THE SPARK IGNITES

Chapter One

Remembering

 

My hand throbs. The gash is long healed, but the remembrance of the pain and what it means pushes me forward through the trees.

“This has to be it,” I grumble to myself.

The letters in my pocket burn a hole through my pants as I scan the face of the rocky wall. The fissures that run down its surface are oddly shaped, too uniform. I squeeze my fingers between the cracks and pull, but nothing happens. I continue to trail the fissure to the ground, giving a pull every couple of inches.

“Here, let me.” Abby pushes me with her hip. Her short auburn bob bounces on her shoulders.

Sweat trickles down the nape of my neck. It’s an unusually hot day as the summer heat bears down on us. I feel bad for dragging Abby out here again. But the cave system has to be here. I’m like eighty percent sure this is where James and I were when those two guys kidnapped me. I told Commander Wixx she shouldn’t have closed the main entrance to the caves when we left two months ago after rebuilding the manor.

The rock groans under Abby’s fingertips, creating more fissures and spreading until it gives way. I leap back as the slab of rock bangs onto the forest floor. My pulse quickens as I stare into the dark abyss ahead.

I grin. “I knew it!”

Actually, I didn’t. I was searching purely based on the hope of a secret entrance in this area. Snapping my fingers, I create a single flame and enter the opening. My steps falter. My fire does nothing to light the way.

“I told you we should have brought William.”

The words barely leave Abby’s lips when an iridescent white orb floats into the space. I jump back as William steps forward with a sly smirk.

“As you wish,” he says in his thick British accent.

The light dances off the walls of a long cave hallway stretching before us.

“Did you follow us?”

He only shrugs. I shake my head as we enter the cave. I can’t be too mad. He had impeccable timing. The sounds of the clicking of our footsteps and the occasional drip of water bounce off the walls of the cave. My heart constricts. I know this is probably a fool’s errand, but what else am I supposed to do? It’s been ten weeks since I heard from him. If I’m going to find any information on this mission of his, it’ll be down here.

William takes the lead, always protective. I study the walls, looking for anything I recognize. A door or a different texture of rock. Who am I kidding? Bare rock gives way to more bare rock. It’s all the same.

We come to our first fork, and as my friends contemplate which way to go, I press a hand to the cave wall. It melts under my palm, searing a small hole into it. The fire from my hand dims while Abby raises her brow at me.

“It’s easy to get lost down here.” I shrug. Fire comes as naturally to me as water now, partially because of the help of my new Igna instructor—third, to be exact—but also because of the bond that I refuse to acknowledge since that awful first night down here when I realized Sebastian was still alive. James and I had gone to Don, the High Aura who performed the ceremony, the following day.

​

“There has to be a way, please!” I shout, tears streaming down my face, holding my hand away as if it’s an infected piece of my body. Don looks at me with patient eyes, his eyebrows turned down in sympathy as he glances at James.

“I’m sorry, Maya, you are bound to him. There is no way to reverse it without the bonded pair present. And even then. It is a very painful process in which you may lose some of your abilities. It’s very risky.”

“I don’t care.” I choke, gripping James for support. “I don’t want to be bonded with him. He forced this on me. Don’t I have a say?”

Don shakes his head. “Unless he passes and the bond fissures or you bring him to me to perform the reversal ceremony, there is nothing I can do. The elements of this earth have bound you with him by blood.”

​

As we reach the first signs of civilization, I swallow the memory. Dark doors line the hall in front of us. I pick up my pace, reaching for the first knob. William’s arm shoots out as he eyes me. I nod toward it impatiently. The chance of somebody being down here is next to none, but I know William.

He pushes it open and jumps through with one swift movement. I’m right on his heels as light envelops the space. Shelving lines the walls, and we find ourselves in a cramped storage closet, William looking like he is about to throttle a broomstick.

Abby snickers from the doorway. “What did the poor broom do to you?”

William grunts and shoves the broom away, knocking down several containers. Abby laughs louder. I roll my eyes and head for the next door.

