Burned (Keeper of the Flame) (25 page)

I take a deep breath and say, “Block this
exit from all but me. As I will, so let it be.”

I feel a surge of power travel through me,
and I have to catch myself on the wall of the cave. “Don’t come in
here,” I tell Ryan. I don’t think he can come in anyway. He was
blocked from the other side at the panel.

Ryan reaches his hand out. “Get out of there,
Willow.”

Logan curls up on his side. “Don’t do
this.”

My lip trembles. I don’t want to see anyone
hurting, but I don’t know what else to do.

I step to the entryway, almost through when
Logan asks, “You’re going to leave me here?”

“Yes,” Ryan snaps. “Come on, Willow.”

“He can’t stay in here forever‒”

“This is not the place to talk about this.”
He beckons me with his hand. “Willow, I’m serious. Get out
here.”

I exhale, stepping through the entryway. Ryan
yanks me against his chest, hands running down my shoulders, up to
my cheeks to cup them.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

My hands are shaking. So are my legs. I feel
like I’m going to fall down any minute. “I don’t know. I…” I glance
back to the cave, see Logan’s feet through the opening. “I don’t
think I can leave him in there.”

“You have to. You have to for now because
Cheyenne is there trying to get your mom and Logan is going to come
after you if you let him out. There’s not another option.”

He starts pushing the rock back toward the
opening.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“We can’t risk anyone seeing him in
there.”

“But‒”

“It’s just temporary. Willow, we have to do
this. It’s our best option right now.”

I lean against a tree, swallowing a wave of
nausea. I nod, trying to convince myself. He’s right, it’s our best
option. But torture? That’s not me…

My stomach churns. I watch Ryan cover the
surface again with twigs and leaves. When he turns to me, he
doesn’t look any happier about the situation.

“Let’s just go get your mom and think
fast.”

With one last glance at the cave, I push away
from the trees and walk with Ryan. He looks concerned when he meets
my gaze.

“You don’t look well.”

“I think I used too much power.” I rub my
hand over my cheek as my vision gets blurry. I stop, swaying on my
feet.

Willow…

I hear the voice again, like a whisper on the
wind. But it doesn’t sound like Selena. It’s a male voice.

It sounds like Logan.

Help me, Willow
.

I yank in a breath. Is it possible we’re
connected somehow, too?

“Willow,” Ryan says. I know he can feel
something is wrong. “You’re hurt.”

I turn to a tree and vomit. I sink to my
knees, trying to steady myself against the trunk. My veins feel
like they’re on fire, like I’m burning from the inside.

Ryan leans next to me as I grimace. “What’s
going on?”

“It’s Logan, I think. I can…” I shake my
head, not believing it’s true. But my stomach churns because I know
I’m right. “I think I can feel what he’s feeling.”

“Maybe we should go back,” I whisper. Leaves
crackle beneath my feet as I shift to face Ryan.

His jaw clenches and he glances around before
answering. “I can feel you hurting. But there’s got to be something
else we can do.”

“It’s not too bad, it just hit me out of
nowhere.”

“Tell me the truth.”

I stand, straightening my shoulders. “I am.
I’m just…tired.”

“Yeah, I can feel that, too,” he says, taking
my hand. “You need to rest. You’ll feel better once we get your
mom.”

I nod.

“Come on.” He curls his arm around my waist.
“Can you make it to the truck?”

“I think so.”

My feet are dragging by the time we get
there. He opens the door for me and I get in, anxious about going
to Logan’s house again. What if his sister knows what’s going on?
What if Myra suspects something and she’s going to try to stop us,
too?

“You said Cheyenne’s at his house?”

Ryan nods.

“Was she able to get onto his property? I did
the spell, but I don’t know if it worked.”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t heard anything from
her yet, so hopefully she got in.”

It takes five minutes to get there with Ryan
breaking the speed limit. When he turns down the road that leads to
Logan’s property, he says, “It worked. Your spell worked. I
couldn’t get further than this before.”

Good. It means Cheyenne might already be
there. When we go around the drive and see her car, I’m even more
encouraged. Ryan parks behind her.

I get out and race to the front door as fast
as my wobbly legs will carry me, but Ryan beats me there. He steps
in front of me.

