Blood in the Fire (Timelaws Trilogy) Read Free Page B

countered. “Which is why I think we should give her a chance. It might even be fun.”
    Luke smiled. “It’s not hard to be more mature than a college student who still watches Tom and Jerry cartoons between classes,” he ribbed. I smiled too. I knew Luke couldn’t pass up an opening to tease me, and I’d purposefully handed him that one on a silver platter.
    “Hey, don’t you go knocking the genius that is cartoon physics,” I said. Even though Luke had smiled, his eyes were still sad.
    “Look, Liz acts like this world of hers is no-big deal,” I continued. “Maybe it’s not. Maybe what happened was some freak act of nature and once you and I get a chance to look into it, it won’t seem so scary anymore.” Luke picked up the glass Liz had been drinking from and took it to the sink to rinse out. He turned the faucet on and finally the dripping was replaced by a steady stream of water. I kept talking. “I mean she’s been doing this for years and she’s never come home hurt before. Mom and Dad got her started for goodness sake. Would they have done that if she was in real danger?”
    Luke nodded. He placed the clean cup on the towel by the sink and turned toward me. “Thanks bro,” he said, rustling my hair as he walked by.
    “We’ll go with her and then we’re both gonna feel better about this whole thing,” I replied. Luke was already half way to his bedroom, but I kept talking. “And in the meantime, if we get to kick some alien wizard butt along the way, well how cool would that be?”

Chapter Four
The Family Business
     
     
    Elizabeth
     
    My mind tried to connect with Anton as I headed out to the backyard. Wet, damp air greeted me at the porch door: the remnants from last night’s storm. Mosquitos and small bugs hovered around in the still atmosphere.
    After a few more attempts, I concluded that my boyfriend was out of telepathic range without a power boost. Short-range telepathy required virtually no magic.
    Voices coming from the kitchen let me know that Mark and Luke were discussing something inside. The humidity out here was unpleasant, but I suspected the kitchen would even less agreeable. Instead, I surveyed the overgrown grass in our backyard. After last night, it was probably my responsibility to do the trimming. By tomorrow, I’d be deemed fit enough to start on my new allotment of chores. Choosing between a new mission and yard work, I decided it was worth another shot.
    To my surprise, my boyfriend answered this time. He sounded groggy.
    Sorry for waking you, I apologized. You didn’t get much sleep last night, did you?
    Nah, what’s up? Anton replied. He tried to sound casual, but we’d both been struggling to get a good night’s rest since our last assignment. It ended with me finding out that we were going to lose the war against wizards. It wouldn’t happen soon, or even in the next hundred years, but eventually, the good guys lost.
    Anton was the only person I had shared this information with. The shock in his eyes when I’d told him had made me sick to my stomach. But we were both clinging to one small shred of hope. Our future comrades could still win the war if I could figure out a way to break the rules of time-travel. All I had to do to change the course of events was get a message to my friend in the future. Unfortunately, breaking this particular time-law seemed impossible.
    My mind was tired of spinning around in endless circles, trying to solve a puzzle that, perhaps, had no solution. I could feel through our telepathic link just how drained my boyfriend was too. He was fighting sleep, despite the hour. We both needed a distraction.
    Luke asked me to give up my powers, I said.
    A moment of shocked silence met my announcement. What did you tell him? Anton asked at last. I recounted to Anton the details of my conversation with Luke this morning. We agreed that he would grab lunch with my cousin, Tamer, and the two of them would get back to me with a trainee