Chapter Sixteen

 

A warm tropical breeze brushed my cheeks and the bright rays of the late morning sun hit me with their full intensity. I did it! I rolled over on my pillow, letting my head sink into its downy surface. I actually felt rejuvenated now that the pain from Sully’s breakup had dulled. “A new time, a new place…a new beginning,” I whispered merrily to myself. Happiness spread to every part of my body, contemplating the novel future of my own creation.

Yet when I opened my eyes, all the joy I’d felt upon awakening vanished in an instant. I flew up in bed and rubbed my eyes, unable to believe what I saw. Nothing had changed.

Nothing.

Every feature of Lulu’s spare bedroom looked identical as when I had left—the sheets, the curtains, even the flimsy little dresser. Not a single object stood out of its designated place.

I wanted to cry, realizing my ineptitude. What did it matter if I could engulf my body in white fire, if the flames didn’t actually transport me anywhere? Or worse, what if I couldn’t produce white fire at all? What if everything I’d lived these past few days had merely been a dream?

Take me where I’m needed. Who’d have thought I’d end up back at Auntie Lulu’s doing more chores? Or be stuck here tending to her frail, sickly aged form until the doctor eventually confined her to bed? I gulped, unable to imagine the long years that lay ahead.

I stumbled out of bed and staggered to the kitchen on lethargic, weak legs. Lacking the energy to do anything, I plopped in a chair by the table and let my head fall into my hands. Depressing thoughts consumed my mind.

A few minutes later, Lulu entered the room with a spring in her step. She pulled out a chair and sat across from me at the table. “I’m thinking purple,” she said in a cheerful tone.

I lifted my head off my hands to glance at her. Aside from the carefree look painted across her face, she seemed the same as yesterday. She’d even worn the identical shirt two days in a row to save on laundry.

“Excuse me?” I grumbled, confused.

“Well, light purple,” she clarified.

My head dropped into my hands again. I muttered, “I don’t get it,” And to be honest, I didn’t care, either. The magic had failed. What a waste Pele’s training had been.

“I think it’s time for a fresh coat of paint. With all the improvements you’ve made around here, pink just doesn’t seem to fit this old place anymore. Besides, Lipoa’s has a sale on outdoor paint colors. A new look, a new color…a new beginning. What do you think?”

My heart stopped. “What did you say?” I managed, wondering if she’d possibly overheard me from my bedroom. But that was impossible…especially when I’d whispered the thought to myself!

“Could you be a dear and start on the house for little old me?” Lulu warbled and pushed some bills across the table.

I scratched my head, convinced I’d simply misheard her. “Now?”

She nodded. “The sale ends today.”

It didn’t matter that I hadn’t eaten anything yet. I doubted I could’ve kept the food down in my unsettled stomach anyway. After stuffing her money deep into my pocket and jamming my feet into my sandals, I trudged out the door, purposefully letting it slam loudly upon its hinges behind me.

“Take me to where I’m needed,” I grunted, kicking a stone off the sidewalk and into the grass as I tramped down the hill into town. By far, that had to have been the stupidest idea I’d dreamed up in a long time. Like I didn’t have anything better to do than more chores around Lulu’s cottage. A part of me felt like she just used me for free labor to fix up the place before selling it for a bundle so she could move into one of those retirement condos down by the beach.

I began to wonder why I even bothered coming to Hilo in the first place. Things would’ve been so much easier if I had simply stayed in Pacifica near Sully. I hadn’t realized exactly how much I missed him until he was gone. It might’ve been a challenge to avoid Micah for the rest of the school year after Celia made it abundantly clear that she didn’t want anyone in her family to go anywhere near me. But I’m positive I would’ve found a way to fare better than I did here.

I envisioned Sully at the party on the beach, sitting around the bonfire, talking to Bethany. She laughed at something he’d said and casually slipped her hand inside his. She batted her eyelashes at him and Sully swallowed hard, unable to turn away from her gaze. For a long moment, they sat in silence with their foreheads almost touching. She moved closer until their lips…

Get over it, Jordan, I chastised myself. It’s done. Still, those words did little to erase the pain and hurt clouding my heart.

