Fire Summoner

Chapter Eight: Hometown Hunted

Alice relived that night she had been found in her dreams. She'd had this dream before, it was almost always the same. Bright lights and shouting. Then a big "WHOOSH", and a blanket of darkness being thrown over her. The sting underneath her ear where the two lines were etched into her skin. The smell of smoke and the gentle crackle of a fire surrounding her. Then more shouting, a man's voice, and a few minutes later, a woman's. She couldn't hear what they were saying over the sounds of the fire around her, so she called the fire back to her, welcoming it like an old friend. The man and his wife unwrapped the cloth that covered her body, and they took her home. As they left that clearing, Alice looked back at the wisps of smoke as they curled off of the ground. They spiraled around and formed two swirly lines that joined together in a "V". Alice waved her hands at the wisps, which were stained with soot, in farewell.

Alice woke up as the dream ended. Usually she would forget the details of the dream, it would slip away from her like the tide falling away from the beach, and by the time she got out of bed she would forget the dream entirely.

This morning was different however. Alice could recall in clear detail the events of her dream. Her fingers brushed against the mark underneath her ear. She tried to remember further back, to the time before she had shown up in that field. But no luck. The bright, flashing lights and loud voices were the only things she could remember.

Alice sighed, she didn't feel like solving the mystery of where she came from on an empty stomach. She sat up and stretched her arms up above her head. Behind her, Missy blinked in the dim light that came through the window. Even though they had spent many years together, Missy never seemed happy to be up at such an early hour. But she refused to leave Alice alone, so she rolled off of the bed and stretched out her spine, bumping her tail into the dresser across the small room. Alice gave Missy's cheek a scratch and went to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Alice's reflection stared back at her in the mirror. Her light brown hair, thick and curly, looked like a rat's nest. Her skin was olive toned, but slightly darker from all the time she spent under the sun. She had always guessed that one, or both, of her parents were from the Middle East, or Greece, maybe. She had thick eyebrows and strong cheekbones. Her nose was slightly hooked at the bridge. Sometimes people would make fun of her nose, but she liked it. It was a connection, a small one... but still, to her past. She liked to imagine her biological dad had the same nose, and maybe she got her eyes from her mother. Almond shaped, with light brown irises that lit up in the sunrise and sunset.

She finished up in the bathroom and went out into the kitchen to get a pot of coffee going. She wouldn't need the extra caffeine, as soon as the sun was fully up in the sky she would be energized and ready to face the day. The coffee was for Nick, who despite deciding to willingly join her to watch the sunrise everyday, he would grumble like a bear until the caffeine kicked in. She popped some toast in the toaster and set a kettle of water on the gas stove for tea.

There was crunching on the gravel driveway, then three short thuds as someone walked up the old porch stairs to the front door. Nick rapped his knuckles against the frame of the rickety storm door. Alice got out the jam before going to the front door to let the cranky man in.

"Morning!" she chirped, leading the way back into the kitchen to finish the coffee and tea.

"Hmmm" Nick grumbled. His black hair was messy, there was a cowlick sticking up at the back of his head. His blue eyes were still hazy and lidded from just waking up.

The coffee machine beeped and Alice filled a mug, shoving it into Nick's hand. She left the rest of the coffee for her parents and buttered the toast that she had made. She smeared some of the homemade raspberry jam that her parents made from their berry patch on the toast and handed two pieces to Nick and saved the other two for herself. When the kettle whistled, Alice grabbed a tea bag and steeped it in the hot water.