Fire Stones

Chapter 17

Varun made us both a delicious dinner – smoked salmon on lightly toasted bagels, smeared generously with cream cheese. The smell of toasted eggs wafted through the house. My mother seemed grateful - more grateful, even, then I was, and she beamed protectively at Varun as he made conversation with her. I could see it in her eyes – she was charmed. Not that I should have been surprised, of course; after all, Varun was exactly the kind of guy that could charm the pants off any parent in a six-mile radius. I sighed as my mother gave me a winking look. Did she think that Varun and I were together? I wouldn’t be surprised if she did – after all, I hadn’t told her anything at all about Chance. Yet her happy look made me feel guilty inwardly – and I could see Varun, too, blush when she turned to me and pronounced loudly “he’s a keeper!”

“Yes,” I said quietly. “Yes, yes, he is.”

I was relieved when Varun left. It was hard enough keeping things together in front of my mother, but playing house with Varun made my feelings that much more chaotic. How was I supposed to know what my destiny was – what my heart wanted? I’m only seventeen, I wanted to scream. I shouldn’t have to decide whom I want to spend the rest of my life with. Only a few months ago, I’d been casually dating guys I had no expectation of even going to senior prom with, let alone spending eternity with. But now every decision I made took on that much more importance. I’d never be free.

I texted Chance after my mother went to bed early, letting him know what had happened. “Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m fine.” But I should have known Chance would never take that for an answer. Moments after I sent the text, I heard the sound of stones being thrown at my window. I opened it to see Chance standing outside in the moonlight, an expression of deep concern upon his face.

“I’ve been so worried!”

I climbed downstairs to meet him in the field. The sea was black on the horizon; the full moon gave a luminous glow to Chance’s marble paleness. Chance ran to me and kissed me, squeezing me so tightly that I felt as if I were going to burst.

“Who was it?” he looked concerned. “Did you identify him?”

“I…don’t know,” I admitted sheepishly. “It was dark. He – if it was a he – left a nametag behind from the Cutter Imperial. Brandon. But it could be a setup,” I added quickly. “We don’t know yet. We’re trying not to jump to conclusions. Maybe someone’s just trying to make us think that Brandon is the attacker – for whatever reason.”

But Chance’s face darkened. “I doubt it,” he said grimly. “He’s a friend of mine – no doubt about that – but I’ve known for a while that his allegiance to the fire clan is tenuous at best. He’s not somebody to trust, Mac – mark my words. Beneath that joking exterior lies a person of great personal force and power. Remember that day you wrestled with him? I admit it – I was jealous – but it was more than that. There was something about him I didn’t trust. Something about him I still don’t quite understand. He’s friends with an awful lot of members of the Water Clan. Haven, for example. And Varun.”

“Varun’s not involved!” I protested. “He couldn’t be.”

“We can’t trust any Water clan.”

“Don’t be paranoid, Chance,” I said. “If Varun wanted to kill me in the ocean he could have – far more easily. And he helped fight off the attacker.”

“He what?” Chance looked up, envy spreading over his face.

“He ran in and pulled the guy off me.”

“And you don’t think it’s awfully convenient that he was there just in time to save you?” Chance frowned.

“Yes, I do think it’s convenient.” My eyes blazed as I turned to Chance, angered by his suggestion. “And lucky. But Varun’s a friend – and he’s not an extremist like Abzu. Even you must know that, whatever your personal history means.”

Chance glowered. “You need to be careful, Mac. If finding these stones means compromising your safety – well, I’m not willing to risk it.”

“I’m fine, Chance.” I patted him on the shoulder, trying to reassure him. “I can take care of myself.”

“This time,” he sighed. “But what about next time – and the next? They’ll never stop trying to hurt you, Vesta. They’ll never stop!”

“I’ll be fine. If I’m really Vesta, that means I’m powerful, right? I’ll learn how to control my powers. I’ll learn how to fight. You’ll teach me – we can wrestle together in the woods.”

Chance shook his head. “I don’t like you being out here in this cottage. My father will put you and your mother in one of the suites – I’m sure of it. If I ask him. One of the suites near me. They’re far nicer than the cottage, and they’re supervised by 24-hour security. You wouldn’t have to worry about break-ins there. This place is so secluded – it’s not safe.”

“No,” I said, holding Chance in my arms. “This cottage – it means a lot to me and Mom. She works so hard at the hotel – we both do. She needs a place to come home to at the end of the day that isn’t her office. She needs this place – you know what a workaholic she is. It’s the only place that keeps her sane. And me – too. If we’re going to be together, we can’t be living together – we’d drive each other crazy.” I smiled, and Chance laughed too.

“That’s my Mac,” he said. “Independent and selfless as ever. And so brave. But doubt it not – I’ll be taking care of you every step of the way. I love you too much to let anything happen to you.” He smiled. “I have a surprise for you....to help with that.”

“What?”

Chance smiled as he removed a velvet box from his pocket.

