Darkened Souls {HAITUS}

4

"Okay, so the hardest part to do is to get past the rest of the teachers, and then we should be Scott-free," Jarous said. I nodded, my face was pale. He looked concerned and took one of my hands hesitantly. I didn't even flinch. "You good there, Mara?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that I've never skipped half a day of school before, what if we get caught? That's sure to cause trouble, right?"

"Oh, would you get over it? Mr. Dillsoworth told me that he would get us both out for the day. You're beat up and I'm your caretaker was the excuse. We both know that he's the only one here who would actually file that one other than Principal Rowan."

"Oh, okay fine. But what if one of the other teachers hears, or worse, what if they see?"

"Calm, buddy. Calm. You're lidke a fiery ball of worry here. Give yourself a second." I sat and did as told. I closed my eyes and suddenly I was being carefully hoisted onto Jarous' back. I exclaimed in surprise, though the next comment that I got made me suspect that it sounded like pain.

"Oh, am I hurting you?"

"No, you just surprised me there, that's all that you did. You didn't do anything wrong, you know I still love you."

He laughed. "I love you too, Mara. Come on, this is our chance!" He quite stealthily made a break for it across the hall, which I was impressed by because he was carrying approximately eighty-five pounds of dead weight across his back and desperately trying to make sure I was as comfortable as possible. Then I felt really bad for making him carry me like this, but this was the exact reason that I didn't want to do P.E. in the first place. Even after he got through the doors, he kept running, which honestly surprised me. It looked like he was having fun carrying me at breakneck speeds through the parking lot, whooping as he went.

I joined in with my hoarse voice. I noticed that my tail was gently wrapping around his waist, but subconsciously, the same way that I did with Boo or Bale. The way that I did when I felt safe while being carried. I blushed, but not too hard, because now I knew Jarous really well, even well enough to be comfortable with being comfortable around him. It was still a new feeling around him, comfort, but that didn't mean that it was one I was scared of. If anything it made things better.

He was smiling and laughing while spinning around and dancing in a nearby empty field, me still on his back, and I wouldn't have traded this moment for the world. His being so kind and caring to me while I was in pain and wounded felt so... good. It felt like something new, something wonderful, and something nice. He put me down in the middle of the grass and we just laid there for a bit, staring at the overhead clouds passing lazily by.

"So, what do you want to do?" Jarous asked after a while.

"I dunno, what do you want to do?" I said in reply.

"Well, it's your day off, it would be rude to make you go along with everything that I wanted to do."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean," he playfully booped my nose. "That you get to choose what to do today."

I stopped. What did I want to do? Well, what did I like to do? I liked to run, I liked to play hide-and-seek, I liked to practise magic, I liked to fly. Well, the last two were out of the question unless Jarous was willing to start doing magic, which might have been a good thing for him, and he certainly couldn't fly without a spell or enchantment. I couldn't run today, for obvious reasons, and the way that I played hide-and-seek was a little... difficult. But it was my best bet I guessed.

"Uhm, we could play hide and seek!" I said. He looked a little surprised.

"Really? No restaurants or stalls that you wanted to go to?"