The Difference In Capital Letters

Fiery-anger and Fiery-love

  As I rise from my bed, again, I note that pixie-boy is sitting at the end of the bed. Probably waiting for me to get up. I ignore the beating pain that courses through my body and spring off the end of the bed with one hand grabbing his hair and yanking his head backwards.

'Easy, silhouette. You have a fiery temper for a shadow princess.' His eyes sparkled with amusement, and his voice was as playful as ever.

'And you have rather sparkly eyes, it would be a right shame to blacken them up.' I hissed.

'Get off.' He seemed to be taking this as some sort of game, what was he playing at?

'What for? I just wanted to get outta this place, be on my way and all and you keep holding me back, what's your problem?' I could hear a slight whinge in my voice now.

'My problem? You looked in a shadow mirror yet princess?' He cooed, fire dancing across his eyes.

'Stop calling me princess.'

'But you are.'

'So what? I'm a fugitive princess with a father baying for my blood.'

'Ooh, great line, how'd it begin.' He exclaimed playfully.

'Sorry to disappoint you, but life isn't one big game and I'm not here to give you a bed-time story.' I snapped.

His face fell, I could see he was only trying to have a bit of fun, but maybe they're all happy-go-clappy around here and don't know when to stop. I let go of his hair and turned to face the door with a sigh, only to get tackled from behind.

'Now who's the one who needs to get off!' I grated. 'You'd think you'd know when to stop.'

'You'd think a girl would know when she's beat.' He crowed.

Before he could get another word out I turned and I could see the fire dancing in his eyes, but I caught a glimpse of it in mine, probably just a reflection but I could feel my blood boiling. 'Who said I was beat?' I whispered menacingly. 'I'm never beat.'

I flew at him then, I could see he was wanting this, pulling me in, egging me on but I kept going. Every swipe I took he gave another dumb comment: 'Is that the best you can do shadow girl?'.

  I threw him on the floor but the fire never died in his pixie-eyes, the crooked smile that meant mischief never faded from his lips. As he drew himself up, standing a few inches taller than me I put all my energy into one last hit. My fist never flew. My mouth opened up in a roar and my arms spread out like a cross as I hurled energy at him. Fire poured through my throat and at his head as I roared in frustration and across my palms danced a dark ice, and water flowed in abundance through the surface of my skin.

  I realized in that split second that I shouldn't have been so harsh, he hadn't exactly harmed me since he first saw me but he knew what was coming and his head whipped back in laughter as the fire died at his feet, the shadow drifted off, the ice melted and the water trickled out.

'Welcome to the club Lighty.' He said with a suppressed giggle. 'I thought you might be like me.'

'How'd you know?' I gasped, relieved he was unharmed.

'I knew it wasn't just your boyfriend trying to lower the temperature, I could sense the two different signatures.' He stated, for once not joking around.

'You were the one fighting us?' I was perplexed. 'What for?' I completely ignored the fact he thought Kazi was my boyfriend.

'I didn't know if you were a threat, better to be safe than sorry, and I was by myself - I didn't know if I was being tracked by you two turtledoves.' He said, perfectly seriously, but I could see a twitch of a smile as he said turtledoves.

'He's not my boyfriend.' I whine, 'You're just being unfair.'

'I bet you're wondering where he is.'

'Am not.'

'Aw come on love bird, I know you're dying to see him.'

'Shut up pixie.'

'Flirting with me now huh? What would your boyfriend have to say?'

'Says the one who practically talks in flirtatious language, and no, he isn't my boyfriend - more of a hitch-hiker really.'

I follow Loki through the doors and down the stairs. We slide down rather elegantly, Loki whoops in pure delight as we zoom over the smooth banisters and his smile widens when we land.

'I'd never thought of going down the stairs that way before!' He said, pure delight flashed across his eyes.

'You're a fire-prince and you'd never thought of just sliding down the stairs? Wow you must be dumber than I thought.' I say with a broad smile as I lightly thump him on the arm.

'You know, for someone who was trying to kill me a moment ago, you're not bad.' He said with mock approval.

'You're not bad yourself pixie-boy.'

  I leave the fire realm with another friend, Kazi's rather weary of Loki, but was that a flash of jealousy I saw in his eye when I said Loki was coming too? Fillin still isn't quite big enough to ride so Agripin will be carrying both me and Loki. He wraps his arms around me and we set off, I can hear a slight moan in my head - it's coming from Kazi.

Come off it, you're a big boy aren't you?

It's not fair.

You rode with me too for a while, quit your whining.

My hair whips back as Agripin goes flying off, I think he's glad to be on the move again. Loki whoops and Agripin shows off by flying through the shadows of the forest. I feel Loki's head on my shoulder as he whispers slightly in my ear: 'Just wait 'til I give you a ride on Max, you'll love him.'

I give him a look and telepathically ask: what sort of creature is he?

Be patient princess, you'll find out soon enough.

I notice a little way off, Kazi is riding the wind majestically on Viktor, but I can see by the slouch of his shoulders he can't wait for Loki to be gone. I can still feel the pulling sensation in my gut, but it's changed direction - I think we were meant to find Loki, whilst we were in the fire realm, I had only found Loki by following my instinct. Where we were off to now, I had no idea.

  I could feel my eyes drooping, but before I gave in to sleep I heard Loki whisper to me again.

'You have two kinds of fire in you, firey-love and firey-anger. Most people only show one, but that's what I like about you, you show both and you combine them. You're the most powerful person I've met, not just for your powers; you pour your soul into everything, your entire existence is given to what you do. You're a beautiful fire Verity.'

'What with the niceties? It doesn't suit you.' I mumble.

'I'm not sure you remember, but when you were at school, I was there - you were never truly alone, I could see you were different, and I followed you, I discovered your character and I felt I best tell you.'

'Hate to break it to you, but although fire may look beautiful if you get too close you'll get burnt.'

'I don't care, you could burn me to the ground and I'd still care for you.'

I carry on in silence, and finally fall asleep. I must have just made up the last few moments.