TIED (A Fire Born Novel) (25 page)

“Not much. The boys were attempting to make waffles this morning. Never a good thing. They just argue and destroy the kitchen. My grandmother was ready to throw them out of her house.”

“Are you well enough to be here? I mean, you’re okay, right? No lingering demons hiding in there?” I looked deep into his eyes for traces of red or anything else not normal.

“Really funny, Lay.” He started the car, and I scrambled into the passenger seat as he backed out.

Devon’s head ducked down as we passed.

“We’ll do everything we can to protect Devon.” Max squeezed my hand.

“Thank you.”

Two gargoyle statues sat atop the school’s gates—one on each pillar—their horned heads and fanged mouths keeping a fierce, protective watch over the campus. As I took a second glance out the side mirror after we passed, Tristan and Justice walked casually down the sidewalk behind us, the gargoyle statues, gone.

“How long will the entourage be with us?” I motioned over my shoulder toward the two of them.

Max shrugged. “As long as they think it’s necessary. This is what they do, and they have a much better gauge of what’s coming through the air. We’ll still need to watch our backs on the ground.”

The thought of having to be aware every second made me more angry than scared, and anger, more than ever, I needed to control.

I’d pushed the memories of what happened the night my mother had arrived unannounced at Max’s house into the recess of my mind. Shoved away what I’d become in my absolute rage. The horror I’d known, when I realized what my power was capable of if I allowed it to go unchecked and unharnessed, terrified me.

I glanced at Max, a stab of guilt washing through my body.

Had you not come here, he could have died within days, perhaps hours,
Ms. MacLarnon had said.

Warmth drained from my body.

There were a million questions I still needed answers to, and doubt and confusion ran through my mind.

He’d risked his life for mine. Shielded my existence. For years. No matter what else came at us, I would protect Max before anything else.

He squeezed my hand. “I’m okay, Layla.”

I nodded, disbelieving, as I looked away and out the car window.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I think we need to establish some kind of strategy. A plan.”

“I’ve been thinking the same thing.” He turned the corner onto his street.

I took a deep breath. “I think we should go to the Shadow Realm.”

His head whipped around. “The Underworld? No.”

“Our answers are there.”

“
Death
is there.” We pulled into his garage, and he put the car in park. “It’s not a risk I’m willing to take.” He shook his head. “I’m not walking into a trap.”

“It’s the last place they’ll expect us to be. They won’t even know we’re coming.”

“With good reason. You’re talking crazy.” He opened the car door. “Come on, let’s go out back. I need some air.”

The afternoon sun heated the beach sand to scorching. Barefoot walks weren’t an option, so we stayed on the deck, confined inside the barrier lines. The presence of Scaths remained palpable—invisible killers hidden by sunlight. Sent assassins. Hunters waiting for an opportunity. Caged.

“We’re prisoners, Max, and we can’t expect everyone to drop their own lives to watch over us. It’s no way to live. For anyone.”

He pulled his focus from the water, which churned under a threat of storm clouds swirling above. “Do you really think I give a damn about any of that? I’m not walking into the Underworld blind. Benny’s been protecting you your entire life. It’s all she knows. Tristan and Justice—they like this. It’s a nice change from Sam’s continual orders.”

“We can’t fight invisible killers.”

“We can’t fight real ones either, Lay. Not an entire race of them. What are you planning to do? Show up and set the entire Shadow Realm on fire?”

“I don’t know … something. Are we going to just sit here and wait for them to kill us? Or better yet—wait for one of us to kill the other one? I can’t even kiss you for more than a minute before the house starts to rattle! We could kill each other by accident, for all we know. One false move—one wrong touch. We have no idea what the hell we’re doing!” I pushed to my feet, rubbing my temples.

He turned, a ferocity etched in the lines of his face. “You think I don’t know that? It’s
all
I think about. But this is crazy! I don’t care what the Legend says. To hell with this stupid curse!” He dragged his hands through his hair, red lines bleeding into the gray of his eyes and stood up, knocking over the heavy Adirondack chair. “You’re right.” He exhaled. “We can’t fight invisible killers. So, let them line up in the skies.” He thrust his arms in the air. “All around our houses. I’ll protect what’s mine! I’ll protect you! If we are the Fire Born, as everyone says, then we already have the gifts to defeat the Fomore and overthrow the curse.” He huffed, seeming to lose his breath, yet growing louder. “But, I will not go to them. They’re threatening
my
life!
Your
life! I’ll pick them off in my back yard one by one.”

