When Lightning Strikes (Lightning Series Book 1) (28 page)

“Get away from my sister!”

Rory stiffened. Julie looked up. Jamie stood in the entrance to the alcove, fists clenched. He was shaking.

“Jamie, Rory isn’t hurting me. He was trying to explain everything to me.”

Jamie stood up straighter. His face flushed red and his eyes were big and wild. Was this her brother?

“What did you tell her?”

Rory straightened next to her. “I told her everything—or almost everything. She needed to know.”

“What do you mean everything?”

“I showed her what I can do. She knows, Jamie. She knows we are Fey.”

“How dare you! Do you understand how painful keeping this from her has been for me, for my family? We needed to tell her—not you. Not you!” Spit flew from his mouth as he yelled.

Julie shivered. She didn’t recognize him like this.

“Jamie,” she broke from Rory. He tried to hold on to her, but she shook him off. “Jamie, it’s okay. I understand some of it now. You can tell me the rest.”

“No. He had no right. He’s a spoiled brat, and he doesn’t deserve you. He had no right.”

Julie bristled. “That isn’t your decision, Jamie.”

He raised an eyebrow.

Rory shouted out behind her. Julie looked behind her as he moaned, collapsed to his knees, and held his head in his hands. She sat down next to him and pulled up his head. His eyes rolled back, and he moaned again.

Her chest clenched. She couldn’t watch him get hurt like this…or even die. She knew they couldn’t be together, but she couldn’t let this happen.

“Jamie, please stop. Whatever you are doing, please stop.” She looked at her brother. His own eyes were closed, and he was shaking.

“Jamie,” Rory choked out. “Jamie, stop, or I’ll have to fight back. I don’t want to, for Julie’s sake, but I will.”

Julie shook with relief. He was still okay for now. She got up to walk over to her brother.

Jamie laughed. A stone hit him on the side of his face. His laugh changed to a grunt. His eyes narrowed. A larger stone pelted him harder, and a trickle of blood dripped down the side of his face. His grin faded into a frown.

Rory cried out behind her. She looked back at him. He kept on screaming, his head in his hands. Blood dripped from his ears.

Her head whipped back as Jamie cried out. Bigger stones struck him on the side of the head and stomach. He doubled over as a huge one hit him in the stomach. When he looked up again, his face was set in determined lines.

“I will protect you, Julie. I won’t let him or anyone else hurt you anymore.”

“Stop! Stop hurting each other. We can all talk about this.” Julie stood between them, not knowing who to run to. Both were screaming in pain. She put her hands up to her face trying to block it all out.

What could she do? She had no way to stop this.

“I’m so sorry,” Rory said behind her, “but I have to defend myself. Please forgive me. I don’t want to hurt him. I know he’s only trying to protect you.”

“Stop,” she cried out. “Please. Oh my god, please stop.”

They were going to kill each other. She couldn’t stop them.

Jamie cried out and fell to the ground on his hands and knees. Blood splattered his shirt from the multiple cuts on his face. He struggled back to sit upright.

“Jamie…Rory…stop!”

Jamie no longer looked angry—he looked scared. His eyes tilted down to the sides, and he stared at her, holding his hand out as rocks pelted him.

“Julie, I’m sorry…I can’t stop it. I let it go too far. I can’t stop. I’m sorry. I love you, Ghouls. Please don’t remember me like this.”

“What do you mean you can’t? Why can’t you?”

Julie turned to Rory. “You have to stop. Then Jamie will.”

Rory pulled his face out of his hands. Blood tears dripped down his face. His eyes struggled to focus on her. His face was white, and he shook his head miserably unable to speak. He mouthed to her “I can’t. It’s too far. We are not supposed to go this far.”

“No. You aren’t going to do this to me. You aren’t both going to die!”

She screamed, pulling at her hair. She wanted to run to each of them but was paralyzed. She fell to her knees, screaming and shaking.

Something inside her flipped over, like it did when she concentrated on floating as a dancer. Everything went quiet inside her head, though her throat went dry with her screams.

Instead of the calm that came with dancing, this feeling burned through her, pooling in her hands. It sucked out all her energy, until her fingertips tingled with it, and her heartbeat slowed to a crawl.

