I screamed and hurled myself out of bed, thinking that would stop the worst of the spread, but when I looked down I discovered another shock: my skin was practically see-through, and beneath it pulsed veins of magma. The flames sprouted from the veins and continued to grow the more I stared until I couldn’t tell what was me and what was fire.
Water. I needed water.
I turned on the shower and threw myself into it, not caring how cold the water was. My skin hissed—actually hissed—as the spray hit. Steam quickly filled the room as I turned the pressure up, batting at my arms.
After what felt like an eternity the flames died down, but my body still felt overbearingly hot, my skin still molten.
I slipped a little on the tile as I stepped out, bashing my knees as I hit the ground. It hurt, but was masked by the new pain of my skin heating up. It felt like it was blistering.
There was a gasp at the door. I snapped my head up. Through my tears I could make out Jasper. Could make out his horrified expression as he took in the scene.
I must have looked like a wreck: soaking hair drenched like wet noodles. The water that’d remained on my arms had started to steam again, making the air in the bathroom even more difficult to breathe.
“Jasper!” I pleaded. The burning on my insides was growing unbearable. “Help!”
He rushed to my side in an instant.
“Where’s it hurt?” He looked over every part of my exposed skin, which I supposed was answer enough.
“I can’t get it to stop,” I said.
“Yes, you can.”
“No, I—”
Before I could stop him, Jasper wrapped his hands around each of my upper arms. Not hard, almost gently. A small hiss of pain escaped his lips as the heat of my skin immediately began to burn him. I tried to jerk away.
“Stop! Are you trying to hurt yourself?”
“Keep yourself grounded here, with me.” Jasper clenched his jaw but wouldn’t let go. The palms of his hands were beginning to turn red.
“Jasper…”
“Breathe. Control it.”
“I already told you I can’t!”
“Yes you can,” he growled. “You’ve done it before. This time is no different.”
My skin was prickling with the heat and the growing force of his touch. He made it sound so easy. He sounded so sure that I could do this. If he was that confident, then the least I could do was make the effort.
I left behind the sensations of his skin against mine, the choking steam, the building, unbearable heat, and focused only on the core of power within me.
It’d become a raging inferno. Even approaching it from inside myself felt like stepping willingly into an oven. I forced myself to think of nothing else but tamping down its power.
The flames continued licking at me, begging for me to let them run wild. I brushed them away and continued fighting down the power. It took a couple more tries but at last it’d returned to its normal place.
I let out a grateful breath before examining my magic. Something about it felt different now. Its size and shape within me no longer felt uniform. It was as sporadic and unpredictable as an actual flame. I had no idea how I was supposed to feel about that.
“There. That wasn’t so hard,” Jasper said.
I nodded and slumped back against the glass of the shower. Jasper’s hands remained on my arms. At last he pulled them off. I opened my eyes and gasped. Thick blisters and raw, red skin covered his palms.
“They’ll heal,” he said consolingly. “What matters is that you’re all right.”
My arms were fine. My entire body was fine. I didn’t even feel that weak after all the water. In fact, the only thing that seemed wrong was that I’d nearly set my room ablaze. And hurt Jasper.
“See?” Jasper held up one of his hands. If I looked closely, I could see the worst of the burned parts beginning to close up. The blisters had already started to recede back into his palm.
He gave me a comforting smile that was probably more for my benefit than him actually feeling great. “Vampire perks. It’s all right to be jealous.”
“Lucky you,” I said quietly.
It was then I noticed what he was wearing. Or rather, not wearing.
“Did I…catch you in the middle of something?” I managed to choke out.
Jasper looked down at his bare, muscled chest, flecked with droplets of water, then to the towel wrapped low around his slender hips.
“Yeah. I was in the shower. Could hear you through the walls. You scream like a banshee. And I’ve heard one before, so I know.”
“Uh-huh.” My mind had locked up, capable of only vague grunts. I had a brief image of our almost kiss. His bare chest was so close I could see a pink scar in the shape of what might have been a claw mark, running from his collarbone down toward his heart. “That’s…uh…”
Jasper stood. “I’ll be right back.”
“Back,” I echoed dumbly, watching his back flex as he walked out.
I shook my head, overwhelmed with embarrassment. That’d been…amazing? No! Unexpected. Definitely unexpected. In the best way. And Jasper hadn’t seemed fazed by it in the slightest. Not that I’d expect him to be. A soaking wet girl with magma for skin on the floor of a bathroom did not the most romantic scene make.
I reached over and pulled a towel down to me. I was completely drenched but hopefully I could get my hair into a somewhat presentable state. I did another body check. I still felt…good. Really good. Though I knew showers didn’t affect me like the rain did, I hadn’t expected to feel this energized. The warmth of my magic spread outward, filling me with a new strength. I wouldn’t say I felt more in control of my magic—quite the opposite, really—but something had definitely changed.
