Keira ran through the trees, away from the clearing, away from Nathan. She had been a fool to give in to what she felt for him. She had known it was pointless even trying to see if he felt the same way. He was in love with Laura, it was always Laura. The whitecoats favoured Laura to her, they wanted Laura to kill her and take her place. Now Laura was back in her life, taking everything from her, even the guy she seemed to have fallen for.
"LIFE SUCKS!" She shouted towards the sky, leaping into the air and spreading her wings, tearing the sweater she was wearing as she did. She didn't care anymore. It seemed Laura was going to replace her sooner or later, one way or another. I was a fool to think he would have feelings for me, Keira thought, a fool. She flew long and far, gliding on the thermals from the ground, the thermals that Nathan had told her about. Her thoughts went back to that moment in the clearing, when she had grabbed his wrist. He didn't pull away, he didn't do anything, he just stood there. He knew, or at least suspected, that I might have tried something, so why didn't he pull away?
She let loose another scream of confusion as she flew. Things just weren't making sense. She had feelings for Nathan, but she suspected he had feelings for her as well, both of them were confused, not sure what was going on between them. Tears of frustration began to fall down her face. She had no idea what she was going to do, just leave, have the flock follow her and leave them? Leave him? His blue eyes with their faint violet tinge? No Keira, She thought, don't think about that. Just leave before he ruins your life more. They are a perfect match for each other, both of them ruin the lives of everyone they come in contact with. Her heart ached, torn between her loyalties to her flock, and the feelings she had for Nathan.
She landed on a rock outcropping from a nearby cliff face and stared out over the vast country side. There was green everywhere, spread in seas or patches, divided by the farm fields, tinged a different shade of green, and the roads that cut through all the beauty like a scar across the face of the earth, just like the wounds she had on her heart. It hurts doesn't it, world? She thought, how people can just tread all over you, unaware of the pain they cause you.
Movement startled Keira out of her thoughts and she looked around to find Ryan had followed her out to the rock face. He landed and then sat beside her, not saying anything. He waited for her to talk first, not wanting to seem intrusive. She continued staring out at the world below, her eyes never leaving the sight. After a while she spoke.
"I don't know what to do," Keira said, "For the first time in a while, I don't know what to do. Go after him, or take care of our family, just leave. I know what I am supposed to do, but what my heart is telling me is something different."
"Forget him, Keira," Ryan replied, "He was never in your life until a few days ago. Why should he make such an impact now? Would you abandon your entire family just to have him?"
"I want to take care of our family," Keira replied, "I want to protect them, be their leader, their mother, but I also want him to be with me, at my side. I just can't help the way I feel."
"Well, as the saying goes," Ryan replied, "you can't have your cake and eat it too."
Keira was shocked to hear the coldness in his voice and began to wonder was it really Nathan that was causing their family to fall apart or was it her? Had she let her emotions get in the way and cloud her judgement? She spread her wings, discarding the shreds that were what was left of her sweater and flew back towards the hospital. One thing she kept thinking about was the way Ryan behaved whenever she mentioned Nathan. He was always open with her, but recently whenever she mentioned Nathan's name, he just shuts up and gives her the cold shoulder. What was with him? She sighed, it was just another complicated part of life, trying to understand the opposite gender. She shook her head as a ridiculous thought raced through her mind and focused on flying. But what if it were true? She thought silently to herself, what if it were true…?
Chapter 64
Fire burnt all around her, within her. Alarms blared around her, sprinklers were trying to put out the fire but the water was turned to steam before it left the pipes. Anger was coursing through her veins, only fuelling the fire wanting to burst out of her. Her Mother, her Father… her brother. She had lost them all, because of this man standing in front of her. The alarms seemed to be growing louder and louder until it was in her head, in her blood. The flames grew dimmer and dimmer until darkness engulfed her, but the alarm continued through the dark, changing from the loud blaring alarm to a quieter, softer beeping. She felt so tired, so exhausted and used up, but that beeping was getting on her nerve.
"Would someone shut that freaking thing up?" Cass asked hoarsely, "It's giving me one major headache and it gets worse the longer I hear that thing."
She felt movement next to hear and then the machine stopped it's beeping. She opened her eyes, but immediately shut them. The harsh glare of the fluorescent light caused her headache to turn into a migraine. She turned her head to the side she felt the movement from and opened her eyes again and saw Dean sitting at the bedside. She looked around the room and saw that they were at a hospital, but she was too tired to recognize the hospital.
"Cass," Dean said softly, looking at her. She looked so fragile and weak lying in the bed, "Cass, you're ok. What happened?"
Fire. The room was filled with fire, heat buckling the metal walls, bodies being burnt to ash by the waves of fire and heat that came from her. The fire was consuming her, trying to forces its way out of her. It was like a beast trying to get out, wanting to destroy everything in its path. Then she felt it explode and all went dark. The last image she saw were the bodies of all those in the building burning at her feet. She turned her head away to hide the tear that fell down her face.
"I should have died," Cass said, "It should have killed me. All that power, that fire. I felt as if I was burning from the inside out, then just nothing. It was as if the fire was gone, as if it no longer hurt me. Instead of fighting the fire, I just accepted it, let it consume me and it no longer hurt."
"What about the birthmark?" Dean asked, "You never said anything about it."
"Birthmark?" Cass questioned, then looked at her wrist where Dean had pointed. There, on her wrist was the picture of a bird, surrounded by flames. "Phoenix," She said to herself, "that explains it a bit better. Powers evolve by our understanding of them, the more we find out about them the stronger they get, but everyone reaches a critical point when their powers must reach another level, or the person is consumed by their power. I think I just found mine. So I've become the phoenix, have I?"
"You seem to know a bit about that," Dean said, "How come?"
"I'm not too sure," Cass replied, "It's like I just understand it, I know what it is deep down. I feel like I can understand it a whole lot better."
"I thought I had lost you," Dean said, turning away from her, "We all did."
Cass watched Dean's eyes, saw the tear he wiped quickly from his face. She placed her hand in his, surprising him. She held it there, not doing anything, just happy to be alive. She realised now, life wasn't something to waste and that we have to take every chance we get. She lifted herself off the bed and moved closer to Dean. He was surprised, but didn't get to say a word as she kissed him on the lips, stopping any protests from leaving his mouth. She broke the kiss and fell back onto the bed, letting sleep take her once again…