[Imdalind 01.0] Kiss of Fire

by Rebecca Ethington

“Sorry about that. But don’t worry, I’m here to give you the Cliff Notes.” He leaned forward and my eyes drifted to his short brown hair again in an effort to avoid eye contact.

  “Gee, thanks.”

  “We discussed our attack plan.”

  I looked up expectantly, but he just sat there staring at me.

  “And?”

  “That’s it.”

  Two hours of sitting in a hard chair and they had discussed the “attack plan”. Great.

  “So what are they doing now? Planning the after-party?” I spat bitterly, but instead of laughing, Ilyan’s face fell instantly.

  “They are saying goodbye to their loved ones, Silnỳ.”

  I peeked around him to see Wyn and Talon with their arms wrapped around each other, a few other pairs coupled off around them. Most of the others were quietly talking on cell phones. I sat back in my chair, my nerves jumping angrily.

  “Are you saying goodbye to your loved ones, too?” My eyes floated to Ovailia who stood against the wall, her head bowed.

  “Of course.”

  My stomach jumped at his response. I opened my mouth to say something, but closed it as my confidence wavered. Ilyan chuckled at my indecision and leaned back against his chair with his arms folded as if he was getting ready for a show. I determinedly looked away from him, but my eyes were automatically drawn to his hair again.

  “Are you going to be looking at my hair all night, Joclyn?”

  “No!” I responded, a blush at being caught rushing to my cheeks. “It just looks so weird on you.”

  “You don’t look too bad yourself,” Ilyan said, pulling on one of the long, red strands that hung down at the sides of my face.

  “Don’t remind me. My hair grows slowly, too; I am going to be stuck with this hairdo forever.”

  To my embarrassment, Ilyan laughed, causing several people to turn.

  “What?”

  “You can grow it back with your magic, Joclyn.” Ilyan chuckled deeply at me, causing a furious blush to deepen against my cheeks.

  “What?”

  “Didn’t Wyn tell you?”

  “No!” My mouth hung open in frustration.

  Ilyan only continued to smile. “No wonder you looked so depressed when I saw you last night.”

  Truthfully, I hadn’t been depressed because of my hair; I had been more concerned about his wicked father, but I wasn’t going to get into that right before we left to rescue his youngest brother.

  I shook my head and slammed my bare back against the cold, metal chair. I tried to shift my clothes again, but there simply wasn’t enough fabric.

  “So… are you going to tell me what this attack plan is?”

  He sighed before nodding once and then angled his chair so we could both see the group that was still shuffling around the conference room.

  “Wyn, Talon, Evert and Glenna will be clearing the roof. Ovailia, Ferne and Nyse will be clearing the upper hallways. Adyl, Benton and Eber will already be stationed at the party. Delia, Iolo, Jevon and Evadne will be clearing the exterior; and Tace and Zilla will be our forward guard. You will be with me.” He pointed each of them out as he spoke; my mind unable to connect faces with their unusual names.

  “And what do we do?”

  “Rescue Ryland,” he stated quietly. “I need you to get him to leave with you. We will all serve as some form of a distraction and guard while you get him out. Once you leave, we all leave. The longer you wait, the more dangerous this mission is for everyone.”

  “Get him out, sounds easy enough,” I sighed sarcastically, thinking my task sounded anything but easy.

  Getting him to follow me out would be easy, as long as he was Ryland. If he wasn’t Ryland, I wasn’t sure what he would do. He had attacked me in the Tȍuha when he had changed. If he did attack me tonight, I was not sure I was powerful enough yet to fight him off. Worse yet, what if I got him out as Ryland, and he changed once we left.

  I sighed and sank into my chair a bit, feeling completely useless.

  “I hope you’re right.” Ilyan’s hands writhed; he seemed to be thinking along the same lines I was. “We will go in under Zmizȇt and make our way into the main hall; that is where Ryland will be.”

  “Zmizȇt?”

  “Yes, it’s a shield that can cause you to be invisible. Of course, if it works in the LaRue estate with the same effectiveness it did on you, then we are all in trouble.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, my face squished together in confusion.

