The Tempting Touch Of Fire (Elemental Awakening, Book 1) Page 4

I sat stunned, looking at the spine on the book that I knew featured the Moreton Bay Fig Tree. It was just a dream. I knew that. But the certainty that it was also real, that I had just had a conversation with my dead grandfather, had me reaching out despite the knowledge that I'd just woken from a powerful fantasy, and grasping the book in a trembling hand.

  The pages fell open to the exact right one. The very same Moreton Bay Fig Tree in the middle of a meadow of waving grass stalks stared back at me from a two page picture spread.

  "Holy freaking hell," I muttered, running my fingertip over the exposed roots in the photo.

  "When you wake up, remember that this is real. This is happening."

  I stood up on shaking legs and walked in a zombie-like fashion to my dresser. I knew what would greet me, but still a part of me hoped I was wrong.

  Green. So vibrantly bright and mesmerising.

  Yes, my dead dream grandfather was right. This was real. This was happening.

  Fuck.

  But despite life changing realisations, I had responsibilities still. I may have wanted to stand in front of my mirror all day and reason - or not - through everything that was happening to me. But I couldn't. The shop wouldn't open by itself, and I was determined that Sonya should not have to go there again so soon after my two days forced absence.

  So, I made it into work before anyone else. I fired up the ovens and rolled out the pre-made dough. By the time Sonya made it in for prep, I was well ahead of schedule. I had a fire in my gut and ants in my pants. I couldn't stand still for long or thoughts of Theo's late night visit and confusing threats of his Guard taking my head would flash before my eyes. Compounded by the 'real' dream visit and conversation with dead-Gramps.

  I was becoming a freak and there was no stopping it now.

  Sonya knew something was up immediately.

  "So, still feeling weird?" she asked, while she placed tomatoes through the slicer.

  "What makes you say weird?" I replied, a little too abruptly.

  "Because missing two days and not remembering why is weird?" she said as though seeking assent.

  But I noticed, she didn't mention the obvious. The fact that I thought I saw Theo's eyes turn gold. She hadn't mentioned the doctor's eye colour change last night either, so I had to assume she hadn't seen it. And if not for the forty minutes in front of my mirror watching my own eyes change from blue to green and back, I would have begun to think I was seeing things. But there was no escaping that my eyes had changed colour. And therefore, I had seen Theo's and the doctor's turn gold, but Sonya did not.

  What did that mean? Logic told me that Sonya was different from me. Different from Theo and Doctor Peters.

  So what were we, if Sonya was normal?

  "And as for Theo, I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for that," she suggested, not waiting for my reply on why she thought I was weird. "He's probably just one of those moody and mysterious types of men. Gotta admit, it's a little sexy."

  Mysterious, yes, but the guy had burned my neck until it blistered by touch alone last night. Hardly a candidate for the Sexiest Man Alive title. I frowned at the dough I was kneading, remembering his mortified look when he saw the marks on my neck. Remembering his confusion and agony, all of which I felt as though it was mine. I didn't voice any of those thoughts aloud though. Theo hadn't made any sense last night, but one thing he had been was a little scary, would he hurt Sonya if she knew too much about what he was?

  "Theo Peters is a jerk," I announced suddenly, a knee jerk reaction to my fear for Sonya's life.

  "Well he did act a little bizarrely, but maybe you just freaked him out, that's all," Sonya offered.

  Oh, he'd been freaked out. The kind of freak out that said you-threaten-my-world-order.

  But then, he had said he still wanted to protect me in my driveway last night. Maybe the freak out was a little worried-for-my-wellbeing too.

  Confusion, thy name is Casey Eden.

  The conversation took a more 'normal' turn then, much to my relief. And before we knew it, the shop doors were open and customers began to arrive.

  The day progressed as any normal Friday did. No surprises, if you count the fact that Theo didn't turn up for his afternoon snack a foregone conclusion, everything followed its set path. As I locked up the store and stowed my keys in my jeans pocket, I almost believed it was all a dream. Almost. The plants whispering warnings of taking extra care as I passed them on the walk home made the veracity of the dream idea fail.

