Awakening of Fire Page 9

  “You mean the Wiglaf Society just moved here?” I asked.

  “Our Society is bigger than you think. We have Society families all around the world. My father bought the Water Company with a large sum after the Society told us that there might be dragons in this area. They hang around places with caves. There are more left in the world than you think. They stay hidden nowadays.”

  “I didn't think Olivia had caves.”

  “You'll see more of them soon enough.”

  A ball of tension formed in my gut. “I don't like the way you say that. As I was saying, I thought I was Normal. Nothing weird ever happened until now." I stopped there. I wanted to see if Sven knew I had anything to do with killing his cousin. His cousin.

  I hadn't even done it on purpose. I wanted the guy away from me. That was all.

  It took everything I had to work on my ice cream cone. Another urge to throw up swept over me. I would not let that happen with Sven next to me and I didn't want to hurl on the cute handprint bricks.

  “You're not an adult yet,” Sven said. He paused as if unsure how to continue.

  I had the sense he feared freaking me out further. “Keep going. Get it done.”

  “Dragon shifters don't even show powers until they get close to adulthood,” he said at last. “They're pretty much just like humans until then. You should notice changes soon. The first thing you'll get is a resistance to fire.”

  I gulped. Not only did I have that, but I'd made a guy burn with my fingernails. It reminded me of Beowulf's death.

  "That doesn't sound so bad," I said. "What else?"

  "You'll get stronger. Faster." Sven gulped. "You'll develop fire-related magic. You'll notice it more the closer you get to maturing. Some dragons even have other types of magic, but it's not common. It's something seen in the most ancient, pure lines."

  He reached into his pocket and drew out a familiar sight.

  The ruby hung from his hand, swinging on a metal chain. The medallion matched the one the vendor had worn at the mall. Bloody light burst from the gem as it reacted to my presence.

  I grasped the bench. “I've seen that before,” I said, mouth dry. My voice sounded raspy.

  “This belonged to my cousin, Jens,” Sven said. “My family got it back from the police after he died." He lowered his voice. "My father handed it to me. I'm next in line to prove my manhood."

  It was the medallion. I fought the urge to get off the bench and run away, leaving Sven there with his ice cream. He let the gem hang in front of me as it continued to glow.

  “Next in line?” I asked.

  Sven put the medallion away. “These Gems are rare,” he said. “They're from the dragon hoard that Beowulf and Wiglaf found during the battle. Well, Wiglaf. Beowulf didn't survive to loot it. They're full of dragon-related magic that even we don't understand. All we know is that they light when a dragon shifter is nearby--and only if they're mature or getting close to it."

  I shuddered. Hot anger filled me a second after. The Gems were stolen property that didn't belong to the Society. For a moment, I wanted to snatch it out of Sven's hand. Was it some kind of instinct awakening inside me?

  And dragon magic? I hadn't heard of that before.

  I took another bite of my ice cream cone to cool the inferno inside. Now that I knew its source, I wanted nothing more than to extinguish it before it could grow. “You're being tested?” It was time to divert this conversation away from the mall.

  Sven let out a breath. “You know my cousin died, don't you? It was on the news, and the official story is that--”

  “He lit himself on fire?” I asked. "Wasn't he a guy working in one of the stores?"

  “Yes,” Sven finished, staring at the ground. “There was no doubt a dragon at the mall that night in human form. The police couldn't find whoever scratched the guy. Jens went crazy and brandished his sword at everyone. My cousin was never stable."

  I froze.

  He didn't think I had done the deed. But hadn't witnesses seen him chasing someone with my description? Of course, Jens the Slayer had freaked a lot of people out. Tasha and I weren't the only ones running from him.

  “But who?” I asked. Lying was grimy, but I'd roll with it. Sven was turning into the only ally I had. And I didn't want to see unbearable grief come over him.

  “Jens was brandishing a Slayer sword in public,” Sven said. “Any dragon older than a few hundred years would have recognized it. The security guard emerged from his office to find him burning. The poor man didn't know what to do." He looked at the handprint bricks as a single drip of ice cream crept towards his hand like a milky tear.

