Flame Caller (27 page)

“
There’s nothing left for
us here,” Thea remarked after Xander had explained his plan. She
had her sword lying across her lap. He had only seen her with the
practice wooden versions—which she wielded expertly—and he was
surprised to see her so comfortable with the cold, glistening steel
setting across her knee.

Xander was glad they were prone to
agree with his plan. He had intentionally left out his plan to stop
for Sammy, figuring it would be easier to surprise them later,
after they’d already committed.

“
You all agree?” he asked,
specifically turning toward Patrick.

“
I think you’re daft and
are probably going to get us all killed,” the Irishman responded,
“but I’m hardly just going to sit here and wait for the Fire
Warriors to return. If finding the Wind Elemental means we can take
the fight to them, then I’m in.”

“
I’m glad you’re all on
board but it doesn’t solve the bigger problem. How do we find the
Elemental that no one believes exist?”

Silence fell over the aunts and
uncles. They sat on the blocks of marble that was strewn across the
courtyard. The pillars that had once framed the arena were gone,
either collapsed or claimed by the ocean. The far end of the arena
was submerged and gentle waves lapped against the shattered, tiled
ground.

“
Don’t you all speak at
once,” Xander said.

“
I just don’t know what to
say, sweetie,” Alicia replied with a shrug. “We’re not the first
ones to go looking for her but no one’s ever succeeded.”

“
Wouldn’t it be a lot
easier if there was just a big arrow pointing the way to her?”
Giovanni joked.

“
You figure she’s the
embodiment of the wind,” Patrick remarked. “There should be a big
gust of wind that just screams ‘this is where I am’. What’s the
point of hiding from us?”

Xander froze in the middle of
scratching the stubble on his cheeks. “Say that again.”

“
Why is she hiding from
us?” Patrick asked.

“
No. You know what, never
mind,” Xander said breathlessly. His mind spun with possibilities.
“I think I know how to find her. Or at least I know who would know.
We need to go back to White Halls.”

He smiled sheepishly to his aunts and
uncles. “We just need to make one stop on the way.”

“
There,” Alicia said,
motioning toward a dock and building that seemed strikingly out of
place amidst the swampy ground. The other aunts and uncles nodded
in agreement, having landed there many times themselves during
resupply flights from the island.

Xander looked around as they set down
a few hundred feet away from the restaurant, though they seemed
alone on their stretch of land. There wasn’t any sign of Sammy nor
did it look like she had been there any time recently.

“
You didn’t expect her to
still be sitting her waiting for you, did you?” Patrick asked as he
gestured toward the wooden building. “Her fair skin would be eaten
alive by mosquitoes out here in the marsh. If she was smart, she’d
be inside eating a good meal and enjoying a beer or two while
waiting for you to ride in to her rescue.”

Xander glanced at the Irishman but
couldn’t tell if he was being condescending or not. Like it or not,
he had done exactly what Patrick implied. He had swooped in to save
the day and carry Sammy away with him.

“
You’re right,” Xander
finally conceded. “If she’s around, she’ll be in there.”

He tugged at the collar of his T-shirt
as sweat rolled down his back. A combination of nervousness and
humidity left him sweltering. The flash rains of the morning had
done little to alleviate the Deep South heat and humidity. He
almost regretted changing out of his tunic and thin pants that the
rest of his Wind Caste relatives still donned. While he was happier
in his T-shirt and khaki shorts, they left him sweating in places
that he’d rather not think about.

The spongy ground pulled at his tennis
shoes as he marched toward the wooden building. The day was still
young—barely noon yet—and the heat was intense. He longed for the
cool air conditioning he knew would be blowing within the
restaurant.

The soft ground gave way to the hard,
wood deck around the building. The deck turned quickly into a
floating dock once it stretched out further over the water. The
large boat he’d seen when they landed was moored to the
dock.

Ignoring the boat, Xander turned the
handle to the restaurant’s front door and found it unlocked.
Despite the “closed” sign that hung inside the glass window, he
opened the door and reveled in the blast of cool air that rolled
out of the interior.

“
We’re closed,” a man’s
voice called out lazily. “We open up at four.”

Xander led the Wind Warriors into the
room. Most of the overhead lights were turned off, leaving the
spotty lights intermittently illuminating the large, open dining
hall. Chairs were turned upside down and sat on the tabletops.
There was only one table that wasn’t packaged like the others. Its
chairs still sat on the ground, pushed up against the wall next to
the rounded table. Its surface was charred and pitted as though
from a sudden and intense fire.

As the door swung shut behind them,
the bell above the doorway jingled faintly.

“
I said we’re closed,” the
owner said, emerging from the kitchen and slipping behind the
restaurant’s bar. “Y’all will have to come back later.”

“
I’m looking for a girl,”
Xander said.

“
Aren’t we all, kid,” the
owner chuckled. “But you ain’t going to find one here. Not now, at
least.”

“
She would have shown up
here earlier this morning by herself. Blonde, blue eyes, pale
skin.”

The owner looked up slowly from the
glass he was absently cleaning and took in the odd sight of the
Wind Warriors, most of whom were still dressed in their thin, white
attire. His eyes drifted uncomfortably to the metal sword hanging
from Thea’s hip. Xander couldn’t be certain but the owner seemed
abnormally nervous after the description of Sammy. The owner’s eyes
drifted over to the burnt table. Xander followed his gaze. The
sight of the burnt table steeled his resolve and left an anger
burning in his gut.

