Rise of the Fire Tamer (The Wordwick Games #1) by Kailin Gow Read Free Book Online Page B

embarrassed about some of it. My dad… he works for Henry Word. Well, not directly. He’s a lawyer, and he does a lot of work for him. I thought if I mentioned too much about myself, you might think that was why I got here.”
    Sparks started to say no, but then nodded.
    “All right, I might have. But you’ve done pretty well so far. Anyway, that wasn’t what I meant. I want to know about you, not your family.”
    There was something about the way he said that, and particularly about the way he looked at her when he did. Sparks was interested in her. Gem had no doubt about that.
    “Well, I used to be a cheerleader, so I suppose that fits with you being a football player.”
    “I wonder what Rio did at school,” Sparks said. “Hanging around gangs, I suppose.”
    “What’s it to you, farm boy?” Rio demanded. Gem hadn’t heard him approach. Jack cleared his throat.
    “Those were some good moves you two used in the fight. I don’t think I’d ever be able to fight like that.”
    Gem smiled at the younger boy trying to distract the two of them like that. Not that it worked that well.
    “Yeah,” Rio said to Sparks, “nice moves. You should show me some of them some time.”
    “Maybe I will.” The blonde-haired boy narrowed his eyes as he said it. Gem decided that the rancorous, hateful bantering between the two had gone far enough. She was about to tell the two of them to cut it out when Jack broke in again, speaking to Sparks.
    “Maybe you could show me some of those moves,” he suggested. “There might not be a tree I can hide in next time.”
    Sparks frowned for a moment, then grinned at the younger boy.
    “Ok. We’ll have you taking on ogres with your bare hands in no time.”
    The two of them wandered off together, heading for the edge of the clearing, and a space where they could practice. It left Gem alone with Rio.
    “Jack’s a good kid,” Rio said after a moment. “Reminds me a bit of my brother, Tomas.” He waited a few seconds. “I don’t, you know.”
    “Don’t what?” Gem asked. “Don’t use a single unnecessary, superfluous word if you can help it? Give me a clue, Rio.”
    A flash of anger crossed Rio’s features, but when he saw that Gem was grinning, it was quickly replaced by a slightly sheepish expression.
    “I guess I don’t always say that much. I meant that I don’t run with gangs. My Nana makes sure of that. She’d kill me if she thought I did.”
    “I never thought you ran with gangs,” Gem said, and it was true. There was something hard-edged about Rio, but she couldn’t imagine him being part of a gang.
    “Really? I’d have thought a rich girl like you would have assumed everyone from East LA was in a gang.”
    “What, the way you’ve assumed that I’m useless and dumb just because my family has some money, you mean?”
    Rio looked away.
    “Yeah, I suppose so. I guess I didn’t know how to react. Normally, girls…”
    Gem could guess the rest of that. Rio probably had girls throwing themselves at him. Come to think of it, given how dangerously good-looking he was, there was part of her that agreed with them. Only part though.
    “Oh, so because I don’t throw myself at you, I’m too stuck up?” Gem laughed, shaking her head. “Rio, I’m guessing that somewhere in there, there’s a nice guy. Real bad guys don’t spend their time talking about their little brothers and their grandmothers. It would just be nice if, occasionally, we saw more of him.”
    Gem leaned over and kissed Rio on the cheek. It was a spontaneous thing, on impulse, but it felt like the right thing to do. Just like it felt like the right thing to pull away before he could get a chance to kiss her properly. Gem didn’t want him getting the wrong idea. Rio seemed almost shocked by it.
    “I guess… I guess I’d better go and make sure the quarterback isn’t teaching Jack to body tackle ogres.”
    “That’s a good idea,” Gem replied. “But Rio, will you try to be nice to