Scorch (15 page)

"I know," Luke said.

"But wh—"

"Tomorrow."

"With—"

"We need your mom."

Kira pulled the phone from her pocket, dialed
her mother's phone number and started pacing again. Her arms
tingled with excitement—a new energy, a hopeful energy, was buzzing
all around her insides.

"Hello?"

"Mom!" Kira shouted, and then winced, "sorry,
sorry."

"It's okay! Are you alright? Things have been
crazy around here. The Councils, the Punishers, I have so much to
tell you. They—"

"Mom, mom, hold on, let me go first." Her
mother stayed silent, so Kira plowed on. "The cabin, the one where
my birth parents lived, do you know how to find it? Do you think
it's still there?"

"Maybe, but it's been a while honey, I doubt
it's even there anymore. Andrew, he wasn't exactly a master
builder, and I only went once. I always meant to go back, to get
their things, but there was never any time."

"We're going," Kira said, "and before you
start arguing, it's really really important. And if I tell you why,
you're just going to freak, so it would be much easier if you just
told us where to go and met us at the airport."

"That's not exactly how the whole parent
child thing works," her mother drawled, "tell me what's going on,
and I mean right now, or Kira, you will finally get all of the
punishments you've been earning these last few months. And I mean
it, no money, no cars, no cooking school, no—"

"Mom, I'm turning into a vampire."

There was a long pause. If not for the steady
breathing, Kira would have thought her mother had hung up. She felt
a little guilty for just throwing it all out there, but really, the
motherly rant had been fast approaching—dire measures needed to be
taken.

"Kira, you," she started but then
stopped.

After a minute, Kira asked, "Mom?"

"You just, you can't just say something like
that and expect me to be okay."

Kira rolled her eyes. "I don't expect you to
be okay, in fact I expect you to be so concerned that you'll jump
on a plane and meet me wherever we need to go." She smiled sweetly
out of habit, almost as though her mother could see her.

A heavy sigh came through the line.

"You're as infuriating as my brother," she
said, and then, "meet me at the Greenbrier Valley Airport in West
Virginia, do you have that? Greenbrier Valley?"

"Got it, I'll let you know as soon as Luke
and I have flights."

"Kira?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you, but really, when all of this is
done, you're grounded."

"Okay, Mom." Kira rolled her eyes, her
adoptive parents had never been great at punishing her. Maybe
because until this year she had never really needed to be punished,
having been in boarding school.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me." What the?
Kira thought, how did she know? "I'm your mother, I know you. And I
mean it. When all of this is over, vampires are going to be the
least of your worries."

"Okay, Mom," she repeated in a much graver
tone, "I really am sorry. I love you."

"I love you too. Call me as soon as you
can."

"Deal."

Kira hung up the phone, meeting Luke's eyes.
They had a lot to do if they were going to be in West Virginia
before the sun rose.

Chapter Ten

Kira looked around the airport. Her mom
should be here by now. Had something happened? Did Aldrich's
cronies come back? Was she trapped somewhere? Alone and
helpless?

"Kira."

She jumped… not helpless, just angry...

"Mom! I'm so happy you're here."

"Yeah, yeah," she gave her daughter a quick
hug, "I know what your punishment is going to be." Kira rolled her
eyes. Really? The first words out of her mouth?

Next to her, Luke snickered. Jerk. She should
have left him back in Charleston with Pavia and Tristan.

"Was it that you got to fly air-conduit on
the private jet while Luke and I were stuck in smaller than
half-of-my-butt-cheek seats next to the bathroom? Did I mention the
flush was broken?"

"It was traumatizing, Mrs. D," Luke said in a
sorrowful voice.

"No, that's not it," she grinned, "but it
does make me feel a little better."

"Mom," Kira rolled her eyes and started
walking ahead of them toward the rental car stand. She was
evil.

"First, you're staying home for a while, I
mean until you go to the college or culinary school of your
choice," Kira started to protest but was waved off, "there are
plenty of wonderful restaurants to work at in Charleston."

