Flame (Fireborn) (47 page)

I stiffen in his
embrace. Before I can say anything, he rushes on, continuing. "The
Council wasn't perfect. Their intentions were always good, but
corruption and power often rose to the surface of everything they
did. Eventually it all fell apart, and when the Council
disintegrated, the magic did, too. The crystals disappeared. No one
could find them

"Then, a hundred
and fifty years ago, rumors surfaced about some remarkable crystals.
There were whispers that in order to protect them some elemental
witches hid them
in people
. No one believed it for a long
time. I mean how could you? It was crazy." Kaiden's voice
shifts, growing darker and angrier. "Then the Saguinox began
invading planets, and triumphing over every type of magic. That's
when people started investigating. It's a long story, but the only
thing you need to know is the Saguinox have the crystals."

He takes another deep
breath, like he's trying to forget something painful. "We
believe for a long time now they have been using the crystals to
destroy their enemies. What they didn't know is that the crystals are
wild magic. There's always a price to using them. They destroyed many
planets before they finally understood, but by then it was too late.
There was only one planet left, still untouched, still pure."
His embrace tightens. "They have every crystal, except one.
Someone hid it very well, and it's been lost ever since."

There was light and
colors…

Like fire.

Remember.

"Me," I
whisper.

He presses his face to
me. "Yes," he reinforces quietly. "Kenna, you are the
carrier of the fire crystal. You're the miracle we've all been hoping
for."

Something soft touches
my face. I wrinkle my nose to chase it away, which makes me sneeze.
Jerking awake, I try swatting the insect back. When I do, my hand
smacks straight on to a hard chest.

Kaiden's hard chest.

Suddenly, everything
comes rushing back to me. Escape. The explosion. Damien. Kaiden.
Death.

Fire.

With that last thought,
I abruptly straighten.

"Ow!" we both
yell simultaneously as my head bumps into Kaiden's chin. Feeling the
arms around me sway slightly, I grasp his neck for more support.

"Sorry."

"It's ok," he
says, but he's cringing. I know it's from more than just me. We've
had quite a night.

"Kaiden, you can
put me down." I shift anxiously in his arms. "I want to try
walking." Gently, he unlaces the hand around my knees, setting
me softly on my feet. The second my weight is put on my right leg, I
cringe, shuddering from the impact. Gritting my teeth, I try to
remove myself from Kaiden's hold, but he's firm, pressing his fingers
into my back.

"Let me help you."
When I open my mouth to protest, he continues. "I need to. Or
else we'll never get out of this place." It takes a moment, but
I finally nod, conceding his better judgment. Feeling like a big
baby, I let him take me into his arms again, listening to the steady
rhythm of his gait.

It's still dark out.
"How long have we been walking?"

"A couple hours."

A couple hours?
He's not breathing very hard." Aren't you tired?"

"Yes," he
admits.

Bewildered, I remark,
"You sure don't sound like it."

I feel him shrug. "I
have a larger energy reserve than most do. It's sort of left over
residue from my ancestry."

"Oh?" My
interest piqued, I ask, "What does that mean?"

"It means I come
from a long line of magic, which is ironic because I don't actually
have
any magic." He chuckles, and I feel the vibrations
through my sides. I settle my head deeper into his body.

"Does that upset
you?"

He takes a moment to
think, then answers candidly, "No. It actually doesn't. I think
who you are matters more than what magic you have." He sounds
serious and wise.

I smile into his shirt.
"And who are you, Kaiden?" I ask softly, realizing I don't
know much about the guy who helped save my life.

"I'm an earthling
like you. I was born and raised here. A lot of us are," he
confesses, grinning. "We've been here for thousands of years,
living and hiding among you." He hums the X-Files theme song,
and I laugh, looking up into his face. He's gazing ahead so he
doesn't notice me studying him, observing the dimpled chin and strong
nose. From underneath him I can see thick eye lashes framing electric
blue eyes. I'm so close I can actually see wisps of dark blonde hair
growing above his lips.

