Into the Fire (24 page)

“Mom, what are you doing home?” According to the clock on my nightstand, she shouldn’t be home for another hour.

“Does that really matter? Is this what you do when I’m at work? Where is your brother?” She’s gone off in full freak-out mode. Mom and sex are two things that don’t mix without causing her hair to set on fire.

“Nothing happened.” I pull my shirt back into place and sit up. Poor Logan is completely red-faced and mute.

Mom won’t look at us. Her eyes stay focused on the empty hallway. “I need you to say goodbye to Logan. We have a family matter to tend to this evening.”

A family matter? That means Phoenix business. It has to be about the Hunter. “I’ll walk Logan out.”

Mom leaves, and I wait for her bedroom door to close. “Sorry about that.” I place my hand on Logan’s chest and kiss him lightly on the lips.

“I think your mom gave me my first gray hair.”

I laugh. “Poor baby.” I kiss his neck, and he moans before pushing me away.

“Don’t do that. I’m supposed to be leaving, remember? Touch me like that and you’ll need a crow bar to get me away from you.”

I raise my brow. “Good to know.”

He leans forward to kiss me again, but I put my hand out to stop him. “Out you go, Mr. Schmidt.”

“Well, that killed the mood.”

“What?” I tug on the front of his shirt.

“Calling me Mr. Schmidt. That’s my dad. Not exactly a mental image I want when I’m making out with my girlfriend.”

I nod. “I’ll remember that, too.” I walk him to the front door and kiss him goodbye. Our lips linger. Neither of us wants to pull away, but Monique walks up to the door.

“Well, that’s one heck of a goodbye, if you ask me.”

I feel my cheeks warming. “Bye.” I let go of Logan’s hand and watch him walk away.

“Get in here.” Monique pulls me inside by my shoulders. “The meeting is about to start.”

“Here?”

“Yup. Garret and Linette are waiting around back. We didn’t want to arrive together.”

I follow her to the back door and let them in. “So, we’ve got a definite Hunter problem, huh?”

Garret walks past me like he’s on a mission and stops just short of the sink. “There was another murder in Bridgewater.”

“That’s where the last one was,” I say, turning to see Mom walk into the kitchen.

“The last what?” Jeremy comes up from his room and sits down at the center island. His attention immediately focuses on Garret, like he’s the one in charge.

“Murder.” I meet Garret’s stare, wanting to see his reaction to the question on my mind. “The Hunter’s coming back, isn’t he?”

“Yes, and we need a plan of action.” Garret taps his gun, holstered on his hip, indicating what his plan is.

“We can’t just go out there guns-a-blazing, Garret,” Monique says. “I don’t care if you are a police officer. You can’t shoot people and ask questions later.”

“Do you have any leads at all?” Linette asks.

“The victim in Bridgewater was stabbed through the heart. What more proof do we need?” Garret’s twitchy, like he’s about to jump out of his skin—or go run down a Hunter.

“Was the victim a Phoenix?” Mom asks, putting a pot of tea on the stove.

“No.” Garret crosses his arms. “But that doesn’t mean anything. The Hunter could just be trying to throw us off.”

“Or he really sucks at identifying Phoenixes.” Jeremy takes an apple out of the fruit bowl and bites into it.

I sit down and fidget with the stem on one of the apples. “We need a lead. A name. Something.”

Mom walks over to me and puts her hands on my shoulders. “Cara, I know you’re trying to help, but where on earth do you suggest we get a name?”

“If I had one, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Garret says. “We’d be having a funeral.”

“Hunters are human, right?” They all nod, looking very impatient with me, the new girl. “Okay, well, let’s start asking around about anyone who came into Bridgewater around the time of the murder.”

Mom shrugs. “Ask who? We don’t know anyone in Bridgewater.”

“Then let’s take a road trip. Rob’s cousin lives out there. Maybe he could help us.”

Garret scoffs. “Yeah, let’s go drive into a town where we know the Hunter is and yell, ‘Come and get us!’”

“That isn’t necessary, Garret.” Mom gives him a look that silences him in seconds. “I think what you were trying to say is that we don’t want to risk identifying ourselves by going to Bridgewater and asking a lot of questions.”

“So we sit here and do nothing? That doesn’t make any more sense than my plan.”

