My worry about Sienna and Sawyer had gnawed at me for most of the day. The pool of blood beneath Sawyer, so starkly red, had imprinted itself in my head. Though Ari had assured me he’d be fine, I still feared the worst.
But all my fears were laid to rest when I practically barged into his room, demanding to see him.
Sawyer wasn’t in bed where Ari and Collette had commanded he stay, but instead perched in front of his computer, one hand fumbling for an open bag of Bugles beside him, never pulling his eyes off the screen. Collette’s healing magic must have worked better than I thought. Now he could go back to doing more damage to his body than any vampire ever could.
“Why aren’t you resting?” I said.
“I’m all better.” He lifted first one arm, then the other, as though movement of two of his four limbs proved it. He hadn’t put his hoodie back on yet, and I saw the faint white line at the base of his scalp where the vampire’s cut had healed up. Hopefully it’d disappear given enough time. “And I was bored.”
I peered at the lit-up screens, watching images of immense, raging creatures flick by. Some were as large as cities, with clusters of tornadoes around them; others weren’t much bigger than I was but had mountains as big as Everest crumbling behind them. Each one was mesmerizing and terrible and…
“Are those supposed to be elementals like me?” I said.
Sawyer didn’t answer. Another image came on screen, this one of a being made of pure lava, leaving a swatch of scorched earth and bubbling ground in its wake.
“Sawyer?”
“Artist renditions of true elementals. At least what the fantasy community thinks of beings like this,” Sawyer finally answered. “There’s no way to tell if they’re accurate since, as you know, nobody was alive to see them. Or not alive anymore.”
Maybe because they were so old. Or…I thought as I looked at the picture. “No one survived an encounter to write about them.”
I peered into the soulless eyes of the elemental as it continued to forge its path of destruction. I’d felt that kind of fire deep inside. Felt that extreme lack of control as the tiger had risen up to defend me. Was this what I was, truly? Or was this what I was destined to become?
“Don’t stare at the screens too long,” I said, swallowing my fear before it could manifest into full-blown panic. “And try to get some more rest.”
“Uh-huh.”
I grabbed the bag of Bugles and swapped it out with a bowl of carrots and celery sticks one of the others must have left. Sawyer’s fingers brushed against them before recoiling.
“Hey…where’d….”
I dumped the Bugles in the trash as I left.
My next stop was to check on Sienna. Ari had told me (after my more-than-a-little confusing rooftop sparring session with Jasper) that I should go see her and Lucinda, the one who was apparently helping her heal.
I immediately headed up to the second to last floor, wondering why I hadn’t seen Lucinda before. Granted, I hadn’t seen some of the other Outcasts either, but even Rodge had made an appearance, and Ari had said that he could die in his room and nobody would be able to tell the difference for a month. Lucinda liked to hang out by the pool I had forgotten the Loft supposedly had. Maybe she used it as much as Collette used the gym.
On the second floor I found a side hallway I surely would have missed if I hadn’t been looking and finally reached a clear glass door completely steamed over.
The moment I walked inside my skin beaded with moisture, my hair undoubtedly preparing to become even more of a frizzy monstrosity. But I wasn’t paying attention to that—I’d entered paradise.
A beach of picture-perfect white sand ringed a pool of sapphire-blue water. An island on the other side of the glass-still blue held more sand and real palm trees. The sound of tropical birds squawked over my head, though I couldn’t see them.
I spied Sienna and Collette sitting at the edge of the deeper end of the pool. Sienna dangled her injured leg in the water. I could make out a strangely distorted shape in the water beneath.
Sienna’s eyes grew wide when she spotted me coming over. She began to awkwardly get up, trying to free her leg from whoever—or whatever—had hold of it below.
“Riley! I didn’t expect—How’d you get here?”
“Ari told me,” I said. “Don’t get up. I don’t want to stop your healing.”
“No, my leg’s fine now,” Sienna said, still trying to free it from the thing below, which seemed to have a firm grip on it.
“Stop spazzing,” Collette grouched, brushing off beads of water Sienna splashed on her arm. “Not like she was never going to meet her.”
I suddenly realized who the shape below must have been. “Is that Lucinda?”
There was a splash. My upper body was suddenly drenched in saltwater as the person below broke the surface.
“Sienna! I’m not done yet! Give me your leg—”
Lucinda spotted me, and I got a good look at her. She had lustrous, coral-green hair, sheeny like a pearl. Short, pointed teeth filled her mouth, open in surprise. But the most shocking thing was the enormous fish tail comprising the lower half of her body, scales glittering as she pumped it to stay above the surface.
“Hey,” I said, giving an awkward, soaked wave.
