Ignite (Midnight Fire Series Book One) (15 page)

When her mother had disappeared inside the
house, Kira lifted the packet and heard the jingle of a chain
scratching against paper. She tipped the envelope and let the
necklace slide out. The locket was a silver oval, completely plain
with no engravings, and next to it on the chain was a gold ring the
size of a man’s finger. She looked at the inside arch of the band
and read the cursive words etched there. "Love will prevail, your
Lana". His wedding ring, she realized. No, not his, Kira thought.
Her dad Andrew's wedding ring—the one that tied him to his true
love, her mother Lana. Kira clutched the ring to her chest, letting
tears fall freely, and used her other hand to open the locket,
which had fallen to the other end of the chain.

Her father and mother held her between them.
Three smiles and three pairs of green speckled eyes looked out from
the photograph. Kira couldn't believe she had no memories left from
those few months she had had alone with her parents. Her father’s
hair was a mop of red curls and freckles spanned his cheeks. His
smile was wide and open, just like hers in that it was hard to tell
if she were laughing or just smiling. Her mother’s hair looked like
the sun. It was so perfectly blonde and straight like Luke’s. Her
smile was more reserved, but her eyes were the same large shape as
Kira’s, just slightly too big for her face. Kira wondered if her
own had ever looked so full of joy and secrets. And, there Kira
was, a tiny little baby sandwiched between them, laughing and
looking up at her mother.

Kira stared at the photo. It was minute in
size, but more important to her than anything else she had ever
owned. She moved over to the hammock and lay down, staring at the
open-faced locket while time passed by unnoticed. This was the only
connection she would ever have to them, and she wanted to memorize
every detail she could. Kira wished she could recover just one
memory, but her mind from those early weeks of life was too
far-gone.

A car rolling on gravel distracted Kira, and
she heard Chloe giggle and her father’s deep laugh. They were home.
Both were removed from the conduit world, and for a moment, Kira
wondered what he thought the story was. How did he imagine her
parents had died? A car crash? A Murderer? No one but her mother
had the real truth, the full story, except maybe her grandparents.
Strangers to her, who she now knew must exist somewhere in the
world, but had never wanted anything to do with her.

The screen door opened.

"Honey?" the baritone voice of her father
asked. "I spoke with your mother. I just wanted to see how you
were. If there was anything I could do?" Kira shook her head. "I
love you, and I always have."

"I know," Kira replied, still turned away.
She heard him sigh as he went back inside. Kira was sure her mother
had told him not to push her and to let her be.

She curled further up like a baby, closing
the locket and gripping it to her chest, as close to her heart as
possible. The stars were starting to appear in the ever-darkening
sky, and Kira let her tears pool. Kira cried for the life she was
robbed of as a child, the one she felt she had just been robbed of
again. She cried for her dead parents, and for her living
substitutes now guilt-ridden over their lie. Mostly she thought
about what could have been and what will be. About training with
Luke and what training with her parents might have been like. She
wondered if her parents would have told her the histories of the
conduits like bedtime stories to gradually fall asleep to.

Somewhere in all the sorrow, Kira fell asleep
and let her dreams do the imagining for her. She hardly noticed
when her real life father picked her up from outside and carried
her inside to bed.

A ringing phone woke Kira the next morning.
Her eyes were swollen, and she was dehydrated and dizzy from the
days before. When she turned over in bed, she felt a cool chain
roll across her skin and she pulled the locket back over her heart,
cupping it in her hand. At least it was something, Kira mused. She
had photographs and stories, some little tokens to remember them
by. Love will prevail, she thought. It was comforting to know her
parents loved each other enough to risk it all to be together. She
hoped she could do the same if the time ever came.

The incessant ringing sounded in her ear
again and Kira reached under her pillow to grab her cell phone. She
looked at the caller ID—Luke. Was she ready to get out of bed and
face the world? No. But, Kira realized, she would probably never
feel ready to start moving onto her new life in a new world she had
yet to figure out. She flipped open her cell.

"Hello?" Kira’s voice came out scratchy and
hardly loud enough for her own ears to hear.

"You sound like crap."

