Helpless (Blue Fire Saga) (21 page)

Leesa realized that what Dominic said made very good sense. Visuals had been pretty important in almost everything she had tried so far.

“What’s the second reason?”

“I knew there wasn’t much chance you would be completely or even mostly successful your first day. But even if you were just a little bit successful with the growth spell, you would be able to see your progress.”

Leesa nodded. Dominic was right. Even though she’d only managed a little bit of growth, seeing the tiny green shoot sprout from the branch had been amazing.

“I get it now,” she said. “The growth thing was a really good choice. Even though I never really got to the leaf, I loved seeing the little bud appear.”

Dominic smiled and returned the book to his pocket. He pulled the tennis ball from his jacket.

“Let’s try this again once or twice, and then we’ll see if you can move something that isn’t round and doesn’t move so easily.”

They spent another two hours working on Leesa’s telekinesis skills. By the time they were done, she had managed to force a flat-bottomed rock almost six inches down the trail. She needed to watch Dominic push the stone along the ground with his foot before she could get it to move, but since the rock was much heavier than the tennis ball and more anchored to the dirt by its shape, Leesa was quite pleased with her effort.

The afternoon had grown quite cold as the sun sank lower in the west, so Dominic had Leesa make a couple of attempts at using her magic to keep herself warm without her jacket. He was pleased with her progress here, too.

As they walked back to the car to get ready for the drive home, Leesa thought that even though Rave hadn’t been here, all in all, it had been a pretty darn good day.

32. SECOND TIME’S A CHARM

T
he next few days passed in a wonderfully boring way. This week’s big activity was a normal college thing—a Valentine’s Day party at Andy’s fraternity tomorrow night. At first Leesa didn’t want to go, but Cali had talked her into it. Once Rave agreed to come along, Leesa was happy. Almost anything she did with Rave was romantic, but being with him at a Valentine’s thing would be extra special. The only problem was she had no idea what she should wear. Once again, Cali had come to the rescue. They were going shopping today at a resale clothes place on campus called Second Time’s A Charm to try to find something “valentiny” as Cali called it. Cali already had her own outfit picked out, but she was keeping it a surprise from everyone, including Leesa.

“You ready to go?” Cali asked from Leesa’s doorway. She was wearing her gray jacket with the pink accents, but since it wasn’t all that cold out she was wearing jeans with pink sparkles around the pockets rather than her pink ski pants. On her feet she wore a pair of gray Nikes with pink swooshes and pink laces that matched the accents on her jacket almost perfectly.

“Yep. Just have to grab my jacket.” As usual, Leesa felt drab next to Cali in her plain, dark blue long sleeve shirt, ordinary jeans and dark brown walking shoes. She pulled her parka from its hook in the closet and the two of them headed down the stairs.

Second Time’s A Charm was less than a fifteen minute walk from the dorm. The mid afternoon sun was still high enough in the sky to provide some warmth. Leesa guessed the temperature was probably somewhere around forty degrees, and with almost no wind, the walk was quite comfortable. They reached the store in what seemed like no time at all.

The place wasn’t very big, but it was packed so tight with clothes there was barely room for the girls to squeeze down the aisles between the racks of clothing. A lot of the stuff was pretty wild—not Leesa’s kind of thing at all—but she could see why Cali liked this place so much. Two of the walls were lined floor to ceiling with wooden shelves. The shelves on one wall were filled with jeans, the other with sweatshirts and sweaters. The place smelled faintly of burned incense. Lady Gaga’s “Edge of Glory” thumped in the background. Leesa was not that big a Gaga fan, but she could see why a store like this would play that kind of music.

A half-dozen students were rummaging through the store in search of fashion treasure, probably also looking for Valentine’s outfits. Leesa was mostly a bystander while Cali pawed through the racks looking for something cool that wouldn’t be too outrageous for Leesa.

“Ooh, these are cool,” Cali said. She handed Leesa a pair of dark red leggings with a row of even darker diamond shapes running down the outsides.