The other rooms are locked or deserted, precisely as we left them. We enter the Circle—a large room with circular tables and chairs on one side and a wide opening on the other that leads to the kitchen. The same kitchen with the refrigerator I was locked inside so long ago. I had a fear of the thing for a while, but with James’s help, I overcame it and would come often to help with food preparation.

“James’s old room was this way,” I say monotonically as the others take in the eerie space. This room was always full of noise and laughter, the smells of our next meal wafting through the space. I swallow around the lump in my throat. This is probably a huge mistake.

I get to his door, only a few doors down from the flower room I called home for the month we lived there. Before I turn the knob, there is warmth on my shoulder. William’s gray eyes scan my face—a line creases between his eyebrows underneath his overgrown, dirty-blond hair. It seems to be his usual facial expression these days, the constant smile from the past replaced by a mask of worry. He’s still sunshine incarnate but more watchful, probably waiting for me to have another mental breakdown.

“I’m okay,” I reassure him, and he lets me go. “Check the other rooms, just in case.”

He scans me, looking like he wants to say something before turning on his heel.

I take a deep breath and shut the door behind me, pushing down the memories of this space before snapping my fingers. A small flame dances on my fingertips. It grows in my palm until the fire casts ominous shadows along the walls. I bite my lip and head for the table pushed into the corner. I do my best to ignore the bed. I’m not ready for that yet. I shuffle through the drawers with my free hand.

I slam the last drawer closed with an irritable sigh. How can there be nothing? Wixx won’t tell me anything. Those first letters told me nothing. And this damn room.

“Nothing!”

I lean against the bed, my eyes growing hot. I fiercely grab hold of the numbness to shield me once more, but it won’t take. The flame in my palm begins to dim, but before it does, I look at the bed I’m on. It’s exactly how he left it, neatly made, with the black comforter and pillows. My heart skips when my eyes land on the one lone shirt still bundled against the pillows where I threw it. My flame snuffs out, and I fall back, grabbing the shirt and pressing it to my nose. His earthy sweet scent barely hangs on to the fibers. My eyes water and I curl into a ball, letting myself finally remember.

​

“What are you doing?” I ask as James grabs clothes from the chest at the end of his bed. He stuffs them into a duffle bag, a deep frown lining his face.

He’s been spending more and more time in his old room, away from me. I haven’t even had the chance to talk to him today since he kissed me goodbye this morning and has been who knows where, doing who knows what. Swallowing my pride, I came to talk to him. Seeing him packing was the last thing I expected.

“We have to go,” he says without looking at me.

“Okay… You weren’t going to talk to me about this? I mean, I guess I’m okay with leaving…”

He pauses for a moment before throwing another garment in, his eyebrows forming a deep V. “No. I have to go. Me and my team.”

I shake my head, confusion and fear stabbing into my gut. “What are you talking about?”

“We got a call from higher up. I have another mission.”

Hurt slashes my heart. After everything that has happened, he wouldn’t dare leave me like this. There has to be more of an explanation. But I’m not in the mood to see reason as the hurt morphs into anger.

“And you were just going to leave me? Just like that?”

He winces and turns. His hazel eyes are unreadable. “Of course not. I was planning on talking to you. But I do have to go.”

“And I can’t come?” Emotion heats my throat, and he sighs, pressing his palm against my cheek. I lean into him.

“I thought anyone could join you guys?” The whole speech after the Coms attacked us about choosing to join them comes to mind. Was that all a lie?

“Yes, but it isn’t that easy. Is this the life you want for Cal? What about Abby?”

“Yeah, what about Abby? And your mom? You’re just going to leave them too?”

He stiffens and returns to packing.

I grab a T-shirt from the bag and throw it against his pillows. “James, stop!”

He sighs and turns back to me, rubbing the back of his neck. “My family will understand. This is my job, my duty. But you? You’re bonded to Sebastian.”

I step back, not expecting this conversation to go there. We haven’t spoken about it since that morning two weeks ago.

“You heard Don. There is no way to reverse it without the bonded pair present, and even then, you may lose your abilities.” His face softens as his voice lowers. “And I can see how it hurts you for me to touch you. It’s better this way.”

I wince as the fire building in my veins turns into ice. He’s noticed that? He’s been more distant since we realized Sebastian is still alive, but I never thought he was considering leaving.

