Flame Caller (38 page)

Xander opened his eyes, though the
world seemed blurry and limited when viewed through his own eyes.
He had just delved into the heart of erupting volcanoes. Being a
twenty-year-old man again seemed anticlimactic.

A shadow fell over him and he
struggled to make out the face. He could hear the man talking but
his words seemed lost amidst the more intoxicating whispers of the
wind beyond the cabin’s front door.

“
Xander?” the man said
loudly again.

The words took on more clarity, as did
his vision, when Sean repeated himself. “Xander? Talk to me,
buddy.”

Xander shook his head and the sense of
detached omnipresence faded away. “I’m okay.”

He groaned as he tried to stand. He
wasn’t alone in his pain. His aunts and uncles were in various
stages of consciousness as they recovered.

“
What happened?” he
asked.

Sean shrugged. “My best guess is that
since we’re close to Scandinavia, you pissed off Thor, God of
Thunder.”

Xander smiled as he accepted Sean’s
arm for support. They turned toward the interior of the cabin and
Xander felt his heart drop. The Wind Elemental’s eyes were closed
as though she were asleep, though he knew the truth long before he
checked for her pulse. The Elemental power had been all that had
kept the host alive. With her power now in Xander, her host body
had nothing left to sustain its life.

Giovanni limped into the cabin and
stood beside the newly appointed Wind Elemental.

“
You did the right thing,”
the Italian remarked.

“
How do you feel?” Xander
said, without being able to bring himself to look at the former
Wind Warrior.

“
Like a bird that had its
wings clipped.”

Giovanni turned away from the old
woman in the bed and gestured for Xander to follow him outside.
“Come and say your goodbyes. You have much to do and not much time
to do it.”

Xander followed him outside and stared
into the sad eyes of the other three aunts and uncles.

“
Who knew this would suck
so bad?” Patrick said as he sat on the ground.

“
I’m sorry, for what it’s
worth.”

“
Don’t be,” Alicia said.
She looked far older than she had even minutes before. “You did
what was right—what needed to be done.”

“
Do you know where you
need to go from here?” Thea asked.

Xander furrowed his brow. The Wind
Elemental had said they would sense one another, like it was a
magnet drawing them toward each other. He closed his eyes and
focused on the Earth Elemental.

His consciousness leapt from his body
and soared over the ocean. He sped down the length of the Atlantic
until stopping suddenly above an unremarkable stretch of water. As
quickly as it happened, Xander returned to his body.

“
Yeah, I think I
do.”

“
Then get going, lad,”
Patrick replied. “Go be the hero. Go save the world.”

“
What will all of you
do?”

Patrick smiled. “Take a look around.
The hurricane’s gone and we have a boat. We’ll be fine. We’ve spent
so long being Wind Warriors; it’ll be nice to just be a human again
for once.”

Xander hadn’t noticed, as caught up as
he was with his new powers. Blue skies reigned as far as he could
see in all directions.

“
I’m sorry,” Xander said
as he turned back to them.

“
Come here,” Giovanni said
as he pulled Xander into a tight embrace. The other aunts and
uncles stood and joined them.

“
I’m going to miss you
all,” he said. “I really wish you could come with me, regardless of
losing your powers.”

Thea shook her head and surprised him
by smiling. “In case you didn’t notice, we’re old. Old Wind
Warriors are still dangerous. Old humans aren’t worth much in a
fight.”

“
Quit talking the boy’s
ear off,” Alicia said as she sobbed quietly. “He’s got work to
do.”

Xander turned toward the only two
people left. Sean smiled broadly at him. Even Jessica seemed
slightly happy at the attention.

“
What about you two?” he
asked. “You’re not old yet.”

Sean shrugged. “I’ve got nothing else
to do. What about you, Jessica?”

Jessica looked at him and pursed her
lips. She looked away and scanned the surrounding rolling hills. “I
don’t really work well in the cold. It dries out my skin. Can you
promise me you’ll take me somewhere a little more tropical? Maybe
stop by the Bahamas on the way?”

Xander laughed at his two friends and
pulled them both tightly into a hug. “I wouldn’t want anyone else
by my side.”

Sean looked over at Jessica, who
nodded approvingly. “We’re with you to the end,
brother.”

With the two still close by, he kicked
off the ground and the three of them flew into the air.

“
Just try not to get us
killed, okay?” Sean remarked nervously as they rocketed out over
the ocean. “Xander? Okay?”

Sammy clenched the large rock tightly
in her hand until one of its sharp edges bit into the flesh of her
palm. Sunlight trickled through the distant opening of the cavern
and she could smell the fresh desert air taunting her with her
freedom.

A Fire Warrior stood near the
entrance, his back to her as he stared out at the blasted
landscape. He was oblivious to her presence and stood leaning
against the limestone wall with only passive attention paid to his
job of protecting the entrance.

