Sparks Fly [Book Two in the "Fire And Lighting" Series]

Chapter Forty-One- Preparing

After Emma found out I still had Pyro running around in my mind, I figured I had to tell the others, too. The team had been shocked, to say the least, when they found our I'd been carrying the secret for this long. But when I told them about how I had Scarlett there too, they were less afraid.

Their looks still haunted me. They'd looked at me like I was a monster.

I'd kept Pyro's cryptic prophecy to myself. Wasn't exactly lying if they didn't know it existed, was it? No one needed more to worry about.

I shuddered and looked at my reflection in the water again. Something glinted on my chest, and I looked closely at the necklace Wally and Artemis had given me for my birthday.

The promise I'd made to Artemis months ago in the warehouse ran through my head. 

"I swear it. Nothing will happen to him. Not on my watch."

There had been so much going on, and I hadn't seen Wally since the raid on the cave. But I had to keep my promise.

I yawned loudly. Getting the hint, Connor walked me to the zeta-tubes.

"Think the team's back yet?" He asked.

"Probably," I said, swinging our joined hands back and forth. "You might have to put up with a noisy victory/"Welcome Back Jaime" party." I joked.

"Man, I hope not." Connor ran his free hand through his hair.

"Goodnight, Willow," he smiled at me.

"Goodnight, Connor." I kissed him, my arms around his neck, his arms around my waist.

We split up. He went through one zeta-tube bound for the "ware-home" after seeing one that he thought would take me to my home in Star City, but really took me to Palo Alto.

I breathed in the warm night air and began my walk along a sidewalk lined with palm trees.

I pulled out my cell phone and dialed his phone number.

" 'Lo?" He answered a minute later, sounding exhausted.

"Hey, what're you up to tonight?" I asked, examining house numbers as I walked past.

"Nothing much. Just studying."

"Need a study buddy?"

"Well, sure!" His voice brightened immensely. "But isn't it a little late?"

"Don't worry, I'm already here."

I hung up, spotting Wally bent over the kitchen table in the window. The dog he gave Artemis began to bark at the door, and he looked up, freckled face bursting into a grin that looked out of place on his pale, worn face.

"Willow!" Wally cried, throwing the door open and speeding out onto the sidewalk, grabbing me in a hug.

"Hey Wall-man, long time no see." I grinned, hugging him back.

"Well, you know 'Wing and I weren't exactly on the best of terms last time we talked."

I thought back to our conversation the day the cave blew up.

"Yeah. No one's really on best terms with Richard after all that's happened." I sighed.

"Come on in, I was just finishing up my physics review and I think I still have some fudge cookies left."

I made a face impulsively, thinking of the last time I ate something Wally had made himself.

He caught my disgusted look, "Don't worry, they're store-bought, I promise. Artemis is the better cook and I know it."

Shaking with laughter, Wally closed the door behind us as I was eagerly greeted by Brucely, the dog.

"You smell Wolf on me, huh?" I asked, scratching him behind the ears.

Artemis and Wally's apartment was homey and comforting. Nothing like the Cave or Queen mansion, but it had a sense of love and security. The couch and the TV were in the front hall, with the kitchen just to the side. In the back were the bedrooms and the bathroom. It felt...nice.

"How is the walking carpet, anyway?" Wally asked, interrupting my observance, shoving a cookie into his mouth and tossing me a sleeve of cookies. "Might wanna keep those from me. Matter of fact, how's the team?"

"Good. I left Connor and Mal to deal with a party celebrating the most recent victory of getting Blue Beetle back."

Wally shook his head, pitying them for only a moment, "Oh the poor souls." I couldn't help but giggle, nibbling on my own cookie. "I saw him on the news. The Reach is so fake!"

"I know, right?" I asked him. Brucely followed us into the kitchen.

He cleared a space for me at the table, and I hung my jacket up on the back of my chair, rolling up my sleeves and bracing to help him with another Vietnamese Lit paper.

"So I finished that..." Wally shoved his physics papers towards me. "But what in really having trouble with is this Calculus problem that-"

"Number sixteen is wrong." I interrupted, chewing on another cookie and scanning the paper. "Number thirty-five too."

Wally stared at me with his jaw gaping open. "How did you...what...How!?"

I smirked and winked at him.

"Don't flirt with me, Willow." He said with mock seriousness. "I'm taken."

I narrowed my eyes and imitated one of those bullies from my high-school years. "So am I." It came out with more of a lisp.

After another round of laughter, I took the rather short pencil from Wally and began to do a proof in a spotless corner of the paper.

Ten minute later, we were done with corrections and had moved on to Calculus. That was quickly dealt with as well.

After only an hour, it was done, and we were both tired. But I wasn't really ready to go home. Wally had been lonely these past few months, and I wanted to make it up from not being there for him.

Wally wasn't so eager to let me leave either.

"Wanna watch some Doctor Who?"

The chair screeched against the floor as I stood up, and I grinned despite my tired state. "You don't even have to ask."