A&D Book 1: Amulets & Demons (Editing Slowly)

Chapter 13

Adrian's POV

We spent the entire day hiking through the forest, and set up camp at a camping sight near the state border. Predicting that we continued our same pace the next day, we would cross into North Dakota by high noon.

We were camping out at one of those public camping spaces, it was either that or a ditch. I think we chose wisely.

There was no one else there, so that made our job easier. The five of us were huddled around a picnic table, staring at a map of North America.

"We are currently right here," Katilyn said, pointing to the northern border of South Dakota.

"Estimating that we continue our normal pace, we should arrive at the country border in a week or so."

"Good," Jace said, his face showing a slight amount of discomfort. "Let's get to sleep so we can set off first thing in the morning."

Sarah, Allani and I walked away, getting our dinner and sleeping bags set up. Jace and Katilyn were still leaning over the map, silently discussing.

The three of us collected some tree branches for mock firewood, and dropped them down into the firepit.

Sarah looked at me and said, "Okay, do your thing. Set it on fire."

"You think I can just set things on fire like, 'that'?" I said, snapping my finger on the last word. Nothing happened.

"Huh, was kinda expecting it to set on fire," Allani said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Wait," I said, groaning. I turned the top of my head towards the flame and waited. After a few seconds, my head set ablaze, and lit the fire.

Allani began giving a standing ovation, and Sarah slowly began clapping too.

I heard pounding footsteps come from behind me, and Katilyn pulled me up by my arm.

"You're coming with me," She said, pulling me towards her stuff. I tried to break free, but her grip was iron.

We got to her stuff, and she pointed to her sleeping bag, saying, "Sit."

Katilyn let go of my arm and got to work unpacking and laying out all of her gizmos and gadgets. I stealthily tried to escape, but one glare from her kept me glued to the spot.

Once she was done taking everything out, she started scribbling down in a notebook and muttering to herself. After a few seconds of that, she looked towards me and said, "How are you feeling right now?"

"Irritated and a little bit hungry," I said, sitting down on her sleeping bag.

"Subject refusing to cooperate..." Katilyn mumbled, scribbling on her notepad.

"Not true," I replied, crossing my arms and huffing.

"Whatever you say..." She said. "Adrian, are you able to willingly control your... flame?"

"I can turn it on, but turning it off is a lot harder," I said, looking at Sarah, Allani and Jace enjoying their food. Katilyn turned my head back to her and said, "Focus on me, not them. They'll get their turns too."

And it went on like that for a while, her asking some questions and me answering. Eventually she took some of her gizmos and started testing me. She ran scanners, typed on computers, and made several noises of confusion.

After about 10 minutes of deep work, she gave me a stumped look and said, "Do you know how that even works?" She said, gesturing to my head flame.

"Well, I usually think of Allani doing something stupid, then my prefrontal cortex releases a chemical hormone that, when carried through to the blood vessels near my skull, increase the kinetic energy of the molecules of my skull. The increased friction of the molecules incites combustion, which causes my head to burst into flame."

Katilyn's eyes, which had continuously been growing bigger as I said that, reached a size that can't be described in writing. All she could squeak out was a, "Really?"

"No, I just said something to sound smart, I actually have no idea." I said, shrugging my shoulders.

At that moment, I was doing fine. But, Katilyn looked like she was going through an exstestential crisis. I almost wanted to laugh at her. Almost.

Her eyes, which had been misty and far-off, suddenly snapped back into focus. She threw on her glasses and looked back to her computer, furiously typing the keys.

Silently, I got up and walked towards the others and food. Katilyn was so engrossed in what she was doing, she didn't even notice. I sat down next to the others and began to heat up a can of beans.

"How's she doing?" Sarah asked, in between bites of food.

After considering it for a few seconds, I eventually ended up saying, "Insane."

Sarah quietly giggled, and everything went quiet. The four of us ate quietly, not attempting to make conversation with anyone else.

Katilyn stayed over with her stuff, doing... stuff. Occasionally, she laughed maniacally, other times she screamed in frustration. After a while, she threw one of her machines across the campsite and came over to join us. She took Allani's can of beans and started eating them, stabbing the can every time she went to get a bite.

Allani, in response, opened his mouth and lifted his arms up, looking at each of us in turn. Sarah didn't particularly care, Jace didn't seem to notice, and I mouthed, "That's your problem."

All Allani did was stand up and begin to get ready for bed.

"Katilyn, are you okay?" I asked, ready to run if need be.

She responded by looking at me and saying two words: "You're impossible."