After rounding the corner into town, I paused in front of the sign for Lipoa’s Hardware Store, a sign I expected to see all too often in the future.

“Service with a Smile,” the sign on the glass door proclaimed. Too bad I don’t have anything to smile about. Dejected, I kicked myself for unintentionally driving Sully from my life.

With the image of Bethany kissing my ex still fresh in my mind, I furiously threw open the door and barged into the store. In that same instant, I heard a loud yelp when the door met resistance, only opening halfway.

I quickly realized why.

On the other side, a tall teenage boy hunched over on the floor, clutching his gushing nose. Crimson drops splattered his hardware store apron. His bold blue eyes flashed with anger, making a wave of guilt wash over my whole self.

“Oh, God! I am so sorry,” I said and covered my shocked mouth with my hands.

He blinked, the anger quickly dissolving from his eyes, like my heartfelt apology somehow surprised him.

I dropped to my knees beside him, the image of Bethany and Sully quickly vanishing from my mind. “I totally didn’t see you. Is there anything I can do?”

Blood pooled in his hands. He shot me a pleading look.

“Got it. Tissues, rag, ice…whatever works, right?”

I guessed he would’ve nodded if it hadn’t been for all the blood. I stood up and called loudly to the back of the store. “Hey, Marvin? Got a bit of a problem here. Can you bring some tissues up front? And how about some ice?”

Marvin readily appeared, shaking his head as he surveyed the scene. “That’ll leave a shiner,” he declared and handed me a box of Kleenex before leaving for more supplies.

I pulled out four or five tissues and wedged them into the boy’s bloody hands. When the tissues quickly stained, I yanked out another half dozen.

Marvin returned with a Ziploc bag of ice and a trash can. “Just make sure you don’t get any on the floor or you’ll be cleaning the floors at closing tonight,” he said in a joking manner.

“No breaks for the injured?” I wagered, handing the boy the bag of ice.

The boy shrugged. “I was scheduled to clean floors tonight, anyway.” He held the ice to his nose with one hand and the wad of tissues with his other.

I watched him, trying to think of something helpful to say. “Do you think you should go to the emergency room?”

“I’ll be fine.” He tossed his clump of bloody tissues in the trash can and held out his hand expectantly.

I passed him another stack of Kleenex. “Maybe it’s broken,” I suggested. “Can I see it for a second?”

He removed the bag of ice obligingly.

“It looks kind of crooked,” I noted, resisting the urge to cringe.

“It’s always been crooked,” he said, flashing me a quirky smile that curled up on one side. He reapplied the ice.

“That much?” I said.

He shot me a fierce look.

I bit my lip. “Sorry. Not helping.”

“Seriously, I’ll be fine. You don’t need to worry about me, Jordan.”

A lump stuck in my throat, making it difficult to breathe. “You know my name?” I managed in a squeaky voice. How could he when I hadn’t introduced myself yet?

He shrugged. “It’s a small town. News travels fast,” he said, stating the obvious.

“Oh, right,” I said, feeling like an idiot. How hard could it be to learn the name of a single new person? Especially when I was the only teen female in the store.

I sat back on my heels, still puzzled. Had I seen him around town or at the beach before and simply hadn’t noticed, my thoughts too preoccupied with my training and Sully? I studied his features, searching for a sign of familiarity. The boy’s sun-kissed brown hair flopped forward, except for the cowlick above his forehead, just a little to the right of center. Not that I could actually see his full face with a wad of tissues covering his nose, but I guessed he was about my age—sixteen, seventeen at most. Even hunched over, he appeared tall and lean, but not scrawny. And his eyes were the most amazing shade of blue, reminding me of the shallow cerulean waters surrounding the reefs in Bora Bora where Skye and I had fished for dinner.

I stared back, perhaps for a moment too long, convincing myself I’d never actually noticed him before. When I handed him a stack of tissues, he gave me a short, confused look and tilted his head forward, pinching the bridge of his nose to help stop the bleeding.

