Fearless (The Blue Fire Saga) (40 page)

“
Puleeze
,” she said, “spare me the details of Andy’s needs.”

Cali’s grin widened.
“You sure?
It was pretty hot.”

“I’m sure.” Leesa shook her head
slowly
. “Believe me, I’m sure.”

Cali shrugged. “Okay, your loss. I just thought you might want to learn something.”

“Yeah, well t
hanks for the offer, but no.”

“So, back to Stefan.
What do you think he was doing there? As much as I’d like to think
it
, I’m pretty sure he
was
n’t
there to see me.”

Leesa smiled.
“No, probably not.
”

“So
,
the question is, do you think he was following you?”

“I was wondering the same thing. I don’t know why he would be, but
who knows what goes on behind those black eyes of his. I couldn’t exactly come out and ask him with Andy and Caitlin there. I was hoping
I might get
a chance
later,
but he disappeared too
quick
.
”

“I wonder if it had anything to do with Rave not being around,” Cali mused.

Leesa stood up and paced over to the side window. Outside, it was bright and sunny—definitely not vampire weather. She turned back to Cali.

“I don’t know. Obviously, Stefan wouldn’t come anywhere near me if Rave was there, but I don’t see how he would know that Rave is gone for awhile.”

Cali got up and joined Leesa by the window.

“Well, I guess it
could
be a coincidence. He does like to hang around on campus now and then.
” She grinned. “
Maybe he just likes open
mic
night.”

“Yeah, maybe.
But
if it was a
coincidence
, it was pretty big one
.”

Further speculation was ended by
a soft knock on the open door. Leesa turned around to see Jenna standing in the doorway.

“Jenna,” she said happily.
“C’mon in.”

Jenna hesitated. “I was in the area and thought I’d stop by and help you with your, uh…homework. But you have company. I can come back another time.”

Leesa moved toward the doorway and grabbed Jenna’
s wrist
, gently pulling her into the room.

“No, no. Come in. We weren’t really doing anything.”

Cali stepped forward, her brow knitted in suspicion
as she took in Jenna’s silver hair and ageless features.
Jenna seemed equally unsure about Cali’s appearance.

“
I didn’t know Leesa was hav
ing trouble with her schoolwork,” Cali said. “
I wonder why she hasn’t asked me for any help. I’m quite the
brainiac
, you know.”

“Ha! Stop it, Cali,” Leesa said, laughing.
“
Brainiac
,
yeah,
right.
Horniac
, more like.”

Cali grinned.
“Yeah, that, too.”

She extended her hand to J
enna
and the two
exchanged a quick handshake.

“Don’t mind me,” Cali said. “I’m just
fun
n
in
’
you. My girl
Leesa has lots of secrets—some she tells me, some she doesn’t.” She looked at Leesa. “I’m guessing this is one you’re not going to tell me, right?”

Leesa gave Cali a “who, me?” look. Even though she trusted Cali completely, she wasn’t going to give her any hint about Jenna being anything spec
ial, especially with Jenna
as careful and guarded as she was.

“
Jenna and I are just going to work on some stuff,” Lee
sa said
, not lying but not giving anything away, either.
“Do you mind?”

“No problem,” Cali said. “I need to get back to my room anyhow.” She turned to Jenna. “It was nice meeting you. Any friend of Leesa’s is a friend of mine. Honestly.”

“Thank you,” Jenna said.

Cali headed for the doorway
, where she paused for moment.
 

“Have fun working on your ‘stuff,’ you two,” she said, smiling and then pulling the door closed behind her.

“She seems like quite the
character,” Jenna said.

“She is,” Leesa replied. “She’s totally fun. She’s my best friend.”

A wistful look filled Jenna’s silver-grey eyes. “I’ve never had a best friend,” she said. “It must be wonderful.”

“It’s great. I never had one either, until Cali. If she wasn’t as outgoing as she is, I probably still wouldn’t have one.”

“Shall we get to work?” Jenna asked. “I’ll lock the door.”

Leesa gently grabbed Jenna’s arm. “No, wait. Let me do it. From here.”

