Chasing Embers | 1

10 | E m b e r

—

Pain. I couldn't see. My limbs felt like jello. The world was spinning. A loud ringing filled my ears. But at least my head didn't feel like it was being pulled apart. I heard a voice through the ringing. Waverly. A hand was on my back. My vision started to clear, revealing the pale girl in front of me, steadying me, soothing me. I looked to my right. Hunter was bent over, breathing hard. At least I wasn't the only one struggling with being warped.
    
"Ember. Ember, can you hear me?" Waverly shook my shoulder a bit.
    
I nodded and swayed, feeling queasy. Well, at least I was conscious this time. Waverly's eyes widened and she nudged me down into a sitting position. She squeezed my shoulder and looked towards Hunter, who was lying on his back. While Waverly made her way over to Hunter, I took the chance to take in my surroundings.
    
I was sitting on a stone paved street. There were old, abandoned looking buildings with broken windows and torn roofs. At the center of it all, rested a gloomy looking fountain. I became confused. Was this Ardeina? Where were all the people? Why did everything smell like feet and sewage? I tried to stand, lost my balance, and ended up putting all my weight on a brick wall behind me. Unfortunately, that wall wasn't very stable. Some of the bricks caved and fell into the structure, causing a heap of dust and dirt to filter out. Wow, this building was super supportive.
    
I looked up. Waverly had brought us to some sort of abandoned warehouse. It was a large, circular structure with patches of wood covering holes like the one I had just made. There was no door, just a long and torn cloth hanging over one of the bigger holes. I heard something shift inside. Then, there was a voice that sounded of bitterness and anger. It was feminine but aggressive.
    
"Great. Another hole I have to cover up."

By this time, Hunter and Waverly were standing next to me. Hunter made a noise, almost like a scoff. He peered into the hole. "Not like you've got anything better to do."
    
A decent sized rock flew from the hole towards his face. He jumped back and let the rock skid across the pavement. "Shut your trap, Belkin," the voice snapped.
    
Carefully looking into the hole, I could see the silhouette of a girl.
    
Her outline went towards the makeshift door, and then a hand reached out and swept aside the rags. A dark headed girl with stormy grey eyes walked out. Her cheeks were dotted with freckles. A white scar ran down the right side of her face, starting at her cheekbone and ending near her jaw. Her hair was jet black and as straight as an arrow. She wore a grey tank top and black ripped jeans accompanied by a pair of black, leather fingerless gloves. The girl looked around my age, although anyone could tell she'd been through much more than a girl her age should've, and maybe an inch taller than me. The air around us filled with intimidation as she looked each one of us over.
    
Her angry eyes rested on mine. "Did you do that?" She motioned her head towards the hole I had made.
    
As I was about to speak, getting ready to make some sort of sarcastic comment, Hunter cleared his throat. "It's just a hole, Ragan. Don't make it a big deal."
    
Ragan. This was the girl I was supposed to work with? I almost wanted to laugh. I could already tell this was a recipe for disaster. We would never get along.
    
She clenched her jaw. I raised my chin. "I'm Ember."
    
Ragan almost looked bored. "Yeah, I know. Hunter–"
    
And there he was, stepping between us and making a noise to drown out what I had already heard several times.
    
I laughed. "Wow, Hunter. How many people have heard your nonsense?"
    
He didn't answer. Next to me, Waverly stifled a laugh.
    
The Zian stepped back. "Well, this was fun, but I should probably get going."
    
We bid Waverly goodbye, and she disappeared in a flash of white.
    
"Well, are you going to invite us inside or what?" Hunter jeered. Obviously, they had known each other. I couldn't imagine Hunter being sarcastic to someone he didn't have a good relationship with.
    
Ragan rolled her eyes and moved the makeshift door to the side, motioning us inside. "There's not much to see."
    
She wasn't lying. All that was in the circular building were some planks of wood that looked like they might have been used during the building process. There were strange looking windows with broken glass that looked like a spiderweb from the cracks. Shards of glass scattered across the floor. One of the lower windows had an extension of brick with layers of crumpled blankets and a pillow. There was a small wooden table pushed against the wall near the spot where I had made the hole. What took my breath away, was the floor. It was a giant slab of cement that was splintered and cracked into many small pieces in the middle with larger pieces near the wall. It looked as if someone had taken a mallet and slammed it into the cement. The sight was quite frightening as something Hunter told me came to mind. Ragan's last name was Hatis. She was an oblivion. She made these cracks in the cement. I gulped and reminded myself not to get on her bad side.
    
"Seriously, Ragan, you should invest in a fridge." Hunter picked up what looked like a rotting apple from a windowsill.
    
Ragan slid onto the table and gave Hunter a very unamused look. "What's up with you and cracking dumb jokes today?"
    
He crossed his arms. "What's up with your attitude today? Oh, wait. That's every day."
    
Ragan decided she had enough of him. "So, Ember, how's your trip been?"
    
I frowned. "It's definitely been an adventure. Hunter got us lost in the Infernal Forest, and then we were attacked by caniree, but I got some good biscuits out of it."
    
She glanced at Hunter, creasing her brow. "You said caniree?"