Ignited (6 page)

C
HAPTER
F
OUR

“I
’m bored,” Lucy said from the passenger seat when

I hung up the phone.

“Don’t even start,” I told her.

I threw a cheeseburger wrapper at her. She didn’t react, except to toss it over her shoulder into the backseat, where it landed with the other fast-food trash we’d collected. The interior of the car smelled like a menagerie of greasy takeout, spanning the range from tacos to French fries. We’d been watching Alcais and Erin’s house for three days now and had nothing to show for it, except a list of times that their mother, Dorthea, had come and gone to work or to run errands. Erin, Alcais, and their friend, Delia, had been conspicuously absent, though I’d described them all to Lucy so she would know what to look out for.

Asher’s luck hadn’t been much better. Every day, he sneaked close to my grandfather’s house in San Francisco, using the forest to hide his presence. Lights flipped on and off, and he’d noticed Franc passing by the windows a time or ten, but my grandfather never left the house. That in itself was unusual considering how he’d practically spent all his time in Pacifica when I’d lived with him.

The whole situation was anticlimactic, and if it went on much longer, I feared Asher would try to confront Franc. For all our worries, we’d sat around twiddling our thumbs, waiting for Alcais and my grandfather to show themselves. The inactivity was getting to all of us, and things hadn’t gotten any better between Asher and me.

“What did Asher say?” Lucy asked, gesturing to the phone. “Any news?”

I shook my head, and the hopeful light in her eyes faded.

“Is he still acting like an ass?”

“Lucy!”

“What? It’s true. He’s being an ass.”

I shrugged to avoid answering. Honestly, she was right. Asher was wound so tight these days that he snapped at Lucy—the person most likely to speak to him—more often than not. This morning, she’d threatened to join his stakeout if he snarled at her one more time. Very aware of her capacity to chatter, Asher had shut his mouth in a hurry. I’d found myself wishing that I’d sicced her on him sooner.

“Can I get out?” Lucy asked a few minutes later.

Once the sun had gone down, we had parked the car on a street facing the pier. We waited for dark when I could sneak closer. During the day we could blend in with all the people going to the beach, but at night we needed the shadows for cover before I could backtrack to Alcais’s house. The Healers watched their neighborhood too closely for us to camp out on his street. In daylight hours, I stayed in the car, wearing a baseball cap to hide my hair and face, while Lucy scouted in the long brunette wig we’d picked up for her. Most Healers had never seen her, and she could explore without drawing attention.

The view of the pier brought back a lot of memories, a very few of them good. As the teenagers in the group, Erin, Alcais, Delia, and I had been thrown together often. Whenever we’d wanted to escape scrutiny, we’d wandered to the beach. I’d spent long hours there with Erin. She’d reminded me of my sister, and that had been a comfort for a time.

Beside me, Lucy grew increasingly impatient when I failed to answer her. She hated sitting in the car, but people would notice her now with the beach crowds gone for the night.

“No,” I told her. The sun had set a short time ago. “You’ll stand out too much.”

She sighed dramatically, and I rolled my eyes.

“Can I call someone?” she asked.

“Who?” She’d already called Lottie an hour ago, and I’d just checked in with Asher.

“Nobody.” She shrugged, faking nonchalance.

I scowled. “Lucy, you can’t call Tim.”

She missed her boyfriend. They’d begun dating about the time Asher and I had. It had been hard for her to leave him behind in Blackwell Falls.

Lucy’s head whipped around, and her glare flayed me alive. “This sucks.”

“I’m sorry.” I meant it. I hated how trapped she must feel in this situation.

“No, you’re not. This whole situation is perfect for you. Your boyfriend is here.”

I tried not to react to her snide tone. “We’re giving each other some space. Anyway, Tim doesn’t know about Healers or Protectors. It wouldn’t be fair to drag him into this world.”

She turned away, but I heard her mutter, “Like you care.”

“Hey! What is that supposed to mean?”

She crossed her arms and refused to meet my eyes. “You didn’t exactly give me a choice.”

I stared at her in disbelief. “I tried to protect you. I did everything I could to keep
this
from touching you.” I waved a hand in the air so that “
this
” could be interpreted as me and Pacifica altogether. “I left home to keep you safe.”

