Excerpt: Fire and Ice Bound

Two days later, Brenn walked to the Meir residence to meet her friend and see if they could study together that night for a quiz she figured Havi would give since he’d been giving at least one quiz a week. When she entered the front door that remained perpetually unlocked, however, she was greeted by the amusing sight of Lunari and Rhett arguing. Rhett was holding a wet rag and scrubbing the inside of his bag with a fury that surprised Brenn.

“If you hadn’t let that stupid cat out,” Rhett was saying to the blond standing before him, “this wouldn’t have happened.”

Lunari glared up at the young man who stood head and shoulders taller than her. “And if you hadn’t left your bag just lying around where she could get into it...”

“She’s supposed to be locked in your room!”

“Only when I leave for school!”

“We were getting ready to leave!”

“I still had to go upstairs. I would have taken her up then!”

“It’s all your fault for wanting that dumb cat in the first place-- AHHH!”

Brenn had seen the warning signs and pulled up her bag as a shield for the burst of light Lunari used on Rhett to shut him up. It was one of the classic Lunari defense mechanisms, and Rhett still had yet to learn not to make the light-bonded feel that she was under attack. Lunari was a dab hand with element control, and within a few minutes managed to blind anyone who she felt was attacking her.

Such a defense was now working wonders on Rhett, who had his hands up to cover his eyes long after Lunari’s light shield went down. It was one of her favorite techniques to use in mock duels during class, so much so that Lector Havi required her to stop using it or else find herself banned from dueling. His reasoning was that she wouldn’t always be able to blind someone.

“But I control light,” she had reasoned. “I don’t even have to use my hands. Doesn’t that mean I can always blind someone?”

Lector Havi’s disapproving expression was enough to make Lunari stop using that particular defense in duels. It did not, however, stop her from using it outside of them.

“Lunari, why do you always have to do that?” Rhett’s annoyed voice broke into Brenn’s thoughts as she realized it was safe to lower her bag and look around.

Rhett had dropped that bag and the cloth, and now he was crouched on the ground, hands covering his eyes and scrubbing furiously. Lunari stood in front of him, back ramrod straight and arms held out in the familiar way she did when she was ready to take someone’s head off. Brenn leaned back against the door, happy not to have been noticed yet, and listened.

“First of all,” Lunari began angrily, “this is my house, and I will put my cat up when I please. Second of all, she wouldn’t have thrown up in your bag if you didn’t have candy in it. I saw you sneak that piece of lemon lava into the pocket of your bag the other day, Rhett Fabrizio, don’t you think I didn’t!”

She began pacing, waving her arms as she did. Rhett wisely stayed crouched once he was able to open his eyes and make out his surroundings. “And another thing,” she said, “my cat wouldn’t have been able to get into your stupid bag if you didn’t leave it unclasped! You never close that stupid thing; I don’t see how you don’t lose your books because it’s always open! You cannot blame me for her being able to crawl into your bag and find your lemon lava and then puke in your bag. That was clearly your fault!”