“How did you stop the fire?” Addie asked. She wanted to know how to do that in case her body caught on flame, too. Also, maybe she could do something similar for her dress. Luckily, it still wasn’t turning to ash or even smoking. The flames didn’t seem to be doing much to her dress directly, at least.
Luckily, the blue ribbon Sen gifted her sat snugly, safe, and secure in her hair. It would have been tragic if that had gotten flames on it, too.
“I simply pushed our magic out from my soul shell and used it to encompass my physical form.”
“When I tried that, I couldn’t see my body! Only my magic. How’d you see where to put the magic?”
“Hmm. It came to me more on instinct. I felt myself in danger and acted quickly.”
Addie shook her head, there was more time to figure that out later. Night was close, and her clothes were still on the floor, burning brightly.
“Do you think you can do that for my dress, too?”
In response, Squishy padded softly over to her dress and stopped about a step away from it. He inspected it, with a few good sniffs, his snout moving up and down.
“I am afraid not. This is beyond me.”
This was not right. Addie had no time to fix her stupid clothes! Black cloak might be leagues away by now! Addie turned her head to the side, where a broken-down wooden table sat.
“I have an idea.”
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The tabletop clattered, causing the ground to rumble and the nearby dust to cloud into the air. Addie coughed the irritants out of her lungs and then looked down at the tabletop. She picked it up with a heave and scooted it off to the side where it fell with a bang, revealing her dress underneath.
“Well, that worked,” Addie observed. Sweat dripped down her brow, and she wiped it off. She and Squishy had been dragging it over to her dress for maybe ten minutes now. She couldn’t just pick up her dress and move it while on fire. Her father always said you could smother a fire if there was no water around.
Addie looked at her dress in dismay, it had a few small rips at the bottom of the skirt. Since the flames were gone, Addie decided not to spend any more time thinking about it. She picked it up and pulled it back over her head.
Squishy spent a moment sniffing at Addie. “Interesting, your dress smells odd.”
Addie looked over at Squishy, with her eyebrows raised and her face outraged. “You can’t just say that to a lady!”
“No, that isn’t what I meant,” Squishy hurried to correct himself, “I mean that your dress has no smell at all.”
“Oh. Maybe the flames burn up smells?” It was a thought for later. For now, they had a bad guy to catch.
The pair began running back down the stairs, trying to exit the tavern.
They came face to face with the boarded-up door, and they wasted no time bypassing it by using Realmspace.
When they reappeared on the other side of the door, the ruins greeted them, the crumbling buildings looking the same as before.
Something flashed into Addie’s vision, and within a moment, a purple bird was hovering in wait. It chirped once, and then Addie focused her eyes behind the viollow. There was Auntie, tapping her foot against the ground and glaring right at Addie only a meter away.
“Christena told me you ran off this morning, barely grabbing breakfast on your way out. I thought you promised me you would let me know if you were going out? It’s nearly dark out. And how did you destroy your dress?”
Addie hesitated, not sure what to say. The moment from a few days ago when she came home late flashed through her brain.
Auntie sighed and rubbed her nose, “I think it might be time for you to go home, Addie.”
“No!” Addie shouted. Those words felt like the cold shock of betrayal. She thought Auntie liked her, but now she wanted to send her away.
“I think it might be for the best.”
Addie quickly shook her head, side to side, “No. I haven’t helped Nettal, yet.”
Auntie looked away, then closed her eyes for a moment. “Come on Addie, let’s go back to the mansion for now.” She reached her hand out, waiting for Addie to take it.
Demurely, Addie walked up to Auntie, but she ignored her outstretched hand. After a moment, Auntie dropped her arm, and the two of them started walking back to the mansion. Auntie’s viollow flew over and perched on her shoulder, while Squishy followed them from behind.
“Your father and I thought it would be good for you and Nettal to have someone close in age to one another for your lessons. Especially so after you got your bond. We were planning to initialize Nettal soon, too, and we hoped you two could encourage each other to get better at using your new bonds.”
Addie was only half listening to Auntie as they walked side by side. She mostly kept her eyes on the ground. She didn’t want to look at Auntie right now. How could she send Addie away right now, when she was so close to finding black cloak? Auntie definitely wouldn’t listen if Addie tried to talk to her. She never listened, most adults didn’t. Auntie didn’t even listen to Sen. Addie held herself back from yelling since it wouldn’t do any good anyway.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“There’s too much danger around here, unexpectedly.” Auntie huffed out a laugh at that, bitterly. “And I can’t keep my eyes on you very easily if you keep running off at every waking hour. How am I supposed to focus on catching whoever is hurting all of these children if I have to run off every second to make sure you come home safely?”
Addie just kept putting one step in front of the other. Quietly, almost under her breath, Addie couldn’t hold herself back from shouting, “I found the bad guy; we can still get him!” Addie stared up at Auntie, determination in her eyes. She tugged on Auntie’s pant leg, “Squishy and I really found him, and we were winning, too!”
Auntie stopped walking and looked into Addie’s eyes. Somehow, Addie managed to hold the gaze without looking away. “Squishy can still find him! We were fighting him, but then he ran away!”
Something sparked in Auntie’s eyes. “Is that right? You aren’t lying?”
Her eyes stared right into Auntie’s, and Addie tried to make her most sincere face, “I’m not lying.”
Auntie tapped her foot against the ground for a moment as she bit her lip. Then she seemed to deflate, but she still looked angry. “This better be a real emergency, Addie. If you aren’t being honest right now I’m going to be. Very. Upset.” Auntie’s tone made Addie gulp and second-guess herself for a moment.
“I’m really not lying,” Addie repeated, “It’s definitely the bad guy.”
“Alright,” Auntie let out a breath, “Show me.”