  "I'm sorry," I said. "I've never lost a cousin before so I don't know what it's like." The whole thing was an accident. That took the guilt off me, right? There was no way I expected to have a strange power awaken that night.

  Sven nodded. "Thanks. My father isn't giving me time to come to terms with it." He kept his expression tough and even managed a smile. "The torch can't ever go out, as he says."

  "He needs to give you time to, you know, grieve," I said. "Why is he sending you out scouting when something bad happened to your cousin?"

  "Because that's what we do," Sven said quickly.

  "But you almost died!" I couldn't believe this. Poor Sven had the opposite problem that I did. While my parents put my safety above my sanity, Sven's father—whoever he was—put his job and training over his life.

  "You don't sound thrilled," I said.

  Sven faced the fence. "I've trained all my life to be a Slayer. I was five when I held my first crossbow. If I missed a target, I was struck by my trainers. And I was seven when they put a sword in my hands. They told me that dragons were murderous monsters who would kill people at the first chance. I believed it until you got me out of that cave. Jens believed it as he died. My cousin was eager to prove himself and it cost him his life. Now I wonder. If he hadn't chased that dragon shifter, he might still be alive. What if they would have let him live?"

  Sven stumbled on those last words. Then he sucked in a breath and got his composure.

  "We don't know," I told him. I couldn't tell if he had convinced himself that the girl who had saved his life couldn't have killed his cousin. Maybe he didn't want his father to be right, just as I didn't want my parents to hold the truth about the world. "Why was Jens so eager?"

  Sven took another bite of his cone. “Young men in the Wiglaf Society must kill a dragon shifter by their twenty-first birthday in order to become a full member of the order. Until then, they have no access to the wealth and power the Society has to offer. And if they fail, they're shunned and banished into regular society without any support. Jens didn't have much time left. Six months. I knew he was desperate, but I didn't think he was that desperate.”

  “But prison wouldn't have done him much good,” I said. "And they only let men into the Society?"

  “There are a few women in it, too. The test is optional for them. They're given a pass if they don't complete it and allowed to stay with their families. As for prison, the Society would have paid to get my cousin out of it. They're powerful. He had nothing to fear.”

  I checked every corner of the garden. This Wiglaf Society sounded very powerful indeed.

  Dangerous.

  And everywhere.

  I was supposed to be a trophy, a key to get Mr. Crazy money and power. I dared to look at Sven from the corner of my eye. He shifted, uncomfortable, and squeezed my hand. Strength flowed through his grip. His was a body that had taken numerous beatings. Sven was a soul seeking kindness and warmth, and I sensed I'd been the first to show it to him.

  “Now the family pressure's fallen on me." He trembled. "The Wiglaf Society has vowed to remove dragons from the face of the Earth and make it safer for human beings. They think there are still a few hundred dragons left in the world, but your numbers are dropping."

  It felt surreal to listen to his words. Your numbers. “And now you have to prove yourself.”

>   “I have four more years.”

  Sven's words hung heavy in the garden. The sun sank lower in the sky as we ate in silence, casting long shadows.

  “And you get cast out if you don't act?”

  “Correct. My father will throw me out on the streets.”

  Another long silence dragged out. I crunched the last of my cone. It went down like broken glass.

  “You're supposed to kill me.”

  “You'll be an easy kill until your powers awaken completely and you go into full dragon form for the first time. Then you'll be able to heal yourself and become much harder to slay. But that won't happen until a few months after your powers start showing themselves."

  Panic exploded as I thought of the grease fire and the sound of the folding wings in the cave. “A few months?”

  Sven nodded.

  “But what if I don't want to breathe fire?” I asked. “I want to get out of Olivia and go to college and have a normal life. That's it. I didn't sign up for this. It's optional, right?”

