Lightning Kissed by Lila Felix Page B

we call Collin?” I asked after
slurping some of the pungent broth.
    “I don’t have his number.”
    “Yeah, I guess we missed some of the basics.
So when are we going to the temple?”
    “Tomorrow morning.”
    “I need to call my mom. I need to call Ari
and Sway. I set up Ari on all of my jobs.”
    He nodded, way too interested in his soup. I
sipped at mine, completely blasé about the whole eating thing. The
people around us scattered, taking their oxen and goats with them.
Theo now seemed to be in a different world, staring off into space
instead of eating.
    “If you’re done, maybe we should get back.
The vendor woman is eyeing our bowls. She probably thinks we may
swipe them or something.”
    Still it took him a moment to respond.
    “Sure.” He took mine and nested it within
his and handed it back to the woman who received it with a smile
despite her previous foul expression. That was the effect Theo had
on women in general.

 
     

    EMPLOYMENT
OPPORTUNITIES MUST BE PRE-APPROVED BY THE SYNOD.
     
    It happened again. Colby was talking about
the monk at the end of the line. I don’t even know how it happened
or why it kept happening. I stared at the monk, not really noticing
anything different about him. And then while I was eating the soup,
I heard him speaking and somehow I knew it was him. It was similar
to when I’d heard Colby talking to Rebekah, but I assumed it was a
thing between the two of us.
    The monk’s voice was hushed. He spoke not to
a person, but as a person recording something. It was too much.
Every time I turned around there was something else happening to
me. I had to find more information. No wonder most of the stories
centered on Eivan and his inability to handle all the powers being
bestowed upon him at one time. Wasn’t it enough that I was the
fluke male who could flash?
    I didn’t want to put any more pressure on
Colby. She was so benign about most deep things. I thought that was
why she spent so much energy on superficial things—it was to deter
her from thinking about things that really mattered.
    Plus, she was a brat.
    Collin wouldn’t arrive until later in the
night. With everything that had happened, it sounded ridiculous,
but I just needed one night with her. I’d been deprived of her
presence for so long that I just needed my fill of her.
    Even though she claimed we were together,
she was still distant. Maybe it was just the stress of all this. I
almost wish she hadn’t come.
    Almost.
    When we got to the valley, we flashed to the
house.
    “Are you tired?” I asked her.
    “No. I thought maybe we could go somewhere
tonight. Somewhere you like to go. We always used to go wherever I
wanted.”
    We had always gone where she wanted, but I’d
never minded.
    “Really?”
    “Sure. Do you want to go to The Isle of
Skye? Maybe just home? If you want to go spend some time with your
parents, it’s fine.”
    She was facing the bookshelves, packed with
books that appeared to be as ancient as the mountains themselves.
There was no TV in the whole place, not that Colby had ever been
fond of TV, with the exception of the travel channel for obvious
reasons.
    “Let’s go to Catatumbo,” I suggested,
wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her against me.
    “But that’s one of my favorites,” she said,
turning so that I could see her pronounced pout.
    “It’s one of mine too. This is the perfect
season for the lightning storms.”
    “I know. Let’s grab a blanket or two.”
    A side effect of Colby’s lithe stature and
purposefully kept low weight was that she was always cold, which
was also another reason why she loved the beach. While other
tourists baked, she was completely satisfied in the heat. I grabbed
two blankets, both brightly colored, like the clothing of the
Tibetan people and teased, “Beat you there.”
    I hit our spot at the top of the cliff
before she did. From our perch, the Catatumbo River could be seen
for miles and miles. The lightning storms lasted