Scorched: Book 1 of the Scorched Trilogy, page 15
Occasionally, he’d pull his hand away to shift, but he always brought it right back. Lacing his fingers through mine, holding on as if his life depended on it.
Neither of us spoke for most of the ride back to his house, but I couldn’t help asking about the magic.
“Do the sparks separate for you too?”
Munro looked at me with confusion. “Sparks?” he questioned.
I was suddenly embarrassed and worried there were actual names for the things I’d seen, I was just too ignorant about magic to know them. I coughed, slightly uncomfortable.
“Um, yeah. The magic. What does it look like to you?” Munro turned his head away from the road and stared at me for longer than was probably safe, and my cheeks immediately flared red. Shit. Was I asking a foolish question?
“Ah, eyes on the road. Please.” I waved his head back to the road he was ignoring with my free hand. He snapped his head back but didn’t answer my question right away.
“You can see the magic?” He spoke so softly I barely heard him over the noise of the road and the blowing heater. My fingers tightened around his reflexively, and I searched his face for more information. His brows were drawn tight, and his full lips were turned down in a frown. Was it odd that I could see the magic?
“Well, yes. I think so. Or, I guess I thought I was seeing it. Maybe not. Or I don’t know.” The words came out in a rambling stream of consciousness.
“What did it look like?” His voice was still quiet and low, and I couldn’t tell if he was quizzing me or if he was asking me because he didn’t know.
I hesitated, swallowing heavily and starting to feel fear creep over my skin.
“It’s like millions of tiny gold particles floating in the air?” My voice rose up in question unintentionally.
I knew what I’d seen, but I needed Munro to confirm that what I saw was accurate. But all he did was grunt, and keep his eyes on the road, with a frown still on his face.
We didn’t speak the rest of the drive and even though I wanted to know what was going on, I was grateful for the quiet. Munro kept my hand in his, and I couldn’t help but close my eyes and lean my head back as my body fought the fatigue.
By the time we pulled up to Munro’s house, I was feeling a little bit better. My legs still felt like I was wearing cement boots though, and I struggled to climb the four steps up their front porch. Munro tried to hide his amusement as he wrapped one hand around my elbow and pressed the other gently against my back to help me like I was a ninety-year-old.
“Something funny?” I tossed at him sarcastically, narrowing my eyes at the smile he was trying to contain. He shook his head.
Ryan must have seen us pull up, because he opened the door just before Munro reached for the knob. It looked like he’d just gotten home from work, because he was dressed in a pair of dark gray dress pants and a fitted white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Good looks certainly seemed to run in their family. He tilted his head, and his face held a look of bemusement as he held the door open for us.
“I see lessons went well,” he quipped, and I huffed out a little "pfft" in response.
My prideful side wanted to pull my arm away from Munro and walk over to the couch on my own, but I was too worn out for that little display. Instead, I let Munro continue leading me, the hand on my back pressing a bit harder so that I felt the heat even through my layers of clothing.
I flopped down on the couch with an overly loud groan when we got close enough. Munro sat next to me and pulled my hand back into his to resume contact, while Ryan took a seat in a chair that was set to the left of the couch. He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs, clasping his hands together loosely, before directing his question to Munro.
“I thought you were just going to go over the basics today?”
Munro nodded before he spoke. “Yeah, we did. Kind of.”
Munro shot me an uncertain look, and it made the nervousness and that slight edge of fear return. Ryan sat waiting for him to continue. “Have you ever encountered someone who could access more than one element at the first go?”
Ryan sat up straighter, slowly moving to lean back against the chair, almost as if he was afraid he'd startle an animal if he moved faster. His hand moved up to his jaw and mouth, giving the impression that he was in serious contemplation before he shook his head.
“I’ve heard rumors, but I’ve never met someone who could easily manipulate more than one element.” Ryan’s eyes turned to me. “You’re able to pull power from more than one element?”
“Um…” I turned to Munro for guidance, since I really had no idea what was normal and what wasn’t.
“She was able to use fire and water like it was second nature, but even the way she used water was not…” Munro paused and looked at me quizzically, “typical.”
A blush of embarrassment touched my cheeks. Was what I’d done that bad?
“How so?” Ryan pressed.
“We were working with water, and she started growing a tree.”
Ryan’s eyes widened.
“From a dead leaf.”
Ryan’s mouth dropped open as he stared at me, his scrutiny causing me to squirm. He finally blinked and cleared his throat when he realized he’d been staring. I pulled my hand free from Munro’s and saw a frown flicker over his face. But I was feeling too exposed and crossed my arms over my chest, trying to build up a little barrier against all this analysis.
“Can someone tell me why you are both acting like I just raised the dead. Is what I did that bad?”
Ryan shook his head. “Sorry, Annie. It's not that. It's just very unusual that someone would be able to use more than one element without a lot of training. And to take an element like water and use it to regenerate a tree, that means that you also used earth. Even those of us who have been using magic for most of our lives struggle to tap into any element that isn't from our traditional family line.”
Munro nodded beside me before he picked up where Ryan left off and continued the explanation.
