Fighting Fire is HERE!

Hey guys, exciting news today... I published the first book in my new series, Fighting Fire! It's book 1 in the Burning world series, and I can't wait for you to read it. Without further ado, here's the cover and first chapter, just click on the link above the cover to get to it on Amazon! Enjoy!

FIGHTING FIRE

Prison had never been a pleasant place to live. I would know; I spent two years of my life in one dirty, smelly cell.

            “Heard from your transporter yet?” Blair, my jail buddy, asked. We could see and talk to each other through the metal bars that separated us. With only each other for company, we were best friends. Or as close as anyone could get while locked in jail

            “Not yet.” I shrugged, looking down at my brown shirt. It started out blue, I think. Years without a shower or anywhere to wash up would do that.

            “Ah, well, maybe tomorrow.” Blair smirked. She wasn’t so sure that my transporter was ever going to rescue me. Even though my dad, a future-seer, had left me there eight years ago with a key and a promise that a transporter was going to rescue me and take me on some kind of quest to save our people, Blair wasn’t much of a believer.

            I thought the fact that she had the same power would persuade her, but no. She didn’t believe it.

            “He’ll show up one of these days.” I leaned back against my stone wall and closed my eyes. You would think people should go crazy from boredom in jail, but it hadn’t happened yet. I guess I was too busy being hungry and exhausted to lose my mind.

 Just as I began dozing off, I started to smell smoke.

            “What’s going on?” I stood up and turned around, hoping to see something through the two-inch window way above my head. Of course, it was too high and too small to actually see out of, but it didn’t hurt to try.

            “Is there another fire-starter here?” Blair wondered, her eyes widening as they met mine. As far as we knew, I was the only one in camp with power over fire. Elemental gifts weren’t exactly common. If anyone else had a power like mine, they would be down here in the cell next to me.

             “Dear stars, I hope so.” I muttered, craning my neck just a little more. Another fire-starter would mean that I wasn’t alone in being a danger to society. Somehow, the idea comforted me.

            There was a bang on the metal door separating the prison from the rest of the world. Blair and I spun around, both us hurrying to the other side of our cells, where we could see through the bars to that door. A deafening noise echoed through our prison as the doors were forced open. I started feeling hopeful when I saw men’s shoes at the top of the stairs. Could it be him? The transporter my dad had promised me eight years ago?

            The man hurried down the stairs, glancing over his shoulder. Smoke followed him inside, preventing me from getting a glimpse at him.

            “I’m looking for a girl with a key.” The man announced. I couldn’t see him, couldn’t see who was talking. “Is anyone down here?”

“We’re here.” I called out. If we couldn’t see him, he couldn’t see us either. I heard his footsteps coming closer as he walked toward our cells, the two at the left of the stairs.

            “Alyssa.” Blair looked at me, her eyes wide and alert. She had never believed he existed, yet here he was. My transporter.  I opened my mouth to tell him that it was me, he was looking for me and the key around my neck, but then I saw his face.

            The words wouldn’t come out.

            It sounds ridiculous, but he was too perfect.

            His hair was dark and had a few ashes in it, and there was soot on his face. He was tan and rugged, with muscles that made him look strong and lean rather than big and bulky.

            His appearance wasn’t what stopped me from speaking, though. Attraction aside, there was something about him that seemed familiar. I couldn’t quite figure out what it was about him that was so right, but it was something strong because I wanted to throw my arms around his neck and yank his lips against mine.

            When my eyes met his, I saw that he was looking at me with a similar expression to the thoughts going through my mind, along with something else. His eyes said something along the lines of,

            “Finally.”

            I guessed that he had probably been waiting to come find me just as long as I’d been waiting for him.

            “I’m looking for a girl with a key.” He held up a sheet of paper with a drawing on it, a drawing of my key.

            “Are you a transporter?” I swallowed and forced out the words. Attractive or not, this guy was here just like my dad said he would be.

            “It doesn’t matter what—”

            “It’s Alyssa.” Blair gestured to me. “She’s had that key on a necklace since her parents left her here. Are you a transporter?” She repeated the question for me.

            “Yes.” The familiar guy nodded. The way he looked at me was intense and, once again, familiar. It felt like I’d forgotten him, somehow.

            I swallowed again.

            My mind was moving too quickly to process how I was supposed to respond to him, the transporter I couldn’t remember.

“What are we supposed to do?” he asked. “This paper only told me to find you.”

“We need to go to the Library, where the seers used to stay. That’s all I know.” I explained, gripping the metal bars like they were the lifeline keeping me on my feet. In some ways they were. I wasn’t very steady on my feet after all that time in the same six feet of space.

“Alright.” He nodded once. “How do we get you out of here?” he looked around, checking for a key I assumed.

“There aren’t any keys.” I shrugged. “They have a guy with power over metal to keep us trapped in here.

“Okay, give me one second.” He said.

And then he disappeared.

After seeing that, there was no way I could doubt he was a transporter.

“By the stars, Alyssa.” Blair looked at me with wide eyes. “You never said your transporter was both sexy and real.”