“Open it,” he grinned. “I was going to give it to you for our three-month anniversary, but I think now is a better time, all things considered.”

I opened the box and looked up in surprise.

“The topaz! How did you?”

He had taken the topaz and set it in a gold nest, putting it on a slender gold chain.

“Twenty-four carat. I snuck it out of your pocket – so I thought I’d do something special with it. Now you can wear it around your neck, close to your heart. For protection. And when you wear it, my love – you can think of me.” He leaned in and kissed me.

“How did you do it without damaging the stone?” I fingered the beautiful gem in my palms. “I’m a Fire God!” Chance laughed. “Working with metal is what I do.” He kissed me. “That and having a professional jewelry shop in the hotel lobby didn’t hurt – I forged the gold, but they put it together for me. You should keep a better eye on your jewelry.”

I blushed. I hadn’t meant to be so careless with the stone.

“Don’t worry,” said Chance. “Nobody but me could have snatched it. Nobody but a deity is as good at sleight-of-hand. Back when I was one of the bad boys at school,” he grinned widely, “before you reformed me,” (he kissed my forehead) “I got terribly good at stealing anything from anyone. But now I use my powers for good, as you can see.”

I was on the verge of asking him what being a bad boy meant, but before I could speak, Chance was fastening the necklace around my neck. “Listen to me,” he said softly. “Promise me you’ll never take it off, okay? It’s a protection stone – and I don’t want you to ever be without it.”

I touched his face, stroking his cheek, feeling his stubble prickle against my skin. “I promise,” I said at last.

“I can’t protect you all the time.” Chance sighed. “And neither can Varun. If you want to protect yourself, this is one way to start. Vesta must have known from the beginning – she’d need to keep her Embodiment safe. She always planned ahead. She made this stone for you. She wanted you to have it. She wanted to keep you safe.” I could see the love and admiration in Chance’s eyes when he spoke of Vesta, and in that instant I wanted nothing more than to become Vesta once more, to end Chance’s search for his goddess, to make him happy again – to take away all the pain and darkness I knew he felt deep inside.

Days earlier, I had hated Vesta – resented her for the effect she had on both Varun and Chance. But the more Vesta’s personality seeped into my own, the more I understood her – how could she, how could anyone, choose between two such perfect men? I hadn’t given Vesta enough credit – she had been forced to make an impossible choice.

A choice I knew that I, too, would have to make.

The next day school distracted me from my myriad of problems at home. I kept hoping that I wouldn’t run into Brandon. I didn’t want him to see the suspicion in my eyes. If he was my attacker, he couldn’t know that I was onto him.

“Looking forward to tonight, Mac?” Varun sauntered up to me.

“Tonight?” I looked up, confused.

“Haven’s party!” Varun laughed. “Don’t you remember? We’re working the hosting shift.”

“Aprons and spilled frosting,” I sighed. “Sounds like fun. I forgot all about it.”

“Let’s talk our game plan over lunch?”

I blushed. I’d promised to eat lunch with Chance, but a quick scan of the cafeteria proved that he was nowhere to be found. “Sure,” I said. “Why not?”

“Listen – I looked for Brandon, but he’s mysteriously out of town. His mom said he went down island to visit his grandmother.” He furrowed his brow. “Not exactly good timing…I’m getting more suspicious. His mother said he was taking his grandma to some of the old shrines – it’s a thing they do; his family is descended from the original islanders that lived here, and a lot of the old families do shrine trips this time of year. But it’s not good news.”

I patted Varun’s hand. “I know it’s hard, Varun,” I stared.

He waved away my concern. “I’ll do what I have to do to find out the truth,” said Varun. He gave me a weak smile. “Well, if Brandon bails on us, maybe we’ll get Chance to help out at the party?” I could tell the joke hurt him, but I appreciated his attempts at humor. Unfortunately, the thought of being with Varun and Chance together at the same party made my stomach plummet. How could I deal with being so close to both of them at the same time? How could I hide my feelings for Varun with Chance right there? But the idea of seeing Chance was too powerful to resist.

“Well, you can always take Haven for your date.” I tried to be cheerful. “Although she promises she’s over her crush on you – I’m sure you could win her back.”

Varun rolled his eyes. “Too late.” He handed me an exquisitely calligraphied invitation from his bag. It was a note from Haven. “She’s already asked me to be her date. I told her I had to work – she said it didn’t matter. She wanted it to be a date anyway. Even if I was slopping cake at her birthday instead of classing it up with the other guys.”

“She still has feelings for you? I didn’t realize…”

“Me neither,” said Varun. “I guess after Jana died, she tried to move on out of respect for her friend – but I can’t imagine you coming into town made it any easier for her. Maybe she realized I was ready – and now that you and I are just friends…” He sighed, but said nothing. I wanted to reach out to him, to touch him, to kiss the pain from his face.

But I said nothing.

Varun rose to his feet sadly. “I’ll see you tonight, I guess,” he said as he walked away.