Never Cheat With Fire; Permaforst Book 2

First Stars

The once clear water faded into a dark soot and ash filled stream as Lucas swam through. The searing water sunk through his clothes into his skin, which beckoned him to stop. Finally he dove through the water stream into the tunnel. He took a moment to catch his breath as he looked around the once memorising cavern.

The stalactites once hanging from the roof had been blown off, the walls were almost black from the flame. Not a piece of snow could be seen through the hole cave. At least something good came out of this. The bridge across the water was gone, rocks and stalactites now clogged up the water.

A sudden realisation struck through Lucas like being struck by lightening as he ran towards the pile of rubble at the centre of the room. He held his breath to fend off the smoke as he tried to heave and push away the stone and crystal.

He grunted as he pulled away another piece, revealing a dark mint tail. He flung across other pieces, revealing more and more of the fallen girl. Finally she was mostly free, enough so her face was visible.

Lucas trembled as looked over her, blood covered almost everywhere across her body. Her leg looked horrifically disfigured, a sharp rock had been lodged into it. He hesitated if he should remove it. He decided to let a professional deal with that.

He felt her wrist. A faint beat played through her veins, though it was slowly down. Lucas glanced around the room. How would he get out of here? He pat himself down, he sighed a breath of relief as he felt the walkie talkie in his back pocket.

"Hello?" He whispered into it, pressing down the red button.

"Lucas? Oh thank god. Did you find her?" Kelsi exclaimed through the crackled radio. In the background Ian's voice could faintly be heard, screaming something about Lucas being an idiot which made him chuckle.

"She's here but she's badly hurt. How do I get us out of here?" He said, glazing over the details of her injuries.

"James can you test the water with your scarf? See if you can get them out?" Kelsi said to James in the background. There was a silence before she returned. "He should be able to take you guys out but he'll have to be really quick."

"Meet you there then." Lucas said putting the walkie talkie back.

He scooped Kasai into his arms once again. Blood poured onto his arms, her head rolled backwards, revealing a cut on her forehead too. He moved her hand to hold her head up as he began to try and navigate his way back to the middle tunnel through the rumble. His skin stung where Kasai rested, it was almost unbearable.

He pushed her up onto the ledge before pulling himself up. He lifted her back into his arms before making his way to the water stream. It had mostly cleaned out of ash though it still was a disgusting colour.

The familiar scarf arm broke through the stream, snatching them up. Lucas covered Kasai as much as he could to shield her from the water, it had cooled down but it still stung against his skin, though that might just be from before.

The sudden burst of air brushed against their skin as they were pulled into the open air. The were carefully placed onto the grass. Lucas gasped for air as he rolled off Kasai. He sat up and watched as the blood began to pour again.

"Jay, get your first aid kit!" Angelica scream at the sight of Kasai. She knelt down next to her, before looking up to Lucas. His skin was burning red. "What happened?!"

"991? We need a ambulance at Crystal Springs High." Kelsi said as calm as possible into her phone in the background.

"The cavern collapsed onto her. I think one of those things on the roof impaled her leg. Plus she was already beaten up from that snow thing." He said through heavy pants.

He felt a sudden push aside as Jay went over to Kasai. He crawled back a bit to catch his breath. He lied onto his back, staring up at the first stars of the night. His skin still felt like it was swimming through the boiling water.

A shadow loomed over him. Lucas looked over to see Cole, he squat down next to him, his face dead serious.

"Thanks for going down there to get us all out. Especially Kasai," He said glancing over to Kasai who was being taken care of by Jay until the ambulance arrived. He turned back to Lucas. "I'll let your idiocy slide today-"

"-But, if I ever catch you even thinking of Jay like that again you won't make it out alive." He stood up, shooting him one more dirty look before walking back over to Jay.

Lucas returned looking back into the skies. He felt the presence of someone else next to him. He turned to see Ian lying next to him, looking at the stars too.

"Hey Lucas."

"Yeah?" He said looking over to him.

"You are an absolute idiot." His face was frowning, but still looking to the sky. "Like a right idiot."

He smiled to himself as he heard ringing of sirens approach them, flashing red and blue lights across the sky.

"I know."