“They wanted a show.”
Jake cursed. “We’re leaving.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
He grabbed my wrist.
I yanked away so hard I stumbled, laughing when the world swung sideways and came back in pieces. The crowd was watching again. Phones up. Mouths open. Brielle near her Bronco, pretending she wasn’t nervous.
Good.
She should be nervous.
They all should.
I bent and picked up a burning branch from the edge of the bonfire.
Someone screamed.
Not a real scream yet.
A party scream. A nervous one. The kind girls made when they wanted attention but not consequences.
The branch was heavier than I expected, fire crawling along one end, sparks lifting into the night. Heat bit my palm through nothing but stupidity and adrenaline. Pain flashed, then vanished under the roar in my blood.
“Destiny, put it down!” Jake shouted.
But his voice came from underwater.
The fire was talking louder.
My mother was laughing.
No.
I was laughing.
I walked toward Brielle’s Bronco.
Her eyes went huge. “What are you doing?”
I tilted my head.
For one second, I saw her exactly as she was. Not powerful. Not perfect. Just a mean girl with rich parents, pretty hair, and no idea what it cost to poke at wounds she didn’t understand.
Then the second split open.
Mandy’s face flashed over hers.
Then mine.
Then fire.
“Didn’t you want Mandy’s daughter?” I asked.
Brielle backed up. “You’re crazy.”