“
What happened to the
table?” Xander asked.

“
I think it’s about time
you all left,” the owner demanded.

“
Your table,” Xander
repeated, pointing at the burnt surface of the round
table.

The owner set down the glass with
which he’d been fidgeting to keep himself occupied. His hands
continued from the surface of the bar and disappeared beneath its
polished surface.

“
I don’t think you’re
welcome here anymore,” the owner said sternly. “You need to
leave.”

Xander clenched his teeth. Something
bad had happened here, he knew it. Worse, he knew that somehow
Sammy had been involved. The owner had piqued his interest when he
seemed so nervous at her description. Despite knowing his
description matched the majority of the Fire Caste, the fact that
they’d been here at all didn’t bode well for his hunt for
Sammy.

“
I just want to find my
friend,” Xander said, feeling the tension in the air.

A gust of wind knocked open the
shutters along the right wall. The owner jumped at the sudden noise
and shivered as the gust of wind brought with it an arctic
chill.

The owner pulled his hands from
beneath the bar. A shotgun was clenched firmly in his hands and he
started turning its wide-bore barrel toward the Wind
Warriors.

“
I’m getting real sick of
you freaks coming into my bar and making a mess of the place,” the
owner yelled. “I’m not going to ask you to leave again.”

The gust of wind coalesced as it
slithered across the surface of the bar under Xander’s control. The
wind became a gale as it drove the barrel of the shotgun toward the
ceiling. The owner squeezed the trigger reflexively and the rapport
echoed through the vaulted room. The blast went harmlessly high,
blasting a hole in the wooden ceiling.

Xander’s eyes frosted over with white
light as the breeze spun into a maelstrom in the center of the
dining hall. The bottles of liquor behind the owner rattled loudly
as they yearned to launch from their racks against the mirrored
wall. The nearest tables screeched loudly as they slid against the
hardwood floor, gouging lines in its lacquered surface. A pair of
chairs—much lighter than the tables—were picked up by the vortex
forming in the room and tossed by other nearby tables. The
collection of furniture collapsed loudly onto the ground as it
scooted further and further away from the angry, young Wind
Warrior.

The owner dropped his shotgun and
raised his hands defensively as the windows on the front of the
building cracked as a result of a sudden change in air
pressure.

Seeing the owner seemingly submissive,
Xander released his grasp of the wind and the room fell immediately
into silence.

“
I’m sorry,” the owner
quickly apologized. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“
The girl?” Xander asked
calmly.

The calm in his voice clearly left the
owner more unnerved than if he had been yelling angrily. “I saw her
this morning. She was taken by some other blonde
people.”

Xander clenched his fists, digging his
fingernails into his palm until he swore they were
bleeding.

“
Taken how?” Giovanni
asked when he realized Xander would be unable to continue his line
of questioning.

“
They had a car waiting.
She seemed drugged or asleep, one. They stuffed her in the trunk
and drove off.”

“
And you didn’t try to
stop them?” Patrick interrupted.

The owner stood taller and lifted his
chin. “This ain’t the first time I’ve met these boys. You’ve seen
my table over there. They tried to burn my place down around me
last time they were here. I didn’t get to my ripe old age by being
stupid. They want to toss one of their own in the trunk of a car
and drive off, then I’m not getting involved. Ain’t no stranger
worth risking my life over.”

“
You’re pathetic,” Thea
spat before turning on her heel and walking out. Patrick and Alicia
followed her out of the restaurant.

The owner deflated as they left,
looking apologetic under Xander’s stern gaze.

“
I’m sorry for your girl.
I am. But there wasn’t anything I could do.”

Giovanni placed his hand on Xander’s
shoulder and led him out of the building. On the wooden deck, the
other aunts and uncles turned toward Xander, waiting for him to
speak.

“
They have her,” he said
angrily.

He couldn’t help but feel directly
responsible. If he hadn’t sent her away, she wouldn’t have been
within reach of the Fire Caste. To make matters worse, he didn’t
even know how to find her. Sammy had told him that she had emerged
from the desert outside of California but there was far too much
land to cover to locate the Fire Warriors’ hidden entrance. Their
only chance was finding the car they were driving.

“
The Fire Warriors took
her, which means she’s in danger,” he said. “We’re going after
them.”

“
Hold on, now,” Giovanni
said. “I know you’re worried about her but we can’t go chasing
after her without a plan.”

“
I have a plan. I’m going
to kill them and get her back.”

“
I’m sorry for what
happened, lad,” Patrick said. “No one’s pulling their foot out of
their mouth more than me. I mean, she obviously wasn’t working for
them if they were dragging her unconscious body around. But let’s
keep everything in perspective. One Fire Warrior killed Bart and
almost killed your grandfather. A group of them came back and
finished the job, nearly killing the rest of us in the process. You
go flying after them, all you’re going to do is get yourself killed
and not be any closer to saving Sammy.”

“
So you want me to leave
her to them?” he growled.

“
Aye,” Patrick replied,
“that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“
I know it’s not what you
want to hear,” Thea interjected, “but it’s the truth. We can’t risk
everything because we go off half-cocked chasing after the Fire
Caste.”