The Legend of the Firewalker, Book #1

Chapter 17.1 (Heroes)

Author Note:

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Chapter 17.1

Nathan sat quietly in the small computer lab in the basement of Lawrence Hall. He didn't like being stuck in the square, white room another day while campers worked on their final leadership projects. He wished LaDonda had scheduled them in the much larger computer lab in Fisher Hall next door. Fisher Hall's computer lab was on the first floor and had a nice view of the quad.

Nathan stared blankly at the black computer screen. Over the soft hum of the air conditioner and the sharp clicking sounds of neighboring keyboards, his mind wandered. Occasionally, his thoughts were interrupted by ongoing conversations about the end of camp and the closing ceremony and banquet on Saturday. They had been at camp for three weeks now and most campers were sad to be leaving their newfound friends. But still, for the most part, everyone was excited to finally be able to see their families and loved ones. Nathan was excited too. An entire week had gone by without an attack from the Shadow Creatures, and his dreams were just as absent of any impending danger. In fact, most of his dreams had been about food. In his latest dream, no matter how much he ate, his plate would automatically refill with a tall stack of his favorite food: pecan pancakes.

Nathan was also relieved. He had taken Malick's advice and stopped using his powers, and he knew that soon Leadership Camp would be over. Every day since his first dream about Leah and the dream about Grimm Cemetery, he'd felt very responsible for Leah, Lafonda and Jonas.

He had an overwhelming sense of duty to help Leah and to keep his friends safe, but Leah was back home now, and soon Jonas would be too; and he and Lafonda would be back at the Devaro Mansion. Nathan couldn't wait until this was all over. In fact, he often caught himself daydreaming about sitting outside by the pool behind the Devaro Mansion.

Only a few more days now.

He didn't want to think about anything other than what he would be doing for the rest of the summer, but his stomach continued to twist into knots. He tried not to think about all the unanswered questions that plagued him after he'd been discovered by Malick.

Nathan sat back in his chair and sighed. He had so many unanswered questions. And how long did Malick expect him to stay in the dark?

Nathan tapped his fingers on the armrest of his chair. "Who is Argus's brother?" he asked himself. "And why did Argus threaten Malick?" He tilted his head to the side as the slew of questions continued to spill out. "What did he mean by 'don't try anything'? What had he been afraid that Malick would do?"

A couple of campers were trying to exchange phone numbers, and Nathan tried to tune them out. Who are these dark and terrible forces? he pondered.

He remembered how adamant Malick had been about keeping him and everyone else in the dark. Was it really for our safety? he thought. And why did Malick know so much about Shadow Creatures and about the Order?

Nathan sat up in his chair. He saw his reflection in the black computer screen. He paused for a moment, stopped tapping his fingers, and then suddenly decided to turn on the computer. "Shadow Creatures," he mumbled.

The black screen came to life and he clicked on the web browser to launch the search engine. Nathan typed in Shadow Creatures and pressed enter. "Shadow Creatures," he read to himself, "also known as Shadow Men, Shadow Ghosts or Shadow People." He raised his eyebrows and huffed, surveying the claw marks still visible on his shoes. "I know one thing," he said to himself, "these scratches weren't made by ghosts or people."