Dimokre Chronicles Book 1: Crossed Paths

Chapter 25 - Don't Go into the Spirit World By Yourself

Sarah had begun to think this wasn't such a good idea when she tripped on a tree root again for the umpteenth time. She felt like the trees were somehow doing this on purpose. She rubbed her ankle and picked herself up.

She kept telling herself that even if she didn't stick to her original plan of walking in a straight line, she could always use her new compass app on her phone to get back to the human world.

That solved one problem. However, there was something else she wasn't sure about.

"Where's the spirit queen?" she asked herself thoughtfully, glancing around the forest through the trees.

"Awwww, is the little princess lost?" A sickeningly charming voice rang out.

Sarah tensed up, recognizing that voice. She groaned, spotting Flame up high in the trees.

Flame laughed when their eyes locked. He sat on the tree branch with his legs dangling loosely down. He still looked like a poor version of a genie, and his satchel rested next to him on the branch. The scar on his left eye was still very pronounced, and his hair danced on his head as flames.

"Go away, Flame." She crossed her arms, glaring up at him.

"I know I said you could handle the spirit world, but I didn't mean now. For a chick who doesn't have powers or even a weapon, you sure talk a big game." Flame leapt down, jumping from tree limb to limb, until he finally landed on the ground. He grinned at her, his red eyes glinting.

Sarah felt very unsafe, but she held her ground.

Flame continued, "You know, I could just give you directions."

"Would they actually be correct?" Sarah asked stiffly, her arms crossed. She didn't wait for his response. She inched away, not trusting him to stay if she turned her back on him.

"Uh," Flame paused like he considered this. "Yeah."

"That wasn't comforting."

"Sorry."

Sarah stared at him for a second. She sighed and shook her head, walking off.

"Seriously though, you are going the wrong way."

"I'm not playing games with you, Flame. Please just go away." She hesitated, debating on if she should choose another direction after all.

"It's not a game if you really are going towards me and my brother's camp. Coming to the spirit world without your bodyguard boyfriend was pretty stupid, but now it's like you really do wanna be in danger."

Sarah tensed. "He's not my bodyguard or my boyfriend."

"Sure. And I don't have fire powers or a brother." He smiled.

Sarah stared at him indignantly. She decided nothing she could say would change his mind. His opinion didn't matter much to her anyway; she just didn't want him spouting off to Michael like she was the one that said that stuff. She decided to keep going in the original direction, after double checking her compass app.

"Look, think about how amazingly you feel about me—"

"—I don't—"

"Yeah, yeah, but know that I'm basically a saint, compared to my brother. Who you are still walking directly towards."

Sarah stopped. "Where is your camp then?" She asked like he wouldn't know.

"It's in that direction." He pointed where Sarah was heading. "Bunch of dirty, used-to-be-white tents tied to trees."