Fire Stones

Chapter 8

I had run away from Varun, hoping he wouldn't see the tears streaming down my cheeks. His words had affected me deeply – and I felt as if there was some great malfunction in my soul, something thrown off-balance. I spent the rest of that day and night in a trance, unable to get him out of my mind. His words had struck me to the very core. Until that moment, I had thought only of two options: either I would prove myself to be Vesta, or I would die in the attempt. Either I would live with Chance, or I would die without him. There were no other choices. Chance had obliterated all else, burned the other choices away in the passion and flame of his life. I could not live without him; I could not live without being Vesta. I was willing to undertake that risk. But now another option stood before me. The option to choose life – life as myself, and not as Vesta. I could live – nothing had to change. I could stay me, Mac Evars. I could stay safe. The idea was suddenly attractive in its novelty. I had gotten so used to my decision that a life without that crossroads hardly seemed possible. How could I bring myself to live without being Vesta? How could I stand my own curiosity? I sighed as I pored over the Book once again. Was it even meant for me? I had certainly found one stone on my own – but I had nearly died in the attempt. Had it not been for Varun, the sharks would have had me for dinner. Did that mean that I wasn't Vesta, after all – would Vesta have been able to escape on her own? After all, I knew she had the powers of Water as well as Fire. I looked down at the book in my hands.

“Come on,” I said out loud. “Give me something. If I am Vesta, tell me.” I looked down at the book's blank parchment pages. “Give me a sign.”

Suddenly, a blot of dark ink appeared on the fresh page. “Go on!” I cried aloud.

It was drawing a map again, the calligraphy fine and precise. My heart started to beat faster and faster as I recognized the outline of the shapes. The map was luring me not to the ocean, but to the mountains. The trail I had gotten lost along my very first trek into the mountains – the trek that led me to find Chance and the mysterious Veteri. Once, they had looked on me as an outsider, a stranger, but now I was far less afraid. After all, was I not – if not the goddess herself – then at least a candidate suitable for the title? The Veteri trusted me now; they knew me as Chance's consort. I no longer feared them.

I looked down at the book, letting my feet and instincts guide me. I followed the path, entering that beautiful realm of sweet-smelling flowers, blooming in the evening light, their ripe color bright and powerful even in the dim of dusk. The vines trailed at my feet; I could smell jasmine and orange-blossom in the air; the breeze itself was sweet on my lips and tongue. This place truly was Paradise, I felt, as I wandered further into the brush. The book was leading me off the beaten track, now – this was, I knew, no tourists' trail. I was entering the quiet depths of the forest, places where the thriving industrial civilization of Aeros Island had not yet encroached upon the mystical quietude. Was this where the stone was? I felt my breath quicken with anticipation. Was this what I was meant to find?

I saw a dark figure in the distance. A guardian of the stone? I hesitated for the moment, but the book seemed to urge me onwards; the path I was to take magically traced out before me in blood-red ink upon the map. I drew closer to the figure, my body tensing up. Was this one of my attackers come back to finish the job? Would I have to fight?

But as the figure turned to face me, I felt my body sigh and slack with relief. It was only Chance.

“Good evening,” he said. He did not embrace me, and I noted that his manner was stiff, even formal. Almost cold.

“I looked for you last night,” I said. “In the gardens of the hotel. But you weren't there. Only Varun...”

“You saw him again?” Chance evaded my eyes.

“Of course I did – he lives there!” But I knew that Chance's words were not rational. In his eyes I could see that he was jealous. Had he gotten wind of Varun's words to me by the linen closet? Had he gotten the wrong impression? “Things are a little awkward between us right now,” I said, trying to explain.

“I'm sorry to hear it...” This wasn't the Chance I knew. This was the arrogant, cold Chance of old. What had happened to make him change in this way.

“I told him I wasn't interested,” I said, trying to laugh – to make it all into a joke. “Don't worry. You don't have to be jealous. He knows I'm with you. He'll keep away from me now.”

“There's no need,” he said grimly. “You shouldn't have to worry about me.” His eyes were dark, almost black.

“What's going on, Chance?” I put out a hand, touching his shoulder lightly; he instinctively recoiled. “Are you angry at me or something?”

“No,” he turned away, saying nothing.

