Chapter 12-Bonfire
The ride to the beach was everything I could have wished for and more. The sun was going down and as I glanced casually every so often out the window of the car to take in my surroundings, I couldn’t help but smile. There were no gaps in conversation or time for me to reflect on everything that had been nagging at the corners of my mind. I was preoccupied with Jett’s story about some new guy he met on-line when we finally arrived.
“Well have you met up with him yet? What does he look like?” I asked unbuckling my seatbelt.
“Last Friday we met at that Starbuck’s around the corner and all I have to say is tall, dark and handsome.”
Alyssa shook her head and said, “Oh honey, I have a fake laugh with your name written all over it.” That caused us all to burst into side splitting laughter.
“Hey, I thought you said you liked him?” Jett said a little offended.
“Yeah I said I like him, for you of course, he’s nowhere near hot enough to meet my high standards.”
Jett jabbed her with his elbow. “Quit trying to cock-block me.” She snickered in response. “Don’t let her fool you. She thinks he’s as delicious as me.” We all laughed again and got out of the jeep.
I took off my flip-flops and let the sand squish between my toes. It was cool and moist to the touch. I ventured my gaze farther down the beach and noticed the bonfire. It was just getting dark enough that you could see the flames burning and crackling in the night. Each licking flame was like long skinny arms trying to touch the sky rising higher and higher. It was enchanting and I could feel the fire calling to me, warming every part of my body.
I noticed something out of the corner of my eye that made me get defensive, Luke. He was sitting next to the fire by himself. We made eye contact and he smiled, but I didn’t return it. I turned to Zilla. “You didn’t tell me Luke was going to be here.”
“I didn’t know he was going to be here. What do you want to do? Do you want to go home? Do you want me to kick him where it counts?”
I giggled and thought about it for a minute. I wasn’t in the mood to let one guy ruin this beautiful night for me. “No, I think I can manage.”
She squeezed my shoulder reassuringly. “One false move and I’ll handle him,” she said tying an invisible noose around her neck and pretend hanging herself.
I laughed out loud as she slid her hand in mine and our group proceeded toward the bonfire slowly, chatting and giggling the whole way. I stole glances at Luke the closer we got and wondered briefly if there would be any recognizable scars from that day. The only hint that anything had ever happened was a few burn marks across his chest in the faintest shape of hand prints. My eyes froze on it and as if sensing me staring he looked up. Instead of sneering at me like I’d expected, he just smiled again. This guy was unbelievable. I didn’t smile back.
We settled on a spot close enough to the shore that we were all able to put toes in the water. Locke ran back to the jeep and began dragging surfboards down to us. I suddenly realized just how bad I needed to use the ladies room. I recalled seeing a port-a-potty a little further down the shoreline.
“Hey guys I’ll be right back. Nature calls and all that good stuff,” I said. They all nodded in agreement except Zilla. “Do you want me to go with you?”
“No I’m okay, really. You stay here and watch Locke. He’ll be sad if there isn’t anybody here to cheer him on.” Locke was an amazing surfer and he glided over the crystalline waves like each perfectly sculpted crest was made for him.
“Okay, but if you’re gone for more than ten minutes I’m coming after you,” she said only half-joking.
I set off slowly, making sure to completely ignore Luke and keep my back towards him. I hoped and prayed that he wouldn’t follow me. It was a long hike, but I made it there without any hiccups. A few people near the area all spread out on beach towels and soaking up the moonlight nodded their heads at me as I passed by. I found the restroom and stepped inside. It smelled gross like most port-a-potties do so I plugged my nose and hurried about my business. I was only in there for maybe two seconds. When I stumbled out, Luke was standing in front of me with his hands in his pockets looking around nervously. My stomach dropped. I tried to pass by without acknowledging him, but he put his arm out to bar my way. My face flushed as anger rose up inside me.
“You know what happened last time you cornered me,” I said venom seeping out of every word. “I don’t think it would be wise to go for round two.” He held up his hands in surrender so I started to walk away, but then he bolted ahead and got in front of me.
“Just listen to me Callie. I think you owe me at least a few minutes of your time after everything that’s happened.”
I paused. “What would possibly make you think that you deserve anything from me? You tried to hurt me and I defended myself. I would and will do it again if I have to.”
“Would you just listen to me? I realize that I hurt you more than I could probably even imagine, but I am trying to apologize here. I never should have put you in the position I did or treated you like I have in the past. I am so sorry for everything, I swear Callie. I love you!”
