The Golden Core | Secrets of the Core #1

Chapter Four - Part Three

It began flying towards Winter. Her eyes grew wide and she gasped, quickly ducking before it slammed into her forehead. The speed increased as it headed for the wall. "Slow it down!"

He was still spinning around with his eyes now closed when he heard Winter yell. His eyes shot open at the sound, then realized what he was doing. He slowed down his pace of the spinning making the table soon come to a stop, just before it ran into the other side of the wall.

Winter came storming over to him. She didn't bother to think about what she was going to say first. He could've killed her! "You almost hit me with that table! If I wouldn't of ducked, I probably would be unconscious right now!"

He stopped for a second, both arms laying against his sides. "Well, you aren't, right? What's there to be worried about?"

The girls behind him both laughed. Winter knew they didn't care about her anyways. She sighed, moving toward the front door when she heard the witches. "That was amazing, Phoenix!" They both clapped. She wasn't going to give him praise, but that didn't stop the girls from doing it.

He grinned. "Thank you. Winter, can you show me your magic?" Phoenix focused his eyes on her as he waited for an answer.

Does he really think almost hurting her was going to get her to show magic? He must be insane. She doesn't even like him. There was no way she would even come close to doing that. At least not now, no matter how much she wanted to show people she could do magic, it wasn't worth it. She blinked a few times, rubbing her arm against her forehead. Her arms then snapped to her sides as she took a breath.

"No, Phoenix. You could have hurt me tremendously and you want me to show magic?" She chuckled. "You're not fooling anyone! I don't know what your plan is, but it's not going to involve me!" She walked away from him, irritation building up inside her. A few feet away from him and the other girls, she found a bench and decided to sit down. Why was she chosen to do this? It annoyed her. For a moment, the thought of running away popped into her mind. She would do it if she could think of a plan that could work. Leaving Phoenix stranded, that would be interesting. A smile landed on her face as she thought about how he would react.

She glanced towards him as the two girls walked away, leaving him alone. Winter wondered why he didn't come to get her right away. It's not like she cared. Though, her eyebrows furrowed while he was muttering to himself. A blank stare came across Winter's face as she tried to figure out what he was thinking. After a couple of minutes, she gave up and decided to ask him instead. "What are you thinking about?"

Phoenix jumped, turning his head towards her. His face went pale.

She wondered if she caught him in the middle of something he didn't want her to see.

"What? N-Nothing. Let's just go." He moved forward, going past her without even a glance as he walked through the door.

Her eyes grew wide and her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to figure out what just happened. Quickly, she stood up and made her way outside, brushing the sides of her shirt. They walked for a few seconds before she blurted out, "Are you okay?"

He turned to look in her direction. "I'm fine. Why would you ask such a thing?"

She scoffed. "Well, you were just standing there and it looked like you were talking to yourself. What's going on?" She looked up as the lights above her flickered. Winter stepped to her left when she realized that someone might be coming. Soon enough, an instructor appeared right where she was standing moments before, small bits of wind trailing behind him.

Phoenix started to head back to the castle, leaving her behind with a wave of his hand. "Nothing's going on. Let's just get out of here."

She sighed, realizing she wasn't going to find out what he was thinking. Winter ran to catch up with him, the stones flying in the dust behind her. "Wait!" She was going as quick as she could but couldn't seem to make it to him. When she finally caught up, she stopped for a few seconds to catch her breath, but he didn't take one look at her as he kept on walking.