"Thanks." She rolled her eyes at Luke,
wishing he could see her reaction, some sign she was at least alive
enough to make fun of him again.

"Get out of bed, get dressed and be
downstairs in ten minutes. The gang and I are on the way."

"Good lord. Couldn’t you have given me some
warning?" Kira asked, jumping out of bed and running to her closet.
Ten minutes was not nearly enough time for her to start looking
like a human being again. She needed to shower and she needed some
caffeine.

"Ah, sorry. I totally forgot you’re a girl.
Emma said I should have called you earlier."

"Tell her I said thanks. See you soon."

Kira hung up and used both hands to search
her closet for jeans and a super comfortable, oversized sweater to
wear. She might be venturing outdoors, but she still wanted to feel
as though she was lounging in her pjs.

Five minutes later Kira heard a beep outside
and cursed Luke for of course being early. She peered out of her
window while quickly buttoning her jeans and saw Emma kick Dave out
of the front seat of her small convertible. He sheepishly jumped
into the back with the boys and Kira decided to hurry up before he
tried to steel shotgun again.

"Hey!" Emma waved from the driver’s seat as
Kira walked outside. Kira smiled back.

"So, what’s the mystery event today? Luke
didn’t give me any information over the phone."

"Well, it was my idea," Emma began while
fiddling with the radio and shushing the boys’ complaints when
Taylor Swift came on.

"Shopping?" Kira guessed from the glimmer in
the other girl’s eyes.

"Costume shopping!" Emma seemed positively
giddy as she pulled away from the curb and eased onto the empty
street. She stepped on the gas and the car sped down the road. Kira
liked feeling the wind in her hair and the roar of the other cars
when they turned onto a busier street. It drowned out her thoughts
and part of her felt like a normal girl about to spend a crazy
afternoon with her friends.

"Halloween is in two weeks and we have
nothing to wear! It’s a travesty!" Emma infused feigned sadness
into her voice; well, at least Kira thought it was feigned. "We
need to get costumes now before all of the good ones are taken.
And, I figured we could all plan some sort of theme together."

"Not this again." In the back seat, Miles
scrunched up his face, making his glasses slant sideways.

"Oh please, it’ll be fun!" Excited, Emma
released both hands from the wheel to make her point. Kira jumped
forward and grabbed it before the car could swerve out of control.
Emma flashed her a sheepish smile.

"I’m with Miles. I refuse to dress up as a
Ken doll," Dave added, almost under his breath, but loud enough for
Emma to notice.

"It was only an idea…" Emma let her sentence
trail off. Kira laughed picturing the boys as Disco Ken with
sequined blazers on.

"I’ve got it!" Luke chimed in from the back
seat. Everyone but Emma, now making the effort to concentrate on
driving, turned to look at him. "Power Rangers."

Kira groaned. "I refuse to wear a yellow
jumpsuit. Never happening. No way."

"You could wear the pink one…" Luke trailed
off, anticipating a slap. Instead, Kira turned around in her seat
and simply rolled her eyes at him. He laughed it off, but held her
eyes for an extra second. She nodded subtly, trying to let him know
this was exactly what she had needed and that she was finally
feeling a little better. The bickering that constantly seemed to
befall their little gang was making her forget all about the other
thoughts churning in her head.

"I’m with Kira. No way. Even I can’t look
sexy as a Power Ranger."

"I beg to differ," Dave chimed in from the
back. Kira saw Emma flash him a smile through the rearview
mirror.

"What about the Scooby gang?" Kira tried to
contribute to the debate.

"There’re only four of them." Miles said from
the back.

"I know. Luke can be Scooby-doo!" Everyone
laughed, except for Luke who just claimed he was too tall to
pretend to be a dog.

They pulled up in front of the mall, and Emma
slid her car into a parking spot. As they jumped from their seats
and headed toward the front doors, a peace treaty was figured out.
Everyone would come up with a theme later, and after fifteen
minutes of walking around, they would choose the best one—the
end.

The mall was crowded and Kira immediately
tensed up. She couldn’t help but imagine how many of those people
held deathly secrets or how many might try to kill her.