I felt numb. My insides wanted to be outside as queasiness hit me. “You’re kidding right? This is just some joke you’re playing on me. Like I’m being punked or something?”
He shook his head. “No, I’m serious. Just give me a chance to make it up to you. I promise I can make it right again.”
I wavered in shock long enough for him to misinterpret that as an opening. He reached out and cupped my chin in his hand. “Don’t,” I said forcefully.
He looked hurt and upset, but he let go. His eyes pleaded with me to understand. “You have to believe me. I never meant to hurt you.”
“No.” It came out as more of a whisper and with less force than I had intended, but I knew it would hit home just the same. He looked on the verge of tears, which is something I never imagined he would ever do. “I can’t do this again, I just can’t. It was a joke of a relationship to begin with and you know that we weren’t meant to be together. Why can’t you just leave it at that? Please stop pursuing me. I’m not a prize you’re going to be able to put on your shelf.”
“I never thought that about you Callie, ever. I just wanted you to like me and I guess I thought that if I did the things I did that you would give me more attention. It worked for other girls in the past so I tried it with you. I know it sounds stupid, but I wasn’t thinking straight. I promise if you give me another chance I can fix it. I can fix us.”
“There is no us. Don’t you get it? It would never work. I don’t have feelings for you at all and I never have,” I said only half lying. I knew that I felt something for him at one time or another, but it wasn’t anything near what he must be feeling for me. Maybe it was more sympathy than anything else. He sunk down into the sand and buried his head in his hands. I bent down and put my arm on his shoulder, but he didn’t move. “I know this sounds lame, but I’d still like to be your friend if you’re okay with that,” I said sincerely. While I’d rather have nothing to do with him ever again, the way he was sitting there so distraught tugged at my heartstrings. The least I could do was remain his friend, right? He nodded.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed something moving off to my left. But when I looked over where it was, it disappeared. Weird.
“Well I should be getting back or Zilla is going to send out a search party for me.”
He sighed reluctantly. “Do you think it would be okay if I joined you guys?”
“Uhm sure, I don’t see why not. Just let me talk to them before you come over. They might try to crucify you if I don’t get to them first.”
We started walking back and I kept checking over my shoulder every so often. I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that someone was watching me. All of a sudden I tripped over Luke whose pants were halfway to
his ankles, bare butt exposed to the wind. I cringed internally as bile threatened to overtake me. Turns out it was the front of me I needed to watch instead.
“What the hell?” I stammered, standing up and shaking off sand.
“I don’t know,” he said pulling his board shorts back up.
“What do you mean you don’t know? I’d say it’s pretty difficult to pants yourself without knowing how it happened.” He chuckled a little at that.
“Why are you laughing? This is so not funny,” I said looking around. That’s when I noticed Draven standing next to me and I practically fell back on the ground. Luckily Luke caught me in mid-fall.
“Maybe it’s your fault, clumsy,” he said snickering.
I looked from Draven to Luke with the most mortified expression on my face.
“What are you looking at?” Luke asked. He doesn’t know. Luke can’t see him. Draven shook his head in agreement. I frowned still jerking my head back and forth between the two of them making sure. “You’re acting strange,” he said letting go of me.
I laughed. “Sorry it’s just that I forgot something in the restroom. You go ahead and meet up with the group. Make sure to tell them it’s all good otherwise they’ll clobber you and that I’ll be back in a second.”
“Okay. Are you sure you don’t want me to walk back with you?” he asked.
“No it’s okay. I’ll be fine on my own. I’m like Phoenix reincarnate. Sorry, that probably wasn’t funny,” I said immediately feeling guilty for my poor choice of words.
“Its fine, I get it. Just try to be careful.”
“I’ll be right back,” I said turning and walking away. Draven caught up next to me and matched my stride. I checked back over my shoulder and when it was clear I punched him in the shoulder. “Ouch,” he said flinching. “You pack a mean punch.”
I laughed despite my current frustration with him. “What were you thinking? You could have gotten us both caught. I told you Zilla doesn’t know about you yet.”
“I can be invisible if I want, remember?” he said sarcastically.
“Oh yeah, now you tell me. That would have come in handy plenty of other times. Or has it already?” I asked raising an eyebrow.
He rolled his eyes. “Of course it hasn’t. I’m a perfect gentleman.”
“Right,” I said placating him and moving on to the topic at hand. “Okay so what’s up? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything is fine.”
“Then what are you doing here?” It’s not that I wasn’t happy to see him, but when he was around my emotions were too conflicted to focus on anything else.