“You’re leaving because of me?” My voice wavers, and I swallow the rising whirlwind of emotion—first my mom, and now him. My pulse quickens, my heart begins to fissure.

His shoulders slump forward, but he finishes zipping the duffle and throws it over his back before facing me again. “Of course not.”

I search his eyes, looking for the truth, but he’s unreadable.

“But I am needed.” He steps closer but doesn’t touch me. “I think it’ll be good for us until we figure out how to break the bond between you two. I can learn more about his whereabouts while I’m gone, and you’re much safer here.” He leans down and brushes a kiss on my lips. “I love you. You know that, right?”

I nod, and he kisses me harder, softening my breaking heart and waking my body up along with the ever-present growl that I push down. Not now. I pull him roughly against me as heat licks up my spine, molding my body to his. My hands find his thick hair, and I knot my fingers into it, not wanting to let him go. Will he ever return to me? I don’t realize I’m crying until he pulls back and wipes my face with his thumb.

“You’ll be back?” My throat is thick with emotion, but I force the words out anyway. I need to hear him say it.

“I’ll send word.” He kisses each tear-stained cheek.

A rock settles into my stomach. “But you’ll be back, right?” I grab onto the collar of his jacket and lock eyes with him until he finally nods.

“I promise.” His deep voice pierces through me and wraps around my heart.

​

I touch the two letters he sent in my pocket. Two months ago. It’s been two whole months since I’ve heard anything from him. I don’t know where he is or even if he’s still alive. Wixx says she hasn’t heard anything, but I honestly don’t think she’s telling me the truth, since she doesn’t seem to know where the Coms took our commanders or my mom either. Out of everyone our last remaining able-bodied commander has sent, why is it that no one knows anything?

I thought I would find something down here. I swallow the tears threatening to escape and roll over to get up. A crackle sounds from beneath the blanket. I fight with the folds of the blanket until my hand comes across a sheet of thick paper. My heart leaps into my throat as I hold my flame in front of it. I don’t recognize the handwriting, but it’s addressed to James. If hope were a living thing, it would be bursting out of the cave it’s been sleeping in, ready to devour its next victim.

Before I can process the words, the door bangs open. Abby scans me and the missive I’m holding. “Did you find something?”

I nod.

“We did too.”

“What is it?”

“More like who.” Abby’s eyes flash.

 

Chapter Two

A Little Reckless

 

I walk ahead of our now group of four on our way back to the community, not wanting to be anywhere near our new recruit, so I’m the first to find Wixx. She’s just stepped from the grand staircase and is turning the corner toward the commons. By the way the place smells like sweet potatoes, I’m guessing lunch is about ready. The new front foyer fills with light from the windows that now line the main wall. I have to admit, it’s even better than before Sebastian’s fire burned down half the place. It still even has that fresh paint smell.

The Lympha commander’s blue eyes light up when she spots me. She cocks her head, scanning me head to toe. The sunlight hits her dark skin just right to give her an unearthly glow. I get ready for her to accuse me of breaking into our previous living quarters. Even though she can’t help me with the information I’m searching for, she seems to know about everything else happening within a half-mile radius around us.

“You don’t look like the dead anymore,” she says.

I scrunch my eyebrows and hold off on the explanation I was about to word vomit at her for breaking her rules. When have I looked like the dead?

She waves me off. “What do you need?”

I hold out James’s missive to her, and I can’t help but smile.

She does a double-take before looking at it. “I’ve missed that smile.”

“I found this…in the caves,” I add hesitantly.

Wixx has been more open and honest with us than my mother ever was with me. She filled everyone in on the many secrets our leaders kept from us, and she let us decide as a people to take the risk of staying here and rebuilding instead of relocating after James’s group left. Some of them decided to go with him. Now, there are no more strict rules, and more importantly, no more matching. We’ve all been living as one, and it’s been a beautiful system. And yet…she’s still a commander, and there are some rules to keep us safe. Rules like not going in the abandoned caves we lived in for a month. But, if she hadn’t done such a good job of burying the entrance, it would have been safer. I know it was because she didn’t want another group finding it and holing up next to us—but still. She could have left a small opening for my relentless heart.