  I wasn't sure how much more of this I could take. Everything was surreal. Everything was so wrong. I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders as I placed my key in the lock of my apartment door. Sonya wanted to go out on the town and take my mind off unnatural goings-on, but I just couldn't face it. It was impossible to pretend everything was normal. I just couldn't fake it anymore.

  The only thought in my head as I let myself into my flat, was curling up on the couch, surrounded by my pot plants, and eating a tub of chocolate ice cream. It sounded like a solid plan.

  One step inside my door and I knew my plans were shot.

  The lounge room was destroyed. Cushions slashed and stuffing strewn all over the place, the couch tipped over, the TV shattered and in pieces on the floor. Letters and papers from my writing desk in the corner were haphazardly thrown about the floor, some scrunched up, some torn, most of it beyond repair. The kitchen looked about as bad as the rest of the place, glasses broken and shattered in piles on the linoleum, drawers pulled out and tipped upside down, spilling contents all over the floor.

  But none of that mattered. Not a single vandalised piece of my possessions mattered. Because every plant in the house had been yanked from their pot and stomped upon. Shredded leaves and snapped branches, trodden into piles of soil on the carpet. The flat was destroyed, but replaceable. The plants were gone for good.

  A sound so pained I didn't realise I'd made it slipped from my lips. Of all the things a burglar could do, harming my plants cut the deepest. But it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out this wasn't an ordinary home invasion. Smeared across the cream walls in mud was a message.

  Leave the city, Gi and you might live.

  Stunned, I stared at the words for longer than reasonable. Was this written by the man who said he wanted to protect me?

  No. I didn't accept that. Theo could have killed me last night, but even the thought of taking my head had left him reeling. In agony, distraught, devastated. Had it only been an act?

  I wanted to believe Theo hadn't done this. Part of me said there was no way Theo could have done this. But I was so confused, so lost, so out of my depth here. Not only was I doing strange, unnatural, inexplicable things. Not only was I changing in ways that made absolutely no sense at all; green eyes, soothing plants, a connection I had never noticed between them and me. But I was also fighting to understand Theo.

  To understand this.

  Had Theo done this? Destroyed my flat, my possessions? My plants?

  If not him, who else? His Guard?

  Fear skittered along my spine and left icy pinpricks in its place.

  I was panting through the disbelief and pain. And without an answer, it shouldn't have hurt as much as it did. But I couldn't be sure Theo hadn't done this. I couldn't rule out the possibility, even though his words of protection kept repeating in my mind. Faced with a threat similar to what he had given last night, I didn't have enough faith to believe.

  Belief is tangible, measurable. To truly believe is to encompass that which trusts. To truly believe you become one with the belief itself. Nothing short of irrefutable proof can break that promise.

  I stared at the mud plastered wall, at the letters of the words written, as a warning, in my lounge. Was this evidence that Theo was not the promise I had thought him once? Did this break that trust, shatter it beyond belief?

  "And still I want to protect you."

  It was probably the betrayal of trust that stirred something new insid
e of me. Where was this coming from? The old Casey would have run a mile from this, but some instinct suddenly bursting to life within me was saying - no demanding - I meet this challenge head on. I face down my enemy and make him pay.

  What if Theo had shattered his promise this night, broken my trust?

  I had to know the truth.

  I'm not a commando. I haven't even taken Karate lessons or any other self defence class. I wouldn't know how to throw a punch or pull the trigger on a gun. I bake bread. I make sandwiches. And I have a green thumb. But I am not entirely stupid. I may not know what the hell is going on with me, but I saw how those Rimus down the driveway acted on just a simple, nonsensical thought.

  I'd wanted them to intimidate Theo, so I'd made them tinkle in a non-existent wind. He'd hardly been intimidated, simply amused. But the trees had acted on my command. Could I get them to do more?

