Ember (12 page)

“Okay, I promise to tell you later, just get
going.”

“
Bossy
too. There's one for the list.”
He said it with a smirk.

I tried to keep my face rigid as he turned
around and started off.

“Later, Evelyn.”

“Wha?—” My brows furrowed at the name.

I was genuinely disappointed that I would
probably never be called Eve again.

Oh well, hardly reason enough to complain at
the moment.

I watched Ikovos as he disappeared into the
trees, it had me distracted for a few seconds until
someone
came into my head again.

Not allowing myself to rest on the subject, I
headed off immediately towards the house.

*

About twenty minutes later I was standing in
the grass at the back of my house looking up at my second story
window.

I had decided upon approach that sneaking
would be a better plan than meet, greet, and ditch. I didn't mind
the ditching so much, but with Gwen and my mother it was an all but
impossible task.

So here I was, staring up at the vines
leading to my room. Thoroughly doubting that I had any chance at
making it all the way up. I reached for the first brick all the
same. The vines I left alone.

I don't know what kind of people weigh so
little that strings of leaves could hold them up, I just knew I
wasn't one of them. I also wasn't the greatest at the physical
stuff, though not for lack of trying, especially climbing . . . my
legs were too short.

A small smile crossed my face.

Of course, I did beat Jaden the other
day.
I reached towards another brick.

Ugh
-
who am I kidding? He would
have killed me if I hadn't run into the edge
. I continued to
climb, breathing heavily now.

“What was it he said? Oh yes,
'You
shouldn't have even been sparring in the first place.'
“ I
mimicked unsuccessfully.

“Arrogant jerk.” I said as I toppled through
the window into my room.

Once I gained my balance I headed over to my
drawers and started grabbing clothes quite animatedly.

“And who even cares if he
can
control
fire? Not me.” At the bottom of my drawer was a pair of unused
metal cuffs. I threw them in, thinking they may come in handy.
“Ikovos can use magic and
he's
nice about it.”

I went over to my bed and rolled out a thin
blanket to wrap my clothes in. I realized now that I should
definitely quiet down considering there were people right below me.
This helped my anger to subside a bit, but I still kept running
through past conversations in my head.

I tied the knapsack tight, and unwillingly
thought about the way he looked at me. My face flushed red.

“Ugh! Who even stares at people like that.
It's so . . . so . . .
intolerable!
” I said this last part
way too loud and decided I'd better get out of the house, forgoing
any other necessities.

After climbing through the window and
flipping around to grab the wall, I tried to catch my breath. I was
still fuming. A few minutes passed. When I felt safe that they
weren't coming, I started to climb down.

“You know, no decent person would act like he
did, anyways. I don't even know why I care what he thinks . . . or
what he says. . . .” I stopped and my voice softened. “Like saying
I could use magic. That was just . . . just . . .”

I didn't get the chance to finish my thought.
Talking hadn't helped my climbing skills much, my foot slipped
loose from its hold, followed immediately by my hands. Despite
attempts to grab at the bricks, I fell backwards.

~ ~ ~

IN THE PAST I'd always wondered if I would
scream in this type of situation. I came to find that you don't
really notice one way or the other, you're more worried about the
living part.

Just when I was expecting to hit the hard
ground, causing irreparable injury or death, I stopped.

It was a very strange feeling, but it
definitely wasn't pain . . . I was pretty sure the ground would
have been painful.

“Are you okay?” a voice asked softly.

I realized now where I was. I could feel two
hands wrapping around my body and a chest beating against my left
side. Someone had caught me, and the
much
too familiar voice
told me who.

For a second I almost wished the ground had
caught me instead . . . that is until he spoke again. Softer this
time. “Eve? Can you hear me?”

I kept my eyes closed and moaned. “No.”

I could feel his muscles, which must have
been tensed, relax a bit.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

I shook my head, still refusing to open my
eyes. All too aware of how embarrassed I would be if I did. “Can
you just set me down?”

For a moment his muscles tightened again, but
then returned to normal. “Oh . . . yeah. Sorry.”

Once I was on the ground I opened my eyes. He
was still leaning over me, staring hard with dark, concerned,
eyes.

A rush of blood went through my body. I was
sure my face must have been either bright red or incredibly
pale.

I blinked to clear my mind, but it wasn't
helping. He just kept looking at me, and he looked, well . . .
nice
, instead of angry or standoffish like he normally
did.

A few seconds passed and I felt okay, so I
slid back on my hands in an attempt to get up.

Jaden put a hand on my stomach and pushed me
back down.

“Are you crazy? You just fell ten feet.”

“I'm fine,” I said curtly. I was trying very
hard to be irritated at him.

I began to get up again but he just pushed me
back down.

“No, you're not.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Now answer my question. Are you hurt
anywhere?” He sounded genuinely concerned.

I considered him. “Well my stomach hurts a
little.”

He laughed lightly. I think it was the first
time I'd seen him do so without feeling like it was at my
expense.

I cleared my throat. “What are you even doing
here?”

He leaned back a little and removed his
hand.

“Ikovos was worried about you. He said you
were taking too long and some guy named Garret might have gotten
you.”

I was sure he had no idea what he was talking
about, but he delivered the line with such confidence it baffled me
for a moment.

“Why didn't Ikovos come to see if I was
okay?”

He didn't answer, but his features seemed to
change with the question. I had no clue what to or where from. He
slowly stood up, and when I looked at his face again it was cold.
Then there was that smile. Like he was laughing at me.

“Can I get up now?” I asked.

He made a gesture with his hand that I
guessed meant yes.

I waited for a few seconds then got up
myself.
One second he won't let me sit up, and the next he
doesn't even offer me a hand.

By the time I was standing steadily his smile
was gone.

“I came to tell you, you're staying here
tonight.”

