Page 91 of The Lost Elemental

“My flame won’t harm you. It’s a piece of me. Because I care for you, so does it.”

Suddenly I saw the fire in a new light. It was so much like Phoenix. Bright light on the inside, smoky ash swirling around the outside. It looked menacing, but the truth was it was simply trying to protect itself.

“Run your hand over the flame.”

I held onto Phoenix tighter as my heart gave a jerk. But I wouldn’t run away. Not from Phoenix.

I hovered my hand to the side of the flame. I could feel the heat of it as real as any other fire. Memories slammed against the walls of my mind, trying to break them down. I squeezed my eyes closed and pushed back. This was me and Phoenix. Nothing else.

Opening my eyes, I met Phoenix’s gaze. “I trust you.”

I lowered my hand so that it passed through the flame. I didn’t linger in the heat, but I didn’t flee either.

Sparks danced in Phoenix’s eyes as he leaned in to take my mouth in a kiss. “You giving me that? There’s little better.”

I fought the urge to throw myself at him and instead, took a step back. I thought of my own internal flame, like Phoenix’s, something that would never hurt me. Heat flared somewhere inside me. I inhaled and searched deeper. I could feel it there. But there was something blocking me. A wall of sorts.

I probed it with my mind and realized it wasn’t a wall exactly. It was blocking me from the fire, but it was more like a thick viscous substance. I could move through it, only it was like walking through tall snowdrifts.

Pushing through the odd substance was like parting an especially thick curtain. But I kept moving anyway. I peeled back the shield and fire burst from me. Not from my hands like I’d seen from Phoenix and my classmates, but straight from my chest. It snapped my spine backwards, sending the flames into the sky.

Phoenix cursed and ran towards me. “You’re okay. Just breathe and pull it back.”

“I-I can’t.” It was like the fire had been locked away for so long, there had been an overflow. The flames inside me showed no signs of stopping, only growing stronger. “I’m going to burn down the forest.”

“You won’t. The trees are imbued with magic. Protected from the elements. Just breathe.”

But I couldn’t. It was all too much. My ribs tightened around my lungs, making it impossible to get air. Flashes of memory, of voices, swirled in my mind. The past mixed with the present. I heard Riven’s cruel tone and then someone shouting my name. I saw faces I recognized and ones I didn’t. I was running from the smoke monster, diving into the closet in my bedroom. Slamming the door closed and crying for help. But I knew the monster was chasing me.

In a flash, Phoenix hauled me into his arms, cocooning the flames and me. I screamed for him to stop, but he took it all. He held me as the fire raged around us, whispering calming words into my ear.

I didn’t know how long it lasted, but eventually the inferno burned out. My lungs heaved as ash rained around us. But I could only think of one thing.

“What if I was the one who started that fire?”

47

The look of pity that swept over Phoenix’s face told me he thought it was possible. I wriggled in his arms, trying to break free. “Let me go.”

He only gripped me tighter. “Just hold on. I don’t know what happened in that fire. But if you did start it, that was an accident. You were only eight years old, with no idea you were an elemental.”

“My family almost died in that fire, Phoenix. Charlie was just a baby.”

His lips skimmed my temple. “I know. And no matter what the cause is, that’s terrifying. But it wasn’t your fault.”

Tears burned the backs of my eyes and my throat constricted, trying to keep a sob from tearing free. “I don’t want to hurt people.”

“I know, Pip,” he whispered against my hair. “You’re not going to hurt anyone. I won’t let you.”

I tried to pull back. “You can’t promise that. You shouldn’t have pulled that move just now. I could’ve killed you.”

Phoenix’s hands slid to my waist, gripping me tightly. “I know you won’t hurt me. And the fire is a part of you. It had just been trapped away for too long. But you burned through all the excess. You’ll be stabler now.”

I shook my head. “You don’t know that. One little kiss and I nearly went thermonuclear—”

Phoenix cut my words off with his mouth. There was nothing gentle or restrained about this kiss. He was proving a point. That we could be as reckless as we wanted to without being at risk.

I wanted to pull away. To tell him to stop. But the second his lips met mine, I was lost to all reason.