I backed up at the force in his assertive tone. Ms. MacLarnon had warned us that the effects of the Leanaan Sidhe’s poison could last for days, that his behavior could turn erratic, but he sounded like someone else. Someone I didn’t know.

“I’m sorry. This isn’t aimed at you.” He kicked a stick off the deck. “Maybe you were right. Maybe … I should have walked away when you saw me in the shop. I should have let you go. It was selfish of me to want you to stay.” He leaned forward, his head cradled in his hand, misery radiating off of him.

Should have let me go?

The words echoed in my head. Resonated. Crushing me. Stabbing at me.

Obliterating rational thought.

Heat reared up from my stomach, anchoring in my throat, cutting off consistent breaths. I rolled my neck, trying to release the tension and took a step into the sand. Prickles crawled over my skin, and I shook my arms, but the heat increased. In my mouth. On my tongue. My vision blurred, tingeing everything in crimson.

“Layla, what’s wrong?” Max scrambled, regaining his composure, scanning the beach, the sky.

My body quaked. “Back away.” I held my arm out to keep him from coming closer.

“Layla?” He took step toward me.

“Back up!” My mind refused to clear, the heat, too close to the surface, impossible to shake.

Why can’t I stop this?

He gaped at me as my body ignited like a flame thrower. Tendrils of fire streamed out in spirals of yellow and orange light, reaching for anything to destroy. To erupt.

“Layla! Calm down!” Max held his hands up, palms facing out. “I’m sorry. You know I didn’t mean what I said. I’ve been out of my mind. Just breathe.” He continued toward me. “You can light me on fire, but I’m not walking away from you. Not now, not ever.” He took another step toward me with his hands held out. “I’m sorry.”

I gazed into his eyes, my pulse slowing, red fading, heat cooling, and closed my hands into fists, extinguishing the flames and falling to my knees, gasping for air.

How am I doing this?

Max ran to me and fell in the sand, wrapping me in his arms. “I’m an idiot. I didn’t mean what I said.” His words rushed out in rambles.

“I couldn’t … stop it.” I struggled for air, nausea tugging at the back of my throat.

“Hang on. I’ve got you.” He carried me into the house, laid me down on the couch, and sped to the kitchen, returning with a glass of water and a wet towel, wiping my face.

I pushed the water aside. “I could’ve hurt you.”
One will kill the other.

“You didn’t. I’m the one to blame here.” He wiped my face again. “Just cool down.”

“I was
throwing fire
around. I could have killed you. What was I thinking?”

“But you didn’t hurt me. You scared me … and, anyway …” He grinned. “… at least we know where your fire comes from.”

“What’re you talking about?”

“Anger. It’s your trigger, and maybe a little bit of fear. Good to know. And you were able to shut it down. Also good.” He sounded like himself again.

How did I shut it down? Why is he smirking at me?
“Are you … you don’t think this is funny?”

“No. I don’t. But … well … you amaze me.” He shook his head grinning. “I thought you were mad with the Vampyre Fae. Remind me to never upset you again.”

“Are you serious? What about next time? What if I hurt you? What if I get mad at myself, or someone else? Are you not understanding? There’s nothing
good
about this
.
”

“You could have hurt me, if you’d have wanted to—
maybe
.” He smirked and winked at me. “But I don’t believe you ever would. I was afraid you’d hurt yourself. And it’s something we’re just going to have to figure out.”

He was right. I would have run headfirst into the ocean before I hurt him, but I only had to look at his face to know I already had . The way his coloring still hadn’t returned to normal, and the scaring bites on his neck, faded but there.

I stared out the window, lost, the stab of his words—the truth in them—cutting me. The truth I hated to face.

He put his hands on my cheeks. “Lay, I swear to you, I never wished for one second I’d walked away from you. I never would have been able to—obviously—but it doesn’t change the fact, I’ve put you in danger, and it’s almost unbearable sometimes.”

