“Are you crazy?” Henry yanked me to my feet. “Did you at least get a good look at the kid?”
The combined stench of smoke, gasoline and ozone made my stomach heave. I grabbed Henry’s shirt and pulled him a few steps farther away from the shed. “It’s going to blow up!” I said.
“What’s going to blow up?” He scowled at me. “The shed?”
“Trust me!” I yanked harder, as adrenalin coursed through me. “Come on!”
“For the love of god.” Henry shook my grip from his shirt. “Hannah, calm down.” He started going towards the shed.
There wasn’t any time. He wasn’t listening, I had only seconds to act. “I’m sorry about this,” I said.
“What?” He paused in mid-step.
“I’m sorry, Henry.” Pulling up my magick from my gut, I flung my hands out and aimed my power straight at him. Between my fear and the rush of adrenalin, the element of air instantly came to my call. It hit Henry straight in the solar plexus, knocking him off his feet, and back through the air, away from the shed a good twenty feet.
He went down hard, and I had barely enough time to drop to the grass myself. I managed to cover my head as the gasoline can inside the shed exploded, sending a whoosh of flames skyward, and shrapnel across the lawn.
I grunted when something heavy hit the back of my leg, and then after a few seconds, I lifted my head to check on Henry. He was lying flat on his back, and he wasn’t moving.
I staggered to my feet and went to him as quickly as I could. I dropped down beside him. “Henry, can you hear me?” I panicked, and placed my ear to his chest trying to listen for a heart beat. I felt his chest rise up and down, and I ignored the sounds of the shouting in the background and the approaching sirens. There. There it was. I heard his heart beating and blew out a relieved breath.
I sat back up; my head began to spin, and my fingers went numb. I heard a loud buzzing sound in my ears. I tried to stand, managed a few steps, and the world began to tilt.
***
I frowned as I focused on the face that leaned over me. “Dad?” I asked, trying to make sense of everything. My nose burned, there was a terrible taste in my mouth, and the back of my leg hurt.
“I’ve got you,” my father said as neighbors, my family, and the fire department poured around the side of the Miller’s house.
I tried to sit up, and ended up tipping over against my father. “Ow!” I hissed in a breath, as pain began to radiate up my leg.
“Hannah, you took five years off my life.” My father eased me back down. “Does anything hurt?”
“My right leg.”
My father rotated my leg to the side. I craned my neck to see for myself, and discovered why my leg had been hurting. A nice gash was there, and the combination of seeing the injury, and the smell of fire and blood, made me feel light headed all over again.
“Shit!” I turned my face away and found that two EMT’s were crouched over Henry where he lay on the ground a few feet away. I swallowed hard. “Oh no,” I whispered. He still wasn’t moving.
“What happened?” My father asked.
I raised my eyes to his. “I saw the kid who set the fire. I could smell the gasoline and ozone...I knew it would go up.” I kept my voice low. “I tried to warn Henry but he wouldn’t listen, so I blew him out of harms way.”
My father sighed. “He saw you call down your element?”
“He was looking straight at me.” My voice shook. “I’m sorry Dad, there wasn’t any time.” And I was sorry, I thought. Sorry to my ancestors who’d been persecuted, to my family who’d kept our legacy hidden, and especially to the man I’d knocked on his ass.
My father pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “Don’t worry about that right now.”
“I hope I didn’t hurt him,” I whispered, as tears began to roll down my cheeks.
“Hush,” my father soothed. “You probably saved his life.” He motioned over to the EMTs. “Over here please, my daughter is hurt.”
I wiped the tears away and tried to focus my attention on the EMT who’d begun assessing my injury.
There was a ruckus when Henry regained consciousness. It took a firefighter and two EMTs to keep him on the ground. “Hannah?” he called.
My heart lurched, hearing his voice. “I’m right here.” I reached out and patted his shoe.
“Are you alright?” Henry asked.
“Fine.”
“Haven’t been hit in the bread basket like that...” I heard him wheeze, “...since my days of college football.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. At least he was okay.
The EMTs insisted that Henry go to hospital and get checked out in case he had a concussion. Henry gave in, after Edmund gave him grief, but Henry complained loudly over the ambulance. Then he insisted that I ride along as I was the one with a visible injury.
I refused, and instead my father drove me to the hospital. I ended up getting some stitches in the back of my leg. I gave my statement to the police, but my mind raced over everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours.
The vision, Henry and I together at the office, the fire, me hitting him with magick...
Edmund checked in, said Henry was being released, and since he did have a mild concussion Edmund would be keeping an eye on him tonight. I was able to leave the ER a short time after, and when I arrived home Eli was sitting up on the couch curled up with my mother watching his favorite movie, Pirates of the Caribbean. He pounced on me as soon as I limped in, and
