Gena Showalter - Playing With Fire (tales of an extra ordinary girl)

“Then get us past it.”

Breathing in and out slowly, precisely, I squared my shoulders and turned to the gate. I held out one of my hands, palm out. The wind, I was learning, was the hardest element for me to call. It required a combination of feelings. An emotional cocktail, if you will, of fear (check), desperation (check), and, as I’d figured out during the day’s training session, some type of affection. Love worked, though I didn’t know why.

All I knew was that it was hard to maintain such a sweet, positive emotion while drawing from the other two, the negatives.

As before, in the clearing, I allowed images of my dad to spill across my mind. My heart swelled with love for him. To strengthen the emotion, I allowed Rome to enter the picture, envisioning the two men slapping each other on the back. I didn’t want to-God, I didn’t-but I forced the images to twist. To darken. To become a nightmare I never wanted to come true.

“Whatever you’re doing, it’s working,” Tanner said proudly. “I can feel a tornado forming inside you.”

In my mind, I saw the two men I held so dear being hurt. Gunned down. Bullets whizzed and popped with startling realism. I saw both men flinch in pain. Saw blood escape from their many wounds.

“Yes, yes,” Tanner praised. “It’s getting stronger.”

Rome cupped the back of my neck and massaged. “Good girl. You’re doing great.”

Around me, a fierce wind began to blow. My hair whipped from the ball cap and slapped at my cheeks. The trees danced, leaves swaying. Twigs and dirt swirled up from the ground, whirling round and round. I closed my eyes, saw myself running toward the fallen men, screaming their names.

“The wind is too strong, Viper.” Concern laced Tanner’s voice. He was suddenly shoved into the bars. “It’s going to blow us away.”

“Give some to me,” Rome said.

I visualized the fierceness of my emotions traveling out of me and into Rome, giving him pieces of the positive, pieces of the negative. He tensed the moment they hit him, and hissed in a breath.

Instantly, the churning sea inside me calmed. The emotions were still there, but they were manageable. The violence of the wind eased slightly.

“That’s it,” he said. “I’ve got it.”

With my free hand, I motioned for the wind to churn at our feet. After only a moment’s hesitation, it obeyed. We were lifted an inch or so in the air, the force of the moving current creating a solid foundation beneath us.

“Higher,” I whispered. We rose sharply, and I almost dropped my hand to my side. Almost commanded the wind to leave.

“Steady,” Rome said.

“Are you concentrating?” Tanner said. “I don’t think you’re concentrating.”

“I’m concentrating!”

“You’re doing good, baby.” Rome slapped Tanner upside the head. “Can you get us over the wall, Belle?”

To do that, I needed to make the wind swirl. What should I do, what should I do? I twirled my finger in a circle, mimicking a whirlwind, but that didn’t help. I closed my eyes and visualized it, but-no, wait! The wind began to rotate. Up, up we went.

My stomach twisted in progression with the wind, but I kept my mind on the chaos. Besides, if I opened my eyes and looked down, I might vomit or scream or any number of other things. I wasn’t afraid of heights, far from it, but my God, we had nothing but air holding us up. Wind, which was invisible. I only hoped there were no onlookers.

The top spike of the fence suddenly scraped the bottom of my boot. I gasped, but managed to keep my mind on the task at hand. My finger never stopped twirling.

“We cleared it,” Rome said.

Happiness flooded me. I’d done it. I’d done it!

“Uh, celebrating a little too early,” Tanner said, a split second before the wind ceased and we tumbled to the ground.

I hit with a hard smack. My feet absorbed most of the shock, but my body vibrated painfully. My teeth rattled, almost slicing into my tongue. Tanner humphed and rolled to his side. Rome landed perfectly, without sound, without bouncing. Just thump, he was crouched on his feet.

Damn cat reflexes.

For several prolonged seconds, I sucked air back into my lungs. “Oopsie,” I said between pants. “My bad.”

“We’ll practice the landing next time.” Rome tugged me to my feet, then did the same for Tanner. “Let’s move out.”

Once again we were in motion, remaining close to the fence, striding along its shadowed edge. We didn’t try to pretend nonchalance this time. We simply stayed out of sight as much as possible. I was so ready for this night to be over, and would have sold my soul for a little of Lexis’s psychic ability. If I knew what was going to happen before it actually happened, well, I could make sure Rome and Tanner emerged unscathed.

Row after row of sprawling homes came into view. Lights gleamed from the streets, from garages, from gardens. “ Rome,” I said uncertainly.

“Just keep your back to the fence.”

When we rounded a corner, he stopped. Crouched. I glanced at Tanner, Tanner glanced at me and we both crouched beside Rome.

“That’s Dr. Roberts’s home.” He motioned to a pretty Victorian with an unkempt yard and overgrown bushes. Wraparound porch. Hanging wind chimes. Blue shutters.

I experienced a tiny flutter of shock. This beautiful mansion housed the man who’d made me what I am. No lights were on inside it. I guess I should have asked if Dr. Roberts had a family here we needed to worry about awakening.

“Is anyone there?” Tanner asked.

Rome didn’t answer. Instead, his gaze slowly scanned left and right, searching, intense. Minutes passed. Insects chirped.

Finally Rome whispered, “See that black SUV?” He pointed to the right, to a car parked in a driveway several homes away from Dr. Roberts’s.

“Yes.”

“Definitely belongs to Vincent’s men. Be careful. No telling what kind of scrim agents he has inside.”

“How can you tell?” I studied it, but it looked like every other expensive car in the neighborhood.

“One, I know Vincent well enough to be sure he’d keep men here to watch for Dr. Roberts. Two, his agents are still inside the car. If you look closely, you can see the exhaust fumes. I’m betting they’ve been turning it on and off for the air conditioner. Plus, I can smell the amount of coffee they’ve consumed.”

Ugh. Coffee. After what had been done to my grande mocha latte, I’d probably never want to drink the stuff again.

Tanner pressed deeper into the darkness, his gaze darting nervously. “What should we do?”

“Belle, do you think you can make it rain? A hard-ass storm just like we talked about at the cabin?”

“It will hail,” I warned. “We won’t be able to run through it without getting hit.”

His lips lifted in a slow smile. “That’s exactly what I want. Lots and lots of hail. Trust me. It’ll be okay. Just make the storm as fierce as you can without blowing the houses away.”

“The weather channel is going to have a field day with this,” Tanner said drily. “I hope you both realize that. Everyone who knows about the formula will suspect Belle was here.”

“It’s a chance we have to take.” Rome turned back to the house.

“What about the people in the SUV?” I asked.

“I’m going to leave them to you,” Rome stated.

“What?” I said, surprised.

“What?” Tanner seemed equally taken aback.

“I’ll disable their car and knock them out.” I knew what that meant. Kill. “If one of them wakes up,” Rome continued, “you two are to take care of him.”

Tanner and I shared a wry look. Yeah, he was really letting us take care of the bad guys in the car. We got his leftovers, if there happened to be any. Knowing Rome, there wouldn’t.