Her eyes narrow but she doesn’t say anything as she scans the paper. “Texas?”

I nod enthusiastically. “We know where to go now. I was thinking we could gather a team and—”

Before I can finish, my friends walk through the brand-new oak doors of the manor. A homeless-looking man trails Abby and William.

The man was curiously absent when we lived in the caves, but I’d recognize that face anywhere—short blond hair and an overgrown beard. He could be attractive, but the permanent sneer on his face ruins it. His name is Josh, and he’s one of the men who kidnapped me. He wasn’t the kind one.

Wixx gives me a loaded look and waves us up to her office. Once there, she settles in her chair behind a desk and waits for us to explain ourselves. William launches into the story of finding him in the caves. Josh explains that he’s been alone for a while and that James kicked him and Arnold out of the alliance. He avoids looking at me, and I know exactly why he was kicked out—because of how they treated me all those months ago. Knowing he got punished for it gives me a certain level of satisfaction, but it’s followed by a tiny bit of remorse—very tiny, almost nonexistent.

He tells us that he and Arnold, the other man who assisted in my kidnapping, went their separate ways. He had nowhere to go, so he decided to return to the only other place he could think of.

I tap my foot, wanting to get this over with so we can continue our conversation about going after James. Even though I can’t help but see the irony of the fact that a creepy man made the cave system his home, despite Wixx’s attempts at keeping it locked down.

“You’re a Commoner?” Wixx asks.

Josh nods slowly. “I wasn’t planning on intruding.” He throws a glare at William. “But they made me come.”

“He hurt Maya,” William says, like that’s all the explanation we need.

“I did not, you liars.” He turns to me. His sneer is so hateful, I know he blames me for everything.

William is in his face instantly. “You do not bloody speak to her,” he growls. Then he turns to Wixx. “What would you like us to do with the bloke?” His voice returns to a normal, non-threatening tone. It’s pretty impressive, the switch.

Wixx gestures to me. “Maya?”

All eyes are on me, including Josh’s glaring ones.

“They did hurt me,” I start.

Josh stands, his hands in fists. “I was doing my job.”

Wixx puts a hand up before William decides to jump him. “We hold no ill will against Commoners, but this is a community to protect Elementals. We could make an exception for somebody in the alliance, but you were kicked out and we do not know you.”

“I don’t want to stay. Just leave me alone. I’m fine in the caves.” His words say one thing, but his appearance says another. Not only with his overgrown facial hair, but with his protruding collarbones and thin arms. His skin even has a gray sheen to it. Who really wants to be alone down there? If he’s already been alone for all this time—

“We sealed those caves for a reason.” She catches all of our eyes before settling on Josh’s. “You can stay as long as you don’t pose a threat, you agree to work, and Maya is okay with it.”

They look at me expectantly, except for Josh, who keeps his eyes on Wixx.

I sigh. “Like I was saying earlier—” before I was rudely interrupted, “—he hurt me, but I understand he was trying to do his job.”

He doesn’t react to my words, just keeps his face forward, unflinching.

“It was a long time ago, and no one deserves to live alone. He can stay.” I move William aside so I can turn my threatening gaze onto Josh. “But if you come within ten yards of me, I will burn you to a crisp.” I let the fire dance in my eyes, and to my delight, he flinches slightly.

“Okay,” he says quietly after a few tense moments. It looks like he wants to stay, after all.

William nudges him out the door and mumbles, “Twenty yards.”

 

***

 

William lounges on my couch, one arm behind his head, as he stares at the ceiling, patiently listening to my tangent. With his other hand, he throws a ball of light at the ceiling, where it fizzles out on contact, before throwing another one.

“No? That’s all I get? No reasoning? Just sorry, Maya, the love of your life is missing, and you possibly know where he is, but no, you can’t go get him?” As I pace, I throw my hands in the air, trying to keep my fire at bay. My eyes are trained on the missive and the only two letters he sent me lying in the middle of my bed—my only two references that he was at least okay two months ago.

