First Magic - Raven Steele (read along books txt) 📗

tall and looming figure. And by its wide shoulders, probably a man. I could see nothing of its features, but an energy billowed outward from it. Powerful. Deadly.

As soon as it took a step toward me, a surge of Light raced through my veins and shot from my hands wildly into the forest. I gasped and scrambled along the ground backwards. My gaze returned to the shadows, frantically searching for the creeper, but he was gone. Or hiding again.

I jumped to my feet and bolted, running as fast as I could back down the trail, but because the moon barely shined in the sky, my muscles weren’t a hundred percent. I stumbled and tripped, reaching and grabbing for anything to help steady me.

With the darkness also my enemy, I glanced at my watch and used my powers to illuminate its face until a brilliant light shined onto the path. This helped me find my way back to my house quickly. I was so frightened I didn’t take a breath until I closed my bedroom door behind me.

My chest heaved up and down as I slid to the floor, gasping for air. This was exactly the kind of thing that would get me killed. I’d kept myself safe for years, but faster than I could say “love sick” I’d purposely put myself in a dangerous situation—alone in the woods with someone, or some thing, I didn’t recognize. The realization of how far I’d let my guard down frightened me. Christian was just a boy after all and, apparently, I was just a silly girl.

I stretched my hands out in front of me and stared at my open palms. Light had come when I’d most needed it, almost as if to protect me. And even though it hadn’t been focused in any particular direction, I felt certain my Light had scared off whoever had been watching me in the forest.

After what just happened, I should be running to Jake and insist we move again.

My gaze lifted to the blue jacket hanging onto the back of my chair. May had given it to me just last week. I glanced from it to the pictures stuffed into the border of my mirror above my vanity. Photos of me and May, some of me and Tracey. Even a couple of Christian and Matt. Friends.

I didn’t want to leave. But I also didn’t want to put my life in unnecessary danger.

My eyes dropped to my hands again. Maybe with a little training, a little focus, I could get it to do more. I just had to figure out how.

Until then, I had to pull back from my recently active social life. I didn’t think one of my friends was secretly a Vyken, but since I couldn’t be sure yet, I needed to stay safe. I had no idea what that looked like without moving.

I barely slept that night. I couldn’t stop thinking about the person in the woods. It was strange they’d been hiding in a tree watching me just before I was to meet Christian. How had they known? Unless … I didn’t like the direction my mind took me … it had been Christian.

After waking up and dressing, I decided to walk to school. I needed time to think about how I was going to end things with Christian. And I did have to end it. Whether or not the person in the forest had been him, I needed to get focused on me again. On my survival.

But just the thought of not seeing him anymore made me sick. I placed my hand against a tree to keep myself upright. My stomach was twisting into tight knots. I waited for the pain to pass before I started walking again.

Christian’s face appeared in my mind: his bright blue eyes, the lone brown speck, his crooked smile, the dimple. My stomach tightened again, this time forcing me to sit down. Huge tears welled in my eyes. I was crying! I never cried. And the thought of not being around Christian anymore made it impossible to stop.

I cried for several minutes, completely unaware of my surroundings, until a shadow blocked the sun. I looked up through my hair.

In front of me stood Christian. I groaned and flopped my head back down to my knees.

“Llona?” His voice was gentle and kind. Too kind.

“What are you doing here, Christian?” I asked in anguish.

“I came to give you a ride to school.”

He’d never done that before. “Why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I sensed that you needed me.”

I stopped breathing. Me, needy? Not in this lifetime, not ever. I looked up at him, the tears already drying on my cheek. “Well, I don’t. I’m fine.”

To prove my point, I stood straight and tall.

“What’s upset you?”

“Nothing I can’t deal with.” I continued my walk down the street. I can do this. Keep moving. Don’t look back.

“Hey, wait up!” He jogged to catch up to me. “What happened last night?”

“What do you mean? I waited, but you never came.” And then someone came at me.

“I did, but I was late, but only by fifteen minutes. I’m really sorry. Is that why you were crying?”

“I wasn’t crying. I have allergies.” The pain in my gut returned.

“Nice try. What’s wrong?”

“I’m late for school. And if it’s all right with you, I’d rather be alone.”

“Can I walk next to you if I’m really quiet?”

“Isn’t your car back there?”

He glanced behind him. “Do you want a ride?”

“No.”

He stopped, but I kept walking.

“I’ll see you at school,” he finally called.

Once I sat down in class and had a chance to clear my head, I relaxed. It was going to be hard to stay away from Christian, but it was the right thing to do, especially after what he’d said. How could he have known that I needed him? Thinking about it, I realized he often said strange things. It’s like he knew me, really knew me, and that terrified me.

At lunch time I begged May to eat somewhere we hadn’t eaten before. In fact, I convinced her to try somewhere new every day until the weekend. This made it easy to avoid everyone but her. But when the weekend came, and she had to go out of town with her mother, I was left alone at home. Even Jake was gone, and I had a sneaking suspicion he’d found a girlfriend but wasn’t ready to tell me about her yet.

Just after sunset, the doorbell rang. Thinking it was the pizza I’d ordered, I pushed my chair back from the dining table and my math homework, which I was barely passing, and opened the front door. My heart skipped a beat.

Christian stood in the doorway with a bouquet of yellow roses. “Hi, I hope this is a good time.”

My stomach pleasantly rolled, sending a line of heat straight between my legs. It took my breath away, but I didn’t relent. I kept one arm on the door, only letting it open so far. “It’s fine. What’s up?”

“These are for you.” He thrust the flowers toward me.

My heart clenched “They’re beautiful, thank you. But why?”

“I feel bad we haven’t hung out, and I can’t help feeling like I did something wrong.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, seriously.”

“Can I come in and talk?”

While I hesitated, the infamous angel and devil duo appeared on each of my shoulders.

“Let him in,” I imagined the angel saying. “He brought you flowers.”

The little devil snorted. “Flowers. Ha! He abandoned you. You can’t count on anyone but yourself.”

“Ah, come on, the guy said he was sorry,” the angel begged.

“Llona?” Christian asked.

The angel and devil disappeared into a puff of smoke.

I sighed and opened the door. “Come on in.”

In my mind, the imaginary devil cursed.

“Thanks.” He walked past me and dropped onto the sofa. “I’m not sure what happened or what I did, but I want you to know I’m sorry. Maybe you felt we were getting too serious or something, and maybe we were, I don’t know. But what I do know is I miss you. I want to be friends. Can we at least be that?”

“I don’t make a good friend.”

“Let me be the judge of that.”

“I like to be alone.”

Christian laughed. “Not someone like you. You were born to make people happy.”

There he goes again, saying things that made me uncomfortable. “You don’t know what I was born to do. Don’t act like you know me.”

He pursed his lips and lowered his gaze to the floor. “Fine. Can we just hang out once in a while?”

“Why, Christian? I’ve completely blown you off. Why would you still want to hang out with me?”

He looked up and stared into my eyes with burning intensity. “You’re like no one I’ve ever met before.”

I swallowed and averted my gaze. “That could be a bad thing.”

“In your case, it’s not. Friends?”

I shrugged, too emotionally exhausted to care anymore. I lowered into a chair next to him. So we were friends. I could still keep him at arm’s length. Ignore his smile and that endless dimple. Avoid those penetrating eyes.

“Awesome. You won’t regret this.” He leaned toward me close enough that I caught his scent. Earthy