“I didn’t know.” I admitted, looking back to the spot he’d disappeared out of. The smoke in the air was getting a little harder to breathe in, but it wasn’t thickening so I figured we at least weren’t going to get toasted.

“If the fire beats him back can you calm it down?” Blair checked. I slowly shook my head.

“You know I have no control.” I reminded her. She sighed and ran a hand through her long, dark hair.

“We might be in trouble.” She said.

“I hope not.” I grimaced and pushed away the thought that he might not come back for me.

When two minutes passed by without any sign of him, I looked back to Blair. She looked worried.

“Do you think he’s…” she didn’t finish the question, and I didn’t blame her for it. I’d been waiting for this transporter to show up for eight years. If he was just going to ditch me… well, there was no backup plan. Just me and Blair and this smoke-filled prison.

She coughed, and I grimaced. Maybe if I had just a little control I could’ve gotten rid of the smoke, but as it was I could only grip the prison bars tighter and ask the stars for a miracle.

The smell of smoke began thickening, and I heard a few people outside start to call out for help.

“What’s happening up there?” Blair worried. Even with her power, she couldn’t see anything more about the present moment than I could. We were both in the dark.

Or in the smoke, I guess.

“I don’t know. Maybe the transporter made some sort of a distraction.” I swallowed more doubt, trying to pretend it wasn’t there. I needed to be right about this, I couldn’t stand the thought of him leaving and never coming back. Death by fire or smoke inhalation would ironic in the most bitter of ways, seeing as how a little more control could save us.

A few more minutes passed by without anything but more smoke. The yelling got louder as more people panicked, but my transporter was nowhere to be found.

“Alright.” He appeared in front of my cell, along with two others. His friends were a guy and a girl, both of which wore clean clothing and didn’t reek like two years of sweat. I tried not to care about that.

“Sorry, someone wasn’t dressed yet.” My transporter rolled his eyes at the guy with him, who just shrugged. “Mavis, can you get the forcefield down?”

“No problem.” The girl nodded. Her hair was cut in a short, dark bob, her voice heavily accented. She was definitely British.

Mavis held up her hands and stepped back, then dropped them back to her sides. “Good to go.” She gave me a small smile.

“Step back.” The guy with the transporter warned me. I did as he said. The guy grinned, and then my eyes widened as the metal bars melted into a big silver puddle. “I’ll never get tired of that.” He wiped his forehead and winked at me.

“There’s no time for flirting.” My transporter’s voice was sharp. “We need to get out of here.”

“Are you a fire-starter?” I asked the guy who had melted the bars. I’d felt the room heat up when he melted the metal and had to know if we had the same power. He had a lot more control than I did if our powers were the same, so for a second I hoped he could teach me control.

“Nope, that would be cool though. I can manipulate metal.” He gave me a sly smile. I think I blushed; no one had ever flirted with me. I was too dangerous to attract anyone.

“That’s enough, Ryker.” Mavis spoke like she was his mom. “This is Carter’s girl.” She chastised him.

I frowned, wondering what made me Carter’s girl and who exactly Carter was.

By the transporter’s reddening face, however, I figured that he must be the Carter she referred to.

“Care to free me before you go off and save the world?” Blair called out, from her cell next to mine. I’d almost forgotten about her in the strangeness of everything that was going on.

            My three rescuers turned, just noticing her, while I gave her an apologetic look. She shook her head at me before focusing on the newcomers.

“Hi.” She wiggled her fingers at them.

“Why are you in there?” Mavis asked, a little suspicious of the girl behind bars. They hadn’t been suspicious of me, though, so I didn’t understand why they were worried about Blair.

“Because this safe camp is full of idiots who get scared of anyone who isn’t ordinary.” She folded her arms over her chest.

“She can see the future. That scares them.” I threw it out there. Blair’s power wasn’t dangerous or frightening to me, but that was because she had the same power as my dad.

“They locked you up for seeing the future?” Mavis raised her eyebrows. “Stars above, that’s ridiculous.” She shook her head and raised her hands again.

Carter joined me inside my cell while his friends freed Blair.

“The metal is cooled off, it’s okay to come out now.” He gave me a small smile and held out his hand. I looked at it cautiously, then swallowed.

“Alyssa?” he said my name. Stars, it sounded perfect in his voice.

            I swallowed again.

            “It’s better for me to stay in here.” I nodded to myself, looking down at the floor. “I can’t hurt anyone behind bars. Take Blair and the key with you, I need to stay.” I decided, finally looking up at him. His eyebrows wrinkled together as he frowned deeply.

            “Fire is only as dangerous as you let it be.” he said. I didn’t ask how he knew I was a fire-starter.

            I shook my head, suddenly more afraid of myself than I was of spending the rest of my life behind bars. I knew I should’ve been racing out of that prison as soon as I could, but I was so afraid of hurting someone.

            “Get out of here, Alyssa.” Blair stepped out of her cell and grabbed Ryker’s arm. “Stars, it feels good to touch someone.” She sighed and shook her head. “I’ve been here too long.” She refocused on me. “Come on. You won’t hurt anyone, you have enough control for that.”

            “You don’t know.” I stepped backward and folded my arms over my stomach. “Mavis, put the forcefields back up. Leave me here.” I ordered, though my voice shook.