“Are you sure you’re okay…?” I paused, realizing I hadn’t learned his name yet.

“I’m Liam,” he said through the tissues. “Liam Innis Reilly.”

“Really?” I replied, wondering how many other teenage boys I’d ever met had actually spoken their middle name. What a dork.

“Not Real-ly. It’s pronounced Rye-lee.” He stuck out his hand and then reconsidered. “Maybe some other time when my hands aren’t quite so messy.”

I crinkled my nose. Yeah…or maybe not, I thought, wondering when my guilty feelings would subside. But for the moment, I felt compelled to stay by his side, at least until the bleeding settled down. “So, how long have you been working here?” I asked, but for lack of anything better to say.

“Today’s my first day.”

“Ouch. Not off to the best start, are you?”

“I’ll manage, I s’pose.”

I twiddled my thumbs and looked around the store, my mind drawing a blank on other topics of conversation. After what seemed an appropriate amount of time to politely wait for his bleeding to stop, I said, “Well, I should probably get going. Hope your nose feels better, Liam.” I left him with a tissue jammed up one nostril.

The entire way home, I kicked myself for hurting him…all because I hadn’t looked before I threw open the door. It was so much easier to deal with Marvin and Gerard at Lipoa’s instead of their clumsy new employee. “Liam Innis Reilly,” I muttered to myself. Now would I feel obliged to apologize to him every time I entered the store? How could I be so careless?

Not until I got all the way back to Lulu’s faded pink house did I stare down at my empty hands. “Oh, I don’t believe it,” I groaned.

I’d forgotten all about buying the paint.

Turning on my heels, I ran down the hill, my sandals flopping beneath my feet, anxious to get things over with as soon as possible. I wiped the beads of sweat from my brow as I reached the hardware store and placed my hand on the door to step inside. Only the door moved from the inside.

“Saw you coming this time,” Liam said, propping the door wide open for me. His bleeding seemed to have stopped, but I noticed some discoloration and swelling around his crooked nose.

Splendid. Now I’ve got my personal greeter, I thought with a bundle of sarcasm. I gave him an awkward grin. “How’d you know?”

“It wasn’t that hard. You must’ve come here for a reason, other than making the door become acquainted with my face.”

I winced. “Sorry about that.”

“When you left empty-handed, I figured it wouldn’t be long before you’d be back. Only this time, I thought I should be ready,” he finished with a joking smile and reached for the last Kleenex in the box. “So, what can I help you with?”

I pointed to the advertised “On Sale” sign posted above the rainbow of paint samples.

“Right this way,” Liam pronounced, eagerly trotting toward the display.

I rolled my eyes. “Service with a smile, right?” I whispered to Marvin and reluctantly followed his new employee.

“Don’t expect anything less,” Marvin replied from behind the cash register. He flashed me a wide grin that showed all his white teeth.

When I caught up to Liam, he said, “To start, I’ll need to know a little about your project so I can gauge the volume of paint you’ll need.”

Liam’s nerdly words echoed in my head, Gauge the volume of paint. I didn’t know anyone actually talked like that. Funny to think that Micah had once considered me a nerd, just because I thumbed through the pages of the history text during Mr. Tabor’s lecture. But he didn’t understand that I only wanted to catch up on everything I had missed in my jump from the Great Chicago Fire to the present time.

I rolled my eyes again, wishing Marvin could have helped me instead. “I’ve got to paint the house,” I replied with a heavy sigh.

“Just the trim?”

I shook my head sadly. “No. The whole thing. Auntie Lulu says she wants the house to be purple now, not pink.”

“Purple?” he asked, giving me a sideways look.

“Well, light purple, I guess.”

“The whole house, huh? That’s a pretty big job.”

“Thanks for the reminder,” I mumbled. Crossing my arms over my chest, I pondered how long it would take me to finish. Days. Weeks, perhaps.

Liam scanned the paint samples in front of the display. I noticed he slouched over a bit, like he’d just finished a growth spurt and wasn’t yet comfortable with his new height. “Light purple, you say? Well, we’ve got a bunch of options: Exotic Orchid, Mystical Lavender, Intimate Violet, Luscious Lilac, or Pandora’s Box.” He spread a bunch of paint samples across the counter for me to peruse.

