There’s no screeching as there should be, at least not where there should be. Anyone else? Severe agony, followed by infernal demise. Magnificently horrible way to die, for sure, but Tally2 simply melts into the flames. The real Tally isn’t so awkwardly mute. She reaches the ventriloquist expert level from her bedroom. I’m temporarily deafened by her ear-splitting scream.
That’s what you get for playing with fire, Superego reprimands.
Too bad I can’t throw my conscience in the fire. Sucks when she’s right.
Ryan’s minivan pulls into the driveway. I feel the vibration of Tally’s teeth chattering from upstairs.
“Totally not getting involved. I have my own raking to take. Good luck!” Brody winks and jogs off into the trees.
Tally might be scared—might is the understatement of the year—but she certainly doesn’t let on she is, marching across the lawn. She isn’t the only one marching, though, and for the first time since I met Ryan, I see something unlike the calming current in his eyes. The standardly cool water is boiling.
“You’re home early,” Tally notes dispassionately.
“What were you thinking?”
He should be directing his scald at me. Instead, he’s wafting Echinacea and Aloe. I’m the one who gave fire-throwing a go, and I’ve learned my lesson. Another hard lesson. My trademark.
Tally rolls her eyes. “Look at the lovely fire she started for us. No congratulations?”
“Congratulate her for what?” Ryan seethes. “For nearly killing all of you, herself, and who knows how many other innocent people?”
“You’re overreacting,” she retorts.
“I’m really not.” He’s trying to maintain what’s left of his composure.
“Everyone’s fine.” Tally wipes the smile from her face, finally realizing how much hot water she’s in.
“What you did was inexcusable,” he swashes on. “You put this entire family at risk, and for what? For your own amusement? You think of no one but yourself.”
“Old news.” She tosses her hair. “Your point is?”
“One of these days, you’ll look around and see the same thing you saw three hundred years ago.”
Everything changes. Her defenses get caught in the riptide. If she could physically cry, she would. That whole not expelling anything is a definite can.
Still, I want to strip the negative emotion from her or, at minimum, the negative attention. She provoked me, but my listening wasn’t her fault. I could’ve chosen another distraction. Playing with my fire is on me. And, if I’m being honest, I wanted to try out controlling the element, and I’m not even close to ready. “It wasn’t her fault,” I step in.
“Don’t.” Ryan throws up his hand like a wall. “She knew full well what she was doing.”
“I’m not discounting her role.” To further solidify that sentiment, I glower at her. “But she wasn’t the only one responsible. I had just as much of a role, if not more, than she did.”
He softens, and while I deserve the same searing treatment as Tally, he’s incapable of lashing out at me. “No more experiments,” he commands.
“In all fairness, Ryan, I’ll have to explore how to use this ability.” I wring my hands. “If I’m maintaining my humanity, I have to get more creative with expelling the energy despite the obvious danger.”
He slides a hand through his sun-kissed hair. “Fine, but no more unsupervised experiments.”
“Deal.”
Tally plants a hand on her jutted hip. “Are we all done? The guests will be arriving shortly.”
“I don’t feel like entertaining tonight,” he grumbles.
“No one asked you to entertain.”
“Let me rephrase it in a way your thick skull will comprehend. No bonfire.”
She grinds her teeth. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” he repeats, stomping toward the house.
She lets out a rather inhuman sigh of frustration that turns into a moan-squeal at the end. I take in a deep breath. Before I can let it out, she’s already texting people. I fully acknowledge our need to be reprimanded, but I can’t help being ridiculously disappointed I won’t see Derry.
She calls out to Ryan, “Can I borrow the van to take Sheyla home?”
Bet she misses her Mercedes. Cruising around in that Mom Bus cramps her style, Superego snips.
I see a glint of silver reflecting off the fire. Tally catches the keys before they fly by her. “Don’t forget to put out the fire,” he advises, stepping inside.
“All your hard work for nothing,” she commiserates. “This is how you use the element to your advantage. Watch carefully.”
After shoving the keys into her pants pocket, she flings out her arms, fingers pointed down. In a precise movement, she extracts a layer of earth. As it crawls up to the sky, she pushes with her hands, the ground rolling forward like a monstrous wave at sea. Just as it crests, she swipes her hand from left to right, and the dirt wave crashes, smothering the flames.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“You have telekinesis?”
“Declan moves air. I move earth, so long as it’s attached.”
“You brought up a wall, then you lost control once you sliced through the wall?”
“Correct. Once it disconnects from the main source, I lose control.”
“Then Declan can’t really move things. He uses air to force things where he wants them to go.”
“Now, you’re cooking with gas, BBQ. Air-locked rooms are his Achilles. He has to produce the air to use it, and as you know, production expends our reserves.”
“That’s how he got stuck in space.”
“Exactly. No air.” She points to the van, and I begrudgingly follow her.
“Thanks for driving me home.”
She laughs. “As if I’m taking you home.”
“Where are you taking me?”
She grins mischievously.
I sigh. “Didn’t you learn anything tonight?”
“Of course I did. I learned you’re much more Sparktacular than I thought.”
“I have a stop issue,” I reiterate.
“I’d hoped for a bigger one.”
“You wanted me to have a shut-off issue?”
“Two birds. One stone. I was hoping you’d eliminate the stray dogs uglifying my forest.”
I grimace. “You’re a sick person.”
“Not anymore,” she deadpans, “but we have more vital things to do than sit here and discuss me, albeit one of my favorite pastimes.”
“Dare I ask what we’re doing? Ryan said no more experiments.”
“Technically, it’s not an experiment.”
“Why do I have a feeling no good will come from this?”
“Oh, something good will come. I’m meeting Barry.”
