Girl on Fire

Chapter 19

We ate pretty well, as Ryker brought back a large range of non-poisonous mushrooms and Paul brought some fruits. We boiled the water that Tefia had managed to bring up from underground in the pot over the fire, which I made hotter for a little bit, and we boiled the mushrooms. We then drank the leftover water.

"Alright, anyone ready for sleep now?" Ryker said, his face gently lit by the fire.

"I'm good with that." I said, shivering slightly as a cold night breeze wrapped its icy tendrils around me.

"Come lie with me." Ivy said bossily as we all lay down to go to sleep. I moved over to where Ivy was, but it was much colder over there.

"Are we going to die out here?" Ivy said.

"Of course not." I said distractedly, hugging myself to try and preserve heat. "Aren't you cold here?"

"No, it's still really hot!" Ivy said, looking confused.

"Well, I'm going to have to move back to the fire." I said as the goosebumps rose up on my arms.

"Please don't go." Ivy said, looking up at me sadly.

"I've got to." I whispered, and I stood up and moved closer to the fire. I felt bad about leaving Ivy, but I could honestly not handle the temperature away from the fire.

I lay there for about an hour, the insect bites all over me keeping me awake.

But then I must have slept.

-----

We were sat on a roof, and stretched around us was what looked like a university campus. the sun was setting, and everything had turned red for a short while.

Sat next to me was River, and I could feel his breath quickening as we stared out into the sunset.

"Beautiful, don't you agree?" he said dreamily, turning to look at me.

"What, the sunset?" I said, feeling like I wasn't in control of my own body, "Yeah, it is quite pretty."

"No, I meant you."

I almost leapt away from him, startled, but I couldn't do anything. It was like a was a visitor in my own body.

I brushed my hair behind my ear and smiled happily, "Thanks, River, you're not to bad yourself."

"So," he laughed, then sobered his face up, "what do you think is going to happen with your exams?"

I frowned, "I don't want to think about that now, just forget about it for a little while and enjoy this."

He laughed, "Everyone on campus is worried about exams, and we're just sat here on a roof watching a sunset."

"It'll be over soon." I said.

River turned to me and grasped my hand. My every instinct screamed at me to pull away, but I couldn't do anything.

"Ash, do you want to-"

-----

"Get your lazy butts up! We have to GO!"

I was awoken rudely by Tefia yelling to wake us up.

The rest of us groaned and I opened my eyes to see Ivy staring at me from the position that she had fallen asleep cuddling my arm. She must have moved over during the night. I smiled for a moment, but then I started to feel worried.

Ali was my baby sister figure, not Ivy. And even if I didn't grow into the patently part, she could still want to be with me and that could upset both of them.