BOOK THREE! I can't even believe that. For those who love Kellan, Jaxon and Wren as much as I do, this is for you. :)

Inky notations littered the margins of every page in my family's grimoire. I flipped to the location spell I was looking for, and a comment in a large loopy font caught my attention.

Heed precision in executing the required number of stirs in the counter-clockwise direction.

I giggled at the odd note and ran my hand over the library table surface in thought. What was the worst that could happen, the liquid would condense into a paste? I stopped laughing and pressed my lips together when I read the note beneath it. The added remark cursed the previous witch's comment for failing to mention the volatile nature of the potion. They'd been careless and stirred beyond what was needed and were now missing their cauldron and half their kitchen.

Using a location spell to find Kellan might not be such a good idea. I inhaled in a long breath and let it out slowly. The air still held a smoky scent from me lighting Astra's favorite books on fire. Accidents seemed to follow me everywhere. My luck, I'd try one of these spells and blow up the entire guild tower. God and circle help me if that happened. Even Jaxon's money wouldn't save me from Astra's wrath if she lost another precious volume to my carelessness.

Sage loomed over my shoulder reading the open book in front of me. I jumped when she burst into a fit of laughter, and the ruby colored scarf covering my hair fell back to drape my shoulders.

"I would've loved to see that flying cauldron. Better yet, a glimpse of the witch's face when she saw her kitchen!"

"You're so warped." I closed the tattered leather cover, having read enough disastrous incantations for one day.

Sage grinned, and her eyes lit up a brief spark of color. "I have you know, warped is one of my best qualities."

I chuckled. "You might be right."

"Besides, that spell book should come with those warning stickers parents put on chemicals and cans under the sink." She rested her backside against the edge of the table, and her strawberry blonde hair hung over her shoulder. "You're not seriously thinking of trying it."

"Wren?" my mother called out in a hushed tone.

I raised my arm above the bookshelves and waved. "I have to find some way to get a hold of Kellan," I whispered to Sage.

Her lips drew into a thin line, and she nodded. "I know. Just don't get your hopes up. If Kellan planned on being here, he would've arrived over a week ago."

He'd promised, and I couldn't shake the feeling there was something wrong.

"Maybe this will help." Sage dumped her coat onto the table with a thud.

I lifted the corner of her jacket with my pencil, spying the familiar volume beneath it. "Too afraid to pick it up with your bare hands?"

"Are you crazy? The last book I touched in here bit my freaking arm." She held her forearm in my face. "The marks still haven't healed."

"You're lucky that's all one of these books did," my mother announced behind us. "What are you two looking for anyway?"

Sage looked at me, and I chewed my lip. I didn't really want to announce to the world I was trying to find a way to get a hold of Kellan. Jaxon wouldn't be thrilled to hear this was how I'd been spending my free time. I glanced at the library door.

"Jaxon isn't here." My mom pulled out a chair across from me and eased into it.

"He's not?" I said a little too loudly.

It was the first time in three days he'd left me alone. Before he could present me to the Fire Circle court, I had a ton of etiquette lessons to master. With only six days left to the ceremony, my choices of tutors pretty much amounted to Jaxon or Jessica—and spending any time with Jessica wasn't an option. If I'd known the Fire Circle had so many customs to adhere to, I would've rethought accepting Jaxon's proposal before saying yes. Who was I kidding, saying no marrying him meant paying back the dowry I didn't have.

"Don't worry, Jaxon will be back." She patted my hand. "I just asked him to help with an errand for the partnering ceremony."

"Oh—"

Sage burst out laughing. "I bet he leaped at that request."

I gave her leg a nudge with my elbow. "Sage..."

"What? You barely got a turn to hang out in the library." She rested back on her arms. "Besides, it's the truth. There's nothing he wouldn't do to make sure that formality happens."

My mom dragged the jacket wrapped bundle closer to her. "So what are you two searching for?"

"Searching?" I placed my hand on top of the covered book. "What makes you think that?"

A stone on my mother's necklace sparked a bright aqua. "Even after being separated for three years, I still know when you're hiding something."

I let go of the book and pushed it across the oracle table in her direction. "You might as well look. Something tells me, my radio antenna here has already silently blabbed what it is anyway."

"Hey, I can't help it if all your freaky family can read my every thought." Sage got off the table, turned a chair around and straddled it.

My mother raised a brow and folded her hands in the skirts of her grey dress. "Freaky?"

"No offense, Celeste, but yeah." Sage rested her elbows on the back of the chair. "It's creepy having my every thought listened in on."

I let out a bark of laughter. "What's the difference, you voice them all anyway."

Sage gave me a sideways shove, then rested her chin on her arm. "Easy for you to say. No one can get inside your head."

"Elemental Water Crafting..." My mom lifted the book from the table. "This is an odd choice of reading material for a future Fire Circle leader. It looks like this volume has seen better days too."

She ran her hand over the dent in the cover. My mom glanced up at Sage and nodded as if she was responding to the tabloid headlines pouring through my bestie's thoughts.

"Ugh! See? She's doing it again." Sage covered her head with her arms. "There's got to be a helmet or something."

"Just be thankful, it's only a few Travelers and not the whole guild that can peek inside your noggin." I smirked and rapped the top of her skull with my knuckles. "Besides, all the intel she just gathered was on me, not you."

"That doesn't make me feel any better, worse actually."

My mom brushed her fingers over the dented cover and passed the book to me. "You better hurry if you're going to try and find Kellan. That little errand I sent Jaxon on will only take a couple of hours."

"You're not going to stop me?" I lifted the tomb from her grip.

