Ablaze Without Flames

Chapter 11, Part 1 - Thea

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Thea lowered the bow and grimaced at the target, the fletching of the arrows still quivering. Two in the red, one in the blue. She was out of practice. But at least she'd hit the damn thing.

Uncle Devin whistled low. 'You've been slacking, Thea.'

'Still working out the logistics of setting up a range in my flat,' she shot back. Her uncle's target had three arrows sticking out of the inner yellow circle, close enough together to be mistaken for one super-arrow. 'We can't all be Olympic hopefuls.'

'I haven't been one of those for about fifteen years,' he pointed out. 'Nearly your whole lifetime. How did you know about that?'

She turned to pick up another arrow from the barrel. 'You didn't exactly try to hide all those medals. And you got a letter from some guy called Ben Keller asking if you still wanted coaching one time.'

His head snapped up, brows furrowed. 'You went through my letters?'

'I was like, twelve.'

Stepping back up to the mark, Thea took aim again and adjusted the tip of the arrow to make up for the breeze. Beside her, Uncle Devin drew his bow. Her phone buzzed in her pocket just as she released the bowstring, sending the arrow flying into the back of the range.

Uncle Devin dropped his bow. 'Oi! Those arrows are expensive.'

'Sorry,' she said, distracted. She pulled out the phone and gawked at the screen.

           Hello, are you ok? Just
           letting you know that I
           won't be able to spend
          Christmas at Devin's this
          year. Sorry.

         -Dad xx

It was September. How could he possibly know already that he was busy over Christmas? Even though she already knew the answer, that he didn't know but wanted to keep his diary free, the sting was no less powerful. She didn't answer; just shoved the phone back into her pocket and took aim again.

'What was that?' Uncle Devin asked.

'Stupid Dad,' she growled, loosing the arrow. 'Stupid Joe. Stupid Blaise. Stupid...men!'

Sweat beaded on her forehead, beginning to paste her fringe down. She paused, aiming with more care. It was hard with shaking hands.

'...Want to talk about it?'

She turned her scowl onto her uncle. 'I hate men.'

He took a step back and raised his palms. 'Whoa. Don't say that with a nocked arrow.' She fired onto the target, striking black. She huffed. 'Come on. What's happened?'

'Dad's busy over Christmas.'

'Ah.' He moved to pry the bow out of her hands, like he was worried she was about to smash it on the floor. Thea let him take it. 'Well, we'll have all the more fun without him, right? Who needs that stuffy old git killing the mood?'

Thea wanted to laugh, but she was too preoccupied being angry. She blinked back the tears pricking at the back of her eyes. 'I get his job's important and all that, but you've had to put up with me for ten years because he couldn't be bothered. I wasn't your mistake.'

A beat passed, and she turned at the thud of the bow hitting the grass. Her uncle bundled her up in a rib-crushing hug. "Don't you dare," he growled into her hair. "Don't you dare say something like that again. Don't even think it." He drew back far enough to glare at her. "You were a gift from the angels, Thea. A beautiful gift. And your father just doesn't know what to do with such a privilege. You can live with me until you're fifty if you want, because you're my wonderful niece and I've cherished every minute I had to raise you."