Shadowstruck

Chapter 4 Part 1

She leaned forward, gasping for breath.

"Holy shit are you - "

"I remember." April looked at Noah, shutting him up. "Not all of it, but enough."

He let the fear in his eyes turn to curiosity. "How much?"

"Everything from me telling you to get the others out of there to now."

"Okay." He nodded, taking in the new information. "Okay. This is good."

April stood up, a bit dizzy. "I thought you said it wouldn't kill me?"

"I was right, it didn't." He tilted his head as he got to his feet. "Well, it sort of did? You're okay now, though, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you're not on fire, right?"

"Yeah...?"

"So it didn't kill you." He crossed his arms. "If anyone else had touched it, they would have been immediately engulfed in flames."

She glanced at the scepter before crouching down and grabbing it, a little hesitantly.

"Are you feeling okay?" Noah lifted an eyebrow, concerned. "I really don't think it's the best idea to - " 

She waved him off, straightening back up. "Yeah, I'm fine. I think it was like you said, my memories were connected to this somehow."

"Okay..." He eyed her cautiously. "...so the onslaught of memories caused you to black out, maybe?"

"Maybe."

Noah sighed, hiding his face in one of his hands. "I know I'm the one who told you to do that, but never do that again."

"So you're saying I should never listen to you?"

"No, I - " He groaned, searching for words. "If it seems stupid, don't do it."

"Like how stupid?"

"Like excessively stupid. Like Cooper-running-straight-towards-a-shadow-demon stupid." He looked her in the eyes, fighting the grin off his face. "Never run straight towards a shadow demon."

"Point taken, it was pretty stupid."

"I told you he was a cocky bastard." He looked up, noticing that the sun was setting. "We should probably get back." April nodded her approval and followed Noah into the woods.