really, it’s like I can feel a shadow of the sparks but not any pain, do you know what I mean?”
Ares nods. “What changed? How did you make it happen?” His hand reaches out and one of the arcs jumps to him before he’s even touching me. He grunts, but the electricity snaps back to me.
“Does that hurt?” I whisper, afraid of his response.
Ares shakes his head quickly in denial. “Do you know how you made it happen?” His voice is firm, he wants me to concentrate on the question.
I stop to think of how I can explain it, “It’s like I said, I felt the heat of his touch and I wanted it, like I wanted to pull the feeling inside.” I shrug not knowing if I’m conveying it well enough.
“Okay, focus on that, can you pull it deeper, or pull more of it to you?” Ares is really close now, just out of range of the sparks.
I look up at Ollie. “What if I take too much? Is it his gift giving me this? Could I hurt him?”
Ollie grins down at me, his face smooth, showing no signs of concern. “Laura, you aren’t taking anything I wouldn’t give. Try it, see what happens. I promise you hurting me is the last thing that’s happening.” Ollie lets his head fall back and he closes his eyes.
Trusting him I grab the heat and tug it down deeper, pulling it into my core like I’m sucking in my stomach. Instinctually I lift my arm to shield my eyes, but it only brings the lights closer to my face. What I called sparklers before have now become bright flares, like you’d see in the sky for a fourth of July firework show.
“Uh oh…” I start to pull back from Ollie to break the connection and I push away the heat, hoping the sparks will go away. Instead of the heat leaving I feel it pooling in my hands, heavy pressure making my fingertips ache. One last shove has an arc of what looks like lightening shooting out my fingers and jumping right for the light switch. In the next moment a boom rocks the house, and all the lights die.
“Oh my God, oh my God, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” I chant in the darkness. Hands reach for me in the dark, but I shove them away. What did I just do? I can’t do that again, what if it would have hit one of them, what if it did hit one of them? I back away from where I think they are. “Ollie, Ares… Milo, Dante, are you guys okay?” I can’t keep the panic and fear from my voice.
“It’s fine Laura, just a little power surge. Relax, everyone is okay, are you okay?” Ares’s words are spoken calmly and I can feel him closing in on me. I know he has much better vision in the dark, so he’ll know exactly where I am.
“I’m okay. Are you sure you guys are okay? I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean…” I stop talking when I feel his cool palm land on my neck. Ares’s thumb traces up and down from my pulse point under my jaw to my collarbone.
“Shhh,” he whispers to me, his mouth at my temple. “Calm Cara, we are fine.”
“Ares?” I hear a woman calling his name from further in the house. “Merda, it’s dark… Ares.”
“Mia, you okay?” It’s Dante who answers. Ares still has his hand on my throat and his mouth at my temple. He’s breathing, but just barely.
“Yes, just a little shaken up, what was that?” Her voice is closer now, probably in the same room, or very close to it.
“We think it was a power surge. Here, let me get you a flashlight and I’ll help you get back to your room. Ares is checking out the generator. It should have already kicked on.”
“Oh, there you are. Thank you,” Mia’s replies.
I didn’t even think about her still being here. Does she live here with them too? My hand lifts and I clasp the fabric of Ares’s shirt, not caring that I’m wrinkling it. He belongs to me, she shouldn’t be here. As soon as the thoughts enter my mind, I shake my head in denial. He doesn’t belong to me, I just want him to, I want all of them to.
Ares closes the tiny distance between us, half of his body flush with the front of mine. “Shhhh,” he hushes me again, no louder