Jeremy stands up. “Cara’s right. I’m not going to sit here and wait for the Hunter to find me. Cara’s so close to her rebirth. Remember right before my rebirth? I steamed up the bathroom when I wasn’t even in the shower.”

“Cara does pose a problem.” Garret gives me his reprimanding cop stare. “The Hunter could be anyone, and you put us at the most risk right now.”

“Gee, thanks, Garret.”

“No, he’s right,” Jeremy says with his mouth full of apple. He swallows before continuing. “What are you going to say to Logan if you start steaming during your next make-out session with him? Or if you set your bed on fire?”

“There’s not going to be another incident with Logan in Cara’s bed, is there?” Mom glares at me, and I shake my head. Not while she’s at home, at least. Still, what if Jeremy has a point?

Monique and Garret are arguing again, and I’ve had enough already. “Mom, can I get out of here? I can’t listen to any more.”

“You want to hang out with Logan, don’t you?” She still isn’t happy about my relationship with Logan, but she hasn’t tried to stop us from seeing each other. Instead, she gives me little warnings about how my plan may not work like I’m hoping it will.

“Yes.”

“Just remember, you…”

“Might be setting myself up for a really tough second life if I come back and no longer have these feelings for Logan.” I repeat the words she says to me on a daily basis. “I got it.”

“Where are you two headed this evening?”

Garret stops yelling and turns to Mom. “You’re letting her go out without one of us watching over her?”

“I’m not a child,” I say.

“Actually, you are, and worse, you’re a Phoenix child. You’re meant to have four more lives. Going out at a time like this is too risky. You’d be jeopardizing your future just to make out with your boyfriend, who you’re going to forget soon.”

“I’m not going to forget him.” How many times do I have to go through this with all of them?

“I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”

I’ve always liked Garret, but right now I want to light his hair on fire. “I guess we will,” I say with more attitude than necessary to get my point across. “Can I go?” I ask Mom.

She sighs. “Why don’t you invite him over? I’ll feel better having you at home, and I think this meeting is over anyway.”

“I can bring him back over here?”

“Yes.”

“And hang out in my room?”

“I suppose.” She sounds less sure of this answer.

“Without Jeremy in the room with us?” I know her well. She’ll find some reason to send Jeremy to spy on Logan and me.

“Door open.” She points her finger at me and gives me her serious mom face. “At all times.”

I salute her. It’s funny at first, but then it reminds me of Mr. Baker. All our problems started when he was murdered. Mom must be thinking about him, too, because she shakes her head and says, “I can’t believe it’s been a week already. It feels like we buried him yesterday.”

I hug her. “We’ll find the Hunter.” I pull back, looking into her eyes. Her serious mom face is gone, replaced with the face of a very scared Phoenix. “We’ll find him for Mr. Baker.”

She nods and squeezes my hand, but she isn’t fooling me. She knows we’re all in trouble. We have no leads. All we have is fear, and that fear might cause me to go through my rebirth at the wrong time, where the Hunter might be waiting for me. Jeremy and I are the prime targets. We have the most lives left. Taking our lives would make the Hunter that much closer to being immortal.

***

“I still can’t believe your mom is letting us hang out in your room. Does she know the kind of thoughts I have about you?”

I smack his arm. “Shut up. She’s probably listening right outside the door.”

“Nah. She probably told Jeremy to listen from the hallway and report back to her if we get too quiet.”

“Too quiet?” I wrinkle my forehead, playing innocent.

He leans forward, cupping my face in his hand, and kisses me. Even though I’m dying to be wrapped up in him, I’m not about to turn this into a full-on make-out session. It’s too easy for Mom to walk by. She has to pass my room on the way to her own. More than that, I want to make sure Logan gets invited back. I’m planning to make him a pretty permanent fixture in the Tillman house.

Logan pulls away and kisses the tip of my nose. “Too quiet like that.”

“I don’t know. Quiet can be a good thing.” I lean forward and kiss him again, self-control be damned.

“Knock, knock.” Jeremy walks in without waiting to be invited. He turns his head to the side and holds up one hand to block his view of us. “Sorry.” Yeah, as if he didn’t know exactly what he was walking into.

“What’s up, Jer?” I love that Logan calls Jeremy by the nickname I use for him.

“Mom wants to know if you guys want anything. She was thinking of making strawberry smoothies.”

“We’ll be down in a minute,” I say, dying for him to leave already. He doesn’t budge, so I do the only thing I can think of to make him leave. I pull Logan’s face back to mine and kiss him.

