Enflame (Insight #6)(45)
I was nervous right now. Butterflies were fluttering in my stomach, a warm tingle in my soul. I felt like time had stopped, that nothing else mattered right now.
“You want questions?”
He nodded once in response.
“K...those images of fire that went into you—were they all of your lives, or the lives of a Phoenix? What is a Phoenix, anyway? Is it a bird? Is it a ghost? What is the deal with the boy Phoenix? Is that his real name? What is it with the ashes? Do you think Donalt could come back that way, too?
Before he could think to answer, I went on. “What is an echo? Why can I see ghosts now? Did you lie to Skylynn when you told her you knew where her lover was? What happens when this spell you are doing is undone? Why did you need her energy, and how did you use her energy before? I know Jupiter is expansion, so why are you not expanding? Why are you keeping us away from everyone else?”
He sat up a little straighter to begin to answer me, but I went on. “Exactly how many paranormal beings are we up against? What is the quote ‘other side’? Are you supposed to go through a veil, then a Realm, then reach the other side? Sounds more like a bad ‘Why did the chicken cross the road’ joke to me.”
That made him laugh.
“I think you need Monroe for this spell, but you can’t ask her because that would be crossing lines or something idiotic like that. Why does your skin hum? I like it. Don’t get me wrong. I thought it was Drake at first, inside your energy, so it scared me, but now I don’t know. Oh, and by the way, I think that Xavier guy is still around in Drake’s court. Oh, and how can you move so fast now? Are you even human anymore, or like some kind of crazy thing I’ll have to name for all of history to refer to?”
He was doing everything in his power to hold in a grin. I shrugged my shoulders.
“Sometimes when I’m nervous I talk a lot.”
“Why are you nervous now, and never before around me?”
Shyly, I glanced away. “Because I don’t want to talk right now. I want to make you better. I want to claim your energy as mine. Put a billboard across you that says ‘Taken.’ Because I feel the wall between us, too, and I want to break it down...you have become a mystery to me...one that I am aching to unravel.”
He pulled me onto his lap. “We are going to break down this wall with words, so that way when you do make me stronger, that wall won’t get in our way.”
The anticipation of that moment to come made me want it all the more. I felt that desire in him, too, and that made every part of my soul tremble with anticipation.
“A phoenix is a soul that is immortal in one form. At the end of its course, it burns its being into ashes and recreates itself—while it builds its strength, it lingers in the veil. Once it’s strong, and as long as it has all of its ashes, it can move through the reality it lived in, into the veil, The Realm, any dimension on this side. If its ashes are taken by anyone, they are at the command of that person; they must appear when called, and while they’re missing their ashes, they cannot be in reality for very long...the veil is where they reside. I was burned as a phoenix sixteen times...those lives came into me the other night. What I know of life before that is only what I learned, assumed, or was told.”
He hesitated, wanting me to either take in what he said or let his words settle. Gently, his fingertips traced my arms, adding to my craving of wanting to fall into his soul.
“Every soul is immortal and carries the essence of lives lived before. I may move faster, hum, or carry the trademark of a phoenix, but that is only because those lives are fresh in my mind. I have confidence that I have that power, so my mind produces it for me...it’s an instinct that I don’t have to focus on.”
I leaned my head back to receive a tender kiss on my lips. “I like it,” I assured him, feeling his emotion of shame.
“Skylynn had taken my ashes after my seventh burning. She wanted me to help her bend time, to undo a spell she had done in the past...it didn’t take me long to get them back from her.”
I cringed, thinking of what he might have done to persuade her to give them back. In response, his arms tightened around me.
“I was far more powerful than her, and she was very new to the veil...once I got them back, I decided that she could help us. When Phoenix and I would come across a point where we needed to get into The Realm, we would find her. Skylynn doesn’t trust many, so most of the time she would barter with us. Our relationship—”
“I don’t want to know,” I thought, cutting in as I sat up.
He pulled me against him again. “Meant nothing. She knows that. The promises she made you think I made last night were not about us. They were about me helping her bend time. I told her I could do nothing without you.”
His arms tightened around me. “Phoenix always said that was a mistake. That I told her my weakness. He even thought she was purposely botching the spells to keep us around. She had...has abandonment issues.”
“Is that why she took his ashes?”
“I’m sure. That last spell brought me to human form, which meant it would be lifetimes before I could see her again and even if I did, there was no promise I would remember who she was.”
“What happened to your ashes, then? Does someone have a hold on you now?” A sudden panic caused thunder to explode around us.
“There were no ashes with my last death. My entire being vanished into thin air. Skylynn and Phoenix ensured that.”