She inhaled deeply, her head tipping back to the ceiling and her eyes wide. Her skin glowed with the light burning to get out. As her breath rushed out, light burst from her fingertips, arching across the expanse to each boy.

Their eyes widened, mouths open in silent screams as the light hurled them backwards and stopped their fight. As the light left her hands, she collapsed to the ground. Her heart sped up as the sound of the ocean waves outside rushed to her ears.

Julie’s eyes closed, and everything went dark.

♦

Chapter 20: New Beginnings

≺≻

“S
hh, be quiet, Jamie. Andy, I think she’s waking up.”

A tickle of hair on her arm and the smell of her mom’s familiar perfume made Julie open her eyes. She immediately closed them. The glare made it feel as if her head was going to split open. She pressed her eyes shut.

“Here, honey,” Andromeda said as she felt a glass touch her lips. “Take these.” Some pills pressed to her mouth, and she swallowed them quickly.

“Oops, sorry, Julie. I forgot,” Lir said, and the light piercing through her eyelids dimmed.

Her head felt a bit better already. She opened her eyes to see she was in her room. She could make out the three figures of her family standing around her.

“What happened?” Memories of the fight came back suddenly. “Jamie, are you okay? Is Rory okay?”

She tried to sit up, but Andromeda’s hand pushed her back down.

“Jamie is fine. He’s right here. Rory is fine too. He’s downstairs in the living room. Since he and Jamie got up two days ago, he’s refused to leave our house until he knew if you were awake.” Her relieved face went tight, her smile forced. “His parents have been by a few times too, along with several other people.”

Lir put a hand on her arm. “We can talk about all that later.”

Julie stared at her parents, and they looked at each other anxiously after a few moments.

“So we’re not human, huh?”

“Uh, no. Rory told me what he said to you, and there’s a bit more to it than that,” Lir clipped out.

Jamie laughed. “That’s what you ask about?”

He didn’t have a scratch on his face.

Lir gave Jamie a look, and her brother’s face fell. “We will talk about it all when you are better, Julie. You need to rest now. You used up a lot of energy saving Jamie and Rory, especially with it being your first time. It will get easier, but right now you need to let us take care of you.”

“I have so many questions.”

That was an understatement. She might have more questions than ever. Why was the island so perfect looking? Who kept it all up? What about the building he worked in? What was it? Why was Andromeda not allowed to work here? Was there even more she didn’t know to ask about right now?

Andromeda put a finger to her lips. Julie looked into her eyes. They were all glassy with unshed tears. “I know you do, honey. We can answer them all now. We couldn’t before, and it was killing me—killing us.”

Lir put an arm around her mom and blinked a few times. Julie stared at him. She had never even seen him come close to crying before.

She yawned. “Have I been asleep for two days? How is that possible? Don’t I need to eat? Why am I still tired?”

“You’ve been asleep for five.” Her eyes widened, and Lir nodded. “Our bodies can rejuvenate. That’s why your mom and I look so young still, but we’re in our late fifties, honey.”

They looked like late twenties to most people, and once they found out they had kids in high school, everyone assumed they must have had Julie and Jamie very young.

“Is that why Jamie doesn’t have any cuts?”

“Yeah. He finished healing up a couple of days ago. It’s why we don’t worry that much when we get sick. Very few illnesses can bring down a Fey.”

“Is Rory okay then too?” Julie couldn’t help but ask.

Her parents looked at each other. Andromeda frowned, but Lir smirked. “I told you it was true.”

“I know you did. I was hoping it wasn’t, that’s all.”

“Yeah, me too.” Jamie muttered.

Julie opened her mouth to speak and yawned instead. What were they all talking about? She was getting more tired by the second and couldn’t think straight. But she was warm under her comforter, warm and happier than she’d been in a long time. Sure, she was still furious with her parents, but she had them back now. It may be a while before she forgave them, if she ever fully did. But they were her parents. They had promised her answers, and she knew she would get them now.

Her heart sped up at the thought of seeing Rory. Her head still throbbed, even after the medicine, and now her eyes were getting droopy.

“He doesn’t own her, Dad.”

“No, but the connection gives him some rights. This isn’t the time, Jamie.”

She blinked, trying to keep her eyes open. She felt like she was missing important stuff here but couldn’t quite get her head around it. Everything was starting to sound fuzzy.

