Her destiny is her greatest fear.
Seventeen-year-old Halen Windspeare will do anything to extinguish the flames that spark beneath her fingertips. But, returning to the place where she witnessed her father drown forces the fire to ignite. Refusing...
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Hunters? Halen's skin charged with a new wave of sparks when Ezra shouted the word. She didn't understand. Had he come to harm her, or was there a bigger threat outside?
"Move it!" Tage's frantic scream, slapped her out of her confusion coma.
The boy came to her house with a knife. Right now, he was the biggest threat. Halen bolted for the door, but Ezra grasped her arm. Tage thrust her weight into his side, and he collapsed, letting go.
Sparks combusted along Halen's skin, and she couldn't restrain them any longer. The floor shook with a thunderous rumble. Ezra clutched the coffee table, his free hand clamped around the handle of the switchblade when the concrete cracked with a long fissure.
Tage pulled open the door and shoved Halen across the threshold. "Go. Now!"
Her feet hit the compact sand with a jarring thud. Winter rain had pushed the powdery grit into a flat surface, perfect for running. She often trained on the beach, but to her surprise, Tage was faster. She'd never seen her in a pair of sneakers, but Tage's long stride made it hard to keep up.
Ezra called out to them; his words lost in the crashing waves.
Tage stopped. Placing her hands on her knees, she bent over, her breath ragged. "We have to go in the water."
"Are you insane? It's freezing." A wave licked her ankles, and she jumped back. "Let's keep going." Scanning the row of beach houses lining the shore, she spotted a light. "We can make it to the neighbors."
Tage grabbed her wrist, twisting her skin so it burned. Her determined stare locked with Halen's. "Trust me."
"No way!" Warning sparks laced through her bones. "Do you know that guy? He was yelling about Hunters. What the hell does that even mean?"
"There's no time to explain." Tage wriggled out of her jeans and took off her shirt. Her pale skin glowed; tattoos lined her arm, disappearing beneath the strap of her bra. "Take your clothes off. They'll weigh you down."
"I'm not going in." She crossed her arms. "We'll freeze to death!"
"We'll wade out a just little way. Wait a few minutes tops—just until he's gone."
"There's a storm coming!"
Tage ran into the ocean. A wave hit her legs, knocking her off balance, but she righted herself and waded out farther.
Halen groaned. She couldn't let Tage go in alone. She was the stronger swimmer. Damn it, Tage. She peeled off her clothes and hugged the thin fabric of her tank top as she entered the frigid water.
Waves crashed against her father's friend Darla with a deafening boom. She imagined the current shoving her toward the beast, slamming her into the rock serpent as every bone snapped with the crushing force. They had to go back, but when she glanced at the beach, the lunatic with the knife blocked their exit.
