Fire's Last Descendant

Chapter 4

••• Chapter 4 •••

       I use the table leg I was holding on to to pull myself up. Both kids have sheathed their swords. I pull loose strands of hair away from my face, so now I can see them a tiny bit clearer.

       The guy is, dare I say it, hot! He's tall and tan, and his dark chocolate irises could make me melt, right there on the carpet. Eventually, I have to stop ogling over him and his dark curls, so my attention turns to the girl. She looks to be about my height with long dirty blond hair.

       Both teenagers begin to hop over the pile of bones to help me. I let go of the table leg and put both hands behind me to rest firmly on the wall. One of my hands reaches up to straighten my glasses.

       My glasses! I had barely even noticed them! One would have thought that they would have fallen off of my head, or gotten cracked earlier. After I straighten my glasses, both kids have made their way to my side.

       "You okay?" The girl asks me, taking my right upper arm in both her hands and pulling me up, so that I can stand firmly. I nod in response to her answer. She smiles a 100 watt smile at me and turns to the boy.

       "He won't be coming back for a while," she says. She kicks a bone away from us and folds her arms. "We need to hurry. I have this awful feeling in my gut that there will be more coming."

       "M-m-more?" I choke out. "My twin brother is gonna be here in less than in hour after soccer practice! What about him?"

       They both bite their bottom lips. They seem to have this silent communication thing going on that leaves me confused. After almost a minute or so, they both turn to me. "Do you have any nearby guardians?"

       "You mean parents? Considering they're missing, I think, no. But Mrs. Allens down the street might be considered a guardian."

       "That's good," the guy says. "Find a pencil and piece of paper. Tell him where to be when he comes home. Then we'll go see the Mrs. Allens."

       I nod, biting my lip at the same time. I run back to the couch, and search for the pencil I would've used as a weapon against the big skeleton. "So, ya'll have been in my house for about three minutes, and I don't even know your names, or why you're in here."

       I'm pretty sure the girl's eyes roll behind me. My hand picks up the pencil and I begin to scour my backpack for some paper. "Sorry, I'm Sam, and this is Chase. And, duh, we just pretty much saved your life. We kinda still are!"

       My head turns to have my chin rest halfway on my shoulder. "Okay, thanks for saving me from the giant, freaky, man-eating skeleton —"

       "A gashadokuro," Sam answers.

       "A what now?"

        "A gashadokuro. It's a creature in Japanese folklore that is fifteen times larger than the average human. They shrunk over the many years, thanks to non-belief. These days, they swallow their essences first, then while the body shrivels up and begins to die, they eat them."

       "Oookaaayyy," I say, awfully confused. "Anyway, as I was saying, thanks for saving me and all, but how are you still saving me?"

       Sam and Chase have the silent conversation again. Chase then looks at me and says in a low voice, "We'll tell you when we get there."

       I turn back around. I roll my eyes and finally pull out a piece of paper. I scribble down everything I'm told to write. I drop the pencil and hold my handiwork in front of me.

              Greyson H. Johnson:

                    Grey, it's Gabby. I'm begging you, what ever you do, don' t step a foot

                     into the house! It's hard to explain, and I don't have enough paper to

                     do it. Just please, go to Mrs. Allen's house. I'm sure she'll let you stay

                     there for a small bit of time. I have no idea when I'll be back. Luv you, 

                     little bro.

                                                                                                        — Gabby Johnson

      I hand it to Sam. "You got any tape?"

      I nod to her. I run up to my room, which also looks like the rest of the downstairs area. I throw one of my mahogany dresser drawers open. My tape is at the very top of the junk. I sweep it up in one fast motion and run back down the stairs to Sam and throw the tape at her.

       Her arm reaches up and snatches it out of the air. Fast reflexes. Looks like we shan't be playing any pranks on this on, eh? The jokester says. I mentally hit the joking voice in my head.

       In only but a few moments, we've cleared everything with Mrs. Allen. All that I said was, "It's hard to explain, but Greyson is gonna be here any minute. If I'm not back in a few days, is it okay if he can stay with you for a few days?"

       Of course, the old woman was very understanding. She sends me off with a cookie, and my favorite fuzzy jacket that I lost at her house one time. All three of us — me, Sam, and Chase — trudge back to my house.

       "So," Sam says when we arrive outside the house. "Is that it?"

       I shrug. "I dunno, you tell me. Apparently, you're the ones in charge."

       There's a brief thirty second pause. "Yup, that's it," Chase concludes.

       His hand spins me around and we walk down the sand-colored pavement. Chase's hand rests just beneath my shoulder blades, pushing me forward gently.

       At the end of the small pavement that began at my front door, Sam taps her foot nervously. Out of nowhere, a shiny black sedan drives up. A window rolls down, and I see a girl with long red hair in the driver's seat.

       "Sam? Chase? Guys, hurry up! Get in!"

       Chase's hand leaves my back and I see him run in front of me. He yells, "Shotgun," and throws the door open. Although she is in front of me, I can tell she's rolling her eyes. She opens the back door and climbs through, waving me in behind her.

       I follow her through and strap myself in. The red-headed girl looks in the rear view mirror, supposedly at me. I'm pretty sure that's it's me when she asks, "Hey there. Who're you?"

       "Gabby. Gabby Johnson."

       "Sup? Callan. Sam, what's wrong?"

       "Just happened to run into a great big skeleton that almost ate this girl. And, a little something else that we'll talk about when we get there."

       What something else? Is it about me? Where exactly is "there"? Gosh, these people sure are strange.