“I overheard you were going to be here and decided it was a nice night for a stroll.”
“So you’re stalking me then?”
He chuckled. “No not stalking, just making sure your bodyguard is here to protect you. When I saw him following you to the bathroom I trailed you both.”
I smiled at his use of the word bodyguard then remembered something. “Did you do that to Luke?”
“Do what?” he asked innocently.
“Don’t play coy with me,” I said poking him in the arm. “You know what I’m talking about.”
“I might have. Why, did you enjoy the view?” he said laughing.
I gagged. “Absolutely not! The memory of his bare rump is making me want to upchuck again. I did relish the fact that he ate some dirt, serves him right. You could have warned me sooner though you know. That way I wouldn’t have fallen too.”
“But then it would have been too obvious that it was done on purpose. Plus, he would have thought you had a hand in it.”
“I guess you’re right. Thanks for keeping an eye on me,” I said hip-bumping him. “I should probably get back now though. Will you stay close just in case?”
He stared at me in such a way that it had me gulping for air. “You betcha.”
“Just make sure you stay invisible, we wouldn’t want to give anybody a heart attack if you just magically appeared out of thin air.”
We walked back to my huddle of friends in silence. I got back just in time to see everyone breaking out the items to make s’mores, one of my favorite snacks. I wiggled my way in between Zilla and Alyssa. Luke was seated on the other side of her next to Jett. He seemed to fit right in and he didn’t have a black eye either so that was a good sign. “Here,” Zilla said handing me a s’more.
“Thanks.” I nibbled on it slowly.
“What took so long?” she asked curiously.
“Not much, I just wanted to be alone for a few. Everything okay while I was missing in action?”
“Of course. You know the mice will play, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.” “Good.” I thrust my legs out in front of me, skimming my anklet across Zilla’s and felt that electrifying wave of energy sweep over me again. We both smiled. It felt great to have a best friend like her here with me going through somewhat of the same thing. I don’t know what I would do without her. I lay down and snuck a peek behind me. Draven was staring at me oddly. I mouthed “what?” and he motioned towards the anklets. I shrugged my shoulders, unsure where he was going with this. He mouthed “later” and I nodded. Wonder what that was all about. I remembered Zilla told me she had bought it from some psychic shop or something downtown. Maybe he wanted one for himself? The thought made a giggle squeak out, but luckily nobody noticed.
I closed my eyes and relaxed into the sand. I tried to block out the conversations that floated around me, but my mind locked on one. Luke’s. He was nonchalantly hitting on Alyssa. I opened one eye and caught his gaze. He gave me an apologetic look, but I didn’t want him doing to anyone else what he had done to me. To make my point clear I flung my hand across my neck in a cutting motion. He flinched. Alyssa turned to look at me irritated. Could she really be enjoying his attention?
I whispered loud enough for them both to hear. “Sorry for rudely interrupting. You do know that we just “officially” broke up like 10 minutes or so ago when you professed your undying affection for me. Hitting on one of my good friends isn’t going to score you any bonus point.” I gave him a look that said I wasn’t playing around and he nodded in surrender.
“I wasn’t, promise,” he said trying to calm me down. Alyssa looked slightly disappointed, but I told myself it was for the best.
I nodded, closed my eyes and sunk my body back into the sand. Minutes ticked by, probably even an hour, but I let everything drift past me noiselessly. I was vaguely aware of the fact that Luke and Locke had entered the water to do some surfing. Zilla and Alyssa sprawled out next to me and Jett was texting someone, probably his new boy toy. When I finally opened my eyes it was because someone had glued their lips to mine in what I like to call the “Spiderman kiss”. The upside down contour of their cool lips felt good against mine and I fought the urge to kiss back with full force until I knew who it was. When everything came into focus I realized it was Cole.
I smiled and sat up. He wrapped his arms around me and I leaned into him. I noticed Draven watching us. He wore a disdainful expression, but when I tried to push away from Cole a little he just disappeared. I would never understand what’s going on in that head of his. He sat down and I laid my head in his lap. “Everything okay?” I asked reaching up to pull him down for another kiss.
“Yep, I took care of what I needed to. We are going to be just fine.” For whatever reason I didn’t feel reassured by his tone. If I didn’t know any better I would think he almost sounded frightened.
“Was it your parents?” I asked concerned. “They don’t approve of me for some reason? Maybe if they met me they would like me.” I tried to sound confident, but I knew I wasn’t pulling it off.
