Bloom (8 page)

Even though the arson and kidnapping was still a solidifying theory, the local press picked up the story and ran with it. Haven had to change hotels twice because of the sea of reporters that waited outside her room after they found out where she was staying. The more days that passed without any sign of Noah in the ashes, the more certain everyone became that it was kidnapping and murder.

Haven kept her mouth shut as she shoved her way through the crowd and into the school. The reporters weren’t allowed past the front gates, and she was at least thankful for that much.

The day went downhill from there.

She didn’t understand why she even had to go back in the first place. There was no reason she couldn’t have done all of her work from her hotel room. The stay at the hotel was only temporary, though, since she found out the state wouldn’t allow her to live anywhere without an adult guardian for too much longer. She may have been able to get away with it if her life hadn’t turned into such a media circus.

Principal Rivera had dropped the idea of Haven switching to Advanced Placement courses in light of the tragedy, which suited Haven just fine. She doubted she would be completing her school work anyway.

What’s the point?
she thought.

Life had turned into endless days of sitting at the police station, answering the same questions about her family over and over again. No, she
didn’t
know of anyone who may have wanted to hurt her parents and kidnap her brother. No, she was absolutely
certain
she loved them and never wanted anything bad to happen to them. The line of questioning that led to that last statement disturbed Haven more than anything else. The implication was that she had something to do with the horrible fire. The first time one of the policemen had even remotely hinted at that possibility, Haven screamed at him and ran out of the room.

Now that she was back at school, Haven hoped that some small degree of normalcy would creep back into her life and that she could put the events of the past several weeks behind her.

If only it were that easy.

Everywhere she went in the school, students looked at her suspiciously and whispered to each other, laughing or staring wide-eyed in potential fear. It wasn’t until she finally caught up with Kayla in between classes that she learned the reason why.

“Hey,” said Haven as she walked up to Kayla’s locker. Kayla put a book inside and pulled out a folder that she dropped into her backpack.

“Oh, hey!” She zipped up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder, then started walking down the hallway.

“I called you, like, a hundred times last week,” said Haven. “Why didn’t you ever pick up?”

Kayla wouldn’t make eye contact with her. “I thought you needed your space, you know? I didn’t want to bother you.”

“I needed someone to talk to, Kayla.” said Haven. She had to swallow to stop her throat from tightening. “You’re supposed to be my friend. I thought I could count on you.”

“Look, I’m sorry, alright? I don’t do well with…with situations like that.”

“Yeah, me either. But you could have answered your phone.”

They passed a group of students who stopped talking and stared at Haven.

“Why does everyone keep doing that?” she asked. “They stare at me like I’m some kind of freak.”

“You mean you don’t know?” said Kayla.

“Know what?”

Kayla stopped and sighed. “They all think you did it.”

“‘Did it’? What do you mean? Did what?”

Kayla still wouldn’t look at her. “
You
know…”

Haven’s eyes opened in shock. “They think I burned my own house down?!”

Every student within earshot stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her.

“Shhh!” said Kayla. “Keep your voice down.”

“But you were there! You saw it yourself!”

“I already told them,” said Kayla. “Over and over again, but they didn’t care. Ever since one of the reporters said they hadn’t ruled you out as a suspect, it’s the only thing they believe. You know how rumors work. The worst one is always the favorite.”

“Well, that’s just great!” said Haven, throwing up her hands in frustration. “Everyone at school thinks I’m some kind of psycho!”

“I don’t,” said Kayla. “
You
know the truth, and that’s all that matters. Look, my class is right over there. I gotta go.”

“Kayla, wait!”

Kayla walked away and ducked into her classroom. Haven stood on the sidewalk in front of the building, too stunned to move.

The bell rang. Students hurried past, trying to get to class before the teacher marked them tardy and sentenced them to detention. Haven watched them scurry inside, and she was both envious and furious that the biggest thing most of them had to worry about was punctuality.

