Burning Bright (Going Down in Flames #5)

“If you’re going to have cookies you might as well have milk,” he said.

She grabbed a cup and took the lid off, broke off a piece of cookie, and dunked it before taking a bite. It was brown sugar, vanilla, and chocolate bliss. This type of dating totally worked for her.

She read and finished off her cookie before eyeing up the cookie still sitting in the box. Jaxon was deep into whatever he was reading. He hadn’t touched his cookie, so maybe he wouldn’t miss it. She started to lean forward and he said, “Don’t even think about it.”

“You’re not eating it,” she objected.

“I plan on eating it,” he said. “And you already had one.”

“One,” she said. “It’s like you don’t even know me.”

He shook his head and continued reading.

Ten minutes later he closed his book and picked up his cookie. She gave him puppy dog eyes. “Fine.” He broke a third of the cookie off and gave it to her.

“Thank you.”

After finishing his cookie, he shoved his cup back into the carryout box. “Are you done with your milk?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He shoved her cup back into the container and stood. “I’m at a good stopping point in my book, so I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Are we still eating dinner together tomorrow, because we could read together several nights a week instead.” Would he go for her plan?

“We still need to be seen together in public. What if I eat dinner at your table one night a week? Then I won’t have to explain your lack of manners to my friends.”

“You just couldn’t play nice the entire time, could you?”

“I am a Westgate,” he said with a fake air of snottiness.

“I’m well aware of that disturbing fact.”

He smiled at her, and it was a real smile. That was nice. “Good night, Bryn.” He walked to the door and let himself out. Weird how she’d never thought he’d act so normal. He was usually so formal and Blue. Maybe this whole friendship thing could work.





Chapter Sixteen


Bryn had strange dreams about her book suddenly morphing to the size of a car. She lost her place and turning the pages was like flipping a giant blanket. The pages were heavy and awkward, and the letters were so big the text was hard to read. She ended up flipping the pages and then climbing a ladder to peer down at them but couldn’t find the right perspective. She woke up and checked to see that the book on her nightstand was still the normal size. What a bizarre stress dream. Was her brain trying to tell her that she needed to think about how she was viewing her life?

Who knew?

At breakfast, Clint and Ivy weren’t speaking to each other. And that wasn’t normal. Neither of them looked angry. They looked sort of sad or tired.

“What’s going on with you two?”

Ivy yawned. “I don’t know. We’re both wiped out today. And it’s not like we did anything strenuous yesterday. It’s weird.”

Clint reached up and rubbed his eyes. “I feel like I’m in a fog.”

That wasn’t good. “When did this start?”

“We both woke up tired this morning,” Ivy said, “but it’s not like we stayed up any later than usual last night.”

“Did you do anything different yesterday?”

“No,” Ivy said. “I mean we went for a walk and bumped into Henna and her son, but I didn’t try to grow anything.”

“What did you do?” Bryn didn’t like where this was going.

“They showed us a fall flower garden full of mums they’re working on,” Clint said. “Ivy wanted to try and make a plant grow, but I talked her out of it.”

“Now I’m glad he did.”

How could they not be putting two and two together? “It has to be Henna,” Bryn said. “She was there both times something happened to you.”

“No,” Ivy said. “She’s too nice, and didn’t you say Medic Williams checked her out?”

“Can you give me another rational explanation?” Bryn asked.

Clint and Ivy didn’t respond.

“Maybe as a chaos magnet I’m jumping the gun, but wouldn’t it be better to speak to Medic Williams just in case?”

“What would we tell her?” Ivy asked. “I’m pretty sure she already thinks I’m an idiot.”

“Now you’re being paranoid. If you’re embarrassed to speak to a Medic, why don’t you talk to Coach Anderson in Basic Movement?”

“That might work,” Clint said. “Because I’m not up to jousting or doing anything else that takes effort today.”



In Quintessential Medicine Janelle seemed unusually quiet. “What’s wrong?” Bryn asked.

“I went to bed at a normal time last night, but I feel like I need a barrel of coffee or a nap.

“That’s weird.” She told Janelle about Clint and Ivy.

“That is strange,” Janelle said.

“Class,” Medic Williams said, “today we have more volunteers asking to be healed. Some of these may be trickier. Don’t hesitate to ask for help.”

This should be interesting. The classroom door opened and a college-aged guy with auburn hair and the build of a Red came in with an ace bandage wrapped around his right leg from his knee to his ankle. He limped over to Bryn and Janelle’s station.

“Hello,” he said. “I’m George.”

They exchanged introductions. “What did you do?” Bryn asked.

“I took a spill on my motorcycle yesterday. The medics healed the bones and muscles, but I’ve got a pretty good case of road rash. They said if I let you guys heal the surface scrapes I’d get extra credit. They already fixed the part that hurt so it didn’t seem like a big deal.”

“Okay. Janelle, do you want to start?” She didn’t want to seem bossy.

“No. You have more experience, you should go first.”

“Sure. George, can you unwrap your leg so we can see what we’re working with?” Bryn asked.

He removed the bandage and Bryn worked at not cringing. It looked like someone had taken a cheese grater to his leg. “You’re seriously claiming that doesn’t hurt?” Bryn asked.

“They gave me a pain reliever. Otherwise, I’d probably be uncomfortable.”

That was an understatement. “Okay. I’ll start by channeling Quintessence into your leg. If anything feels strange, let me know.”

He nodded. Bryn focused on channeling her Quintessence out of her fingertips like healing lasers. The mottled, scabbed up skin turned a healthy color and changed back to a normal, flat surface. She worked on his knee and halfway down his shin before he laughed.

“What?” Bryn asked.

“I had freckles. Can you add those back?”

Bryn blinked and then looked at his other leg. Sure enough, the leg she worked on had pale unblemished, un-freckled skin where the other one had random freckles. “This is a problem I never thought of. Let me get some expert advice.” She raised her hand and Medic Williams came over to join them.

Bryn explained the issue and the woman laughed. “This is one of those things you don’t think of until it comes up.” She touched George’s shoulder. “I can restore your freckles after Bryn and Janelle do their work. It’s a little too complex for them to handle at this point.”

“Who knew freckles were complicated?” Janelle asked.

“Why don’t you take over,” said Bryn.

Janelle worked steadily, healing a little slower than Bryn had but her work looked good. Thank goodness. Bryn didn’t want to have to point out errors because then she’d be the most annoying classmate ever.

By Basic Movement, Bryn hoped that Clint and Ivy would feel better, but they were still foggy. She approached Coach Anderson with them, but they had to wait to talk to her because another student was already complaining to her about not feeling right.

“You’re the third student today who’s told me they’re not feeling well,” Coach Anderson said. “I need to get to the bottom of this.” She took out her whistle and blew it. Activity all over the gym came to a halt. “Anyone who feels abnormally tired today, come over here. I need a head count.”

Bryn backed up as Ivy and Clint joined the group of at least a dozen students surrounding Coach Anderson.

Jaxon came over and stood next to Bryn. “What’s going on?”

She explained what Clint and Ivy had told her.

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