Children laughed as they played on the jungle
gym set up where Santa’s workshop would be constructed in two short
months. Their parents gazed on from the sideline. A group of
preteen girls gossiped in the corner, and, opposite them, were a
group of Goths Kira recognized from school. Everyone was harmless,
she reassured herself. She had to believe it.

The sun seeped through the skylight and, for
once, Kira was truly grateful for the lack of artificial lights at
this mall. She instantly felt warm all over and calmer.

Luke came up to put an arm around her
shoulder. She realized the rest of the group had left them behind
to walk toward the costume shop at the other end of the mall.

"Are you okay?" Luke asked, pushing her down
the walk a little. Her feet fell instep with his and she started to
break from the trance.

"Yeah," she nodded. "What’d you tell them? No
one commented on my slight mood."

"Nothing really, just that you were going
through some family stuff right now. Emma really wanted to call you
yesterday to check in, but I told her to leave it alone and that
you didn’t want to talk about it."

"Thanks." Kira nestled into his arm a little
further. "I still just don’t know what to do. I spoke with my Mom
and she told me the whole story, all about my parents. And she gave
me this." Kira pulled the locket and ring out from underneath her
sweater. She opened it and showed Luke the picture. He squeezed her
shoulder, comforting her before she even realized she was holding
her breath to keep the pain from seeping out.

"Come on," he said, picking up the pace. "No
more sad thoughts. It’s time to let Emma dress you up like her very
own life-sized Barbie doll." He smiled cheerfully as Kira whimpered
and involuntarily walked into the Halloween shop.

The first things she noticed were the
life-sized animated skeletons and ghouls that were speaking and had
electric light up eyes. Spiderwebs were knotted all over the
ceiling and gruesome bloodied hands and heads lined the floor. A
mechanical spider dropped from the ceiling, landing on top of her
head, and Kira let out a loud yelp before realizing it was fake. A
five-year-old little boy laughed at her from the other side of the
store. Annoying little kid, she thought while looking for her
friends who all seemed to have disappeared.

"Kira!" Emma waved her over to the back wall,
which was lined with costumes and thankfully lacked the gore of the
entrance. On the way to the female costumes, Kira spotted the boys
huddled in a corner all holding different swords and speaking in
hushed tones. She didn’t like the look of it.

"Which one?" Emma asked holding up a pirate
costume and a princess costume. Each one was short with barely any
fabric, and Kira knew it would leave little to the imagination.

"Um…" Kira said, not knowing how to answer.
She wouldn't be caught dead wearing either one out in public.

"Okay, Okay," Luke came up behind them. "The
boys have come to a decision: superheroes, super villains or
pirates. Girls, take your pick." Kira noticed he still had a saber
looped through his belt hole, making him look more like a little
boy than ever.

"Oo!" Emma ran off without answering. She
looked like she was in the middle of a eureka moment. Luke just
glanced at Kira with a raised eyebrow and she shrugged. Dave and
Miles sauntered over, looking out of breath.

"Swordfight," Dave exhaled.

"It was awesome! We need to be pirates."
Miles added and Luke looked crushed that they dared do something so
amazing without him. But Emma came rushing back at that exact
moment and thrust something that looked vaguely like black pleather
into Kira’s hand.

"Put it on!" She squealed and ran into the
dressing room behind her. Kira rolled her eyes, afraid that she had
already guessed what it was, and followed suit.

When she closed the curtain behind her, Kira
unfolded the costume, looked in the mirror and sighed. A Catwoman
outfit. Of course.

Kira didn’t want to be caught dead in the
thing, but knew she had to appease her friend. With a loud exhale,
she stripped off her clothes and tried to squeeze into the
skintight suit.

When she was ready, Kira took a quick peak
into the mirror, and she had to admit, she looked good. She had
never worn skin-tight leather before, but it definitely looked hot.
Kira held the whip in her hand, put the mask on over her eyes and
smiled. She looked nothing like herself, but she kind of liked it.
The faux cat scratches up the side of her leg definitely looked
really sexy, and she tried to push aside the part of her head that
started to wonder what Tristan would think. She couldn’t let
herself go there.