Lithium

Chapter Eight

The fire was back, illuminating the dark, night sky. Ash covered the fields, screams and howls crossed the sky. I stared down at the familiar scene once more, wishing for nothing more than to get out. To run away. To leave it all behind.

"That's right my little summoner...run away. Leave them all behind. Leave them all for me."

I turned quickly towards the strange, deep, raspy voice to see a man cloaked all in black, watching the scene a few feet to my left. I couldn't make out his face, but somehow, I knew he was bad news. I could feel it radiating off of him, raising the hairs on every inch of my body.

I opened my mouth to speak, but not even a whisper of sound came out. I clutched my throat in panic, wondering what had happened to my voice.

The man took a slow step towards me. "Don't be afraid, child. Wake up...and come to me. Deliver yourself to me as I desire, as your destiny desires. We're attached by the strings of fate. Now...wake up Faye. Wake up!"

I jolted awake, my skin covered in a thin layer of sweat, my bangs sticking to my forehead. I pushed the frizzy, long, damp locks out of the way and sat up, clutching my knees to my chest for a moment.

That scene again, only this time, different. Who was that man?

A knock on my door startled me from my thoughts. "Faye? Are you awake?"

Just my aunt. "Y-yes.." I stuttered, trying to calm myself again. Reassure myself it was just a dream.

The door swung open, revealing my aunt with a tray of cookies. "Just out of the oven! You want one?" She caught a glimpse of my face, and set the tray down, walking over to sit next to me. "What is it, Faye?"

I took a deep breath, then turned to face her. "I had the dream again. The fire, mother and father being murdered. But this time, there...there was a man, cloaked in black. He..he told me that I was destined to go to him." Flashes of the scene sparked through my mind as I spoke.

My aunt just nodded, then smiles cheerfully. "Well! I'm sure it was just a dream. Anyways, no reason to let these cookies go to waste!" She stood up and grabbed the tray, walking to the doorway, pausing to glance back at me. "Don't forget your school field trip is today!"

Shit.

I glanced at the clock to see it was already 7:39. I had to be at the school by 8:00. I groaned and quickly jumped up, showering and dressing like it was nobody's business. I hurried downstairs and grabbed my bag, along with a couple cookies, before saying a quick goodbye and heading out the door.

As usual, Scar was already in front of my house. I threw open the door and hopped in. "Sorry, sorry, I-"

"Overslept, yet again." Scarlet cut me off. "Maybe you should try getting to bed a bit earlier so you're not so wiped out." She shifted into drive and pulled out, heading towards school.

I laughed a little, scratching the back of my head. "Yeah...maybe you're right." I glanced back and noticed Alaina wasn't with us as she usually was. "Wheres Alaina?"

"Already at school. Guess her mom gave her a ride in earlier."

"Oh..okay."

It kinda made sense. Alaina had been excited for this trip for weeks. It was for our first period, biology. Mr. Ray managed to secure enough funding to bring us camping for the weekend out in the Moran National Park on the San Juan Islands. It's supposed to be a good opportunity for us to study the untouched ecosystems and elaborate food chains there.

We pulled up, and sure enough, most of the kids from our class were already there. At 7:56, we barely made it on time.

"Faye! Scar! Over here!"

We turned to see Alaina waving us down, so we quickly walked over.

"Hey Alaina."

"I've already got us seats near the back of one of the buses. Oh, and you'll be pleased to know Faye, Jackson and Alex are riding with us."

I blushed slightly as Alaina gave me a wink. "Why would I be pleased about that? I mean, it's not like I don't want them sitting next to us, but well-"

I abruptly cut off as I saw both of my friends staring at me in amusement. I let out a huff and turned away from them. "Come on, let's just get on the bus."

~*~*~

Okay, so I'll admit, I had my doubts. This place was several hours away and I was not excited to be crammed on the bus the entire time. But somebody decided that our seat was incapable of handling three girls, as somebody chose the smallest seat in the back. So now, here I was, in between Jackson and Alex. You may be wondering how this happened. Here, let me explain.

~flashback~

I sat down next to Alaina and Scar, Jackson and Alex sitting in the seats across the row. Since Alaina had picked the smallest seat on the bus (you know how there's like that half seat in the back), and so there we barely any room for us to fit.

"Faye, I'm sorry, but there's not enough room for you. I'm really, really sorry." Alaina's voice was apologetic, but I could see the hidden smirk in her eyes. Girl had an evil side to her.

"Why that's not a problem! Princess here can just sit next to us! Then there won't be a problem!"

I turned to see Jackson smiling brightly at me. Sighing, and seeing this was Alaina's plan from the start, I got up and walked over. Then, Jackson stood up, motioning me in.

"Uh, I can just sit on the end."

"No way! You could fall out of the seat if you sat on the end!"

I was stuck between wanting to sigh and wanting to roll my eyes. I went with the latter, and slid in the seat, Jackson following with a chuckle. I was in between him and Alex, each of their shoulders touching mine.

I felt my cheeks heat up a little, so I busied myself in my phone, playing a game called Geometry Dash.

~flashback ends~

Now, we were arriving at the campsite, and as we exited the bus, I felt the same sickening feeling I felt yesterday, but I just shrugged it off. It was just nothing, right?

Boy was I ever wrong.