Chapter 7

The next day at the lab, Harper tried to focus on her work, but images of Jared kept nudging aside facts and figures. She was close to completing a masters, and already planned her PhD thesis on pyroclastic density currents and their deposits. Using field data, she studied past deposits from lethal flows to determine what formed them.

Her thesis was to provide a better warning system for when a volcano such as Mt. St. Helens would actually erupt, forming a deadly pyroclastic flow that could kill in minutes. There was no reason for her to accompany the other grad students and professors on the trip to Indonesia next month.

Yet her passport was ready, and she longed to see the rare blue lava and study the sulphur emissions. The crater itself contained a lovely blue lake that looked like a swimming pool, only it was filled with deadly acid that could eat through steel as easily as a hot knife slid through butter.

Harper didn't know why she itched to see such a spectacle. Her PhD field of study had nothing to do with the lava and deadly gases. It leaned more toward geology. She wanted to get a job as a volcanologist studying dormant volcanoes, not active ones.

Yet in the past few weeks, the desire to see the volcano increased. It called to her in a way she didn't understand.

Didn't make sense.

Equally frustrating was her base reaction to the man who called himself Jared Griffin. A brief encounter at a bar after a failed date and she couldn't get him out of her mind. Not only was she sexually attracted to him, but the fact he'd seen the very volcano she longed to visit…

Jared Griffin. Who was he? When he'd grabbed her to yank her away from the car, she'd felt an electric shock all the way to her toes. A thrilling awareness, more than sexual, more than mere biology.

It was if she'd been buried in rock for years and suddenly the rocks shattered, and she felt sunshine upon her face.

Being a logical person was a bitch when faced with something she couldn't explain away through physical biology. Harper felt equal parts fascination, confusion and fear.

I can't control this and what I can't control can be dangerous. I must have control.

One reason she didn't bother much with dating or men. After losing her virginity at 21, simply because she didn't want to be the world's oldest virgin, she decided against sex again. The experience was rushed, lackluster and worse was the feeling her body and emotions were out of control.

Harper turned her attention to her laptop and the notes she'd made on a recent fieldwork study. But the letters and data kept jumping on the screen, as if dancing.

She checked the internet connection. Nothing wrong there, nor with the cloud server…

"Tis my fault. I caused your electronic device to malfunction. I need your undivided attention."

The deep, masculine voice startled her. She turned in the chair. The lab was empty except for a tall, silver-haired man who looked as if he'd escaped from Comic Con. Exceptionally handsome, he had penetrating eyes, long hair tied back with a leather thong, and looked menacing in his outfit of leather trousers, soft boots. Bare-chested but for two leather straps crossing his chest, he was handsome and otherworldly. The hilts of two swords showed above his thickly muscled shoulders.

Harper struggled for her lost composure. "This is a private lab. If you're looking for Professor Datum, he's teaching."

"I am looking for you, Harper Ashley." As he crossed the room, she felt the air thunder before him, though his step remained light.

A rill of fear rippled down her spine. This was a man who could slay those displeased him as easily as squashing an insect. Yet his expression looked kind, almost paternal.

"Do not fear me, Harper. I am here merely as a… what did Xavier call me? A messenger boy."

He snorted, as if the description annoyed him and she relaxed a little, for the gesture made him seem more human.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I am called Caderyn, the Shadow Wizard, who rules over witches and several paranormal Others. I have correspondence for you from your parents."

Blinking she tried to assess the situation. "My parents are divorced. I haven't seen them in at least four years. Certainly, they don't send me letters anymore."

Not that she cared. Harper had saved all her money from working odd jobs, as well as attaining scholarships, to put herself through school. Her last correspondence to her mother had been tucked into her mailbox with big red letters, RETURN TO SENDER, ADDRESS UNKNOWN.

They probably thought she was after them for money to pursue her studies.

"What's in the letter?

"You need to read this. Your 25th birthday is not until later next year, but the way things have sped up, it is time. Read this before deciding your course of action for the future."

The man handed her a letter stamped with an odd red seal with a blue flame. His gaze flashed to an odd mercury color, then he looked sympathetic.

"I knew them well. They were good people, and did not deserve the fate they met."

"What fate?"

But her attention diverted to the letter instead of the man carrying it.

She touched the letter, feeling the parchment with the pads of her fingers. Old paper, formal, the inked writing on the envelope elegant and somehow old-fashioned. People these days were too much in a hurry to handwrite letters.

Whoever sent this took their time, and wanted to convey a message of great importance.

Perhaps this answer would provide answers as to why her dreams these past few months had been murky and filled with visions of lava and fire. Her pragmatic scientific brain reasoned it was all the research she'd conducted. Yet deep inside, she sensed otherwise.

Harper tore open the letter and read, her hands shaking.

My dear Harper,

I hopeyour 25th birthday finds you well and accepting of your true calling. I know it must have come as a shock to find out, and that the parents who raised you are not your birth parents. Please understand that we surrendered you for adoption to keep you safe and grow up as normal as possible, which is challenging for our kind. Living among humans you could grow to achieve your full potential, before your soul mate claimed you. You needed the opportunity to discover yourself before binding with another.

We hope you make the time to visit Kawah Ijenif you have not by now. The rare blue flames will show you the extent of your powers and what your destiny is. As a coldfire pyrokinetic, you have the potential for both good and destruction. Never forget this.

Your loving parents,Sarah and Darren

The letter fellto the floor from her trembling fingers. Her heart slammed against her ribcage. Not only were her parents not her parents, but her birth parents gave her up when she was a baby?

The burning question was, what was a coldfire pyrokinetic?

Harper looked around the lab. No sign of the mysterious, silver-haired man who called himself a wizard. Not even a colleague in sight. She was alone.

"Hey," she said aloud. "Hey! Come back here! What happened to my parents?! Answer me!"

A pall of gray smoke filled the air, smelling of immense power, like an electrical line sizzling and crackling. Out of the smoke stepped Caderyn. He regarded her with a solemn look.

"They died. Search your memories long buried deep and there you will find the answers. You may not like what you remember. The answers you seek are within."

Enough of this guru New Age crap. She was a woman of science and dealt with facts, not mysticism.

"Level with me. Who were my parents and why did you have this letter from them to give me? How did they die? What is a coldfire pyrokinetic? What powers? Damnit, answer me!"

To her shock, he began to fade away, as if he were a distant dream, or vision. Then he spoke.

"The answers lie in the volcano."

"Wait, what answers? Where can I find them?"

"You know the way. The volcano calling to you holds the key to your destiny."

Then he vanished, like mist or fog beneath a hot sun, leaving her wondering if he truly had been there.

The answers she sought lay within the volcano. Harper knew what she must do.

She was going to visit Kawah Ijen. Nothing would stop her.