Fire Proof

Chapter Six

"Rise and shine." A voice stirs me from my dreams. Honestly, I'm thankful; they weren't so much dreams as they were nightmares.

I blink open my eyes and turn my head to the right, where I see Jasmin standing in the doorway. Her eyes look apologetic.

"I'm sorry, normally I'd let you sleep in, especially with that injury, but we have company coming over and thought you might want to be up when they get here."

I push myself into a sitting position and blink at her. Visitors?

"Remember the group leader I mentioned before? He wants to meet you. Mostly for security reasons, but nothing to worry about," she answers my unspoken question. "He has a daughter about your age, maybe you could get to know someone here?"

I shrug; I'm not sure she really knows how old I am. I'm pretty small for my age and breed of dragon. Usually Fire and Earth are the ones with a bigger, stronger build than Water and Wind have. I'm fifteen, but I look eleven or twelve. It's pathetic, really.

"I have a cute sundress you can wear, and then maybe after they leave we can go shopping for clothes that actually fit you." Jasmin smiles and I force one back. I'm not sure exactly what shopping is, but it doesn't sound fun.

"For now," she continues, "you can borrow my things." I think she's forgotten she already told me all of this yesterday. "If you want to shower, soap and shampoo is already in there, and your cast is waterproof, so you should be all set! Let me know if you need anything." She gives me a wide smile and shuts the door, leaving me to get up and ready.

It may be water proof. I think to myself. But is it fire proof?

I swing my legs over the side of the bed and carefully place my feet to the carpet. I find I can put weight on the injured leg, but I can't walk on it yet. It's healing faster on its own than I expected.

I hop on one foot to the bathroom and open the door, flicking on the light switch. My eyes pop out of their sockets.

The bathroom is so breathtaking, it's hard to describe. The tiles are perfectly polished and seem to sparkle back at me. The shower curtain is a faded red color with a flame design embroidered across it.

A flicker of fear shoots through my mind. Does she know? I shake my head. How could she? She thinks I'm human, and I'd like it to stay that way for as long as I can.

The sink counter is a pretty white and grey marble-like stone that matches the tiled floor so well it's satisfying. The cabinets are black, and the walls are a white-grey.

I close the door and hope across the tile to the shower and slide open the curtain. It takes me a couple minutes to figure out how to work the water, but once it's running I hop back and peel my red tunic off over my head. I'm horrified at what I see in the mirror.

I look like I've been abused.

I'm flat as a board and can see my ribs and my hips stretching through my skin. There are several bruises on my waist, back and shoulders; probably from the fall I had after those Hunters attacked. If Jasmin saw this, I think she's have a heart attack. It's not like I'm her daughter or anything, but she seems overly protective and caring for me already. I shouldn't be complaining though, it's kind of nice to have someone looking after me after being on my own so long.

I open the vanity drawers until I find a brush to rip through the bird's nest that's supposed to be my hair. Once it runs through smoothly, I set it down and hop to the shower.

I take the next ten minutes under the water to basically scrub off the last four years of my life. It feels nice to be actually clean again.

I hobble out and wrap a fluffy red towel around me, my legs nearly buckling. I need to build up my strength. It's not good for Kenna if I'm this weak.

I quickly go to the closet to find a single dress hanging from a rod with undergarments underneath it. I drop the towel and throw the outfit on, not supposed to find everything a bit loose. I'm so tiny.

I hope out of the closet and flop down onto the bed. Getting ready wore me out.

"Azari!" I hear Jasmin call from down the hall. "Do you want breakfast?" I don't want to yell back so I heave myself up and over to the wheeled chair thing and push myself out the door towards the kitchen. Jasmin smiles when she sees me.

"You look beautiful! And I can help you with your hair after you eat." I blinked, I'd forgotten about my hair. Whoops.

Suddenly, panic consumes me as I realize I haven't checked on Jupiter. My head snaps back and forth as I scan the main floor and then I visibly relax when I see him in the living room, playing with Jasmin's son, whose name I have yet to learn.

"He's okay," Jasmin whispers. "You can trust us, you know. I get we're still strangers to you, but maybe if you let your walls down a little, this won't all be so frightening?"

I turn my eyes to her and she places a plate of meat strips and something yellow and fluffy in front of me. 'If you let your walls down...' her words ring in my head and I break our eye contact. I'm not sure I want to do that.

She sighs sadly and I glance back up under my eye lashes. "What do you want to know?" I say so quietly I'm almost not sure she hears me.

Her head snaps towards me and her eyes widen in a "I'm surprised but oh-so-happy" kind of way. "Um," she says as she pulls out the chair across from me. "We can start as small as possible, I guess." I give her a close-lipped smile, unsure of what's coming. "Lets start with 'what's your favorite color?'"

I almost laugh, maybe letting my walls down won't be so bad.