Fire Scarred

Chapter Sixteen

     Leo had gone to drop his things off at wherever it was he planned to stay in the City. Until he came back to collect me, I was left alone to my own devices. Naturally, I found myself in the corner of the library where the books off limits to humans were stored. I had found a book dedicated to telling all about nature spirits, but could find nothing about the stupid Stone of Zephri, or how to beat evil spirits wanting to destroy my life. I did learn that nature spirits had a tendency to come from the same families. Another thing I learned was that the only nature spirit that could have brown eyes would have to be infected with the Crave.

     Useless. 

     I paced the floor waiting for Leo to return, subconsciously twirling a mini tornado above my pointer finger as I spun it around and around and around. I couldn't help but wonder what took so long, and then had to constantly remind myself that he was being reunited with his family again. I should give him some time. 

     Never had I even thought of him with a family. Of course I knew about Emily, but who else was there? Leo had never talked about his life before coming to me, and I seldom thought to ask. It was selfish of me, I know. Stupid. I thought of him like I was his life, his only relations, but I wasn't. I never thought of his life before me. The image of him sitting at a dinner table with a mother and father and siblings seemed too ridiculous to imagine, but must have been a reality at some time. 

     I wanted to meet his family, and to know that side of Leo. I wanted him to understand just how much I cared. 

     "Cora?" Carly peaked from behind a bookcase. "That's your name, right?"

     I jumped, sending my miniature tornado crashing into a nearby shelf. Books flew down into a jumbled mess on the floor. "Shoot," I muttered. "I'll pick that up." My gaze turned back to the slightly gaping girl. "Yeah. I'm Cora."

     "Good, 'cause I certainly wasn't going to." She scrambled from her hiding place and settled down in the leather chair I'd been resting in only minutes before. She smiled down at me as I knelt to pick up the books. "Can I ask you something?" For a moment she looked nervous; I smiled hoping to ease her. 

     "Sure."

     "Can you tell me about when you died?"

     A hardback copy of Where the Red Fern Grows fell from my hands. I was not ready for that. 

     "Sorry," she said reading my startled expression. "I want to try to understand the connection between the way a spirit dies and the spirit's powers."

     "I can't. I'm sorry," I shook my head. I couldn't talk about this now, especially with someone I didn't even know. "I can't."

     "I thought you would say that," Carly said. She swung her legs over the arm of the chair, kicking her Converse clad feet in the air. "But, if you ever reconsider, come find me."

     "Alright." When she didn't leave, I asked, "Do you live here, with Iris?"

     "Granny," she corrected me. "And, yeah. My mom was a witch, and Dad was a human, but they died when I was six."

     "Oh. I'm sorry." My fingers fumbled with the book in my hands, my eyes catching those random words like "a" and "the" that are meaningless but words that we would be totally lost without. 

     She shrugged. "Nah. It's fine. I like it here with Granny. It all happens for a reason. I know that. And, I'm happy. I have Granny, and Leo when he visits, and Rex. I have all I need."