Alex stated.

  It almost seemed a shame to put out the yellow, orange, and red flashes of color dancing about in the bottom of the barrel. “Do I have to?” she looked up at Alex. “It’s so pretty.”

  “Yes. You can light another one.”

  Kate focused on the little fire and snuffed it out.

  Alex dropped another bundle into the barrel, and Kate lit it up. They did this repeatedly
until all the bundles were nothing more than ash.

  “Now what?” Kate asked when the last bundle was consumed and the fire extinguished. “I know we aren’t done yet. It’s still early.”

  “That was a controlled fire. Contained.” Alex rested his hand on the barrel. “There was no real potential for the fire to get out of control. Now we’re going to test your abilities. Look around.” Alex spread his arm out and motioned to the world around them. “Find a bush and set it on fire.”

  What?! “You want me to set a perfectly good bush on fire? What if I lose control?”

  “Don’t”

  “Lose control?” Was he serious?

  “Right.” He nodded. “We’ve raised the bar.”

  “That’s putting it mildly. Let’s say for the sake of argument that I do lose control. Can you step in? Will you stop the fire?”

  Alex chuckled. “Probably not.” He shook his head. “It took me a long time to get to the place you’re already at. If you can’t control it, I probably won’t be able to control it either. That’s why we’re doing this over here. I don’t want our cabin burnt down.” He smiled, but she could tell he was serious.

  Kate took a deep breath and shook her head.

  “It’s not any different than the fire in the barrel. Keep your mind in the game,” he said. “You’ll be fine.”

  “I’m starting with something by the lake,” she mumbled, marching towards the water. She figured that if the fire got out of control they could put it out with lake water. Would she be able to move large amounts of water through the air? She looked around for a plant that already looked like it was suffering. She thought it was ridiculous to burn up a perfectly good plant. If she found one that was dying, then she wouldn’t feel so bad about it. She’d just be quickening its death so that something else could thrive in its place.

  Her next victim caught her eye, the dry, brown stalks on the mound of tall grasses that grew by the lake. Kate inspected the mound of grasses. She clapped her hands, stomped her feet, and made a bunch of noise.

  Alex watched her. She looked like she was doing a crazy dance beside the dying clutch of lake grass. A few birds took to flight at her bizarre display. “What are you doing?” he asked, his hands planted firmly on his hips.

  Kate stopped dancing and turned towards him. “I’m making sure there’s nothing here that’s alive. You did see those birds fly away?” She pointed to the sky. “Didn’t you?”

  Alex nodded. “Yes, but they were not hiding in that clump of grass.” He couldn’t contain his laugh. “You’re a funny little thing.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.” She said with a determined nod.

  “I’m sure you will,” he replied, his smile growing.

  She stood back a little ways from the clutch of dry grasses. Now that she knew nothing was living amongst the shading blades, she could set it aflame without regret. She focused on the dry mound near the base of the grasses.

  The smoke came first, then the glow. Success felt so good. The flames licked up the dry stalks and devoured the dancing heads as they waved in the breeze.

  “Put it out, before it gets too big,” Alex cautioned.

  Kate nodded and willed the fire into submission. It snuffed out, leaving the grasses burnt to the ground and only a few scorched plants in its vicinity.

  Kate loved the feeling of power that pulsed through her. She loved the rush that came with her abilities. Being an Asteri was amazing.

  “Good. Now again.”

  Kate looked around. The grass was simple. She wanted to find something that would pose a little challenge. In the distance she spotted the perfect target. She zeroed in on it and stood over it in seconds.

  As she stared at the fallen tree, she realized it wasn’t just a dead tree whose branches were tangled among healthy shrubs. She wouldn’t just be burning away a dead tree to clear the ground. This tree was a home, a habitat for the creepy crawlies that burrowed deep within the veins of the trunk. Some of the bugs looked familiar, but she didn’t know their names. She’d never cared. She didn’t care all that much now, but she didn’t really want to kill them. They hadn’t done anything to her. They were just enjoying their home. They were just doing what they were created to do.

  “Are you having second thoughts because of the bugs?” Alex asked. He knew she had a tender heart. That was one of the things he liked about her, but she still needed to master this skill. Lives depended on it. “They’re just bugs. Trust me. There are plenty of them.”

  Kate scowled at him. “I know. It’s just amazing to see the network of paths they’ve created. They have an order to what they’re doing.”

  “They’re following their instincts. None of them majored in engineering or architecture. They just do this stuff.”

  “Like I do my stuff? Like you do your stuff? Like Nephilim do their stuff?”

  “Don’t tell me that bugs are going to make you get philosophical on me?” Alex said.

