Phoenix: The Rising (9 page)

“Bullshit. Impossible. The gate is locked, and you can’t see my room from the road.”

Eli smiled. “I saw it on under your door.”

Julie bit her lip. “Who let you in? My dad? Renatta?”

Eli took a step closer. Julie could feel the air become charged again. She began to feel light-headed. “I let myself in. The front door was unlocked. You should be more careful.” Julie expected him to walk up and grab her, to kiss her again just like he did on Friday, but Eli marched past her and over to the window. He scanned the yard below. “You never know who might show up unexpectedly.”

Julie stood frozen to her spot as she regained her senses. Why did she react that way every time he was near? She shook her head to clear her thoughts. “You mean, like Penemue?”

Eli looked out the window once again, then turned to face Julie. “I checked the grounds before I came up. He’s not here. But you really should make sure your doors are locked at night.”

Julie sat on her bed. “Do you really think he’s going to try something?”

Eli sat on the opposite end. “Did you see his face this morning? He’s pretty messed up. Broken nose. A chipped tooth. I saw him after I helped you find your keys.”

Julie breathed a sigh of relief. “Then it wasn’t him.”

“Wasn’t him?”

“That followed me home. I saw a black pick-up like his behind me on the road this morning. I thought it was him.”

Eli shook his head. “He seemed pretty busy with Charsey in the hallway after first hour. Looks like they’re hooking up. He didn’t say a word to me when I walked by him, so I’m pretty sure he has no idea I’m the one who broke his nose.” He reached out and smoothed a wrinkle on the bedcover. Julie’s heart began to pound as she looked at his hand.

“A broken nose. A chipped tooth. One punch. And you without a mark to show for it.” Eli attempted to pull his hand back, but she grabbed it. Her heart immediately began to thrum as a jolt of electricity traveled up her arm, but she held on. She didn’t know why she was feeling these things when she came into contact with him, but she was determined to find out.

Eli’s eyes flashed up to hers. She could see lights beginning to flicker in them. “I’m a quick healer. I told you that.”

“Nobody heals that quickly.”

“I do.”

Flames of color filled the sapphire background of Eli’s eyes, like the mineral-rich flames of burning driftwood shooting tongues of orange, red, blue and green into the night sky. Just like the fire in the legend.
The legend!
Grace and Tina’s words raced through her mind as her breath quickened. The Fire-Child. It can heal itself. And others.

Her breath became ragged as the words erupted from her throat. “It’s you, isn’t it?”

Eli pulled his hand back and stood. “What are you talking about?”

“You kissed me. My lip was healed by the next day.”

Eli laughed. “Are you talking about the legend? The Fire-Child? You know as well as I do that’s a bunch of crap. Besides, the Fire-Child has red hair and green eyes. I most definitely don’t.”

“But I do.” Julie’s eyes widened as she looked at the photo of herself taken just two years earlier. Her red hair and green eyes had caused her so much embarrassment when she was growing up. And now they might get her killed. She saw Eli’s eyes flit over to the picture and back to her. “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? To protect me. You saw the news about Jared White, didn’t you? You saw my picture, and you know I’m in danger. If they figure out that I really have red hair, they’ll come after me.” Eli walked towards the door, but Julie stepped in front of him and backed up against it. “But you don’t know who ‘they’ are, do you?”

“Julie, you’re being ridiculous. For all I know, you could be the Fire-Child. You fit the description a lot better than I do.”

“But I can’t heal myself.” She reached out and grabbed Eli’s hand, blinking as spots began to appear in front of her eyes. She breathed deeply and willed the spots to disappear. They subsided, but only slightly. Taking a breath, she held his hand and brushed his finger along the scar below her collarbone. His touch seemed to burn her skin, a sweet mixture of fire and ice. “I can’t, but you can.” She drew Eli’s hand close against her, cupping it with both hers, pulling him close. She lifted her lips to his ear. “Make the scar go away, Eli.”

