Wild Fire

by Heather Glidewell

  *****

  “What do you think?” Marshall was standing in front of me. Kyle had cut his hair short and styled it in a spiky fauxhawk.

  “Well I think it is different.” I looked at the stylist as he cleaned up the hair from the floor.

  “Different is good right?” He was glowing.

  “Of course. It is nice to be able to see your eyes.” I smiled at him and reached out to touch his face.

  “I feel great.” He laughed. For someone that was against me getting him anything he was sure grateful.

  “That’s good.” I looked up as Kyle approached us.

  “So what do you think sis?” He asked handing me a slip of paper. I reached in my purse and pulled out a twenty putting it in his hand.

  “He looks great Kyle.” I smiled at him and bat my eyes.

  “Is there anything that I can do for you?” His eyes were gleaming. I glanced at Marshall who was shaking his head.

  “No, thank you.” I said to him as I pulled Marshall back towards the front of the salon.

  “I hope to see you again soon. Prudence was it?” Had he seriously overheard Marshall talking to me, or had Marshall fabricated some story about our relationship.

  “Yes. And only if you play your cards right.” I gave him a quick smile and pushed the gushing boy out of the door and into the brightly lit hallway of the mall.

  “What was that all about?” He laughed as I drug him down the hall.

  “Nothing.” I said dryly as we came to a stop in front of a large fountain. “You look very nice by the way.”

  “Thank you Miss Prudence.” He said rolling his eyes. “We should probably get back before they think we jumped the boarder.”

  “Probably.” I looked at my watch it was nearing six.

  “I had fun today.” He said touching my arm.

  “I did too Marshall. We will have to do it again sometime.” I said as we started walking towards the entrance we came in at.

  “You really think we will be able to get away again?” He asked softly.

  “You are the one that wants to get away. I’m the one that is going to make it happen.” I looked at him and put on my sunglasses.

  “You are one hell of a woman.” He shook his head at me.

  “I’ve been called worse.” I said as we walked arm in arm towards the beautiful Bentley.

  "So what is next on the great list of things to do?" He asked getting into the car.

  "Now we need to figure out how to make all of this happen." I answered him quickly and got into the car.

  "What do you think is going to happen to Lilly when she goes to see her mother?" Marshall asked putting his head against the cool window.

  "Hopefully nothing." I smiled at him. "I couldn't bear the thought of something happening to her." I knew I was lying to a point. I wanted to be the one that looked down into her lifeless eyes.

  "Here's hoping." He leaned his seat back. "In about twenty miles we need to switch. You know the drill."

  "If she trusts me to run the camp while she's gone why doesn't she trust me to know the location?" I shook my head.

  "It has something to do with magic and fear. She's scared that at any point someone can be followed." He closed his eyes. "I can turn into a dog and run away. John can just kill them with a thought. Actually I don't know about that. He's a pretty freaky man but I don't know the extents of his talents."

  "Nor do I." I raised an eyebrow knowing full well I was lying..

  "He does seem quite enamored with you. Been nice. Haven't had to hear about those two Wardens he tried to kill." Marshall’s face relaxed. "Twenty miles Ms. Prudence." He reminded me one more time before his breathing slowed and he was asleep.

  What could he possibly mean by John always talking about the two Wardens he tried to kill? Had I really been the focus of conversation around the campfire. Then again why would he talk about it in the first place? Both of us were alive and his power over us has slowly decreased to nothing more than an occasional nightmare. Still though it had me thinking.

  I had lost track of the mileage and at thirty miles I pulled the car over. I felt like I was going to explode. If I just managed to drive a little further maybe I could make out the exact location of the camp. However, I didn’t need Marshall getting in trouble for it so I reached over and shook him.

  “Marshalll.” I said softly as his eyes fluttered open.

  “Has it been twenty miles already?” He groaned and stretched his arms above his head.

  “It’s actually been thirty I was caught up in my own thoughts.” I looked at him sadly thinking he was going to be upset at me.

  “It’s ok. Let’s get this taken care of.” He sat the seat up and crawled out the door walking dazed around the front of the car. He reached his hand out and helped me out of the driver’s side.

  “You ok?” I asked as he rubbed at his eyes.

  “Yeah. Just haven’t really been sleeping much I guess.” He gave me a tired smile as I walked around the car and crawled into the passenger seat. He grabbed the blindfold and put it over my eyes.

  “I understand.” I said securing the fabric over my face so that he could tie the back.

  He pulled the car off the side of the road and drove the zig zag route back to the parking area. He put the car in park and got out. I heard the trunk open and the sound of crinkling bags. He laughed to himself and then opened the passenger door.

  “Take my hand Ms. Prudence.” He said pulling me up and out of my seat.

  I felt the cool air on my face and took a deep breath the smell of forest hitting my nostrils.

  Wait a minute.

  “Marshalll do you smell that?” I asked my heart starting to pound.

  I heard him sniffing the air. The silence that fell over us made my blood turn cold.

  “Stay here.” I heard the bags hit the ground and felt a small animal push past my leg.

  I felt panic run through me. What had happened? I could hear people screaming, the clanging of weapons. Had the group of Purebloods made it to the camp before they were supposed to? The minutes seemed to pass slowly as I waited for Marshall to return. I kept the blindfold on for all intense purposes just in case something small had happened and it wasn’t an all-out attack.

  “Ms. Prudence?” Marshall’s voice rang in my ears and I jumped forcing my hands to stay at my side.

  “What is it?” I shot my head around I couldn’t tell where he was.

  “You can take that off.” I reached up and pulled the blindfold from my eyes and screamed.

  A man dressed in a black robe has his arms around Marshall’s shoulders and held a knife to his throat. Next to him was another man holding a limp body over his shoulder. I couldn’t make out who it was at first. The smell of wild fire reached my nose. The trees were in flames. Suddenly a knock rang through my head, followed by two more. This was the Calvary.

  Too soon. Too soon! It wasn’t time she is still in the camp. She’s going to know. I was shaking. Panic was taking over as my eyes darted around.

  “Priestess?” The man said with a snarl. All I could make out was his face. Why did it seem so familiar?

  “Don’t hurt him!” I yelled throwing my hands in the air and the lightening pulling to my fingers from the sky. I was just about to let loose the fury that was in me when I felt a hard smack to the back of my head. The world went dark.