Shimmering Chaos (Enchanted Chaos 2)

Balancing the plate of waffles in one hand, I open the passenger door and lower my head to glance in the cab at him. “Let me eat this really quick first.” I hold up the plate of waffles. “I don’t want to get your car sticky.”

“I don’t care if you get my car sticky.” He avoids eye contact with me, cranking up the heat. “We need to go or we’re going to be late.”

I glance at the plate, and then at his nice, clean leather interior. “Maybe I should just leave the waffles here.”

Shaking his head, he finally looks at me. “Sky, just get in the car. With how much you’re going to be using your powers today, you need to eat or you’re going to be weak. And I’d rather you get my car sticky than for you to come off as weak on your first day of school.”

Easton lets out a snicker. “You guys should really start paying more attention to what you’re saying. All this sticky talk sounds so dirty that it’s starting to make me feel sticky.”

Foster rolls his eyes. “If you don’t cut this whole jokester shit out, I’m going to tell Sky why you were blushing in the kitchen and why the water turned on.”

Easton’s smile quickly dissolves. “Shut the hell up.”

“Then you,” Foster quips, catching Easton’s gaze. Easton glares back at him but smashes his lips together and remains silent.

Foster’s gaze settles on me, his expression softening. “I promise I don’t care if you eat your breakfast in here. It’s just a car, Sky.”

“Oh, fine.” I climb in and shut the door, balancing the plate on my lap while I strap on the seatbelt. “A very pretty car, though.”

A smirk curls at Easton’s lips as he digs his phone out of his pocket. “A girl who’s into cars? Dude, I think Foster just crea—”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” Foster cuts him off, throwing Easton a sharp look. “I swear to the gods, I’ll tell her.”

Easton pulls a mocking face. “Whatever. I’m just saying the truth. And this is payback for the many times you gave me shit about the girls I hooked up with.”

Foster’s lips part then shut, his shoulders slumping. “Fine. But just lay off it for a while, or else I’m going to tell her.”

“I’ll try.” Easton hammers his fingers against his screen as he types a message.

They grow quiet after that as Foster turns back around in his seat.

“So, you’re really not going to tell me what embarrassed Easton?” I ask as the secrecy starts to taunt me.

Foster shakes his head, his gaze skating to me. “Trust me; it’s better if you don’t know.”

I crinkle my nose. “I’m not so sure I agree with you.”

Foster gives me an apologetic look, then shifts the car into reverse and starts to back out of the garage. “This is sort of random, but I’m curious; have been curious about this for a while.” He pauses as he turns the car around and drives down the driveway. “That day you approached me and asked about my car. Did you really know what year it was or did you look it up on the internet?”

“I knew what year it was … My dad, he’s really into classic cars.” I stab the fork into the waffles. “If I hadn’t known, I wouldn’t have taken the time to look it up.” I pop a bite of waffle into my mouth. “I wasn’t that eager to impress you.”

“Sure you weren’t.” He tosses me a teasing smile.

“I actually wasn’t. My friend Nina convinced me to do it, and I only did it because she pointed out that you weren’t from Honeyton, so the outcome wouldn’t matter because I probably wouldn’t see you again.” I stuff another chunk of waffle into my mouth, mostly to distract myself from my internal embarrassment. “Go figure you ended up being the son of my new guardian. Seriously, it’s like fate hates me or something.”

He slows to a stop as he reaches the edge of the driveway, staring ahead at the road. “Does it hate you, though?”

I’m not even positive if he’s talking to me or himself. Still, I almost reply with a yes, especially after he got so irritated with me for no damn reason when I asked him why he was at the auto body shop. But I can’t bring myself to say so.

The truth is that me ending up with the Everettsons isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’m starting to see that now. In fact, I feel more weightless than I ever have, able to embrace my powers instead of despising them.

Chapter 5

The three of us remain quiet as Foster drives toward the shallow hills that border the town. As we drive, Easton has me rest my head on the console so he can put eye drops into my eyes after I announce I’ll go with water as my element.

“Please don’t play with my eyes again,” I tell Easton as he leans over me. “I hate my eyes being touched.”

The edges of his lips quirk. “But they’re so pretty. I just want to touch them all the time.”