Ame Perdue

Chapter Twenty

"That seemed aggressive."

"It worked, didn't it? He's gone."

"How long until he wakes up?"

"Hopefully he doesn't."

My eyes shot open with a start, breathing heavily as I snapped up into a sitting position. The world around me spun for a moment before it quickly blinked into focus. There was a faint panic burning inside of me as I looked around, raising one hand to clutch my chest as I did so. My companions were standing a few feet away from where I was laying, Shadow still holding a knife in his hand. None of them seemed very concerned about the blood dripping down the tip.

Acilia was glaring at Shadow, though the familiar wasn't paying any attention to the girl. He stared at me with a disappointed expression, "Pity." Was all he said before a pop filled the air. In a matter of time, it took me to blink, the creature was a fox again. His shift back far quicker and seemed much less painful than it did the other way around.

I ignored the rush of dizziness that took over me as I pushed myself to my feet. There was a faint pulsing in my head, only there if I concentrated on the spot. I eyed Shadow warily, "Why hasn't the chihuahua returned to its master yet?" I asked drily. I didn't need to ask why he stabbed me, the answer was obvious. That didn't mean that I was happy about him for doing it.

Pushing my shirt away from my chest, I stared at the spread. It was eerie to see my skin an inky black, dark enough to melt into shadows with ease. The limb didn't look sick, didn't look like it was dying. Just discolored. I took a deep breath, the discoloration was steadily moving across the left side of my chest, stopping just short of my nipple. I had to steady myself, force myself not to dissolve into panic at just how close to death I was. We were running out of time.

Looking around, I quickly located my backpack, the orange on the straps made it easy to spot. I slung it over my shoulder, casting another look at the rapidly darkening sky. The sense of urgency was growing the longer that I stood there, knowing that every second that we wasting was one step closer to death for me.

"Let's go," I told the rest of the group, not waiting to see if they were ready or not. I only paused for a brief second to grab my sword, slipping it back into the sheath that Milo gave me with some difficulty. I brushed by Milo, ignoring the concerned look that appeared when he saw the spread. Most of the group didn't hesitate to follow me.

Three guesses of the one that did.

"Just to be clear, we're going towards the fire? Not away from it like sane people?" Kam asked sounding almost nervously. Considering it was much over a week ago his family burned alive, I almost didn't blame him for his hesitation. Almost.

Acilia paused for only a second to shoot Kam a withering glare. Flames erupted from her arms, traveling their way up and down her body before settling back into the unbrushed flames she called hair., "What's this about sane people?"

Kam's already pale skin paled further as he realized what he said. He gave her a sheepish grin, "Nothing, I like fire. Fire is very fun, especially when it's burning things down, destroying anything and everything in its path. It's very fun." He told her quickly, holding his hands up in defense. Looking between them, I couldn't have but wondered if they ever talked about the major crush he had on her.

Knowing them, they were probably ignoring it.

I didn't pay their bickering any mind as I followed the stream, speeding up the closer that I got to it. Nobody asked me to slow down and I didn't offer to. Something about this felt familiar like I should have known what was happening, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I couldn't shake the sense of deju-vu. The air was rapidly warming up the further that we walked; aside from Acilia, everyone getting a layer of sweat across their brows.