When Lightning Burns: Lightning Series, #3

By Kathleen Rovner

Julie hides a dangerous secret…

Julie Marin is living her dream as a dance student in New York but feels guilty that her family is trapped on Seelie Island, where they’re forced to live by a strict, ancient code. Then there’s Rory and Luke; she shares a special connection with both boys that she isn’t sure she wants to explore.

But the big problem is that her friend Kara has disappeared, taken by a government agency with dark intentions. When Luke increasingly draws Julie into a dangerous game with the agency, she isn’t sure she’ll be able to resist his pull. Or just as bad—Rory's attempt to save her from that life could bring her closer to him.

As Julie puts herself at risk to find Kara, navigates the brutal competition at her dance school, and comes to terms with the touchy relationship with her family—not to mention Luke and Rory—she stumbles into a bigger conspiracy than anyone ever suspected.

Can Julie balance it all, or will her attempts to save Kara change all their lives forever?

When Lightning Burns is the third book in the Lightning Series—suspenseful young adult fantasy novels with a touch of romance.

Buy When Lighting Burns to unravel the mystery today!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Willabby Press
• Release date: Feb 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524281779

Book preview

Also by Kathleen Rovner

Lightning Series

When Lightning Strikes

When Lightning Ignites

When Lightning Burns

When Lightning Burns

Kathleen Rovner

For my family.

Cover Illustration by Melody Barber

Edited by Jeni Chappelle

Copyright © 2016

All rights reserved

Chapter 1: Dance, Dance, Dance

≺≻

"Well, look who’s here."

Julie brushed back a lock of red hair, stopped her lace work on her shoes, and looked up at the owner of the feet stopped in front of her on the high gloss wood floor. She gaped at the girl’s face. She couldn’t believe it. Rose?

Yeah. Rose raised a dark eyebrow, blond ponytail bobbing. Looks like we’re here together. Again. Just like Atlanta.

The mirrors behind her reflected back an infinite amount of ponytail bobbing. The eyes of all the other girls in the class were on them, since no one else was talking above a whisper. The tall buildings of New York reflected behind them all. The Academy and the city left all of them in awe. Except Rose apparently.

Julie’s enthusiasm for her first day at the Academy grew cold.

Rose had been her best friend at the dance studio where they’d grown up together. Well, until about two years ago, when she’d started making Julie’s life hard—right about the same time Julie’s dancing had improved. And she started beating out Rose for solos. She knew now that it had been the result of her powers coming out, her practice with them, and not being stifled. Before that, it had always felt like something was stuck, holding her back.

But she hadn’t expected Rose to be here. She hadn’t thought her old friend was good enough for the Academy. That wasn’t being mean—it was just being honest.

Rose preened. She did a little pirouette in her sleek, black leotard—not the plain one they were supposed to have but one with a little sparkle here and there. Julie wondered what the teachers would think about that.

Well…I guess it’s good to see you again, Julie managed to choke out. She was sure she didn’t look happy. She couldn’t control the frown on her face.

The other girl rolled her eyes, mouth hardening. Yeah. Maybe. We’ll see. Why did you disappear anyway? No one knew what happened. All of a sudden you were out of all our classes and your school. Nervous breakdown?

Those words sent a hush over the room. Julie couldn’t see the eyes of the class on them, but she felt them. She slid her gaze to the two girls standing next to Rose. They both smirked. She thought the Fey were bad, but they had nothing on dance class rivalries.

For a moment she felt like telling Rose the truth just to shock the hell out of her.

Well, Rose, it turns out that my family is not quite human. We’re Fey. And Jamie needed to go to a place called Seelie Island to gain control of his mind powers because he can kill people with a thought. And it turns out that I have them too, though no one knew at first. Which made my first months there freaking miserable and has given me a pretty big chip on the shoulder. So keep on ticking me off and see if you like getting zapped by the lightning that shoots out of my fingers. In fact, let me just show you.

Julie suppressed a smile as her fingertips warmed. She wouldn’t do it…but it was just so tempting.

