Reflection Pond (15 page)

The sun had dipped in the sky
, dusk wasn’t far off. Callie turned, settled her arms over her stomach, and watched the clouds. She picked out shapes, a tree, a fish, the creepy smile of a jack-o-lantern. Rowan breathed steady beside her. He smelled of sweat and the raw earth and grass stains. Heat poured off his skin. His closeness made Callie’s throat tickle.

Rowan propped himself up on one elbow and gazed down at her, eyes troubled. “You’ll be sore tomorrow.”

“Mm,” she said.             

“
If you want me to heal you...” He let the proposition hover between them.

“I’m okay,” she said. And she was. Though battered, bruised, and weary, Callie
was exhilarated. For once she felt stronger, one step closer to being able to defend herself. She hoped next time they started with the quarterstaffs. Knowing how to fall wouldn’t get her far in a fight. Besides, letting Rowan heal her would be admitting weakness.

She closed her eyes and tried to access the burning energy she felt whenever she was angry. It seemed far away.
Unreachable. She had to do this every day, she decided.

Next to her, Rowan tensed
.

“Can I ask you something?”

There was a long pause
, Callie couldn’t open her eyes. She didn’t want to see his face, didn’t want to know his thoughts. She felt one finger trail softly over her bare stomach. She flinched and rolled away, jerking her shirt down. She sat up, finally looking at him, breathing hard. A scream built in her chest.

Rowan’s lips parted. “Callie—I…”

“Don’t,” she said, the word just audible behind clenched teeth.

He sat up slowly, coming to his knees.

Callie dug her fingers into the dirt, nails bending backwards. If Rowan wasn’t there, she might’ve just kept digging. Clawing out clumps of dirt until the hole was big enough for her to hide.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t—”

“Forget it,” she snapped. The power was back, pulsing beneath her fingers, needing to escape. She scooted away from him, terrified of what might happen.

Rowan blinked once, swallowed. “Did someone hurt you?”

She pressed her lips together so hard that her teeth slid into the flesh. Rowan hurried to explain. “I mean—you just…”

“I, what?”
She tasted metal, remembered the blood.

“If someone hurt you—just tell me, and I’ll—”

“You’ll what?” Callie stood, dizzy with memories, drunk with energy. “Thank you for the lesson, Rowan,” she said, backing away. When she was far enough that she wouldn’t feel like an idiot, Callie turned and ran to Sapphire’s cottage, slamming the door behind her. The mirror on the wall fell to the ground and shattered. Callie pounded her dirty fists against the door, wishing the wood planks were enough to hold back the past.

As her heart rate returned to normal, Callie realized how empty the cottage was. Her lonely mattress lay in the corner, Willow’s puke-stained dress a crumpled pile at the foot. The pegs that held Sapphire’s scarves poked from the wall, bare. Callie slid to the bed, the pressure of the past few days collapsing like a pile of stones.

Sapphire was prophetess—and though Callie didn’t know what her duties entailed, it meant Sapphire wouldn’t be there when she woke in the morning.

Tears collected in her eyes and she pressed her face into the pillow, smothering a sob.

Three soft knocks drifted through the cottage and she pulled herself upright. If Rowan thought she wanted to see him, he was wrong. She could still feel the soft brush of his fingertips on her skin. The weight of his body had pressed the air from her lungs while they’d trained, but that was okay, as long as she didn’t think too hard about it. Callie stood and swiped the wetness from her face. She flattened her hands on the door when she reached it.

“What?”

“Callie? It’s Ash.”

Sighing, she pulled the door open. Ash stood on the other side, clean and looking much improved from the passed out boy he’d been earlier. He must’ve taken some miracle hangover drink, because his eyes were bright and focused.

His face fell as he looked Callie over. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m tired,” Callie said, moving to let Ash into the cottage. “Rowan’s training me.” She caught
a brief change in Ash’s expression. “With the quarterstaff.”

