unseen eyes watching me.
Chapter 4
“Does it hurt?” My fingertips lingered on the smooth, pearly white scar on Isaac’s chin.
We sat on the couch in his family room, me straddling his lap. He brushed a stray strand of hair out of my eyes with his thumb.
“No.”
“It’s cold,” I said, amazed that the skin there never warmed to match the rest of him.
“You really want to talk about my scars? I have one on my side too.” He lifted his shirt, revealing a salmon- colored blemish along his lower ribcage. “I got this one jumping a fence when I was nine. Didn’t quite make it.” He pulled the waist of his jeans down next, just low enough for me to see the rope-like muscles that ran alongside his hip bone. “And I got this one when I was eleven. Tried jumping my bike over one of those workhorses. Back tire caught on the orange light. Bike stopped; I didn’t. Flew right over the handlebars. I have another one on my thigh.” His fingers went to the button on his jeans.
“I’ll take your word for it,” I said, my hand catching his.
My cheeks grew warm, and his gaze moved to my lips.
Isaac’s lips brushed mine with a feather-soft kiss that left me dying for more. Afterward, I stilled my racing heart and tucked my powers behind the steel wall, ready to kiss him again.
“How about we practice controlling the elements,” he said instead, much to my disappointment. His powers encompassed me, creating the feeling of weightlessness. With his hands on my waist, he lifted me off him as if I were a teddy bear and not a hundred-pound girl.
I folded my arms over my chest. “I thought the girl was supposed to be the one to slam on the brakes.”
“I’m merely trying to make the most of our time before you have to pick your brother up at the sitter’s. Besides, my mom’s due home any minute.” He held out a hand to help me up.
“Right.” I sighed and let him pull me to my feet.
Ever since our last attempt at making out, it had been quick pecks and teasing whispers of kisses. It sucked, but there was a reason Isaac wanted me to master controlling the elements. Stirring the air and summoning a storm required one’s mind to be at peace and in control of the powers. If my emotions sprinted wildly through my body, my powers would too, and the spell would show it. But if I could stop the rain or warm the breeze, then I could successfully tuck my powers behind the wall in my mind and kiss Isaac like a normal person.
We went outside to practice in the backyard. The sun hung at about three o’clock in a bright turquoise sky. The temperature was a pleasant forty-six degrees.
Isaac closed his eyes, taking a moment to find his center. When he opened them, the air around us felt charged.
“Draw in the energy from the atmosphere and trees and then concentrate on what you want to happen,” he said.
He raised his arms to either side. As if commanded, the dried leaves on the grass in front of us rose several feet off the ground. He then moved his hands through the air like an orchestra’s conductor does to signal its musicians to raise their instruments. The leaves shifted closer to us.
With a sweeping downward swing of Isaac’s right hand, the leaves began to dance around us to the melody of an unheard song. With his left hand, he pointed to the statue of an oversized frog and an equally disproportioned grasshopper. The frog picked up two twigs, which it used like drumsticks on the landscape stones nearby. The grasshopper rubbed its hind leg against its wing to provide the strings. Isaac tapped his forefingers in the air, and the tempo went from slow and romantic to quick and jolly. The leaves responded by twirling around us as if performing a choreographed waltz. It was beautiful to watch.
After a few minutes, the breeze died down and the leaves settled back on the ground.
“Your turn,” he said.
“You want me to do that?” I asked in awe.
“Start small. Just get the leaves to circle us.”
I closed my eyes in an effort to find my center, but no matter how hard I tried, Isaac’s orchestrated performance kept poking its way into my thoughts. I decided to try to copy what he’d done.
I raised my hands to my sides, but nothing happened. Isaac smiled encouragingly. I sucked in a breath, imagined I was conducting a ballet, and swung my hands in front of me. This time the leaves rose around us. I moved my fingers in a steady motion from side to side, hoping the leaves would follow. They did more of a frantic bunny hop than a graceful dance, but I’d take it. Isaac cued up the frog and grasshopper. They played a bubbly polka.
“You’re getting better at this,” Isaac said once the song had ended and the leaves settled back on the grass. “Want to try a little rain? The holly bushes could use the water.”
“Okay.” I imagined the moisture in the air gathering over the bushes, and a small fluffy cloud really did form above them. At the same time, the sun must have ducked behind a cloud of its own, but I ignored the sudden darkness and silently commanded,
A single drop of water hit my nose. I looked up, surprised to find an ominous storm cloud above our heads. Within a split second, rain came down quicker than either of us could react. We were drenched by the time Isaac managed to counter my spell.
“I think I pissed off Mother Nature,” I said, wringing water from my hair.
“She’ll get over it.”
Isaac’s powers circled us in the form of warm air, drying our hair and clothes. Once we were no longer dripping wet, we headed inside. The clock on the microwave caught my attention.
“Is that the time?” I grabbed my purse off the table. “I have to pick Chase up before six.”
Isaac dug his keys out of his jacket pocket. “Let’s go.”
We had made it to the sitter’s with one minute to spare. Isaac drove us home, and I had just bolted the door behind Chase and me when I felt an unknown presence. The house didn’t smell right either. I grabbed the collar of Chase’s jacket to keep him from moving.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, stepping closer to me.
“Wait here.”
I walked forward, stopping when Chase stepped on the heel of my sneaker. His wide eyes told me there was no way he would wait by himself in the foyer. I took his hand. A quick survey from the hallway didn’t show anything out of place. I inhaled, trying to place the scent. Moss or—I took another deep breath—what the yard smelled like after a rainstorm.
I didn’t want to scare Chase any more than I probably already had, so instead of grabbing Dad’s umbrella from next to the stairs to use as a weapon, I clutched my backpack in a death grip and hoped slamming my textbooks down on someone’s head would be enough to stop an intruder.
We crept from room to room. A brief tour of the downstairs revealed nothing, and neither did our search of the upstairs, but Chase had left his bedroom window open.
“I’m going to nail it shut if you can’t remember to close it,” I scolded, leading the way back downstairs.
“I didn’t open it.” He plopped down on the tile and pulled off his gym shoes.
Chase had the warmest room in the house. He was always opening his window, claiming he was melting like Frosty the Snowman in a greenhouse, but it wasn’t worth arguing over.
“Whatever. You hungry?”
“Starving!”
I ruffled his caramel-brown mane. “Go wash up, and I’ll make us something.”