  I quickly changed out of my work clothes, noticing my wardrobe had not been missed in the mud-messenger's pursuit to threaten. All I had left to wear was my gym gear, in a bag hidden at the back of my closet; black yoga pants, black zip-up hoodie and black running shoes. If I'd had black camouflage paint, I would have used it. As it was, I had to force myself not to smear the dirt off the floor on my cheeks. I was going in by stealth, but I wasn't going to be stereotypical about it.

  I contemplated grabbing a knife from the chopping board, but one thing my grandfather had always told me growing up; whatever weapon you use to defend yourself, be prepared for it to be used against you. I didn't fancy being stabbed in the gut. So I walked unarmed out of the flat.

  When I came out onto the driveway I heard the trees sigh out a hello. It had been easy to ignore it at first. To pretend I was hearing things. To pretend my world had the same parameters as before. But it didn't, and I knew this now. So when they whispered, the coast is clear, welcome to the night, I listened. I heard. I stood still and acknowledged what they said.

  But it sure as hell freaked me out.

  A trembling started up in my arms and soon engulfed my entire body. It took everything in me not to turn around and go back through the door to my home. But how safe would I be in there? Someone had already demolished it. He could come back and finish the job off once and for all. I didn't want to do this. I wasn't sure I had it in me to confront Theo. But I knew a corner when I'd been backed into it. And I damn well was not going to leave town because some bastard smeared the demand in mud on my walls.

  I needed answers. I needed to know the truth. Theo could provide both.

  Sucking in a deep breath, I approached the closest Rimu Tree. I wasn't sure how to talk to it. Say the words aloud? When I heard the plants whisper, it was on the air, but also in my mind. As though they could speak directly to me.

  I shrugged my shoulders, took a deep breath, and thought, can you help me?

  Nothing.

  I moved closer and laid my hand on the Rimu's roughened trunk. The sense of peace and harmony I felt at that simple motion almost brought me to my knees. I stifled a sob, the sensation of wellbeing too much to comprehend.

  "What are you?" I whispered.

  Yours, the tree answered on the wind and in my mind.

  Fuck this was freaky. But I didn't miss that the tree had heard my spoken words.

  "Can you help me?" I asked, feeling a little stupid talking to a tree. Even if the Prince of Wales talks to his plants, I've never done it before now.

  What do you need? The tree whisper-thought.

  "I need to know if it comes to fighting him, can I count on you to help me win?"

  Easy, the tree breathed. We are yours to command.

  OK. Good to know. Still freaky.

  I flexed my fingers and willed my heartbeat to slow. It might have been comforting touching the tree's bark, but my heart refused to calm. I took another deep breath, in an effort to chill, and so many scents assailed my nose. Oh dear God, it was so invigorating. And soothing. And simply divine. Who would have thought Auckland City at night could smell so damn good?

  My sense of smell had altered. Along with me. Plant whisperer and freaky-deaky hound dog as well.

  I licked my lips and blinked to clear my turbulent thoughts. "Where is he?" I asked and felt the tree respond, but not directly to me.

  A surge of something strangely ancient washed over me as whispers in a language that made no sense filled my mind. Answers echoed from far away, bounced off one tree, then ricocheted off another, until my tree shook its branches out and sighed.

  Mountain Road. We will guide you. The trees on his property await, Athanatos.

  I had no idea what Athanatos meant, but I liked the sound of the rest of it. Mountain Road was in Epsom. Too far away to walk, but taxi's trawled Parnell Road all the time. I headed off at a trot, after patting the tree to give thanks, and waved the first taxi I could see down. Within minutes I was being dropped off at the corner of Mountain and Owens Roads. The moment the taxi took off, I stepped onto the grass verge and rested my hand against the bark of a small flowering Cherry Tree.

  Number 119, the Cherry Tree whispered. I muttered a "thanks" and took off quickly, keeping myself close to the trees, so they could warn of anyone's approach.

  I knew which house it would be before I reached it. Many times I'd driven past and wondered, who lived behind those wrought iron gates? Who lived up that winding gravel drive? Who required such tall trees for privacy, cameras topping each side of the plinths that held the automatic gates? I had my answer now. Theo Peters. And to think, he'd crossed town to buy lunch at my deli. I should have felt privileged.

