Flame Caller (3 page)

“
Would you like to say
anything?”

Xander opened and quickly closed his
mouth. He knew he should say something in this moment but nothing
was able to break through the blanket draped over his
thoughts.

“
I…” he said, before
stopping. The utterance of that single word opened the floodgates
of his emotions. Tears rolled out of his eyes as he looked down at
what he knew were the two hollow graves for his parents. They were
simple piles of stone, strategically placed until they made a
perfect ridge along the middle like an elongated pyramid. No
headstones marked the ends of the graves; the larger stones had
been too hard to carry from the mainland where the other rocks had
been retrieved.

The breeze around them kicked up
sharply and angrily, echoing the torrent of emotions rumbling
through Xander.

Instead of speaking, Xander raised the
lavender in his hand. Stepping forward, he laid a stalk on the peak
of each of the stone gravesites before stepping back to Sammy’s
side. The young Fire Warrior slipped her hand back into his and he
savored her comforting warmth.

“
If there’s nothing else,”
Giovanni said, “then thank you all for attending today.”

The Italian Wind Warrior turned away,
his black ponytail trailing behind him. Thea placed a hand on
Patrick’s shoulder and began to step away but stopped when she
realized the Irishman wasn’t coming. Patrick’s scowling gaze
remained affixed on Sammy.

“
Not now,” Thea said
harshly, her permanent frown deepening as she stopped beside the
redheaded man. “There’ll be time for this later.”

Patrick turned but quickly shrugged
off Thea’s guiding hand. He stormed back to the graves and pointed
at Sammy.

“
She doesn’t belong here,”
he said angrily. “This was a sacred event and it didn’t deserve to
be sullied by her kind.”

Xander wiped away the tears with a
brief swipe of his loose sleeve.

“
Her kind?” he said. “She
betrayed ‘her kind’ to save our lives. Giovanni, my grandfather,
and I would have all died if it hadn’t been for her.”

“
Aye, she did. And for
what? Because she loves you? After you’ve known her for only a few
weeks? After she already tried to kill you once?”

“
So what if she
does?”

“
She’s a Fire Warrior, you
daft bugger. You don’t just stop being a member of your caste. I
wouldn’t be surprised if the whole thing was staged just so she
could get close enough to kill us all.”

Thea grabbed Patrick’s arm roughly and
started pulling him away. “This isn’t the time for this,” Thea
said.

“
Keep away from us,”
Xander yelled.

“
Why don’t you tell them
the truth, lass? Tell me I’m wrong.”

Thea pulled him away until they both
disappeared around the corner of one of the island’s empty
houses.

Xander fumed, staring angrily at the
retreating Irishman long after he had disappeared from view. When
he glanced over at Sammy, she stood with her mouth agape as though
still contemplating the right response to all Patrick’s
accusations.

Angrily, Xander took her hand and led
her away from the funeral.

Xander and Sammy walked in silence..
He shoved his hands in his pockets and frowned deeply. He glanced
over at Sammy but she refused to return his gaze. She stared off
into the distance as she walked by his side and a faint flush rose
to her cheeks.

His stomach churned as his emotions
rolled between sadness for his loss, anger at Patrick, and sympathy
for the displaced Fire Warrior.

“
I’m sorry about what he
said back there,” he said, reaching out for her hand. She slipped
it into his. “He was way out of line.”

Sammy shook her head and sighed. “We
both know he wasn’t. I don’t really belong here. No one actually
likes me here. Giovanni and Alicia only tolerate me because of
you.”

She squeezed his hand and looked over
with tears in her eyes. “Maybe I should just go.”

Xander’s heart dropped in his chest.
“No.”

Sammy arched an eyebrow as she waited
for him to say more.

Xander stopped walked and turned her
toward him. “Sammy, I made the mistake of letting you go once
before. I’m not going to do that again.”

He pulled her close and slid his arms
around her waist. She leaned in closer and rested her head against
his chest.

“
Everything that’s
happened,” he continued, “has been some crazy whirlwind
ride.”

Sammy chortled at his unintentional
pun. He felt her shoulders shake with suppressed laughter and
forced a smile.

“
Laugh if you want but
very little about all this makes sense to me. I barely understand
my powers. I barely know my aunts and uncles but they all look to
me like I’m some prodigy... like I’m supposed to change the world.
Right now, you’re the only thing in my life that makes sense.
You’re the only thing I actually understand. I can’t do this
without you. If you leave, so do I.”

“
It’s sad that I’m the
only thing that makes sense to you,” she replied, “since I’m the
only one here that’s tried to kill you.”

Xander sighed. “Yeah, but at least I
know where I stand with you.”

Sammy laughed weakly again. He could
still feel the tension in her body and the obvious sadness and
indecision that coursed through her.

“
Don’t you worry about
‘us’, though?” she asked.

