Burning in a Memory (14 page)

“My brother,” he said.

“Um, you never mentioned a brother,” she said quickly and dared to add on, “why not?”

Adam’s voice was barely audible.

“His name is Leon. I figured it didn’t matter.”

She took a step closer.

“Is that his room upstairs?”

“Yes.”

With every extra question she knew she was tempting him to lock up again. But this is why she was here. This is what she needed to know.

“I don’t understand. Where is he? What’s the fight about?”

“I don’t know where my brother is.  No one does. That’s what the fight about,” he said.

Adam locked up. Everything about his rigid posture told her to stop trying and she did. Feeling more than stunned by the revelation, she shut the door in a daze and headed for her bedroom. On the second floor, she heard the incoherent rumblings of Tony behind the wall. She also heard the radio buzz its familiar sound now. By the third floor, she finally understood what it meant.

No one knew where Leon Colton was, and, for some reason, they were hoping the news would tell them.

              Listening to a monotone voice drone on about all of the sadness in the world caused a splitting migraine to grow in the center of her head. She slapped her bedside radio blindly until she silenced the newscast.  In the hour she’d listened to the news reports, she heard nothing telltale. Car accidents, explosions, and fires happened nearly every day. She listened for something big or unusual. How Angie did it all of the time, Adelaide could not imagine.

             
Blinking her dry eyes a few times, she sat up in the bed. Her phone fell onto the sheets beside her, but she only gave it a passing glance. She’d logged onto the web long enough to look up the event in Denver—the one Angie had so subtly mentioned to her. It was less of an international incident than suggested, but several news stations reported on it. A fire ripping through downtown and a few following pile-ups drew attention. Reading it now, she was shocked she hadn’t pinned that as a mage-shade incident.

             
Her legs felt too anxious so she stood and crept to the window. Prying it open, she let the warm influx of air creep in. Light in the distant horizon mixed with night sky to turn the landscape green. A beautiful night and early in the evening, it felt unfair to sit up in her room until the day ended. She decided right then that her day couldn’t end like this. She hurried to change into a peasant blouse and shorts instead of tight fitting jeans. She took off her necklace and tucked it into one of her pockets until she was convinced it would not fall out. Slipping on her sandals in this terrain might have been dangerous, but she bounded down the stairs anyway.

             
Adelaide made too much noise apparently, because she only got halfway down the last flight before Tony’s voice stopped her.

             
“Adelaide,” he called. She glanced back to find him at the top of the stairs with his trademark frown. He motioned her to return to the second flight. Adelaide hesitated for a moment, but found nowhere to run. Creeping up the stairs, she glanced behind him to find the rest of the hall empty.

             
“What’s up?” she reluctantly posed the question.

             
“I wanted to apologize about earlier,” he said and clearly forced a smile.

             
“Um. Thanks?”

“Look, I’m sure you already hate me. I’m not very happy that you chose to come here either.
It’s not really about you, but the danger my coven is in and my need to protect it.”

She nodded over dramatically. Tony already told her this once before, so she didn’t understand his sudden need to explain himself now.

“Adam is part of my coven and I still have to look out for him. I still need him to stay where he’s safe. So Angie did manage to convince me of one thing—you are a relatively small concession in the light of everything.”

             
“Okay, I really don’t know what you’re getting at,” she said bluntly.

             
Tony rolled his eyes.

             
“If I let you stay, Adam will be happy. If Adam is happy, we will work better together as a coven. So for that reason, I give my blessing to you or your little mage-inspired vacation you have going on,” he said.

             
“How political of you,” she said and his grin grew wider.

“Just don’t expect us to be friends.”

He dismissed her then with a wave of his hands. She escaped while she could. Bounding down the stairs, she sized up the bottom floor. The living room was empty. Adelaide headed for Adam’s door and saw the hint of yellow light spilling out from beneath the frame.

She suspected Adam had been locked in his room for a while and doubted he would willingly come out now. Adelaide knocked but got no answer.

              “It’s me, Adam,” she called out softly. She knew he heard her as she could hear him move around on the other side. “If you’re not going to come out, then suit yourself. But I’m going swimming,” she said.

             
Not waiting for his answer, she dashed for the patio. The sun was officially down so she slowed when she reached the stairs. Beneath the patio, even the light of the stars disappeared. With more difficulty than she’d expected, she opened the passageway. The green glow strips guided her for the rest of the way. The first step down gave her a thrill of danger that kept her moving. She was certain she heard the sliding glass door open when she slid into the tunnel entirely. The trip went faster than expected now that knew the tunnels better.

             
She arrived at the water in record time and kicked off her shoes. The moonlight from above barely illuminated the place but her eyes adjusted fairly well. She crept to the edge of the water and tested the temperature first with her toes. It was cool but not painfully cold. She yanked the top shirt over her head and lowered her shorts to the floor. She barely got into the water before Adam slid into the tunnel. Like she had, it took him a solid moment to readjust to the lighting. When he finally spotted her, he looked surprised.

