Forestborn: Origins of Paili Ward

Paternal Instinct (15)

Paili could not will herself to sleep that night. After hearing about what happened to Cylus, every time she closed her eyes she heard whimpering. A high pitched, pitiful sound like a newborn pup sniffing about for its mother. She stared at the ceiling for hours. 

The silence made it all the more worse. Her thoughts ran rapid trying to imagine all the horrible things that were done to baby Cylus. Even if she could sleep the thought that those images would follow her into her dreams made her not want to. She sat up and peeked out of the window, hoping the serene night scene would calm her mind.

Instead, she saw a man standing outside. He wore a worn cloak that hid his face. Paili instantly recognized him as the man she saw at the bar. The man removed his hood and stared into the window.

His eyes were green and his hair dark like the night. Though she was afraid she didn't look away this time. This time she stared him down. The look in his eyes was not malicious.

The man almost looked sad. Paili walked up to the window. He approached the window and placed his bare hand against the glass. The stranger seemed even more saddened now that he was closer.

She could see the slight tremble in his lips as he breathed in the other side of the glass. Paili pressed her hand against the glass opposite his. He moved closer to the glass. "Tomorrow, meet me by the tsvern. I will take you back home to the forest."

Paili removed her hand and stepped back. But the forest is gone. She shook her head but he was already walking away. Her heart beat dangerously hard in her chest. She returned to the sofa and pulled up the covers.

It was too hot so she tossed them aside. The heat didn't diminish though so Paili made herself a cup of water. She turned off the sink and walked back to the sofa with her glass. When she lifted it to her face she felt the steam rising.

The water bubbled in her hands. She put it down and looked at her hands which had started to glow red. She stood from the couch and shook her hands in a vain attempt to cool them down. She ran back to the kitchen and turned on the faucet.

The water evaporated as soon as it touched her skin. Tears welled up in her eyes. No! No, no, no! This isn't happening. She ran to Kain's room and her hands burst into flames.

"Kain! Kain, help me! Help me!"

He started awake then immediately jumped out of bed. "Whoa! What the hell?!"

" I can't put it out, " she screamed.

"Outside!" he commanded as he ran from the room. He opened the front door and she ran outside into the snow. "Get down in the snow!"

Paili plunged her hands into the fresh powder but the snow melt and evaporated to quickly. Kain ran back inside then brandished his snow shovel. He threw heaps of snow on top of her hands. Although she was cold, her hands were very warm.

The flames did not burn her but Kain kept his distance. He ran inside again, this time returning with a blanket. He tried to smother the fire with it but to no avail.

"Where the hell's Quinn when you need him?" He groaned as he shoveled more snow.

Paili watched his futile attempts through tear blurred vision. His panicked shoveling and shouting was a little funny. Nothing was working but he kept trying. The heat in her body slowly started to dissipate until she could feel the cold all over her body.

She pulled her hands from the snow and they were without flame. She sighed heavily. Kain dropped to his knees in front of her and pulled her close.

"That was the scariest moment of my entire life." He breathed heavily into her hair. " I thought I was going to watch you die. Oh my god... "

Paili slipped her arms around his middle, relaxing into the embrace. "I thought I was going to die."