He tried to dodge the question. “So Zilla, why aren’t you surfing? Not a fan?”
I frowned, but let him change the subject. It’s probably better to discuss it in private, I thought.
> “No, I’m not very good at it. I prefer to keep my feet firmly on the ground. What about you?” she asked him while giving me a weird sidelong glance.
“Same here,” he responded.
I knew Zilla was watching our conversation intently. It’s always good to have a friend listening in to let you know what you might have missed later. I usually do the same thing for Zilla when she and Locke are having an argument. You can always tell if there are hidden meanings based on a person’s body language. For instance, if I asked him something particularly uncomfortable and his hands started shaking, it probably meant he was hiding something. I glanced Zilla’s direction and she nodded at me which indicated that it was time for some girl talk. I kissed him one more time and told him I’d be back in a few.
We started walking back towards the bathroom and hadn’t gotten very far when she began talking. “You saw that didn’t you?”
“No. What did I miss?” I said trying to sound clueless.
“The way that he deflected when you asked about what happened.”
“I did, but I figured it was probably just something he didn’t want to discuss around other people.”
She frowned. “I don’t think so.”
“I know you’re worried because you’re my best friend, but if there is something he’s not telling me right now it has to be for a good reason. I don’t think he would intentionally pretend that everything is alright unless he couldn’t talk to me about it yet. I don’t want to push him away so I’ll give him all the time he needs.”
She smiled. “You’re way too trusting. If it were me I would be on it like a pack of dogs on a three-legged cat. I wouldn’t rest until I uncovered the secret.”
I nudged her. “I know you would, and normally I would too, but I really like him and I don’t want to screw it up.”
“I see your point and I’ll leave it alone for now, but if he doesn’t come clean soon I’ll be the one doing the digging for you. Understand?”
“Yes,” I said thankful this conversation was over.
We walked to the edge of the breakwater and sat down facing the ocean. It’s not the most comfortable place to sit as it consists of an extending sand bar, piping and large rocks at its end, but the view is amazing. We watched as Locke and Luke one by one glided over the waves like they were walking on water. The ease with which they performed tricks made me tremendously jealous.
“How about these powers, huh?” Zilla asked breaking the silence.
“Yeah, how about them,” I said disinterested. So far, they had caused me nothing but trouble.
“They’re amazing,” Zilla said dreamily.
“If that’s what you want to call it. I would say that it’s more of a curse. Having this thing comes with a huge weight on my shoulders. You can’t feel it?” It sometimes felt as if an elephant were sitting on my chest and squeezing all of the air out of my lungs.
“No. I sort of like it. I mean, I’m special now.”
“You were special before,” I said slightly annoyed. “But I get it, I’m just worried. Have you ever stopped to consider all the things that could happen to us or all the people who could accidentally get hurt? Take Luke for example.”
“I saw the scars on him,” she said with what I thought was a mixture of awe and sadness. “I say you’re reading too much into it. You should relax a little.”
I tried to calm my nerves by closing my eyes. We sat there like that, the surf hitting the shore and a tiny breeze tickling our faces. It was relaxing. I leaned back on my hands and sucked in a deep breath.
Just as I was about to melt into the rocks I heard shouting and a blood curdling scream. I pulled myself out of the trance I was in and opened my eyes. It took a minute to focus, but when I did I realized it was Zilla wailing. “Did you see that?” she asked fear replacing her usually calm features.
“See what? Why are you panicking?”
“Look,” she said pointing to a spot not too far in the distance. Two surfboards floated to the surface, bobbing and weaving with the on-coming crest of waves as Locke and Luke struggled to swim to shore. All of a sudden both of their heads went under and didn’t come back up.
I scrambled up. “We have to help them.”
We took off running towards the water and were just about to jump in and start swimming when we saw them surface again. Only this time they weren’t alone, a bunch of creatures with contorted faces were grabbing at their bodies and trying to pull them back under. The creatures were an odd shade of brown and covered in slime. They looked like walking mud puddles, but their features were more pronounced though twisted and misplaced. Their movements were clumsy, like puppets with a master who had no idea how to control them. Locke and Luke were fighting back pretty resiliently for being at such a disadvantage in the water. Locke was punching one of them with all his might and Luke was kicking some of the others. Zilla and I gave each other a knowing look.
“They’re after you aren’t they?” she said recognition dawning on her.
“I can’t be sure, but that’s my guess.”
More shouts erupted and I whipped my head it’s direction. There were at least four more of those creatures attacking the group Alyssa and Jett were in.