Squishy perked his ears up in understanding, and ran off, back down the ruined road. Auntie’s viollow flapped her wings and raced after him.
“You listened?” Addie asked shock in her voice.
“Well, you were right about that dragon. And this is too important to ignore if it really is the person who hurt my Nettal.” Auntie’s stern eyes promised justice and retribution.
Addie pulled on Auntie’s sleeve, trying to drag her down the road after Squishy. “Let’s go! He’ll get away!”
Auntie shook her head as she allowed herself to be dragged along. “You really do remind me of your grandmother, in some strange way, Addie. Dragging me off on an adventure.”
They raced through the ruins, Squishy and Auntie’s viollow far ahead. Addie had trouble keeping them in sight. It didn’t help that Auntie wouldn’t run fast enough to keep up with them.
“Woah, Addie,” Auntie said after a particularly harsh tug from Addie. “We don’t need to run so fast. Close your eyes for a second. Can’t you sense Squishy? No matter how far he runs, you’ll never lose him. You two are bonded.”
She was right. Addie could feel Squishy’s location. Actually, Addie remembered sensing him like this in the forest, too. She could feel him even when he moved outside of her spatial sense. Auntie’s advice was a good reminder. Even still, Addie wanted to hurry. Urgency vibrated through her bones. She needed to find black cloak before he got away.
The cracks in the chiseled stone-brick road disrupted Auntie’s footing for a moment, so Addie decided to slow down. Auntie was right. They could let their bonded follow hot on the trail, and she and Auntie could catch up a little slower. It almost physically hurt to not be hurrying more, but she didn’t want Auntie to trip and fall.
Finally, with a moment to acknowledge the scenery, Auntie said, “What is this? These ruins, what happened?”
Turning her head, Addie replied, “I thought you’d know.”
“No. This place isn’t quite within my Area, otherwise I would know about it.”
“I thought the road looked like the one in town,” Addie said.
“Huh, you’re right. Good catch, Addie.”
Addie beamed at the praise.
“Violet sees something,” Auntie’s gaze became distant.
She had never heard that name before, but Addie guessed that must be Auntie’s viollow.
“Can we walk a little faster?”
“Ok, but let go of my sleeve. You can hold my hand, instead.”
There wasn’t time for either! Addie let go of Auntie completely and started running after Squishy. She heard Auntie chuckle from behind her, then, Auntie raced way ahead with a powerful sprint, leaving Addie completely behind.
“Hey! Wait for me!” In response, Auntie just laughed some more and continued running. She ran faster than anyone Addie had ever seen. She was swift as a sparrow, and Addie realized, maybe that was part of her magic. She didn’t even make so much as a sound while her feet hit the stone road.
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Finally, Addie caught up to everyone. She never lost her way, since she could just focus on her soul bond with Squishy and find out where he went.
Auntie’s purple viollow flew around a ruined building, dropping a few purple feathers on the ground. Violet circled the building once but stayed plenty far away from it.
Flames engulfed the entire wooden structure, ethereal, and ghostly white. Occasionally, the flames peeked in their motion to a muted indigo. Addie felt an otherworldly heat on her skin, and she instinctively raised her magic in defense of her soul, completing a layer of the transcendent loop. No wonder Violet didn’t want to get close. Her poor little birdie feathers would burn right up.
Despite the strange emanating heat, it had no smell whatsoever. Addie never knew she could miss the smell of smoke. At least if it smelled like smoke, it wouldn’t feel so unnatural. For the first time, Addie understood what Squishy meant when he said there was no smell.
The building itself stayed completely intact, a simple wooden house with humble ornamentation. It had been left in ruins, and even now seemed to sink ever so slightly into the swampy mud. Addie guessed it might be suitable for a regular small family of townsfolk, though now, anyone trying to live in it would burn out their very souls.
Addie shivered, despite the strange heat, and looked at Squishy. “He’s here?”
“Indeed.”
“Yes.”
Squishy and Auntie replied at the same time. Then, Auntie continued, “I would never mistake these flames. I’m certain of it. This is the cause of my little girl’s suffering. You were right, Addie.”
Looking at all those flames, it didn’t seem like they could easily walk inside.
“How are we supposed to get in there? The whole building is on fire! I don’t think I can protect myself from that,” Addie said, “It’s going to be way harder than dropping a table on some clothes.”
“You won’t have to. I’m going to set up a perimeter—” At Addie’s confused look, Auntie clarified, “Prevent him from leaving. Then, we’ll go talk to Mr. Owlcharge.”
Closing her eyes, Auntie took a deep breath. Then, her body exploded out into action. She stomped her foot deep into the mud, splashing a few flecks up into the air. She didn’t react to the mud that hit her face. Then, she twisted her foot, gaining traction in the slippery muck. She raised her hands up to her waist and then heaved with effort. Her eyes glowed vibrant green, the color of the swamp, Addie realized, and the ground shook. Addie nearly lost her footing and slipped into the mud.
More wood than Addie had ever seen started growing right before her eyes. A gigantic wall of wood encircled the burning house but didn’t fully cover the top. Auntie heaved again, this time pushing her arms up straight into the air, palms facing up. The wood creaked and groaned, and at last succumbed to Auntie’s might. It grew fully and melded at the top, forming a giant sphere of wood, almost bigger than Auntie’s mansion. There were no branches, and no flowers growing from this deformed bulb of wood. It had twisting knots and fully grown bark splattered it in ugly patches. The structure would complement Hagal the witch, Addie thought.
Addie looked at Auntie, her normally neat ponytail coming undone at the sides, strands of her brown hair flowing in the breeze. Sweat glistened off her brow, and she took forceful deep breaths. “That will hold him, for now.”