The Book of Gemma -Apocalyptic Fantasy Romance-

CHAPTER 28: DEECON'S GAME

As I pack our stuff into the bags I strapped to Djinn, Deecon says goodbye to Harry.
It was refreshing seeing him find a friend after the years of dirtbags he surrounded himself with.
We wave goodbye to them and I press my fingers onto Djinn's neck to que him to start our path.

The wind starts to cut into Deecon's face, he pulls his hood over and shelters it against my back. His arms tighten around me to shield more of his body.
I close my eyes and begin to concentrate... exercise it, I repeat in my head.
I feel Deecon's face remove from my back as wind no longer lashes at him.
I push the invisible barrier further around us so no sand or wind can harm him or Djinn.
Deecon's laugh startled me as he whips his head to each side of the barrier.
'You surprise me everyday, Gem.'

I didn't know at which moment to tell Deecon I am dropping him off at the bunker to find my family's first settlement.
I needed to go home.
To look for any secret they may have kept from me, or wanted me to find. I just needed to know if something from that book was true.
I point my finger in the direction of the bunker,

"The bunker is only a couple hundred feet from here, can you and Djinn make it? There is a cave nearby he can rest in." I ask him.
"Make it? Where are you going?" A little bit of frustration leaves his tone, he didn't like when I ventured off.
"I need to find my old house, something in that Book of Fables may have been useful."

He releases his arms from me, I turn my head back to him as he pushes his tongue to the inside of his cheek. I know that look, he is frustrated.

"So, I just walk back to the bunker and worry the whole time?"
I roll my eyes at him, "I will not kill anyone on my way there."
"I'm not worried about others, I'm worried about you." He scorns.
I turn back to him in a huff, "I can take care of myself."
"I know you can, but.. I-... I don't want less time with you okay? I said it. You remind me that you hate to see my life flash before your eyes and it scares me too... please, let me go with you."

I stopped Djinn from moving anymore further away from the bunker, it was only about a hundred feet away.

"Deecon, I don't want to put you in more danger. Those Darus Devils pushing you to the ground with a knife to your throat terrified me. I'm sorry but I will see you before dark." I hated saying it to him but it was for the best. I couldn't forgive myself if he was put in danger by my own curiosity.

"No." He growls at me.

I keep firm in my plan, "I will not argue with you."
I slip off of Djinn's back and grab for my bag.
Deecon snatches it from me, "I said, no."

No? Does he think he can boss me around still? The Goddess of Life and Death?
"Fine, keep the bag."
It only had one thing in it, your shirt.

I push my palms towards the ground and Deecon starts to panic, he knows I can float into the clouds.
"Don't you dare, Gem.. Don't-"
Of course I don't listen.
I push myself into the clouds, hiding above them.
I see the mountain I moved.

Once I reached my destination, I stood in the middle of the broken down settlement that used to thrive. All the homes have caved in roofs, garbage littered the streets, the road broke down in chunks and my home..
My home was caved in on itself, the door in pieces.
I lift my palms for the wood to move upward, giving me a place to actually stand it.

The floors are littered in blankets and scraps of fabric, I assume people tried to make it their home before it collapsed... even during.
Two skeletons hold each other in the corner, sharing a sleeping bag.
Looked like they had been here for a decade under the rubble.

I searched around the room for any clue my parents could have left behind, they wouldn't leave it out in the open for any human to find, only our kind. What crafty passage did they come up with?
The only part of the home that wouldn't get destroyed is the flooring, I scan any part of it that didn't fit properly, I search in their room but find no flaw in it. Closet, maybe the closet.

I crouched down to it and felt the cracks of the wood.. It was warm.

I pry the closet floor apart and dig up the dirt. My hands start to burn at the temperature of the ground, my nails almost tear as I scratch the top of a harder layer. I go to retrieve it but it burns, oh Darus it melted my flesh at the touch of it. I was actually in pain at the scorching box.
I needed to cool it down.

You can do this, you have proven the icy chill can be controlled at a smaller volume.

I release some of the darkness as it crawls up my hands again. Colder and colder the room dropped in temperature as the ice formed around me.
I lightly touch the sides of the box but it still burns, melting the ice as soon as it makes contact.
Colder, I needed to be an iceberg.

I release more of the darkness feeling the inviting sensation of it being smooth ice around my marble skin.
The markings grow further up my arms as my hands grab for the box again, I flinch at the temperature. My mouth prys open as my screams tear through it. Stretching the coldness out of my palms instead of letting it engulf my body was something I never practiced before. Snow starts to fall through the cracks of the roof, slick ice forming on top of the flooring and frost spreading across the walls.