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his head more at himself than anything else.

"Wait." She lightly touched his arm, but it was enough to make him sit back down again. "I didn’t mean it. It’s just…it would have been so much easier to hate you." She let her eyes fall to the ground, counting the feathers and sequins that had fallen off the many costumes that had been tried on in the small room.

"I know."

They passed the next few moments in silence.

"What do you want?" she asked, daring to speak first and glance at him.

"I saw you and Luke walking over, and I just had to talk to you. I need to explain what happened. You know I would have never hurt you, right?" She nodded, hoping it was true.

"I was going to tell you. I swear. But then Diana interrupted and we started fighting and before I knew it, things were spiraling out of control. And then there was the whole part where you almost killed me…" He laughed a little, stealing a peek at her through his lashes.

"Sorry about that." She smirked at him in return.

"We’ll call it even." A little shred of hope lit his features.

"Why, were you almost going to kill me?" The hope vanished, but Kira had to ask the question. He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated.

"That was their plan."

Kira sucked in her breath.

"But even before I met you, I never would have let them go through with it," he hastily spoke. "I’m not like that, I swear. I don’t kill people. I know you might not believe me, but it’s the truth."

Kira knew she shouldn’t, but somehow she did believe him. She started to say so but heard Emma from the other side of the curtain.

"Are you okay, Kira?"

Crap, she thought. The dressing room really wasn’t the ideal place for serious conversations.

"Yeah…" She fumbled for an excuse. "Just having a little trouble with the zipper. No big deal."

"The boys are all in their costumes. Poke your head out."

Kira glanced at Tristan and stood up. She stepped over his outstretched legs, suddenly remembering she was in a leather pantsuit. She could feel his eyes taking in her outfit and immediately felt embarrassed. She tried to quell the blush threatening her cheeks as she slid her head around the curtain.

Kira barked out a laugh at the sight of Dave as Batman, Miles as Robin, and Luke, of course, as the Joker.

"Perfect," she said, meeting Luke’s eyes and ignoring the questioning concern they held.

"I know. We’re going to make quite an entrance next week," Emma said. Kira noticed she was already dressed in her normal clothes and held a shopping bag in her hand. How long had Kira been in the dressing room?

"Okay, I’ll be out in a moment." She ducked her head back behind the curtain and glanced at Tristan as he jerked his head back from a position that seemed precariously close to one someone would use to check out her behind.

"I have to go," she stated into the awkward silence, not sure how to get changed with him in the room.

"Can we talk later? Will you meet me somewhere? There are so many things I still want to say." Kira wanted to say yes. She wanted to let him explain everything, wanted the fake mistletoe and stolen kisses one more time. But, she couldn’t.

"I’m not ready," she said, even as her heart screamed at her. "I don’t know if I ever will be. I know you didn’t mean to ever hurt me, but that doesn’t change anything. What you are, what I am…" She let that last thought linger. There was still so much keeping them apart, so much she didn’t know about him and wasn’t sure she wanted to find out.

Kira turned away from him and looked out past the curtain. All the boys were still comparing costumes.

"Close your eyes." She needed to get changed, and he still couldn’t leave. He put his hands over his eyes, but Kira noticed the slight opening between his pointer and middle finger. "Come on, close them," she said, making him stand up and forcing him to face the curtain while she changed behind his back.

After a few excruciatingly quiet moments, she was back in her comfy jeans; happy she was free of the skintight cat suit.

"Hide, okay?" Kira whispered. He nodded, and she started to pull the curtain aside, but he quickly grabbed her hand, making her turn around.

"You looked really hot, by the way." She smiled shyly. "See you at the dance." He winked and Kira quickly bolted out of the dressing room, trying to keep her heart from beating right out of her chest.

Kira practically ran to the cash register and bought her costume, telling everyone she would wait for them outside. She found a bench, curled her knees into her chest, and let her thoughts wander. What was she going to do?

He drank blood for crying out loud. How was she still attracted to him? Kira could never tell Luke and maybe couldn’t even tell Emma. Would she risk it to see if she could love Tristan?

Kira fingered the gold ring that now hung around her neck. Did she have the courage?

"Penny for your thoughts?" Luke sat down beside her, and she quickly let go of her necklace. Kira had realized one thing—she needed to learn control. When Tristan had grabbed her, she could feel herself start to explode. If it had been Diana or Jerome or John, she might have accidentally killed one of them in the costume store. Or, they could have killed her. She needed to learn more about herself and her abilities.

"I need to start training with you, don’t I?"

Luke stared at her thoughtfully, probably wondering what brought this about. "Yeah, at some point you need to start learning who you are and how to use your abilities to protect yourself."

"Can at some point be like at some point next week?" She lifted her lashes to view him better.

"Whenever you want."

She nodded. "Let’s do it."

"There’s one more thing I need to tell you…" Luke paused. Kira waited, hesitant. "I need to start sending reports back home. I haven’t told them anything important about you, not yet. But if we start training, I need to let them, the council, know you have abilities. I don’t think anything will change, at least for a few months. But I thought I should tell you."