“Let me go in first. In fact, you should stay
out here.”

“Ryan, don’t you dare start this with me.” I
push him toward the door. “I’m going in.”

“Stay close to me, got it?”

“Yes, sir.”

He frowns but reaches for the door. To my
surprise, the handle opens easily in his grasp. I can’t remember
anymore if Logan locked it. But I do know he’s still in the cave.
As long as my spell worked. And all the rest of them have been
working, so I don’t see why this one wouldn’t.

“Downstairs,” I tell Ryan, leading the
way.

It’s dim on the stairs, just like when I came
down here earlier today. Ryan takes it slowly, listening for noises
on the way. When we reach the bottom, I point to the left. The door
that was closed and locked this morning is now open.

There’s a shuffling noise inside.

Ryan puts a finger to his lips and pushes me
gently against the wall.
Stay there
, he mouths.

He turns away and steps cautiously to the
door of the room. He takes a quick peek inside. I see his shoulders
relax, and in the next moment, someone’s arm is around my neck.

“Willow,” a female voice says. It’s Myra.

Ryan looks over and instantly goes alert.
“Let go of her.”

Myra shifts her grip, holding me tight enough
my vision goes blurry. She’s surprisingly strong‒but then, she’s a
vampire just like her brother.

I can hear the strain in her voice, though,
when she asks, “Where is Logan?”

“Get away from her,” Ryan says, stepping
closer.

Cheyenne darts out of the room and freezes
when she sees us.

“Myra,” I choke out. “Logan is fine.”

“Where
is
he?” she asks. “You’re
supposed to be with him.”

She presses harder against my throat and my
vision goes hazy again. I claw at her arm, but she’s too strong,
especially after losing so much energy earlier.

“It’s two against one,” Ryan says. “Let her
go or you’re going to get hurt.”

Myra coughs. “I’m already hurting,” she says,
grip still tight. “Logan said Willow was going to help me.”

“Help you what?” Cheyenne asks, her eyes
locking with mine. A silent acknowledgement that she’s not going to
let anything happen.

“Help me get better. He said if Willow can do
the spell, I’ll become a vampire and I won’t have cancer
anymore.”

My breath hisses out. No wonder he wanted
this spell to end. No wonder he brought Myra here with him. She
probably feels better here since the first stage of reversing the
curse is already underway.

“Now tell me where my brother is,” Myra
says.

Ryan lunges at her as she cuts off the last
of my air supply. I hear a scuffle as I fall to the floor, my world
going dark.

~ ~ ~

“I told you,” Ryan says as my eyes flutter
open. “You’re a magnet for danger.”

“It’s not my fault,” I say, but my voice is
so hoarse I don’t know if he understands it.

I’m lying at home in my bedroom. Ryan is
stretched out next to me, his hand trailing lazily down my
cheekbone and lingering on my shoulder.

“You should probably stay here for a while,”
he says. “In this bedroom.” He smiles. “So nothing else can happen
to you.”

At his words, everything that happened
earlier rushes back to me. I sit up, my head swirling.

“Okay,” Ryan says slowly. He puts his hands
on my shoulders. “Why don’t you wait until you feel better?”

I drop my head in my hands as he rubs slow
circles on my back. “Did you get my mom out?”

“Yes. She’s in the other room, feeling much
better.”

I swallow uncertainty. “I don’t know what to
say to her.”

“You don’t have to say anything right now.
Relax. Take it easy.”

His voice is rough and I look over in the dim
light. Either it’s later than I thought or the sun hasn’t come out
from behind the clouds yet. I touch the slight bruise on his
jaw.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

He catches my hand, turning his cheek into my
palm. His stubble brushes on the soft skin. “You’re fine. Logan’s
caught in the cave. Yes, I’m okay.”

He pushes me gently to the bed and leans over
me. His lips descend on mine, soft but firm. He deepens the kiss,
pressing some of his weight against me until my arms wrap around
his neck to draw him in for more.

But a low and faint groan of agony echoes in
my head. Logan’s voice. Logan’s pain.

“What?” Ryan whispers, lips brushing my
cheek. “Something’s wrong.”

My stomach churns. I’m torn between
forgetting my troubles with Ryan’s company, and doing something
about what I’ve already done.