My mom washed her palm down the side of my face and cupped my cheek. "I stopped making decisions for you a long time ago." She released her hold and held out her hand in Sage's direction. "Hand it over."

"And if I say I don't know what you're talking about?"

My mom raised an eyebrow and thrust her hand out again.

Sage groaned, dragged herself to her feet and walked over to a short bookcase behind us. She reached around and pulled out a fireplace poker.

"What on earth are you going use to that for?" I said staring at the iron.

"When you disappeared into that book the last time..." She placed the iron on the table and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Vega and I, beat it with a bookend to get it to spit you out."

"Try that again, and you'll be lucky if Astra doesn't skewer you both with that." My mom plucked the book from my grasp and flipped to the last page. "To return, all you need to do is recite the words here." She slid the book in front of me and pointed to the text.

We've come for a visit,

but it's time to go home.

Return us back,

outside of this tome.

Thank the Circle for a short spell. With everything going on, I'm sure if it had one more line, I'd forget the whole thing.

"Here goes nothing." I flipped the book closed, looked at the scene on the cover and rubbed my eyes. The picture of the ocean waves lapping the shore was no longer there. What the heck?

In its place, jungle vines dipped into a secluded pool of water lit by rays of sunlight breaking through the dense vegetation. I rubbed the picture with my thumb, and the wet vines in the scene swayed and wrapped my fingertips. The wooden ropes crept over my hand squeezing out tiny droplets of water that rolled down my arm until they touch the inky knotted ring marking my chest.

As if recognizing a birthright, the watery beads melted into my skin, and the vines yanked me from the library floor, hurling me into the jungle scene depicted on the cover.

Broad green leaves of the jungle canopy smacked my face, as I plunged closer the ground. I grabbed one of the branches, but its wet leaves slid from my grasp, and I tumbled through the air hitting several more branches until the lowest limb dumped me face first into the dirt.

I lay there for a moment, trying to decide if I was just winded or actually broken. After letting out a second long deep breath, a pair of dripping wet feet appeared in front of me.

Kellan, in a pair of swim trunks, chuckled wiping the water from his bare chest. "On a scale of ten for the most entertaining landing ever, that was an eleven."

"I'd like to see you do better." I pushed off the ground only to realize the stupid book had changed my dress into a teal bikini.

I folded my arms over my chest and glanced around for anything to cover me. Like some twisted joke the only thing left of my previous attire, besides my necklace still fastened around my throat, was the Fire Circle scarf lying next to me.

Kellan swooped down and plucked the scarf from the ground. "Lose something?"

I scrambled to my feet and swiped at my scarf dangling from his fingertips. He jerked the fabric high above my grasp and jumped into a back dive over the pool. The stones on his bracelet lit up in an array of teal and purple, with my scarf waving in the air like a flag in his outstretched hand. Before he landed in the pool, a wave of water lifted from the basin and caught him in mid-flight.

"Kellan!"

I felt naked. My bra and underwear covered more than the skimpy bikini. That scarf, as much as I hated it, stood between me and my ability to hold any rational, non-self-conscience conversation with him. The surge of water circled him around the pool another time, then deposited him back on the shore in front of me.

"You called?" He wiped the water from his hair and looked at me from under his dark lashes. His sight moved up my frame until his gaze met mine.

"Show off." I thrust out my open hand.

"Oh, you want this?" He held the scarf in the air, while he took a couple of steps closer, ignoring my hand. "Please allow me, m'lady."

"I'm perfectly capable." I took a step back.

Anticipating my stride, he moved closer in time with my step. "But where's the fun in that?"

He wrapped the fabric around my waist like a sarong and tied it off in a tight knot that I'd probably need scissors to undo. I couldn't help notice the bulk of the fabric covered the spiral ring running up my right leg.

"There, much better." He smirked, dusting his hands off.

"Maybe for you." I ducked behind a short tree with large leaves and tugged at the knot without any luck. "A little higher would have been perfect. You know, something that would've covered the top half of me."

Kellan grabbed my elbow, pulling me out of hiding. "I disagree. Then I wouldn't be able to see my mark on you." He trailed a finger following the shape of the knotted ring he'd left on my skin. "And besides, I'm sure I don't want to know the story behind the fire decal on your leg."

My skin tingled from his touch, but that wasn't going to break my resolve from demanding answers.

"That's your fault."

He scoffed. "My fault? How could I have anything to do with a fire ring?" His forehead scrunched, and he pursed his lips. "I think you're mistaking me for Jaxon."

He turned his back to me and crouched down next to the pool, plucked a stone from the ground and skipped it across the water. When the pebble was about to sink, he strummed the pool surface with his fingers and the water bubbled around the stone. The rock launched into the sky, and Kellan snatched it out of the air.

"Jaxon? When I woke up in the hospital, he was there—not you."

His jaw went rigid, and he plunked down on the bank letting his feet drop into the water below. "I was a little busy..."

"So you just left me there?"

"Left you?" He turned and looked at me.

The sunlight lit up his face, highlighting the fresh pink scars on the side of his cheek and neck I hadn't noticed before. Instinctively, my hand shot to cover the burns on my face, the painful reminders Otis had left behind for having broken my promise to the Fire Circle.

My stomach twisted, recalling Kellan's words when we first arrived in Acklemar. "'Our hearts beat as one.'"

He nodded and chucked the stone again, this time letting it sink. "I tried telling you that it wasn't just your life you were risking, but you just cut me off." He gestured to his frozen ring marking my chest. "I guess now you know if one of us is hurt, so is the other."

Thanks for reading! NEXT update, will be SUNDAY, November 12th. Stay tuned.  Please hit the star, or give a comment. I'd love to hear from you. :)