When Lightning Burns [COMPLETED]

Chapter 4: Foolish

           

           

After their date, she lay awake. She had to be up to talk to Rory and train with Luke in a few hours, and she couldn't sleep.

She'd been fooling herself. There was more than the connection with Rory and Luke. In the wee hours of the morning, she could be honest with herself. If nothing else, they were friends. Maybe more. If there was more, one of them was going to get hurt.

Julie got out of bed a few hours later. Kara was out there somewhere, trapped, for over two weeks now, and she was worried about boy trouble. Even with Luke's help it might be a long time before they found her.

Screw this!

She pounded her fist on the mattress, rolled out of bed, and pulled on some clothes. She hadn't promised Luke that she would stop looking for A.R.S.E. Maybe tonight would be her lucky night.

And then what? A tiny voice asked in the back of her head. She squashed it down.

It wasn't that late, and this was New York, the city that never sleeps. She could just go for a walk.

Her skin itched, and she knew that she had been pulling energy from the environment around her again. She could blow off some of that rather than sitting and letting it flow out gently. That was boring.

She needed to do something—fight something, help someone—since she couldn't reach Kara.

Julie crept out and went down the stairs to the buildings backdoor. With any luck, Luke and Rory thought she was tucked in for the night.

The air was brisk, and she wished she had brought a jacket. She wrapped the energy on the surface of her skin around her like a warm blanket. She switched to her other sight, not that she expected anything to live in the city. But maybe she would see something and be able to talk to it.

She roamed for a while, not caring where she went, letting herself get lost, and found herself in a working district that was quiet at night. The tall buildings around her blocked out light from other busier streets. It was peaceful. The streets were just dark enough to make out a couple of the brightest stars.

That was one thing she missed from Seelie Island. The houses went dark at night, and suddenly the sky lit up, exposing a whole universe out there that was hard to see in the city. Maybe in some ways the Fey had it right. As much as she loved cities, the excitement and opportunities, nature was beautiful too.

Someone cried behind her. She wrinkled her forehead. It didn't sound human. A hurt animal?

Julie walked over to the noise, coming across a tiny, glowing, green creature huddled in a ball by a freshly cut tree. She stopped. Oh crap. Definitely not human.

Should she just sneak away? But the small ball seemed so pitiful.

"Umm," Julie hesitated. "Can I help you?"

A small narrow face squinted up at her. It wasn't pretty like the blue fairy she had met. This one was all harsh lines. And she or he was much smaller.

"You can...you can see me?" The creature hiccupped.

"Yeah. Of course I can." Julie bent down looking around. "I'm Fey."

The creature blinked at her, tilting her head.

"Please don't hurt me. I didn't know you owned a part of the city." It held up spindly fingers, like it was ready to be hit or something.

Oh for the love of—

More Fey nonsense. "I don't own the city. Why would I hurt you?"

"You're Fey. Big Fey. I'm mixed. We aren't supposed to be around where you are. Only the pure minor Fey serve the Great Fey." The small creature looked at her like it was talking to a child.