Sapphire Nights (Crystal Magic Book 1)(52)

She didn’t know how she felt about that, or the intriguing man asking her. She wasn’t in a place yet that let her think about relationships. Last night had been necessary for both of them, but they were worlds apart. “Not sure. He helped me and Cass, but he’s here for his own reasons.”

“Aren’t we all?” He glanced toward the fire line creeping closer despite the chemical retardant. “May be time to get out.”

Sam felt a tug on her staff. She halted and tried to sense the energy flow. Was this how she had chosen the best areas to plant back on the farm—without need of a stick? Neighbors had claimed she had a green thumb, but she’d assumed it had more to do with paying attention as to when to plant, water, and fertilize. Choosing the ground for planting had involved sun and the chemical composition of the soil and she’d let instinct guide her.

“I don’t know enough,” she said in frustration, swinging her stick over the area that had drawn her.

“There’s underground water around here somewhere,” Harvey reminded her. “That’s the reason for the well.” He dug his stick into the ground as if hoping it would create a magical fountain.

“Water, oil, evil, who knows what we’re sensing? I had no classes in earth vibrations and what they mean.” But the urge to slam her stick into the ground next to Harvey’s was strong.

Their sticks vibrated hard enough to disturb the ground. To her shock, a few drops of water trickled out, leaving a shiny streak over the rock beneath their joined sticks.

“Does that mean you remember who you are?” Harvey asked, twisting harder, as if he wished to flood the valley.

“I remember facts, but I’m not at all certain I ever knew who I was.” There was part of her dilemma. Was she the Samantha who wanted to escape her stultifying environment? Or the Sam who wanted family? Or some weird Sam she didn’t know but who liked walking sticks and found water?

Instead of fleeing for safety, she excitedly twirled her staff deeper. Jade had taught her feng shui. If one could feel chi, it might feel like this. “This is more than water.”

“It’s flowing from the direction of the Menendez land.” Harvey gazed eagerly toward the heavy smoke above.

From his expression, she judged he was more interested in water than chi. Everyone here had a damned agenda.

Threads of fire caught on dead pine debris on the hill above them. Tiny lava flows of sparks aimed straight for the lodge.

“We should have brought shovels, not sticks.” Ripping her staff from the ground, Sam ran for the parking lot, in a path parallel to the fire line. She knew it could spread any direction. What was she doing here anyway? Had Cass made her stupid?

A snake slithered across a rock ahead, and she froze, trying not to scream. Animals ran from fire. They had more sense than she did.

“Samantha!” The cry came from a distance. Had they walked that far?

A flaming pine crashed on the ridge just above them.





Chapter 17





Smoke and ash polluted visibility worse than morning fog. In the distance, fire crackled, shooting red-hot flares through the black cloud engulfing the ridge.

Coughing and hacking, Walker controlled his gut fear by rigidly following emergency procedures and hurrying terrified families into cars—until the flaming pine crashed on a pathway near the lodge.

Sam!

Debating protocol, he froze the same way he had when Tess had pulled out a gun.

To hell with protocol. He couldn’t let another crazy self-destruct.

Covering his nose with a mask the lodge staff was handing out, Walker crashed into the underbrush. Rivulets of fire crept down the mountain. Hot ash coated the dusty path and his eyes watered from the thick smoke. Tearing pain in his thigh muscle reminded him of his past mistakes. Fire crept closer, beneath the underbrush, through the bed of pine debris. Even the mulch smoldered. Damn, but the whole place could go up like a torch.

Where was Sam?

There was a whole damned hotel full of people he needed to help. . . Why was he chasing the one crazy?

He almost forced himself to turn around—when through the smoke, he saw a slender figure racing toward him. Heart pounding, he increased his pace through the heavy smoke. Without apology, he seized Sam by the waist, and flung her over his shoulder.

She beat his legs with her crazy stick, but he refused to drop her.

“I’m fine! Put me down. You left Harvey back there, you know! He thinks he’s found water.” She wiggled enough that when they reached the parking lot, he had to set her down. She put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

He’d never seen anyone more beautiful and alive.

Walker wanted to strangle her for risking that life for nothing. Her face was coated in sweat and soot, looking the way his felt. He resisted the urge to shove loose strands of hair off her moist cheeks. “You followed an idiot into a burning forest to find water? What the hell do you think they’re carrying in those trucks?” He jabbed his finger toward the tankers on the dirt path to Menendez land.

“If they could pump water from the ground, they wouldn’t have to keep going back for refills! Talk to Harvey.” She swung around to indicate the man sauntering from the woods, eyeing them askance. “Tell Walker there’s water up there and how to find it.”

Harvey shrugged his broad shoulders. “I needed Sam to find it. As I’ve said before, I’m just a facilitator. You want the aquifer, we climb the mountain.”