Eli’s hand tightened in hers, and she felt his lips brush her temple. He stood silently as she breathed in his sweet, euphoric scent. Finally, he whispered, “I-I can’t. It’s too late. The scar’s set. It’s a part of you.” 

Julie’s heart raced as she sat on her bed, pulling him down beside her. His hand remained clasped in hers as their eyes met.

“But you would—you could—if it were a fresh wound?” She raised her eyebrows, simultaneously anticipating and dreading what he was about to say.

Eli’s eyes softened, and he nodded slowly. “Yes, I would, and I can.”

Julie sat silently as the reality of his words sank in. “You mean ... you really are the Fire-Child?”

Lights flared in Eli’s eyes, but instead of a pure sapphire background, an emerald green swirled in with the blue. The muscle of his jaw twitched, and Julie felt a new wave of electricity pass between Eli and herself.

“I’m a
Phoenix
. Fire-Child is just the name I was given in the local legend.” He pulled his hands from hers, stood, and walked over to the window.

Julie breathed deeply, trying to slow down her heart, which threatened to pop right out of her chest. She turned to Eli who stood staring out the window. “So, you’re immortal?”

Eli turned to her and leaned against the windowsill. “I guess you could say that, although my time is almost up.”

Julie shook her head, trying to make sense of what he had just said. “What do you mean? Grace and Tina said you’d be born again. So you could live on.”

“I’ve been on this Earth as Eli Sullivan for almost 300 years, Julie, and when I’m born again, I’ll have no memory of the life I’ve lived. I’ll start out new ... with a clean slate. I’ll have a whole new life.”

Julie’s mind reeled. Her heart seemed to grow cold in her chest, like she had just died.
This must be what a broken heart feels like.
She swallowed the tears away, trying to calm the tremor she felt in her throat. “So, how many lives have you lived?”

Eli brushed his raven hair away from his eyes. Julie thought she saw a flash of gold in it.

“I’ve never taken the time to count. But it doesn’t matter. I don’t remember any of them. And I won’t remember this one.”

Julie looked in Eli’s eyes. They looked sad ... distant.
Could he be feeling the same way?
She had to ask. “How much longer do you have?”

Eli walked over and sat by her. “I don’t know, exactly. But it’s going to happen soon. I can feel it. I’ll know.” He sighed. “Kinda like how a salmon knows when it’s time to swim upstream to spawn, or how the swallows know when to fly to Capistrano. That’s why we moved back.”

“We?” Julie’s brow furrowed. She hadn’t even thought about his family.

Eli nodded. “My aunt and uncle. I mean, they’re not really my aunt and uncle. I just call them that. She’s a descendant of Laylah, the Numa woman who found me.” Eli’s eyes glistened. “My mother.”

Julie reached out, hesitated then drew her hand back to her lap. She couldn’t lead him on, and her touch would do just that.

“You must miss her.”

Eli cleared his throat. “She raised me. Took care of me. Loved me. Like her own flesh and blood. Like the other children she had after me. I watched as they died, one by one, during childbirth. All except for one sister. She lived, and I’ve been living with her descendants ever since.”

“What happened to your mother?”

Eli hesitated and then looked into Julie’s eyes. “I watched her grow old, waste away, and die. Now that I look back on it, I’m figuring she had some type of cancer. I couldn’t fix that.”

Julie’s heart lurched in her chest. “I’m so sorry.”

Eli shook his head. “She was mortal. Mortals die. Everyone I’ve ever loved has died. Except for Liana. She and her husband, Simon, have been my family for the last fifty years.”

Loved. He said everyone he’
d
ever loved ha
d
died. Julie swallowed. “Have you ever been
in
love?”

Eli’s eyes grew sad and distant once again. “After my mother died, I married a girl from a neighboring village. In human years, I was thirty years old, but my body stopped aging on my seventeenth birthday. I didn’t tell my young wife about my ... condition. I figured I’d do it when she noticed she was getting older, but I wasn’t
.
I didn’t get the chance.
Two days after we were married, t
here was a raid in our village when most of the men were out hunting. Many of the women and children were either killed or taken, including my wife and my sister. I found their bodies two days later, several miles outside our village. Too late to help either of them. I took my sister’s orphaned daughter and left. I’ve been on the move, first with my niece, and then with her descendants, for the last 270 years, until now. I’ve come full circle.”