“I thought you might want to practice. I didn’t realize you were working with Rowan, too.” He sat on the edge of the table and frowned. “It’s weird without Sapphire’s stuff in here.”

She nodded, another sharp lance of loneliness stabbed her heart.

Ash waited outside while Callie scrubbed the stains off her elbows and changed into fresh clothes.

***

“Mind control,” Ash said with a grin, “the stuff of dreams.” He tapped his temple. “I want you to get inside my head.” He folded himself in the center of the training room and motioned for Callie to do the same. “Not many fae can do it, and it’s especially rare for one to have more than one power,” he paused, lifted his brows, “but since we already know you have
three,
why not
four?”

Three,
Callie thought. She already had three powers.
Fire, water, and the brain explosion thing.
She didn’t want anymore—she didn’t want what she had. Had Rowan told anyone what she’d done to him?

The more she learned of her powers, the more freaked out she became. She felt venomous, not to be trusted. Maybe they were right to bind her to the city, cage her in like an animal at the zoo; at least she wouldn’t hurt anyone.

The ground was cold under Callie’s legs, her backside tender from falling. Ash took her hands and pressed them to his face. For a second, Callie was back with Rowan, healing him. Ash didn’t feel anything like Rowan, though. The energy he emitted was softer, gentler, and his skin smoother. Callie felt his smile beneath her fingers. “Close your eyes and focus on my energy.”

She did as he instructed, finding the green smoke of Ash’s power. It undulated, a lazy slide of mist from a waterfall inside him. It caressed Callie as though tasting her, deciding if they should mingle.

“Got it?”

She nodded, not opening her eyes, hoping it was supposed to come this easy. It was nothing for Callie to trace the energy up his arms and into his heart. It was as though they shared the same body, their heart rates steadied into rhythm. Her breathing slowed, matching Ash’s, and she was inside him.

Ash’s mind unfolded like the petals of a flower, exposing a vast, swirling space filled with thoughts, emotions, and memory. It was pure, safe, all the edges brightly lit. No shadowy twists lurked in the corners, no demons draped his memories with sticky fear. She glimpsed his childhood, a day at the park, his foster mother bandaging his knee. The uncertainty of his first day in
Eirensae,
the joy of finding his amulet. She saw herself as he did, silky blonde hair to run his fingers through, soft skin to trail his lips across, a tender soul to protect.

And desire, pulsating white hot, at the center.

Callie gasped and fell away from him, severing the connection. Couldn’t she just have
friends
, for once? No pressure, no commitment?

Moments later, she was on her feet, while Ash still sat, legs crossed, confused. “Did it work?”

She faltered, backing away, unable to find air in the stifling cave.

Ash stood now, moved toward her. “What is it?”

“I—” She kept feeling Rowan’s fingers on her stomach. “I’m tired.”
I can’t do this.
She turned on her heel and hurried away from him, unable to look him in the face. These boys, they meant well. They weren’t the one who hurt her, but rationality didn’t have a place alongside the terror and every touch turned her into a mess of uncertainty. The cave walls moved passed her, as though she stood still and the world spun on.

Ash caught up in the great room, dropping a hand on her shoulder. “Callie, stop.”

“I’m sorry,” she muttered, the response on autopilot. She couldn’t remember how many times she’s said those words to Nate.
I’m sorry I can’t. I’m sorry, I have to go. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.
She was trapped here, unable to escape, bound to the city. All she wanted to do was run.

Ash caught her chin, lifted it until she met his gaze. Face to face, they were the same height. Freckles bridged his nose. “What do you have to be sorry for?”

She didn’t have a good answer, though she had plenty of awful things to be sorry about. Ash touched her cheek, tentative. Callie swallowed.

“You shouldn’t touch me. You don’t know what I’ll do. I can’t—”

Ash ignored her. “I don’t know what you’re afraid of,” he said, slipping the hand around her neck. It was warm and electric and soothing at the same time. Callie felt the gaping hole inside of her grow wider, threaten to suck her into its depth.

