Fearless (The Blue Fire Saga) (20 page)

Rave took her hand. “Just for the record,” he said as they began walking toward the house, “I think I felt a little bit of resistance when I pushed the stick toward you.”

Leesa stopped walking and turned to face him.

“Really?
You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”

“Really.
I can’t be
certain, but I’m pretty sure
there was something.”

Leesa grinned. “Totally cool,” she said.

14.
GOOD TIMES AND BAD NEWS

T
he next few days flew by. Leesa wished they would go a little bit slower, because they were
absolutely
the best days
ever. She had never spent so much time with Rave—not even close. I
t was awesome beyond imagining. They talked, they laughed, t
hey played and
they touched
, all of it in the
easy, carefree manner
of people who were comfortable in their love
.

For several hours each day Leesa practiced her magic, far exceeding Dominic’s recommendations, but feeling that the energy she received in the volkaane settlement allowed her to do more than he would have expected. Her practice here was paying
big
dividends, that was
clear. She had pretty much mastered the illumination spell—she could hold a light in her hand for a full five minutes now—and her telekinesis ability had grown by leaps. She could keep herself warm for almost half an hour, as long as nothing broke her concentration. Her only disappointment was the air shield spell. Despite repeated attempts, she had failed to create any kind of shield at all. The visualizati
on was still just too difficult
. Rave said he could feel a slight thickening of the air the last few times, but nothing
solid
enough to stop even a gently pressed stick or finger. Still, with everything else going s
o wonderfully, she was not about
to let this minor setback get her down.

Late Friday morning
, Rave carried her up to their special spot in the hills overlooking the
Moodus
Ri
ver
.
They settled onto the natural rock bench that provided a comfortable place to sit and a spectacular view
of the valley and river below
.

The place was even more beautiful and more peaceful than she remembered. To t
heir right, a small stream cascaded down over a rocky bed
until it reached the slow-moving river far below. From where they sat, she could follow the river almost a quarter of a mile downstream before it curved out of sight. The gray, leafless trees and
bare brown ground flecked with small pockets of
white snow produced a scene of stark beauty. Only the relaxing sound of the gurgling stream as it tumbled down the rocky slope broke the stillness.

This
place held memories both good and bad for each of them. It was where she
told Rave about her bargain with Stefan, but it was also the place where Rave had held a snowball on his bare palm without it melting, showing her he was gaining more and more control over his heat. Leesa thought how strange it was that
each incident had turned out completely
opposite of what they expected. The sadness over her deadly bargain had turned to joy when Stefan had not turned her vampire, and the happiness of Rave
’
s control had turned to disappointment when the growing
Destiratu
caused him to lose control of his fire during their near fatal kiss.

She hoped no similar flipping of emotions was going to happen now, because if these days of bliss turned opposite, she couldn’t even
begin to
imagine how far down she
could go.

They had been sitting there
together
for the better part of an hour
, comfortably silent with each other for the most part,
when
the ground
suddenly
began to tremble and a row rumbling
sound
issued from far below the surface of th
e earth. Leesa grabbed
onto
Rave’s arm with both hands. The sensation reminded her of a trip she
had taken to New York City with her brother and her dad when she was very young. They
were
standing on the sidewalk when
a subway train roared by underneath them, making the sidewalk vibrate
. She had thought it was an earthquake, until
Bradley assured her it was only
a train.

This was no train, though—not unless someone had built a subway beneath rural Connecticut when she wasn’t looking.

“The Noises,” Rave said
calmly
. “It’s nothing to worry about. They’ve been occurring here since long before I was born.”

Leesa remembered Cali and Stacie talking about the
Moodus
Noises, an unexplained phenomenon that had been happening in this area for centuries.
The explanations for the Noises ranged from the practical—small earthquakes whose sound and vibration were magnified by the peculiar geology of the area—to the more fanciful: ancient Indian spirits stirring deep within the earth.

She loosened her grip on Rave’s arm. “Sorry,” she said.
She hated showing any kind of weakness to Rave.
“It startled me.”

Rave smiled and laid his hand over Leesa’s. “Never apologize for anything that makes you touch me.”

Leesa smiled back and gave his arm a gentle squeeze. “You mean I don’t need an excuse to touch you?”
she asked innocently.

Rave laughed. “No, my love, you don’t need an excuse.
”

“I’m glad.”

S
he leaned close against him and rested her head on his shoulder.
They sat that way in silence for a few minutes. The Noises did not repeat themselves. Leesa thought she could sit like this for hours, but it was past lunch time and she was getting hungry. She wished she had thought to bring some food with them—this was a perfect spot for a picnic.

“I hate to leave here,” she said finally. “But I need to get something to eat. Then I want to practice my magic.”

Rave stood up and
scooped Leesa up into his arms.

“Let’s go
, then,” he said.

The sting of
leaving was lessened
by the ten minute ride down the mountainside in Rave’s arms.
When he finally put her down outside his front door, Leesa kissed him on the cheek.

“Thanks for the lift,” she said.

They were barely inside the house when Leesa’s cell phone rang.

The noise startled her. She
realized
how used
to the quiet
she’d gotten
—with no televisions, stereos, phones or cars, the volkaane village was the quietest place she had ever been.
Her Bruno Mars “It Will Rain” ringtone sounded unnaturally loud
in the silence
.
She was glad she hadn’t picked a more raucous song to be her generic ringtone.

She snatched the phone from where she had left it on the table
. Just to be safe, she moved a couple of steps away from Rave to prevent his energy from zappin
g her phone
.
She switched it on and saw “unknown caller
”
on the screen.
Holding
the phone to her ear
, she
heard
a familiar voice
speak her name.
Her
eyes widened in surprise.

“
Dominic!
” she said.
“
Where are you?”

“At a pay phone
,
outside Columbus, Ohio.”

Leesa was thrilled to hear
hi
s voice. “Are you safe?”
she asked.

“
I’m fine, for now. I don’t have much time, though. A
re you in the volkaane town now?”

Dominic’s
question surprised her.
“Yes. I am. How did you know?”

“And is your magic coming more easily to you there?”

Once again, Leesa was surprised by his question.

“Why, yes, it is.”

“I imagine you are doing lots of practicing, th
en.
Much more than usual, probably.
”

Leesa was astonished.
How
could he know all this? Was it
some wizard
’s
trick she didn’t know about—the ability to see across the miles?
He’d told her he coul
d only sense her magic from close
by.

“I am,” she said. “It’s
totally cool
, how easily some of the stuff is coming to me. I’m still not having much lu
ck with the air shield
,
but everything else is going great. H
ow do you know all this?”

“A wizard dream,” Dominic said. “And a little bit of guesswork based on
how well
I know you.”

Leesa smiled. Of course he would guess she would practice more with her magic working so easily here.
She sat down.

“You must stop using your magic there,” Dominic continued.
“At once.”

Leesa wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly.
She popped back up to her feet and began to pace.

“Stop using my magic? Why? I don’t understand.
I’m learning so much.
”

“It’s
too
dangerous.
There are fell powers deep within the earth there that you risk awakening. I believe they are at least part of the reason your magic is coming more ea
sily
to you
.”