Fire Stones - By Kailin Gow Page 0,2

amethyst. “This one,” I said, “will forge dreams. It will provide courage. And the fourth stone...” here I picked up a night-blue sapphire, “can heal wounds, and bring peace.” Chance played with all these stones in turn.

“But the last one,” I said, “is the most powerful stone of all.” I picked up the topaz, glimmering with faint gold. “And it is the most dangerous. This stone provides to the wearer a very great strength: the power to become invisible to the human eye. And, for those mortals who wear it – the power of immortality. The ability to defeat death itself.”

“You have outdone yourself, my love,” breathed Chance. “These are truly exquisite creations. You are the cleverest and best of divinities, my darling. Yet I fear...” his face darkened. “These stones, so beautiful, yet magical – all creatures in the world will want them. Human, non-humans. Mortal, immortal. They may seek to steal them from you, from us.” He held me close, enveloping me in his arms. I inhaled his soft, sweet musk. “My Queen, my goddess...I can only hope...” He sighed heavily. “That I never have to use these stones to find you. That we are never separated. But if we are – if we must enter the Mortal Realm, into mortal bodies, I hope that then they shall prove worthy of those who possess us – and possess them.”

As he finished speaking, he leaned in to kiss me once again, and I sighed with pleasure as I vanished into his kiss.

Chapter 1

“Mac?” A voice from far away – not soft and caressing, as my dream-voice had been, but laughing and jocular. “Ma-ac? Are you sleeping?”

“What?” I murmured, my eyes still closed. “No – go away – five more minutes...”

“Ma-ac?” The voice came again, laughing as it did so. A man's voice. Familiar. Arrogant. Cocksure. A voice that made me melt.

“Chance?” I opened my eyes, leaning up on my elbows. “What happened?”

Chance was standing relaxed, beside me, his brilliant blue eyes staring into mine. On his lips I could discern a playful, jocular smile. “Really,” he said. “Unbelievable. I tell you to meditate for five seconds and you fall asleep on me.”

This wasn't the Chance of my dreams – clothed in flame and beauty. But he was as handsome as ever, and a sudden blush sprang to my face. “But...where am I?” The dream had been a heavy one, and I still staggered to make sense of the waking world. Had it really been Chance who had held me so close, who had pressed his skin, his lips, his tongue against my body? Had it really been Chance who had taken those stones, which still glittered like small suns in my memory?

“You're doing it!” Chance grinned. “Well done, Mac!”

“Doing what?”

And then I remembered. My stomach dropped; my mouth fell open. I looked down. I was currently suspended in mid-air – at least five hundred feet above the ocean. Flying.

“No...” My heart started to flutter and throb as I began to panic. “No, what the...”

I was falling, plummeting faster and faster towards the dark, freezing-looking seas below. “What the – help!”

Instantly Chance's arms were around me, wrapping me tightly. I could smell him again, and he smelled as he had done in my dream – that hot cinnamon smell of desire. I stopped falling, and we remained in the air.

“Focus, Mac,” Chance cried. “You were doing it – you just lost your confidence, that's all. You were flying. You were in the air. Listen, you can do this, I promise you. You're doing this. Right here, right now. Here.”

“Because you're holding me up!” I couldn't help crying. “That's why. That's how I'm able to do this.” Terror seized me in a vice-grip. I looked down, and saw the ocean far beneath my feet. This isn't possible....people can't fly...this is a dream...a trick....

“Confidence, Mac!” Chance said, his voice strong and hard. “Don't look down, Mac. Look at me.”

“I can't!” I started kicking against Chance's grip, my heart pounding with panic. “Let me down!”

“Look at me!”

I looked up at him in shock. “Chance, this is...”

Something in his eyes stopped me from speaking. His brilliant blue eyes, gazing into mine. Enough to send me into a trance. “Think about it, Mac...” His voice was softer, now. “If you can fly – it means that you might be the Goddess. That you might be the one – the one I'm meant to be with. That we can be...together...” He began to pull away slowly,