BLUE VENOM

Five - Desiree (The princess)

"Did you find anything besides sticks?", I inquired further.

"Well, no", said Kain. "But I did find her".

Behind him, a girl our age stepped out of the forest. She was even taller than me, and had the shape of an athlete. Strong arms - probably a volley ball player or something. Her silky wheat blond hair fell to her waist. Her eyes were piercingly blue, unlike the sky here. Her porcelain complexion was flwaless - or would have been if it wasn't for the humongous, healing cut in her right cheek.

She was in a thin white jacket, a short pastel pink one, very unfitting for this environment. And black leggings.

"Hello you peoole", she said in an annoyed tone, primping her hair like this was a modeling contest. "I don't suppose you have any lip balsam with you, do you?", she said with a side glanced towards me.

"Guys", said Kain, grinning. "This is Desiree."

•

"So you're not from Jewel city?", asked Ty. He was still recovering but curiousity got the better if him and he asked questions like the rest of us. We were all sitting around this rustling campfire, the low flames warming our faces and huing everything into a warm orange glow.

Deairee sat on Kains jacket - which he so graciously offered - like the queen that she apparently thought she was (hey, no judgment. Go her and her confidence.) and although the fire was on and Kain had done a good job with not only igniting the spark, but keeping it up while the yellow world around us dipped into a darker ochre. what illuminated Desiree Springs the most, was everybody's attention in which she sunned herself lavishly.

"No, I'm from a town called Whitson Bay.", she said, locking eyes with Kain. ,It's not in Louisiana. It's in Michigan."

So she wasn't just from a different town but a different state. What did she have in common with the rest of us?

I leaned forward. "Has your vial turned black?"

She looked at me like she was contemplating whether to answer me. "I mean, yeah it went black." She stroke her hair back behind her ear. "So did Uriels. The guy who was with me... He. We were running from a strange spider like creature. But like seven feet tall" She shuddered at the memory and then shrugged, like there was nothing she could do about it now. "But then we got separated. I mean, he's probably fine. It's Uriel. The guy can squeeze a mammoth out of air with his fist. But I was all on my own then" She sniffed and I did feel sorry for her. She didn't like the sort of girl who was used to any thing related to survival. Sure, she wasn't petite, but being an athlete didn't equal knowing how to deal with nature, danger and starvation.

"That must have been very bad", said Kain empathetically.

She looked at him. "I mean I survived", she said. She rubbed her arms. "I was just, you know, running and running.... I didn't want to stop b-but my legs were killing me. So I just kept walking. I got into this forest area" She made a vague all encompassing gesture towards the forest. Then she locked eyes again and smiled at Kain. "You really scared me! But I am so glad I ran into you or I would still be out there."

"Don't worry", said Ty. "We'll take care of you."

She sent him a smile as well.

"Yes", I said unnecessary loudly. "Especially those of us who actually won't let our companions die."

That one was a side jab at Kain and the way he'd wanted to run at the ledge, I admitted it, but I couldn't help myself.