Free Fire with Fire (Demonblood Series #2) by Penelope King Page A

isn’t it?
    I really don’t care how pathetic it is.
    ~~~
    “Hey, Liora, come here. I wanna talk to you for a sec,” Tristan calls out, waving me over with his hand and flashing an adorable smile. I stop my conversation with Corrine mid-sentence and turn his way.
    The quad is nearly empty. The only students ‘officially’ excused are those with immediate family working at the mines. Everyone else is expected to be here. But it seems as if half the school is gone. I can’t help but wonder how many of my classmates are actually affected, and how many are just taking advantage of the crisis.
    “I’ll be right back,” I tell Corrine. She frowns, but I ignore it. I can’t help but feel she’s been a little too happy Kieron disappeared. Now she has me all to herself. But it’s not my fault no one else really wants to talk to her, and I’m not going to ignore Tristan just because Emme and Skye aren’t here today to keep her company.
    A slow smile spreads across my lips as I wander over to meet Tristan. “Hey, you. What’s up?” I can’t hide my pleasure at seeing him.
    He brushes his windblown hair away from his face and leans against the wall. As I get closer, he slowly runs his gaze up the full length of my body, and a half-grin tugs at the corner of his mouth. A light flutter of chills races down my spine, but not like when I first saw him. These are more of the ‘excited chills’ variety.
    “Wanna play hooky? I got us off campus passes for the rest of the afternoon,” he says coyly.
    “How’d you do that? And why?” I ask, not unhappily. School is still utter torture and such a complete waste of time. Some days I manage to get through okay, but other days are nearly intolerable. Today is one of those days. I need a distraction. I need something to skip my brain out of repeat, out of dwelling on Kieron…of replaying every moment we ever shared together… every word he ever said to me.
    Tristan shrugs and flashes a charming smile. “Why ask why? We’re free. Just go with it.”
    I laugh and nod my head. “Just let me say bye to Corrine real quick.”
    I choose to ignore the questioning disapproval in her eyes when I tell her I’m taking off with Tristan. Things have been kinda weird between us lately, and I don’t want problems. She’s still my friend. Other than Tristan, my only friend…I certainly don’t want to lose her. But right now Tristan gives me something that she can’t. Something I need.
    Escape.
     
    After a quick stop at our lockers, Tristan and I head for the parking lot. The air is cool but the sun is shining through the wispy layers of clouds. I can’t wait for winter to be over—spring cannot come soon enough. Then I can graduate, and I’ll be free from this prison once and for all.
    Just thinking about something as innocent as hating school makes me think of Kieron. Like the expression “all roads lead to Rome”, all my thoughts go back to him. I remember how he’d confided to me how much it hurt him to be in school. Physically hurt him, not just mentally like it does me. Since Dove Creek High School resides on sacred grounds, anytime Kieron crossed its boundaries he told me it felt like he was being stung all over by hundreds of bees. The only way he could tone it down some was to project a strong mental shield around himself. Strangely enough, the side effect of this was that everyone became more attracted to him, as if they were being sucked in by his powerful, protective force. I’d been immune to some extent, but apparently not enough. Not an hour passes that I don’t think of him, no matter how hard I try. Why would someone who willingly subjected himself to physical pain just to be with me, leave and never come back? It just doesn’t make any sense.
    “What’s wrong?” Tristan asks as he opens the car door for me.
    I fake a smile. “Nothing.”
    “You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?” he asks softly as he settles in beside me.
    I shrug and look out