“Gross!” Jeremy says, and I don’t need to open my eyes to know he’s already on his way downstairs.

Even though Jeremy’s gone, I don’t pull away from Logan. I let go completely. Before I know what I’m doing, I’m on his lap, running my fingers through his hair. Things are definitely heating up between us. I deepen the kiss and pull him closer. I can’t control myself. My heart pounds, and I’m tugging at Logan’s shirt.

“Whoa!” He pulls away, but I remember what he said about me kissing his neck. I bury my face between his head and shoulder. He moans, then pushes me gently away. “Cara, stop.”

“What’s wrong?” I’m out of breath, panting, and a puff of smoke comes out of my mouth. I clamp my lips shut. Oh God! This can’t happen. I still have more time.

His eyes widen, and I know there’s no way to explain my way out of this one.

Logan

“What was that?”

“What? I thought you were enjoying it.”

“No, not that. That I loved. What was with the smoke?”

“Smoke?” She looks around before getting off my lap and walking to the window.

“Cara, what’s going on?”

“Nothing. Um, maybe Mom has the air conditioning set too high. You know? I’m really hot right now, and you probably just saw my breath in the cool air.”

She’s avoiding my eyes, so I walk over and turn her face to me.

“Are you all right? You feel like you’re burning up, but you’re shivering.”

“I’m fine. I just—”

I take her face in my hands. “You can tell me anything.”

“I’m embarrassed.”

“Embarrassed of what?” No way is she a secret smoker. Her cinnamon gum is powerful, but I’d still taste the cigarettes on her.

“The way I just acted. I’ve practically thrown myself at you twice now.”

“I’m not going to complain about that. Look, I get that you—you’ve never—”

“Oh dear God! Please don’t say it.”

“Sorry.” I kind of thought she’d be the type to be proud of being a virgin. “New topic. That wasn’t what I was talking about anyway. Where did the smoke come from?”

“I told you. It must be the air conditioning.”

“Only it’s not cold in here. We’ve done a pretty good job steaming up the place.”

She looks around like she’s actually trying to see the steam. “Cara, seriously, are you feeling okay? You’re acting really strange.”

“I don’t know. Maybe we should call it a night.”

She’s kicking me out? “Are you mad at me? Did you push things tonight because you think that’s what I want?”

She shakes her head. “It’s what
I
want, but I got a little freaked.” She turns away, and her cheeks redden.

“Hey.” I lift her chin. “No need to freak. I’m not in a rush.”

“What if
I
am?” Her eyes water, and I have no idea why.

“Do you think I’m not that into you because I haven’t tried to sleep with you?”

She shrugs. “I’m guessing you’ve…”

“Okay, look, I don’t care what either one of us has or hasn’t done. It doesn’t matter. All I care about is being with you. I’m not going anywhere. Look what happened last time you tried to get rid of me.”

Her face falls. “I didn’t want to—”

I put my finger to her lips. “I know. I was kidding.” I lower my finger and kiss her. “See you in the morning.”

“You don’t have to go.”

“I think it’s best if he does,” Mrs. Tillman says from the doorway. Well, at least this time we weren’t in Cara’s bed when she walked in on us.

“Goodnight.” I squeeze Cara’s hand and smile at Mrs. Tillman as I walk out. The whole way home, all I can think about is that puff of smoke. What was it? There are so many things I still haven’t figured out about Cara.

I pass the café, and Rachel and Nick are sitting down eating some kind of chocolate cake covered in syrup and ice cream. “Hey,” I say.

“Hey, Logan.” Rachel covers her mouth with her napkin. “Holy crap, that’s cold!”

“Well, you’re eating all the ice cream.” Nick turns to me. “What’s up, man?”

At least he’s looking a little better. “Not much. Headed home.”

“You and Cara called it an early night, huh?” Nick stabs the cake with his fork.

“Yeah, she wasn’t feeling great.”

Nick raises his brow at me. “She didn’t have a fever, did she? She should watch for that after how sick Jeremy got.”

“She always feels warm to me, but I don’t think she’s sick.”

“You better not be pushing her,” Rachel says, pointing her fork at me.

“I’m not. For your information, I had to pry her off me.” I’m so tired of everyone thinking I’m a bad influence on Cara. I thought that would’ve ended when we got back together.