I hoped it was for the best.
“Riley!” Ari—frazzled bed-head, bleary eyes and all—rushed in, followed by Jasper, fully clothed now, holding a cup of water.
“I’m okay—” I started.
“Drink this.” Ari snatched the water out of Jasper’s hand and practically forced it down my throat. “I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner. I would have except I was asleep.”
“Like the dead,” Jasper said, crossing his arms and leaning against the vanity. “Usually takes an act of God to wake her.”
“Or a vampire who bothers to tell me what’s happening,” Ari snapped.
I finished off the water. “Jasper did fine.” Very, very fine. “He helped me control it. I’m sorry I screamed and worried you guys.”
“It’s not a worry,” Ari said firmly. “If anything at all is wrong, you tell us.”
Jasper jerked his head to my bedroom. “Or we take a big sniff and figure it out for ourselves. I put out the fire. It’ll probably smell singed for a week.”
I put my face in my hands, mortified.
“What happened?” Ari said, rubbing my back. “Seems like the spring worked to unlock some latent magic. You have any idea what triggered it?”
“I was dreaming of the tunnel,” I said. “The one supposedly leading to the throne. I kept trying to get closer to it, but it kept getting farther away and then…”
I gestured to my arms like that finished the story. “I don’t get it. Does out-of-control magic like that happen a lot?”
“Not often,” Ari said. “But it’s not that uncommon, believe me,” she added at my crestfallen face.
“Mostly to those just coming into their powers,” Jasper said. “Not those who have had them for a little while like you.”
Ari shot him a look that said, “Not helping!”
“So what does that mean?” I said.
“It means Lukas really wasn’t lying. You’re an elemental—an incredibly strong magic user—and you’re getting stronger. More of your powers are starting to manifest.”
I balked. “Great, does that mean I have to sleep in a metal box? Does that—”
I cut off, suddenly remembering the pictures Sawyer had pulled up on his computer. Giant. Soulless. Monstrous.
“I think this might be a one-time event,” Jasper said to the first part.
“And what about after that?” I couldn’t get the images out of my head. Couldn’t get what they might mean. “What if this keeps happening and I turn into a full elemental?”
“Then we won’t have to worry about the Deathless or Lukas,” Jasper said. “Or having a home, or a city, or a world…”
“Jas, I swear…” Ari bit out. “That won’t happen,” she said to me. “You’ll have us here to help you. I know!” She stood. “I’ll blend you up a broccoli and garlic smoothie. It’s an amazing immune boost. You’ll feel tons better.”
And she was gone before I could tell her no. Or vomit at the thought of a broccoli smoothie anything.
“It won’t happen,” Jasper said firmly. His eyes were arresting, staring deeply into mine as though imploring me to believe him. “Whatever you’re thinking, it won’t happen. For one, you’re not a full elemental. Just part.”
I rubbed at the puddle of water with my big toe. “Part might be enough.”
“For two, you’re going to learn to control your magic before anything gets too out of hand again.”
“Control it with who? With you?”
“With me. Or with a much better teacher if we need it.”
I didn’t want any other teacher than Jasper. I didn’t want to need another teacher, period. I wanted all of this to start making sense and for the world to stop just for a moment and let me breathe.
“It won’t end with the prophecy, will it?” I said.
“What won’t?”
I gestured to my arm. “This power. Finding the throne. I’ll have to become queen, won’t I? Otherwise it’ll just keep getting worse—all of it—until I do whatever that stupid prophecy wants.” I threw the towel into the sink. “I hate it! I hate how it keeps pushing me to where I don’t want to go. I don’t want any part of this.”
“‘A person often meets their destiny on the road they took to avoid it,’” Jasper said.
I looked up at him, confused. “What?”
“Jean de la Fontaine. French poet. I do read, you know,” he said, arching an eyebrow.
I closed my hanging mouth. “That wasn’t what I was most surprised about.”
Jasper crouched beside me. “This destiny thing sucks, but you know what? I think you’re one of the only ones who can do it.”
“Liar.”
“Shut up and listen for second: Lukas is willing to do anything to get this power. Farrar and Valencia are slowly trying to take it for themselves and the rest of the Deathless. And then there’s you, someone who doesn’t want it, who only wants to help out her friends and protect her family. I’d say those are qualifications for a good leader right there.”
I still didn’t believe it. Even though deep down I could feel a strange rightness with the idea. A rightness that could have been tethered to my very soul much like the calling I’d felt in the magic tunnel. That, and Jasper’s confidence was infectious.
“What if the others don’t agree with me becoming a queen?” I said. “Not just the other races but even the other Outcasts?”
“They might not. Actually, they probably won’t. We’ll deal with that when the time comes. Together.”
