Flame Caller (10 page)

The beauty of the island’s surface was
missing when viewed from beneath. Instead of the flat, sun-drenched
surface, the bottom was a multitude of stalactites hanging down
toward the ocean’s surface like predatory teeth. Water ran down the
outer pillars as the waterspout’s spray pooled around the edges of
the island. They dropped like bullets, spraying the area through
which Xander and Giovanni flew.

He followed the Italian as he turned
upward, skimming the edge of the island before emerging once again
on its pristine surface.

The much quicker Italian was nearly
thirty feet ahead of Xander when Giovanni pulled up and hovered in
the air. Xander came to a stop beside him, panting from the
exertion. Giovanni’s speed and stamina had been honed over nearly
thirty years of use, whereas Xander had only had his powers for a
month.

Breathlessly, the two men floated a
couple dozen feet above the rooftops and admired the small,
secluded village.

Finally catching his breath, Xander
nodded toward the older Wind Warrior.

“
I’m glad you’re here,
Giovanni,” he said somberly.

Giovanni arched an eyebrow as he
brushed his long ponytail out of his face. “And why is
that?”

“
Because you’ve always
been a good friend. You didn’t just look at me like a kid, not like
everyone else has. You haven’t treated me like crap since I’ve been
here.”

Giovanni hovered lower until he was
side by side with Xander. “We don’t dislike you. Alicia is quite
fond of you.”

Xander laughed. “Yeah, but she just
sees me as a grandson. I don’t know that I’d ever be able to
convince her that I’m an equal.”

Giovanni shrugged. “You are good but
you
aren’t
her equal.”

“
Maybe not,” Xander
conceded, “but you’re a good man for another reason,
too.”

“
Oh?”

Xander looked down on the island below
and imagined he could see hundreds of Wind Warriors marching across
its surface.

“
You were always nice to
Sammy,” he finally said. “No one else, not even Alicia, has gone
out of their way to welcome her the way you have. You never judged
her as a Fire Warrior, at least not when I was around to hear
it.”

Giovanni reached up and stroked his
chin. “Do you remember when you first came here? I promised you I
would teach you two things. First, I would teach you how to fly.
You seem to be doing okay with that. Second, I would teach you
about women.

“
The truth is that Sammy
is good for you. Fire Warrior, Wind Warrior, Italian, not Italian…
I don’t hold these things against her.”

Xander laughed at the older man.
Despite the obvious age difference, talking to Giovanni was like
talking to an older brother.

“
The most important thing
is to be happy,” the Italian continued. “If she makes you happy,
keep her close. We’re going to have some hard times ahead of us, I
think. You’ll need people like her by your side.”

“
Thank you,” Xander
said.

“
Anyway, if I had a woman
like her, I’d keep her very close, if you know what I
mean.”

Xander turned toward the Wind Warrior
with a broad smile. “You really are a dirty old man, you know
that?”

Giovanni shrugged. “I am a man. The
rest is redundant.”

The pair hovered over the island,
taking in the wheel-shaped island below. From above, it was easy to
believe the entire island had been carved away from ancient Rome
and hidden away like a floating time capsule. He almost expected to
fly down and see legionnaires standing shoulder to shoulder with
spears and shields in hand.

Xander’s eyes drifted toward the
central dome and continued until he found the smaller outlying
building where his grandfather was resting. Their last conversation
flooded back into his mind.

“
Can I ask you something
else?” he asked.

“
You have my undivided
attention.”

“
Do you know what an
Elemental is? My grandpa said it when I was with him and it sounded
important, like a proper noun. I could almost hear him capitalizing
the first letter in the word.”

Giovanni furrowed his brow. “What
exactly did he say?”

Xander turned toward the Wind Warrior,
surprised by his tone. “He said that if I wanted to fight the Fire
Caste, I needed to find the Elemental.”

“
I won’t pretend to know
what your grandfather was thinking but I think I might know what he
was referring to. Have you ever wondered where we get our
powers?”

Xander shook his head. “Not really. I
mean, I know they’re hereditary, but that’s about it.”

“
Before that. Before you
had a parent to pass the powers in the first place. Do you ever
wonder where the first of us came from? Or where the Fire Warriors
suddenly came from?”

Xander realized he never had. “I guess
I just assumed they came from nature.”

“
Indirectly, yes. There is
a story I was told when I was young, a fairy tale, if you will. I
warn you, it’s nothing more than a myth, though most myths are
based off some level of fact.

“
It’s said that at the
beginning of time, Nature knew there needed to be balance if life
on the planet was to survive. Nature knew that life so rarely
formed in the universe—that it would have to be cultivated to
succeed. So Nature created four Elementals, one for Earth, Water,
Wind, and Fire. Each was tasked with a responsibility. Earth was to
create the world on which life could live. Water would ensure
plenty of the basics of life in its namesake. Wind would inspire
life to reach new heights. And if the life they created ever lost
its way, the Fire would wipe it away and make way for life to grow
anew in a new form.”

