Fire Scarred *Un-Edited Version*

Chapter Eight

Early the next morning, I walked out into the woods. I shivered against the chill. The night before, I had found a note on my bed from Leo stating where and when we were to meet. At first, I was hesitant about meeting with him. What everyone would think was my main concern. If people found out, they'd ask questions. I didn't want that. Technically, I wasn't doing anything wrong. I may not have told my parents all I was doing out in the woods, but I was going swimming like I had said. A few extra things thrown in couldn't be that bad of a thing. As I approached the clearing, my heart began to race. I am going to find out everything today. Just beyond the trees I could make out the outline of a figure sitting in the grass. His sandy hair glowed in the soft morning light. Something in my chest jerked when Leo's eyes glanced up to meet mine. He smiled. "You came." "You sound surprised." "I just…I wasn't sure…" his awkwardness from the day we met returned. He stopped talking, his face turning hard. "I didn't expect you to show." I was taken aback by his sudden mood swing. Bipolar much? I grumbled to myself. Not sure what to say, I turned away and walked to the tank's edge. I shimmied off my shirt and out of my shorts until I stood in my swim suit. "What are you doing?" I motioned to the water as I stepped into it. "Swimming." I rolled my eyes like it was the most obvious thing ever. "Won't you be cold?" Then he shook his head, mumbling, "Stupid question. With the fire and all." I perked up at that. "What'd you say?" A ghost of a smile haunted his face. A chill went up my spine. Instead of answering me, Leo asked, "Ready?" "As I'll ever be," I absentmindedly mimicked Barbie's favorite catch phrase, one I said all the time when I was younger. "You're a nature spirit, meaning you once died. Whether you admit it or not, you had. It was in a fire. I know you see this memory every night in your dreams." He cocked an eyebrow at my stunned expression. "Yes, I know of your dreams. Everyone has them until they fully accept what they are, which makes this process even more necessary." Emotion flashed through his eyes, but Leo quickly recovered. "Some spirits don't accept the life they were given. Their dreams get progressively more vivid and real. They get scared and eventually turn their backs and feel as if it were better if they had died. Soon, it is their only desire to–" his voice faltered. "Die?" "Yeah. They recreate the scene of their death and are compelled to make sure they actually die that time." My stomach churned. "That's… delightful." The look Leo gave me made it clear now was not the time for sarcasm. He let out a frustrated breath. His face betrayed no emotion as he continued, "They never understand that they were meant to live. It wasn't just a random spirit thinking 'Oh, I want to save someone', but a gut feeling saying they have to. You are selected to be saved. We don't know how or why, but it happens. Saving a person without that specific feeling can potentially kill both the spirit and person in danger. Not saving will kill them both. See, they, you, were meant to survive." "Okay." My head was still spinning, but for some reason, I could accept this information more easily. "I just have to not refuse the gift of life. Got it." Leo glared. I put my hands up in defense. "Okay. Okay. You're hard core about this, aren't you." It wasn't really a question. My head tilted to the side. "Why?" I floated to the edge of the tank and rested my elbows on the gooey mud. He studied me. His intense eyes seemed to size me up. "What else do you want to know about being a nature spirit?" I hated how he kept ignoring my questions, but I let it slide. "What attacked me and Sage at the bonfire?" "He didn't attack you. He helped you." "What?" "In the very beginning, he was the one who saved you from the fire. Once someone is saved, the spirit that saved them is kind of becomes their third parent. In most cases, the savior stays with the new nature spirit until it blossoms, about eight years after the incident of the saving. After the eight years, the dreams get more intense around the first six months. Then, slowly, their powers began to take shape. That process can take up to three years. Once their powers have mostly set in, it is time for the Awakening process. The savior comes to the blossom and gives it the rest of its magic, making it a full nature spirit. Essentially, the savior is meant to go into a resting period where it hibernates for a few weeks. The part about Sage