Mystery of the Boundaries

Chapter Ten

My eyes became glued to the flickering fire dancing in an array of brilliant reds and oranges, the flames licking the branches of a tree. Smoke rises up, traveling in wisps of the dull blackish grey strands, swirling, twisting and flowing. Almost beautiful. Mesmerizing.

No-magical.

The smoke dances beneath my nostrils, the putrid smell triggering the urge for me to vomit. I stagger into the bushes, letting everything out. I gasp for breath, grabbing my backpack for some water.

Rinse, spit, rinse, spit. I finally am cleansed of the horrid taste of my vomit. But still, the dull throbbing in my head reminds me that my headache is still steady.

My eyes refocus onto the fire, and this time, without hesitation, I charge into the hissing flames. I don't know what I was thinking--or rather I wasn't thinking at all. My adrenaline was pumped up so high that I didn't feel at all the flames licking my pants and searing onto my jacket.

I guess I should've thought it through, because I wasn't prepared for this at all.

My lips all of a sudden become dry, and I lick them in anticipation of what's coming next, though no moisture comes to my lips. I open my eyes.

Pale grey eyes stare at back at me, looking tired, and the whites were all bloodshot. The usually voluminous blonde curls that bounced off her shoulders are wispy and thin, caked in dirt. Her face is exhausted, looking worn and much, much older than her actual age. A hollow look is etched into her face, her cheek bones scarily prominent, face thin, lips cracked and parched.

My gaze wanders down, and her clothes are shredded, torn. But her hands--oh her hands! My heart almost leaps into my throat. Tied around her two wrists are thick pieces of rope. Her wrists are bloody and scraped, a result of the rope tightly digging into her wrists.

Evelina.

"Evelina." My voice hoarse.

"Alaska." Her voice is broken. "You shouldn't have came." I stare at her. After this whole journey, this test, I risk my life to come and rescue her, but she tells me that I shouldn't have came?

"But-"

She interrupted, "I know. I know what you are, that your job is to protect us citizens, but why? Why did you come? Alaska, you're going to die. And it's all my fault!" Her voice has risen to a hysterical cry. This was definitely not the cool and collected Evelina I knew.

"Evelina, it's not your fault," I deny, "it's the Master's fault. Everything is. Hell, I'm pretty sure he created global warming! And I'm not going to die. You know why everyone died coming Beyond the Boundaries? Because they didn't have anything to fuel them. My fuel? Love. You're closer to me than a sister, Evelina. I can't leave you."

Unlike her, the volume of my voice steadily decreases until it's just above a whisper. Just enough to hear above the cackling fire.

"No." She shakes her head. "You should go, Alaska." No matter how much I argue, she wouldn't give in. Her decision was absolutely resolute.

I look at her, tears forming in my eyes.

I turn away, "Fine," I say, my voice hard, "I'll go." And with that, I turn fully around and drag my feet away from her. The moment my thumb makes contact with the fire though, the flames rapidly quaver, as if an invisible source of wind blew at it. I was trapped. And that made me feel strangely happy.

I guess I could try to get Evelina out! The thought delighted me, and I turn back, putting on a poker face.

"I can't go."

She frowned at me, "Then how did you get in?" I simply shrug.

"I don't believe you."

A flash hurt of sparks in me. My best friend thought I was lying. So I reach out my hand, showing her the peeled flesh of my burn. It tingled oddly, although whether it was pain or not, I didn't know.

"Oh." Was her simple reply.

"Here," I decide. I take out my dagger from my backpack and cut the rope from her wrists. Just like that, they disappeared, vanishing into thin air, as if they were never even there.

We look at each other in astonishment.

"What . . ." I trailed off.

"I don't know." She whispered.

It was like somebody was watching us, knowing that I was going to cut the rope, thus when I actually did cut the rope, they took it away. But then if they had so much control over the rope, why didn't they put it back on Evelina? The answer quickly came to me: because she couldn't escape anyways.

And that scared me.

How were we supposed to get out of this ring of fire. There were no open pathways, no place where the fire ceased to exist. It was just a endless circle of flames. Dangerous flames.

I try to conjure up my ball of ice.

In my mind, I see the globe of blue-white light swirling and growing. Flakes of freezing ice creating a miniature blizzard in my mind, coming closer. It's becoming more and more natural to me, like the storm is a part of me. I let my frustration fuel my storm and-

BLAST!

The ball of ice slams into the wall of fire, but after a while, the fire overlaps the ball, consuming it rapidly, until it fades into a puddle of nothing more than water, which quickly evaporates.

Evelina is staring at me in shock. Her jaw hangs slack and her stormy grey eyes wide.

I smile tiredly, "It's a new trick I've been working on."

"That's really cool!" For the first time, I hear the faint glimmer of hope pulsing in her voice. Her eyes brighten into a pale shade of grey, and the corners of lips manage to turn upwards. A smile.

"Maybe . . " She begins, "You can build a bridge over the fire? Or you could try to melt the fire again?"

The excitement in her voice motivates me to help her devise strategies for escape.

We talk and talk and talk.

But suddenly, Evelina stops in mid-sentence. She opens her mouth, then closes it, open, close. Finally, she points to behind me. I swivel around so fast that I feel like I got a whiplash.

And my heart momentarily stops.

Through the fire, I see a distorted face staring back at me. So familiar. And then I realize who it is.

Jim.

~*~

Hey guys,

Sorry for the wait again and hope you like the chapter. :)

~infinityendlesswords