A sense of dread began snaking its way through me. “We have to do something now and we can’t get in the water. I don’t think my fire would work in there, not to mention I’m a terrible swimmer.”
“I know,” she replied trying to think through the mass hysteria.
“Maybe we can distract them. But we can’t do it with everyone watching, otherwise they will know our secret,” I said grasping at straws.
“What if we just call them over? Then we can run farther down the shoreline so nobody will be able to see us using our gifts.”
“Not that I really want to, but I think we have a better chance at fighting them than our friends do.” She grabbed my hand and we started sprinting back towards the shore.
“Let’s do it at the same time.”
“Definitely. It might make it loud enough for them to actually hear us over all the noise.”
“What should we say?”
“How about something like come over here and get a roundhouse kick to the face?”
“How very Chuck Norris of you,” she said sarcastically, “and at a time when you don’t have the chops to back it up.”
“Can we just pick something already? Our friends are in serious trouble here,” I said frustrated.
“Okay how about, “Callie’s over here come and get her”.
“Hmmm…that sounds doable. Okay, get ready. On the count of three, one…two…three…” We yelled louder than I could have possibly imagined and inevitably it only gained the attention of a handful of the now dozens of creatures swirling among the shore and waves. They starting coming at us and with each step a few more joined the group until all but three were chasing us down the shoreline. They managed to stay on our heels the whole way and we only stopped when everyone looked like little tiny ants in the distance.
We turned around to face our pursuers. It only took a few seconds before we were completely surrounded and definitely outnumbered. Nine to two weren’t very good odds. Zilla and I put our backs together and faced the outer ring of creatures. Nobody moved. I felt like we were in a pistol duel, walking our set amount of paces and waiting for someone to pull the trigger first.
They stood their ground, as if they were unsure whether to attack or try to capture us. From out of nowhere Draven appeared next to me and I almost jumped out of my skin again. Zilla’s hand shot out and would have landed a nasty blow if I hadn’t thrown myself in the middle. “It’s okay Zilla, he’s a friend.”
She looked shocked, but drew back. “You know him?”
“Yes. It’s something else I’ve wanted to talk to you about, but haven’t been able to yet.” She looked upset, but didn’t say anything. “I know I have a lot of explaining to
do, but can we focus on the bigger problem at hand right now?” I said gesturing to the mob of creatures around us. She nodded.
“Okay good.” We turned our backs to each other again and scooted in closer. “Anybody got an idea of how to handle this? Do we just kick some butt or wait for them to attack or what?”
No one got a chance to respond because they started coming at us in full force. I remembered at the last second that there was a spell for putting up a fire barrier. I think it was called barrieradi fuoco, but what was the chant? I tried to whisper to Draven, but there wasn’t enough time so I closed my eyes and imagined a giant wall of flames around us. I used the way fire had called to me earlier to draw upon for inspiration. A wave of heat rushed up around us, practically singeing my eyebrows off. With one stagger forward, a creature tried to step through the barrier and instantly shattered into a million pieces of ash. The blaze intensified the closer any of them got and after what happened with the first one, they were staying as far away from it as possible. “Any idea what these things are?” I asked blowing a rogue piece of ash away as it floated near my face.
“Yeah, they’re Polong’s,” Draven replied. “They’re like a witch’s familiar. They’ll do the bidding of a witch in exchange for small amounts of blood.”
“Fantastic,” I said throwing my arms up in the air. “Is there any chance you might have an idea how to kill or immobilize them?”
“Go for the back of the neck,” he said confidently.
“How are we supposed to do that? We don’t even have any weapons?” I retorted.
“Here, you can use these,” he said handing us each something that looked like a dagger. “They’re athames I found in your parents basement.”
“They look similar to the one you used the night of my birthday party when I clumsily tripped and then blacked out. Wait; hold on, you were in my parent’s basement again?”
“No, I found them the first time.”
“Let me get this straight,” Zilla said aggravated, “You were allowed into the basement, but I wasn’t?”
“Come on Zilla, don’t start this now. I know you’re hurt, but you can have all the time you need after this to shun me. Which I hope you won’t do, but I’ll respect your decision.”
“What’s an athame anyway?” Zilla asked looking at the thing with disdain.
“They’re used in magick rituals, mostly for sacrifices.”
“Are you joking?” I asked completely dumbfounded. If these were in my parents basement then there was definitely something going on down there I should know about. The thought made my stomach turn.
“Serious as a heart attack,” he said looking me squarely in the eye.