He looked forceful, but I recanted.

“Ikovos already said I could go with
him.”

“Yeah, well, Ikovos was wrong. You’re staying
here.”

I tried to inch up a bit taller. “Why?”

“Because I said so.”

I scoffed. “That's a logical fallacy.”

“I don't care.”

“How can you not care?”

“Because I'm right.” He didn't blink.

I made my best superior sounding voice.
“You're not going to convince anyone of that with irrelevant
statements.”

“I'm not trying to convince anyone.”

“You mean you're
making
me stay
here?”

“Isn't that what I've been saying.”

I stared indignantly at him, trying not to
get distracted by the growing smirk in his eyes. “You can't make me
do anything.”

“I just made you stay on the ground, didn't
I?”

“I could have gotten up if I wanted to,” I
declared, knowing full well it wasn't true.

“Oh really,” he said before reaching down to
pull my legs, flipping me back onto the ground.

Seconds later he was standing over me. One
leg on each side.

“I can't believe you just did that!”

He was in full smirk mode now. If I wasn't so
blasted scared I might have knocked him over.

“You're staying here,” he said.

“Didn't we just do this . . .”

He crossed his arms. “Yes, and I won.”

I raised my eyebrows snobbishly. “Knocking
someone over isn't winning, it's cheating.”

“Don't be a sore loser.”

I glared at him with all the angry force I
could muster, then decided that I
should
knock him over.

It was a pitiful attempt. His legs were held
firmly in place. I sighed exasperatedly.

He made a clicking sound. “Sinking down to
your opponent's level now? I thought better of you.”

I laughed once. “You are amazing.”

“I know.”

“I didn't mean it like that.”

“I know.”

. . . I stared at him. He was completely and
unmistakably everything I wasn't.

I looked away and started to get up. He
stepped back to let me.

In that moment I think he actually thought he
had won . . . he obviously didn't know how ridiculously stubborn I
was.

Without flinching, I picked up my knapsack
and looked at him. “I'm going with you.”

He swept his hand through his hair and looked
up at me amusedly.

What followed was something I never would
have thought I'd the guts to do. I gave him my best smile, walked
close in front of him, and grabbed his hand. All the while I kept
eye contact. . . .

It was very,
very
hard.

He was the confused one now. “Ah, Eve, what
are you?—” He stopped at the sound of a click and followed it down.
“You can't be serious.” He lifted up his hand and waved it around.
Mine followed in tow, linked by the slim metal cuffs I’d
packed.

As he continued to move our hands around, I
couldn't help but laugh, partly because of how ridiculous I was,
but mostly because it was the only way for me to survive being this
embarrassed.

“You are an absolute mental case.” He was
looking at me now, but I didn't look back. “This is unbelievable. .
. .
You
are unbelievable.”

I was thinking about saying I know.

“Don't even try it,” he said.

I successfully stifled a laugh, but couldn't
keep the smile off my face. He'd been messing with me since the
first time I'd met him. This was just payback.

The thought filled me with enough confidence
to spare him a glance. He really was looking at me like I was crazy
. . . I felt more than a little stupid.

Much to my surprise he shook his head and
started chuckling. “I'm guessing you don't have the key.”

I bit my lip. “No . . . I think it's
upstairs.”

“Well,” he said. “Since you can't climb up
there with two hands, I doubt you'll have much luck with one.”

I looked away coldly.

“Hey,” He chipped my on the chin, bringing my
head up, “if you're gonna play a prank at least lighten up a bit. .
. . I'm not gonna eat you.”

Ah . . . maybe you should go look in the
mirror.
I kept the thought to myself as he smiled
knowingly.

At this point I was wondering how he had
gotten on top when I was the one doing all the tricks.

I watched him look up in the sky and sigh. It
was almost dark now.

“We'd better get going,” he stated.

“Okay,” I said subserviently.

As he turned around and started off I thought
I saw the corner of his mouth go up.

We didn't talk the entire way there.

*

It was completely dark by the time Jaden and
I got to our destination. The first thing I saw was a glowing
yellow, falling through the trees. As we got closer I realized it
was a light shining out of the window of a small cabin.

We weren't more than a mile from Tiver, but
we'd gone quite a ways around one of the high hills at the city so
I was sure we were in a well hidden location.

I suddenly realized we had stopped, or rather
Jaden had stopped while I followed along like a loyal puppy. That
had more or less been the gist of our trip here. He didn't talk and
I was so afraid that I had irreparably annoyed him that I didn't
either.

Jaden held up our linked hands. “I hope you
know you're getting all the blame for this.”

I tried to hide my concern with a shrug, but
it didn't really work. I could tell by the way he grinned
afterwards.

As I was watching he started walking again. I
almost tripped over my feet trying to catch up.

The outside of the cabin was what you might
expect, nothing more than some large round logs stacked together
with cement filling. Jaden opened the door to reveal the inside was
much the same. I followed him into the simple room, my arm dangling
awkwardly ahead of me.

The first thing I noticed was a large fire in
the left wall. It wasn't at all cozy or cramped like most
fireplaces, but instead had a rather large and empty feeling. The
rest of the cabin shared the qualities. There was no furniture in
sight. Flat wood flooring with a simple maroon rug covered the
floor. To my right there were two doors behind a patch of counter.
I guessed one must have led to a bathroom, but wasn't sure about
the other. The whole place would have looked abandoned if not for
the dozens of weapons piled in the corners of the room or leaning
against the walls.

Like every location involving the order, I
took it all in wide-eyed as Jaden shut the door behind me.

It was then that I first noticed Ikovos, who
must have been in one of the other rooms. He held his usual wide
smile.

“Evelyn, you're here.”

I smiled cheerfully at him, grateful to be
around someone that
didn’t
hate me.