Chapter Twenty One – Hot Stuff
I race to the doorbell, not being able to help myself. Today is finally the day I get to see my best friends and tell them of my good news. I’ve texted both Katie and Xan so hopefully they’re both here. Maybe this is the thing that reunites me and her. I miss Katie way too much.
“You’re never going to guess,” I say cheerfully, ripping open my front door. Xander stands there with his hands in his pocket and a dorky smile on his face. The upturned corners of my lips falter when I notice he’s alone.
“Hey,” he greets with raised eyebrows. Xan dances back and forth on his heels waiting for me to snap out of it. This is the first time I’m seeing him since the hospital! I shake my head and run into him with a crushing hug. “That’s more like it,” Xander jokes with me.
Feet thud down the stairs behind me and Michelle’s voice squeals with excitement. I step aside as she jumps up at him. Michelle must have felt guiltier than I thought. Her arms squeeze tighter. My younger sister doesn’t let go until Xan removes his arms and the only thing holding her up is her grip around his neck. Even then it takes her a while to get off.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” She mumbles into his chest. Xan lets her down easy and scratches the back of his neck.
“I’m indestructible,” he tells her with an overly serious face. Scott’s voice calls Michelle back to the kitchen and my sister runs off. Xander steps inside, bee-lining for the living room where I’ve got DVDs displayed and popcorn at the ready. I guess the cupcakes on the side aren’t going to be eaten today.
“Nice to see you haven’t lost your appetite,” I giggle as he stuffs a handful of popcorn into his mouth. I follow suit, regretting it instantly. A few pieces fall down my shirt and I have to awkwardly fish them out. “You see nothing,” I instruct.
Xan sits back on the couch and leans his head on his fist. His hair is back up in spikes and there’s more color in his cheeks than at the hospital a few days ago. I ask him how he’s feeling with more knowledge of what happened than anyone else. Xan tries to brush it off but I won’t take a wimpy answer.
“Something’s definitely off,” he replies. “I don’t like seafood anymore and you know my love for fish sticks.”
I nodded. “I never knew how you could stomach those.”
“Apparently, I don’t either.”
It gets a little quiet so I insert in a DVD into the player and click it on. It’s a random 2-star movie about vampires that we as the three amigos love making fun of. Katie isn’t here to enjoy but I have to pretend she’ll be back anyway. Fifteen minutes in, a vampire hisses with its fangs after a boring monologue of why he’s out for payback. It’s obvious where CGI starts and makeup ends. Pathetic.
“Pathetic,” Xan whispers. My head snaps in his direction. “Vampires aren’t as scary-looking in real life but at least they know how not to sound like a total tool.”
My non-believing eyes are met with Xander’s confused ones. “Vampires are real?”
“Yeah,” he answers excitedly. Checking if Scott or Michelle are in ear shot, Xan leans in and lowers his voice. “Demons. They’re where the vampire lore comes from. They drink Tempest witch blood specifically to keep young but you still need a wooden stake to kill them.”
My hand shoots for the remote and I pause the movie on an unflattering face. That explains the day Trevor saved me from Mrs. Fletcher. She really wanted to drink my blood? I could have gone my whole life without knowing that. I shake my head and turn to Xander.
“How do you know this?”
“You don’t,” he asks innocently. I shake my head again and Xander leans back.
“When I called you,” he begins. “I told you I know all about your past life.” After a while of waiting for him to explain, he goes on. “I remember Ivette’s room number at the Morton ward. I remember Mermaids control water and a Spencing should never piss them off. Lisa never liked the smell of mint and Stephanie wasn’t a fan of the heat. Nymphs don’t like clothing. Heck, I even remember the time you accidentally tripped walking up to The Ledge while scouting it out with your sisters. I remember everything about Emily.”
“But I wasn’t even allowed to remember those,” I whisper loud enough to get a curious glance from my foster dad pacing through the kitchen before heading back out to the grill. “Fiona blocked them since Lisa told me I had to learn on my own.”
“Then how do I know all of it,” he questions me. “How is it I remember glimpses of spells and—”
“Spells?” That word perks up my ears. “The Emerald never mentions spells. She uses words like psychic energy and crap like that.”