Suspicious, I ask, "Are
you naturally a red head?" Instantly, he looks embarrassed.

Hiding a smile, I say,
"No judgment here. I tell myself it's real even if it comes from
a bottle," I half joke.

He grins. "Is it
that obvious?"

"Well I'm
literally an inch from your face." For some reason that seems to
make him happy and he presses his head closer until we're centimeters
apart. I hold my breath, suddenly reminded of the reckless kiss I
shared with him earlier. Any other time I would be mortified, but
tonight I feel different from myself. I still feel fear and pain, but
my heart's feeling something else as well: stalwart. Strong.

Dangerous.

It's just a little bit
of power, but it's enough to put something forceful in my eyes.

"All right,"
he says, looking mischievous. "I'll show you mine if you show me
yours."

"Are we talking
about the same thing here?"

His grin broadens. "You
in or out?"

I raise an eyebrow at
him. "Well considering how many times we escaped death, I have
to admit I'm feeling a little reckless…" Whispering so he has
to strain to hear, I say, "
In.
"

He stops midstride,
setting me back on my feet.

I use his body as an
anchor, and lean onto his side.

"You'll have to
step back for this one," he tells me.

Intrigued, I do as he
wants. He begins fumbling with his hair and the skin around it. He's
jabbing his skin, scratching and pulling. When something begins to
break around his head, he makes an exaggerated sound of pain.

Pretending to glare at
him, I say, "I'm
not
falling for that trick again."
All I hear is a low chuckle before a piece of flesh comes off. Even
though I know it's not real, I can't stop the gasp escaping my mouth.

"See?" He
points to his forehead. "No blood." I'm confused for a
second more before I finally realize what he's doing.

"It's a
wig
,"
I exclaim, laughing.

He's shaking his head,
letting the wind blow through his dark blonde hair. "All I know
is that they're right. Red heads
do
have all the fun."

"So do you put
that thing on every time you rescue a damsel in distress?" I
guess, smiling.

"Yes." He
gives me a wolfish grin, filled with mirth. I roll my eyes as Kaiden
picks me up, settling me on his chest. We continue walking, and I
notice that nothing is crumbling around us, and the wind isn't
shrieking like a banshee. We're moving through dense bushes and
trees, but I'm still worried it's not real.

"Have we passed
Saguinox territory?"

"Yes. We're safe
now," he says confidently.

"How can you be
sure?" I ask, uncertain.

"This is the path
I took to get in. It's owned by the government, and hasn't been
touched by the Saguinox."

"Do you think more
will come for us tonight?" I ask, unable to stop the slight
tremors rocking my body.

He holds me tighter. "I
don't think so. They've been very secretive and busy. We were able to
intercept a few of their messages," he informs me. Inhaling
sharply, I wait anxiously for him to finish. "It was very clear
the warriors would be gone this week. I'm not sure what's happening,
but it's big." He looks down at me. "We knew I only had a
short window to get them in and out."

"Them," I
repeat slowly. "Do you mean Chloris… and Nymphora?"

"Yes."

"What do you guys
do?"

"We're
mercenaries."

What?
I gasp.

"People hire us to
do things for them."

I'm suspicious. "What
sorts of things?"

He stops for a long
moment. "Anything."

It's an ambiguous
answer, and my mind is jumping to all sorts of terrible conclusions.
I try to picture Chloris doing something like killing for money, but
the image doesn't make sense. She seems too timid and nervous to do
something like that. Maybe he's sensing what I'm thinking because he
continues, "Some of us only do what we believe in. I've never
done anything I've been afraid to admit to. This is something my
family has always been a part of," he confides.

Nodding, I say, "Okay."

We continue in
compatible silence for many minutes. Knowing that this isn't part of
the Saguinox land, I breathe in fresh air, wondering how I've never
notice how clean it is; how sweet it smells.

"Do you know what
I want to do?" I ask.

"What?"

"I want to drive."