Leesa frowned as she looked down at the leggings. She had never owned a pair of leggings and had never really wanted to. They had always seemed way too forward for her tastes.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, not at all. With your legs, you’ll look hot in these. And since they’re red, they’re perfect for Valentine’s Day. I wish they had hearts instead of diamonds, but that’s probably too much to hope for.”

“Don’t you think they’re just a little bit casual?” Leesa asked, still trying to wrap her head around the idea of wearing tight red leggings out in public.

“Heck, no. This is a frat party, not some formal affair. Besides, wait till you see what I’m wearing.”

“Want to give me hint?”

Cali grinned. “Nope. All I’ll tell you is I’m going to be the cat’s meow tomorrow night.”

Leesa could not even begin to imagine what Cali could be planning to wear that would have her so excited, but knowing Cali, it was bound to be outlandish. She looked down at the price sticker on the leggings. They were only four dollars. Even if she decided not to wear them to the party, she could always wear them as a second layer under her pants when it was cold.

“Okay, if I wear these—and I’m not saying I will—what do I wear with them?”

“Let’s see what we can find,” Cali said as she continued to search through the racks.

Leesa also looked, although with much less zest than Cali. She found a long sleeve gray cotton shirt with tapered tails that she liked. It was in great condition and cost only five dollars. She held it out to Cali.

“What about this?”

“It’s not bad, but it’s too plain for Valentines.”

Cali returned to racks while Leesa draped the shirt over her arm. She liked it and it was cheap. She could always use another long sleeve shirt.

“Check out this one,” Cali said, handing Leesa a black silk shirt with red accents over a pair of chest pockets and on the cuffs. It had long, tapered tails similar to the gray one.

Leesa studied the shirt. It looked pretty nice, and a silk shirt for only eight dollars was a great deal. The shirt and the leggings would not have been her first choice for a party outfit, not by a long shot, but that’s why she had brought Cali along. And by settling on this combination, it might keep Cali from choosing some of the way more outrageous stuff in the store.

Leesa held the shirt up over the folded leggings. “Do you think they look okay together?”

Cali gave the outfit a quick once over. “Red and black is a great Valentine’s combo. Very sexy. The red on the shirt isn’t a perfect match for the leggings, but it should work.” She grinned. “Besides we’re not shopping for designer outfits here. Now, let’s see if we can find you some hot boots.”

Cali spun and headed toward the back of the store, where rows of shoes and boots rested on metal shelves, arranged by sizes.

“What size are you?”

“Eight and a half.”

“Ooh, ooh! Check these out!” Cali held up a pair of above the ankle red leather boots with four inch spike heels.

Leesa grimaced. The boots were so not her.

“No way. They’ll make me look like a hooker.”

Cali looked down at the boots and grinned. “Yeah, they might be a bit too hot for you. I think I’ll keep these puppies for myself.”

“Can’t I just wear my black leather knee-highs?” Leesa asked.

Cali thought for a moment. “Yeah, that would probably be all right.” She grabbed a pair of black boots from the shelf. “Let’s try your stuff on with these, just to see how it all looks.”

They threaded their way between the racks to a row of dressing booths fronted by long purple curtains. 

“In you go, girl,” Cali said, handing Leesa the boots.

Katy Perry was singing “Last Friday Night” as Leesa ducked behind the curtain. She hoped Friday night’s party was not going to be quite as wild as the song. She hung the shirts and leggings on plastic hooks and dropped the boots onto a narrow wooden bench. Feeling just a bit nervous, she took off her jeans and pulled the leggings on, then slipped the silk shirt on over them. Not a whole lot of light filtered in from the top of the dressing booth, but she didn’t think the combination looked too bad, at least not in the grimy dressing booth mirror. She had to admit, the combination of the long shirttails over the tight leggings looked pretty sexy. She sat down and put the boots on. They made the outfit even hotter.

She stepped outside the curtain, into the light.

