Page 49 of Drawn in Blood
“Now who is this?” she asked, as she smoothed out her apron.
“This is my brother Theo,” Ember replied, as she squeezed his hand.
He gave a small nod and signed, “Hello,”before quickly grabbing her hand again.
Eira’s eyes went misty as she smiled. “You remind me so much of Siris when he was little,” she said to no one inparticular. Before Eira could get another word in, Maeve came barreling around the corner and jumped into Ember’s arms.
“Ember, Ember!” she all but screamed, clinging to her torso like a life raft.
“Hi, Maevie.” Ember smiled, wrapping her in a hug. “This is Theo, my little brother.”
Maeve stepped back and tilted her head briefly before sticking her hand out, “I’m Maeve Kitt,” she said. “Do you want to meet the chickens?”
Theo looked up expectantly at Ember, slight confusion written on his face. Killian tapped his shoulder gently and signed, “Chickens,”and Theo’s face lit up. He nodded at Maeve with a huge grin, and the two of them sped off through the back door.
“I’ll have lunch ready when you’re done,” Eira said with a smile and turned to head back into the kitchen. The trio made their way outside to the orchard, Airwaves in hand.
“Okay, so I think we start with a few laps around the perimeter of the orchard,” Fen began, as he dropped his board and started to put on his gloves. “Maybe practice a few hairpin turns and then we can work on passing.” He took a cloth out of his pocket and began wiping his board down, focusing on the rails before pulling out a roll of grip tape from his pocket as well. “If we feel comfortable at that point,” he continued, as he applied the tape, “we can throw in the camans. Have you decided what position you’re going for?”
Ember’s eyes widened as she slowly pulled on her gloves. “Um, no, not particularly,” she stuttered. If she was being honest, she wasn’t entirely sure she should even be going out for the team. It seemed more like something Fen and Killian should be doing while she watched from the stands.
“We’ll worry about that later.” Killian smiled as he squeezed her shoulder. “Just focus on flying for now.” Ember’s cheeksflushed as she nodded, and Fen narrowed his eyes at the two of them.
“Don’t be weird,” was all he said, and then he quickly strapped into his board and took off into the air. Ember and Killian followed suit, and then the three of them began flying circles around the orchard. Ember held her breath as she climbed higher in the air, closing her eyes as the wind whipped her braid around her head. In the air, she didn’t have to worry about anything—not school or the kidnappings or how hard she was trying to acclimate to her new life. She just had to be, and that was the most freeing feeling in the world. After a few laps, Fen motioned for them to meet in the center of the orchard, hovering just a few feet above the trees.
“Okay, Em, you know how to do hairpin turns, right?” Fen said, as he flipped a Brazul back and forth in his gloved hands.
“Um, maybe?” she replied, not quite as confident as she intended.
Killian smirked as he lazily flew up beside her and squeezed her shoulder. “Here, I’ll show you,” he replied, and before she could argue, he sped off toward the end of the orchard. He bent forward, hands gripping the edges of his board as he inched closer to the edge of the tree line. One moment, he was flying forward, and the next he had made a complete one hundred and eighty degree turn without slowing or stopping, flying back toward Fen and Ember.
“Well done, mate!” Fen cheered, as he slapped Killian on the shoulder. “Your turn, Em.”
Ember swallowed dryly as she gave a nod, flexing her hands at her sides. “Should I maybe watch for a minute more?”
Killian furrowed his brow. “You’ve done things a lot scarier than a simple hairpin turn this summer,” he said. “Don’t think about it too much.”
Ember felt her ears burn hot as she nodded again. It wasn’t the flying that scared her, or even the turn. Killian was right. She had done turns and flips all summer long much higher than this. But at that point, it wasn’t training—not to her anyway. It was a fluid feeling, like the breath the swam through her lungs. There was a freedom in being up in the clouds, like everything that weighed her down couldn’t reach her up there. She took a shaky breath, rolling her shoulders as she flexed both her hands at her sides.
This felt different, more rigid, and she was having trouble ignoring the tightness in her chest.
She sped off, almost as quickly as Killian had, toward the edge of the trees. Her breathing became rapid as she reached the end of the orchard, and even though she had done it a hundred times before, her board began to wobble underneath her. She crouched low to grab the rails, but it didn’t make a difference. She slowed to a steady pace, taking the turn at a speed even Maeve would’ve laughed at, and then sped back to the other end, face burning from embarrassment.
Fen gave her a sympathetic smile as she approached.
“Should we work drills now?” he said as he tried to change the subject. “Maybe two against one?”
Ember sighed as she rubbed her forehead. “Maybe we can take a break. Get some water and relax?”
“Relax?” Fen said, as he furrowed his brow. “Tryouts are a week away. There’s not time to relax!”
“Calm down, mate,” Killian said, as he patted his friend on the back. “Fifteen minutes won’t set her any further back than she already is.”
Ember narrowed her eyes as the boys laughed, making their way down to the ground again and unhooking their feet from their boards. They piled under their favorite tree, and Killianplucked an apple from one of the low hanging branches and took a bite.
”We’ve got plenty of time to practice,” Fen said, as Killian tossed an apple in his direction. “You’ll just have to come over a few more times after school and maybe on the weekend after tryouts. We’ll get you there.”
Ember’s heart splintered as he beamed. ”Fen, I can’t just spend all of my time here,” she said quietly, as she shook her head.