Instead she said, We had to move for Jamie’s treatment.

She couldn’t believe she had to lie about this. But at least it was to Rose. It still didn’t prevent the words from sticking in her throat. Technically though, her brother Jamie was sick and needed help. He might actually die if he couldn’t get his powers under control. But she would sound insane trying to explain that to anyone here.

Rose’s gaze softened slightly, a glimmer of her old friend there. What happened?

Cancer. Julie looked down again, eyes wide. She heard whispers around the room. Her face turned red. She didn’t want to lie. But lying was going to be a new thing if she wanted to survive out here in the human world.

The human world. What a weird thought.

I didn’t know. Rose touched Julie lightly on the shoulder. Is he okay?

Julie kept her head down, unable to meet anyone’s eyes. Everyone here might take it as sadness, but she just couldn’t look them in the eye. He’s fine now. Remission.

Sort of. He was gaining some control. She closed her eyes tight. She should have stayed with Jamie. He needed her. But the Academy—

He would never want her to give that up. And she might make things worse on Seelie Island. Everything always blew up around her with anything that had to do with the Fey. Jamie couldn’t have that kind of drama in his life right now. He had enough with Melissande.

She gagged thinking about it. Melissande. The girl that terrorized her all last year, and Jamie wanted to be with her. She felt like she had lost her twin brother all over again.

Okay, class. A woman walked in, catching everyone’s attention with a clap. You are all on time. Great. Those who aren’t… She flipped the lock on the door to the room. Well, they will miss a class. Miss more than three, and you are out of the school. No excuses.

Julie pressed her lips together. She knew the Academy was tough, but it was different than she imagined. She finished lacing her shoes on, noting that the girl next to her cracked the toes on hers by banging them on the floor. They must have been new. Her feet would be bleeding by the end of this class just so her shoes looked nice the first day. Julie shook her head. Hers might be scuffed in places, but at least she could keep going.

Everyone up. When I call your name, come get your number and then line up over there. The instructor pointed to the long bar stretching against a mirror in the back of the room.

Julie took her number and her place in the line as her name was called. She pinned the number to her chest—thirty–five.

I want everyone to take a good look right now at your number. That is collected from your audition results. There are thirty–five of you in this class. Over the next six months, we will drop eleven or more of you as we get our number to the usual twenty–four. I will change the rankings each week. The teacher pointed to their numbers. That number you wear is your class rank. The closer you are to the top, the more likely you will stay.

Julie frowned. Great job, Dad.

Her father had smoothed her way to get into the Academy days before the winter term started. It was as if she was meant to go this year, being kicked off the island just in time for the invitation–only term that extended past the summer sessions. Her admittance to the winter term without going through the audition process and attending the summer term first was unheard of.

She took a deep breath, realizing that a lot of eyes were back on her again. Yeah, everyone was counting on her to be the first to go. Her eyes went to where Rose stood. Nine.

Great. Rose was pretty much guaranteed to stay.

Julie had missed her audition, and her dad had gotten her in, but she was going to have to beat all the rest out to stay here and then still have to fight for a spot on the Academy’s professional company.

Still, she would take it over Seelie Island any day.

The teacher continued after everyone had a minute to look at their place in the class. Get used to being called by your number. I don’t bother learning names until the end. Even the ones who make it—be prepared. You may be the best of the best, but the stars are a whole other level. You might reach the top here, only to be in the chorus line in a good company.

The girls muttered around her. Julie already knew that. They all did. But it was different when a teacher said it to you. Up until now, the teachers she’d had were encouraging but not horribly realistic.

The teacher clapped again to drown out the muttering.

Stretching time. And just to warn you, if you are close to someone else and I see you chatting in class, I will bump your number down. I need your complete concentration and respect. This is not just an opportunity to gain a placement somewhere but an opportunity to market yourselves as teachers when you leave. If we don’t think you have the discipline to make it as one of our graduates, we will drop you, even if you are the best dancer in the world. The truth is there will be someone right behind you ready to step into your place and no one will ever know the difference.