             
“You really did it,” he said, sounding partially in awe. She resisted the urge to laugh at his surprise.

             
“What? Was I going to sit inside all day?”

             
She swam to the edge until she felt the rocks at the bottom graze her feet. She carefully folded her arms on the ledge until she was certain she looked adorable in the pose.

             
“I thought you didn’t have a swimsuit.”

             
She desperately fought the grin this time.

             
“But I don’t,” she said calmly. Stripping down to her lingerie had been a little shameless, but she knew it would distract him from Tony. Unfortunately she couldn’t see the fine details of his face or even if he blushed.

             
“How’s the water?” he asked.

             
“Warm. Nice. Better than I expected,” she rambled a bit.

             
Adam looked like he was in a serious mental struggle. Finally he crouched down by the end of the pool and dipped his hands in.

             
“You’re crazy,” he laughed.

             
“And you’re being lame. Live a little!”

             
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t get in,” he added but didn’t budge.

             
She knew that like her, he had no suit. The time had come to see how shy Adam actually was, she realized.  Adelaide struggled with the urge to catcall at him.

“Just for the record, I don’t want you telling anyone that this was my idea,” he commented.

              She didn’t answer at first, opting instead to watch him pull the tee over his head. The distinction of his muscles from rock-climbing extended beyond his arms and to his abdomen. The muscles were defined from real labor and not iron pumping at the gym. His pants ran low on his hips. She averted her eyes politely when he got the shirt over his head. He pulled off the khakis and hopped into the water before she could sneak a peek.

             
“Oh, I’m definitely going to tell them I was swimming around half naked with you,” she said and shook her head at the thought.

             
“Could you imagine what would happen if the twins got a hold of that information? I wasn’t kidding about the lack of privacy in this house. ”

             
She waded backward and enjoyed the feeling of warm water. Adam had chosen his corner, but if she moved freely, he might follow in suit.

             
“It’s been ten years since my coven owned this place and I’ve never swam here before,” he confessed. His attention drifted up to the break in the tunnel over their heads. She followed his gaze but couldn’t see the stars.

             
“We’ll work on you being a little bit more spontaneous then. This was a good first step,” she commented.

             
“Okay,” he laughed. She beckoned him to swim closer. He did, but still stayed farther away than she would have liked.

             
“Sorry my coven was giving you trouble about that earlier. Asking about whether or not you had a boyfriend.”

             
She snapped her fingers in the air.

             
“I knew there was a rumor going around.”

             
“They just like to gossip. I won’t lie and say I didn’t entertain it a little because I was wondering why you didn’t have a boyfriend. I thought it was both awesome and strange that you could just pick up and come here for the weekend.”

             
She glowered. She hated that question but always had a good answer.             

             
“If it’s so weird that I don’t have a boyfriend, then why don’t you have a girlfriend?”

             
Adam never should have found it difficult to find a woman. Tall, built, and handsome, the fact that he had a sweet personality beneath it was almost overkill.

             
“It’s hard to find a girl who can understand the fact that I’m a mage with shades out to attack me. I can’t count the girls on two hands who have run away after finding out how I live.”

             
He sounded overly morose about it so she gave him a blinding smile.

             
“Well it’s okay, because I’m not going to run away.”

             
Adam went quiet for a moment.

             
“You don’t know the half of it,” he insisted.

             
“Hey, your family already went off on me and I’m still happy to be here. It’s amazing in this place. Nice water, moonlight, complete and spontaneous freedom…”

             
Adam clearly wasn’t buying it. He sunk under the water for a minute until he resurfaced for air. Shaking the water from his hair, he splashed Adelaide even half the pool away. Suddenly finished with the distance between them, she swam closer. By the time he turned from his task, she already grabbed his shoulders and drew him closer. Holding onto him to stay above the water, she left barely half an inch between them.

             
“Did I mention spontaneous?” she whispered.

             
Adam cupped her face.

             
“Adelaide, I don’t know,” he said.

             
She gave him the cutest pout she could manage.

             
“You know you want to kiss me,” she drew out the last two words to an obnoxious length, but once she said it, she knew she was right. Adam set his back against the pool’s wall and twisted his arms around her waist. The skin-to-skin contact set her nerves on fire and generated heat between them, contrasting the water. He kissed her lightly on the chin, dodging her lips.

             
“I do,” he said. With a single kiss on the lips, he broke away again. “I would love to...” He kissed her cheek this time. “...but I don’t want to make it difficult, all things considered.”

             
Frustrated of his dodging, she planted her lips on his and effectively silenced him. She placed her hands on his hips where the fabric of his boxers did little to conceal the ridges of his body. Adam broke away again.

             
“I’m serious. I think we should slow down until my life normalizes a bit,” he said.

             
“What’s gotten into you? You can’t be serious,” she tried to laugh but Adam pushed back a bit. This time she paid more attention to his face. His chin tilted down, his eyes averted from her, and a frown tugged at his lips. She stiffened and Adam let her go. Forced to swim backward, she reached the opposite wall and held onto it.