Falling For Fire

by Talia Jager

  “No. The deal was I let you do my hair, and you let me give you a tattoo.”

  “Trust me. You’ll like it.”

  She pressed her lips together. “Fine. What?”

  “Can you surprise me and sketch up something with snowflakes?”

  Her eyes lit up. “Free rein? Nice! I can’t wait! Give me a week.”

  “You got it. Now relax, and let me have my free rein. I promise I won’t ruin your hair.”

  Our eyes met. “I trust you completely, Rory. I’ve just never done anything with my hair, and I don’t know that it’ll look good on me, so I’m a little nervous. But there’s nobody else I’d let touch my hair like this.”

  “Okay. Let’s get to work then.”

  I kept her from looking in the mirror as I worked on her hair. When I was finished, I spun the chair around and let Kailani see what I had done. Her eyes widened, and for a second, I couldn’t tell if she liked it or hated it. I had kept her long length, but put in lots of layers and angled bangs, and I had dyed her hair a dark purple. It fit her perfectly, especially with her tattoos and piercings.

  She faced me and broke out into a big smile. “I love it!”

  I let go of a breath I had been holding. “Really?”

  “Yes! It’s awesome!” She threw her arms around me. “Thanks for bugging the crap out of me until I gave in.”

  I laughed. “You’re welcome.”

  “Will I see you later?”

  “Right after work.”

  A week later, I sat in the tattoo chair. Kailani took out two pieces of paper: one with five snowflakes and some swirls on it and another with three snowflakes on it. “Here’s what I want to do. First, I think they’d look awesome matching the colors of the ones you already have. So I’ll make them different shades of blue with white mixed in. I’d like to put the five snowflakes on your right side of your body and the three on your left side, but that means doing one side now and coming back in a month and doing the other.” She took a deep breath. “What do you think?”

  “They’re awesome! How could I say no?”

  Kailani beamed. “Really?”

  “Yes! What do you use in your ink?” I asked. “I’m allergic to lots of metals.”

  “Actually, I use a nontoxic ink carrier and ink. I don’t like putting chemicals and metals into people, so I decided from the beginning to use all nontoxic ingredients.”

  “Perfect.”

  “Okay. I’ll do the right side today, so I need you to lie on your left side and keep your arm out of the way.”

  After Kailani set everything up, I positioned myself on my side. “How much is this going to hurt?”

  “Did your other ones hurt?” She pressed the transfer paper on my body and peeled it off.

  I thought back, but I couldn’t remember when I got them. “I don’t remember.” I glanced in the mirror she held up for me to approve her placement. “It’s fine, Kailani. If it looks good to you, it’s good with me.”

  She nodded and put the mirror down. “If you don’t remember it hurting, then maybe it didn’t.” She turned on the machine, and it came to life.

  The first ten seconds didn’t hurt, but then it did have a sting to it. It wasn’t so painful I was in tears or needed her to stop, but it wasn’t pleasant either. Akoni came in, and with the three of us talking, it distracted me. Before long, Kailani was done.

  She helped me up, and I stood in front of a mirror and admired her artwork. “It’s beautiful, Kailani.” I paused. “I know this is going to sound weird seeing as how you just put a bunch of snow on me, but do you have time to make a little sun on the back of my left shoulder?”

  “A sun?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m not really sure, but I feel the need to get one.”

  Kailani sat down and drew a few different suns. “Which one do you like?”

  I pointed to a circle with flames around it. “That one.”

  It took her only minutes to complete it. “There you go.”

  “Thanks.” I smiled as I examined it with mirrors. I don’t know why, but the sun made me smile.

  “I’ll do your other side next month.”

  Work and Kailani kept me busy the next few months. I loved my job and ohana. The only time I felt sad was seeing people in love. I still craved that, but when I thought about trying to find someone, I remembered feeling loved so passionately nothing would ever compare.

  “Rory!” Kailani yelled as I walked into her shop one fall day.

  I shifted my eyes to Akoni, and he shrugged. “She’s been anxious to see you all day.”

  “What’s up?”

  “I have something to show you,” she said, waving me over to the counter.

  I sat on the barstool. “Okay. Let’s see it.”

  Kailani put a drawing of snowflakes down in front of me. They looked a lot like mine with a few differences. “It’s beautiful, but I think I’ve got all the snowflakes I need right now.”

  Kailani laughed. “It’s not for you. It’s for me.”

  “Oh! You’re going to get snowflakes?”

  “Is that okay?” She looked uncertain.

  “Of course! That’s cool. And these are beautiful! Where are you going to put them?”

  “On the side of my face.” She ran her finger from her temple down to her cheekbone.

  “Oh wow! On your face? You’re brave.”

  “Yeah. I’m going to have Akoni do it.”

  “When?”

  “Right now?” She looked between us.

  “Let’s go, cousin.” Akoni set up his station and was tattooing Kailani in no time.

  I sat back and watched her cringe. Laughing, I said, “I never thought I’d see you in any pain.”

  “This hurts a bit.”

  “Hold still,” Akoni told her and continued working. A while later, he said, “Okay. It’s done.”

  “How does it look?” she asked me.