  “All those times you saw me in your school, I was shielding myself with Zmizȇt. But it didn’t work so well on you.” He narrowed his eyes at me curiously. “I wonder why that is?”

  I shrank away from him as his blue eyes flashed dangerously. Was I broken or something? I couldn’t get my magic beyond my necklace, but I could see people who were supposed be invisible? Definitely broken.

  “You’re the king; you tell me.” I wished I could move away from him a bit.

  “Manners, Joclyn.” Ilyan didn’t even flinch as Ovailia came up beside him. I, however, got the full extent of her glare and had to fight the urge to run away.

  “I hate to interrupt, but it is time to go.”

  “So it is.” Ilyan stood and moved away, leaving Ovailia alone with me. I had hoped she would follow him, but instead, she stepped closer.

  “I would like you to know, Joclyn; I am only doing this to save my brother. I have no intention of saving you. If you get cornered, you’re on your own.” She smiled acidly at me, waiting for me to respond. Her look reminded me of the way Cynthia McFadden would use to egg me on. I shrank away from her instinctively. She glared toward me for only a moment longer before striding out of the room. I slumped back down in my chair.

  I had the excited nerves of an audition, mixed with the raw, icy fear of going into the unknown. I shook my head, emptying the thought of Ovailia’s comment from the nervous strangulation that was taking hold of me. The room had emptied of everyone but me and Ilyan before he turned and gestured toward me.

  “I am going to have to carry you to Ryland’s house, if you don’t mind?” he said as we walked outside to where the others had gathered.

  “What?” I was suddenly appalled.

  “It’s a risk for everyone if you have liquid memories of how to get back to the motel.”

  “What do you mean? I’m not a risk,” I retorted, remembering all too vividly Ovailia’s words in the courtyard.

  “If you are captured, I don’t need your memories to guide them to the motel. Since I don’t have time to teach you to perform a Zmizȇt, I need to be in contact with your skin.”

  “And you have to carry me? Why can’t we just hold hands or something?” I suggested, irritated by the idea.

  “If you won’t let me carry you, Joclyn, I will just put you to sleep.”

  I grumbled in acceptance before allowing him to cradle me in his arms. I wrapped my arms around his neck, worried that he would drop me. He laughed at me softly; I knew full well how ridiculous I was acting, especially considering that the last time he had carried me like this, I hadn’t been able to move.

  We all swept into the air in unison, Ilyan leading us to what I was sure was certain doom.

  This whole week, I had been confident that this was a sure thing, that everything would go perfectly. Then, last night, Ilyan had shattered my little delusional fantasy. This was not going to be easy; it would be dangerous. What was worse—we might fail.

  “You need to close your eyes, Silnỳ.”

  I obeyed him.

  “What happens if we can’t get him out, Ilyan?” I asked into the darkness.

  “We will get him out.” His voice was so determined, I could almost detect that maniacal power in him already.

  “But what if…”

  Ilyan’s arms tightened around me, pushing my torso into him.

  “We will get him; do not worry.”

  I didn’t dare say anymore. I didn’t really want
to think about it, anyway; thinking of failure almost seemed like a curse on this whole venture.

  We landed among the lilac bushes, azaleas and roses behind the kitchen door to the large estate. Ilyan put me down, and I opened my eyes apprehensively, surprised to see only Ilyan and the two he had pointed out as our “forward guard”. The others must have already taken their positions.

  I looked up at the building curiously, surprised to see nothing but pale white stone. I knew the fire and explosions must have spread to this part of the mansion, yet there was nothing damaged. Ilyan must have been right; they must have repaired the building magically.

  Being so close to entering the mansion made me edgy and I found myself shifting my weight and exhaling more than I should. This gained me quite a few dirty looks from Tace and Zilla, but I didn’t care. I doubted anyone could hear me over the noise, anyway.

  Happy screams and catcalls filled the air from the pool beyond the bushes; the heavy beat of the music inside pulsed through the air and shook the ground. Ryland’s graduation from high school should have been a happy occasion, not the site for a rescue mission.

