Elysia couldn’t ignore the cry. It resonated in her soul, pulling her further into the thick grass and away from the car. The tangled weeds, thick and wet from the earlier rain, twisted around her ankles. In the fading daylight, the sloping field took on a strange and sinister shape. The brand-new power substation on the hill just beyond the city limits glowed with eerie, murky light.
She wasn’t even supposed to be out. Mom had told her to drive straight to Olivia’s to work on their lame social studies project, then come straight home. Except Sophie was throwing another party and Elysia knew there’d be no studying going on. She was technically still grounded for the last party at the Doyles’, but it shouldn’t count. Grace had been the one drinking, not her. She wasn’t going to rat out her friend. Her dad would be way harsher. But she could still justify bending the truth.
The cry came again, softer this time.
Whatever she’d seen in the field was still out there.
The strange flash of lightning, so late after the storm, had left a weird impression just as she rounded a curve to see the last bit of undeveloped land in Signal Hill. She’d slowed, then stopped. Just to see.
Maybe it was just sparks from the substation. A blown transistor or something. That happened in movies.
That’s when she heard the cry. Something wounded. Something that needed help. Or someone. She couldn’t shake the idea that it was a person she saw crashing into the field.
Her foot struck something hard and she dropped to her knees, searching for whatever might be buried in the tall grass. The cold, damp air worked its way into her bones, numbing her hands and distorting any sense of what lay beneath her fingertips.
The smell of something warm and metallic burned her tongue. Elysia froze and flipped her long auburn braid back over her shoulder, scanning the field for anything that might have left a wounded, or dead, animal behind.
A hand grasped her wrist, nearly shattering the bone with the force of its grip. She screamed and jumped to her feet, but the hand held tight, pulling her back with a muffled groan.
Falling to her knees again, Elysia fumbled for her phone, using the screen to light the body in front of her.
The eyes staring up at her from behind a thick fringe of dark lashes weren’t real. They weren’t possible. The swirling shades of grey and brown and green, flecked with gold and black, were too variable, too alive, to be human.
She flicked her gaze over the rest of the face – drawn and ashen, marked with blood and dirt. She touched the swelling under his eye and he flinched.
“Sorry,” she said, breaking the taut silence.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. You’re hurt.”
He pushed his body upward and winced. “Fuck.”
“Are you okay?”
He clambered to his feet and stumbled. “My ankle.”
Elysia slid her arm under his, holding onto his solid chest. “I’ve got you. Do you live around here?”
He smiled. “Not exactly.”
“Okay. My car is just over there. I’ll give you a ride.”
“I’ll be fine.” He looked at the sky. “I have to go before the wind fades.”
“Fine then.” She shifted his weight back onto him. “Do it yourself.”
The man chuckled and grabbed her shoulder to steady himself. Or boy rather. When he laughed, he looked younger. “I guess I am at your mercy.”
“I have a first aid kit in the car. At least let me check your head, maybe bandage your ankle.”
He pulled away, succeeding in falling again. “I’m not even supposed to be here.”
“Me neither.” She put her hands on her hips. “Are you going to let me help or not?”
“If my father realizes I got hurt, I’m going to get in so much trouble.”
“Then you better let me help.”
He looked at her with those impossible eyes. “What if I hurt you?”
She swallowed. It hadn’t occurred to her that the strange boy lying broken in the field might be dangerous. She’d heard an injured cry and she had to help. Mom and Dad were right. She was reckless and someday it would get her hurt or killed.
But she was certain it wasn’t that day. It wasn’t this stranger who would do her harm.
“I can’t leave you out here,” she said. “If you try to hurt me, I’ll call the cops or something. Come on.”
She half-carried him limping across the field and dropped him into the passenger seat. One of the nice things about her best friend living on the outskirts of town: not another car had passed the whole time she’d been pulled over on the side of the road.
“I really should go,” the boy said while she rummaged through the trunk for the first aid kit.
God bless Dad for always making sure she was prepared for a zombie apocalypse or whatever doomsday scenario he’d dreamed up.
She found the kit and let out a long, slow breath. She’d brought a strange boy – or man – back to the car. Alone.
Way too many horror movies started that way. Or Lifetime Originals. She poked her head around the side but the boy was still lounging in the front seat, staring at the sky. His strange eyes shimmered in the light coming from inside the car.
Dark hair and high cheekbones. Thin with that kind of hidden muscular look that made her want to take his shirt off.
Just to see.
He smiled at her and she blushed. Caught red handed. Or red cheeked.
She cleared her throat and popped the kit open on the roof. “So.”
“So.”
“Can I clean that cut under your eye?”
He nodded, somehow exasperating the wound and spilling more blood from the gash. Why did head wounds have to bleed so much?
“What’s your name?”
“Raiden,” he said.
“How old are you?” She pressed an alcohol soaked pad to the cut.
He winced, but didn’t cry out again. “Seventeen.”
“What were you doing out there?” She looked over her shoulder at the undeveloped field behind her neighborhood.
“I fell.”
“From what?”
“I was playing around, wasn’t very careful.”
“Sure.” She pushed up the leg of his pants and felt around his swollen ankle. “I guess that explains this.”
“It’s not so bad,” he said, gritting his teeth.
She smirked. “Sure. It’s not broken. But it’s messed up.”
“I’ll have a healer examine it when I get home.”
She raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Healer? Must be from some cult or something. Which would explain why she’d never seen him before. She knew everyone in Signal Hill. Sadly.
“Try to keep your weight off of it. You don’t want to make the swelling worse.”
“How do you know so much about healing?”
Elysia laughed. “Healing. I doubt my brothers would call it that. They all play soccer, so I had to learn to patch them up. Plus, my mom is a nurse and my dad is an EMT.”
“Where are your brothers? A girl like you shouldn’t be out alone like this.”
“A girl like me?” She bristled. “At college. I do just fine on my own. I’m sixteen and I’ve been taking care of myself since junior high.”
“Your hands are skilled.” He closed his eyes, leaning back against the seat while she wrapped his ankle. “I’d have thought you much older.”
“There. You should be okay, but seriously, you can’t walk on it. I’ll drive you home.”
He laughed again. “A car? I can’t get home with a car.”
“Then how did you get here?”
He leaned close, his breath sliding under the straps of her sundress and sending bumps across her arms. “I came with the lightning.”
She jerked her head up to stare him, but their eyes locked. Something crackled inside her, electricity flowing through her veins. She moved closer, drawn to him, drawn to his power, drawn to the lightning in his eyes.
Her phone rang and she jumped, pulling away.
“Lys!” Olivia yelled. “Where are you?”
Elysia glanced back at the car, but the boy was gone. “On my way.” She scanned the field, but there was no sign of him anywhere. Just a rush of wind that stole the air from her lungs.
“Lightning?” she muttered.
“So?” Olivia said. “Are you still coming?”
“Yeah.” Elysia shook herself. “Yeah. Give me ten.”
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