Marked by Passion

Author:Kate Perry [Perry, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary, Romance, Paranormal Romance
ISBN: 9780446541008
Publisher: Forever
Published: 2008-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-one

It didn’t burn.

Frowning, I let go of the tab attached to the flint, waited a couple seconds, and flicked the lighter again. This time, I shifted the scroll to give the flame more surface area to catch.

The parchment didn’t even singe.

“Damn.” Maybe it was rolled too densely?

“Gabrielle? Are you in the bathroom?”

Wu. I froze. “Yes. And don’t you dare come in. I need privacy.”

There was a pause. Not even a rustle, which made sense considering he was a ghost.

Keeping an eye on the door, I untied the leather string binding the scroll and unrolled it, revealing the familiar fluid strokes of calligraphy. I steeled myself, waiting for tu ch’i to erupt.

It didn’t. Instead, it calmed to a gentle burbling. I sighed in relief and unfurled it all the way. I vacillated between wanting to read it and just getting rid of it.

For all I knew, if I destroyed it, a storm of locusts would rain down on the planet. The next time I had to take on something so critical to the world’s safety, I’d make sure I knew a little more about it.

“Gabrielle, are you done? It’s imperative that we discuss our plan of action.”

I had to get moving on this before he noticed something was up. No telling what he could do, and I didn’t want to be stopped. So I reignited the lighter, held it to the bottom of the scroll, and waited for it to go up in a whoosh of flames.

“I made a schedule for training. Some physical, because you’re in terrible shape, but mostly mental training to increase your control over the chi.”

Nothing.

“We’ll need to discuss your work schedule so you can arrange it around the eight hours of training you need to do every day.”

It wouldn’t catch.

“Gabrielle?” There was an element of concern in his voice this time.

“Damn.” I shook the lighter for good measure, lit it, and tried again. I stared unbelievably when the parchment remained singe-free.

“Gabrielle, I’m coming in.”

“Damn.” I tossed the lighter in the trash but wasn’t able to roll the scroll up before his head appeared through the wall.

His eyes bulged when he saw the parchment in my hand. “What’s going on here? Why do you have the scroll out?”

Feigning calm, I rolled up the one in my hand. “Just checking it out.”

“In the bathroom?”

I shrugged. “It’s the only place I have privacy these days.” I placed it back in the box and opened the door through his body. “That’s just creepy.”

He ignored me and focused on the scroll—of course. “You’re up to something. Your eyes always shift to the right when you’re up to no good.”

It was infuriating that he knew me so well in some ways but not at all in the ones that were important. But I didn’t want to think about this right now. I had to think of another way to get rid of the scroll since my brilliant plan didn’t work.

Since he didn’t seem inclined to get out of my way, I walked through him.

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