The Dream Traveler

Chapter Five - Remember

"If you insist. You won't hear me complaining." She picked up her step and jogged toward Robin. Sage pointed to the guards as I sprinted past the two of them.

I wanted to catch up to Kellan. After a couple of minutes of charging down the path, I could see him ahead of me. "Hey, wait up." He kept jogging, ignoring me. "Kellan, I'm sorry." He continued his pace like he couldn't hear me—or didn't want to. "You're right," I said a little louder and out of breath.

He stopped in his dead in his tracks and turned to face me. "What was that?"

"I'm sorry."

"No, not that. The part about me being right." His eyes lit up a soft blue.

"You're right. I should have told you about Jaxon."

"And..." He raised his eyebrow and waited.

I sighed and closed my eyes. "And I should have told you Jaxon showed me how to create the fire blaze you saw." I cringed and peeked open my eyes.

"You definitely should have told me that," he said looking unimpressed.

"I know." I reached for his hand and kissed the top of it. "I promise, I'll tell you next time. Can you forgive me, pleeaase?" I said drawing the word out. "I don't think I can take you being upset with me."

The corners of his mouth turned up. "Promise, no more secrets then? If it's something I should know in the future—"

"I'll tell you, I promise," I said interrupting.

Two of his charms were lit up against the fading sky behind him. "I'm not your boyfriend. I'm your promised. That means we're in this together. We need to share—even the stuff that might be hard to."

I nodded. "Got it."

He pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead. "Good." Then he cupped my face in his hands. "I promise too," he said looking into my eyes.

I lifted my heels off the ground, put my arms around his neck and placed a brief kiss on his lips. I felt a sense of relief wash through me when he returned my gesture, brushing his lips against mine.

"What are you two doing, making out?" I heard Robin say from behind me. "Uh, not sure if you've noticed—but this is not the time for that. There are more Fire Circle guards heading this way, and they're only a few minutes behind us."

"I don't know. I like the romantic gesture." Sage nudged Robin.

He lifted her chin and planted a kiss on Sage so hard I thought my knees were going to buckle. "There," he said coming up for air. "Can we leave now?"

Sage stood there stunned like she had no idea what had just happened. When Robin turned his back to Sage, she fanned herself and mouthed, oh my God, in my direction.

"Second that," Kellan said. "Lead the way Robin. You have the best sense of where we're going."

"Sure." He released his hold around Sage's waist. "Just shout if you need help, okay?" Robin rubbed the side of her cheek with his thumb, then turned and started down the trail.

Sage and I were in the middle with Kellan bringing up the rear. Robin was keeping a blistering pace. Cardio was something he was probably used to with all the basketball practicing he did. Sage and I were clearly not in the same kind of shape, gasping for breath as we tried to keep up with him.

Woosh!

When I turned to look and see what made the sound, I stumbled. Kellan caught my arm and steadied me. Flames shot high into the air from our campsite behind us. "I guess that confirms they found the other guards."