“You can talk to me,” he went on, “about anything. I don’t know if it’s about Elm—but not everyone here is like him. I only want to help.” His fingertips were heavy on her flesh, driving his point. “I’d never hurt you.
Not ever. Come on,” he said, sliding his hand down to hers.

The image of herself through Ash’s eyes flowed through Callie’s mind. Taking a breath, she pushed down the insistent flash of power in her fingers. Then, she followed him through the rock wall.

CHAPTER
EIGHT

Rowan stood at Sapphire’s dresser, eyeing the assortment of sparkling clips, blooms, ribbons, and bands.

“Hand me that flower,” Sapphire said from in front of the mirror.

“Which one?” he asked, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. He hadn’t come to help Sapphire dress for the funeral, he’d come for information on Callie. Being here at all was forbidden, no one was allowed in the prophetess’s house unless invited by Hazel. Rowan had never been much for rules, especially ones that restricted access to information.

“The violet,” she said, twisting her hair into a bun. Their fingers brushed when Rowan handed her the flower. Sapphire’s hands were freezing. She pinned the petals into her hair and smiled at her reflection, gaze going to the new imprints on her arms.

Rowan looked too, never having seen the previous prophetess this closely. Her imprints were magical, alive and ever changing, as though he viewed them through rippled glass. Sapphire shivered. In less than an hour, she would light fire to the body of the previous prophetess, turning her to ash so she could rejoin the earth. If the idea bothered Sapphire, she didn’t show it.

“I know why you’re here,” she said, turning away from the reflection.

Rowan felt a scrape of unease in the back of his throat. He couldn’t say that he was close with Sapphire, but she was someone he trusted.

Sapphire touched the flowers on her arms. “Everything is changing, and not just in the city. I know you care for Callie—I know you want to fix everything—I know the things you’ve seen in her, and I know what you hide in yourself.”

She smiled now, sadly, and Rowan was terrified of the knowledge behind her eyes. Sapphire was prophetess, and if he asked, she might tell him his future. He couldn’t decide whether it was worse to be oblivious or have your life laid out like a map before you.

Sapphire took his hands, leeching a bit of warmth from him, though he wasn’t certain she realized it was happening. “I would give it to you, you know, that power to change everything,” sh
e paused, searching his face, “if I could.” Sapphire dropped his fingers and went back to the mirror. Instead of looking at herself, she met his eyes in the glass. “I’m bound to service of
Eirensae
and its leader.” Her face stilled with the importance of what she was trying to impart, gaze boring into his. “I can’t betray that. This city wasn’t meant for you.”

Rowan’s heart sank. He’d known all along that he didn’t belong in
Eirensae
. Hearing it aloud made it real. He wanted to ask
where
he belonged then. The thought made him sick.

The Fallen.
Perhaps he’d always belonged to them.

“We’ll go to war,” Sapphire said. “We’ll stand on opposite sides.”

Rowan stilled, his unease turning into horror.

“I know you don’t understand, but you will soon. I can’t stop this path we’re on…the one you’ll follow with Callie. Just promise me,” her voice shook, “promise that you’ll stand beside her.
That you’ll never stop fighting. Promise that no matter how far or how deep you two go, that you’ll always pull her back. Eventually, you’ll have to bring her home.”

“I promise,” he heard himself say, his words tinny as though they came from the end of a tunnel.

“I want her to stay, but I don’t see how.”

“I can try—” he broke off.
He could try what? Forcing Callie to stay within the city walls? Hadn’t Hazel already bound her? “I’ll find a way to make her stay here,” he said.

“The future is ever changing. Maybe I’m wrong.” She didn’t sound like she believed him. “You’ll find your place, too, you know. Maybe it won’t be what you expected, but that’s not always a bad thing. Just protect Callie.
No matter what happens.” She returned to the mirror, shoulders curled inward, as if the weight was too much to hold.