Dark Heart of Magic
Page 46

“Now what?” I asked. “Why aren’t we going back to the mansion?”
Felix grinned. “And miss the after-party? Are you kidding? It’s the best part of the tournament.”
“After the first day of competition, everyone gets together for a little food, music, and fun,” Devon explained. “It’s tradition. Tomorrow night’s party after the tournament ends will be even bigger and better.”
I didn’t particularly want to party, but Devon and Felix grabbed my hands and dragged me along. We walked about half a mile through the woods before the trees opened up onto a sandy beach. It was odd, seeing such gleaming, white sand in the middle of the West Virginia mountains, especially since we were hundreds of miles away from the ocean, but it was another thing that made Cloudburst Falls special. Every year, the town officials, with the Families’ help, trucked in tons of sand to create and maintain a beach that wrapped around the lake.
Bloodiron Lake had always been one of my favorite places to visit. It looked like one of the vacation postcards you could buy from any cart on the Midway—the white, sandy shore, the glittering, deep blue surface of the water, the green pine trees surrounding everything. Even the sky was perfect, clear, bright, and dotted with puffy, marshmallow clouds.
Wooden picnic shelters ringed the perimeter of the lake, set back in the grass that surrounded the sandy shore. All of the shelters featured metal grills, along with heavy-duty, blue and green fiberglass picnic tables where folks could sit and enjoy their hamburgers and hot dogs.
The butlers and pixies from the Families must have come over here as soon as the tournament had ended because the grills were already going strong, with smoke wafting through the air. My stomach rumbled in anticipation. Was there any better summertime scent than grilled food?
A line had already formed in front of the grills, where Reginald was overseeing Oscar and the rest of the Sinclair pixies. Devon, Felix, and I got in line, and soon I was loading up a plate with a cheeseburger, topped with plenty of bacon, along with macaroni salad, fresh summer veggies, and a mound of cheese fries sprinkled with, you guessed it, more bacon.
I grabbed a cup of lemonade, then followed Devon and Felix over to a picnic table where Poppy and Katia were sitting.
Katia flashed Felix a smile and scooted over to make room for him. He hesitated, but I bumped his shoulder with mine, nudging him forward. He shot me a dirty look, then smiled back at Katia and sat down beside her. I took the seat next to Poppy, with Devon sliding in on the bench next to Felix and across from me.
Everyone must have been as starved as I was, because we spent the next few minutes chowing down on our food. The cheeseburger was so good that I polished it off, then went over and got a second one, this time with even more bacon. The macaroni salad was rich and creamy, the veggies were cool and crunchy, and the fries were the perfect mix of crispy potatoes, ooey, gooey cheese, and smoky bacon. The ice-cold lemonade was tart and sweet and just the thing to hit the spot on a hot, humid day.
By the time we scarfed down our burgers and fries, Reginald and the pixies had set out several desserts, including a chilled strawberry pie topped with vanilla-bean ice cream that was so cold and sweet it made my teeth ache—but in a good way. I had three big pieces of pie, more than anyone else.
Katia smiled, amused by all the empty paper plates littering the table around me. “You must have been hungry, Lila.”
Felix rolled his eyes. “She’s always hungry. You should see how much bacon she eats for breakfast every day.”
“And why is that a problem?” I said. “Besides, fighting and upholding the Family honor and stuff is hard work.”
Felix rolled his eyes again. “Yeah. That’s it.”
Katia, Poppy, and Devon all laughed.
“Well, I’d say that Lila has earned all the bacon she can eat,” Katia said. “I saw you fight. You have a strength Talent, right?”
“Right,” I said in a neutral voice. “Just a minor one, though.”
“That must come in handy, especially during the tournament.”
“Sure,” I said, staring at her so she wouldn’t realize that I was lying.
Devon and Felix both frowned. They knew how important it was that no one realize the truth. Strength was a common Talent, but my transference power was not. It was the kind of rare magic that people would kill to possess, just like Devon’s compulsion power.
But Katia didn’t seem to notice our unease and turned her attention to Devon. “And you did well too. So did Poppy.”
Devon and Poppy both murmured their thanks, and I decided that it would be better to talk about something else, anything else, than what magic we’d used to help us win our matches.
“You did good too, Katia,” I said. “You moved really well out there.”
She scowled and shook her head. “Not well enough. Not fast enough. I didn’t think that guy would be as good as he was. I almost let him get the best of me. But it won’t happen again. I’ll make sure of that.”
She looked at me, her hazel eyes locking with mine. A second later, her rock-hard determination flooded my body, along with hot, desperate need.
Sweat popped out on my forehead from the strength and burning heat of her emotions. I dropped my gaze from hers, but her fiery feelings kept simmering in my own body. Katia’s desire to win the tournament was much more intense than I’d expected.
We talked about the tournament for a few more minutes, along with music, movies, and more. All around us, folks finished their food and got up from their tables. Some of them drifted back to the fairgrounds to play carnival games or get junk food, but most folks headed down to the water’s edge to bake themselves on the beach, play volleyball and badminton in the sand, and swim out to the floating platforms in the middle of the lake and back again.
Katia got up, dumped her plate and cup in the trash, and came back over to our table. She gave Felix a sly smile.
“You want to get out of here?” she asked in a soft voice. “Go to our spot at the old boathouse and finally catch up?”
“Um, well, sure,” Felix said. “That sounds . . . nice.”
Katia frowned, hearing the reluctance in his voice. “Is something wrong? I thought that we’d hang out tonight, just like we did last year. I’ve been looking forward to it. Haven’t you?”
“Sure,” Felix repeated, trying to smile but not having much luck at it. “It’ll be nice to talk with an old friend.”