Ashes

Part Five

"Hey Cassie, wake up" said Rubie as the morning sun hit my face, blinding me just a little before I saw the smile on Ruby's face. "They're gone, we can leave now!" she continued and helped me to get up from my make-shift bed made of moss and leaves I found in the small cave.

"Wow! We went far from the prison!" I uttered surprised and tried not to slip and fall as I climbed down the small hill where the cave was located. "Yeah, but we need to go further" said James and threw himself down the hill with his powers, catching himself just before he was about to hit the ground.

"Where do we go?" asked Ruby and carried little Sam on her back down the hill and caught up to us, "we need to continue and go in this direction" replied James and pointed in the direction of where the forest was at its thickest.

"Ok then, let's go!" said Harry determined and looked around before we started walking deeper into the forest.

The cars and bikes from yesterday's battle were still scattered around, with missing pieces and broken windows all around us. "Watch out!" said Rubie before she turned into her Ruby-form and pushed me away from the path I was going. "Broken glass" said Rubie in defense of her actions and continued to walk with Sam on her back, slowly falling asleep.

"So, that's your powers huh?" I asked Ruby as she turned back into her regular flesh- and blood self, "Yeah, pretty much" replied Ruby like as if it wasn't anything special? "It's cool" I uttered and waited in horror to see if she would ask me what my power was, but she didn't straight away.

"What's your powers?" asked James who had coincidentally overheard Rubie and mine's conversation. "Oh, I don't know..." I mumbled and hoped they wouldn't hear it, "What did you say?" asked little Sam from Ruby's back, clearly waking up from his nap, trying to get down from Rubie's back.

"I don't know what my powers are" I replied to little Sam's question and watched as the rest of the group stop in their steps, "what do you mean?" asked James confused and slowly got worryingly closer to me. "Why are you here then!" yelled Harry angrily and threw his gloves on the ground to show his frustration. "Calm down Harry!" yelled James and tried to calm him down, but it didn't help.

"So, you're just deadweight for us huh?" asked Harry furiously and kept on walking up to me, trying to get as close as he could up to my face to intimidate me? "You can go back, we don't need you!" yelled Harry before his hands turned into ice.

"Harry, calm down!" yelled Rubie and pushed Harry away from me, while the tattooed girl tried to keep Harry as far away from me as possible, even though I know she's probably as pissed as Harry is.

"If you're going to hurt her, then you have to go through me!" Yelled Rubie in response to Harry's reaction, just before her hands turned into solid ruby. Harry scoffed before he turned with the assistance from the tattooed girl and grabbed his gloves from the ground and kept on going.

Rubie gave me a look of shook and relief, but I was still afraid of what was going to happen to me once people knew I was basically helpless without them?

What was I going to do if we somehow get captured again? I'm not as strong of a fighter like Rubie and certainly do not know how to use my powers like Harry and James. Well, if I have any?

Harry was the one that walked in front with the tattooed girl, while James was straight behind them and then there was Rubie, Sam and I.

"Ok, we'll set up camp here!" yelled Harry in one of the only clearings in the forest, "Ok!" yelled Rubie from the back and tried to catch her breath. James and Harry wandered off into the deep of the forest to gather some wood to get a fire going, while Sam, Rubie and I stayed back to make some pillows out of moss and leaves.

"So, are you sure that you don't have any powers?" asked Rubie and started twining some twigs and moss the make a pillow for herself. "Well, I'm not sure?" I replied and got finished with James's pillow, before I started working on Harry's, even though he probably hated me more than anything right now?

"Oh, ok" replied Rubie and watched as Sam played around with his pillow. We both chuckled as he threw the pillow around like a football, right before Harry and James came back and killed the party we had going.

James got down to his knees and was quick to start a fire, just before the sun went down and night came. We had put all of our pillows in a nearby cave, where Sam had already fallen asleep.

The tattooed girl, James and Harry talked back and forth between them, while I kept a close eye on the fire James had made. "Are you ok?" asked Rubie and stroked my back as I stared into the glowing warm pit of fire. "Cassie...?" said Rubie, just before I slowly reached my arm out and felt the warmth of the fire reaching my skin.

I removed my hand from the firepit and looked at the damage the fire had done, but there wasn't anything? I folded my sleeve up and pushed my entire arm in the fire, but to everyone's shock. I still hadn't gotten any damage from it?

"What the heck is going on?" asked James and got up from his seat to examine my arm himself. "Why did you do that?" asked Harry who seemed shocked, but also angry with me?

"I don't know?" I replied and felt a rush of energy running through my body, "Cassie?" asked Rubie and shared a look of worriedness with the rest of the group. "Yeah?" I replied and looked as all of them slowly took a few steps back, "Cassie! Your eyes!" Yelled James in shock as he also backed away from me, "They're glowing!" said Rubie and watched as my hand started blazing with fire.

"Is that your power?" asked James and adjusted his glasses to see as the flame which surrounded my hand went bigger and bigger, lighting up the entire forest. "Can you control it?" asked Rubie and got closer to me, "I think I can?" I replied unsure but tried my hardest to extinguish my hand.

I tried thinking of water extinguishing fire, but it didn't help. "I can't control it!" I yelled and watched as the fire got larger and larger.

"Hey Cassie!" yelled Harry and ran across the firepit and grabbed my hands, "Listen to what I'm saying and concentrate!" said Harry and tried to freeze my hands, but it didn't work. "Think about the cold! Think about the cold winter storms back before everything happened!" said Harry and had a strong grip around my hands.

I began thinking about the cold winter storms as Harry asked me to do, I thought of the time back when me and Jaden were together, and we hadn't anything to worry about. I thought of the rainy day when the army captured him right in front of me and I had to watch in tears as they dragged him away from me.

"Cassie? Cassie?" said Ruby and shook me awake as the flames had calmed down and I opened my eyes to see them all gather around me in joy of me finding out my ability. "What did Harry say to you to control it?" asked Rubie in shock, "I remembered someone, someone special" I replied and saw as Harry started walking off in the distance and away from us.

"Hey, I'm just going to go for a walk" I said as I started following Harry deeper into the forest, I followed him through bushes and over small rivers and then, just by the edge of the forest. There he stood, scouting the nearby city and neighborhoods.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I snuck up on him, "Shh!" he said and looked out on the big clearing from the forest and all the way down to the little city. "What are you doing?" I whispered once again and crouched next to him and watched as the small city was lit up by helicopters and military vehicles, most likely looking for us!

"These poor people" said Harry and listened to the screams as the military forced their way into every house they possibly had in the town. "Yeah..." I replied and was shocked that he for the first time showed that he cared about something.

"Thank you by the way" I said and interrupted Harry as he turned his attention towards me, "For helping me..." I continued, but Harry just shook it off. "Thank you as well" said Harry in response?

"For what?" I asked and really didn't know what he was talking about? "For the pillow and for not burning me alive" replied Harry and chuckled a bit.