Kiss of Fire (Imdalind, #1)(58)

“What am I doing?”

I nodded my head, pain shooting down my back.

“Healing you.”

My eyes must have bugged out of my head. That one statement had opened up a floodgate, and every unanswered question and unexplainable occurrence over the past few days begged to be expanded upon. Everything flashed before my mind in quick succession as they tried to fit themselves together; my mind flashing like a badly animated short.

“How?” I breathed out, not sure if I was asking Ilyan or my mind the question. Luckily, Ilyan answered.

“Your father insisted that he told you.”

My head snapped to him, another jolt running down my spine; I ignored it.

“He promised me he would find a way to explain it all when he gave you the birthstone. I assumed he did, but he seems to have disappeared since then.”

I should have cared more that my father was missing, and I probably would have if we had had any sort of relationship. However, my mind couldn’t see beyond that one piece of information that fit everything together: the objects flying around my kitchen, the sensation of flying, surviving a broken back and who knew what else, even Ilyan healing me with his hands. My father wasn’t crazy. He wasn’t deranged. He had told the truth.

“Magic,” I said, more to myself than anyone else.

Ilyan nodded solemnly before replying. “I am sorry to have to tell you this way. I had hoped we would be able to gain your trust a bit more before telling you all that was going on.”

“Magic,” I repeated strongly. My teeth clenched in surprise and anger as my stomach spun in a threatening manner. The warmth of Ilyan’s hands grew and the wave of nausea subsided.

“Yes, Joclyn. Magic.”

I didn’t know how to react. Should I be relieved, excited, frightened? Instead, everything absorbed into me, and my breath picked up in short, staccato puffs as I tried to cope with the onslaught.

“I wish I could make this easier on you. You are probably very scared.”

Ryland had said that in my dream, but he also said he knew. I felt my panic surge as my need for answers grew.

“Calm, please, Siln?,” Ilyan whispered. The warmth increased again and I found myself falling asleep, whether I wanted to or not. “If you can stay calm, I will explain a bit to you right now. Can you do that?”

I wasn’t sure, but I wanted to try. As the tired feeling in my body began to subside, I tried to keep myself calm, and my breathing even. Ilyan watched me, his hands still resting on my skin.

“The mark on your skin,” he began, his voice calm and even, “is called a kiss. Although it really isn’t a kiss at all, it’s more like a poisonous bite. When the kiss—or bite—was given, a strong poison entered your bloodstream and changed you. It took the latent powers that you already had and enhanced them. We call those who receive this kiss, a Chosen Child.

“Now, not everyone has to go through this change. I, for example, was born with my magic. It is as natural to me as breathing. You, however, as with all humans who are lucky enough to receive a kiss, have to endure the change to bring the magic into your body.”

“Not human?”

“No, Joclyn, I am not human. Although I do not differ much from your kind, I am part of a race known as the Sk?ítek. We are an ancient people who were once very plentiful; now there are only a handful of us left, only about four hundred.”

“Scree…” I tried to say the word, but my tongue knotted around it. I needed to know more; my mind couldn’t stop placing him inside a spaceship, but that didn’t seem right. After all, he had told me he had been born in Prague, but now I was wondering if he had told the truth at all.

“Yes, Joclyn. Sk?ítek. Think of me as the gatekeeper for the birthplace of magic—the well in the earth where the powers within you originated.”

I wanted to nod, but couldn’t. Instead, I just looked at him, wide-eyed.

“As you know, the change a human must endure as they become one of the Chosen is very painful. The longer the pain, the longer the recovery, the more powerful is the magic.” He paused and I could tell he was gauging how I was handling everything he was telling me. I tried to keep a straight face, even though I was still panicking just a bit.

Part of me still didn’t want to believe him. If I had been able to string more than a few words together, I would have been rebutting him at every turn. As much as I wanted to argue, as much as I didn’t want to believe him, I still couldn’t get the images of the balls of light colliding in my kitchen, the flying refrigerator, or the sensation of flying out of my mind.

“How long?” My throat burned again as I spoke, my vocal chords cutting off before I could complete my question.

“Your father says you were in the hospital for about six months, which is one of the longest I have heard of.”

My heart beat uncontrollably. The longest? What was I, some ultra-powerful freak? Ilyan shushed me quietly as his thumb traced circles in the skin on my back. I wished I could shy away from the touch. It was something Ryland would do.

“Now, this could mean nothing. Most children focus and begin to use their powers days after awakening. It has been a bit longer than that for you,” he said darkly. I just stared at him.

“A kiss,” Ilyan continued, “is given by a Vil? to human children who already have a natural ability. A Vil? is a dark creature that most closely resembles a small, winged dinosaur; although their faces are more human. They are brightly colored and almost seem to glow, making them easy to find.”