“STAY AWAY!”
Before she could even think to run, Seth scooped her into his arms and planted a kiss on her lips. She let out a little squeal, her adrenaline surging. But the cool, tingling sensation gently wiped away her fear and anxiety. Her muscles relaxed while his arms wrapped around her waist. A gentle moan escaped her throat. A calming energy cast every thought from her mind.
Natti opened her mouth to him, taking in the intoxicating taste. Her blood ran wild while the tingling transformed from comforting to exciting. A fire blazed under her skin, and she let her body melt under Seth’s intense heat. He pulled her closer to him, leaving hardly a gap between them. The sensations and kiss intensified. Want consumed her heart. Natti’s knees buckled, Seth arm’s becoming her only support. Sparks danced over her skin. She groaned in delight, feeling his hands moving across her back and over her hips.
When Seth finally pulled away, she didn’t want him to let go. She wrapped her arms around his neck, stealing another quick kiss before he pried himself from her grasp. Her eyes fluttered open only to fall on his shocked and tormented expression.
“I’m sorry,” Seth panted in a soft, uneasy voice. “I’m so sorry.”
He stepped away, letting her sway in her slight daze. Everything seemed to go in slow motion around her: Seth turning to Ky; his holding up her letter; the words he spoke. “I’ve got it. We’re done here.”
Natti’s clouded mind try to process what Ky was pulling out of his backpack. She finally realized it was a role of duct tape, and her heart skipped a beat.
Ky held out the tape to Seth. “What about—?”
“No! We’re done!” Seth shoved Ky’s hand out of his way, and without even glancing back at Natti, he took off.
“Seth.” Natti swirled around, still dizzy and hardly comprehending what was going on around her. She felt lost. Her mind and body hardly functioning. “Seth!”
She was suddenly struck from behind. Her body collapsed onto the vinyl floor. The last image she witnessed, before her world faded to black, was Ky pulling a bottle of lighter fluid from his backpack.
“Fine, plan B then.”
Seth stopped running at the end of the main entrance courtyard, still breathless from the amazing kiss he had just experienced with Natti. She was nothing like he had ever tasted before! Her mouth was sweet, her lips were soft as a feather, and her gentle scent of lotus flowers still clung to his clothes. She was everything he could possibly want, except . . .
He glanced at the letter in his hand, the Secret Keeper’s seal taunting him. How could she not know? He opened the envelope and ran his fingers over the paper inside, debating if he should read the contents. But he was scared. Reading the letter would do only one of two things. It would either confirm Natti never knew of the Daughters of Isis and the Sons of Set, which would confirm his guilt. Or it would reveal that she had been lying to him the whole time. His rage flared at the mere thought. Deciding to wait for the hem-netjer’s analysis, he shoved the letter into his pocket.
Ky finally burst through the glass entrance doors and dashed across the grass. A wide grin was spread on his face. “Man, that was slick!” he laughed. “How you worked that kiss! Too bad she’s a bitch of Isis, or we could have had some real fun with her.”
Seth growled, lowering his head. “What took you so long, anyway?”
“I was just cleaning up a bit, you know.”
Fear shot through Seth’s system. “What did you do?”
Ky looked at him befuddled. “What do you think I did, bro? You said we would take care of her, and that’s exactly what I did.”
The fire alarm screamed from inside the building. Seth looked over and caught a glimpse of smoke before a flicker of flame worked its way down the halls. “No!”
He was starting back when Ky grabbed him by the arm. “Where are you going, man? We have to get out of here!” His friend jerked his thumb toward the steps that led to the student parking lot.
Seth shoved Ky off of him and raced into the building. He didn’t care what she was. He couldn’t leave Natti to die. The smoke hit his lungs like a ton of bricks, causing him to choke and his eyes to tear. He wrapped the collar of his shirt over his mouth and nose and stumbled down the hall. The heat of the flames brushed his skin, evaporating his sweat before it could even reach the surface.
“Natti!” he called. “Natti!”
He retraced his steps following the path to Natti’s locker. The flames were more intense and harder to break through the closer he crawled to the fire’s point of origin. By the time he reached the hall where Natti’s locker was located, the fire had melted most of the vinyl and inched its way up the walls. Through the smoke he could see Natti lying unconscious on the floor.