Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 68004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Matthew taking the glass of water from Isaac to hand it to her had her flinching away. Scooting away from her, he set it down between them. “I would never hurt you.”
She pressed her dry lips together, seeing the pain in his eyes.
“I wanted to tell you about my gift.” Matthew looked up to stare at his brothers standing at the bottom of the steps. “What gifts we all have. I couldn’t find the courage. I should have told you last night. I tried to tell you last night, but then I got distracted.” Matthew’s hands hung down between his thighs. “I’m a fire walker.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
She shook her head. “Fire walkers don’t exist.”
“They do. I am one. I can create fire, walk through fire, and anything else you can imagine.” Matthew turned his hand palm up. On the tip of his index finger, a tiny ball of fire appeared.
Alanna watched as he lifted each individual finger and moved them. The tiny ball jumped to each finger before returning to his index finger. As Matthew stared at it, it grew bigger and bigger until it was the size of a baseball then disappeared when he closed his fist, as if he had shut off the oxygen.
“I can control the way it moves.”
“I saw that for myself.” She shuddered.
“I can withstand high heat, which would—”
“Kill anyone else,” she finished for him. “Saw that, too, or is my mind making it up?”
“You didn’t imagine it. You’ve never imagined anything happening to you.”
Her eyes widened. “How do you know what I imagined?”
“Alanna.”
Silas’ voice drew her attention to him.
“You didn’t imagine the wind talking to you. It was me.”
“That’s impossible …”
Silas went to stand next to a pile of leaves he was raking this morning when she had come to his house. He extended his hands, and the leaves started to rise from the ground in a conglomerate of colors. As he lowered his hands, the leaves fell to the ground as if they hadn’t been disturbed.
“It was you who told me to hide when Kate and Owen wanted to play the game?” Confused, she stared at him. How is anything like this possible?
“Yes.”
“You were the one who told me you knew who my prince …” Alanna looked away from his smile to stare at Matthew.
Silas nodded when she stared back at him. “Ezra has the gift of reading the stars. He saw that Matthew and you are soul mates.”
She rubbed her temple. This was unbelievable, but she had witnessed what Matthew and Silas could do.
“What can you do?” she asked, staring at Isaac.
Affronted, he stared back at her. “Our gifts aren’t carnival tricks. They are gifts which have been passed down through generations in our family. We stay isolated on this mountain so no one learns about what we are capable of doing. Imagine being a fire walker, or a wind talker, when people believed in witchcraft. Imagine what people would do if they found out Ezra could read the stars like an open book, or Fynn, who carries all the gifts to be passed down to future generations. He has the sight to see into the future … Do you know what would happen if people found out he knew who won a football game, what stocks would surge, and which would tank?”
“Easy,” Matthew said sharply. “She’s in shock and scared.”
“Welcome to our world.” Isaac gave her a sad smile. “There isn’t a day we don’t live in fear that, when Fynn goes to school, someone will notice his gift …”
Fynn was still just a child … The mental picture of someone using him to satisfy their greed had her chest constricting in fear.
Isaac nodded at her, knowing she was beginning to understand their fear.
“To answer your question”—his voice gentled—“I am a shadow walker. I can manipulate fire, not to the extent that Matthew can, but to use so I can walk in the shadows of the flames. Wherever there’s a fire, past or present, I can be present without being seen, or if they can, all they’ll see is my shadow.”
“You can’t go into the future?”
“No, not without paying a price. Our gifts come at a cost. I’m not a star gazer, nor do I have the sight. If I go into the future, and the fire goes out, I’ll be trapped. I won’t be able to come back.”
Alanna turned to look at Matthew. “Will you have to pay a price for using your gift today?”
“No, the mountain is our domain. If I had used my power off this mountain, then I would have.”
She licked her dry lips. Then, picking up the glass of water, she took several drinks. “When you, Isaac, said cost, I take it we aren’t talking about money?”
“No, something bad will happen in our life as punishment.”
She looked at Silas. “You helped me escape Kate and Owen numerous times.” She was almost afraid to ask, “Did you have to pay for helping me?”