“Sometimes a witch will deviate from their family line and an air element will pop up in a family full of fire elements. But it doesn’t happen very often, and I don’t know that I’ve ever heard of anyone who can use more than one element with such ease.”
We sat in silence, all of us taking turns looking at each other. Ryan continued to rub his hand across the bottom of his face. Munro was motionless next to me, but his hand was still stretched out as if he was waiting for me to put my hand back in it. I fought the urge to do just that, squeezing my crossed arms tightly against myself trying to figure what the hell was happening.
“That’s not all.”
I nearly jumped when Munro broke the silence that had settled in the room. Ryan’s alert eyes snapped to Munro and real worry started to show in his face, which caused my stomach to churn anxiously. Turning to look at Munro, I waited to find out what else I had done.
“Annie can see the magic.”
Ryan’s eyes were full of surprise as he shifted them back to me. “You can see the magic?”
Shit. Why hadn’t Munro told me that wasn’t normal?
“Yes?” My answer came out as more of a question than an answer.
Ryan chuckled, and I blew out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.
“Let me guess, it’s not typical.” My voice held a hint of annoyance as I parroted back the response that seemed to sum up my magic in one sentence.
Munro gave a small shrug of agreement, and I groaned flopping back against the couch, throwing my head back and covering my eyes with my arm.
“We'll figure this out, Annie. I have a few people I trust to go to with this information. They might know more than we do,” Ryan said calmly.
I nodded and gave a muffled “thanks” keeping my arm in place. I could hear shuffling as Ryan got up from his seat and roughly patted the top of my head as he said, “Hang in there, kiddo. We’ll get it all sorted.”
After a moment of sitting silently, Munro shifted beside me as he tugged my arm away from my face, taking my hand back into his. The contact of his skin against mine was reassuring and healing. I wished I knew whether Munro was doing it because he knew how much the magic drained me or because he simply wanted to hold my hand.
“Will it always do this to me?” Needing to know if I would always feel like I’d been hit by a truck after using magic.
“Not this bad.” Munro tipped his own head back against the back cushions of the couch so that we both looked up at the ceiling. “It’s like a muscle. You have to train it and work with it to make it stronger. Once you build up the strength you can do more for longer.”
It made sense in a strange, how can this really be my reality, kind of way.
“Do we need to test air? And earth?” While I was totally wiped, part of me was eager to see what else I would be able to do.
It felt right that I use the magic surrounding me. Though I wasn’t concentrating on the magic now, I could still sense it around me and with a little bit of focus, I could see the golden sparks floating around us gently.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Munro nod his head. “Yeah, but not today. You need to rest and recharge first.”
It was my turn to nod. We sat comfortably in the silence, and I couldn't help but think about how quickly I'd come to trust Munro and even Ryan. They felt like missing puzzle pieces in my life; the answer to questions I hadn’t even known I had. Maybe my feelings for Munro were wrapped up in the magic, but I wanted to believe there was something else between us that would have existed with or without the magic.
“You can’t see the magic?” I asked quietly, thinking about how our magic seemed to communicate and connect.
Munro turned his head to the side, keeping it against the back cushion and I did the same, so we were looking at each other.
“No. I didn’t know it was possible.” His eyes traced over my face, taking in every line and my heart expanded when I thought I saw a bit of awe in his eyes. We both jumped at the sound of Ryan’s voice back in the room.
“Munro, I called Butch, he’s going to dig through some of their books. It’d probably be best if you pick up Lola and go meet him. You know how he tends to get lost down rabbit holes when he’s researching.”
“I’ll get my stuff packed up. I’ll leave after I drop Annie at home.”
He was leaving again. I felt panic at the thought that he would be gone. My mind raced with questions like who was Butch? And who the hell was Lola? Munro pushed himself off the couch, pulling his hand away in the process and the feeling of dread seeped into me now that I lost that physical connection with him.
Munro turned and gave me a faint smile as if sensing my worry. “I’ll only be gone a few days.”
He sprinted up the stairs, probably to pack a bag. Ryan came to sit back down in his chair, looking at me with concern.
“Don’t worry about this. We’ll find out more information. Butch has more research and documentation about our history than anyone.”
I nodded as though I understood because it seemed like that was what Ryan was expecting from me. Really, I just wanted to know who this Lola was, and I prayed that she was just an old drag queen they happened to be friends with.
There was a completely out-of-line jealousy threatening to send me up the stairs to Munro’s room to demand details about Lola’s drag routine, but I shoved it down. I turned to Ryan instead.
“When you say documentation, do you guys have some kind of druid archives or library or something?”
“Nothing official,” Ryan said, his gaze tracking up the stairs to where Munro had just disappeared. A slight frown crinkled his brow, “Butch considers himself our unofficial record keeper. He's made it his life's work to dig up any information on the history of our magic. He's sort of known for it. People come to him when they're looking for stuff and they bring him things when they find out information too. He's got this whole network for getting documents and stories on the tribes.”
“Sounds like some covert spy business.”
Ryan chuckled and shook his head. “Then I’m overselling it. It’s more like an internet site where people can drop and send scanned documents and share old myths that their grannies told them when they were little.”