  “Nope,” Kate replied, staring hard at Alex. “They just helped me realize how we do our jobs. We live our lives, work tirelessly, and for what? Someone or something could come along and destroy it all in a second. There’s no telling what the future holds.” Kate looked down at the log again. Ants scurried along the paths in the wood. “Death creeps silently to everyone’s doors. Pray its kiss is gentle and quick.” She extended her hand, and the tree burst into flames.

  Alex stepped away from the scorching heat. The flames licked the tree as crackling filled the air. “Very good,” he said. “Don’t let it get out of control.”

  As the fire ate away the wood, the part that rested on the shrubs collapsed onto the ground. The fire spread as it licked the leaves on the nearby shrubs.

  Kate waved her hand and brought her fingers together, like a conductor, and extinguished the fire. The charred wood smoked and radiated heat, but the danger was over. She’d handled the fire well.

  “Now what?” she asked.

  12. Potions

  Evan studied the couple before him. He knew what love looked like, and this was it, although they were an unlikely match. Oracles had high standards when it came to love. They usually matched up with supernatural males of the highest breeding. To see an Oracle so enthralled with a common man was truly unusual, but Evan understood the power of desperate situations. Sometimes the shared experience was enough to bind hearts forever.

  “I heard that Netra went into hiding,” Evan said. “The other Oracles were angry with her for attempting to save Sarah. No one’s seen or heard of her for centuries.”

  “Yes,” Nat said with a nod. “I heard that rumor too. The Oracles believed that she crossed a line. The finality of death was not to be messed with, and Netra had the audacity to play God.”

  “Are you familiar with the magic that she used?” Zoe asked.

  Nat gave a nod. “It was ancient. It’s said that Netra stumbled upon an ancient Oracle gathering site. That’s where she found the scrolls that explained how to cheat death.”

  Zoe considered Nat’s words. She seemed very familiar with Netra’s history. “How do you know so much? Were you friends with Netra?”

  Nat tilted her head, took a deep breath and smiled slowly at Zoe. “You still haven’t answered my question. I’ve answered yours. Please return the courtesy, or see yourself out.” She motioned to the door.

  Zoe didn’t want to leave. They needed Nat. She may be out of practice, but she was the closest Oracle they had. According to the rumors, she’d been powerful at one time. “Apologies.” Zoe gave a slight nod. “You’re right. You asked a simple question, and I shall answer it. Even though Sarah died, Netra did not fail. There is a new Asteri. Sarah’s memories flood her mind, and Sarah’s powers flow through her.”

  Energy pulsed through Nat even as she tried to keep her face blank of emotion. If Sarah’s memories invaded this new Asteri, then the incantation was successful. “What is her name?” she asked calmly.

  “Kate,” Zoe said. “Al
ex is with her now.”

  Sarah’s love is with Kate. “Are they together?” asked Nat.

  “Romantically?” Zoe asked. “The foundation is laid. His heart is firmly established. Her heart grows fonder.”

  Evan noticed the joy sparkle in Nat’s eyes at this news. “Nat, have you met Sarah and Alex before?” Evan asked.

  Nat nodded as she let out a deep breath. “I begged Sarah to leave. I knew the danger that was coming, but sometimes you can’t stop fate. Life happens and then death takes over.” Nat stood and glanced out the window. “I didn’t know if the spell would work, but I believed it would. Sometimes faith makes all the difference.”

  She slowly ran her hand along the sofa table as she walked behind the loveseat. “Those monsters destroyed her body,” Nat said, shaking her head. “Alex was a pitiful mess. Nick was furious, and the new girl, Hayden, she was a disaster. I was lucky that Nick didn’t kill me.” Nat chuckled. “He wanted to. He was furious with me for giving Alex hope. And then when Sarah wasn’t reborn quickly, I questioned whether Nick was right. Perhaps grief felt and overcome is better than false hope never to be achieved. So you see, to hear that Alex is happy delights me to the core.”

  “Why did you change your name,” Evan asked.

  Netra sighed. “At one time I was brave. I had the gall to go up against the power of death,” she chuckled, “but I lost. Or at least thought I did, and so did all the other Oracles. It was easier to disappear than deal with the constant whispers and judgment. I stayed in hiding for years and then reemerged as a different person. A few treasured friends know the truth of my identity. They help provide my cover-story as Nat.”

  Paul walked over to Netra and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. “You no longer have to live in hiding,” he said. “This is good news. You can reemerge and hold your head high.”

  Netra placed her hand on Paul’s cheek. “Yes, but that is not what is important.” She laughed with delight and then turned to look at Zoe and Evan. “The true wonder of this miracle is the power that Oracles may achieve with the discovered scrolls. They contain unknown spells and powers. There is much to learn.”