Wild Fire

by Heather Glidewell

  *****

  Shawn? We were standing outside the store now with even more bags now.

  “Let’s get you a haircut Marshall.” I grabbed his hand and lead him towards the salon.

  Is it time? Shawn’s voice echoed through my lobes.

  Not yet. There is far more to this place than just a prison for Wesley. There are others here. People that they have abducted. People that were coming to us.

  “Ms. Prudence please. You do not need to spend so much money on me.” He pleaded.

  “Nonsense. I never had children let me do something for someone I care for.” I touched his hair and looked at the lady behind the counter. “Can we get this taken care of?”

  “Of course ma’am.” She said looking from me to Marshall. “Can I get a name?”

  “Prudence Warren.” I said as I pulled out my wallet.

  What do you mean more people? I had to look as if I wasn’t having two conversations. Shawn was choosing the wrong moments to send me messages.

  It’s a prison camp Shawn. There are about a hundred and fifty men that are there with Miranda and just as many kept in makeshift cells on the far side of the camp. I pushed the card towards the woman and she took it with a confused look on her face.

  “Charge a hundred dollars to it and get the boy taken care of.” I gave her a cruel smile and she jumped on it.

  “Right this way sir.” She said leading Marshall to an empty seat. “I will have Kyle here in just a moment.”

  “Why are you doing this?” Marshall asked as a tall man made his way to the seat. He was nothing like what I dealt with.

  “Good afternoon.” He smiled at me. He probably had the whitest teeth I had ever seen. Was there such a thing as over bleaching?

  “Good afternoon.” I gave him a seductive smile. “My brother here needs a new style. Can you get him taken care of?”

  “You two are related?” He looked puzzled.

  “By marriage.” Marshall chimed in and glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.

  “I will make it to where you don’t even know who he is. Would you like to have a seat in the lounge? Or maybe a pedicure while you wait.” He looked me from top to bottom and liked his lips. This was one of those rare moments where I was face to face with a straight hairdresser.

  “I’m fine thank you. I will wait in the lounge.” I gave the man another smile and pat Marshall on the shoulder. He gave me a look of fear as I walked off.

  Prison camp? Who are you with? Shawn’s voice was quite demanding.

  Marshall. He is my assistant. I heard him laugh.

  They gave you an assistant. Man you must be playing this bitch quite well. He was teasing me.

  Marshall’s father was killed when they were on their way to us. Miranda’s group took Marshall, his sister, and his mother. I picked up a copy of the latest issue of Vogue.

  So why is he with you? I looked towards Marshall as Kyle started to mess with his hair.

  His sister is one of her young recruits. She’s telling these kids that the purebloods and Wardens are out to kill off the hybrids. I looked back at the magazine.

  Shit! That’s not good. So have you found Wesley? I felt my heart pound at the thought of his name.

  Yes. I have been able to turn water to blood this in turn has pretty much purchased me the boy to use at my leisure. There was a second of silence.

  That is pretty messed up. Nothing worse than being pimped out for a pitcher of blood. He sounded like he was speaking from experience.

  You sound as if you know what I’m talking about. I asked trying not to laugh out loud.

  Long story. His voice was stressed.

  Let me guess it involves a girl, her husband, and a chicken? For some reason the memory of us in the school came back to light.

  No. This one was a donkey. I couldn’t help it I felt the laugh burst from my lips. I instantly put my hand to my mouth and pointed at the magazine.

  You are by far the funniest person I know. I was hoping that it was a good save.

  You think these stories are jokes when they are not. So what do you want me to do? There was his classic change of subject.

  I want you to tell Dad and my Mom about what I just told you. Can you pull images? I scratched my shoulder and glanced at Marshall. Kyle had already started taking scissors to the boy’s hair.

  Yeah if you think of something I can usually get the image of what you are thinking of. His voice was back to normal.

  Good. I’m going to send you everything I remember about the camp. I have about ten minutes before I have to cut connection.

  I thought of everything I had seen. From the first second that the blindfold was pulled from my eyes to the last ten minutes trying on clothes and having an odd conversation with Marshall.

  I’m going to pull the council together now. Nick has been talking some pretty weird stuff recently about some Priestess. I felt my heart drop. I had been right. The only one that should know about the Priestess were those that were connected to the Queen.

  Don’t trust Nick. I have a feeling he is the internal spy for Miranda. Just let him spout what he wants. Don’t tell Rose or Helen but let Krista know. My heart was pounding the idea that my cousin was the spy was driving me mad.

  Hell. You know that makes sense. He didn’t seem surprised in the least.

  What does? Confusion was setting in.

  We keep getting a warning from someone somewhere. ‘Do not trust the false prophecies.’ I couldn’t grasp where these warnings were coming from. So far I had seen them in text form, heard them from Marshall, now from my brother. There had to be a reason for all of this.

  Yeah I was getting those for a while too. So for now don’t trust the prophet. I pleaded with him in my head.

  I won’t. Once we have a plan what do you want me to do? He made a valid point. I couldn’t have him breaking into my train of thought while I was with Miranda.

  Knock three times for we are coming and twice for get out of there. I was hoping he knew what I was talking about.

  Knock? Alright sis I will knock. If you can get away reach out to me. He instructed.

  As you wish.

  Connection broken and I started to read the magazine for real.