“Oh,” I replied, laughing as well, as a new picture formed in my head. “So, he's more like that guy in his mom's basement working online in his underwear and stained undershirt.”
Ryan's laughter barked out loud and from his belly. “Oh God, Butch would shoot me if he thought that's how I described him. You'll meet him at some point I'm sure. It's just that for now, it's safer for Munro to travel to him and Lola.”
With that opening, I tried to sound like it was just pure curiosity and not burning jealousy that was eating me alive, when I asked my next question.
“And Lola, is she an archiver as well?”
“Lola?” Ryan started to respond but fricking Munro came tromping down the steps with a bag thrown over his shoulder, distracting him from finishing that sentence.
I was hoping it would have worked out something like, Lola, that old drag queen, no she’s just Butch’s stylist. Or Lola, she’s Butch’s grandmother and he insists that Munro bring her for a visit whenever he swings by.
“You leaving straight from Annie’s?” Ryan asked him, and I had to physically bite my lips to keep from pouting like a toddler for being interrupted.
“Yeah, I don’t want to waste time running back here.” Munro swept his gaze back in my direction. “You ready to get home?”
I thought about how he’d been almost desperate to hold my hand not ten minutes before, but he’d obviously moved on to his trip now. With Lola.
“Yeah, sure.” I don’t think I was able to contain all my petulance, and Munro gave me a confused look, trying to interpret the source of my annoyance.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he said quietly, just for my ears, and I shook my head at him.
“Ignore me. I’m tired and hungry and grumpy.” I headed toward the door, not waiting for Munro before opening it and moving outside.
Munro was close on my heels and only needed to take one long step to catch up to me before grabbing my hand. The contact caused flutters in my stomach as the current of energy zapped between our fingers.
“The contact will help,” Munro murmured to explain again why he’d insisted on holding my hand. And just like that the flutter turned into a heavy pit.
Chapter Fifteen
There was very little conversation on the drive back to my house. Munro was lost in his thoughts, and I was feeling like he was abandoning me. Even though I recognized how silly those feelings were, I couldn’t stop thinking about Munro leaving me behind and going off to be with people he was obviously very familiar with. He mentioned he’d be staying with Butch and it’s not like you just crash at the house of someone who was an acquaintance. I didn’t ask, but I assumed that meant Lola was also staying with them.
I spent the next few days waiting to hear anything from Munro. An update on any information he'd found, a text telling me he'd be back tomorrow, or even a note saying, “hey weather sucks here.” Wherever here might be. Neither Munro nor Ryan had shared Butch's whereabouts, and I'd stupidly never bothered to ask. But it had been five days, and I hadn't heard a thing. Between the nightmares that were making sleep nearly impossible and Munro cluttering up all my free brain space, I was pretty much worthless.
“And then I decided to get a boob job and my mom said, ‘sure honey how about DDDs.’”
“What?!” My head shot up, and I found Maggie staring at me with a smirk on her face.
“Oh, did that catch your attention?” She shook her head at me and rolled her eyes. “You are a million miles away!”
“I know. I’m sorry. My brain is too full to concentrate,” I replied apologetically. “What were you saying? The real thing, not the thing about giant boobs.”
Maggie laughed and took a drink of the bottle of water in front of her. We were in the cafeteria eating lunch on Friday. Well, Maggie was eating lunch, and I was breaking my chips into tiny particle sized pieces until they were essentially dust.
“Sam mentioned Munro’s on one of his walkabouts again this week.” There was no flying under Maggie’s radar, at least where I was concerned. “Where does he go?”
I scowled. “That is a great question and one I wish I knew the answer to.”
“Balls. Sorry, forget I asked,” Maggie replied with a grimace before she tried to change the subject, probably back to whatever she’d been talking about before the DDD conversation.
“So… as I was saying before when you weren’t paying attention to me.” She winked at me. “Sam officially asked me to winter formal.” She thrust her fist up in the air a few inches in victory and gave a little pleased smirk that had me laughing.
There had been a sort of implied understand that they were going on Saturday, but neither one of them had gotten as far as asking the other to go.
“Good, I’m glad. And you didn’t even have to threaten him or beat him up. Or did you?” I raised my brow in question while I continued to make another pile of chip dust on my tray.
Maggie shook her head, bouncing her now empty bottle of water off the palm of her hand like she was playing the drums. “Not even a little. He got there on his own.”
Her eyes were sparkling, with actual twinkles, and I had the briefest stirring of jealousy. Not over her and Sam, but at the happiness she had found. My life felt like it was constantly jackknifing from one crazy incident to the next. If things were too calm, I began to worry about the hammer that must be about to fall, bringing chaos back into my life.
“And what I was trying to ask you, when you were ignoring me before, was if you’d come with us?” Maggie smiled at me like this was the best idea in the world, and a variety of emotions sprang up inside of me.
Maybe Munro would come with and we could have a real-life double date. Maybe Munro would even ask me, or maybe he wouldn’t, and I’d end up the sad and lonely third wheel on Maggie and Sam’s first ever formal dance. Sure. That sounded just swell.
