Page 32 of Sweets and Sycamores
She wasalive.
She unclenched her fists, feeling the bite her nails took out of her palms’ skin, then stretched her legs, unfurling from hugging her knees to her chest. The pain was real, and she tried to shift her focus to it and away from the excruciating prospect of being burned alive and turned into ash, her pieces scattered through the solemn sycamores.
Alive.
How was she alive? Where was the fire? Had it just been in her head? No. The air had been so hot, the blaze so close to her, so real…
Allie flinched when Ekko crashed into her from the side, his claws and wings hanging onto her hair, making a mess of her curls. She scratched him between his wings and untangled him carefully from her hair. Her cough had eased, and she took her first full breath, in and out.
The book hadn’t made it through the fire; its black ash slumped in a sad pile. Was this a sign that she shouldn’t strive to learn more about her power?
A loud thump behind her drew her attention, and she turned to see the last person she expected to see at that moment.
Her boss knelt on the ground, hands on his thighs, his shoulders rising and falling rapidly. His head was hanging, hair forming a curtain around his handsome face. Allie shoved aside her pain and fright and ran to him.
“Mr. Ranford!” she shouted, falling on her knees next to him. “Mr. Ranford, are you okay? What are you doing here?”
His breaths came in fast and loud, and she didn’t expect him to answer right away. But he did, and he raised those clover-green eyes to her, a trace of anger shadowing them. They roamed urgently over her body, head to toe. What was he looking for?
“Why weren’t you calling for help?” he growled through his labored breaths, that scowl that seemed to be part of him deeper than she’d ever seen it.
“I… Well… Because I was trying to fix it,” she said in a small voice. She had been trying to get it under controlsomehow. Dominic stayed quiet, instead focusing on evening his breathing. Allie had no idea what to do, how to help him, so she just stood there watching him, Ekko propped on her shoulder.
Was he the last person she expected to see, though?
If not him, who else? Who else in Sycamore Falls would care enough not to let her burn? The people here had a personal vendetta against Witches. If anything, they’d have happily ignited the flames that almost killed her.
Alive.
Had Dominic been the one who put out the fire?
Allie for sure wasn’t, or at least she didn’t think she was. Gods, this was embarrassing, not even knowing if she did or did not stop the fire she ignited. She felt nothing but useless, and so, so terrified. No way she was the one to masterfully control the blaze that had taken form and tried to attack her.
Her own power had tried to attack her.
“Were you… Were you the one who put out the flames?” she asked when she no longer heard him struggle to breathe.
Dominic gave her a curt nod and stood up, not breaking their stare. Allie followed.
Right. That made infinitely more sense.
It also meant Dominic had magic, too.
“Thank you, Mr. Ranford. I don’t know what would have happened if?—”
“Don’t.” A muscle ticked in his jaw, his lips pressing into a straight line. That frown deepened even more, and his hands fisted at his sides.
Okay. All right. It’s not like Allie wanted to think about what would have happened if he hadn’t gotten here in time.
“So…” Allie said, desperate to find a way to soothe the tension out of her boss’s features, afraid his muscles might pop from the strain. “You have magic?” Another curt nod, his eyes never leaving hers. “Fire?” She didn’t want to assume, but she had seen no water, and what other power could have put out the inferno she’d inadvertently started?
“Air.”
Her brows rose in surprise. Then…
He’d used his power to suck the air out of the flames, putting them out. An elemental Wizard?
But why couldn’t she Read him? Why did it feel like her magic knocked against an adamant wall, when?—
