New: Worlds

New: Worlds (Chapter 11)

Chapter 11: I get one back

"NO! WAIT! IT'S ME!"

"Yeah, like I haven't heard that before!" I raised my fist.

"No, really! I can prove it! Uh- When we first met, I tried to kiss you, and then the second time we met was when I stole a car and they brought me into HQ! I gave you a gold S necklace after we trained! You uh- you took pictures of me shirtless to-"

"How do I know that Vampire Clay didn't look through good Clay's memories?" My fist burst into white-hot flames. "Ten seconds. Then you die." Clay started to panic.

"I'm not vampire Clay! I'm me I swear!"

"Five, four, three.."

"EYES!"

I stopped the countdown and the flames on my hand ceased. "What?"

"My eyes," he said. "They're not red, are they?" Sure enough, Hothead's eyes were once again that annoyingly gorgeous shade of caramel brown. The blood-red had drained out of his irises. "And my fangs are gone too, see?" he added. He opened his mouth to show me. I sighed in relief and attacked my brother with a bear hug. Then I shoved him away from me and smacked him up-side the head. But before he could scold me for doing that to him, a handful of gigantic burn marks rapidly started to appear on my brother's skin. He was lucky the burn wasn't enough to incinerate his arm. "OH MY GOD! I AM SO SORRY!" Clay inhaled sharply as if all of the pain was piling up at once. I ignited my hands, and Clay managed to wriggle himself away from the flames. It was almost as if the flames scared him. But why would Clay be scared of fire? I slowly moved my hands toward him until the fire was close enough to touch his leg. Clay winced like he was about to get a shot. He let out a deep breath and relaxed and he no longer feared the flames. His wounds slowly started to close up. I must have been looking at him weirdly, because he seemed to read my mind. "Long story short: trapped in my subconscious, my own fire used to kill me."

"Wow. That's ironic."

Clay let out a light laugh. "Yeah," he agreed. He drew out a long breath. He explained his story in more detail as I healed the burns on his body. It was a serious story. There was no humor, which was so unlike him. It was evident that he had changed somehow. But he was still Clay. And he was still my brother. When he was all healed, he laid back, and I snuggled with him. It was so relieving to have him back. I had almost forgotten where we were and what was going on. Ellie appeared to snap us back into reality.

"Well, I'd hate to disturb the truly touching sibling reunion, but where exactly are we going?" I had just then noticed that we were still on a moving wooden carriage. "That is a very good point. The only reason we were in the carriage was to get away from... well you guys," I admitted, looking guiltily at my brother. "I'm sorry." I braced myself for the groans and complaints. Thankfully, there were none. "It's fine. I would've run away from me too. Vampires don't really give you time to think," Clay said, trying to comfort me. "Yeah, we figured," a voice nearby said. Bri, realizing it was pointless, stopped pulling the carriage and joined us in the back. She was sweating and panting like a dog. She threw herself onto the floor of the carriage. "So how do we find the center of the labyrinth? I don't know or care how long we've been in here. I just was to get out. I just want to sleep in my bed in my dorm and ride my pod through HQ." I could see in my friends' eyes that they were homesick too. I missed the warmth of the lava fountain in my dorm room. I missed having a proper meal in the Dining Floor. All of it seemed like a distant dream now. It was like it was too good to be true. "We need to keep moving," Clay said, interrupting the silence. "The faster we get to the center of this godforsaken maze, the more time we have to relax back in HQ. I'll pull the cart. Ellie, do you mind keeping watch at the back?" Ellie shook her head timidly. "Bri and Ally, we'll wake you up when we get tired, but right now you need to sleep."

"Oh. No, Clay I can't let you just-" Bri protested.

"Bri," Clay said, gripping her shoulders. "I insist. You've been pulling that cart for a while now."

Bri sighed and climbed back into the carriage. I tossed a ball of fire into Clay's mouth.

"What was that for?"

"I'm gonna be sleeping a while."