comes in here. Some spirits don't wish to hibernate, and want to regain the power it may loose the the awakened spirit. It starts out as a craving, but turns into a need. It can no longer control itself. For more power, it consumes the souls of other nature spirits." "So, you're saying we eat each other to be more powerful?" He shook his head. "We're not all like that. It's like a disease. It gets passed on. But, once infected with the Crave, you can never go back. There is no way for them to control it." "How is it passed on?" "Honestly, no one's sure. Most believe it happens from a partial soul removal. Others believe it's from a bite. There are those who think it's a taught belief passed down in families like a religion. And a small group think it's hereditary. If that were true, you'd be infected with it. You're not, though." "How do you know that?" Fear squeezed my stomach. I hated to think of myself infected with a disease that could kill people. "I can sense it." "Can we all sense it?" "Remember that weird feeling you got with Ciris around? And how your head got all fuzzy and it was hard for you to control your mind? That's how we can tell. It's how it feels being around the spirit." "Why did…Ciris… give me power, and not… eat me?" Leo rubbed his hands through his hair. "Our life is very delicate. Once a spirit saves a supernatural, it is tethered to it until it Awakens. If you died, Ciris would die. If Ciris died, you would die. It is a heavy burden. The only way to break that bond is to transfer the powers. Ciris didn't hurt you because of that. Also, like I said, he's like your third parent. He wouldn't intentionally hurt you even after the bond is broken." Something in my mind seemed to click, but I wasn't sure what. I looked into his green eyes and asked, "Why can't I remember that night?" "I don't know." His face has softened, almost looking sympathetic. "I'm sorry." "Will you tell me? No one else knows." "He made himself invisible to non-nature spirits." "Like you did the other night." He smirked. "Yeah. That's why they couldn't see him. But as far as telling you what happened that night, I can't. It's something you have to do on your own." "Come on!" I pleaded. "I have to know!" "You'll remember eventually." "Can you promise that?" "No. But everything will be okay. Relax. It'll happen. It just takes concentration." I shot him a look as I crawled from the water. "Why do people keep saying that?" The sun felt good on my wet skin. I instantly dried. Leo laughed as he watched me. "You're using magic." "Hmm." I looked down at myself. "I gotta go meet Noah. Don't follow me." "It's my job to follow you. I'm supposed to protect you." "I don't need protecting." "You don't understand. They're–" "I don't want to know if my life is being threatened by evil nature spirits just waiting to consume my soul. I'll be perfectly fine." Leo opened his mouth to protest, but thought better of it. "Okay. But I still have to watch you." "Be my stalker. Just don't watch," I paused, trying to pick my words carefully, "anything I wouldn't want you to." He smirked. "Yeah. I wouldn't want to see more of you or Noah than I have to." "I'm not like that!" A scowl marked my face. "Be careful. Your face just might get stuck like that." Frustration washed over me. "You're such a jerk!" My face burned. I hated how he made me so flustered. "I'm gonna go now." "I remember," I whispered to my once again blue-grey eyes. My breath was shallow in my burning throat. I wanted to yelp with excitement. My eyes stayed glued to my face, drinking in the joy of looking like myself again. "I remember!" Eight days. It had taken me Eight days of pure concentration to regain my memory. Things slowly began to make more sense. Parts of what Leo told me, and things from what Ciris told me began to fit together and make more sense in my mind. A surge of pride ran through me. I dashed from my room. I tumbled into my mom in the hallway. I bounced on my toes. "Whoa. What's up with you this morning?" "Mom! I remember! I remember everything! And check out my eyes!" Mom looked startled for a moment. "They're normal again." "Yep. Back to shooting out rainbows and leprechauns with my laser vision." "Yes. Of course," she snorted. "And you remember?" Her face had gone serious. Instantly, I launched into the story of that night, only leaving out Leo. If she'd known I'd been lying, I might as well have started digging my grave then. I needed to tell someone, though. The secret was burning inside of me. It felt like I'd explode if I didn't tell someone what I was.