Julie’s cell phone beeped, startling the breath right out of her. Eli reached for it, but Julie snatched it up before he could get it. She slid it open, read the message, and then handed it to Eli.

“It’s from Charsey. Kas must be with her. Sounds like they want to make amends.”

Eli read the message out loud. “‘Sorry about the other night—Kas and I want to talk to you tomorrow. See you at school’.” He slid the cell phone shut. “You may be right.”

“School! Crap, it’s after one and we both have school tomorrow!” Julie smiled and shook her head. “I just realized how long you’ve been going to school. Don’t you get tired of it?”

Eli laughed. “Sometimes. But then again, sometimes I meet some very nice, very interesting people.” Eli smiled and raised an eyebrow. “At least it’s happened once in the last
30
0 years.”

Julie stood silently and bit her lip. It took everything in her to keep from crying. She knew he was teasing, but she also knew how she felt about him, plus, she knew that it wouldn’t be long until he was gone. It felt so strange being in this position. All these years she distanced herself from people, not allowing herself to love or be loved because the risk was too great, and now she was in the same position she had been afraid to put others in. No. There could be no relationship. Not that kind, anyways. Her heart would be broken either way. That was a sure thing. But his didn’t have to be.

Eli’s brow creased for a moment as he studied her face.

“How about if I pick you up tomorrow for school?”

Julie opened the door. “Umm ... I think I’ll just drive myself. But thanks. You just keep your eye out for those Nephilim.”

Eli stopped in front of Julie. Too close.
Please don’t kiss me.
A smile flitted across his face, as if he could read her mind, but instead of a kiss, he touched just under her collarbone. She shivered. His touch was almost as bad, almost as exquisite, as his kiss. Colors began to fly in front of her eyes. She held on to the door to keep from sliding to the floor.

“By the way, how’d you get the scar?”

Julie’s mind scrambled, trying to think of what to say.

“Surgery. I broke my collarbone pretty badly.” She forced a small smile. Lying was not one of her gifts, but she could pull it off if she really tried.

Eli smiled. “It really doesn’t look bad. Think of it as a battle scar. Wear it proudly. I wish I had one.”

Julie shook her head. “No ... no, you don’t.”

Julie awoke to a dull ache in the pit of her stomach—not enough to make her nauseous, but just enough to make her miserable. She grabbed a bottle of antacid and chewed a couple of tablets, coating her tongue with their minty chalkiness. That was almost as bad as the pain, but on the way to school, she could feel that they were helping ... just a bit.

Charsey was just grabbing her books out of their locker with Kas looking on as Julie rounded the corner of Corridor C. Her stomach seemed to jump up into her throat, giving her the same feeling she got on the first hill of a roller coaster. Her steps slowed. Kas said something to Charsey, motioned in Julie’s direction with his chin, then walked away. At least she didn’t have to deal with him first thing this morning. Charsey turned around and shot Julie a full-toothed grin.

“Hi, Jules!” She was way too happy. Something was up.

Julie took her bag off her shoulder and hung it in the locker. “Hi.” She grabbed her American Lit book and notebook off the shelf, slammed the door shut, and then twirled the dial, making sure it locked. “I see you learned how to work the combination, Charse.” Julie made sure she shot Charsey a matching, fake smile. Charsey’s gaze dropped to the floor and her cheeks flamed. She was actually embarrassed!

“Yes, well, you were a good teacher.” Charsey looked back up at Julie. Her bright blue eyes had welled up with tears. “I’m really sorry about the other night, Julie.”

Julie stared at Charsey. Just what exactly was she up to now? “I guess we’re not as close as I thought we were. Do you have any other secrets I need to know about?”