Heart of Flame: Sparks

Chapter One

 "Honey, did you hear me?" My mother asked as we drove by the barren desert. I ignored her. I was still mad that she would take me to this place. She sighed and put her hand on my knee. I pushed it off with my own hand, not wanting her anywhere near me.

"You know you can't ignore me forever." She pointed out. I blew my red hair out of my face.

I will damn well try! I thought angrily as I watched the barren landscape fly by.

My mother and I have been driving in the car for the last week, so I was relieved when we finally got to a rest stop. Without even waiting for my mom to say anything, I grabbed some cash from her purse and walked to the nearest vending machine. The only good thing I saw in the broken down machine was a few small bags of potato chips for fifty cents. I bought three and sat down at any old empty table that didn't look too beaten down. It wasn't long before mom joined me. She tried striking up a conversation, but I ignored her.

"Sorcha, please talk to me. I don't like it when you ignore me." She said, taking a sip from her cup. I continued to eat from my bags of chips in silence. Mom let out a sigh and we just sat there, ignoring each other.

When it was time to go, I threw away the empty bags and hopped back into the car, avoiding her the whole time. When we were both in the car, mom started up the car and we drove away from the sorry looking rest stop.

I wonder when we'll get there. I thought as I watched the skyline from my bird pooped on window.

My question was answered a few hours later, when I finally spotted a sign that said Welcome to Agono, Utah. I watched as the sign passed by.

Where the Kaiju once roamed. I thought, remembering the book I had read that mother gave me. It was a history book, but it was actually quite interesting. There's was an entrance to where the Kaiju once lived in the desert near Agono, but the American Army had blown it up years ago to keep the Kaiju from wreaking havoc and destroying human cities. That had greatly angered their King, known as Fyrono, and as payback he destroyed quite a few cities before nearly completely destroying Washington, D.C. That had happened not long after I was born, during the Monster War that had been going on for fifteen years, and I guess the humans and Kaiju were both thinking that the war needed to end.

Destroying human cities was not the only thing the Kaiju King had done during the war. He also fell in love with my mother during the war after he had captured her in exchange of the lives of the people in Huston. Strange, I know, but apparently he was kind to her and he was the one who fell in love first. Eventually they got married and had me, but their happiness didn't exactly last long. Mom was never specific on what happened but they got a divorce and she's been single handedly raising me since.

I never explained exactly what Kaiju where, did I? Kaiju are these monsters that can range from being a few inches tall, to my father, who is rumored to be over three hundred feet tall. They also look different from each subspecies. Some look like insects, some look like mammals and some look like they were the inspiration for some of early man's own monster stories.

Anyways, the war had abruptly ended when the Kaiju just... disappeared, fourteen years ago. No footprints, no cities suddenly gone, nothing. It was like they had never existed, and some people loved that idea and everything had gone back to normal. The president of that time had claimed that they had finally got the Kaiju to settle down, but that didn't fool the army, or a section of the army that had been formed when the war started, the KADT. It meant Kaiju Attack and Defense Team, and there is a rumor going around that they still look for the Kaiju and their old entrances to the massive maze of tunnels that run pretty much everywhere, like a second skin of the earth.

Speaking of the KADT, because of them no one could ever know who my father is since they think it would cause a nation wide panic. They actually wanted to kill me as soon as I was born but my mother struck a deal with them. They could keep an eye on me as long as I don't interact with any Kaiju and I could live as normal a life as possible. It's actually been easier than most think. Sure, I've been picked on because of my strange appearance, but I have no known powers so I don't have to worry about being discovered as long as no one blabs.

It's a little annoying though because I have a government handler named Agent Arthur Barnes. He masquerades as one of my teachers or the like every time I move around (which has been a lot) to make sure I don't do anything out of the ordinary. My records clean though so he doesn't really have to worry. He's kind of a dick though.

When mother finally stopped the car, I didn't even wait for her to tell me to get out. I just went. Of course I was stopped in my tracks almost immediately, since mother had the key to our new house. She chuckled as I waited for her to open the door, jingling the keys in her hand.

Just hurry up. I thought as I waited for her to get to the door.

"Thank you." I said, annoyed as I walked into the house.

The house was actually quite nice. As soon as I walked into the door, to my right was the kitchen, to my left was either a closet or a bathroom and forward was the living room. I walked into the living room and opened up the blinds, revealing a actually kinda nice view of the desert. There were a lot of Mesa's out in the distance, so the sunset hit the rocks quite nicely. It was very similar to how my mom had described it, since this is the home she grew up in.

I decided to go upstairs to find out where I was staying.

It didn't take me long to find my bedroom, since the upstairs was smaller than the downstairs. I walked in, and I saw that the movers had already put my boxes of stuff in here. I sighed as I looked at the mini city of boxes.

Well, I guess I should unpack and start putting things where they should. I thought as I picked up one of my books from a box.

It wasn't until the sun was down when dinner was finally served.

"Sorcha! Dinner's ready!" Mom called.

"Okay!" I yelled back, going down the steps to the kitchen. When I saw what was for dinner, my mouth watered some. It was one of those skillet pasta dinners that you can get at the store for pretty cheap. I sat down as mother put the plate in my spot. I sniffed in the smell, and I could feel my stomach growl. I picked up a fork and started eating just as mother sat down with her food.

"You know, hun, you've gotta go to school tomorrow." She pointed out. I gave her a look like she was crazy.

"But we just got here! I don't even know where the boxes that holds my school supplies are yet!" I complained.

"I know, but the school district expects you to be in school, I have no idea why they won't let us get settled in first, but we have to oblige and that means you have to go to school in the morning." She said, taking a bite of her pasta. I slumped back into my chair, looking grumpy.

"Well great." I said. "I guess that I should probably go back to my room and try to find my school supplies."

"Not until you eat the rest of your dinner."

"I was gonna do that anyways."

"Sure, you were."

"I'm starving right now!"

"So why are you arguing and not eating?"

"Because you started this!" I yelled and slouched back into my chair, taking a bite from my pasta.

"Well, then." My mother started. I glared at her.

"Don't you even." I said, cutting her off. She took a bite from her food.

"Just eat, and then we can go find your school supplies boxes." She said, pointing at me with a fork.

After I had eaten, done the dishes and found my school supplies (which took way too long), it was really late. In truth, I kinda just felt like crashing into my bed, even if that meant sleeping in my clothes. But of course, I had other stuff to do first. Like brushing my teeth and getting on some pajamas.

After I had brushed my teeth, I walked to my room and started putting some PJs on, but just as I was finishing up I saw something out my window that I probably wasn't supposed to see. It was a shadow, right across my window. Whatever it was, it had large ears, and it looked like it had bat like wings. If someone had asked me what animal would have been closest to the thing, I probably would have said a large bat that had horns.

As soon as I had gotten close to my window, it disappeared, like it was never there. I opened my window and stuck my head out to see If I could find what it was. I frowned and gave up after a few minutes, figuring it was a curious Kaiju. I closed my window and did parkour with the city of boxes before going to bed.

"Night!" I yelled down to my mother, who was either on her computer downstairs or watching T.V.

"Good night!" She yelled back up. I turned on my alarm clock, and laid there for a while. I never was a very good sleeper, so it took me a long time to finally sleep.