Julie took a deep breath then let the tingles take over to calm her nerves as she glided into the stretches. She forgot where she was and moved into her focus on the teacher’s instructions, letting her body calm her mind.

Okay, Number One. Let’s show everyone how you earned that place this week. The teacher motioned for the girl to hurry into a spot in the middle of the room. Your audition piece, please.

A pretty girl with dark hair stepped forward. She had the perfect dancer’s body, sleek and small. They all watched as she performed. She was good—not the best dancer Julie had ever seen but very good. A year here and she would be excellent. There was some light clapping as the girl finished.

Julie was almost happy that she wasn’t number one at this point. Someone might trip her in the hall. She resolved to take the teacher’s idea and refer to her classmates as numbers. She didn’t plan to make friends with any of them. That had never worked out in the past, and she doubted it would work here.

Except, she would finish ahead of Number Nine.

Okay. Now the worst. She beckoned Julie up amid a few snickers. Come on; come on.

She squared her shoulders. She had faced a lot more than this. They had nothing on Seelie Island. Her life wasn’t on the line here. She took her place.

Since she didn’t have an audition piece, she picked the last recital piece but the modified version that she had developed with Muriel. She moved through it fluidly and came to a rest in the last pose, holding still until the last note played. No one clapped.

Well. That was interesting. Who have you been getting private lessons from? I know your teacher in Atlanta. She’s good, but whoever has had you lately has taken you to a level that none of her students have been at before.

Julie shrugged. What was she going to say? My great–grandmother, who’s been a dancer for over a hundred years, has been helping me.

Hmmm. The teacher nodded to Number One. Watch out for this one.

Julie didn’t know how to take that. Number One’s light blue eyes narrowed on her. Apparently stirring up competition was part of the motivation here.

Let’s get on with the actual class now.

For the next two hours they moved through different basic stands, the teacher coming around and correcting them.

Thirty–Five, the teacher called as they were leaving. Julie walked over to her. I was unsure about letting you in after you missed your audition due to your brother. I see why we did it now. She pointed at the number on Julie’s chest. Don’t let that number be on you more than this week. It shouldn’t be there. You have already perfected your placement to a fine point, more than we usually see even after we are through with you. You better hurry now. They lock the door at all classes.

Unsure what to make of the teacher’s words, Julie ran out, using the map of the school from her welcome packet to find the next class. The class after that was choreography then nutrition and prevention of injury. And then they were back at dancing again, studying modern dance and jazz. In the early afternoon until they finished for the day. The men’s classes mirrored their own, and they paired up with them in the lecture classes or dance classes where they worked on paired dancing.

Just like the first teacher, none of the others bothered with names much. She was now Female Thirty–Five. Until next week. Then she would be Female One. Or as close as she could get to it. She would fight for her dream and climb over anyone else to get there. Of course, so would everyone else in the class.

Julie sat on her own, not interested in making friends. Rose took a different tactic. She immediately had two girls by her side, gossiping and laughing with her. Their numbers were twelve and fourteen. They better hope that Rose doesn’t drop below them.

By the end of the day, Julie was tired. On the bus ride home, she leaned against the window, trying to keeping her eyes open. The Fey healed fast, so she would be able to recover by the next day. But for the others in the class, this was brutal. Maybe it was a test of endurance. Dancing was hard. They had to be prepared to perform every day, multiple times a day, even if they were not feeling up to it. In some cases if a dancer didn’t show, the show could not go on.

New York was so weird. No one drove anywhere. There were neighborhood grocery stores, restaurants, and other places all within a few blocks of where you lived. She stopped at the grocery store at the bottom of her building and picked up a sandwich and some fresh mixed juice, ignoring the carbohydrate limits that the Academy wanted to impose. At least being Fey was useful for a few things.

As she left the store, she looked around before heading up into the building. No men in black or the Agency for Research of Supernatural Elements—yes A.R.S.E.—emblems anywhere in sight. The men who had kidnapped her a few months ago had just disappeared.