  I could feel the tension; the pulsing, magical energy flowing from each of us as we sat ready, waiting to pounce. The magic seemed to beat in time with the music that surrounded us; the longer we waited, the louder it grew. Ryland’s necklace sat hot on my skin under my lime green shirt, the intense heat warning me that danger was nearby. I pulsed my magic reflexively, hoping that being this close to Ryland, to Edmund, would provide me with additional control. Nothing happened; Edmund’s restrictive blanket remained a suffocating force over my ability. I swallowed hard, hoping that when the blanket slipped off me, I could control the pent-up energy it would surely release.

  The four of us looked up in unison as a large, red blast lit up the sky above the manor. The excited squeals from the pool echoed the deep boom of the explosion. Tace and Zilla bolted out in front of us, their bodies breaking through the bushes to the open parking lot. I screamed out in surprise as Ilyan grabbed me and flung me onto his back before he followed their lead.

  The door to the kitchen flung open in a burst of wind that carried all of us into the hustle and bustle of the elaborate space. The wind pushed over trays of food and plates, and sent napkins flying through the air. The resulting mess sent the kitchen staff into a panicked frenzy. We took advantage of the disarray as we sped through the kitchen without having to worry about the Zmizȇt being ineffective. Even without the diversion and the cloaking spell, our speed would have made us invisible. I just caught a glance of Mette’s frazzled face before we took off down the staff hallway that led from the kitchen.

  Tace and Zilla continued in front of us, our pace quick and fleeting. We moved through two corridors before Zilla’s pace reduced to a casual saunter. Ilyan and Tace followed suit, Ilyan moving us right up against the wall.

  Only a moment after the change in pace, two small men I had never seen before came around the corner to face us. At first, it was obvious they couldn’t see us, but realization dawned on them as the Zmizȇt seemed to fall away from our bodies.

  Tace and Zilla did not wait; they moved so fast their bodies blurred. One moment they stood in front of us, and the next, they were directly before and behind the two Trpaslíks. Two dim flashes of light lit up the hallway before their bodies fell to the ground.

  Ilyan rushed to their side, his face falling in alarm and frustration.

  “Well, so much for stealth,” he sighed. He turned to Tace and Zilla and spoke to them in Czech before the two went into action, moving and hiding the bodies in the many servants’ quarters surrounding us.

  “I need you to stay right beside me, Joclyn.” He didn’t look at me; he remained looking straight forward as he spoke.

  Tace emerged from the rooms first, followed by Zilla who shook her long, blonde hair as she spoke to Ilyan. He didn’t wait to translate; he simply grabbed my hand and towed me behind him as we ran from hallway to hallway.

  The music continued to increase in volume as we moved through the estate. By this time, we had abandoned any attempts at stealth, although it probably wouldn’t have mattered since the music became so loud that any noise we made was drowned out.

  We almost made it to the connecting servants’ hall when Tace and Zilla plastered themselves into the alcoves of the doorways; Ilyan towed me after him into another doorway. He kept me hidden safely behind him, his hand holding me against the door as he looked at what was going on in the hall. I heard a small yelp, shuffling feet, and two dull thuds before Ilyan released me from the small space behind him. By the time I made it to the hall, the two Skȓíteks were already hiding the bodies in a storage closet.

  Ilyan held me back as we reached the door that would open up into the hallway that connected to the main hall before turning and speaking to the others. His lips moved as he spoke, but I could barely hear him, the overwhelming music drowning him out. Before he even finished speaking, Tace and Zilla exited from our hallway into another. My body tensed; I felt strangely unprotected without them.

  “They are going in first,” Ilyan yelled into my ear. “They will be watching you in the hall. Are you ready?”

  I couldn’t respond, my body tense.

  Ilyan plunged us through the door and didn’t slow down as we approached the ballroom that housed the party. The hall light dimmed as we got closer until we were moving through a faintly lit hallway, the flashing lights of the party reflecting out of the open door and onto the wall in front of us. I kept my gaze on the dancing lights, trying desperately to keep my head on straight while still focusing on the dynamic energy that was building under my skin.

