Where Fires Dare to Burn

Chapter 16 - As Scary as You Want it To Be

Luke slammed to the dirt with a gasp of shock, pain jolting through his spine. It took a moment for his eyes to focus again and he found himself staring up through the treetops, a faint glint of stars in the clear sky beyond.

He lay flat at the base of the hill. His back hurt and he could feel the faint sting of cuts and scrapes on his hands and face. Somehow none of that seemed to matter all that much at the moment. The only thing he could think about was the image that had been seared across his retinas by Oaklynn's transformation.

His brain fought against what he'd seen, struggling to reconcile something so unreal against the evidence of his own eyes. The change replayed over and over like a broken record: the spreading glow, the fire in her eyes, the horn, the sense of falling face first into a dream. Right now, he couldn't even figure out if he should have been scared or not.

"Luke! LUKE!"

The panicked scream brought him tumbling out of his reverie and back to the real world. Blinking to clear his head, Luke propped himself up on his elbows with a groan and looked around. Surrounded by thick clumps of trees, he couldn't see anything to orient himself, but he guessed he must've tumbled some way down into the slope of the valley. He breathed deep, trying to calm the racing of his heart and the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

"Luke! Oh god, Luke, where are are you?"

Oaklynn.

That's who was calling his name. Luke pushed up into a sitting position, wincing and rubbing his back with one hand. Nothing felt broken or sprained – he suspected he just had a lot of bumps and bruises to look forward to tomorrow. He looked in the direction her voice had come from, but he couldn't see any sign of the nova-like blaze that had filled her body moments ago. Who would find him here, the girl or... something else?

Seconds ticked by as he considered his options. He soon decided that he didn't want to be alone out here in the dark. And whatever Oaklynn was, it didn't seem like she had intention of hurting him. Gulping down his trepidation, Luke cleared his throat.

"I... I'm alright!" he called out. "Over here."

An instant crashing of frantic footsteps echoed through the woodland from somewhere on his left. Twigs cracked, leaves rustles and branches whipped in an affronted chorus, before Oaklynn came bursting out of the dark. Her cheeks were flushed, a panicked expression stamped on her face. When she saw him she lunged forward, crashing to her knees by his side.

"I'm so sorry!" she blurted. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay." He nodded, massaging the back of his neck with a grimace.

"I'm sorry, I thought if I tried to ... make you ready, it wouldn't be so bad." Oaklynn shook her head and let out a frustrated sigh. "So stupid."

Well, she certainly looked normal again. Luke watched as she hung her head, like an ashamed dog that had just been caught raiding the family fridge, and his heart wrenched.

"I should never have shown you that. It wasn't fair."

"Oaklynn, just slow down a sec," he said. She looked up awkwardly, hands twisting tight together. "You startled me a bit, but I just slipped." He shrugged, inclining his head towards the slope in front of them. "Heck of a ride."

"Can you stand?"

"Yeah, don't think I broke anything too important." Luke forced a nervous smile. When she reached gingerly forward he had to suppress the urge to jerk away, his mind still grappling with what he'd seen just moments ago. Instead he let her grasp his arm and help him to his feet. The tingle of her touch felt more charged now than ever before, prickling on his skin and making him tremble for an instant.