I searched his expression. “We’re putting
each other
in danger by being what we are, who we are. It’s nothing we can change, but if we separate, maybe they’ll stop hunting. I can continue in my mother’s place, keeping the Otherworld alive. Maybe we can just blend in … and not
be
together.”

His brow creased, jaw muscles working. “What are you saying?”

I sat up. “I won’t let you stay tied to me out of fear of my being attacked. I can take care of myself. I can figure this out somehow.”

He averted his eyes. “Why would you say that? I don’t want you to go.”

I swallowed hard. “Look at you. I’m hurting you. I’m putting you in danger and making this situation worse.” I dropped my gaze, afraid for him to see my damp eyes. “I’ll let you walk away, Max. I’ll break my tie to you. I can go back home. I’m safe there. You can live your life. Maybe once we aren‘t together anymore, the energy will fade between us and they’ll … leave us alone.”

He stood over me. “We are the Fire Born. No one is going to let us walk away from that fact.” He shifted his weight. “And I don’t want to walk away from you, anyway! God … are we really talking about this? I just got you back!” He crossed his arms. “You’re all I ever want, Lay.”

Tears welled up. “But I can’t ask you to risk your life.”

“You’re not asking. I chose this! I choose you! We can make it work—figure it out. My grandmother said the Fomore hunt for power. They want what we have. We can defeat them! There has to be a way. You said so yourself.”

“I know I did—but—what way, Max? What do we know about fighting an entire race? My mom’s right.” I rose to my feet. “We can’t outrun this. I won’t have you turn against me or be forced to fight me—or worse. There’s no other way. We have to separate. I’m sorry.” I dropped my chin and ran through the house.

“Layla! No … wait!”

Tears streamed down my face. My heart ached for him—yearned to run back to him, to leap into his arms and never let go. I jerked open the front door, closed my eyes and spun, praying I remembered how to traverse.

“Layla!” His scream lashed around my body like a rip current pulling me underwater, drowning me in warmth, enveloping me in the feel of feathered wings, slowing my spin as if a miniature funnel cloud had latched onto my body and carefully spit out its prey.

The perfumed scent of gardenias passed me, the continuous circle of the ceiling fan humming overhead.

Soft lips caressed my mouth, and I opened my eyes to Max’s face hovering inches above mine, the weight of his body pressing gently against me.

“Forgive me.”

I traced my fingers over his jaw and pulled him closer.

“I love you, Layla. I always have.” His eyes stared into mine. “And I
will
protect you with my life. Please don’t go.”

Rolling waves of heat pulsed throughout my body as his heart pounded against my chest, and I held back my tears, the strangle in my throat. “I love you. That will never change.” I stared into his eyes, the only eyes that could really see me. “
I
will protect
you
with
my
life.” Tears drenched my cheeks. “You have my heart, Max. My whole heart. There’s only you. Always.” I pressed my mouth to his with an urgency that ripped my heart to shreds, and spun away from him.
“Stay safe.”

“No!”

24

With Max’s screams resonating in my head, my spin slowed, my vision blurring out of focus, and my toes touched down in a wet bog.

I wiped my face, regaining my bearings.

Evening had fallen, the afternoon’s rays only a slight glimmer through the tree canopy overhead. My feet sank into the soggy forest floor, the usual crunch of leaves turned swamp-like and alive, the croaking call of toads and crickets singing a wild chorus. Their music made the wood seem foreign, alien.

Clawing roots stretched in every direction on the ground, creating a myriad of deadly mazes. I breathed deeply, my throat still thick from crying, and continued through the dusk.

Rushing falls of water in the distance fell almost silent, a mere trickle in my ears compared to the unearthly calls of forest creatures rising to meet evening’s diminishing light.

I tiptoed through a shrouded mist settling on the ground, camouflaging the slippery root systems underneath. The Tree of Life loomed in the shadows ahead, overwhelming its brothers in stately grandeur, and taunting me onward, to the Underworld, to the Realm of Shadow.

The doorway stood free and clear, rising to the heavens as if waiting for me—as though it knew I would come.

“Don’t go, Layla. I can’t follow you there.” Benny’s voice rang through my ears.