“No, these were actual spells of Phoenix powers,” Xan whispers eagerly. There’s a flare in his eyes of the passion he talks with. It’s kind of amazing. “You can control fire and use your soul to bind someone to you. You turn extreme emotions into… um…”
Xander sits back on the couch, scrunching his eyebrows together and leaving me begging for more. I prod him to finish his sentence but he stays quiet. I swear at him when he doesn’t answer.
“Dad says lunch is almost done,” Michelle butts in. Our conversation is lost and I pick back up to my normal, calm façade. “It’s so cool to say that,” she adds before giggling off to set the table.
“What’s she mean by that?” Xan turns back to me and raises one eyebrow. I bite my lip as my fingers subconsciously go to pull at my dreads. Xander eyes me up, ready to tickle me if I don’t cooperate.
“I’m not answering until you finish what you were going to say,” I tell him. Xander doesn’t say anything. He just folds his hands across his lap and stares at the paused movie in front of us. Not telling him is eating me up but my stubbornness can outlast his. I don’t get the chance to prove it since in a split second, his hands are pinching my sides mercilessly. I wig out and fall onto the floor before I surrender. Xan lets me up to calm down before speaking. My shoulders shrug and another flicker of happiness melts me inside. “Fine! Scott is… he’s going to be my dad. I’m being adopted.”
I’m not ready for Xan’s reaction. The boy tackles me into a massive hug, almost crashing us both into the table. He whispers his congratulations in my ear after picking me up and holding on tight. My smile bursts even wider than the other night when Scott told me. It feels amazing I can say it out loud to someone and for them to be as happy for me as I am for myself.
Little by little, Xander lets go but both of us still hold onto each other. His warmth is so nice in the cold of the air conditioned house. I look up into his green eyes. They look a tint bluer than they use to be and there’s more adventure trying to shine through. I smile again. Why does he have to be so amazing?
“Food,” Xander simply states as his hands go to his back pockets. We let go and head for the barbecue Scott has been trying to perfect since I moved here. “I’m starving.”
“Yeah, me too,” I mutter after him.
Michelle, who has been setting the table for our inside meal, stares at me with a mouth ready to laugh at my awkward obviousness. Her thoughts roll through my mind since she’s shouting it inside.
You’re so brainless, her voice thinks. I feel the pit in my stomach and know she is completely right. Oh my god, what are you guys doing?
Lunch goes well enough. Scott’s grilled chicken tastes a lot better than last time. It was so dry before we needed multiple glasses of ice tea to wash one piece down. I salt my corn on the cob and take a hefty bite but nothing distracts me from the overwhelming emotions I’m trying to contain. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this much.
“Are you okay,” Scott asks me. I turn to him and try and keep a blank face. “You look a little flushed.”
“I’m fine.” I am not fine at all. My insides feel like they’re a second from bursting. “Just thirsty. Anyone else want a refill?”
Xan, Michelle and Scott look at me as if I’m an addict trying to hide a pound of drugs. The back of my chair screeches as I get up to take my half filled tea to the kitchen. The heat from outside must be seeping through the edges of the back door. Either that or our air conditioning is turned off. Why is it so hot all of a sudden?
I hurry to the refrigerator and pull out the jug of tea. After filling my cup most of the way I reach in the freezer and grab a handful of ice. A drop of liquid on the floor makes me pause. The ice cubes in my hand are melting much faster than what’s normal. I check to make sure the freezer is working properly and stick my hand on the top inside. The thing is working fine but I don’t think I am. Myhand is steaming.
“Well, that’s new,” I murmur to no one.
The ice that has accumulated on the side of the freezer starts to smoothen out as my fingers gets closer. I take my hand from inside and stick them in my pocket. Another Phoenix thing? Xan did say something about extreme emotion. And me being nervous is probably not helping.
“You sure you’re okay,” Scott calls back at the table. I glance back at the three of them watching me. Subconsciously closing the freezer door to hide the weird thing happening to my body, my lips ripple like a horse. Try as I might, it gives off no impression that I’m hiding anything. Trevor was right saying a Tempest is like a second puberty; I don’t think I’ve felt like this in a long while.