Kira sighed, but nodded. Charleston was a
great city and she wanted to spend more time with her family
anyway. "Second?" Better to get it over with…

"Second, no trips, not even with Luke or the
conduits, unless I'm there too."

"But—"

"No buts, I'm serious."

"Okay," Kira said through gritted teeth.
Please let third be last…

"Finally, you're getting a curfew. After
finding out Tristan was a vampire, and right under my nose all this
time, I just can't trust you yet. So home by eleven every night,
unless it's a special occasion and you ask me for permission a week
in advance—with a convincing argument."

Part of Kira wanted to stomp her foot in
annoyance, but a bigger part of her understood and kept the temper
tantrum inside. To a lot of people, this would be considered almost
lenient for lying about traveling to a foreign country, dating a
member of the undead, and, well, a few more things that Kira
couldn't quite keep track of.

She put out her hand.

"Deal. When all of this is over, and Aldrich
is dead, I'll come home and be your own personal hermit."

Her mom took her hand and shook it. But
before letting go, she tugged her daughter in for a hug. "I missed
you, and I love you, don't ever forget that."

Kira smiled into her mom's shoulder. "I love
you too."

With sniffle, her mother let her go and went
to stand in line for a rental car.

A few seconds later, Luke's warm breath
tickled her neck, sending a delicious shiver down her spine.

"So," he whispered, "do we tell your parents
about us, or for the next year am I still the best friend who's
allowed in your bedroom with the door closed?"

Kira turned, grinning, "Well, I did just
agree to stop lying to my parents…"

Luke pouted, letting his puppy dog eyes droop
downward in a very convincing argument. Kira put a hand on his
chest, using the balance to rise on her toes, bringing her lips to
his ear.

"I'm game if you are."

She dropped down quickly, taking a step back
before her mother saw anything. And it was just in time, because as
Kira turned, her mother was finishing up with the agent.

Waving, Kira and Luke made their way over and
followed her mother out the door. As they settled inside the
off-road SUV, the one her mom specially ordered, Kira felt the
nerves begin, a little swarm of bees buzzing in her stomach. She
was going home, to her first home, to the home she only remembered
in stolen thoughts and barely-there dreams.

"Okay, talk," her mom said as she revved the
engine. Kira didn't need an explanation and with a sigh, she
started telling the story—the whole story, starting all the way
back with the eclipse, the fight with Diana, the cause of her coma,
the Red Rose Ball, the trip to England, the moment she started to
feel the change within herself, the darkness.

The only part Kira kept out, the one part she
couldn’t even speak about, was the fight right outside of
Sonnyville just days earlier. There was no way she could tell her
mother that she had almost bitten her, that she had tried to eat
her. The mere thought made her insides cramp, made bile gather on
her tongue, made...

Kira stopped thinking about it, pushed the
memory away and looked at her mother.

With each passing minute, the older woman's
face darkened a little more—with worry or anger, Kira wasn't sure.
At times, it looked like she wanted to say something; would open
her mouth just to close it again or widen her eyes just to squint
once more.

In the end, all her mother did was reach out
her hand and intertwine their fingers, but it was perfect, it was
exactly what Kira needed. Not another lecture or another punishment
or another fight, just the support and understanding that only a
mother could provide.

And they stayed like that for Kira didn't
know how long, because her attention had shifted out the window,
away from Luke and her adoptive mother and Tristan and conduits and
vampires and Aldrich. Her attention was long gone; running ahead of
the car, following her heart home to the parents she had never
gotten the chance to know.

Kira didn’t notice as the city began to fade.
She didn't see the dense forest that took its place. She no longer
felt her mother's fingers or the subtle peace flowing in from
Luke's mind. All she felt was an overwhelming sense of déjà vu, and
maybe it was just her mind playing tricks, but somehow she felt
like she had been to this place before.

A tune started singing inside her head, a
lullaby, soothing, a woman's voice. The image before her flickered,
phantom flames danced in its place. The comforting smell of burnt
wood filled her nostrils. And maybe even the dull thud of heavy
boots walking through the front door…

"Kira, honey?" A warm palm landed on her
shoulder. Her mother.

