Fire & Ice

ch. 21

JAMIE

I couldn't stop shivering.

Izzy and Carol were cradling me in the back seat, trying to keep me warm. But it wasn't going to work. Not even the power of my stone could warm me up. 

Natalie kept the radio on as she sped towards the house. They'd all stayed behind after all to make sure Daniel and I made it out alive. I was grateful...but once again, I didn't want to leave the city.

I concentrated on the static sound of the radio, trying to stop crying. But the pain of leaving my mother behind just stayed right under my rib cage, ripping, burning, stabbing my heart to pieces. I hadn't gotten to say goodbye, not properly. I assumed Daniel had been the one to carry me after I'd been knocked out, and then I woke up here. Without her. 

All of my memory had finally returned, but only one memory was burned into my mind--the eyes of my mother, and her most significant words to me before I left her.

"Contigo, conmigo."

It seemed like it took an eternity to get back to the safe house, but finally we pulled up there after a while. Ethan, Jasmine, and Nick helped us inside.

As Jas guided me inside, I noticed that everyone else had not yet arrived.

"Where are the others?"

"They should be right behind us," Nat answered as she helped an injured Izzy out of the car. "Go on in."

I headed into the house alone, but I couldn't find the motivation to go any further than the bar stools in the kitchen. So I sat and laid my head down on the cold countertop, but it only made me shiver more. As everyone scrambled to find first aid kits and tend to injuries, Jas found me a blanket and draped it across my shoulders. 

Three minutes later, the door swung open again, and in came Payton. "We need help," she said, breathless.

I started to get up, fearing the worst, but Jas held me back as Ethan and Natalie ran outside. "It's okay. They've got it."

Then, seconds later, Ethan came back inside, searching for the wheelchair that Nick had used while injured after battle tag. 

"No," I whispered, escaping from Jas's grasp and going outside. 

Just as I suspected, they were trying to help Daniel out of the truck. When I saw him, my heart constricted. I could see Mom in him like never before--her eyes have always been his too. I realized then that he'd really been the one keeping me sane after all of these years. I wouldn't have been able to survive without him, and for the first time in a long time, the only place I wanted to be right now was in his arms. 

He pushed them all away once he saw me. 

"Jamie," he called weakly, falling to his knees with tears in his eyes. I ran to him, throwing my arms around him just before breaking into sobs again.

Suddenly everyone had surrounded us in a huge hug, but the only person I was really aware of was Daniel. He was my anchor, he always had been.

"Alright, come on guys, we should all get some well-deserved sleep," Adrian said moments later, as everyone disbanded. Danny held on to me for a little bit longer, and that was when I noticed his legs were burned from the lasers. 

"Am I hurting you?" I started to pull away, but he kept holding my hand as they eased him into the wheelchair. "I'm fine. We're all finally fine now." 

It took me a while to accept that, but eventually, I started to believe him. 

We all headed back to the city about a week after the explosion to see if there were any survivors, and to figure out what happened to everyone else's families. But we quickly realized that most of the population had been evacuated somewhere--likely wherever Jordan's allies had gone. We also realized that most of the ELITE community, including almost all of our homes, had been destroyed.