“Eep!” Lucinda answered and dropped beneath the surface once more. I watched her fractured form dart across the deep end and vanish around the other side of the island.
“That’s what I was afraid of,” Sienna said, letting out a long sigh. “It’s not your fault, Riley. Lucinda’s just really, really, shy. I wanted to give her a chance to hear more about you before meeting you in person.”
“She’ll get over it,” Collette said. “Just give her a minute.”
“Okay. Uh…” I took a damp seat beside Sienna. She watched the island for a moment before beaming at me. “Welcome to paradise!”
“Probably the only bit of it we’re going to get any time soon,” Collette said. I didn’t miss the disgruntled look she shot me. Sienna frowned at her.
“We already talked about that. What the shifters and vamps are doing isn’t Riley’s fault.”
“Whatever,” Collette said. She skimmed the surface of the water with the tips of her fingers. “Not like she helped much.”
“That’s not fair.”
“No, she’s right,” I said.
Collette cocked an eyebrow at me.
“I’m sorry for putting you guys in danger. It was selfish of me. I needed answers, but I should have come up with a better way to get them.”
“Don’t worry.” Sienna gave me a soggy side hug. “I’m totally fine, Sawyer’s back to his usual reclusive self. Collette’s still…”
Sienna practically withered beneath Collette’s venomous glare. “Well, you know,” Sienna said. “It’s not like this is the first time we’ve ever been in danger before.”
“Still, what I am is my responsibility to understand. You shouldn’t have to—”
“Would you shut up already?”
I gasped as Collette splashed water at my face.
“I’m so freaking tired of you acting like you’re the only person who has to solve this thing,” Collette said. “Like, seriously, how conceited can you get? I’m not saying you’re this queen or anything, but you’re still an Outcast. We all have to deal with the prophecy.”
She glared out across the water. “So stop taking all the blame. It’s unattractive. And it’s pissing me off.”
“Yeah.” Sienna said brightly. “We’re all big girls and boys. We can make questionable decisions on our own.”
I felt tears prickling the corners of my eyes and quickly wiped a wet hand over my face. When I was done, I noticed a coral-green head peering around shyly from behind the island. “Thanks, guys. I’ll remember that.”
“Good!” Sienna said.
“You better,” Collette said.
“Lucinda!” Sienna waved at Lucinda’s head, which immediately popped out of sight. “Give her just a bit longer,” Sienna said apologetically.
I took off my shoes and let my feet dangle in the warm water. It smelled like the ocean, and the warm air was giving me flashbacks to what felt like another life, where I’d been able to go to the actual ocean and sit in the actual surf. Iris and I had gone a few times last summer. It’d been a while since I’d thought of those trips. Heck, it’d been a while since I’d had time to slow down at all.
Little by little, Lucinda floated out from her hiding spot: first her hair, then her glimmering tail, cutting through the water as she drifted back over to us.
“I’m Riley,” I said when she floated in front of me, half her face submerged, pearl-like eyes peering at me. “I’m the thirteenth Outcast.”
Lucinda gave a short nod like she knew that already. “I’m…Lucinda.”
Bubbles came up when she spoke, but I could make out her words perfectly clear, even underwater. “Sienna told me you’re going to solve the prophecy.”
Collette snorted. I ignored her. “I’m trying. We’re trying. I’m not doing a very good job, though.”
“That’s okay.” Lucinda’s voice was like the sea breeze, lighter and more breathless than even Sienna’s. “I wish I could help more, but I…”
Her tail flashed beneath the artificial sunlight.
“You’re a mermaid?” I guessed.
Lucinda nodded.
“And I’m guessing you can’t leave the water.”
“Well…”
“She technically can,” Sienna said. “Mermaids with enough magic can change their flippers to legs, but she dries out really fast if she’s not in water.”
“That’s why I like when it rains,” Lucinda said. “Otherwise we have to bring spray bottles and lots of bottled water for my skin. It’s a hassle for everyone and I don’t want to be a bother.”
“We already said it wasn’t a bother, so don’t harp on it,” Collette snapped. Lucinda shrank back just a bit, but she kept those luminous eyes fixated on me, like she’d never seen anyone like me before. Or had rarely seen anyone new.
“Did you fill Jasper in on everything you told Ari?” Sienna asked me. I could tell she was trying to change the subject in order to make Lucinda feel more comfortable.
“She told him most of it,” I said. “He and I just talked, actually.”
“And?”
I thought back to our sparring, to our argument, to our…Whatever that last part had been about. “We’re good. We’re gonna figure this thing out with the vampires, and in the meantime try to keep Lukas off our back.”