"Huh?" Kira blinked. The image was gone, the
memory, if she could call it that. Or was is just another thing she
borrowed from her birth mother? Another thought she had peeked at
in Pavia's mind?

"Kira, we need to the walk the rest of the
way."

She nodded and drowsily slipped out of the
car, not yet with it. They had parked on the shoulder, tucked
against the trees in a narrow opening along the road.

"It's been a long time since I was here,
Kira, I'm not sure I'll even be able to find the place." She looked
worried and shifted her head around the tree line.

"It's okay, Mom," Kira urged, "we just have
to try."

Her mom walked ahead, looking for familiar
landmarks.

Luke slipped his hand in hers, squeezing once
before letting it go, very aware of the parental presence close
by.

"Are you okay?" He leaned down to whisper in
her ear.

"I think so."

"You seemed pretty quiet… back in the car."
He waited for her, listening for even a sigh in response.

"Would you think I'm crazy if I said I might
remember this place? That it somehow feels familiar?" Kira looked
at the ground, drawing a little circle in the grass with her
toe.

"Of course not," Luke said and gently guided
her chin upwards, arching her head toward his. Concern and
affection flooded his features. "I'd say that’s amazing."

"I think it's pretty awesome, too." Her eyes
crinkled in a barely-there smile. It was more than amazing—it was
almost magical.

"I think it might be this way," her mother
called, indicating a space between two large trees. Luke and Kira
eased apart, making their way over as her mom disappeared into the
trees.

Wherever they were going, it looked pretty
deserted. There were no footsteps on the ground. There was no
lightly traveled dirt path, no wrappers leftover from a camping
trip or signs pointing where to go. There was grass and dirt and
shrubs and leaves and sticks—pretty much everything an animals-only
forest might contain.

And with the need to concentrate on where she
was stepping, Kira pretty much gave up on recognizing anything.
Staring at the ground was all she had time for.

"You know," Luke said behind her as they
stepped over a particularly large pool of squishy mud, "England was
almost a nice break. You were living in a gigantic castle, I was
cooped up in a nice flat in the heart of London—not too shabby—but
somehow, we're back here, ankle deep in I don't even know
what…"

"Look at you, turning into a Prima
Donna."

"I'm just saying, when all of this is over
and you're on house arrest, don't expect me to sneak through the
miniature forest in your backyard anytime soon."

"That is something we can definitely agree
on," Kira said, grimacing as her shoe sank an inch into the ground.
Thank goodness she was wearing sneakers.

Up ahead, her mom gasped and stopped
moving.

Kira stopped too… and then broke off at a
sprint, no longer caring about the mud caking her feet.

In seconds, she had caught up to her mom.
Barely a foot in front of her, Kira stopped again. Her heart jumped
in her chest, no longer able to sustain any movement because her
whole body was stuck, frozen in place, halted on the breath caught
in her throat.

The cabin.

It was standing.

It was there, right before her very eyes,
visible through the sea of tree trunks.

Kira ran again, because it all came crashing
down, every minute she had dreamed of her parents, of their lives
together, of the memories hidden deep within her own head. All of
it landed on her in a tidal wave of momentum pushing her feet
forward, until it was too much, and she tripped and fell right
before the front doorway.

"Kira, wait!"

But she couldn't.

Jumping to her feet, Kira lunged up the
steps, taking two at a time until her fingertips were wrapped
around a rusty doorknob.

Taking a deep breath, Kira closed her eyes,
keeping them tightly shut in fear that it was all just a dream.

She twisted.

The door swung open, creaking on unused
hinges.

She was trembling. What if she opened her
eyes and nothing was there but more disappointment, more confusion?
What if…

Enough. Her eyelids slid open.

There was dust everywhere—a thick gray layer
covering the wooden floor, the holey rug, the single chair laying
on its side. Windows were broken. The roof was caving inwards,
dented from a fallen tree still leaning on the house. Vines of ivy
and little shrubs broke through the wood in various spots, turning
the space into an indoor garden.