“
So,” Xander began
hesitantly, “these Elementals created the castes?”

Giovanni shrugged. “The world is a big
place, even for an Elemental. Each Elemental needed help to ensure
its success. So each Elemental breathed life into the first
generation of each caste. The castes would then breed and pass
along its power to a new generation.”

“
If all of our power comes
from a single Elemental, then we just need to find it. The
Elemental should be able to give us enough power to fight back
against the Fire Caste.”

Giovanni shrugged noncommittally but
didn’t respond.

“
You don’t believe in the
Elementals, do you?”

“
I’m an old man and have
only ever heard about the Elementals as a story told by my parents
who heard it from their parents who heard it again from their
parents. People also used to tell their children that the Gods
lived in the heavens and would cast down a mountain of fire if
displeased. It’s myth.”

Giovanni shakes his head as though to
clear away the seriousness of their conversation. “Come, we’ve
lingered far too long. It’s time to eat, drink, and get you back to
your woman.”

Xander smiled as the Italian rocketed
toward the surface. Tilting forward, he followed suit.

He and Sammy chose to eat dinner at
his house that evening. Despite saying their attitude didn’t bother
her, Sammy didn’t seem very eager to spend time around his aunts
and uncles, especially Thea and Patrick.

As they sat across from each other,
their faces and meals illuminated only by the pair of candles
resting in the middle of the table, Xander couldn’t help but admire
the way the candlelight danced over her delicate features. Her
blonde hair sparkled in the dim light. The faint shadows traced her
button nose and, as she looked up, twinkled against her crystal
blue eyes.

He smiled broadly at her but she only
returned a halfhearted smile. Looking down, she leaned her head
against her hand and moved her vegetables around her plate with her
fork.

Xander’s smile faltered. “Are you
feeling okay? You just seem really distracted tonight.”

Sammy looked up and tried her best to
look enthusiastic. “I’m sorry. I’m really glad to be here. I’m just
not really feeling all that well tonight.”

“
Of course not,” Xander
chuckled sadly. When she looked up in confusion, he quickly
continued. “This was supposed to be a date. I realized the other
day that we’ve never really had a real date before.”

“
Sure we did,” Sammy
replied defensively.

“
We went to a dance and
then you tried to kill me. I don’t think that counts.”

Despite her weary expression, she
managed a smile and soft chortle.

“
I’m really sorry,” she
said sympathetically. “Don’t take this personally. I promise we can
do a rain check on our date.”

“
You want to get out of
here instead? Maybe go for a walk?”

Sammy pushed her plate away. “I would
love to. Maybe the fresh air will do me some good.”

The evening air was cool and soothing
against their skin. It was quite a bit brighter outside than it had
been inside the cramped house.

Xander and Sammy watched the sun set
as they walked along the cobblestone streets. The rainbow hues of
the sunset, unmarred by city lights and pollution, sparkled along
the water walls surrounding them. It was magical. For the first
time since Xander lost his parents, he was feeling content, if not
happy.

Reaching out, he took Sammy’s hand. He
immediately pulled away when he felt the heat radiating from her
skin. She was always warm but tonight her skin was practically on
fire.

“
Ow,” he explained as he
examined his hand for burn marks. “You’re burning up.”

At his touch, she shook her head and
turned toward him. In the brighter light, he could see that her
crystal blue eyes were red rimmed as though she’d been crying,
though he knew she hadn’t. A thin sheen of sweat coated her face
and made her clothes cling tightly to her figure.

She raised a hand to her forehead. “I
guess I am a little warm.”

“
Are you sure you’re
okay?” Xander asked.

Sammy chuckled. “I don’t remember ever
being sick before. I guess this is what happens when a Fire Warrior
gets a fever.”

Xander’s heart froze in his chest.
With everything else going on in his life, the last thing he could
handle was something happening to Sammy. Despite them both
realizing there was something odd about their connection, it didn’t
lessen his magnetic need to be around her. If she was truly sick,
he didn’t have the first clue where he could take her for
treatment. What hospital could handle a woman with a one hundred
and forty degree temperature?

“
I think maybe I just need
to go to bed early tonight,” she offered. “We’ve been running
around so much and been so stressed, I think my body is just
telling me to take it easy for a while.”

“
Do you want me to bring
you anything? I can go get you some soup or cold water or
something?”

Sammy smiled and placed her hand on
the side of his face. Leaning forward, she kissed him gently on the
lips. He wanted to pull her in closer, but her touch was
practically painful, though he dared not pull away from one of the
few kisses they’d been able to share.

“
You’re sweet,” she said,
“but I’ll be okay. I’ll see you in the morning?”

Xander nodded slowly. “I’ll check in
on you first thing.”

“
Goodnight,” she said as
she turned away.

Xander watched her disappear around a
corner as she walked toward her own small, marble home.