  I stared at it for a minute, not saying anything. They were beautiful and looked perfect on her face.

  “Rory? You’re freaking me out. Does it look okay?”

  “Look for yourself.” I held up a mirror.

  She smiled. “Awesome. You did a great job, cousin.”

  “I know,” he teased and began to clean up the area.

  The weather stayed the same the rest of the year. I overheard people talking about how odd it was that the temperatures weren’t moving. Some even went as far as to say the end of the world was coming. When I wasn’t working, I hung out with Kailani. Sometimes we’d go surfing or ice-skating. Maleko and I still dated, although both of us knew it wasn’t going anywhere. I think it was just fun to have someone to do things with. He finally met someone else at a New Year’s Eve party, and I gave him my blessing to date her. When Kailani tried to fix me up again, I told her to stop it or I’d fix her up. She stopped.

  We were sitting in our spot on the beach when she said, “It’s almost been two years since you’ve been here.”

  “Wow. Really? Seems like just a couple of months. I don’t know if I ever thanked you for being so persistent getting to know me.”

  “I could tell that first day you were someone I wanted to know. I just hope you don’t decide to leave.”

  “Leave? Where would I go?”

  “Where the snow is.”

  I smiled. “I might like the snow, but I love our friendship. I would much rather have that than move, but we do need to vacation there.”

  We watched as the sun dropped below the horizon and left behind beautiful reds and oranges which, oddly enough, caused tears to form in my eyes.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Aurora

  Grabbing a fruit from the tree in the front yard, I walked to work. It was a beautiful day, and I enjoyed every moment of it. I was looking forward to seeing Kailani after work. We’d go have dinner and hang out talking until past midnight like always.

  “Your Majesty.”

 
; Two people standing just outside the salon door bowed their heads slightly, and I looked around to see if I was standing next to royalty. I was the only one there.

  “Your what?”

  “We must hurry home.” He extended his hand.

  “I am home.”

  “Home to the faerie realm.”

  My brow furrowed. Did he just say faerie realm? Clearly these two had some mental issues, so I took a couple of steps backward.

  “I’m going to go to work now.” I slipped past them and ran into the salon.

  “Everything okay?” Kala asked.

  “Just some weird people.” I shrugged it off and got my station ready for customers.

  After one haircut and one highlight, Kala came back and whispered, “Those two are still out there.”

  I shot her a look. “No.”

  “Seriously. Should I call the police?”

  “They didn’t seem as if they wanted to hurt me. It was almost like they had mistaken me for someone else.”

  “I’m going to tell Kika in case they stay. You can always go out the back.”

  “Yeah. Okay. I’ll worry about leaving later. Thanks.”

  Kailani came in midday when it was time for my break. “Hey, girl, what’s up?” She followed my gaze out the window.

  “See those two guys out there?”

  “Yeah?”

  “They’ve been stalking me.”

  “Stalking?” Kailani slid a concerned glance to Kika, who was sitting behind the desk watching them.

  “They’ve made no attempt to come inside,” Kika commented.

  “They approached me this morning, telling me I needed to hurry home and making other odd comments.” I left the faerie part out.

  “Those two?”

  “Yeah—” Before I had a chance to say anything else, Kailani was out the door screaming at the two men waiting for me. The look on their faces was priceless, and they rushed down the street.

  Coming back inside, she smiled and dusted off her hands. “That’s how it’s done.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Next time, if you don’t want to call the police, call me or Akoni. We can handle a couple of weaklings like them. Now, are you ready for lunch?”

  “Yes!”

  The two guys didn’t come back. At the end of my shift, I left work and walked down to Kailani’s. She was finishing up a tattoo. “Be ready in ten,” she said.

  I sat on the barstool. “Hey, Akoni. What’s going on with you today?”

  “You should have called us, Rory.”

  “What?”

  “When those crazies approached you. You should call us. We’re ohana, remember?”

  “I remember.” I put my hand on his. “They didn’t seem threatening. Crazy, yes. Dangerous, no.”

  “Still.”

  “Okay, next time some crazy person tries to take me home, I’ll let you know.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Okay! I’m ready to go,” Kailani called.

  I slid off the stool. “Be back in a bit.”

  Kailani and I started walking to the restaurant. A squeal of tires made us jump and spin around. A car was headed right toward us. Kailani pushed me out of the way, and we both landed on the ground. Tires squealed as the car sped away.

  “My day keeps getting better,” I mumbled.

  “This wasn’t a coincidence.”

  “Kailani! Rory!” Akoni yelled, running across the street. “Are you okay?”

  My elbow throbbed, and I turned my arm to look at it. “Scraped my arm, that’s all.”

  “I’m fine,” Kailani said, pushing herself up. “Anela will have a first aid kit.”

  “Let me take you,” Akoni said.

  “We can’t leave the shop unattended. We’ll be fine. I promise,” Kailani told her cousin.

  He mashed his lips together. “If anything happens to either of you—”

  “I know.” Kailani hugged him. “Take care of the shop. I’ll take care of her.”

  Skipping dinner, we hurried over to Frozen Sweets, and as Anela cleaned and bandaged my elbow, we filled her in.