"Thanks," Kira replied and thought about it. Once he sent that report, there would be no turning back. The Protectors would know the threat she represented. The whole conduit community would probably learn about her, her powers, and the danger she represented. All the more reason to train and to show them she had control. She had to prove to them that they hadn’t made a mistake by protecting her all those years ago.

Kira nodded in understanding, silently letting Luke know it was okay, as their friends finally approached.

"Sorry, I got distracted." Miles looked sheepish as he apologized.

Emma rolled her eyes. "He challenged a ten-year-old to a lightsaber duel. I swear Miles, I hope you get into Harvard, because aside from us, those nerds will be the only ones who accept you."

"Hey," he started, but then paused as if realizing the truth in the statement. "I sent in my early decision application finally. Did I tell any of you?"

They all congratulated him, and Kira prayed he would get in. They all loved him, it was true, but unlike Luke who pretended to be really childish, Miles really seemed to be a little boy sometimes.

A few hours later, Kira finally pulled open the front door of her home and climbed the stairs to her bedroom. Shopping had utterly drained her, and she was happy to finally soak in the steaming hot water of her shower and let the stress of the past few days melt away.

Wrapped in a soft, fresh towel, she slipped into her room and practically passed out on her bed.

"What’s this?" Chloe appeared from under her bed, scaring Kira half to death.

"What’s what?" Kira asked, pulling her little sister on to her lap, loving the fact that nothing had changed in that relationship. She still loved Chloe with all of her heart, and they would always be sisters.

Chloe shoved a piece of paper at Kira. "It’s pretty." Chloe smiled, and Kira took the paper, sucking in her breath when she saw a drawing of her as Catwoman and a note that read, "Can’t wait."

"Where’d you find this?" Kira asked, finally finding words.

"On the bed, silly." Her sister tried to take the paper back, but Kira pulled it out of her little arm’s reach. Tristan had been here, in her room?

Chloe slid off her lap and tugged on Kira’s arm.

"Make me hot cocoa," Chloe ordered. Kira laughed and tried to get out of Chloe’s grip while still holding onto her towel.

"Let me get dressed first."

Chloe pouted, but let go of her arm and rushed downstairs to wait in the kitchen. Kira stared at the drawing for another moment before walking over to her bookshelf and slipping it in with Tristan’s other drawings that she had hidden in her jewelry box.

She tried in vain to ignore all the questions creeping into her mind and quickly got dressed to appease the four-year-old terror downstairs.

 

 

Chapter Ten

 

"I can’t do this!" Kira shouted at Luke in frustration.

"Just relax. Think about lighting the rock on fire. You can do this, I know you can." Kira looked at Luke, wanting to strangle him. Real easy to feel so calm when you’ve been practicing since birth, she thought as she wiped the sweat from her brow. All the mental exertion was draining her.

She and Luke had been practicing for almost an hour and nothing was happening. Kira was almost beginning to think everything had been a dream. Clearly, she had no special powers.

Kira stopped for a moment to look around Luke’s backyard. They stood in a small patch of grass surrounded by dense forest. Kira couldn’t make out his neighbor’s home through the bushes. Even in the sunlight the trees were dark, and Kira knew that if she walked ten feet into the bushes it would be pitch black. A perfect place to practice, Luke had told her when he picked her up from her house and brought her over to his place. No one would see anything, and they would be completely safe.

An entire week had passed before Kira had brought practicing up with Luke again, and since her parents had left for church without her this morning, she had called Luke right away. Things were still awkward at home when her parents were around, but when she was alone, left with nothing but her thoughts, home was excruciating. Now, Kira wondered which was the lesser of two evils.

"Come on, try one more time, and then we can take a break."

Kira sighed and refocused her energy on the boulder Luke stood next to. He told her it wouldn’t actually burn, that vampires were the only things affected by the light, but she was a little afraid of hurting him if she couldn’t rein it in once started.

"Kira." He brought her back to attention.

Just focus, he had said, it’ll come to you naturally. Well, Kira stared at the rock thinking, light on fire, light on fire, please God give me a little flame—but nothing. Her palms didn’t even feel warm. She threw them up in the air.

"This is just never happening! I can’t keep staring at a rock and pointing my hands in front of me, I might as well say abracadabra and try to make your house float away. This is ridiculous!"

Luke shook his head. "Let’s take a break. I need to think of something. I don’t know why this is so hard for you. When we were all young, using the power felt like using another limb, it was always easier than this. And I know you’re strong. I’ve seen it."

"Well, good for you." Kira huffed and collapsed on the grass where she was standing. He walked inside his house, clutching his forehead with one hand; clearly trying to make a better lesson plan than the one they were currently following.

He’s as new at this as I am, Kira thought. She let her back fall flat against the grass so she could stare up at the blue, cloudless sky. Come on.

"Dear sun, please give me the power to channel your rays through my body, thereby allowing me