“Wow! You look hot!” Cali said. “That outfit looks even better than I expected. The boots are great.”

Leesa did a slow pirouette in front of the mirror, twisting her neck to check herself from all angles. The boots and tight leggings definitely drew attention to her legs, which she had always considered her best feature. The shirt revealed a bit more of her butt than she would have preferred, especially when she moved, but she’d seen lots of girls wearing leggings with shirts that didn’t cover their butts at all, so her outfit was pretty tame by comparison. Still, the overall effect of the combination was a bit provocative. No way would she have worn it to a frat party, of all places, unless Rave was there with her. She was pretty sure he would like it, too, which was all that really mattered.

“I like it,” Leesa said.

“You should,” Cali replied. “You look great.”

That night, Leesa dreamed again.

She didn’t dream of shopping, or Valentine’s Day parties, or of being with Rave. No, she dreamed of…

She was inside an old building. It was very dim. The windows were boarded up, but the planks were old and ill fitting, riddled with cracks and knot holes. Bands of sunlight shone in through the openings, cutting through the dimness like laser beams. Motes of dust disturbed by her passage floated in the ribbons of light. It was cold in here, but for some reason the chill did not bother her.

The place was clearly industrial, not residential. The floor was cement, and pieces of metal junk were strewn haphazardly along the walls. The smell was musty, tinged with something she identified as grease or oil. She moved forward carefully, and a few steps later her caution was rewarded.

She stopped at the edge of a rectangular pit. The hole in the floor was deep enough to have caused serious injury had she fallen in. She saw two long metal planks near the bottom and recognized them as hydraulic lifts. The place was an old garage or auto repair shop of some kind.

Ahead of her, coming from somewhere behind a plaster wall, she heard shouting. The noise grew and subsided in crescendos of varying length. No, not shouting exactly. More like cheering, with plenty of groans mixed in, too. Something in the next room was tugging at the emotions of a small crowd.

She made her way toward a metal door. Thin strips of yellow light outlined the door, telling her the room behind was well lit. The doorknob was tarnished brass. She grabbed it carefully. The knob turned easily in her grasp.

Slowly, she eased the door open. No longer blocked by the wall and door, the yelling grew louder. She waited until her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness and then stepped through the doorway.

She found herself behind a wall of people, almost all men. She saw only two forms she could recognize as women. Everyone was dressed similarly—soiled jeans with flannel shirts or sweatshirts. Almost everyone wore a ball cap of varying colors, including the women. The room reeked of cigarette smoke, and something else Leesa could not identify.

Somehow, she knew she did not want to see what was holding the crowd’s attention and drawing their cheers and groans. Still, she was unable to stop herself from moving forward. She pushed and elbowed her way through the crowd. No one seemed to notice her presence, no matter how hard she bumped and jostled them.

Finally, she was through. She immediately wished she hadn’t pushed forward, that she had remained in the back, or even in the other room. In front of her, ringed by the crowd of screaming people, two thickly muscled dogs tore at each other on a sawdust-covered floor. Now she knew what the other smell was, the one she had been unable to identify. It was the smell of blood.

Leesa woke up shaking. She hated the very idea of dog fighting. It disgusted her—so where in hell had the horrible nightmare come from? What connection could dog fighting possibly have to her, and why was her magic showing her this? She had no idea, but she had no doubt this dream had been one of her special ones. It had seemed way too real.

She twisted over onto her back, staring up through the darkness at the ceiling. Did she dare try her everywhere/nowhere technique to return to the dream and find out if there was more she might learn? She couldn’t imagine what else she could possibly want to see, unless it was the dogs somehow managing to attack the perverts in the crowd.

No, she definitely did not want to go back there—but what if she could learn something that might enable her to stop that horrible thing, to somehow break up the dog fighting ring? Surely that would be worth any foul taste she might have to endure. But she kept coming back to the same question—what connection could the dog fighting have to her magic? Reluctantly, she closed her eyes and silently mouthed her trigger word.