Page 32 of Magic Blooms
“What happened?” I shouted as Joshua stormed past me to the truck. But he ignored me, slamming the door with great force and turning over the engine.
I bit my lip in frustration, trying so hard not to scream as I jogged around Old Sparky and slid into my seat.
I expected Joshua to speed off immediately once I was inside, but instead he sat there silently stewing. He flinched when I put a hand on his arm to get his attention.
The movement drew my eyes down to where his hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly I feared he’d break it. That’s when I noticed that something wasn’t right, his hands didn’t look as they had before. His fingers had grown longer, sharper, tipped with dark claws.
“Joshua, what’s this?” I reached for one of his hands but he tore it away.
“You didn’t stay in the car,” he finally bit out, his whole body shaking.
“I wanted to help. I thought I did until?—”
“You did all this? With the plants?” He took a few deep breaths as he looked out over the mess I caused.
“Yes, that was me.” What was the point in denying it?
Joshua nodded and finally pushed Old Sparky into motion.
When I glanced at his hands again, they appeared normal, exactly as they’d been before.
What was going on? Why weren’t we talking about what had just happened? What we’d learned about each other? He now clearly knew that I could manipulate nature, and I knew he’d changed, shifted.
“Joshua,” I began hesitantly. “We can’t just sit here, pretending nothing happened.”
“I need a minute,” he said. It sounded more like a question, like he was asking permission rather than making a declaration.
And so quiet I sat until at last we pulled up to Fox’s End.
Joshua remained tense and agitated as he continued to freeze me out.
As for me, I only had one: What now?
Was this it? Were we giving up? Surely Joshua had a plan. We couldn’t stop now.
“Joshua,” I started again.
This time he turned to look at me, his eyes shining though no tears were falling. “We were so close,” he whispered. “He was right there. I can still smell him.”
I wanted to touch him again, to comfort him, but I was afraid he’d pull away. Instead I looked past the roiling emotions and focused on the facts. “You said he. It was a man?”
“I’m not entirely sure. But whoever it was, they were strong. I caught them right after they got to the body.” He winced. “Sorry, to Karen.”
He’d gotten to Karen, which meant our killer was one step closer to finishing whatever he—or, I guess, she—was trying to do. “What are the chances someone using death magic isn’t doing something terrible?”
Joshua’s silence was answer enough.
“The fire,” I blurted out, desperate to keep the conversation going. “Did you see the fire?”
Joshua nodded solemnly. “He let out that blast just as I reached the door.”
This next part was tough. “Do you… Do you think that means our killer has elemental magic? You know, like me?”
He studied me thoughtfully, then shook his head. “That person is nothing like you. You’re good, Polly. He…” His voice cracked and fell away.
Still, despite Joshua’s soothing words, I couldn’t help but wonder if the mysterious killer had somehow followed me through the portal, was one of Vilea’s rare fire elementals.
I let out a deep sigh. “We can’t give up. Lorraine needs us to keep going.”
