Fire Summoner

Chapter Seventeen: Outrunning The Storm

Connor had suggested that they continue moving along. "We should put as much distance between us and them." he had said. The thunderclouds looming above the treetops had lessened slightly but they still loomed threateningly, the air was charged with electricity.

Alice whistled to Missy, who had taken their brief pause to splash around in the stream. The Hellcat lazily blinked at Alice when she was called, took one last swipe at the pebbles on the bed of the stream then came lumbering up at a slow pace. The sunlight that managed to filter through the trees glinted off of the water and into her eyes, making them seem like live flames were dancing in her irises.

Missy's attitude gave the group a bit of hope that they were no longer in immediate danger, however the fact that the big cat was still hanging around the group and not bounding off into the wilderness like she usually did convinced them all that they were not out of the woods yet; literally and figuratively.

Connor and Emily's explanation gave Alice plenty to think about while they continued on. Swatting at the mosquitos that hovered around her face and neck, Alice put the pieces of information together like a puzzle. Albeit one with massive holes in it; but a puzzle nonetheless. She wondered what happened the night she and her siblings were sent to Earth. Was she even old enough to remember anything that had happened prior to that night? She could not even imagine telling a toddler sensitive information. Every toddler that she had ever come across had been a huge tattle tale.

Maybe it had been something she had witnessed? Maybe she had visual information instead of verbal information. Something she had seen that she was not supposed to. That must be it, Alice decided.

Slowly, Alice noticed that there was a light buzzing feeling at the base of her skull. It was similar to the feeling of Pop-Rocks in your mouth and was slowly growing in intensity. Alice had flashes of blurry figures appear in her mind, a dim room lit up by a fire in the center of the floor. The smoke of the fire rose up throughout the room and funneled out through a hole in the roof. She could hear muffled crying, the soft whimpers of a child trying not to cry.

Alice's foot caught on a tangle of branches, knocking her out of her vision. The buzzing abruptly stopped as she threw her hands out to break her fall. There was a dart of silver and Missy was underneath her, stopping further injury.

Emily helped Alice off of Missy's back, giving her arm for support so Alice could right herself.

"Hey, you ok?" Emily asked, her eyes flashing with concern. Her hands were pressing around different points on Alice's forehead, eliciting a groan when her thumbs pressed directly between Alice's eyes, which were dancing with stars again. Her head felt like she was deep underwater. She swallowed thickly and felt her ears pop. She had to be deeply concussed. How she was still upright and walking around, Alice did not know. The only thing she was sure of was that if she didn't get actual medical, non-vervain related medical help, she might pass out and never wake up.

"I'm dizzy." Alice's voice sounded far away and echoey, as if it were coming from the bottom of a well.

"We should get her to an emergency room." Nick said as he came up beside the girls. He took Alice's other arm and slung it over his shoulders, lifting her off the ground slightly as he was a good couple of inches taller than her.

"No, no hospitals." Connor said. He took Alice's pack off of her back. It helped with the dizziness a little, but she still felt like she should lie down and sleep, at least for a day. That would do her some good.

"Connor, look at her. She can barely stand! What if she has a brain injury or something? We can't drag her around the country with us, that's sure to cause a stir with us humans. How long before word reaches the Lightning Summoners, we would be sitting ducks just waiting for them to pick us off. No offense, Sparkles."