For you, My Fiery Heart

Chapter 1

"We did it." Neela breathlessly whispered, hands in her black bird nest excuse of hair.

Neela Rye, a bored bakery owner and chef, had followed her childhood best friend Kailey Mayfair, an archeologist and her team, into the deep unforgiving jungle of the Amazon on their latest expedition. Their quest? To find dragons! Yes. Dragons. Living or dead. In the Amazon jungle. Trust me, I laughed in Kailey's face ten days ago when she told me about this adventure. Well, I'm not laughing now. We had found dragon scales! Kailey and I did, that is.

We lost the team two days ago, and no, it was not my fault. Hmm, well maybe a little bit. I really needed to go potty and Kailey was the only one I was comfortable with and so I might have led us astray from the group. With my sense of direction, who knows where we could be now, we could be in a park in England for all we knew! Okaaay. It was my fault. But heeey, look where that led us!

They happened upon this place by the sound of a waterfall. The last two days had been complete hell trying to find their team. Going this way and that way, up and then down and up again. They were exhausted, sweaty and itchy. When Neela and Kailey laid eyes on this place, they couldn't get in the water fast enough. After a good dip in the cool water, Neela decided to skip some rocks for some fun while Kailey tried to get her walky-talky to work.

"A lot of rocks here are thin and gently curved," Neela examined a rock before skipping it, moving deeper into the water. "Oh, look at this one! Silver, huh? Never seen a rock like this before...Hey, this almost looks like that "dragon scale" you showed me back at your labs! Ha! I can almost believe..." Neela blinked a few times before swallowing the growing lump in her throat, "Uh, Kailey. You might wanna look at this "rock"."

Somewhere in the Amazon jungle, knee deep in this river bank they found a piece to their puzzle! The humongous waterfall before us was magnificent and the lively jungle surrounded us like curious onlookers. But none of that mattered right now.

"We found it!" Neela cried with excitement and disbelief, twirling in a circle.

"Shh! Any louder and they'll find us!" Kailey hissed, all the while petting the silver colored dragon scale studiously her eyes never leaving it. Neela shrugged happily without a care, picking up more scales at her feet.

"They" as in the Amazon people. Before the team had moved deeper into the jungle the team had been warned to keep off this side of the land. Why, we asked. Their answer, "It is full of dangers." Well, this IS the Amazon and danger lurked well, just about every ten feet or less. Of course the team had taken a different path as soon as the Amazon people looked away. But what they don't know won't hurt them. Neela cackled evilly in her head at this mischief.

The sun was now setting and after these hard eight days in the jungle, Neela knew how fast it could get dark out so she set out to make a fire on the rocky shore while Kailey did her thing. Thanks to Drew, a guide in their group, Neela now knew how to make a decent camp fire.

By the time Neela was satisfied with her camp fire, it was nearly dark and Kailey had not moved an inch from where she stood knees deep in the water where they first found the dragon scale, which was an hour ago. She must have granny toes by now, Neela thought to herself. Brows drawn, eyes squinted Kailey was too occupied in studying her dragon scale, she didn't even notice that Neela had all but dragged her to the camp fire and sat her down.

"Ha, ha! If I'm reading this right, the dragon must be at least five hundred years old," Kailey finally looked up from her newly found treasure, "Do you know what this means, Neela?"

"Yes, it means it's time for dinner," as soon as Neela said this both their stomach's growled in agreement.

After eating the last of the bananas and acai fruits they nearly died to retrieve, both set up their sleeping bags, readying for bed. Full and clean as could be, Neela settled into her sleeping bag with a content sigh staring into the fire in wonder on her side, Kailey laid on her front, dragon scale in her hands both of them quiet.

"Hey," Kailey finally took her eyes off the darn thing to look at Neela. "Do you think this means that they're still out there somewhere? Alive?" Her green eyes glittered.

Neela gave it some thought then shrugged, "You tell me, Ms. Archeologist. Do YOU think they're still alive?"

Kailey laughed quietly, "I knew I should've dragged you to archeology classes with me. I can't even tell you half of my theories before you start looking at me like a lunatic."

With an accusing look and curl of her lip Neela hiked a thumb at Kailey, "Says the one who gave me a "how in the world did we become friends" look after I told her that babies make adorable faces when they poop."

Kailey laughed out loud at that, "Okay, out of the two of us, you're the lunatic." Neela smiled broadly, nodding in triumph.

Growing up with Kailey was a rollercoaster ride. Kailey and Neela were the complete opposites. Kailey was the tough tomboy while Neela had been the crybaby who loved all things pink. Thank the gods, she no longer loves the color pink because truth be told, it was a cringe worthy color.

 Neela's father was a tall American man raised from a rich and respectable background while her mother was Japanese-American raised from hard working parents. Both their families turned their backs on both of them when they revealed that they were getting married. Even then Neela's parents were happy and worked hard to give Neela, their only child, everything.

Neela inherited a lot of her mother's physical attributes like her black hair, light brown eyes, and short height but thankfully taller at five feet four. Two inches taller, yeah! But in other words, Neela was plain looking but she loved herself for who she was.

Kailey on the other hand was raised in a mansion with three older brothers. Even now, Neela couldn't keep her jaw from dropping when she went to Kailey's place. Kailey's mother was a stay at home mom because she was sick a lot but she was a very kind woman. Their father wasn't around much because of his business but anytime he was home, he tended to his sick wife. Her brothers? They all had their own charms but let's face it. They were boys. Soon enough after knowing Neela, they annoyed her to no end. But having no siblings of her own, Neela grew to love them and them, her.

Kailey was a drop dead gorgeous five foot eight model worthy brunette. With a crook of her finger she could make any man do her bidding.

Tucking the scale away gently into her backpack Kailey yawned and stretched in her sleeping bag, "We need to find the others soon and tell them about this place. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when I show this to them."

Neela yawned loudly, "For now, let's sleep and hopefully nothing makes a meal out of us tonight."

"Sleep well, idiot," Kailey turned her back to Neela.

"Don't let the jungle bugs bite, nerd." Neela said sleepily before drifting off into a deep slumber.