The Fire Keeper by J. C. Cervantes

Author:J. C. Cervantes [Cervantes, J. C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781368046183
Publisher: Disney Book Group
Published: 2019-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

A sudden heat charged through my blood and bones so fast I couldn’t take a breath. It felt like I’d been shocked with a million volts of electricity, and every cell in my body was splitting open and regenerating. Like every bone was breaking and reconnecting. Like my brain was exploding and being pieced back together. Forget the side effects, there should have been a warning label for the actual death part: Dying sucks!

The next thing I knew, I was lying on the grass under the trees in Fausto’s garden. A sharp pain stabbed behind my eyes as the world slowly came back into focus. I could feel the Red Queen’s mask in my hand. I was relieved it hadn’t become stuck to my face or something creepy like that. My eyes darted around, making sure the Red Queen hadn’t hitched a ride back with me. Thankfully, I only saw my friends and Fausto.

Ren stared at me with horror.

“Dude,” Hondo said. “You look…kinda sick and pale and sweaty.”

“You guys can see me?” I asked.

“You’re not a ghost, idiot,” Quinn said.

“Phew—glad it worked.” Fausto rubbed his brow. “Hate to mess up my ninety-percent perfection rate.”

“Ninety?!” I thought Brooks might lunge for the guy’s throat. “What happened to one hundred?”

“I’m really bad with numbers, okay?”

“How do you feel?” Brooks knelt next to me, biting her lower lip. “You just vanished. What happened?”

“I feel like I was crushed under an eighteen-wheeler.” I checked for my pulse. Relief flooded my body when I could feel the thump, thump, thump. I got to my feet shakily, leaning on Fuego. “I saw her—the Red Queen.” I didn’t tell them about our little Q and A session. It would only raise suspicions.

Hondo said, “A D-E-A-D queen in a tomb? Bro, that’s seriously creepy.”

Brooks didn’t take her eyes off me and I could tell she was thinking I was hiding something.

“You should plan to stay the night here,” Fausto said.

Hondo looked like he was about to argue, when Quinn put her hand on my shoulder and said, “You’re going to be exhausted and weak for a while. It’s part of the death magic. And everyone else should rest, too. We can leave at dawn.”

“Less than three days, two rescues?” Hondo muttered, dragging his hands down his face. He didn’t say the word I knew was on the tip of his tongue. Impossible.

Rosie came over, sniffed me, then backed up with a growl. A thin trail of smoke floated from her eyes.

“Hey, girl, it’s me.” I stretched out a trembling hand, which only made her retreat farther. I felt suddenly hollow, like someone had carved out my insides.

Brooks patted Rosie reassuringly and whispered something in her ear. Ren narrowed her gaze and studied me like she could see something the others couldn’t. But I was too tired to ask her what it was.

We made our way through the dim orchard toward the house. As we slipped between the gloomy shadows, my heart felt so small I wasn’t sure it was there anymore.

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