She walked slowly to her next class—history, her least favorite. The teacher didn’t say anything when Haven walked in five minutes late, he just paused and waited. All the students stared at her as she walked to the back of the room and sat at her desk. The teacher cleared his throat to get the students’ attention, then resumed his lesson.

Haven wasn’t hungry at lunchtime, but she wanted to catch up with Kayla and reclaim a sense of what her life was like before the fire—even if it was only a fraction of what it used to be. She was still mad at her for not picking up her stupid phone when Haven needed her most, but they could talk about that later.

She walked into the cafeteria and looked for her friend. It was the very beginning of lunch, so most of the tables were full. Kayla sat on the other side of the room and Haven started to make her way across the cafeteria.

As she got closer, she noticed that Kayla was sitting with someone—a boy. The boy said something and Kayla laughed. She flipped her hair back playfully and touched the boy’s arm. Haven couldn’t see who it was since he had his back to her, but as far as she knew Kayla didn’t have a boyfriend. Maybe she had picked one up while Haven was away.

Haven smiled as she walked up to the table, happy to meet Kayla’s new guy. Kayla noticed her when she was still a couple steps away and stopped laughing immediately. She stared at Haven like a deer caught in headlights. Her mouth was slightly open as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t force out the words. She just sat there, dumbfounded, while Haven walked up, smiling.

The boy turned around in his seat. It was Jason. “Oh, man…” he said. He turned back to his food and stabbed at some french fries with his fork.

“Haven, I—I’m sorry,” said Kayla. “I know I should have told you…”

Haven walked past the table quickly.

“Wait!” said Kayla.

“Let her go,” said Jason. “If she can’t grow up, then that’s her problem.”

Haven felt blood rush to her face. She ran toward the exit and planned to keep running as soon as she was outside. She wouldn’t stop until she was far away from that place—from those people. She wanted answers. No more waiting, no more uncertainty; she would
make
the police find out who killed her parents and kidnapped Noah.

Haven was halfway to the cafeteria door when an unusual heat blossomed on the back of her neck and ran down her spine. It spread outward, stretching to every part of her body. The blushing warmth in her face paled in comparison to the boiling heat that coursed beneath her skin. Arms, legs, torso, and head—every part of her felt like it was burning. She stopped walking and looked down at herself to make sure she was not actually on fire.

“Hey, what’s wrong with her?” someone said from a nearby table.

Haven tried to run, but her legs wouldn’t move. She tried to call for help but her voice caught in her throat.

She looked down in horror as a bright blue ball of light formed around her right hand.

Not here
, she thought.
Not now
.

Another sphere of light grew from the palm of her other hand until it completely encompassed her wrist and fingers. It looked as if she had stuck her hands into two large balls of blue light. Haven tried to run again, then realized that her feet weren’t touching the ground. She floated into the air and hovered next to a table, still rising toward the ceiling.

The students in the cafeteria screamed and backed away. Several of them held up food trays for protection.

The blue light from Haven’s hands turned to flames and spread to cover her entire body, like fire crawling over gasoline-soaked wood. She felt a tingling sensation on each of her shoulder blades and looked behind her as two huge wings of blue energy unfolded from her back. The tips of the wings touched the ceiling and burned black holes into its smooth surface.

In the shiny plastic reflection on the bottom of the food trays that were being held up for protection, Haven saw a blue angel hovering above the tables of the cafeteria. Her hair floated around her head as if she were submerged in calm water.

Her vision filled with light and she reached up to feel the energy pulsing from her eyes. The flames covering her body cracked like lightning and whipped back and forth violently—a thousand dancing snakes made of blue fire.

Haven’s back arched and she screamed. A flat circle of blue energy shot out from the middle of her body. Nearby students dove to the ground as the ring expanded and passed overhead. It shattered every window in the room and burned into the walls, leaving behind a black strip that ran completely around the inside walls of the cafeteria.

By that point the students no longer cared to see what happened next. They pushed each other out of the way in a mad scramble to leave the cafeteria.