Xander stepped back from her so he
could look into her eyes. “What do you mean?”

Sammy tried to smile but the mirth
fell far short of her eyes. “Patrick was right about us,
too.”

“
No, he
wasn’t—”

“
You just don’t want to
admit it to yourself, Xander, but he was,” she replied adamantly.
“Think about it. We’re from opposing castes. For God’s sake, I
tried to kill you.”

“
What do you want me to
say?” Xander asked angrily. He didn’t understand where all this was
coming from or why she would chose this painful day to bring it all
up, but he just wanted the conversation to end.

“
I want you to admit that
something is off about our relationship,” she said. “I don’t think
it’s wrong, exactly, just strange. I spent my entire life training
for the sole purpose of eliminating the Wind Warriors and razing
the Earth. Yet the second I meet you, I’m willing to throw away the
life I knew. And you, you immediately forgave me for attempted
murder. I don’t know about you but when we were apart, you were all
I thought about; all I thought about after only a couple weeks of
knowing each other. I was trained to be physically tough and
emotionally distant. You broke through nineteen years of training
in an hour.”

“
Maybe love makes us do
strange things,” he replied flatly.

“
Is that it, Xander?”
Sammy grabbed his hand and squeezed it, the entire time her eyes
never leaving his. “Can you honestly tell me right now that you
love me?”

He wanted to tell her he did but those
words had never come easily for him. He finally shrugged. “I don’t
know if it’s really love or not. But I do know that Patrick isn’t
right. We have something special. Call it an infatuation or an
obsession. Call it whatever you want. I don’t really care what we
call it, so long as we’re together.”

Sammy looked away and turned toward
the sea wall surrounding the island. He stood behind her and lost
himself in the wave of curls that fell from her pinned-up
hair.

Xander was surprised when he heard
Sammy laugh. It was a nervous laugh. “God, we’re so messed up. What
kind of future can we possibly have together?”

He hadn’t lied to her when he said he
didn’t know if it was love between them. What he did know was that
now that she was in his life, he couldn’t imagine how he survived
without her. Maybe that made him blind to the truth. At this point,
with so much loss, he just didn’t care if he was blind, just so
long as he didn’t lose her as well.

Xander slipped an arm around her waist
and pulled her to him. She rested her back against his chest and
they stared at the glistening waterspout.

“
Whatever future we want,”
he finally replied. “I’m not saying it’s going to be easy but the
feelings I have for you aren’t suddenly going to go
away.

“
Patrick wasn’t right, no
matter what doubts you might have in your mind,” he reiterated. “If
he wants to force you off the island, he needs to be ready for me
to go as well. You’re stuck with me. Where you go, I
go.”

Sammy turned back to him, her face
streaked with tears. “You’re a good man, Xander Sirocco. I hope you
know what you’re getting yourself into.”

“
We’re going to find out…
together.”

She stepped into him and buried her
face in his chest once more. Xander smiled and leaned forward,
kissing her softly on her perfectly coifed hair.

“
Do you have plans for the
rest of the day?” he asked.

“
You’re stuck with me,
too,” she replied. “I go where you go.”

“
Then there’s someone we
need to go see.”

They walked down one of the
cobblestone streets that led off from the central dome of the
island. The roads were all laid out like the spokes of a wheel,
converging at the rounded building. The dome towered over the
nearby structures, reaching four stories into the air at its
pinnacle. It was large enough to house the city hall building of
White Halls but it was inhabited by only a single man: his uncle
Robert.

Xander had only seen Robert once
before. The man had a destitute appearance; his long hair and
unkempt beard accentuated his pasty complexion. He was cared for by
the other aunts and uncles, since he was unable to leave the
cushioned seat on which he rested.

Robert controlled the waterspout that
surrounded the island. His unconscious mind kept it aloft even
during his sleeping hours. Likewise, he kept the island floating
hundreds of feet above the surface of the ocean below. His task was
repetitive but necessary. Keeping the island so high in the air
ensured any Fire Warriors that sailed nearby couldn’t detect his
outpouring of elemental power, since the elemental wielders could
only detect the individual, not the result of their
power.

Xander and Sammy turned before they
reached the dome and walked to one of the more squat outlying
buildings. A thin tarp had been pulled across the entryway, keeping
out the misting rain and glaring sun but letting through the day’s
cool breeze.

Alicia stood in front of the thin
veil, smiling at the approaching young lovers. Deep wrinkles carved
across the surface of her face and deepened considerably as she
smiled. Her back was slightly stooped from age and her silver hair
was pinned up into a loose bun on the top of her head. She looked
grandmotherly, though Xander knew her looks were very deceptive. As
one of the last Wind Warriors, she wielded considerable
abilities.

“
How is he?” Xander asked
matter-of-factly.

“
He’s as good as can be
expected,” Alicia replied. “He’s still sleeping.”