“But you didn’t stay away, did you?” she accused.

A small dagger slid between my ribs, and the pain was sharp and swift. I sucked in a breath.

Lucy clapped a hand over her mouth, regret lighting her features. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean that.”

I looked out the driver’s window to hide my expression. When I could control the tremble in my voice, I said, “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

She touched my right hand where it rested on the seat. “No, really, sis. I’m sorry.”

She sounded so contrite that I repeated, “Don’t worry about it. Just drop it, okay?”

I shoved the pain away. She’d hurt my feelings. So what? How could I blame her for resenting what I’d done to her life? It wasn’t my fault that I was a freak, or that I’d come to Blackwell Falls to live. But I could have tried harder to move back to New York or, failing that, I could have moved somewhere else. The truth was that I had wanted to stay in Blackwell Falls. I’d needed the home and family that I’d discovered there. I loved them, and I hadn’t been able to leave them. I’d made my choice and the fallout had affected everyone, from my family to the Blackwells. I might want to shove that thought away, but it always returned.

The ring of my phone broke the strained silence, and I answered it gratefully.

“Franc is finally on the move,” Asher said without a greeting. “I’m in the truck following him. I think he’s heading toward Pacifica.”

I sat up straight. “Finally. Call us if you need us.”

He agreed, and we signed off. In the rearview mirror, I glimpsed a familiar figure approaching behind us. Soon, she would pass us as she headed for the pier. I motioned to Lucy and we both crouched down until the girl passed. She crossed directly beneath a streetlight, and then settled at one of the cement benches that overlooked the beach a short distance from where we’d parked.

“Lucy, give me your wig.”

She did, and I tugged my cap off to put the wig on. I checked my reflection in the rearview mirror.

“Remy?” My sister’s voice trembled, our argument forgotten for the moment.

“That’s Erin,” I explained. “Stay here, okay? I’ll be right there if you need me, and you know what to do if something happens.”

I gestured to where Erin sat and glanced over to ensure Lucy understood. She nodded, tugging my cap over her hair. Her hands shook, and I wanted to comfort her, but there wasn’t time.

I didn’t make a beeline for Erin when I left the car. Instead, I took my time, going a circuitous route. My grandfather knew I liked Erin and that she’d helped me. If his people had spotted us in the area, he could have sent her out alone to draw me in. I sneaked glances in all directions, searching for anyone who stood out who might be a threat. It wasn’t until I was sure we were alone that I approached the bench and sat next to Erin. She stared toward the ocean where the moon allowed a peek at dark waves curling toward the sand. Her blond hair hung in waves about her face and she looked like I remembered.

“Hey,” I said nervously, wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans.

“Hey,” she answered in the reserved voice she used with strangers. She glanced my way, and I knew the instant she saw past the wig and recognized me. Her body tensed, and her brows shot up. “Remy? Oh my God!”

Her arms stretched out to hug me, but I shook my head and she sank back into her seat. “Don’t draw attention to us,” I told her. “Stare forward, and pretend we’re not talking.”

She did as I said, her posture relaxing after a moment. “It’s good to see you,” she said softly, clasping her mittened hands together around one knee.

“You, too. I was worried about you. Did you get in trouble for helping me?”

She shrugged and tucked the ends of her red scarf inside her coat. “Not really. I lied and said you tricked me into giving you the info.”

Relief rushed through me, followed by surprise. “You lied?” I asked. I had a hard time imagining her doing so. Erin was one of the few truly sweet people I’d ever met, though few saw past her shyness.

Her quiet laugh made me smile. “I
can
lie, you know. When I have a good reason to. And they definitely gave me good reason.”

I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed her until that moment. She’d been so gentle and kind when she welcomed me into the Healer community. She’d taught me about pure-blooded Healers like her who could heal without injury to themselves. The same age as Lucy, Erin had been one of the bright spots in Pacifica.

“There’s so much to tell you,” she said. Worry widened her eyes. “But first, are you out of your freaking mind? It’s dangerous for you to be here.”

Thirty yards ahead of us, the ocean barreled into the sand with a soothing rhythm and I inhaled the briny air as I evaluated how much to tell her without putting her in more danger. I pulled my knees up into my chest and wrapped my arms around them.