He laughs. "All
right." His voice is amused. "Once your leg's good, you can
drive again."

"I want to be in
the city," I continue, my mind imagining the bright city lights.
I want to be around humans.

"Mmmm." He
makes the sound in my hair. We walk in silence for a long while. Even
in the dark, I see charred skin on my palm. It hurts, and I open my
hands, letting the wind wash over the pain.

Eventually, it gets so
dark that Kaiden almost bumps into a tree. He laughs, but I'm the one
who almost got hit. Taking a deep breath, I whisper, "Light."
A tiny flame flickers above my open palm, swaying slightly underneath
my breath. It's small, but it's better than nothing. I hold it up to
help light the way.

"You'll burn me
with that," Kaiden reminds me, moving his face to the side.

"Don't be such a
baby. It's just a little fire."

He grunts, but he
doesn't put his face near me again.

"Kenna, I want to
tell you something," Kaiden abruptly begins after a lengthy
silence. His voice is more serious than I've ever heard it. "It's
very important so listen carefully." He takes a deep breath. My
heart begins to hammer.

"This realm has
always been filled with magic. There are hundreds of planets that
magical creatures inhabit. Earth was the last to be formed, and the
only planet left that has remained, for the most part, untainted by
black magic. Earth has never been important because there was always
greater power somewhere else." He stops. "Are you
understanding?"

I'm dazed with all the
information he's giving me. "Even after everything that's
happened, it's so hard to believe it's real," I whisper, unable
to fully convey the bewilderment, fascination, and pain of what I'm
feeling.

"Aliens are
very
real," he states. "Every alien I've ever met has had magic.
Don't let yourself be confused. It could cost you your life. Humans
have a silly idea of what aliens are and what they look like. It's
nothing close to the truth."

"You said there
was always greater power somewhere else and that's why Earth has been
left alone for so long," I recall. "The Saguinox have
revealed themselves here. Does that mean--"

"Yes." His
answer is sad and angry at the same time. "It means that power
is here now." He takes another deep breath. "It means that
they're here to stay."

"Why?" My
question is a petrified whisper.

"That question has
many answers. I don't know them all. This is what I do know. They've
destroyed everything. Earth is the only planet left. To understand
what that means we need to go back." He holds me tighter, as if
I'm going to flee after I hear what he's about to say. "Thousands
of years ago there used to be universal laws created by the Council.
The Council was made up of powerful magicians from every race and
every planet. They had in their possession something called the
element crystals. No one knows how they came to posses these, but for
as long as time has existed the Council has protected them. These
crystals are energy sources that specifically control elements
present in
all
the planets. To possess these would be to have
powers over the
entire
universe. The crystals needed
guardians, and were protected by the elemental witches. These were
magical people who had an affinity for certain magic special to the
crystal, like air, water, land which they called tierra, and…
fire."

I stiffen in his
embrace. Before I can say anything, he rushes on, continuing. "The
Council wasn't perfect. Their intentions were always good, but
corruption and power often rose to the surface of everything they
did. Eventually it all fell apart, and when the Council
disintegrated, the magic did, too. The crystals disappeared. No one
could find them

"Then, a hundred
and fifty years ago, rumors surfaced about some remarkable crystals.
There were whispers that in order to protect them some elemental
witches hid them
in people
. No one believed it for a long
time. I mean how could you? It was crazy." Kaiden's voice
shifts, growing darker and angrier. "Then the Saguinox began
invading planets, and triumphing over every type of magic. That's
when people started investigating. It's a long story, but the only
thing you need to know is the Saguinox have the crystals."

He takes another deep
breath, like he's trying to forget something painful. "We
believe for a long time now they have been using the crystals to
destroy their enemies. What they didn't know is that the crystals are
wild magic. There's always a price to using them. They destroyed many
planets before they finally understood, but by then it was too late.
There was only one planet left, still untouched, still pure."
His embrace tightens. "They have every crystal, except one.
Someone hid it very well, and it's been lost ever since."