For Now | Dreaming Trilogy | Book 1 (HEAVY CONSTRUCTION)

Shyanne | Dark Past

Shane had tried to catch me up. When I had been running, apparently, Jake had come to rescue Phoenix, but then she got swallowed by a tree and she blew it up with "BAM POOF FIAH POWAH" according to Shane. This awoke that thing - a beale - that had attacked me.

I was just getting to my part of the story when Shane noticed something moving in the distance. Something with blue and black hair and a fire in her eyes. It was Phoenix. Shane and I raced up to her, but I almost stopped when I saw her face, and what she was carrying. In her arms was a limp jake, blood now only trickling out of gashes all over him. Phoenix had curled him against her chest, keeping him close.

Looking at her face made me jump. Normally, I'd see fear or anger in those silver eyes, but now... I could only see hollow, tired shells. Dying stars. She was wheezing, and her body was shaking, whether it be from fear or exhaustion or hunger.

Shane tried to take Jake from her, but Phoenix snapped at him, shoving past with her shoulders. I tried to talk some sense into her as she fell to the ground, careful to set Jake down gently in the grass. She closed her eyes and kept her arms tight around Jake's dwarfed form (Next to hers, at least).

Shane sat next to her, brushing the dark hair out of her face. He threw his Killjoy jacket over her and Jake for warmth. He didn't move, so figured it was safe to walk over to him. I sat beside him, pulling the sticky hair away from my face.

"What happened while we were gone, Shy?" Shane asked, not turning from Phoenix.

I looked at the two, curled up together, Phoenix's face close to the boy's head. She was keeping him safe. "I don't know." I finally said, turning back to him. Something told me he didn't like how close Jake and Phoenix had become.

He sighed, resting his hand on Phoenix's cheek. After a short silence, in which Shane just listened to Phoenix's breathing, he asked, "What happened to you?"

I managed a slight smile. "I heard Phoenix tell me to keep going, so I did. I thought she'd be right after me. Well, I burst into this clearing. That... That thing... It came out of nowhere. It knocked me sideways, so I instinctively shot at it. Then it... I don't know. We were fighting. You came at just the right time, y'know? I was knocked out in that last hit. I'd have been a goner had it not been for you." I gently touched the bloody welt that had formed on the back of my head. Of course, I'd taken other bruises. My elbow had been dislocated.

"I'm so sorry." Shane said quietly.

"What?" I asked, thinking he was joking. Judging by his tone, he wasn't.

"I tripped. That's why you were alone. Then Phoenix heard Jake screaming, so she ran back." He explained.

"Oh..." Was all I said. I didn't want him blaming himself, but I had no better argument.

Silence filled the air thickly once again. I stared at the two limp bodies before me, how Phoenix kept him so close her... Protective.

All at once, it dawned on me why Phoenix was so attached to Jake; She saw herself in the boy. He was misunderstood, he was odd, he was hiding things, he had no family. She wanted to be what she never had: a good big sister.

Jake stirred slightly, whimpering, and Phoenix brought him closer, resting her chin on the top of his head.

After a while of silence again, Jake opened his eyes. For a moment, they shone a brilliant green. His slightly upturned nose twitched like a rabbit. He tried to rise, but his wrist and leg both disappeared into leaves. He let out an audible wince of pain, then sat up, rubbing his eyes as they lost their brightness. He took one look at Phoenix and gasped.

"Jake!" I called, a grin settling over my face. It seemed like weeks since I'd last genuinely smiled. I guess Jake had that effect on people; it certainly worked on Phoenix.