“You talk about anything else?” Sienna pressed. She was giving me a knowing look and I felt my cheeks heat.
“I mean…We might have…I didn’t think it was that obvious…”
Sienna’s impish grin grew. “Maybe not to some, but I’m more perceptive. Your aura’s positively radiant. Plus, I’ve noticed those smoldering glances you two throw each other’s way.”
My face felt like it was going to ignite.
“Gro-oss!” Collette said.
“That’s so romantic!” Lucinda sighed, performing an underwater backflip.
“Okay, first off, no one is throwing smoldering anything except for punches when we’re training,” I said.
Sienna’s grin didn’t drop. “Whatever you say…”
“Secondly, he…even if I wanted him…Even if he…”
Collette rolled her eyes so hard I was worried they’d disappear into her skull. “This is pathetic.”
“We tried to kiss,” I blurted out. “But it didn’t work.”
The three of them stared at me.
Collette furrowed her brow. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but even you should be able to figure out how kissing works. You each take your lips and…” She pressed her palms together and twisted them back and forth.
“That wasn’t the problem,” I said. Yep, my face was definitely on fire. My eyebrows were going to combust at any moment.
“It’s because he’s a Forsworn,” Lucinda said quietly.
Sienna nodded. She wasn’t smiling anymore. “I was worried that’d be the problem. I’ve never seen Jasper get close to anyone. Not that any of us Outcasts really have. Dating outside our group is tough. And dating inside…” She shrugged. “Not for me. I didn’t think that the reason Jasper might not be with anyone was because of what he was.”
“He started draining my magic as soon as we got close,” I said. “I don’t think he even meant to do it. It just…happened.”
The others were silent. I was pretty sure none of them had run across a problem like this. You like boy. You hope said boy likes you. Said boy also sucks away your magic every time you get too close. Not exactly a typical romantic hurdle.
“Riley, I don’t want to dampen your spirits, but Forsworn like Jasper are very rare and very strong for a reason,” Sienna said. “If he takes too much of your magic it could permanently hurt you. I feared this might be a problem with your magic being as strong as it is. With a normal paranormal it may be easier for him to resist.”
“There are probably ways he could learn to control it,” Lucinda said hopefully. “And you could learn to shield your magic.”
“You think that’s possible?” I said.
“I’m sure it is. Maybe…”
I pulled my legs up to my chest. “Him draining my magic wasn’t even the worst part, it was what he did after. He looked so…I don’t know, not disgusted. But it was like I’d slapped him.”
Sienna put her hand over mine. “I’m sure he wasn’t mad at you. He was probably scared. He doesn’t want to hurt you.”
“I don’t even know why you’re bothering at all,” Collette said.
“Seriously, Collette?” Sienna said, annoyed. “Hasn’t there ever been anyone you’ve liked?”
Collette blushed. “T-That’s not the point, dummy.”
“Please don’t be mean,” Lucinda said meekly.
“I’m not being mean, I’m being realistic,” Collette snapped. “Seriously, this isn’t the problem we should be focusing on right now. Hello, we kind of still have a prophecy to figure out.” She leveled her gaze at me. “And someone supposedly needs to become royalty or something equally stupid.”
Biting final comment aside, Collette was right. Compared to the other things I—all of us—were dealing with, my disappointment with Jasper seemed selfish and trivial.
Still, it sucked. No pun intended.
“Maybe things will change,” Lucinda said cheerfully. “If you’re meant to be together, it will work out. The best romances always do.”
I gave her a smile, trying to feel optimistic about that. I didn’t know about true love, but I’d hold out hope that I could at least kiss a guy I was growing to like more.
“Riley?”
I was surprised to see Ari at the door. She motioned for me.
“You have to go already?” Sienna said.
“Yeah, sorry, we’re—” I almost told them that we were going to pay a visit to the Horde, but I figured that’d only worry them. “See you soon.”
“Thanks for not saying too much,” Ari said when I joined her outside in the hall.
“Though we should tell them soon,” I said. “Wasn’t a lack of communication what got us into this mess in the first place?”
Ari grimaced. “True. But this is different.”
“Maybe tell Jasper that.”
“Are you kidding? That boy has a skull as thick as granite. Maybe you could. You seem to have just the right hammer to crack it.”
I wasn’t positive, but I could have sworn she shot me a significant look. Seriously, was it that obvious I liked him?
“Besides,” Ari went on. “We’re just meeting the Horde. It won’t be dangerous. At least, it’s usually not.”
“Sounds comforting.”
“We’ll be fine,” Ari said, this time with more confidence. “Now come on. We have one stop to make before that. I’ll let Jasper explain on the way.”