“It’s Franc,” I told her. “He’s taken something of mine, and I have to get it back.”

“Franc,” she whispered on a gusty exhalation. “Everything comes back to him, doesn’t it?”

“Yes. I—”

My phone rang in my pocket, and I checked the screen. It was Lucy’s number.

I answered and she spoke in a panicked rush. “Alcais is coming! You have to hide! He’ll be able to see you any second.”

Fear pumped adrenaline through me in a mad wave. “Take the car and drive away,” I ordered. “I’ll meet you in thirty minutes at the spot we talked about.”

I hung up and a car started in the distance. I prayed she would do as we’d discussed and head toward the McDonald’s near the freeway entrance.

“It’s Alcais,” I whispered to Erin. “He’s coming. I have to go.”

She nodded, but grabbed my hand. My mental walls were up, but that monster that had always wanted to attack her rose up inside me. All Protectors felt this way around Healers. It was why they had mental walls and practiced using them as children. I shoved the beast back down.

“Meet me tomorrow,” Erin said. “My mom is sending me to visit my aunt on the nine
A.M.
ferry from the Ferry Plaza to Tiburon. It’s the only time I’ll be alone for a while.”

“I’ll try,” I said, not making any promises.

“Be safe, Remy.”

I left her, crossing to the wall that separated the sidewalk and the beach several feet below. Then I launched my body over the ledge, dropping into a crouch in the shadows. I hid there, my heartbeat drowning out the rushing water. Soon, footsteps crunched through the grit near the bench.

“Erin, what are you doing out here alone?”

Alcais’s arrogant voice hadn’t changed a bit. Hate tasted bitter on my tongue as I slid closer to the wall and crept toward the staircase that ascended from the beach to the walkway above where Erin sat.

“You’re not my keeper,” Erin replied to her brother with more spirit than I’d heard her use with him before.

“Franc told us to stay close to home at night. You’re a fucking idiot. Can’t you do what you’re told?”

Luckily, the beach had emptied of strangers who might have noticed me crawling up the stairs. Near the top, I flattened my body, trying to glimpse Alcais as he yelled at Erin. I chanced popping my head up and my stomach roiled in revulsion when I saw him in profile, his right side to me as he faced a standing Erin with his back to the pier. The blond surfer boy with the cocky swagger and grin had been replaced by a man with a cruel expression and an aggressive stance. He wanted to intimidate his sister, and he was using his body to do it. If he hurt her, I would somehow make him sorry. I wasn’t afraid of him. Once, I’d caught him holding her hand over a flame to force me to demonstrate my powers, and I’d warned him not to hurt her again. Only the threat of what Franc would do to my father kept me still.

Erin cried out softly, and I dared another glance.

That was when I saw Asher racing toward Alcais from the left, running parallel to the beach. Protectors moved at high speeds, and he should have been invisible, but I could see him approaching with his hands clenched like he intended to snap Alcais in half.

I dropped my mental walls and shouted,
Asher, don’t!

He ignored me.

Erin glanced toward my hiding spot, and our eyes met for one brief second. She must have seen my horror because her gaze flicked toward Asher, and she tensed. And then she abruptly sidestepped around Alcais and walked toward the street at a fast clip with him on her heels.

I didn’t waste the gift she’d given me. As soon as they had turned their backs, I launched forward, using my own Protector speed to race toward Asher, hoping that Alcais wouldn’t hear Asher or me. Asher was so focused on Alcais with a killing light in his eyes that he didn’t see me. I intercepted him and put every last bit of strength I had into shoving him over the barrier wall. We flew over the ledge and landed in the sand with a jarring thud. I’d scarcely registered the pain when Asher rolled away and jumped to his feet. I did the same, trembling when he crouched in readiness to attack me, his face consumed with fury.

“Snap out of it!” I snarled at him.

Recognition dawned and replaced the blind rage, and he straightened. I shifted to listen for Alcais and Erin, but my attention never swerved from Asher in case he tried to go after Alcais again. The siblings’ voices faded, and I didn’t think Alcais even realized we’d been there. Because of Erin. She’d saved Asher a second time.