Under The Embers

Prologue

"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light".

Plato

Juniper gave up and sat down on a rock. It was hard and cold, but she was too annoyed to really notice. She was fiercely competitive so when Elias won at pretty much every game of hide n' seek they had ever played, she lasted about 3 games before giving up. But today was different. Today she was determined to keep playing because after today, she'd never be able to play it again.

June pushed the thought aside almost as soon as it entered her head. She was a mighty 12 years of age, but she wasn't a little kid. She knew the gravity of what would happen today.

She noticed a pinching feeling in the tips of her toes. She looked down to see a thick, white fog curling its way around her. She lifted her feet up and huddled herself into a ball, as tight as she possibly could to keep warm.

Elias had to be cheating, she was sure. That morning, they had drawn up a map over breakfast of where was in and where was out. She suspected he had crossed over the line somewhere and was lying in wait until she surrendered, as usually, so he could hop back over and gloat in her face.

Juniper sighed in frustration. Then, all of a sudden, she was airborne.

"No!" She shrieked at the top of her lungs. Which came out as a breathless protest, as the air had been left behind her, on the rock. She kicked and hit and wriggled in her attacker's arms. "Put me DOWN."

"Never!" a gruff voice yelled out behind her, followed by a throaty giggle and the release of her captive self. Juniper hit the ground with an "oof!" and twisted on her heels to see Elias laughing uncontrollably, his cheeks and node as red as a tomato. For better or worse, he would be her best friend until death would they part.