Playing With Fire (17 page)

“What
the heck!” I screamed at them, and looked up to find the wolf girl, Yuki,
staring back at me with the same amount of anger I had. “Why’d you do that?”

“You
stole my fight!” she yelled at me as I stood up shivering. “I was doing just
fine at fighting my sister until you budded in!”

“You
call passed out ‘doing just fine’?” I argued. “If it weren’t for me, you’d be
dead right now!” Yuki glared at me with her hateful eyes. She threw a fist at
me, but I grabbed it before it hit me.

“You
don’t get it!” she said suddenly with tears. “That witch killed my entire family,
and then she killed my baby brother Elijah. He was just a baby! You have
everyone in this camp, and I have no one! I wanted to die! If I killed her, I
would have gone and killed myself. By killing her and saving me, you gave me a
punishment worse than death! You’ve condemned me to a life alone!”

I
blinked in surprise as Yuki fell to her knees in tears. I had no idea how to
comfort her, but I knew I had to. This girl was broken. Everything she loved had
been ripped away from her. I sat down next to her and awkwardly patted her on
the back.

“I’m
sorry,” I said, and regretted I couldn’t come up with anything more comforting.
“I know how it feels like to feel alone.” Yuki looked at me with tear filled
eyes and sniffled.

“Yeah
right,” she growled while wiping away her tears. “You have everything, family,
friends and somewhere to live.” I laughed.

“In
reality, I’m an orphan,” I said, actually realizing it for once. “My brothers
aren’t really my brothers, and I used to live in a broken down warehouse before
I came here. At least you knew your parents.” Yuki looked at me in confusion.

“I
thought that lady was your mom,” she said, and I laughed again while shaking my
head.

“If
anything, Kyra’s my mentor,” I said and Yuki began to sniffle less and listen
more. “She’s been forcing me to learn how to fight since I got here.”

“Then
where did you come from?” Yuki asked, making me tell my entire story again. I
was starting to think I should just learn to write (if I ever bothered to) just
to record it and tell anyone who asked about my past to read it.

Yuki
didn’t ask questions, and she didn’t interrupt. She sat quietly and listened,
hardly moving other than to breathe. When I finished I sighed. I was starting
to get tired of telling it orally.

“How
did you manage knowing you had no true family?” Yuki asked when I finished. It
was an easy enough question to answer.

“I
have my brothers,” I said. “We take care of each other, and that’s all we
need.”

“But
aren’t you upset you don’t have parents?” she asked. For some reason, I felt a
small pang of pain in my brain, but I haven’t felt it since I let go of all the
childish dreams I used to have.

“I
don’t need them,” was my plain response, but I couldn’t shake the feeling. It
was the same feeling I had when I was little and saw other kids when I walked
the streets of Laetus at night. Little children rushed to greet their father
when he came home, and their loving mother put them to bed at night. Jake used
to put me to bed at night too when I was little, but as I grew older, I refused
it. I used to be jealous of the other kids who had parents. But I wasn’t like
them. I didn’t need them. I didn’t
want
them. Yuki didn’t say anything
for a while, and it started to get awkward.

“So,
why are you here?” I said trying to break the silence. “You were knocked out in
the medical tent last time I saw you.”

“I
didn’t know where to go,” Yuki said distantly. “When I woke up, I freaked out.
I didn’t know where I was, so I ran. I got lost when I ran into this forest,
and then I saw you sleeping. I remembered you, and remembered what happened.”

“You
know, you didn’t have to tackle me into a freezing cold pond,” I pointed out while
drying myself with fire. “You could have talked about it like a normal person.”
Of course my words did not apply to myself. I noticed the irony thank you very
much.

I
stood up and looked around. I didn’t know how far I ran, but I was lost too. It
suddenly dawned on me that running away aimlessly into the forest wasn’t the
best idea.

“Do
you remember which way you came from?” I asked, trying to find some land mark
to find where we were. Yuki shook her head. I sighed. I had no idea if the
barrier that protected the camp went around the whole forest, and it would be
very bad if it didn’t. Inside the barrier, we were safe. But outside of it, we
were like sitting ducks.