I talk out loud, piecing what I know together. “James and his team were sent to an alliance base in Texas, and by the details of the missive they should still be there, instructed to return after a small mission in Louisiana. But it doesn’t make sense, because there isn’t even a hint of him being in either of those places in the letters he sent me.” I’d like to pretend I don’t know the reason for James not telling me. He didn’t want me following him. I put more energy into my next steps, timing them with my thoughts.

It doesn’t matter.

Step.

I need to see him.

Step.

Talk to him.

Step.

Embrace him.

Step.

He promised me he would return.

Step.

He promised that he would never leave in the first place.

Stomp.

I put a hand on the wall and breathe through my frustration before turning around, pulling my fire into a tight ball in my chest. He hasn’t broken either of those promises on purpose. “There has to be a reason for him not returning.”

“Maya?”

I turn on William, studying his now grown-out golden waves that have been bleached by the sun this summer and reach his chin, and the line on his forehead that’s made itself a permanent part of his face when he looks at me.

With a sigh, I sit next to him. He takes my hand and rubs his thumb over the back of it, a gesture he’s been doing more and more since that first night he stayed with me. A trickle of calm flows from his touch.

When James left, I was a mess. It all became too much…between him, my mom, and Sebastian. I broke. I stopped eating. Sleeping was nonexistent, plagued by nightmares that I could never remember. I knew I was scaring Cal, but everything inside me was just dull. It’s like James took with him the part of me that made me…me. I couldn’t be there for my little brother. I couldn’t be there for anyone. Abby’s mom took him in, and William came in his place. When I could sleep, I’d wake screaming to William’s soothing voice. The next night, he just stayed, making my couch his permanent home.

“I’m sorry,” he says.

My head falls against the couch, guilt crashing into me. I’m the one who should be sorry. I’ve been so selfish these past months. This renewed hope and anger has opened my eyes. I didn’t realize how much William watched me and did things to protect me. He’s freaking sleeping in my room and casting colorful nightlights every time I have a nightmare. He’s my best friend, but I don’t know if he does these things because he feels the same way or still has lingering feelings from our courtship.

“William, why do you stay here with me?”

He stops the soothing circles on my hand and looks at me quizzically. “Because it helps you.”

“But what about you? Sleeping on my couch can’t be the most comfortable thing. I’ve been selfish.”

He takes my other hand into his. “Maya, I’m doing it for the whole building’s ears, mine included.” He grins. There’s the sunshine.

I giggle. “No, seriously.”

He smiles. “It’s been a while since I heard that.”

I cast my eyes down. “That bad?” I mumble. Wixx saw it too. Numbness has been my constant companion until today. Today, I can’t feel those emotions stirring. Today, I feel angry but also…hopeful…and a little reckless.

He lifts my chin to look at him, his eyes full of sympathy. “Nobody blames you, Maya. It’s just lovely to see some hope in your eyes again.” His smile grows mischievous. “And I really fancy this couch.”

He’s too good for me. I’ve known that since I had to break his heart all those months ago. I push him playfully. “You barely fit on it. Really, you can go back to your room. I’ve been doing better.”

I get up and stalk towards the letters on my bed. Falling onto my stomach, I fan them in front of me as a crazy, probably foolish, idea forms. I may not know where my mom or Sebastian—or even my birth father—are, but I do know where James is. If Wixx won’t send people, there is only one thing I can do.

My body tilts sideways as William sits on the edge of the bed. “Why did you let Josh stay?” he asks.

I side-eye him and bite my lip. Should I tell him the truth? He’ll want to come. I want him to come. But I also don’t want to wrap him up in this crazy idea.

I lean on my elbow to look at him fully. “What if I told you it’s because I wasn’t planning on staying?”

He lifts an eyebrow, his back stiffening. “Then I would ask you if you were planning on giving me a heads up or just escape in the middle of the night.”

I shrug. “Depends on if you would stop me—you know, in this hypothetical situation.”

He taps his chin before laughing. “Like I could stop you.”

“Good, then there’s no problem.”

He raises an eyebrow. “You’re not traveling across the country by yourself.”

I lean back. “Wasn’t planning on it.”

A smile grows on his face. “When do we leave?”