A few hours later I stood in front of my four greatest friends in the world watching them digest everything I'd just told them. "So you're a nature spirit?" Raylynn was first to ask. "That's got to make our species cousins or something." "Yeah. I guess." I shrugged. "And you can do all sorts of magic stuff?" "Yep." For good measure, I flicked water from my finger tips onto Ray. "And that thing wasn't trying to kill you? It created you?" "Ciris didn't create me. I am my parent's daughter. He just saved me." "And he killed that other girl?" Georgia broke into Raylynn's stream of questions. I hesitated. All eyes in the room were watching me. "Yeah. It's the disease…" my voice trailed off. Josh asked, "But you don't have it. Right?" "Rabies? Yes. Smallpox? Yes. Cholera? Umm. Let me check… Yep. But the Crave? Not a chance." Josh rolled his eyes. "Sarcasm not needed. That was a legit question." It was my turn to roll my eyes. "Okay. Any other questions?" "If all nature spirits start out as a regular supernatural, what were you?" Noah asked. "I don't know." I mentally added that to my To Ask Leo list. "I didn't ask him." "Wait. Let me get this straight." Georgia got up from her perch on the couch and began to pace. "This disease ridden nature spirit saved you from a fire you were in when you were little. Then he decided to ruin a school function to give you the rest of your powers so you won't be bound together by some freak force of nature, and to suck the soul from another nature spirit so he could be more powerful. After that, some other freak stalks you and shows up at Game Night. Obviously, you go brain dead and meet up with him the next day to learn more about yourself. Am I right so far?" Before I could answer, she continued, "So you meet up with the Leo and he tells you basically nothing. You concentrate for a few days, then BAM! You remember something. All this accurate?" "Uh, yeah." Georgia seemed to consider this. "And he follows you around?" "Yeah. According to him, I need protection." "From what?" "Unicorns and donkey spit? I wouldn't know." I crossed my arms over my chest. Georgia shot me a look. "So when do we get to meet him? I'm sure I'm not the only one that wants to." My eyes strayed a moment to where only I could see Leo sitting on Josh's and Noah's counter. "Umm. Well. That's kinda up to him." He smirked. Georgia followed my gaze. "He's here. Isn't he?" "Uh…" Now everyone was looking in Leo's direction searching for some sign of his existence. He got up and sauntered towards me. I watched him from the corner of my eye while still keeping my eyes locked on his previous place. Only did I let myself breathe when he was finally outside. "He's not in here anymore." "So you think!" Ray jumped down from the couch. "That was so cool! It was like he was here, but he wasn't! I so want to meet this kid!" "And I so wish he'd stop following me," I said it loudly enough for Leo to hear from wherever he was hiding. I could practically feel his scowl. I plopped down on the couch next to Noah and tried to relax. His arm wrapped around my waist as I snuggled against him. "What now?" he asked. "Georgia's right. We should meet this kid." I sighed. "It's not up to me. I can't make him appear to y'all or just me or whoever. And asking nicely won't get me anywhere with Leo. He's kinda a jerk." Raylynn's face went into a pout. "Come on! At least try!" I considered this. My friends watched me with pleading eyes. "Maybe." "Yes!" Ray danced around the room with her hands in the air. "We get to meet Cora's mystery boy!" "He is not my 'mystery boy'!" I groaned. "He's not even my boy! Ew! That's gross." My nose scrunched. "Nope. Never." I poked Noah in my stomach. "That's my boy." She shook her head. "I didn't mean it that way." "You better not have," Noah said. He grabbed my hand and held it in his, earning a look from Josh. "Then I'd have to do some butt kicking." His voice was light, but I could tell there was an edge to it. I pulled him closer. "Well, we better be heading back to our cabin," Georgia said, looking between me and Noah wriggling her eyebrows. I glared at her. "Yeah. Leaving would be good unless you wanna end up in a ditch on the side of the road." "Let's go," she ushered to Raylynn. "I'm sure Cora wants some time alone. Josh, want to join us?" "This is kind of awkward," Noah whispered to me. I giggled. "Kind of." We watched as they filed out of the cabin. At the door, Georgia blew us a kiss. "Have fun, you guys," she quipped over her shoulder. I stuck my tongue out to her back. "You're so childish," Noah commented as she closed the door. "Is that a bad thing?" He studied me in mock seriousness. "Nope. Don't think it is." I smiled. "Good." His face came down to greet mine. A feeling like thousands of feathers tickling my insides filled my stomach. My mind went fuzzy as I pulled him closer. His hands made their way around my waist where they rested on the small of my back. I interlaced my fingers through his dark hair, tugging at it slightly. I felt part of me give a little as his lips traveled down to my neck. My hand gripped the front of his shirt, while I pulled his face back up to mine with the other. He braced one arm against the arm rest of the couch as he leaned in further. I can't breath! was all I could think as my claustrophobia kicked in. Noah's arms around me flexed reflexively as I cautiously pushed him away. "What's wrong?" He was breathless. I was surprised to hear my own breathing short and choppy, like I'd just ran a marathon. I kissed him softly. "Nothing." "You sure?" "Totally." Noah's arms snaked back around me. "Great," he mumbled against me.