            “Alyssa…” Blair stepped forward and grabbed what was left of the bars that divided us. The second her hand touched them, her eyes closed and her body collapsed. Ryker barely managed to catch her. She’d told me what happened when she had a vision, though seeing her in pain like that was difficult for me. We were best friends, after all.

            When she opened her eyes a second later, she looked scared.

            “What did you see?” Mavis checked. I guessed she knew a seer or two of her own.

            “Nothing. I just, I need to stay here. I’ll keep everyone off your trail, but I need to go right now.” She said.

            “Alright.” I nodded. “Good luck.”

            “Thanks.” She gave me a forced smile before running up the stairs and out of the prison like I was the one on fire rather than the world outside.

            Carter and the other rescuers didn’t say anything for a moment. I think we were all a little lost as to why she had left so quickly.

            “So, that was weird.” Ryker offered.

            Mavis snorted, and Carter grabbed both his friends’ arms. He met my eyes.

            “I’ll be right back.” He vowed, then disappeared with his friends.

            I took a few seconds to just blink at where he’d been. Had I imagined everything? Was I dreaming?

No way all of it was real. No way had a transporter actually come for me, the way my dad said he would. I’d held on to faith in my dad for the last eight years but now that I was face to face with my rescuer…

            It was too good to be true.

            I sat down on the dirty floor and stared at the puddle of melted metal. Was it really over? Had I sent Carter away, the transporter I’d been waiting for?

            Had I ruined everything?

            I sighed and shook my head. Of course I’d ruined everything. I was a fire-starter, what could I do besides burn everything and everyone good in my life?

            “Alyssa,” Carter appeared beside me. I jumped a little in surprised. “I told you I was coming back.” He reminded me.

            “Yeah, my mom said the same thing before she and everyone else died in the war.” I shrugged. He offered me his hand, but I didn’t take it. “I told you, I don’t want to hurt you.”

            “Touching me won’t hurt me. I don’t see any fire right now, do you?” he checked.

            “No.” I admitted. “But I don’t know if I’ll lose control or not. The prison forcefields controlled me for a long time.”

            “I’m a transporter, remember? If you set either of us on fire, I’ll just transport us into some water. It will be easy.” He still held his hand out, waiting for me to take it.

            “I can’t.” I shook my head. “The last time someone touched me, they were scarred for life. Literally. No healer can erase scarring from a burn that bad.”

            “Scars tell stories about who you are and what you’ve lived through.” Carter crouched down beside me. “I like scars. Look at this one.” He pulled his soot-covered sleeve up his muscled arm, revealing a crescent-shaped scar just below his wrist. “I burned myself on the inside of an oven when I was nine. It taught me to be more careful.” He smiled and held out his hand again. “Come with me. We’ll go to a beach somewhere, and you can practice with your power until you feel good about controlling it. I’ll even sit in the water if it makes you feel better.”

            I hesitated. He made a pretty good offer. I couldn’t hurt anyone on an empty beach, and maybe using my fire would give me better control. On the other hand, what if I started burning and couldn’t stop? He couldn’t just grab me and transport me back to prison if I was on fire, he would get roasted.

            “Agree to it before I take you there without your permission.” He warned me, a wry smile creeping up onto his face.

            “Okay, fine.” I nodded grudgingly. “But—” he didn’t wait for me to finish, transporting us to a warm, sunny beach.

“Wow.” My mouth fell open as I looked around. The view was like nothing I’d seen before. The water was bluer than I could imagine, the sand soft and cream-colored. The breeze caught on the leaves in the trees, making music with their movement.

“Never been to Hawaii before?” I heard the smile in his voice.

“It’s beautiful.” I admitted. “Even before jail I couldn’t dream of a place like this.”

I looked down as the water washed over my toes, and couldn’t stop the grin that took over my face.

“And look, it’s completely safe.” Carter spread his arms out wide, stepping backward, further into the water. “Go ahead and use your power.” He urged.

I slowly shook my head.

“I don’t need to.” I realized. “I feel like I’m in control, at least enough not burn anyone right now.”

“Good.” He nodded.

“Well, let’s get to the Library, then.” I said, suddenly excited to move forward with the task my dad had left me to do when he dropped me off at that safe camp.

“Alright.” Carter agreed. “First, can we stop at my camp and shower? I’m a mess.” He gestured to the soot and ashes that covered his clothes and hair. My face heated as I looked down at my own shirt, the brown one that used to be blue.

It had been sweet of him not to mention the disaster that I was, but I still couldn’t help but be embarrassed. I’d grown up showering every night; my parents taught me to take care of myself. Now here I was, a mess who actually forgot she was a mess.

“Yeah, that would be nice.” I nodded.

“Great.” Carter held out his hand and gave me a rugged smile. “Let’s go.” He stepped toward me.

I took his hand and closed my eyes, still not completely sure I was ready to move on with my life. It didn’t look like I had much of a decision in the matter, though, so I didn’t argue.

After all, could the future be worse than sitting in jail?

-Sara Summers

PS If you get a chance to write a review after reading it, please do! It helps me keep putting out books:)