East

East | Chapter 15

Chapter 15

I'M SICK.

IT ISN'T JUST a cough, or a cold. I'm sick. Flu-sick. Even though there's no flu going around, since there isn't anyone around. The headache has returned with a vengeance and refuses to go away, and I can't stop sneezing.

"Oh, come on," Callia mutters when I have to stop by the side of the path again, letting off a chain of sneezes. "That's disgusting."

"I-I don't like it that much, eith-th-ther." I pinch my nose. "Okay, let's g-go."

I can almost run Callia's "lap" (ten rounds of the front yard, between the walls and the house) successfully now—that is, without feeling like I would throw up if I take one more step. But today, she seems determined to push me as hard as possible.

"Sit," she snaps, finally, when I've sweated through my shirt despite the winter day and she still looks pristine as ever.

I drop to the ground gratefully, ignoring the leaves and twigs that dig into my butt. "Now what?" I pant.

"Now," she says, a hard set to her mouth. "Now, we are going to activate your fire."

"Isn't that what—we've been—trying to do?"

Callia's lips twist into a smirk. "Oh, sure," she says nonchalantly. "We'll just kick it up a notch, that's all."

I eye her wearily, but she sits down across from me, legs crossed with a serene smile on her face. Something is different about her today—her bracelets are missing, I realize. "Okay," she says. "Close your eyes."

I cross my legs and close my eyes.

"Fully, East," she says.

"How do I know you won't burn me to a crisp?" I mutter.

"Well, Asher is watching from the window, and Andrew is out on the porch, so I'd say there are too many witnesses for that," Callia answers.

I crack open an eyelid. Her expression gives nothing away.

I sigh, and close my eyes again. Fully, this time, like she'd asked.

"Now, try to relax," she starts to say, sounding every bit as monotonous as Ash. "Relax your body. Start from the top of your head, to your neck, to your shoulders..."

But I can't relax. I keep squirming, suddenly self-conscious, a spot in the back of my head keeps heating up...

"East!"

My eyes snap open. "What?"

Callia's glaring at me as though she wishes I was the size of an ant, so that she can stomp me into a pile of bloody mush. "You weren't focusing. If you don't focus, you won't get it right. If you don't get it right, you won't activate. If you don't activate—"

"Okay, okay, I get the point," I interrupt. "I'm sorry. I'll try again."

She watches me for another moment.

"What?" I demand.

"You know," she says, a small smile on her lips. "I was lying about Asher. He's making lunch for Maggie."

I blink, and resist the urge to blush, or turn around and verify her words. "I don't care," I say. I know he's in the house somewhere, anyway. Just as the professor had asked, I've been keeping an eye on him, but it's only been a day and I've yet to catch him sneaking off to anywhere.

Callia raises a supercilious eyebrow. "If you say so..." She lets her voice trail off suggestively.

"Am I going to learn how not to set you all on fire or not?" I say impatiently.