“Well, something's up!”

“What makes you say that?” He raised an eyebrow.

“You're acting strange.”

“Strange how?”

“Like you're angry.”

“I already told you I wasn't.” His voice told a different story. “Why don't you believe me?” His insouciant tone infuriated me. This was the Chance that drove me crazy when we first met – too proud to trust in feeling.

“Well, I'm angry,” I couldn't help saying, feeling the color come to my cheeks.

“Why?”

“Because!” I cried. “I came to see you and you're acting like you don't even know me! I'm your girlfriend, for goodness's sake!”

“Yes,” Chance said glumly. “You are.”

“And you don't get to turn the emotion on and off whenever you want to!” I sighed. “I thought we were past this, Chance.”

“I thought so too!” he roared back, and I saw the first spark of emotion in him. “Or at least – I hoped we were.”

“So what? Are you jealous of Varun?”

“It's not Varun...” Chance sighed. “It's...Misty...”

“Misty?” My jealousy of her friendship with Chance had evaporated the moment she revealed to me her true form: that of a wrinkled old crone. “What does Misty have to do with anything?”

“She had a vision,” Chance said. “A vision – and a warning. She told me that I was holding on to you too tightly, that my love for you...that my feelings....I'm putting you at risk, Mac. I'm holding you back from finding the stones.”

“How?”

“Misty – she told me. She said that if I loved you, I'd have to let you go. To risk losing you...to him.”

“To whom?”

“Varun,” his voice was ice-cold with hatred. “Vesta's clever, Mac. She hid the stones somewhere I'd never be able to reach. Somewhere only she could go. In the depths of the sea. Where her lover Neptune could go – and Mars could not.”

“And you think this means I love Varun?”

“I think it means that Vesta wanted him to accompany her – and not Mars.”

“I'm not Vesta!” I sighed. “I mean – if I am Vesta...I'm not the Vesta of a thousand years ago. I'm me. What I feel is my business, not hers.”

“I must let you go – fulfill your destiny. If you still love me...once you've found the stones.”

“I do love you.” I leaned in and kissed him – a soft, tender kiss. He relaxed into my arms. “That much I can promise you.” My kiss seemed to quell his fears. I stroked his ebony-black hair and held him in my arms.

He pulled away. “I know you say that now...”

“But you're still worried?”

He nodded. “It's dangerous, Mac. Finding these stones. In order to find the next one, you'll have to go to a cave so deep and dark in the ocean's depths – a cave protected by the Water clan. You'll need to go with Varun, Mac, or else you'll never make it.”

“And you don't trust me with him?”

“I don't trust him. I lost you to him once before; I won't do that again.”

“I’m yours, Chance,” I said softly.

“I wish I could believe that,” Chance sighed. “I'm jealous by nature, Mac. It's in my blood. And I've seen you vanish from me before. For him.”

“But if I am Vesta...” I whispered, holding his hand. “I came back. I left Varun – that's what Haven said. That Vesta left Neptune because she still loved Mars.”

Chance's eyes darkened. “Then where is she now? If she really came back to me?”

“I don't know.”

“If you start to feel...whatever you're meant to feel...for Varun...” Chance turned away from me. “I won't hold you back. You must act with your heart. You owe me nothing. You must not feel trapped – as Vesta did. You know...she ran away with him? She didn't even say goodbye. She didn't even have the courage or the heart to tell me – so fearful was she of my wrathful response. If you find that you love him, Mac,” his eyes were gleaming with bright tears, “you must tell me. You must be honest with me. That is all that I ask.”

“I won't leave you,” I whispered. “Not for anyone – my love, my only, my One...” I took him in my arms, whispering words of comfort into his ear. Yet my heart was heavy. I knew that deep down I had begun to feel for Varun whatever it was Vesta had felt for Neptune – a quiet, but pervasive longing deep within my breast. A longing I could resist, but not ignore. And if the only way to get to the stones was to get through Varun....well, let's say I didn't want to owe Varun any more favors.

“If there's one person I'm afraid of,” whispered Chance, “if there's one person who can take you away from me, who can change you, it's him.”

“You can trust me,” I said to him, pressing my lips against his jet-black hair. But, I wondered, could I trust myself?