Fire Scarred *Un-Edited Version*

Chapter Fifteen

Ciris was in my room when I got home hours later, which I found rather ironic and very conventient. He had insisted that I take him to Leo so we all could talk about this together. In his words, to stratagize and to answer both of our questions all at once. What we were stratagizing for, I wasn't sure. All my questions were streaming through my mind as I lead Ciris to the clearing. I told Leo to meet us there through a type of communication he'd taught me. All I had to do was concentrate on a word or phrase in my head, then command the wind. I'd then have to imagine the person the message was for, then myself telling said person the mesage. For now, I could only send one word at a time, and because it took so much concentration, I'd have to wait until my head stopped pounding to send the next few words, which caused the communicating process of sending the words "Clearing, now" rather tedious. Leo was waiting for us when we got there. His head was bent in the early morning sunlight. His soft hair was pouring over into his eyes as he concentrated on the knife he was twirling in his hands.

His eyes found mine, then Ciris's. In confusion, he looked back to me.

Leo motioned to the man beside me. "Who is this?"

"Ciris, Leo. Leo, Ciris."

Understanding along with uncertainty clawed into his expression. "Oh. Hi."

Ciris nodded. "It's my understanding that you and Cora have some questions for me."

"Yeah," Leo said almost cautiously. "We do."

"Well, go ahead, then."

"What do you know about the cabins?" I asked. "The ones being destroyed, I mean. Do they have anything to do with that spirit clan that's trying to take over?"

"I don't know who's doing it. They're obveously looking for something, but what is the question."

"Do you think it is the clan, and what they're looking for is Cora?"

I gulped back a bit of fear. My wide eyes landed on Leo. "Are you suggesting, they're doing all this just to find me?" When he nodded, I all but shouted, "That's absurd! What the heck do they want with me anyway?!"

"I don't know. But what Leo has proposed would make sense." Ciris said.

I growled in frustration. "What am I supposed to do? Stand on the roof and shout for them to just take me?"

"No. You're going to continue what you're doing now, living your life."

I looked at Leo again in shock. "You're saying that I should ignore this? I can't ignore this! This is tearing apart the school! Literally!"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," he told me. "Best case senario, once they had you, they'd kill you instantly."

"And worse case senario?"

"I-i don't know."

I looked to Ciris. "What now?"

"I want you to pretend like everything is okay. Ignorance, pretended or not, sure as heck is gonna be bliss. If we change anything in your behavior or surroundings, they'll pick up on it. Just try to remain acting normal, be sure you don't use your magic for anything really noticable or big, and don't be to nervous or jumpy. Leo or I will be around at all times," he said with what I supposed was a reassuring smile, but it never reached his eyes.

"Uh, okay?"

I walked home in silence after that. Leo said he'd follow me in the trees because Ciris had some "business" to attend to, whatever that meant. My parents still weren't home when I arrived. My body was exhausted, and as I flopped onto my bed to finally sleep, my mind wouldn't shut up. I tossed and turned in my bed, but nothing would allow me to sleep. Counting sheep only led to questions of how well sheep tend to sleep, and relaxing my body only led it to tensing up again. The mid noon sunlight streamed through my window. In its wake came the end to any hope for sleep and the grumblings of hunger. This was the first time I'd pulled an all nighter in what seemed like forever, and was deffinetly not the last.