“He was just trying to help his sister,” I
say, voice raw.

Ryan stops with his hand hovering over my
stomach. “I know. I heard.”

“And now he’s stuck in the cave.” In pain.
Enough that I can still feel it reverberating through me.

Ryan doesn’t say anything, but I can feel the
tension in the room.

“You didn’t hurt her, did you? Myra?”

He flops back on his pillow with a sigh. “No.
She’s sick, like she said. She couldn’t fight us both off. We left
her there.”

Sick. Cancer. I kept wondering why Logan
wanted me to end this spell so badly. It had nothing to do with
becoming a vampire. He just wanted to help his sister. And if she
becomes a vampire, she won’t be sick anymore.

I sit up again, moving more slowly this
time.

“Ryan, we can’t leave Logan in there.”

He grips my wrist, eyes glued to mine. “Do
you hear what you’re saying? He
kidnapped
you. He held you
captive in his house. He’s not the good guy here, Willow.”

“I know. Ryan, I
know
. I just‒I can’t
be like him. Leave him there hurting, or let his sister wonder
where he is.”

I pull my wrist free and stand. When the room
spins around me, Ryan catches me by the waist. “You’re making this
more complicated than it has to be,” he says, breath warm against
my ear. “You should be resting. Taking this one day at a time.”

I lean my forehead against this chest. His
hands slide into my hair and I shiver. “I can’t, Ryan.”

His entire body tenses. “What is it with you
and Logan? You don’t
care
about him, do you?”

“No.” I shake my head, as much to convince
myself as to convince him. “I feel bad. I…”

He lets me go and props his hands on his
hips. “I can’t believe this.”

“Ryan, don’t be mad. You don’t
understand.”

He gives a humorless laugh. “I don’t
understand? So it makes sense that he kidnapped you?
That’s
the part I should understand? It’s fine that he’s a total
lunatic‒”

“His motives aren’t what we thought they
were.”

“You’re seriously defending him right now?”
Ryan shoves hand into his hair. “This is bullshit.”

“I’m not‒” I take a breath and try to keep my
voice down. “I’m not defending him. I’m just saying, he didn’t do
what he did for himself or to be selfish.”

“Yeah, well, I
am
being selfish. I
want you safe. And being around Logan doesn’t accomplish that.”

I rub my hands over my face. What am I
supposed to do? I don’t want to do the spell for Logan, but I don’t
want to leave him in there. And I don’t want him to see his sister
hurting. But I also want Ryan to understand where I’m coming
from.

“I should go…” I gesture to the door. “Talk
to my mom, I guess.”

Ryan clenches his jaw but nods. I step into
the hallway and walk slowly to the living room. I hear voices
before I reach the room. Cheyenne and my mother.

I don’t realize I’ve stopped until I feel a
hand on my back. I glance over and give Ryan a small smile for the
support.

When I enter the room, Cheyenne stands. My
mother looks up.

“Willow,” Faye says.

I press my lips together. I can’t bring
myself to call her Mom.

“Hi.” It’s all I can manage, but her eyes go
soft.

“This is not how I wanted this to go,” she
says.

“This?”

“Our first meeting.”

Cheyenne’s looking trapped. She’s making
faces at Ryan like he’s supposed to get her out of here.

I wish she could get me out of here, too.

My mom stands as well. “Ryan said you could
feel some of the pain Logan is going through.”

I lift my eyebrows. I was expecting a “How
are you?” or maybe, “What have you been up to all these years?”
Instead, she just gets right to it.

I give a slight nod.

She sighs and looks understanding. “You’re
connected to him.”

Ryan clears his throat and glances away.

“Sorry,” Faye says, looking apologetic. “But
you’ve done spells against him, spells in his house. He’s latched
onto you for all this. You’re connected.”

“It’ll go away, right?” Cheyenne asks. “I
mean, these things are only temporary.”

“As long as he’s not around, it’ll go away
eventually. Yes.”

Everyone looks to me because I’m not voicing
my relief in all of it. I don’t want to be connected to Logan, but
I am. And I think it’s because of more than just the spells. I
understand him in a way I didn’t think I ever would. He’s doing
what he can to help his family. If I were in his same position, and
it were my dad, I’d do a spell or break one in an instant.