“I’m good,” I sigh. I take a few more deep breaths to calm down and close both doors. “I just like the cool air. It feels nice.”
Scott doesn’t totally believe me but he sighs knowing I’ll handle it. “Don’t let all the cold out. Close that thing before the peas melt.”
Awesome. I take a few more breaths and return to the table. Michelle goes back to eating as does Scott. My best friend holds in a laugh and digs into his corn. I don’t need to use any psychic power to know what he’s thinking.
Smooth, his mind says. Very smooth.
~*~
“Are you going to tell me what that was?” Xander flips his towel at me as I take him out back to the kiddie pool. Michelle is hooking up the hose on the side of the house giving me and Xan a moment to ourselves. I rub my eyes, embarrassed at my complete awkwardness.
“You know more than I do,” I chastise him. “Why the hell was my hand steaming inside the freezer? Why did it feel like I was going to set the table on fire? What is going on?”
Xander exhales noisily and rubs the back of his neck. “Extreme emotions,” he says tensely. “They’re trying to settle.”
“I need to know more about this,” I scold him. He should have told me all this from the moment he walked through the door. “What else can I do? I have to be prepared if I’m going—”
“I can’t,” Xan interrupts my determined speech. I eye him up, daring him to say it again. His mouth opens to explain why but Michelle drags the hose to the pool and aims it at the bottom. Last time we had the pool out, some birds took a dump in it so we had to completely empty the water. Filling it up again will take a while. I grab Xander’s arm away from Michelle’s earshot and command him to explain. “I remember everything from your past, Gail.”
“I got that already,” I spit back at him.
“Lisa is your sister. If she doesn’t want you to know, then I’m not going to defy the sister love that I felt that you felt for her because… feelings.” Xander and I both tilt are head trying to sort out what he just meant. “Wow, that sounds like a big mess of words. But you get my point?”
I do but I don’t want to. Doing everything but stomping my foot like a three-year-old, I storm away from him and back to the pool. Michelle holds the hose for me to take and looks me in the face.
“You two—” she points to me and unsubtly to Xander. “—need to work out what this is. If Katie ever finds out, she’s going to be pissed.”
I take the hose from Michelle’s hand, annoyed that she’s right. “You still have until high school before you can say those bad words,” I sneer back.
She rolls her eyes and gets in the pool. The water’s almost to the top which means it’s ready for us. I run to the side of the house and twist the water off.
I wish more days were like these past few. Apart from the crazy emotional ride, I’ve been feeling so much happier. It’s been a month since I’ve learned I’m a witch and everything has been constant action. There is finally time to relax and figure out the powers for myself. It’s not fair Xander won’t let me know what I should already remember but it’s sweet of him to keep my sisterly bond intact. Hopefully the streak of not freaking out over my new powers can continue.
A breeze rolls through the air which brings the smell of the neighborhood’s outdoor cooking and the fragrance of my front yard’s flowers. It’s so beautiful out and so incredibly hot. While some people hate the heat, I relish in it. More days really do need to be like this. I sigh and head back to the pool.
“Ruiseñor,” a shy voice beckons me. I instantly snap my head around at the familiar nickname. Katie stands there with her hands behind her back and a beaming expression. “I’m sorry.”
The apology along with a happy face is strange but when Katie walks closer and throws her arms around me, I embrace her fully to make sure she knows how much I missed her. My best friend lets go of our hug with the same happy smile still on her face.
“It’s time for an adventure,” she says openly. “Meet me at the car.”
I blink and she’s already heading away. “What?”
Even as I yell after her for more of an explanation, she walks to the driveway around the corner. I glance from her to the back and decide to grab Xander first. This will be interesting to see if she’ll still be apologetic given that her boyfriend is half naked in my backyard. It wouldn’t matter that he’s swimming with me and my sister; she’s too jealous of a person to act that way.
I grumble and head to the pool to find the guy who’s worth all her attitude. It seems like my quiet days might be at an end. I’m not sure if that’s good but since Katie was smiling, it should be okay.
Boy, I hope she’s in a good mood.