Stormtamers: Lightning (Book 2)

11

Kasai's eyes snapped open and she quickly sat up with a gasp, immediately flinching and holding her now throbbing head.

What had happened? How much of it was a dream?

She felt her neck and traced the two scars from Cory's fangs. They stung the moment her fingers touched them, making her flinch and yank her hand away. Cory drinking her blood wasn't a dream. It was real. That much was true.

How long was she asleep? She felt like it had been ages. The sounds of the night echoed through the area. She shakily got up, stumbling forward and falling. She hit the ground with a small grunt before getting back up into a sitting position. The fact she still couldn't walk on her own frustrated her.

She slowly got up again, breathing slowly and trying to keep her balance. She slowly walked towards the entrance of the tent and peeked out.

It was still dark. The almost full moon was directly overhead. She hadn't been asleep for long at all.

She groaned in annoyance.  She knew it'd be impossible for her to go back to sleep now, despite how late it was.  She closed her eyes as her head started spinning again, forcing her to sit back down.  She felt like her temperature was higher than normal, but that was impossible unless she was sick or...

She shoved the second option out of her head.  She didn't want to think about it.  She had already had annightmare about it, and she refused to believe that the nightmare was real.  She refused to believe she'd hurt her friends on purpose, just for the fun of it.

She sighed as she looked back up at the moon.  The fact that it wasn't far from being full reminded her that it would be full tomorrow night.  She flinched as she thought about Doug.  He was still out there somewhere.  Who knows what will happen to him?

She forced herself not to think about that either.  She didn't have time to worry.  Her head hurt too much to think, anyway.  She wanted to go back to sleep, but she couldn't.  She wasn't tired anymore, and even if she was, she was too afraid to dare even think about sleep.

She decided to get up and go check on Cory.  Maybe if he was awake, she could talk to him.  She slowly got up to prevent getting dizzy again and started walking towards his tent.

She paused when she heard a twig snap.  She slowly looked over, scared.  She jumped back when she saw a figure blur past.  She stumbled, but caught her balance and quietly went over.

The figure was hiding.  Cautious, she took a deep breath.

"...h-hello?"

The figure yelped and dashed away a few meters before stopping and turning back towards her, frozen.  She took a step away from it.

"I...I won't hurt you...as long as you don't hurt me either."

The figure relaxed slightly and stepped close enough for Kasai to see.

It was a small, skinny husky.  He went into his human form.

"I-I'm sorry, am I tresspassing?  I didn't mean to..."

"No, it's fine.  Who are you?"

"I'm Breeze... and you are?"

"Kasai."

Breeze relaxed more.  She wasn't a gang member.

"It's...nice to meet you." he said.

"You too."

Breeze looked away again, his tail drooping. "I should really get going..."

Kasai tilted her head. "Where are you off to?"