  Ilyan stopped abruptly before we made it to the main hall and threw me roughly against the wall. I tensed; this wasn’t part of the plan, and the look on Ilyan’s face suggested trouble. He pressed his body against mine, every inch of him, from his shoulders to his toes, pressed against me. His hand grabbed one of mine and restrained it above my head.

  My body froze; this unwelcome invasion of my privacy sent angry surges of magic vibrating under my skin. I tried to pull away from him, but he held me roughly in place, his grip increasing. I looked up to him in a panic, just as he leaned forward to place his cheek against mine. My heart thudded uncomfortably.

  “Close your eyes and pretend that this is natural for us.” His voice was rough in my ear as he nuzzled his face into my neck, his warm breath running across my skin. I fought him, and his grip increased, his body pressing more firmly into mine. It didn’t hurt, but the pressure was definitely unwelcome.

  “Do you want to get us caught?” he hissed. “Do what I say. Someone is coming.”

  I let my lids drop over my eyes and raised my hand to cup his neck. My heart beat erratically as I felt the negative energy pulse toward us, heavy footsteps announcing the arrival of someone I didn’t want to see.

  “Keep them closed,” Ilyan instructed as he moved his head, hoping to mimic the look of an intimate kiss against my neck. I screwed my face up into what I hoped was a pleasurable expression as the negative power hit its peak. Ilyan intertwined his fingers with mine and pushed against me harder, the ridge of the wall pushing into my bare back.

  Ilyan didn’t wait for whoever had passed us to get very far before pulling me beside him and leading me into the large hall.

  I stopped in place. The main ballroom had been transformed into a night club. I no longer felt out of place with my hair and clothing. Flashing lights flickered and vibrated to the beat of the music, lighting the mosh pit as everyone moved together in some odd semblance of a dance.

  I didn’t have time to linger as Ilyan pulled me into the crowd, a hundred other bodies instantly pushing against us. He moved us deep into the writhing mass, enclosing us within it. The lights flashed and pulsed as the crowd danced and moved against everyone around them.

  Ilyan pulled me into him, his hands fanning out on the bare skin of my back as he moved me against him in a seductive dan
ce. I fought the urge to shy away from him. I cursed my clothes; he wasn’t the only person who would be acquainting themselves with my body tonight. I felt sick.

  “Remember to play the part, Silnỳ. Rich, powerful. And don’t touch him unless you know it’s him. I don’t need Edmund to be able to trace you.” I nodded as he whispered in my ear, his hand moving up to cup my cheek for just a moment. “I’ll be close by.” He looked into me, his finger running the length of my jaw bone.

  I looked up and screwed my jaw in defiance, my eyes opening in a seductive powerful way that I hoped fit the look Wyn had given me. I popped my hip and squared my chest, trying desperately to mimic the ridiculous movements I had seen Cynthia McFadden do every day of my life. Ilyan nodded once in approval before turning from me, leaving me alone in the crowd.

  I couldn’t let my nerves get to me. I kept my jaw tight, my other facial features soft and wide as I began to move through the crowd. I was passed from person to person as I made my way through the throng of tightly packed people. I mimicked the sensual daces as I moved against the bodies that pressed against mine in ways that made me blush. I never wanted to be in a place like this again. I was here for Ryland, and that was enough.

  A hundred faces blurred together as they danced, each one with hooded lids and open mouths in some drugged-out ecstasy. I danced through bodies so carefully entangled I could never be sure exactly what they were doing. I skirted around couples who had fallen to the floor in a blissful madness that I never wanted to see again. I moved through them, hoping my alert face and body didn’t give me away.

  I had almost reached the edge of the wall of people when someone grabbed me around the waist and pulled me into them. My face fell out of place in fear as I whipped around, expecting some attacker. Instead, I looked into the face of Ryland’s friend, Tyler. He held me tightly to him as he looked down in pompous ignorance. His face looked like all the others: glossed over and void of all normal expression. I moved with him for a minute, trying to plan my escape when he leaned down to nibble on my ear. I jumped back in repulsion, remembering all too well what Ryland had told me about private school boys.