She slid silently behind him, her
booted feet making no noise on the hard, stone ground. Her heart
fluttered and her skin grew clammy as she raised the stone over her
head. With a quick downward thrust, she struck the rock against the
back of the guard’s head. Blood blossomed across his scalp,
staining his blonde hair. Without so much as a grunt of
acknowledgement, his knees went limp and he slumped to the ground
unconscious.

“
I’m sorry,” Sammy said as
she dropped the rock beside him. “I really am. But I can’t have you
trying to stop me.”

She stepped over his prostrate form
and ran out into the hot California sun. The land beyond the cool
tunnel still seemed so foreign to her. Having exited the cave many
times while training for her trip to White Halls, she had become
intimately familiar with the rock outcroppings and bushes that made
up the landscape. What she looked upon now was as alien as it was
bizarre, with large stone shards jutting from the ground at odd
angles.

Turning away from the foreign view,
she rushed toward the highway that ran not far from where she
emerged. Her steps faltered as she realized the road was empty.
When she and Abraxas had arrived, he had left the car abandoned on
the side of the road. She silently cursed herself for assuming it
would still be there. It would have been the perfect vehicle for
escaping the clutches of the Fire Elemental but leaving it
abandoned on the side of the road would have been a clear
indication to anyone driving past that something unusual was
occurring in the area. Of course, one of the Fire Warriors would
have moved it, though she couldn’t fathom where they would hide it
in such a desolate area.

Frowning, she ran to the edge of the
road. The pavement itself had seen better days. Sand drifted over
the black asphalt in droves, concealing the soft edge of the road
and blurring the white lines that marked the right and left most
edges of the highway.

Her feet crunched on the sand and she
could feel the rumble strips concealed beneath her step. She looked
quickly left and right, hoping to catch sight of a passing car, but
the road was as abandoned as she always remembered it. Few people
drove through this part of the State, especially when better
options like Interstate 40 existed just south of where she
stood.

Panic welled within her as she
realized she didn’t have time to wait. It wouldn’t take long for
the Fire Warriors to realize she was gone, if they hadn’t already.
They’d quickly be in pursuit, emerging from the same entrance that
she just left. She didn’t have time to stand around, lost in a sea
of indecision.

She chose east, since she had driven
that road many times, and started to run. Driven by panic and
adrenaline, Sammy knew she was running far faster than she could
sustain over a long period. She would tire soon but she hoped to
put enough distance between her and the cavern entrance that she
wouldn’t be immediately visible on the long stretch of desert when
they looked for her. If they were confused about which direction
she fled, it might buy her a few extra minutes or even hours while
they bothered searching both east and west.

To her amazement, she ran for nearly
twenty minutes without seeing any sign of pursuit. She glanced
nervously over her shoulder from time to time, checking for the
telltale signs of flames or dark leather-clad warriors giving
chase, but none of those signs appeared.

Her lungs started to burn as she ran
and she could feel cramps starting in her calves and thighs. A
twinge of pain started in her shoulder as she pushed herself on, a
result of staying so tense in her neck and back as she ran. She
knew her body couldn’t sustain much longer at the pace she had set,
yet she was hesitant to slow. She’d almost rather them find her
facedown in the sand, having collapsed from exhaustion, than catch
her standing by the side of the road, having given up in
defeat.

Past the pounding in her ears, she
caught the sound of a low rumble starting from behind her. Her
first instinct was to hide, thinking it was Fire Warriors driving
one of their cars as they searched. As she turned, however, she saw
a small, brightly colored Volkswagen Bug driving down the road. It
seemed far too small and conspicuous for the normally proud Fire
Warriors.

She stopped her running and tried to
yell but her lungs burned too strongly from the effort. Instead,
she simply waved her hands over her head in an attempt to get the
driver’s attention.

She knew the chances of him or her
stopping was slim. She knew how she looked. Her blonde hair was no
longer in its long braid down her back and it was greasy from her
time in captivity, both with Abraxas and later at the castle. The
thin clothes she wore were stained with soot and dirt, as was her
face and hands. Had she been carrying a bag of any sort, she knew
that she’d look like a drifter. Instead, she just looked like a
crazy woman by the side of the road.

The Bug drew closer and she could see
the driver and passenger pointing at the disheveled woman by the
side of the road. The rumble of the car’s engine dropped into a
lower gear as the car started to slow. Sammy allowed herself a
moment of relief, knowing that if she got into the car there was a
chance she could put enough distance between herself and her clan
that they’d never find her again.

A hiss of flames reached her ears
moments before multiple jets of fire struck the Volkswagen. The car
caught fire moments before its undercarriage exploded, flipping it
into the air. The car crashed down onto its hood and skidded across
the middle road before coming to rest less than twenty feet from
where Sammy stood in disbelief.

Despite knowing the danger, she
couldn’t bring herself to run as the Fire Warriors emerged from the
desert around her. Defiant tears ran down her face as they tied
leather straps around her wrists and elbows, pinning her arms
painfully behind her. Even as their hands closed over her shoulders
and started pushing her back the way she had come, her eyes never
left the scorched and burning ruins of the car and the memory of
the two Samaritans within who were only going to offer her a
ride.