Wayward Mages

Chapter 20

Kyle

"Oh. My. Gods...when did this happen?" "I have no idea, but all I know is that went to her room like five minutes ago and she wasn't there,"she says. "Oh, no where do you think she went?" "I think that she might have wandered off for a walk. We should probably go outside and check it out." she says.

I agree and throw on a sweatshirt. Together we rush down the stairs and jog to the garden. We go to the field opposite to Mara's house and spot a tiny hut like thing in the corner. We push open the door and see Charlene sprawled on the ground with a blanket looking thing on her. Kaira makes a tiny yelp and walks over to Charlene. " Charlie.... it's me, Kaira. Are you okay?" At first there's no response comes but then all of sudden Charlene opens her eyes and they are red. Kaira yelps again and buries her face into my shoulder. I get closer to Charlene, Kaira still with me and see that her arms are fully covered in metal. She opens her mouth and then no sound comes at first, but then she screams and pushes Kaira to the wall. Kaira shrieks and tries to get out of Charlene's grasp. I run over to her and push Charlene off, and prop Kaira up to see if any serious damage had occurred. She has some minor scrapes and her left eye is swollen. "Charlene...why are you doing this" "I, Charlene Burns, am going to kill Kaira Streams!" she screams hysterically. I get really angry and suddenly a bolt of light shoots out of me and gets absorbed in Charlie's body. She falls to the ground, twitching.

Kaira immediately rushes over to Charlene. She carefully rolls her over. "Ok, she's going to be out for another four hours or so. Can you get me the first aid kit?" she says, wincing. Oh, sure. I snap my fingers and the kit appears in my hands. "By the way, thanks for helping me." "No probs. But I have one question: Why are you helping her?" "Because she's my sister," she says, giving me a quizzical look. "But she threatened to kill you!" "I know, but she's still my sister, and I know she would do the same if I were her." she says.

I hand her the kit, and she opens it and pulls out the antiseptic salve. She gingerly applies it to her swollen eye. "Here, let me do that" I say. "Thanks, but I can do it." Watching her, I feel stupid for liking Charlene and not her. Kaira is such an amazing person. I can't believe I didn't realize sooner.

Suddenly Charlene twitches and scrapes Kaira's back, though she was still unconscious. Kaira yelps shocked ,but still continues to fix up Charlene. "Here, let me at least examine that cut." She nods, wincing.

I look at her sweater, which is soaked in blood. I lift it and gasp in shock; the cut is crackling with a bright white light. As I watch disbelievingly, the cut closes. "That feels amazing - I feel so much better, Kyle! Thanks!" she says.

"Kaira?"

"Yep?"

"It was all you. You healed it by yourself."

"Thanks...I don't what we should do now," she says. "Maybe we can go back to Mara's house," I suggest. She facepalms. "I'm so stupid; I forgot about Mara! Thanks for being the rational one in times of danger," she says and plants a kiss onto my cheek. I blush madly, but thankfully, she doesn't notice. At least I hope she didn't. Instead, I focus on carrying Charlene back to Mara's house. I carry her on my back and walk towards Mara's house. Kaira's already there, she seems unusually pretty now. The way the sun glinted off her hair, that smile and aura of excitement...it all made up the girl that I was in love with.

We quietly get inside and climb up the stairs. I set Charlene on her bed as gently as I possibly could and then jog to Kaira's room. She is sitting on her bed and has a book open on her lap. I try to read the book's name. It looks like City of Bones from The Mortal Instruments series. "I love that book!" I say. She trips over the rug trying to stand up but I catch her just before she hits the ground. "I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you I was here." "It's okay, but, Kyle, remember I'm the biggest klutz you'll ever meet!" she laughs. "Sorry," I say sheepishly, "Anyways, I didn't know you read." "Hey, what's that supposed to mean? she asks playfully. "Nothing... just thought you were a girl who was really popular and wouldn't have time for books." "Excusez moi? Do you even know me? I was one of the 'looked-down-upons' in my old school," she grins. "Really, well, I thought you would have been quite popular considering how pretty you are." Oh no!! I just called her pretty! What is she going to think?! "Hey, Mr. Adams did you just call me pretty?" she says with a smile on her face. "Maybe I did or maybe I didn't," I say with a devilish grin, trying to cover up my horrible mistake.
All of a sudden I can here Mara shouting. I run downstairs ready to catch Kaira, if she tripped again. And of course she did. I caught her and our faces were only inches apart from each other. I leaned down and was about to kiss her but at that exact moment Mara appeared. "Oi! Lovebirds! Get down here! And explain to me why there is blood on the floor of my house."