Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) Read Free Page B

Russ?” I ask him over my shoulder.
    “Naw,” he says, softly swinging his golf club against the sand at his feet. “I already know the plan. We can talk on the beach tomorrow when we train together.”
    “Okay,” I agree , not knowing what else to say. I know that my love for Reed is torturing Russell, but I don’t know how to fix it. If there’s a solution, I don’ t know what it is . I watch as Russell walks away from me, back toward s the other end of the island…as far away from Reed and me as possible.

CHAPTER 2
    Infighting
    “Concentrate, Re d, shoot…you’ r e all over the place, ” Russell breathes , s itting cross-legged next to me on the beach . H e directs his clone ’s image in front of us to pick up my clone from her feet and slam her to the groun d, dissipating her like a small , mushroom cloud.
    “Russ-ell,” I breathe in a frustrated tone. “Stop killing my clones.”
    “But you make it so easy…” he trails off with a smirk until I elbow him hard in the arm. He’s as tough as a mountain now; nothing short of everyth ing I have would hurt him .
    I fa ll back on the sand , putting my arm over my eyes to block out the intense sunlight above us. It i s so physically draining to create these mirro r images of me— my clones . Russel l can do it now with no problem. E ach of h is clones look and act like his twin. He can sit next to me on the sandy beach and make the image of himself do whatever he’s thinking, like his mind is within the spirit-like body, carrying his consciousness.
    Then there’ s me. My whole world spins like I’m o n the teacup ride at Disneyland just getting my clone to appear. Directing it and trying to see what she sees is like looking at everything underwater or thro ugh someone else’s eyeglasses: e ver ything is distorted and blurry.
    Russell pulls my a rm back from my eyes as he kneels over me, blott ing out the sunlight with his huge six foot five inch frame . “We have time for one more clone…” he trails off again as he looks at my face. “Ah shoot, Red, I’m sorry,” he says in a gruff voice.
    Leaning back he pulls a tissue from the pocket of his board shorts , dabbing it at my nose gently.
    “Another nose bleed?” I ask tiredly, taking the tissue fr om his hand and holding it to my nose.
    “You have to tell me when you’ r e gettin ’ to that point,” Russell sa ys , sounding guilty. He put s his arm around my shoulder, making me sit up so he can look in my eyes. “How many of me are you seein’?”
    “Three…no, four…a nd all of you should get a hair cut,” I reply , trying to mi nimize the fact that I’m disoriented. He let s go of my shoulder to run his hand through his tawny hair that has been bleached in b lond streaks from the sun. Then h e has to quickly catch me as I begi n to topple over o nto his chest.
    “Whoa!” he says, before pulling me against his bare chest an d letting me rest my head while he strokes my back soothingly. His impress ive, crimson wings sho o t from the camouflage of his back as he ho ld s me in his arms, making him look every inch the lethal, Serap him angel that he is now. “Ahh , I hate when my wings do that!” Russell admits with irritation in his voice.
    “I know,” I agree , see ing exactly what he means. “It embarrasses me when m ine do that on their own .”
    “ I keep wonderin’ if it would ’ve b e e n easier if we were entirely ang e lic…you know? D oes t his kind of stuff happen just ‘cuz we’re part human, too?” he asks , sounding frustrated .
    “You mean…if we weren’t half- breeds , would we have more control over the angel ic part of our nature…like our wings?” I ask for clarity . Closing my eyes, I fi nd that it doesn’t help the dizziness, so I open them again quickly.
    “Yeah, that’s exactly what I meant,” Russell s ays , giving me a quick squeeze.
    “Reed said it’s normal. Emotions seem to trigger them. I think age helps. You’re only , what,