Jenna nodded in understanding. She placed her hand on Leesa’s shoulder and let her energy flow through it.

“Go ahead,” she said.

Leesa stared at the
lock’s
brass
thumbturn
, willing it to move from horizontal to vertical. By itself, the small metal part would not be much of a challenge, even in her weakened condition, but it was connected to a larger locking mechanism inside the door. She liked the idea of trying to move something she could only partially see.

The
thumbturn
vibrated
for a moment
and then flipped to a vertical position as the lock engaged with an audible click. Leesa smiled.

“Well done,” Jenna said.
“What’s next?”

Leesa spent the next two hours moving small things, creating short energy beams, produc
ing mild heat and faint light. Despite the rather limited successes, by the time she was done
she was mentally exhausted, but
still
pleased. Practicing with Jenna’s help was always so much more productive than doing magic on her own. Her thoughts returned to the ankle weights analogy—she hoped all this work while her magic was weakened would pay big dividends when it finally returned to its normal strength. She refused to think about what she would do if it never came back.

“This is tiring for me,” Jenna said, “so I can only guess how draining it must be for you. After all, you’re the one doing all the real work. I’m just sending general energy into you.”

Leesa grabbed
a
half-empty bottle of water from atop her refrigerator and sat down on her bed. She eased herself across the mattress until her back was leaning against the wall, then
she
took a big drink.

“It’s exhausting,” she said after she swallowed.
“More so than I would
have
imagine
d
.
I have to believe it’s going to pay off though.”

“Let’s hope so.”
Jenna pulled Leesa’s desk chair close to the bed and sat down.
“You’re working so hard, Leesa. Do we know each other well enough yet for you to tell me what the urgency is? I’m guessing it must have something to do with the wizard you and your mentor fought.”

Leesa had forgotten that Jenna knew little more than what she had observed in her owl form
from
up in the tree.
Jenna had said on their first meeting that to be trusted, you have
to trust. Leesa knew that was
true. Jenna had helped her practice without asking anything in return up until now. The witch might make a useful ally, but only if they trusted each other enough to share at least some of their secrets.

“You’re right, it does,” Leesa said. “
And yes, we’
re friends enough that I should tell you more of what’s going on. Then you can decide how much of a p
art you want to play in all of it
.”

Jenna smiled, clearly touched. “Thank you,
”
she said softly.

Leesa took another swallow of water and then explained about the black waziri and the Necromancer. She told Jenna how they were trying to break the seal between the living and the dead, and how even now the three black wizards were tracking Dominic through his magic.

“Dominic is the only true waziri left, and thus the only real obstacle to their plans. He knew he couldn’t do it alone, but if he imparted his magic in the normal way—to a young male child—the black waziri would have quickly found and destroyed the boy. Instead, he chose an unborn female child—me—in the hope that would change the magical vibrations enough that the black waziri would not be able to sense the magic. He was right. The black waziri cannot sense that I have magic, even when I use it.
Even Dominic cannot sense me unless he is very close. That’s why he was unable to find me until recently.
”

Jenna listened intently, without interrupting. Every now and then she nodded her head, but otherwise her expression never changed.

“So, to wrap all this up,” Leesa continued, “if I’m to be of any help to Dominic, I need to gain as much control over my magic as I can, as quickly as I can.”

Jenna smiled. “From what I witnessed from my perch, you have already been a big help
to Dominic
. Do not undersell yourself, child.”

Leesa shrugged, uncomfortable with praise, as usual. “I guess. But it took me, Dominic and Rave to defeat Josef. I’ll need to be a lot more powerful if we are to have any chance at stopping three black waziri.”

She scooted up to the edge of the
bed. Her face was now barely
twelve inches from Jenna’s.

“We would welcome any help your magic can give us,” she said. “But I understand if you don’t want to get involved. I’
m very thankf
ul just for the help you are giving me now.”

Jenna sighed.

Leesa could see that the witch was struggling with the request. Getting involved
in something so dangerous
went against
Jenna
’s
very
nature, Leesa knew. She didn’t press it.