  He gulped. “It won't be optional. Once you mature, learning to shift back into your human form might take time--”

  I cursed, making Sven jump. It was sacrilege in this place of children's handprints, but I didn't care. “Are you kidding me?”

  My surroundings spun. I had a few months left. Maybe less.

  And then—

  “I wish I was,” Sven said. He stood and took my arms. “Look, I don't want to kill you and I want no one else to kill you.”

  “But why?”

  I let the words hang. Sven swallowed.

  Why wouldn't he just say it?

  “Because you're not what my father said you would be,” Sven said. “You're a person, not a monster. When I talked to you in class and we laughed, it made me realize that. You were scared and confused when I looked at you. But I knew for certain when you went into the caves after me. I'm glad you did. Without you, I'd be dead. That's when I realized you didn't know your identity. It wasn't fair to tell the Society about you. So I've told no one about you or the den."

  Sven pulled me into a hug.

  I stood there, hiccupping, with my head against his powerful chest. His heart beat under my ear, strong and perfect. Then I slipped my arm around his side, tracing my fingers around his shoulder blade. My heart raced. Sven's cheek rubbed against mine. He breathed into my neck, making me shudder as tingles swept over my skin. The guy was energy itself.

  He hadn't asked to get born into a Slayer family.

  Just as I hadn't asked for my fate.

  "Did you think I'd go after you?" I asked. "When you looked at me in the cafeteria?"

  He hesitated. "I wasn't sure."

  "Gee, thanks," I said. But he had a point. I'd revealed his Slayer status to the principal without realizing it. It was no wonder he didn't know where I stood right away.

  “You know,” I said. “I'm glad you were the one to tell me this. And you wanted me to go after you because you knew nobody down in the caves would hurt me.” I felt awful for getting mad at him.

  “I know you didn't want to hear it,” Sven said. He ran his hand down my spine, taking his time, and resting it on the small of my back. His touch was warm. Reassuring. “Do you want me to walk you home? You can help us stay out of sight.”

  He planted a kiss on the top of my head.

  An explosion of giddiness washed over me like a tsunami. Did Sven make everything this awesome? I was having a weird day.

  “Yes,” I said. “I'd like that very much.”

  Chapter Twelve

  I realized I'd left my bike in front of The Freezer, but since I had to go back there anyway, it wasn't a big deal to go pick it up. It still leaned against the side of the building. Since everyone in Olivia knew each other, ripping off bikes didn't happen. What were they going to do? Sell it at the Olivia Junkyard for scrap? Moe, who worked there, would know it was mine.

  At least The Freezer was clearing, and no one was around to see us.

  “Wow,” Sven said, eyeing my wheels with amazement. “No one stole it.”

  “I guess Slayers know about stealing?” I asked, unsure what made me say it.

  Sven didn't speak at first. “I suppose,” he said at last. “Yes, I guess we stole a lot of dragon treasure in the past. We got rich that way. But that doesn't interest me."

  My suspicions were confirmed. “I can tell you don't like stealing,” I said.

  He smiled. “I swear.”

  “Look, you can only walk me so far. If we see Principal Adler, run. And you can't walk me to the door.”

  “I understand.” His accent was returning.

  I walked my bicycle, and we headed out of town, making a right down Olive Road (yes, original) and towards my parents' farm. I balanced their sundaes on the handlebars (a great small town talent) and enjoyed the sounds of the insects singing in the foliage. It was getting close to sunset, and I was walking with Sven. For a moment, I felt free and Sven embodied that.

  "You know, I don't want to go home. Principal Adler wants to tell me the news herself," I said. Then I explained to Sven what I'd heard through the door—everything except for the mall. "And I don't want her to."

  "Maybe she won't tonight," Sven said. "Your parents outnumber her."

  "I hope," I said, eyeing her Delight. It was melting.

  "But it won't be a shock," Sven said.

  I stopped, aware that my time was running out. My excuse for being late would be that I didn't want to walk the ice cream home in the sun, but Mom and Dad would harp on me for being out at night.

  They wouldn't much longer.