“Well,
you might as well help us get back to camp,” I said. “Can’t you sniff out the
camp or something?”

“That’s
racist!” Yuki spat. “I’m half Blood
Wolf
not blood hound! Just because I
can turn into a wolf doesn’t mean I’ll submit to the same wild instincts of
one!”

“Sheesh,
sorry I asked,” I said back. I looked around and picked a random direction.
Since little miss sensitive wouldn’t even try to sniff out the camp, we
followed my horrible sense of direction. We walked until the sun was at its
peak in the sky, and Yuki collapsed from exhaustion.

“Break,”
she said between gasps. “Please.” I was tired too, so I nodded in agreement. I
leaned on a tree putting a hand on my chest. My pulse was racing, but not just
because I was tired. Something wasn’t right, despite everything looking
completely fine. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we shouldn’t be there.

“Can’t
you send up a flare with your fire?” Yuki asked breathlessly. I thought about
it for a second. It wasn’t a bad idea. My palm caught on fire and I tossed it
into the air. The fire acted like a solid object as it rose higher and higher.
Kyra had made me train myself to make my fire take forms, everything from a
simple ball of fire to a blade. The fire blade technique was incredible, but
unstable. It was the only time I had ever had trouble controlling fire. I had
only used it once, to kill the She-wolf, but I had used the dagger already in
her chest as an access point so it wouldn’t blow up like it did when I made the
blade entirely out of fire. But a simple ball of fire was easy to control.

The
small flaming ball rose higher and higher into the air, until it was above the
trees. Once it was burning in the sky alongside the sun, it exploded into an
array of flames, dancing in the sky. Its light outmatched the sun. It was so
bright, the whole camp must have noticed. Unfortunately, they weren’t the only
ones who noticed.

An
ear shattering screech rang through the air and Yuki and I threw our hands over
our ears. I was too shocked to react. Before I could scream at Yuki to run, we
were ambushed by Shadows. The Shadows looked even more horrible in the
sunlight. Foam frothed from their mouths, as if they were rabid. They hissed
and growled at us. Yuki and I scrambled to each other until we were back to
back. The Shadows stalked closer. My mind was racing and I really wished I had
the ability to count so I would know how many we were up against. There weren’t
too many, but they were different from the other Shadows I had fought. They
were more eager, and more bloodthirsty. I felt fur on my back as Yuki changed,
and she growled back at the Shadows.

“What
are they?” Yuki growled in her wolf voice. A Shadow lurched toward her, but she
swiped it with her claws, sending it shrieking in pain back into the crowd of
Shadows. Deep raspy cackling reached my ears as a dark figure drifted into
view. My heart almost stopped.

“Not
good,” I squeaked as Enzio walked into view with a smug look in his eyes. He
was exactly the same as I last saw him. His face was wrapped up in shreds of
red cloth all except for his eyes, and his raven black hair still reached his
shoulders. His blood red eyes were trained on me.

“Look
how big you’ve gotten!” Enzio said chuckling. “You killed a She-wolf with a
technique only your mother could perfect. I must congratulate you. You’ve
really managed to be a pest to Velkire and I. Running to that little camp
protected by that witch Gale was a nice attempt to prolong your miserable life.
I would have gone after you when you went on that mission, but Velkire insisted
to let the She-wolf have you. I knew she would fail, but Velkire allowed it any
way. I couldn’t come after you when you were within the barrier, but now that
you have stumbled out of its protection, I can take care of you.” My hand
drifted to my dagger hilts, only to find I didn’t have any more. I cursed and
flicked my hands. Fire laced my fingers and made a perfect match to my palms.
Enzio laughed again.

“You’re
so foolish,” he said, getting closer. “You think you can beat me just because
you learned some new tricks? You are sorely mistaken.” Enzio put one hand in
front of him, and immediately, metal claws whipped out from the fingers. I
tried my best not to show fear, but Enzio didn’t fall for it.