Like Kara.

No one had heard from her friend. The Fey on Seelie had looked, but Julie wasn’t sure how hard. They seemed more concerned that someone might have slipped onto the island to get Kara than losing her, from the little Julie’s mother was able to tell her over the phone.

She gulped back her guilt. She was off Seelie. Once she was settled, she could think of something to do to find her friend. Even if she was at a compound, they would only take her blood and watch her. It wasn’t like Kara would remember much of it.

Julie bit her lip at the last thought. That was kind of cold, even if it was true.

She focused on the street around her again. She didn’t want to lead A.R.S.E. back to her home. All around there were regular men and women wearing business suits. She frowned. In New York, they would blend in better. She may not even know if she was being followed.

The creeps could be watching her right now.

She focused on a guy looking at her across the street, glaring at him. He turned red and walked away quickly.

Maybe she was just paranoid.

But they had to be watching her, right? She was counting on it. They might lead her to Kara. Her friend was counting on her. Her beautiful, innocent friend was out there somewhere, probably trapped in a facility spacing out all the time. She shoved down the rising sick feeling inside. Things were going so right for her, and her friend was somewhere being experimented on. Julie would find her.

She took her food down the two blocks to the tutoring service she attended every day. They tried to squeeze in a whole day’s worth of high school in two hours in the late afternoon and early evening. It hadn’t been bad so far, but with the dancing today, she was tired. This wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought, but nothing worth having was.

It was the opposite of normal school. The lectures were for home, and the problems were in the classroom. She came out loaded with assignments. At least everything was computerized. And in the condensed time, she was learning about the same rate as before.

Whatever kept her parents happy and paying her way. These people had her dreams in their hands, and she didn’t want to give them any reason to give a bad report to her parents. She wished her family could be here, but her mom wasn’t allowed, and her dad needed to stay with Jamie. Stupid Fey rules interfered with everything.

After the intense tutoring session, she slogged back to her own building. It wasn’t as close to the dance school as she wanted—a fifteen–minute ride—but it was close to the tutoring services. Since she had to do that later in the day, that was where her parents wanted her.

She paused as she got to her floor and glanced at the doors on either side of hers, holding her breath to see if either one opened. She didn’t have the energy to fight Rory or Luke off today. They insisted on coming here, but that didn’t mean she had to see them all the time.

That was a whole other problem. How did she explain to two Fey guys, who had scary super powers too, that she was more interested in dancing than settling down? The connection, some kind of weird involuntary Fey bonding thing, had stuck her with both of them. They were each convinced that she was the love of his life because of it. She wasn’t so sure, even though she felt like melting into their arms each time she was around either of them. But she ruled her body; it did not rule her. And that was all there was with either of them—a physical attraction. Nothing else.

She rolled her eyes. She couldn’t lie to herself that well. There were things about each of them that she liked beyond the physical.

Which was why she was going to play it safe and sneak by their doors. That wasn’t cowardly at all. It was self–preservation.

Julie tiptoed down the hall, letting out a breath as she got behind the flimsy security of her door. She pressed against the closed door and dared to take in a deep breath. She’d made it. She’d been here a week and hadn’t seen either of them.

But it was making her jittery. At some point she was going to have to start seeing them, or she would break her promise. Maybe it wasn’t her sneaking skills—maybe they were giving her space for now. But soon they would start pressing in on her again, wanting more than she wanted to give.

She pursed her lips. Did she need to worry about any of that as much now that she was off the island?

As she stepped inside, she scanned her apartment. It was pretty but small—all in white and granite—and only took a few steps to check everything. One countertop divided the tiny dining room from the tiny kitchen. The one bathroom had a large shower but no tub. Her living room had a big window overlooking a tiny courtyard inside the complex with a single, sad tree and painfully neat flower beds. It was nicer than if her apartment faced the street and the building directly across from it. She was on the fifth floor at least, so it was harder for anyone to see