He slid into his seat next to me just before the bell rang. “Hey.” He leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on my mouth. When he pulled back, my fingers touched my bottom lip.
Oh, holy Hell’s bells, he just kissed me in front of everyone! Ha!
He gazed into my eyes. “Milayna. Move your hand.” I let my fingers fall away from my mouth, and he replaced them with his lips. This time, the kiss wasn’t so gentle. I wrapped my hand around the back of his neck and curled my fingers in his hair.
When he pulled back, my breath came in pants and my heart pounded so hard it hurt. “Hi.” My voice came out breathy and soft, and Chay gave me a half grin. So cocky.
I sighed and wished it were a lab day so we could spend the hour talking, but there wasn’t one scheduled. Chay reached under the table and threaded his fingers with mine as we waited for the teacher to begin his lecture. When he didn’t, I looked up and my heart lurched. It was the next best thing to having a lab—it was movie day!
As soon as the movie started playing, Chay and I scooted our chairs as close as possible and whispered throughout the entire DVD.
“Well, I hope none of that is on the next exam.” I shoved my things in my bag when class ended.
Chay chuckled. “Yeah. That’d definitely suck.” He glanced at me, and one side of his mouth tipped in a grin. “But so worth it.”
“You can be charming when you want to be.” I kissed him quickly before we walked toward calculus.
***
I’d barely gotten in the door that afternoon after school when my phone rang.
“Hey, Muriel.” I held the phone between my cheek and shoulder, lugging my school things upstairs. “I meant to ask you earlier. Where’d you take off to last night after the fight with the asshat demi-demons?” I threw my bag on the floor inside my bedroom.
“I was there.”
“I saw you at first, but you disappeared. You didn’t come inside with everyone else.”
“Yeah, I ran home to let my parents know everyone was okay. I was going to come back across the street and stay with you guys, but a hot shower and my comfy yoga pants were screaming my name.” I heard the microwave ding through the phone.
“Well, after the fight, everyone went outside to deal with the goblins except Chay and me. And he kissed me.”
“Oooh, nice.”
“Yeah, it was great. He was great. It was our first real kiss. I mean, he’d been trying for a couple of days, but something always interrupted us. This was the first real, uninterrupted, full contact, pure bliss kiss.” I flopped on my bed.
“Wow,” she said around a mouthful of whatever she was eating. Knowing Muriel, it was probably a cheese quesadilla. “Not to take the focus off Chay’s kissing prowess, but the reason I called was to tell you the goblins are in your backyard.”
“Great.” I pinched my forehead between my thumb and fingers. “Just what I need. I’ll talk to you later.” Ending the call, I braced myself to face the red imps.
I grabbed a jacket and went outside to see what the little creatures from Hell wanted. Of course, I got the same answer they always gave.
“We want to play,” the friendly one said, swinging from my mom’s clothesline.
“But this time, it isn’t going to be fun,” Scarface warned.
“Uh-oh, no fun, no fun,” the other chanted in its high-pitched, screeching voice. “No fun, no fun.”
Scarface held up a stumpy, red finger. The tip was on fire.
My stomach clenched.
Oh crap. The real fun is starting.
My head started to pound, and my vision faded in and out. My only thought was that I couldn’t have a vision. Not when they were there. Not when I was alone.
“I’m here, Milayna,” Muriel said behind me. She placed her hand on my shoulder.
Thank God for Muriel. I needed someone to watch my back. I was going to have a vision. If the pounding in my head was any indication, it was going to be a big one.
My sight flickered in and out. It was like a television alternating between a picture and static. I couldn’t see the vision, and I couldn’t hear it either. I made myself relax and concentrate, willing it to show me something.
“What’s going on?” Chay. I’d recognize his voice anywhere. He must have sensed danger. That caused sweat to bead on my forehead and the back of my neck. If Chay sensed danger, this wasn’t one of their ordinary trips to pull up my mom’s flowers.
“I think they’re trying to force a vision,” Muriel said.
“Fire,” the friendly one said. Scarface stood still, holding his finger out for us to see.
Fire. Big wheel bike. Lawn mower. Gas cans.
“He’s going to set my garage on fire,” I whispered.
Scarface held out his finger and a fireball shot from the tip, hitting the side of our detached garage. A second fireball flew through the air. The garage went up in flames.
Fire trucks. Sirens.
“I’ll call the fire department.” Muriel started toward the house.
“No! Not yet,” I yelled. “The vision isn’t gone.”