“You
ready for a fight, Yuki?” I asked hesitantly, not turning to face her. She
growled in response. She crouched low to the ground, daring any psychotic
Shadow to attack her. Enzio laughed.

“You’ve
picked up quite the pet, Scarlet,” he mocked, and the hairs on Yuki’s back
stood up in anger. She whipped around and snarled at him, teeth bared and ears
practically pasted onto her head. It was exactly what he wanted. A Shadow
pounced on her, biting her tail. Yuki yelped and slashed its throat open with
her claws. It fell off of her, screeching in pain as it bled to death. Other
Shadows began to close in, forcing Yuki and I to get as close as possible back
to back.

“Kill
them,” Enzio said, and Shadows raced at us. A Shadow was about to slash me with
its claws, and I had no room to dodge. I waited for the pain, knowing I could
still fight after it, but it never came. A flash of silver and gold whipped by
me, and the Shadow fell dead. Before I could even blink, half the Shadows were
dead. A second later the rest were either drowning in their blood or drowning
in other’s. Enzio looked around in confusion. Yuki and I were dumbstruck.
Suddenly, a small girl holding a bloody sword appeared between Enzio and me.

“You!”
Enzio said in disbelief. “You should be dead!”

The
little girl stabbed her sword into the ground. “
Kasclle
!” Suddenly the
ground opened up under Enzio’s feet and before he could react, he was swallowed
by the earth. The little girl grabbed her sword from the ground and snatched my
hand.

“You
must come with me now,” she said calmly, but rushed. I didn’t argue. The small
girl dragged Yuki and me along as she raced through the forest. What really
shocked me was how old she seemed. She only looked like she was seven or eight,
yet she single handedly defeated a bunch of Shadows and subdued Enzio. She wore
a grey bandana over her head, covering one eye. Her golden curly hair was short,
above her shoulders but slightly beneath her chin. Her shirt was cut at the
sleeves, and hung loosely over her dark green pants that stopped above her
small ankles. She was a lot shorter and younger than I was, but she acted like
an adult.

“Where
are we going?” Yuki asked, once again human and trying to keep up. The girl
ignored her and kept running with her sword sheath bouncing on her back as her
feet hit the ground. A familiar hut drifted into sight like smoke. Yuki gasped,
and the little girl dragged us inside. The girl stopped us at the entrance and
disappeared into the maze of string.

“What
is this place?” Yuki asked looking around.

“This
is the home of the psychopath, Madam Gale,” I responded.

“I
heard that!” The crabby little blind woman was being escorted by the little
girl out of one of the far off bedrooms. I threw my arms up over my head to
protect from an oncoming smack, but it never came. I looked back at her in
confusion. The little woman had sat down at the table with a solemn look on her
face. “Come here child, there is much to tell you, but we have little time.” I
hesitantly made my way to the table, forcing Yuki in front of me as a shield. I
took a seat, farthest away from Madam Gale, and relaxed a bit. Yuki sat next to
me, not knowing what was going on at all.

“Do
you remember that little rock you had the day you first came here, Scarlet?”
Madam Gale asked. I nodded.

“You
said it was junk,” I said, and the little girl crossed her arms over her chest,
offended. Madam Gale chuckled, even though nothing about the situation was
funny.

“At
the time it was,” she said focusing on nothing. “But it was not completely
useless. Do you remember that squirrel I had whenever you came? That was your
little rock that you had left with me, and finally that little squirrel had
become its true form. Your Guardian has been awakened once again.” It took me a
while to actually process that.

“My
Guardian’s a squirrel?” I repeated in disbelief. This had to be some cruel
joke. A small bare foot came flying at my face, catching my cheek and sending
me flying back into a hard cold unforgiving wall. The little blonde girl stared
down at me with her angry purple eye.

“You’re
an idiot Scarlet!” the little girl fumed. “Madam Gale said it changed into its
true form! That means it isn’t a squirrel anymore!”

 “Okay,
you don’t have to kick me in the freaking face!” I rubbed my sore cheek and
looked up at the small girl. She was really angry. “So if my Guardian is back
to normal where is she?” The girl face palmed her forehead.