“Won’t be together if you’re with the vampires.”
Jasper gave a jerky nod. “Maybe not exactly. But we’ll figure that out too.”
His eyes flickered down to my lips. I could feel my breathing tighten, wanting to touch him now that he was this close, even knowing what had happened last time; knowing that this strange, new, unlocked magic I now had would be nothing but an irresistible feast to him.
I almost didn’t care.
Before I could do anything monumentally stupid, Ari came back. She was smoothie-less (thank you, thank you, thank you) and looked pissed.
“Something wrong?” I said.
“There’s someone here to see you,” she said. “You’d better come quick.”
After Jasper and Ari had left to attend to our uninvited guest, I quickly threw on some dry clothes and followed them out, trying to ignore the pieces of charred curtain and covers scattered around my room. I’d have to pick them up as soon as possible and not just for cleanliness sake. I didn’t want any more reminders about what had happened. I had to believe that Jasper was right and I’d get my new powers under control. I didn’t want to consider the alternative.
I came downstairs to the living room and stopped, mouth falling open.
“Yo.” Hayes waved to me from where he lounged on our couch. He looked totally at ease, even with Leon in full lion form eyeing him dangerously, and Jasper and Ari looking ready to tear him apart if he so much as twitched the wrong way. Maybe he really didn’t feel like we were a threat, or maybe the person keeping him in place was Sienna, sitting in a chair across from him, looking like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to hex him or kiss him.
“What are you doing here?” I said.
“I’ve only asked that about five dozen times,” Sienna said. Her glare deepened. “He won’t answer.”
Hayes winked at her. “Normally I’d love to answer you, but I wanted to make sure Riley heard it first. And your couch is so comfy.”
“Why’d you even let him in?” I asked Ari.
“Let him try something,” Leon flashed his enormous teeth. “Please.”
“I’m here now,” I said. “What is it you so desperately need to tell me?”
“I got word an hour ago that Lukas found some kind of markings he was apparently searching for. He seemed excited about it.”
“In the tunnels?” Ari said.
“Yes.”
“So?” Jasper crossed his arms. “There are hundreds of ancient markings all over the city.”
Hayes looked right at me. “You sure about that?”
I knew at once what he was saying. Uko told me that I needed to follow the markings to reach the end of the prophecy. The only reason Lukas would be excited was if he truly believed he’d stumbled onto something big.
“How do we know you’re not lying?” I said.
“Yes, please be lying,” Sienna said, leaning closer. “I’d love the chance to get a little payback. Even if you’re telling the truth it’d be worth it.”
For a moment, Hayes looked crestfallen. “Believe it or not, I didn’t mean for any of you to get hurt at Lukas’s. Though if you were trying to win the Darwin Award for most pointless risk, congrats, you did it. You’re lucky you got out when you did.”
“So that was you who helped us, then?” I said.
Hayes just smiled. I took that as a yes and turned to Jasper. “I’m not sure he’s lying.”
“I don’t think he is,” Jasper said. “And honestly, we can’t take the risk if Lukas found something important.”
“Where is Lukas now?” I asked Hayes.
“In one of the older tunnels on the north side. I’m supposed to meet up with him soon. He’s only taking a small group of shifters. Strangely enough he doesn’t trust everyone in his Pack.”
“Gee, I wonder why?” Sienna said.
“Leon, help get ready to go,” Jasper said. “Ari, show our ‘guest’ out.”
“I’m not leaving until he’s gone,” Leon growled.
“Don’t worry, I’ll show him the door,” Sienna said. A small spark shot off her finger and snapped at Hayes, making him jump. “Off your butt.”
“Whose side are you really on?” I said as Hayes walked past.
“The right one,” he said.
“If you’re leading us into a trap, I’ll personally hunt you down and castrate you,” Sienna said sweetly.
Hayes gave her a charming smile. “I guess I wouldn’t mind if I got to see you again—”
Sienna slammed the door in his face.
“Guess you’re over him,” I said.
She shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. He’s still cute.”
“Ari, Leon, Riley, let’s go,” Jasper said. “No telling how far Lukas has gotten already.”
Sienna looked like she was about to argue but squeezed me in a tight hug instead. “I should stay. Keep this place locked down while you guys are gone, you know? But I swear, if something happens and you all die, I’ll kill you.”
“That sounds fair,” I said.
I spotted Collette watching us from the top of the stairs. She sneered at me.
“Off to save us poor, helpless Outcasts again I suppose?”
“I’m sure there are ways you could help, if you wanted,” I said. “Nothing poor and helpless about that.”
Collette flipped her hair over her shoulder. “And leave the Loft and my morning workout? As if.” She turned, giving me a lazy wave. “Don’t die.”
I’d try my best. I hoped it’d be enough.