Page 18 of Chase Me

“No.” She felt like sticking out her tongue and having a tantrum, something she’d never done in her entire life, not even as a child. The tablecloth sparked and lit on fire.

Mrs. Bohacek sat back and smiled, letting the fire spread.

There wasn’t a fire extinguisher in sight, only piles of shiny expensive things. “Ack. Quick, throw the tea on it to put it out.”

If this is what her emotions did, then poo on them. Ciara lunged for the tea pot, but a gust of wind blew across the table and lifted the pot into the air and out of her reach. It also fanned the flames. It hovered above the table and landed gently in Mrs. Bohacek’s lap.

Fine, she’d smother the fire in scones. Again, the breeze took her plan and whisked it away into the waiting arms of the other woman.

She glared at the woman. “Stop that.”

A spark jumped from the table and onto the rack of paintings sitting right next to them. An oil cloth covering the nearest work of art ignited.

Mrs. Bohacek raised both eyebrows, but then shrugged. “Uh-oh, I think that DaVinci is one of Jakob’s favorites. Too bad.”

Now Ciara was starting to lose her cool. She never, ever lost it. “Knock it off.”

“Okay.” Mrs. Bohacek waved her hand and the painting fell off the rack and into a pile of bundled stacks of hundred Euro notes.

Who the hell kept literal piles of money just laying around?

The closest stack sizzled and smoked, then caught fire like a log. Shit. If they kept this up, Jakob’s entire treasure hoard would go up in flames and she’d either die in the fire or he would kill her when he found out she’d done nothing to stop it.

Ciara clenched her fists and took several deep breaths. That only fanned the flames as a breeze blew from her mouth.

“What do you want from me?” she shouted. More paintings lit along with her words.

Mrs. Bohacek stood up and patted Ciara on the back. “You poor thing. Your emotions are all messed up. Usually anger begets fire or ice depending on the emotion behind it in a new magic user. Your mind can’t decide what it wants to do.”

“I know I’m broken, okay. Tell me how to put out the fire.”

“Kiddo, you aren’t broken. Maybe a little chipped, but nothing that can’t be filled in with some good loving. I ought to know. Now do as I say and close your eyes.”

Ciara frowned at her.

“Go on. If you want to save the rest of those paintings, you’ll do it.” She tipped her head toward the tower of fire.

“Fine.” Ciara closed her eyes and saw swirls of red and blue behind her eyelids. She didn’t like it one bit.

“Imagine a beautiful vegetable garden.” Mrs. Bohacek drew out the syllables, all sing-song-y and fairy godmother-like.

Ciara had never had a garden. Unless you counted Farmville. Then she remembered the area around the haystack Jakob had dropped her into. There had been fresh dirt and lots of growing things there.

“Good, now remember a time when you felt loved and focus your emotions, concentrate on pushing them under the dirt and bubbling it up from the ground.”

Love and dirt didn’t go together. Dirt wasn’t helpful. It got under one’s nails and got one’s hands smacked at the dinner table for not washing her hands.

Something crackled and crashed next to them. “Hmm, no that’s not working. Try again. Search your memories again, find that underlying emotion inside of you.”

Ciara peeked out of one eye and saw the flames jumping several feet into the air. Eek. She slammed that eye back shut. What had she been thinking a minute ago?

Oh, right. When Jakob had dropped her in the haystack. And when he’d pulled her out.

The way she’d accidentally straddled him. God, he was so fricking sexy, all hot and hard between her legs.

“That’s it. Focus that emotion right there and it will do the work for you. Whatever you’re thinking of right now, amp that up.”

It’s not like she had to try hard to do that. Her mind went straight from that scene to the sizzling kiss. A tingle crackledacross her skin from the inside out. Why had she stopped him from doing more?

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