The knives were made of some type of silver metal encrusted with various gemstones of red, blue and light green. The one Draven gave me had wavy designs carved into the hilt. It felt awkward knowing what it was potentially used for, yet suspiciously light and a perfect fit for my hand. I gripped the handle and nodded to Draven. “Thanks, I think.”
“No problem.”
“You good over there Zilla?”
“Yeah it feels a little weird and I’m not exactly sure I can disappear with it.”
“You can disappear?” Draven asked confused.
“Yes. Why, you’ve never heard of that before? Looks like the same thing you did earlier, except I’m a girl,” she said scornfully.
“No, it’s just….complicated. We can talk about it more once this is over. I have a lot to tell you both.”
“So looking forward to it,” Zilla snapped.
“Let’s get this done then. I’m going to lower the barrier so they can come at Draven and me. Zilla, you teleport behind them and make the kill. Hopefully this works or we are all toast. Well at least I am, since I can’t just disappear whenever I want.”
Zilla gave me a pointed look then nodded in agreement as I released the pressure of the spell. When the barrier disintegrated I realized how weak using the magick had made me. I felt drained and wobbled on my feet a bit, but braced myself through the fogginess. Zilla transported herself to the outside ring of the group while they were distracted. A puff of ash erupted to my right and then another on the left, only nine of them remained. The creatures must have realized our plan and started scattering.
I teetered again allowing one brief moment of vulnerability, just enough for one of the Polong’s to catch me off guard and shove me to the ground. He grabbed me by the ankle and started dragging me down the beach, my head bumping along over rocks and shells. I thrashed wildly in hopes that it would accidentally drop me, but its grip was so tight it was causing my leg to go numb. I knew that in order to break free I was going to have to use magick again, but I was so weak that I didn’t know if I could pull it off. I tried to look back to alert Draven or Zilla, but they were so immersed in their own battles to notice that I had been captured.
I hope this works or I’m toast, I thought to myself. I focused as hard as I could and managed to summon a fire ball which I immediately threw at the Polong with every thing I had left. The force of the hurl caused it to stagger and gave me just enough room to jump to my feet and sprint around behind it. I plunged the athame deep into its neck and collapsed to my knees as it burst into tiny singed pieces of powder.
I inhaled deeply through the waves of dizziness washing over me, then struggled upright and jogged back to the battle. I helped Draven take down three more which left us three, one for each of us. Draven and Zilla dispatched theirs easily while I geared up for a fight with mine, loopy or not. When it realized it was outnumbered the creature turned tail and tried to bolt, but I was quicker and lunged at its knees, knocking it to the ground. It wriggled underneath me, but I used every inch of my body to hold him down. The horrible smell of seaweed and sewer wafted off its slimy hide. The thought of our skin on skin contact made my stomach roil, but I pushed that aside for the sake of my friends. I pulled the knife high above my head with two hands and swung it down mercilessly. Another spray of cinders in the face and I dumped over into the sand, closing my eyes.
At some point I had managed to slip into unconsciousness and woke up to someone dousing cold salt water on my face. Zilla was standing over me with a worried expression and Draven was holding a water bottle. I gagged and sputtered through the briny liquid trying to catch my breath. “What happened?” I asked not daring to move.
They looked back and forth at each other and shrugged. “One minute you were kicking total butt and the next you were out of it. We tried everything we could think of and couldn’t wake you back up. This is the third bottle we’ve used,” Zilla said relief flooding her voice.
I tried to sit up and a rush of blood shot through my head, making me reach up to rub my temples. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It must be the spells making me pathetic or something.”
“They are pretty powerful,” Draven replied.
“You scared me to death,” she said swatting at me. “On a side note, that fire barrier you put up around us was spectacular! However,” she said frowning, “don’t think that this makes up for you lying to me about Draven.”
I recognized that tone in her voice and knew she wasn’t playing around. Her feelings were seriously hurt and I was the culprit. I lowered my head. “I know, but the bonus is we are all still alive, right?” She gave me a look that said this conversation was far from over.
I managed to get up on two feet with a little help and then we trekked back to the bonfire. Draven disappeared when we got close enough to witness the nightmare that lay before us. People were huddled in a circle around someone lying motionless on the ground. We pushed our way through and almost stumbled over Alyssa in the process. She was leaning over someone sobbing uncontrollably, their olive complexion paler than moonlight. My heart dropped and my hands began to tremble with grief. It was Jett. Just when Zilla and I had turned to look at each other horrorstruck, Alyssa looked up and
cried, “He’s dead.”
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