Fire Summoner

Chapter Sixteen: Family Ties

The only thing that Alice could hear was her gasping breath as she tore after Emily.

Actually, no. That was not the only thing she could hear. She could also hear her father's voice echoing in her head, warning her of the severity of her powers. All the years of him teaching her self control, so that she would never hurt someone; down the drain. How would he look at her if he ever found out she had purposefully enflamed her hands and used them to hurt another person.

She could just imagine the tears welling up in her mothers eyes. What would her parents think of her now?Would they look at her with fear? With disgust? How could her parents ever let her back into their lives now that she –

"Oof!"

Alice, while lost in her darkening thoughts, hadn't noticed that Emily had abruptly stopped running causing her to slam straight into her back. Both girls would have gone down if it weren't for Connor, who had been hot on their heels, who reached out and steadied the both of them.

Shaking off Connor's hand, Alice looked behind him to see Nick half pushing Missy along. The supposed "Hellcat" kept turning around and hissing at the fading light of the clearing as she was ushered along by Nick. Her body posture reminded Alice of when she stalked her prey, her ears flattening alongside her head, her body dropping low to slink along the ground so as not to be spotted. But unlike the other times Alice had seen Missy hunt, her tail was now thrashing from side-to-side and knocking into the vegetation, tearing leaves off of their stems.

"Come on, big girl." Nick grunted as he pushed her head to face forward again. There was a deep yowling-whine coming from Missy's throat as she allowed herself to be turned once again by Nick.

Fearing for her friend's hands, and general safety, Alice whistled to her cat to get her to come to her side. With one last growl thrown behind her to the clearing, Missy turned and padded over to where Alice, Emily and Connor were standing. Nick jogged after her.

"What do we do now?" Nick asked once he reached them, looking to Connor and Emily. Alice thought the same thing. Nick's truck was most likely toast, as was most of the supplies that Emily and Alice had to leave behind. There was no use in doubling back to retrieve it all. All they had were their travel packs; consisting of a few changes of clothes and some roadtrip snacks, their weapons, the medical bag and the tent pack that was still strung securely around Missy's back.

"We continue on." Emily said, her face set with determination.

"Where is "on"? Where are we going?" Alice questioned with a hint of frustration laced through her voice. "And don't say Vheriann, 'cause obviously we've got a looong way to go before we reach Mt. Saint Helens, or Montana for that matter!" Something was churning within Alice. The events of the past couple days were catching up to her. That, combined with all the unanswered questions and the multiple potential concussions she was fostering, Alice felt as tight as a wound up spring – ready to burst.

"The truck is not an option anymore. And we can't just walk the rest of the way, that would take weeks!" Alice's voice was getting louder, forgetting the danger that still lurked behind their group. "And why was that Bronte lady-" an image of smoking flesh shot through Alice's mind- "calling you two siblings?" Alice jabbed an accusatory finger at Connor and Emily.

"Yeah, and why was she calling you Pyrrhus? Is that some kind of Vheriann insult, man? Nick chimed in, hopping on the Question train that was going to quickly derail the current mission of staying alive if they didn't get answers, and quickly.

Connor dragged his hand down his face and looked over at Emily, who was now crouched down on her haunches and was picking up some of the dry leaves and sticks from the ground. "It's not a Vheriann insult, it's a name: my name."