Fighting with Fire #2 ✔

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟐 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨

Once we realised that not much was changing, Jason, Ryder and I took shifts between watching Jade and keeping an eye on Ember.

Jade barely changed: the only progress being that her periods of 'calm' seemed to last longer day by day. She still taunted whoever was with her, enticing them to unlock her cage. We quickly learnt to wear earbuds or earphones whilst we were on our shift.

Ember had made some progress. She drifted in and out of consciousness, so at least we were able to get her to eat and drink. The bruising on her neck was steadily reducing. I changed her bandages every day, trying not to mind too much that she always seemed to be asleep whenever I was tending to her. Though maybe that's because I was never in charge of making her food — that was Ryder's job.

We stayed like that for a week after the full moon and all of us managed to get away with not going to school. Jason, the king of all forgers, forged a doctor's note declaring with all had some sort of highly infectious disease. Once Hellgate High had that in their records, we were excused from school, schoolwork and homework until we were fully recovered.

Well, it was only Jade and Ember that needed to fully recover, but still.

As punishment for not filling the truck up with gas, Jason sent Ryder out on foot to bring back a couple of jerrycans of gas to fill the truck up. From the ranch to the nearest gas station, it was about a two-hour walk, which must've been tough with two heavy jerrycans under the heat of the spring sun.

Jason, Ryder and I were researching Jade's situation as much as we could without leaving the ranch too often. A few mythology and legends books, along with the internet were all we had.

When it comes to supernaturals, the best way to learn about them is through seeing or hearing someone tell you about them. Most myths and legends were passed down by word, and so the stories altered with each new re-telling. That's why books and the internet are unreliable; you don't know which re-telling you were reading. It's sometimes hard to tell if you're reading the ramblings of a superstitious priest, aiming to turn everyone away from the devil, and therefore supernaturals... Or whether you're reading the confessions of a devout believer, who was utterly immersed in the world of the supernatural.

And it wasn't like we could just head into a store of a 'fortune teller' in Missoula and demand answers there.

God, we really need Storm and Abi right now...

I sat in the armchair of my bedroom, a book on lycanthropy legends open in my lap, watching Ember as she slept. It was my turn to keep an eye on her; Jason was taking a break, and Ryder was down in the cellar with Jade.

It was late evening by now, and I'd lost interest in the book in front of me hours ago, being too distracted by watching Ember sleep so peacefully.

Just a couple of hours earlier, I'd changed her neck bandages, and been pleased to see how much the swelling had gone down, though it was still bruised, purple and green. A few claw marks were on either side of her neck, and her bottom lip was still slightly split.

I'd also glanced at her left forearm, where I'd viciously and inhumanely dug my claws into her skin, in order to get her out of that comatose state she'd been in. The claw marks were healing, disappearing steadily. I still felt awful for doing that, and yet she'd forgiven me.

She forgave me.

Sometimes, she was too forgiving towards me. I could be a monster to her, after all.

I leaned back in my chair, tucking my hands behind my neck, and stretching out my stiff shoulders.

Then, I remembered something, something that I hadn't spoken to Ember about. I glanced guiltily at my chest of drawers. In the bottom drawer lay the tattered remains of the dreamcatcher she gave me. The dreamcatcher that was blocking Storm from contacting me.