Who comes up with these names? I wondered, trying to figure out how Pandora ’s Box of evils from Greek mythology was even associated with a particular color. “Oh, I don’t know. I guess that one,” I said in a lackluster voice as I randomly pointed to one of the nearly identical shades of light purple.

“Luscious Lilac it is,” Liam grinned.

I blew the hair from my face. “Whatever. Can I get two gallons?”

Liam furrowed his brow. “I don’t think that will be enough.”

“Maybe not, but it’s all I can carry back,” I replied.

Liam set the two gallons of light base paint under a machine and added the tints. He said, “You know, painting the whole house by yourself sounds like a pretty big job. Do you have much experience?”

“Nope,” I muttered coolly, wondering when I’d ever have the time to learn how to paint a house between training to use my fire powers or running for my life from the other Elementals. Oh, and don’t forget finishing all of Lulu’s chores.

He moved the gallons into a different machine that agitated them vigorously to uniformly mix the paint. “Could you use some help? I’m off tomorrow morning.” He reached under the counter to grab a couple of paint sticks, placing them on top of the gallons of Luscious Lilac paint.

“Yeah, right. Like you’d want to help me after I broke your nose.”

“I told you before, it’s not broken,” he said, giving me that quirky smile again.

I scrunched up my face, certain he was lying just to be nice. There was no way his nose had looked that crooked before.

“Plus, I’m pretty good with a brush,” Liam added. He reached for a three-inch paintbrush lying on the counter, twirling it between his fingers like a baton in a parade. But after the third spin, he lost his grip and the brush sailed across the counter, dropping to the floor with a clatter. Liam’s face turned red. He scrambled to pick up the brush before Marvin or Gerard noticed. He ran his fingers through his hair in an embarrassed sort of way. His hair parted by his cowlick before flopping back into it original position.

My eyebrows floated up my forehead. “If you say so,” I replied with a low whistle. “I can’t pay you for your work,” I declared, certain this would change his mind.

“That’s okay,” Liam replied obligingly. “Lulu’s an old family friend. I know she can use a little help.”

“You know Auntie Lulu?” I asked incredulously, completely forgetting his comment about small towns. “So you know her place.”

Liam smiled. “It’s looking a lot better now.”

“Thanks,” I sighed, my eyes glazing over. I thought about the long hours I’d labored cleaning up her overgrown yard before she took me to see Pele, and wondered if things would’ve been different if I hadn’t complained to Sully about all the work Lulu gave me. Not that I could go back and change my past actions, especially when he’d made it abundantly clear that he seemed perfectly happy with Bethany—an involuntary shudder traveled down my spine at that thought—and had lost all interest in me.

“So, what do you say?” Liam said, snapping me from my pity session. He removed the gallons of Luscious Lilac from the machine and handed me a couple of paint sticks. “Meet you at eight?”

I blinked. “Huh?”

Liam leaned across the counter, his face uncomfortably close. His eyes sought mine. “I’ll bring my own brush.”

“Oh, right.” I took an uncomfortable step back from the counter. Could someone please remind me why this guy actually volunteered to help me paint the house on a morning off from work? Still, having him there would cut my work considerably so I could get on with my life.

“Eight sounds great,” I agreed with a nervous grin and paid for the two gallons of paint. I prayed I hadn’t made a mistake in accepting his help.

“Here, let me get the door for you,” Liam offered and bolted ahead to open the door wide for my exit.

“Suit yourself,” I said, lugging the paint off the counter and out the door. “I think your new help is a little too helpful,” I muttered to Marvin as I passed, trying not to grimace under the weight of the full cans. Marvin gave me a funny smile, but I hadn’t meant for my comment to sound like a joke. The last thing I needed was for Liam to offer to carry the paint back to Auntie Lulu’s place for me.

Maybe I’d made a huge mistake in accepting his help. Or maybe I should suggest that he start on the back while I paint the front. That way I could avoid spending another minute with him.