“Tally, I don’t think tonight—”
“You’re coming with me,” she cuts me off. “Like my own personal emergency switch. If my emotions get the drop on me, you just shut them off. Easy peasy.”
“Maybe you should drop me off at home.”
“Suit yourself, but if I start sucking the human out of the Connell house, I’m going after your hunka-hunka burning love first.”
I shoot her a dirty look. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“He’s the least important to me. I absolutely would.”
She would, Superego confirms.
“Fine, I’ll go,” I cave, “but you owe me something.”
“Pfft.”
I fold my hands into my heated armpits. “Have fun without me.”
She won’t hurt Derry. She’s just trying to coerce me into going without admitting she wants my help. She has less faith in her restraint than Declan, and even with her annoying, self-centered ways, she isn’t a completely horrible person. Probably.
“Okay,” she concedes. “What do I owe you?”
“I’ll let you know when the time comes, but you have to promise.”
“Big whoop, a promise.” She holds her hands up, feigning fear of the dreaded oath-swearing. “Cross my heart and hope you die.”
“Let’s go before I change my mind.”
She floors it out of the driveway. I’m more nervous to see Derry than about my spark misbehaving. I’m expectantly empty, and regardless of the chastising, I’m glad I expended some of my fire fuel. I’ll need the relief. Derry produces all kinds of heat. The last thing I want is to be too hot to touch.
The drive is fun. We concoct ridiculous code words Tally and I plan to use if things get overly hot and heavy for either of us. I’m on my own for aid, but I’ll do everything in my power to ensure she succeeds in keeping her toy unbroken. Regrettably, I’m not even sure what the warning signs are for her losing the plot. Something tells me I’ll have no doubts if and when they’re displayed. Too late. That’s when they’ll be displayed. Will it be so late there won’t be anything I can do to help? This is such a bad idea.
We park in the empty driveway. “What if they’re not home?”
“See that?” She points to the connected garage. “It’s called a garage. People use them to park their vehicles in.”
I glower at her.
I avoid the northern side of town. It’s where the sports-inclined students hail from, and while the parental units of such students all come from diverse socio-economic sectors, this particular melting pot isn’t one with soup in mind. It’s where the rich people live. I live on the other end of town. Winter, for me, means spending as many hours shoveling the driveway as digging out a car buried under the snow.
This driveway is heated, so it melts itself, Superego quips.
“It’s just a garage, for goodness sake.”
I shrug.
“Being around us doesn’t bother you any.”
“Yeah, but you’ve had a lifetime to accumulate your wealth, or did you always have money?”
“Not always.” She shakes out her hands to remove the nerves.
I have flashbacks of my firework fingers. Robot activated.
“Word to the unwise, maybe remember not to act like it’s your first time here.”
“Right.” She blinks rapidly. “I’ve been here daily.” She wrings her hands. “Perfectly normal thing here. I’m not eating anyone. Same as any other day.”
“You don’t eat people, Tally.” I gently pat her arm. This steadies her. Me offering her emotional support solidifies the snarky shell she cases herself in. She refuses to accept pity. Am I different at the core? I shirk solidarity in a way she doesn’t, but we both have roots from the same insecurity tree. Tally, she’s one hundred percent kicker. Me? Am I a licker or kicker? That’s a great question. Hmm. I’m more of a ticker. You know, because I’m a ticking time bomb just waiting to go ka-BOOM. I’m also a bit of a picker. I struggle to let things go that mar an otherwise smooth surface. I pick and pick until it leaves a scar.
Tally slaps my arm. “What’s wrong with your face?”
“What do you mean?”
“It was all scrunched up like you smelled something bad.”
I breathe in her Narcissus and Sage. Not bad. Just weird. “Sorry, I got lost in my head for a minute.”
“Well, quit it right now. You’ll embarrass me.” She lifts her hand in preparation to announce our arrival and turns narrowed eyes back on me. “Do. Not. Embarrass. Me.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, your majesty.”
“You better not,” she threatens, straightening her shoulders and giving the door three hard knocks. Her persistent nerves are feeding mine. I clench my fists at my sides to steel my resolve. Robot armed.
Our arrival wakes a hibernating bear den. A loud crash precedes two sets of footsteps thundering toward the door. I rub light finger circles and wait, if the brief two seconds count as waiting.
The smile on Barry’s face loosens Tally’s clenched jaw. They’re blocking the doorway, gaping like it’s love at first sight. She’ll blow our cover, Superego warns. Put a lid on her.
I force a smile for Derry, who’s staring at me. Okay, it isn’t strictly forced, outside my muscles being seized from anxiety, so moving them takes concentrated effort.
When I give Tally a heavy-handed pat on the back, she shoots me an accusatory sneer but swiftly registers my intentions. “Guess she wants a tour or something. We’ll meet in the game room after.”
Derry gives her a chin lift, pushing off from his position supporting the doorframe. “Hey.”
“Hey,” I repeat lamely.
You’ll want to work on your vocabulary, Superego suggests unhelpfully. It’s lacking.
Only, I can’t work on my vocabulary while focusing on the strangely contained fire circling the pit of my stomach. It’s not a fear thing. I don’t fear the flame. I mean, I’m certainly cautious of it. How could I not be? Mostly, I’m curious. It isn’t like the familiar fires I’m constantly tamping down, unique even from the protective fire I experienced earlier as Phelan sucked out the excess fuel.
Derry’s jolting concern tears me from my contemplative state. Seems Phelan should’ve slurped up a smidge more essence when he was having a go. If he had, I wouldn’t have to add my enhanced empathy to the hot garbage pile of reasons coming here was a bad idea.
Derry nods for me to follow him inside. I’m helpless to do anything except follow his directive.