The blue energy faded from Haven’s vision. Darkness clouded her sight and she felt weak. Her body dropped from the air and fell to the hard ground. She looked up at the ceiling until the world around her faded to black.

9

C
olton sat with Reece in the back of a dark SUV and fidgeted nervously with the window controls.

“I still don’t get why they won’t let us roll the windows down,” he said.

“Who cares?” said Reece. He settled into his plush leather seat and leaned it as far back as it would go, then folded his arms behind his head and kicked off his shoes. “Stop worrying. I trust the man completely.”

Alistair was with the driver in the front of the SUV behind a partition of black glass that separated the cab from the rest of the vehicle. Colton hadn’t been introduced to the driver; he and Reece were ushered into the SUV as soon as they walked out of the abandoned building.

He had no clue where they were at that moment, and Alistair hadn’t spoken to them in over an hour. Colton flicked the window switch and sank back into his seat.

The rear section of the SUV had been made up to look more like a limousine than an off-road vehicle. A bench lined the very back and two swiveling leather recliners took up the remaining space. There were two LCD screens mounted into the paneling, one on each side of the driver’s glass partition, but neither Colton nor Reece had been able to figure out how to turn them on.

Reece fell asleep shortly after that, leaving Colton to wonder if he had made the right choice in leaving everything behind. He owned a dresser full of clothes and a few odds and ends, but nothing that he felt genuinely distressed about walking away from. He would have liked to tell his boss he was going away, but figured that he might be back in only a day or two if Alistair’s little adventure turned out to be a bust.

An hour later, the SUV slowed to a stop. Colton reached over and punched Reece in the shoulder until he woke up. The front passenger door opened, then closed. Footsteps crunched on loose gravel toward the back of the SUV, then one of the side doors opened and blinding morning sunlight poured into the vehicle.

Alistair smiled at them. “We’re here.”

Colton got out of the car with shaky legs. He stretched to loosen his muscles and cracked his back. They had parked in the middle of a huge empty lot that was paved with black concrete and painted with bright yellow lines.

Reece hopped down out of the SUV and whistled. “Is that
yours
?” he asked.

Colton turned around and shielded his eyes from the sun. A small two-engine jet was waiting a hundred feet away. Heat fog drifted out from its still-running engines, distorting the grassy field behind it that stretched away into the distance. The runway was in the middle of nowhere, from what Colton could tell. There were no buildings nor any other signs of civilization.

“Not mine,” said Alistair. “A little too flashy for my taste. But the owner would very much like to meet you, Mr. Ross, and he doesn’t like to be kept waiting.” He gestured them toward the plane.

“Listen,” said Colton as they walked across the pavement. “I’m gonna need some clothes, or something, and a shower. And sleep, eventually.”

“Understandable,” said Alistair, nodding sincerely. “Very soon, Mr. Ross. I promise. First you must meet the man behind the money which severed your chains and set you free.”

Colton looked at him hesitantly.

Alistair smiled. “A little dramatic, I know. Forgive me. Old habits, you know.” He gestured up the stairs that led into the plane. “Please.”

Reece hurried past and disappeared into the plane. Colton followed after him.

“Wow,” said Reece.

If the inside of the SUV was a limo, then the inside of the jet was a palace. White leather lined all of the walls, seats, inlays, and cup holders. White pinpoints of lights traced the aisle to the back of the plane, where they climbed up onto the back wall and were fashioned into a complex geometric pattern.

There was only one seat per row on either side of the aisle, and they were so luxuriant that they put the impressive chairs in the SUV to shame. A small black table with a sleek LCD screen set into its surface was bolted to the floor next to each chair.

Only one seat on the entire plane was occupied. Halfway down, a clean-cut man sat staring at them. Colton thought he was around fifty years old, but as Alistair ushered him closer, he saw that the man could not have been much more than thirty-five at the oldest. Colton couldn’t tell where he was from; the man’s face seemed to contain elements from three or four different ethnicities, depending on how the light was hitting him.