P.C. Cast - Burned

“Yep,” Stevie Rae said, and she knew from the cheers and relieved shouts of “finally” she heard from the kids that she’d made the right decision. “I haven’t talked to Lenobia about it yet, but I can’t think that there’s gonna be any problem with us busing back and forth from the depot to the House of Night. We need to be underground, and even though I really like this school, it doesn’t feel like home anymore. The tunnels do.”

“I’m with ya, girl,” Dallas said. “But we need to get somethin’ straight right now. You’re not gonna face those kids alone again. I’m comin’ with you.”

“Me, too,” Kramisha said. “I don’t care what kind of big story you gave everbody else, I knew them bad kids was behind you almost gettin’ fried up on the roof.”

“Yeah, we’ve all talked about it,” muscle-y Johnny B said. “We’re not letting our High Priestess face that shit alone again.”

“No matter how earth-will-kick-your-ass powerful she is,” Dallas said.

“I’m not goin’ alone. That’s why I called y’all here. We’re gonna take our tunnels back, and if ass needs to be kicked, we’re gonna do it,” Stevie Rae said. “So, Johnny B, I want you to drive the Hummer.” She tossed him the keys. The big guy grinned at her and snatched them out of the air. “Take Ant, Shannoncompton, Montoya, Elliott, Sophie, Geraty, and Venus with you. I’ll take Dallas and Kramisha in Z’s Bug. Follow me—we’re goin’ to the lower parking lot of the depot.”

“Sounds good, but how’re we gonna be sure we can find those red kids? You know those tunnels are like, well, an anthill down there,” said the little kid nicknamed Ant, and everyone chuckled.

“I been thinkin’ ’bout that, too,” Kramisha spoke up. “And I have an idea, if you don’t mind me sayin’ somethin’.”

“Hey, that’s one of the reasons I called y’all together, ’cause I need everybody’s help with this,” Stevie Rae said.

“Yeah, well, this is my idea: Those kids tried to kill you once already, right?”

Figuring there was no hiding from her fledglings, Stevie Rae nodded. “Right.”

“So I figured if they tried but didn’t get rid of you once, they’d want to give it another shot, right?”

“Probably.”

“What would they do if they thought you was down in the tunnels again?”

“They’d come get me,” Stevie Rae said.

“Then use the earth to let them know you’s there again. You can do that, right?”

Stevie Rae blinked in surprise. “I never thought about it before, but I bet I can.”

“That’s genius, Kramisha!” Dallas said.

“Totally!” Stevie Rae said. “So, hang on and let me try some-thin’.” She hurried from the parking lot to the side of the school that adjoined it. There were a couple of old oaks there, a wrought-iron bench, and a tinkling fountain surrounded by what was now an ice-encapsulated bed of yellow and purple pansies. While her fledglings watched, she faced north and knelt on the ground in front of the biggest of the two trees. She bowed her head and concentrated. “Come to me, earth,” she whispered. Instantly, the ground around her knees warmed, and she smelled the scent of wildflowers and long, waving grass. Stevie Rae pressed her hands against the earth she loved so much and reveled in her connection with the element. Feeling warm and filled with the strength of nature, she said, “Yes! I know you—I can feel myself within you and you within me. Please do somethin’ for me. Please take some of this magic, this awesomeness that is us together, and pour it into the main tunnel under the depot. Let it be like I’m there, so much so that anyone who rests within you would know it.” Stevie Rae closed her eyes and imagined a glowing green bolt of energy leaving her body, traveling through the earth, and pouring into the tunnel right outside her old room in the depot. Then she said, “Thank you, earth. Thank you for being my element. You can go now.”

When she rejoined her fledglings, they were all staring at her with wide eyes.

“What?” she asked.

“That was amazing,” Dallas said, his voice filled with awe.

“Yeah, you was green and all shiny,” Kramisha said. “I never seen anything like it before.”

“It was totally cool,” Johnny B said, while the rest of the kids nodded and smiled.

Stevie Rae smiled back at them, feeling like a real High Priestess. “Well, I’m pretty sure it worked,” she said.

“Ya think?” Dallas said.

“I think,” she said, and they shared a look that made Stevie Rae’s stomach feel quivery. She had to shake herself mentally and refocus, saying, “Uh, okay. Let’s do this.”

The kids scattered to the two vehicles, and Dallas draped his arm around Stevie Rae’s shoulder. She let him draw her close.

“I’m proud of you, girl,” he said.

“Thanks.” She reached around his waist and slid her hand in his back pocket.

“And I’m glad you’re bringin’ us along this time,” he said.

“It’s the right thing to do,” she said. “Plus, we’re stronger together than we are apart.”

Beside the Bug, he stopped and pulled her all the way into his arms. Bending, he murmured against her lips, “That’ right, girl. We are stronger together.” Then he kissed her with a fierce possession that surprised Stevie Rae. Before she really knew it, she was kissing him back—and liking the hot way his hard, familiar, completely normal body was making her feel.

“Could y’all please get a room?” Kramisha called to them as she crawled into the little backseat of the Bug.

Stevie Rae giggled, weirdly light-headed, especially as the thought Get real—you can’t even kiss the other one whispered through her mind.

Dallas reluctantly let her step out of his arms so she could move to the driver’s side of the Bug. Over the roof, he caught her gaze, and said softly, “A room sounds good to me.”

Stevie Rae felt her cheeks get hot, and another giggle escaped her mouth. She and Dallas ducked inside the car. From the backseat, Kramisha grumbled, “I heard that mess about a room soundin’ good, Dallas, and all I’m sayin’ is, you two best keep your minds out the gutter and on the bad kids who like to rip out people’s throats.”

“I said room, not gutter,” Dallas grinned cockily over the seat at Kramisha.

“And I can multitask,” Stevie Rae added with another giggle.

“Whatever. Let’s just go. I got me a weird feelin’ ’bout this,” Kramisha said.

Instantly serious, Stevie Rae glanced at Kramisha in the rearview mirror as she pulled out of the parking lot. “A weird feelin’? Did you write another poem, I mean besides the ones you already showed me?”

“No. And I ain’t talkin’ ’bout those bad kids.”

Stevie Rae frowned at Kramisha’s reflection.

“What else could you be talkin’ ’bout?” Dallas asked.

Kramisha gave Stevie Rae a long look before she answered him. “Nothin’. I just got me some paranoia goin’ on, that’s all. You two face-suckin’ instead of payin’ attention to business ain’t helping.”

“I’m payin’ attention to business,” Stevie Rae said, looking away from Kramisha’s reflection and concentrating on the road.

“Yeah, remember my girl’s a High Priestess, and they can definitely handle a bunch of shit at once.”

“Huh,” Kramisha snorted.

The drive to the depot was short and silent. Stevie Rae was uber-aware of Kramisha in the backseat. She knows about Rephaim. The thought whispered through Stevie Rae’s mind, and she immediately squelched it. Kramisha didn’t know about Rephaim. She only knew there was another guy. Nobody knows about Rephaim.