Runaway Magic

nine

Kenna and I stumbled out of the flames, our hands still twined together. I drew mine away, surveying our surroundings. Trees encircled us, their branches reaching toward the sky to form a thick, lush green canopy of leaves. Stars winked faintly through the foliage against a midnight sky. Somehow, the forest seemed much less foreboding than it had before. Maybe it was because we weren't running from men who wanted to burn us at the stake anymore, or maybe it was the adrenaline coursing through my veins from my fight with the unfortunately handsome police officer.

"Now wh-," I began, but Kenna cut me off by wrapping me in another tight embrace. "What's this one for?" I teased, trying to shake away her arms. She only squeezed tighter. I finally shoved her off with a wince when my ribs began to ache. "Seriously, Kenna, are you trying to strangle me to death before we find a safe place to stay?"

Kenna stepped away, glaring at me in mock anger. Then, she sighed when she saw my wary expression. "Why do you always doubt me?" she asked. "When have I ever lead you wrong before?" Before I could answer her rhetorical question with a sarcastic remark, she burst into a quick run, coming to an impatient stop as she waited for me at the edge of the clearing.

I rolled my eyes, but her enthusiasm was infectious. I sprinted after her. The muscles in my legs ached from all the unexpected running I had already done that night, but I had to admit that the crisp night air brushed refreshingly against my cheeks. I was almost - almost - sorry when Kenna slowed down just a few moments later. She paused in front of a large circle of scraggy-looking bushes.

"Amina?" she called. "I found Sera." For a moment, there was nothing but the unanswered echo of Kenna's voice. Then, the bushes rustled, and Amina's frustrating face emerged from the green.

"Well, I guess you may as well stay the night," she remarked. I flushed beneath her cool gaze, but Kenna stopped me from saying something I would regret.

"Is it even night anymore?" she joked, provoking a flash of a smile from Amina. The girl beckoned us forward, disappearing back into the underbrush with a swish of her inky cloak.

"I still don't like this," I grumbled before Kenna could step into the unknown. "And I still don't like her."

"We both know that's not the issue," Kenna said firmly, wading her way into the plants. "The problem is that you do like her." I watched, agape, as she vanished after Amina. My cheeks warmed at her suggestion. A butterfly brushed its wings against my ribs, jolting me out of my thoughts.

Kenna's wrong, I thought, frowning as the bushes' thin limbs scratched across my skin. I don't like Amina at all.

Ok, maybe I do like her a little bit, I admitted. At least compared to her other friends.

Her "other friends", Ekki and Xia, were odd, which didn't stop Kenna from immediately hitting it off with them. I envied her for her ability to socialize so easily; I had never had many friends, and the ones I did manage to make tended to be at least twice my age. It was a good thing I had grown up with Kenna as a built-in playmate, or my childhood could have been much lonelier.

But I wasn't so sure I was the problem here. Ekki's piercing blue eyes tracked me as soon as I entered the camp. I shivered. Her narrow gaze made me feel like I was being skinned alive. With her pale blond hair and sharp features, she was definitely from Fjall, Kenj's neighbor to the north. Xia, on the other hand, had glossy black hair that cut her heart-shaped face off at the chin. She barely even noticed my arrival she was so engrossed in scouring a dusty old map. My discomfort only grew as Kenna continued to chatter with Amina, occasionally managing to draw a response from one of the other two girls. Finally, I couldn't take it any longer.

"So," I said loudly. Immediately, everyone's attention snapped toward me. "Why exactly are my sister and I here? Are you guys going to help us cross the border to Ijinislj, or what?" I leveled my frustration at Amina, but she barely even blinked an eye.

"Back to Ijinislj?" Xia cut in, darting a nervous glance at Amina. "I...I didn't think we were going to see your parents again so soon."

"We're not," Amina said sharply. Kenna pursed her lips, but the brown-eyed girl only shook her head. "I said I'd help you seek refuge in Ijinislj" - Ekki raised an eyebrow, glancing between Kenna and me as if she was trying to determine our qualifications - "and I won't renege on my promise. But there are a few affairs we need to settle before we return."

"Which are?" I asked suspiciously. I couldn't forget the dagger tucked into Amina's belt or the unnatural lightness to Ekki's movements; now that I saw her clearly, I knew she was the one who had broken into the storefront back in town. Despite the elongated look of her toned limbs, she and I were roughly the same height, and her blond hair was almost as white as mine. These girls were neither honest nor innocent, and I intended to treat them like the criminals they were.

"For your own sake, you don't need to know," Amina replied, laughing at my exasperated expression. "But don't worry, that's still a long ways away." She raised a slender hand to her lips as she yawned. "Now, am I the only one who feels like they're about to pass out?"

As much as I wanted to press her for answers, I knew Kenna's face mirrored my own. We were both haggard and exhausted, and staying with Amina and her strange friends was the only way to finally get some peace and quiet. Well, maybe not the quiet part, but it was a start.

The two of us settled in a corner, spreading out the scratchy blankets buried in Kenna's backpack. The other girls gave us our privacy, retreating to the other side of the hideaway, but I caught Ekki staring when she thought I wasn't looking. With her small, softer stature, Xia seemed timid and harmless, but there was a dangerousness in the Fjallen girl's body language that worried me. She was always as tense as a pressed coil, ready to spring into action at any sudden movement. Plus, the way she watched us creeped me out. If she had magical x-ray vision, I wouldn't have been surprised.

"Stop staring and go to sleep," Kenna groaned from beside me. She was already swaddled in her blanket like a newborn baby. Only her grumpy face peeked out from beneath the fabric. Sighing, I lay down, tugging my own blanket loosely around my body to ward off the cold. Mere seconds later, Kenna began to snore. The familiarity soothed me enough that I let my eyes drift shut, the stars fading into twinkling afterthoughts behind my heavy eyelids. As Kenna's snoring faded away, a heaviness descended upon me, pulling me into a quick, dark sleep.