“How am I so tired still?”

“It’s normal for us. I told you, honey. It’s sort of a healing sleep. We will talk about all this later. You didn’t know what you were doing, so you used up a lot of your own energy. You came close to killing yourself trying to stop Jamie and Rory from killing each other. You’ll be fine,” her dad said.

“So I zap people? Is that my ability? Do I have one then?” Her words started to slur with sleepiness.

Her heart raced. If she did, she and Rory could be together. It wouldn’t be as awkward as him choosing to be with someone inferior to him. Would that mean she had to stay here though? Did she want to be with him after everything he had done? Did this really change anything? She ignored the mixed feelings of happiness and worry.

“Yes, you probably have more than one, since we all do. We will have to talk about all that later. You are too tired now. You need to rest.” He touched the side of her head and frowned. “I wish we had a few more minutes to talk, but I think you’ll be asleep by then. Do you want to see Rory?”

Julie looked at her family. Andromeda and Jamie had their arms crossed and would not meet her eyes. Lir smiled at her encouragingly. Did he think it was a good idea? Julie nodded. He nodded back smiling wider, looking relieved. Why would he be happy about this?

A moment later the door opened again, and Rory stepped in. He edged around her parents, staying as far away from Jamie as possible, and sat down next to her. He took Julie’s hand, and the familiar warmth and longing spread throughout her. Her eyes drooped more. She felt better seeing him, even though it made her more tired. She saw Jamie’s fists clenched, but he stayed quiet.

Andromeda started looking back and forth between them, her face unreadable. “I guess we will leave you two alone. Please leave once she’s asleep.”

Rory nodded but kept his eyes on Julie. Lir put his arm around her mom and pulled her from the room. Out of the corners of her eyes, she saw her glancing back as they left. Her face was creased with worry lines.

“Yell if you need me, sis. I’ll be right out here.” Jamie made a point of leaving the door cracked.

Rory stared at her. How could she feel like she never wanted to let him go again, but not be sure of him at the same time? She was too tired to deal with all this right now.

“Hey,” she said after a moment.

“Hey.” Rory smiled and leaned over to kiss her. Her eyes fluttered shut. He held her possessively as she drifted back to sleep.

♦

Chapter 21: Old Friend

≺≻

E
veryone stared when Julie entered the coffeehouse. Rory’s hand tightened on hers.

It was two days after she first woke. She still had circles under her eyes, but her face wasn’t ash white anymore. She didn’t want to imagine what she looked like the first time she woke.

Her parents hadn’t explained much yet, but they confirmed what Rory told her. Dad was still worried about her being overly tired. No one knew exactly what she did yet, and there were a bunch of people who wanted to talk to her. He was keeping them away for now.

She would be going to the other school with Jamie and Rory. Her parents said that she could still be friends with Kara, but that she couldn’t tell her any of this. When Kara was eighteen, her own parents would tell her about the island, and she would have to decide if she would stay or go. Her family would set her up in whatever her chosen career was without her ever knowing.

It sucked. It couldn’t be better to do this to the ‘duds.’ To have all the kids go to the fine arts school so that a few could watch as all their friends disappear to the other school year after year with no explanation. Then to wipe their memories if they left. They’d be out in the real world without their family, and their family was not allowed to contact them. Who decided that that this was the best way?

Julie guessed that they were lucky that they got to choose a career. Everyone said that she could still take dance lessons with Muriel but kind of looked at each other quietly when she talked about going to the Academy.

If they thought that she would give up on her dream because she could shoot lightning out of her fingertips, they needed to think again. Sure, the lightning thing was cool—and terrifying—now that she was in the know. But it wasn’t dancing.

Rory spent as much time as possible with her. He was in on it too, since he refused to tell her anything more. He had promised to listen to her parents this time. Besides, he only had a few minutes to visit each day before she fell asleep, so it wasn’t as if there was any time.

Marian and Elden had also come by to see her. She was nervous about this at first, but was surprised to see that Marian was extremely happy about her and Rory having a connection. She gushed over Julie and offered to have someone give her a manicure, pedicure, and haircut, all while she stayed in her bed. She also insisted on taking her shopping as soon as she was well.