Spell Fire by Ariella Moon Page A

shoulders, trying to dispel the odd pull between my shoulder blades as if wings were trying to sprout or recede.
    "What exactly did I get sucked into?"
    "The dragon flight pattern." Ponytail expelled a long breath. It sounded like wind rushing between mountaintops. "I never would have cast such a low path had I known you were a Sensitive."
    "She's Terra's niece. What did you expect?" Jett sneered.
    "Wait a minute," I said. "Back up. Dragon flight pattern?"
    "How was I to know they were related?" Ponytail told Jett, ignoring me. He glanced at my Nordic hair, which didn't resemble Mom's or Aunt Terra's. "We were never introduced." Finally, he gave me his full attention and extended his warm, tan, muscular hand. "Thor Grael."
    Très Viking. My legs seemed to morph into string cheese. "Ainslie Avalon-Bennett." I wished he'd release another long breath. I wanted to ride the air currents, see the peaks. The pressure between my shoulder blades returned, only this time it felt like something inhumanly tall nudged me from behind.
    I definitely glowed.
    Thor clasped my hand at least a minute longer than would have been considered proper at Junior Cotillion. The center of his palm pulsed as if transmitting a secret code. I slipped my hand from his grasp.
    Thor's attention shifted to a point a few feet above my head. "What?" I asked.
    "Nothing." Thor's enigmatic expression didn't jibe with the keen look in his eyes.
    A chill shivered down my arms. Maybe something enormous was behind me.
    "If you're sure you're all right—"
    "I'm fine." I wasn't, but Thor needn't know. I waved him off. "Thanks for checking on me."
    Thor threw me a knowing look, as though we shared some private knowledge, and then bowed his head and pressed his hands together in prayer position. He was too tall and broad-shouldered to be a ninja, but he had the bow down.
    I returned the gesture, the embodiment of Gong Li. Jett feigned interest in the Buddha statue (at least I thought he was faking), and Thor left as silently as he had arrived. I wished I could call Jazmin or my parents and tell them what had happened.
    "Seniors think they are such hot stuff." Jett's lips curled into a snarl. "At least now we know the meaning of the blank totem stone."
    I gave an un-cotillion snort. "Yeah. It's an ordinary rock."
    "No-o-o." Jett drew out the word. "It's a wish card."
    "No way. Why? What do you think I wished for?"
    "Duh." His expression totally indicated he thought I was an idiot, which I so am not. Just check my IQ score. "A dragon."
    "I did not!" I wasn't that mentally unsound.
    "Whatever." He rolled his eyes, boiling my blood, especially since I hadn't lied. If I had drawn a wish card, I would have wished for Sophia's safety or for my parents to love each other again and not get a divorce. Failing that…
    "If I had a wish card," I said, "I'd wish to know the future."
    Jett flinched. "Why?"
    "Because not knowing sucks."
    He stared down at his feet. "Haven't you heard? Ignorance is bliss."
    "Not for me. I would want advance warning so I could prepare myself."
    He studied me long and hard, as if trying to see into my soul. I held his gaze, but shifted from one foot to the other. Jett crossed his arms over his narrow his chest. "Then I guess you did get a wish card."
    "How do you figure?"
    "Because I can show you the future."
    "You're delusional," I told him.
    "You sound like my mom."
    "A wise woman."
    He headed toward the rectangle of waist-high display cases boxing in the cash register.
    Like an idiot, I followed him. "Okay, prove it. Show me the future of the next person who walks into the store."
    "You're on." Jett used a silver key hung on a cord around his neck to unlock one of the cases.
    "Come on," I said as he pulled out a crystal ball nestled on a black satin pillow. "Those things don't work."
    "Depends on who uses them." He placed the orb on the workstation below the counter. "If I show you the next customer's future, then you have to buy me lunch tomorrow.