Free Blood in the Fire (Timelaws Trilogy) by Marise Ghorayeb Page B

ahead. I was scared for my siblings, for how they would be changed by the loss of their parents. Even more, I was scared for myself. How could I possibly be expected to take Mom and Dad’s place? I’ve been trying to figure it out since. Our parents always seemed like they were born being parents. They always had the right answer, always knew what needed to be said or done to provide a good home. I was a kid, thinking about parties and college. There was nothing about me that said “parent.” How much could I change in one night? Especially given that I didn’t want to change. I didn’t want the rest of my life to be about raising my brother and sisters.
    Tamer thought I was the one with the blind spot, but there was so much he couldn’t see. Night after night, I’ve stayed awake, thinking about what was best for Liz and Mark. I wondered if I was pushing them too hard on homework or not enough, tried to figure out how I could be there for them to talk to if they needed me and tried to anticipate their every need. And one thing I knew, one thing Tamer couldn’t know to consider, was that, as much as I needed Liz, Mark needed her even more. I didn’t think my brother could come back from experiencing her death. His happiness was more important to me than whatever good Liz was doing fighting these wizards out here.
    Liz will set off the alarm in T minus twenty seconds, Anton proclaimed telepathically. Tamer walked past me to stand near Anton and I took my place against the wall next to Mark.
     
    Elizabeth
     
    The alarm I’d set off blared in my head. The telepathic noise was almost enough to interrupt my thoughts. Battling for my sanity, I couldn’t gather enough information about my landing site for a precise teleport touchdown. The last thing I wanted was to materialize in the middle of a rock formation. Instead, I overshot, and materialized seven feet in the air. My stomach churned as I plummeted, and then the ground pounded my body. A sharp pain shot up my ankle, followed by a hard impact into my arm and shoulder.
    The wind got knocked out of me so I just lay there on the hazelnut, grass-like vegetation. My senses hadn’t yet figured out up from down when I heard his voice. “You really thought you could break into one of our high security prisons?” the wizard asked. “I scanned you. You don’t even have enough power left to teleport off this planet.” His tone was sweet and soft, but that made it all the more sickening.
    My weight shifted to my left arm as it strained to help me turn over. My body was sore. My other arm tingled as though it had been numb and jabbing pain swallowed my ankle, but I didn’t have time to think about any of that now. It took me a moment to struggle to my feet as my pursuer waited. My ankle forced me to stumble when I straightened up and eyed him for the first time. He looked like your average wizard in blue uniform: short, blond, skinny, with a long pointy chin and thin green eyes. I did notice one abnormality though. Most wizards had three fingers on each hand, like a tripod. This one only had two fingers on his left hand.
    “There must be at least a hundred guards who work at this prison. Not one of them had the skills to grow you an extra finger?” I jeered. Small talk would buy me time.
    “What matters,” Stumpy replied, “is that I had the skills to follow your teleport.” As he spoke, I started to take in my surroundings. We were on the top of a flat cliff, not far from the edge. Rocky, gray mountains and chestnut valleys surrounded us. The wizard grinned, and, in his sweetest voice, he offered, “However, if you would like me to show you my medical skills, I’d be happy to oblige.”
    His face disappeared behind a large ball of fire, about the size of a cow. It zoomed toward me. How did he conjure that so fast? I fell forward and lay belly flat on the ground as the sphere whizzed an inch above my skin. The two burns on my back throbbed from the heat: a