  I didn't.

  I stopped just down the street, across the road in the shadow of a group of Cabbage Trees. And watched my destination for a few silent moments. Getting in undetected would be damn near impossible.

  Not impossible, the Cabbage Tree closest to me whispered. Far north corner, away from the gate.

  Freaky no longer covered it.

  I walked down the street until I was just past the far north corner, well out of sight of the security cameras at the gate. Not having any idea of what would happen when I got there, I decided to just keep going and not stop to think. Thinking was not going to aid me in any of this. If I started thinking, freaky would seem tame.

  As soon as I came to rest beneath a Norfolk Pine at the corner of the property, I got my first sight of what really lay within. I sucked in a shocked breath of air. Theo had every type of plant and tree imaginable on his property. Jealousy didn't even cover what I felt, but even that emotion was smothered quickly by rage. Why would he destroy my plants when he obviously enjoyed having nature around himself as well?

  I shook my head, dumbfounded, and then tried to figure out how to climb over the fence. It looked impenetrable. With nasty spikes dotted along the top of each wrought iron post. No pain, no gain. I grasped one of the iron railings, brushing my fingers against some of the leaves of the Norfolk Pine. It shivered, as though being woken up, and then slowly one of its thick branches bent down towards me in a fashion that should not have physically been possible.

  It creaked and groaned and I thought it might just set off alarms inside the perimeter fence, but nothing happened, except I now had a way to clamber over to the other side. I snorted in disbelief, but didn't waste any time taking advantage of the opportunity.

  As soon as I climbed a way up the branch, it moved. Making me collapse along the length of it and grip its circumference tightly with my arms and legs. Then with a finesse that was not mine, I slipped from the end of the branch and landed in a crouch on the other side of the fence. The tree creaked back to its former position.

  He is inside, he is aware you are here, the tree whispered.

  "Well, thanks," I said a little sarcastically. What use was a network of spying trees if they couldn't get me on the property undetected? I might as well have hit the buzzer at the gate.

  He is attuned to you, the tree defended itself. We were not aware you were his Thisavros.

  H
is what? And it hadn't failed to register with me that the trees were easily reading my thoughts. Why hadn't they before, back at my home? I wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that I now believed. Doubt had still festered in my mind when I first thought my question at the Rimu Tree. I had no doubt now that the trees and I could communicate. What I doubted was my plan to confront Theo Peters.

  Well, here goes nothing. I was here. He knew I was here. I might as well come out guns blazing.

  Or come out trees blazing.

  "Those plants closest to the building, please get his attention," I instructed, taking off at a run towards where the trees all pointed, and had to be the location of the house itself. They parted as I ran, herding me in the right direction. Without their guidance I would have gotten lost, so thick was the foliage. It was a veritable forest here. I kind of loved it.

  After several seconds I heard the noise. Tree branches creaking, setting a beat that the tinkling of the leaves accompanied. A musical of nature, none ever before seen nor heard by man. It was magnificent. It was magical. It was so freaking unreal I kept shaking my head.

  Lights blazed from every window of the three storey brick mansion. Lit up like a Christmas tree, but I wasn't fooled by its festive façade. Did a monster live within those walls? Prepared to kill me? Who had killed my potted plants?

  I came to rest beneath the tree-line that bordered Theo's house and realised there was a rather large flaw to my plan. No tree or plant came within twenty feet of the building. And it wasn't surrounded by grass, but paving stones and gravel instead. It stood in a moat of concrete and stone, not a plant in sight. Well damn. I could hardly use pavers against the man. What now?

  Theo slowly walked down the steps at the side of the house where I stood, looking composed, dressed in his suit still. Looking too bloody good, it was completely unfair. I reached out and wrapped my hand around the leaves of the closest tree, seeking courage and comfort, and maybe a hint of an idea of what I should do next.

  The plant was silent. I guess my network of spies was fresh out of ideas too.

  "You trespass, Gi," Theo said in that silky, accented voice of his. I felt it wrap around me, fill me with warmth, set my blood alight.