  “Let me get this straight. First you were approached by two people thinking you were someone else, they stayed outside your work half the day, and then someone tried to run you over tonight. Is that right?”

  “Yeah, that sums it up,” I replied.

  “Why didn’t you call the cops?”

  “They didn’t seem dangerous.”

  “And now?”

  “Maybe they are?” I shrugged.

  “We should report this.”

  “I don’t know cars well enough to make a report,” I answered.

  “What about you, Kailani?”

  “All I saw was something black coming at us.”

  Anela mumbled under her breath and then said loudly enough for us to hear, “If something else happens, you notify the police. And Rory, I don’t think you should go home tonight.”

  “She won’t be. She’s coming home with me,” Kailani said.

  “I am?”

  “Yes. You are.”

  We spent most of the night at the tattoo shop, after which Akoni accompanied us back to Kailani’s apartment. “I’m staying too.”

  Kailani opened her mouth in protest.

  “No! Shut it, cousin. I’ll stay on the couch. I won’t bother either of you. I just want to make sure you’re safe.”

  I kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you. You’re sweet.”

  “Yeah, cousin, you’re so sweet,” Kailani teased.

  I nudged Kailani and said, “I don’t suppose you have something I can sleep in?”

  “I’ve got an extra pair of pj’s you can wear.”

  I followed her to her room, and she grabbed some clothes out of the drawer and threw them at me. “Thanks.”

  A few minutes later, we were lying in bed chatting. “You sure you’re okay?” Kailani asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Rory…be honest.”

  Sighing, I said, “I’m a little unnerved, but I’m not completely freaked out.” I yawned. “Thanks for being there for me.”

  “We’re—”

  “Ohana. I know.” I yawned again and closed my eyes. “Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight, Rory.”

  The next morning, Kailani and I went to her shop where she designed a dragon tattoo for a client coming in later. The bell on the door rang.

  “Who would come this early?” She groaned.

  I peeked around the corner and froze. Panic seized my body. How did they find me? What did they want? Would they hurt us? They saw me and headed toward us. Backing up, I whispered, “It’s them.”

  She looked up. “Them who?”

  “The stalkers.”

  Her eyes widened and she jumped up just as they rounded the corner. “Who are you, and what do you want with my friend?”

  “We’re not here to hurt her. We’re here to protect her and bring her home.”

  “This is my home.”

  “It’s not. You only think it is.”

  “That makes no sense.”

  “If you just come with us, you’ll see.”

  “She’s not going anywhere with you.” Kailani took a step in front of me.

  “We’re going to have to do it here,” one said to the other.

  Before I could respond, the one with white hair opened his hand right in front of my face and blew. A cloud of sparkling dust exploded in my face, and I breathed it in.

  Images of another me began flowing through my mind. I gasped as I saw my parents, siblings, and home. My eyes darted back and forth as I remembered the Iron Fae, my schooling, all the training I had gone through, ice-skating in the Winter Land, Raina, and the falls. My hand flew to my face as Sorin’s face flashed in front of me, and I was filled with his love.

  I staggered back and felt Kailani’s hands catch me. “What have you done to her?”

  I clutched her shirt and muttered “It’s okay” over and over a
s tears rolled down my cheeks.

  Still reeling from the ten-second download, I swallowed hard and asked, “My parents?”

  The white-haired man was one of our guards, Artin. He looked down.

  “I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” the shaggy haired one answered, and I recognized him as Jopul, a centaur from my land. The glamour had made him look human.

  Biting my lip, I closed my eyes and thought of the last time I had seen them. We were at the portal where they watched their eldest daughter be banished.

  “Your Majesty?” Kailani repeated. “What the hell is going on?”

  “Hold that thought,” I said to her and turned back to Jopul and Artin. “Sorin?”

  “Someone was sent to get him as well.”

  I thought back to how long I had been here. “Two years?” I choked back a sob.

  “Yes.”

  “Tell me what’s happened in this time.”

  “No,” Kailani interrupted. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  “That’s not a good idea, Your Majesty.”

  “You can start by telling me why you keep calling her that!”

  “I have to tell her.”

  “You shouldn’t. She’s human,” Jopul warned.

  “You guys kind of made that a necessity when you blew pixie dust in my face in front of her.”

  “She wasn’t leaving your side. We really didn’t have a choice,” Artin retorted with an annoyed tone.

  I sighed. They were right. But Kailani deserved an explanation. “You might not believe what I have to tell you.”

  “Try me.”

  I started simple. “I’m a faerie.”

  “Right.”

  “See?”

  She narrowed her eyes like she was trying to see inside my mind. “Fine. You’re a faerie. Go on.”

  “You don’t believe me.”

  “Not yet, but I’m listening.”

  “I’m the eldest princess of the Winter Fae—”

  Artin cleared his throat. “Actually, you’re the queen.”

  “That’s going to take some getting used to…I can’t believe my parents…” I stifled another sob and turned my attention back to Kailani. “I’m the queen of the Winter Land.”

  Kailani blinked a few times. “I’ll bite. Why are you not in this faerie realm?”

  “I was banished.”

  “Why?”

  “For falling in love with a Summer faerie.”