Fire's Grace (Being Edited)

Chapter 14

"Emma, we will find your brother. Don't worry about it," I must have had a look of worry on my face for Cal to say that.

"What if we don't, Cal? Or what if he tells the guard where we are or what we are doing? We could be killed!"

"I know Emma. We must trust that Ben doesn't tell anyone what we are doing."

"Okay."

By the time we stop, Hope is panting loudly at having carried so much weight for so long. We find a stream that is hidden behind the tall pine trees. The scent of pine fills the air. We get off Hope. Cal takes Hope's tack off and she goes straight for the stream. My legs are sore from the long day of riding. I stop by the stream to wash the cuts, from the saddle, on my legs.

As soon as the sky grows dark, the air around us seems to get colder. It must be early autumn. Cal starts a fire while I walk around. I am only walking in a small radius around the fire in case I pass out from the dreams. Cal is still worried about it happening. I lay down after a little while of walking and quickly fall asleep.

That night, I just have one dream. It is a memory from when I was younger. Dad is by the fire with Ben. Mom is in the kitchen, singing a song I don't remember. I am sitting behind the old blue couch in the living room. The smell of dinner fills the air. I stand up and walk around the couch to sit by dad and Ben instead. Dad starts laughing when I almost fall on my face. Ben comes over and helps me. Ben sits by me and tells me to watch dad's magic trick. Dad waves his hand and fire leaps from the fireplace. It dances in the air, making shapes of all the animals I know and then even more. Horses, cows, fish, birds. The fire makes swirls and spirals. It makes dresses. I reach up to touch the beauty of it and Ben pulls back my hand. "Don't touch it Emma," He tells me, "It will hurt you. But don't worry. I will keep you safe forever."

I wake up. It is still dark. But you can see the hint of sun on the horizon. Tears well up behind my eyes, threatening to fall. Cal is sleeping lightly next to me. I try to stand up.

"Emma? What's wrong?'' Cal asks sleepily next to me.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"You sound like you're trying not to cry. Of course I'm going to worry."

"It was just a dream."

"Well, tell me what happened," Cal is fully awake now.

"It was a memory. My dad was making fire dance. I tried to touch it and Ben pulled my hand away. He said he was going to protect me forever. Now it looks like I'm the one protecting him," The tears that threatened to fall are now slowly making their way down my face.

"It will be fine Emma. I promise. Come here."

I go closer to Cal and sit down. He puts his arms around me and gives me a hug. It's weird. I should be pulling away, but instead, I find myself leaning in closer to him. I can feel his muscles through his thin shirt. He smells like the forest we have been sleeping in. "It will be fine," Cal repeats.

The tears slowly stop falling. I want to stay this close to Cal for as long as possible. But I know we need to get going again. "Are you going to be okay Emma?"

"Y- yeah. I will be fine."

"Okay. I'm going to go get Hope ready. I will walk today, to make it easier on her," And with that, Cal walks away to get us ready for the day. I lay back down and the sentence from my dream repeats through my head like a broken record. A broken record with memories that make me regret not going after Ben.