  The two of them wouldn't even be able to keep me in the house.

  "Will it hurt?" I asked.

  "What?" Sven lifted his perfect eyebrows.

  "Changing. The...full form." I couldn't say it. Where was my newfound attitude now? Numbness ruled. The horror would hit later. Sven's presence was holding it back. When I got home, I'd be on my own again.

  "I don't know," Sven said. "They'll take you into the caves when you're ready to mature. They won't want you doing that on the surface."

  "But your father's checking them out," I said. "He's a Slayer too, isn't he?"

  Sven eyed the darkening road behind him. "Yes. But he doesn't yet know the location of the lair. A lot of caves dot the area." Sven took my arm. "I'll try to slow him down. If he finds the dragon lair, he will find you."

  "But the dragons want to kill you," I said.

  Sven nodded. "I know."

  "But what are you doing to do?"

  To protect himself, Sven would have to betray me.

  And since I didn't know who the dragon shifters of Olivia even were, who would I betray to protect him? Did they even deserve to live?

  Sven kept his gentle grip on my upper arm, rubbing his thumb across my bare skin. "I don't know yet what I will do, but it will be everything I can to prevent a battle here in Olivia."

  By saving him, I had put him into an even more dire situation. If we dated, it would be the most dangerous romance in the history of the world. Maybe even deadly.

  "How many of you are here?" I asked.

  "Just my family." He looked into the trees as if thinking. "They don't yet know who any of the dragons are. I only know about the principal."

  "You didn't tell them about Principal Adler?"

  "No. I didn't. I can tell that she's kind to you."

  "But she tried to kill you!"

  He smiled. "To be fair, she only chained me to a brazier for a trial."

  "But she dragged you down there. I saw her eyes, and no one else did. They were terrifying."

  Sven's gaze landed on me again and softened.

  A strange feeling washed over me. Nobody ever made me feel like this before. I couldn't describe it. "We've known each other for days, and you're risking your life for me."

  A flash of hurt raced across his features. "Felicia, I've met no one like you. You're kind, and you're, well, beautiful..."

&nb
sp; "And I'm supposed to be your enemy," I said.

  "But you're not."

  "I didn't mean to sound distrustful a second ago. It's just been a long, scary day for me. But having ice cream together was good."

  "Felicia, you're safe for now. My family will go out-of-town Saturday. Funeral, and then a luncheon." He spoke as if trying to convey more meaning into his words than he could.

  "Oh."

  Sven nodded. "I'll walk you to the driveway. Tell me if you see the principal."

  He was unarmed and in no state to try slaying her.

  "Okay," I said. I didn't want him to leave. There would be only panic waiting tonight. Panic, fear for the future, and fear for my life. Most of all, panic I was an accidental murderer and a monster. I couldn't dispute that last part.

  “Are they going to take me to the caves?” I asked once we got there.

  “I can't think of what else will happen,” Sven said. “They know we're here. My father's patient, but he won't wait forever to act.”

  I faced him. His blue eyes filled with torment and sadness.

  Ice cream dripped onto my hand. I'd forgotten about the sundaes.

  “I have to go,” I said. “And I want to see you again.” The thought of getting stuck in the caves, waiting to learn how to regain my human form, terrified me. I'd be isolated.

  Alone. And would I be different afterwards? Would I even want to be around Sven anymore?

  Would I even survive if Sven's father would launch an attack?

  Sven leaned forward.

  Heat flashed through me as I realized what was about to happen.

  He paused, then placed his hand on the back of my head, running his fingers through my hair. Sven pulled me close. He still smelled of a cold wilderness, of mountains and distant places.

  Our lips brushed and then he parted mine, caressing them with his tongue. I wrapped my free arm around him, grasping his shirt as I leaned into his kiss. Our hearts beat together as I pressed my body against Sven's chest. He tasted even better than he smelled. An explosion of open fields, vast forests and ancient snowy peaks followed. Sven slid his hand down my side, stopping on my hip.