I'm baaaaack!
Hopefully the Pink chapter made up for me killing Carter…? Maybe?
Or not. Anyway. This is another one of those angsty Adrian chapters you all looove me for :P
I do not own the Kane Chronicles.
O-o-O
"Zee-Zee!"
Zia grinned as her two-year-old brother waved to her from the river bank. She refused to go near the water, despite her mother's orders to stay with him, but she figured as long as she could see him it was acceptable. After all, he couldn't get into much trouble all by himself, and with her watching—he was always eager to please her. Some of the older girls in the village complained about their younger siblings being annoying or troublesome, but Zia couldn't imagine growing tired of Adrian smiling at her as he threw mud at her.
He wiped his hands on his linen robes—Zia's mother would be furious, but she didn't mind—and dashed out of the water, saying, "Please come swim with me?"
"No," she said, crossing her arms over her bony torso. "I won't swim, and Mother says you can't go in without someone."
"Fine," he said, looking dejected, but immediately perked up and said, "Then can I have some of your chocolate?"
She sighed and broke some off, hoping he would be satisfied with the candy. He grinned and sat next to her, licking the chocolate like it was a sucker. She couldn't help but giggle at the sight.
They slowly ate their way through the chocolate bar until there was only one bite left, which she passed to Adrian as he pouted at her. "Now can we swim?" he begged.
One of the boys who was closer to her age called, "Zia! Look at this!" from outside one of the huts. She jumped up and ran to his side, poring over the stack of photographs with a few of her friends. They were nothing all that special—just desert landscapes—but the heat gave a wave-like effect to the scenes.
"Sissy!"
She whirled around, only to see Adrian vanishing under the water, screaming.
Without thinking, she took off running, straight to the water's edge—closer to the river than she'd ever dared to go before. Her toes brushed the water, and she jerked back, her stomach clenching into a knot. She couldn't swim. She hated the water. And where was Adrian?
She ran along the bank, following the flow of the river, hoping for some sign—any sign—of her brother. He was simply…gone.
She kept running, mud splattering her legs and squelching uncomfortably between her toes, until the village was far behind her. She could hear others, adults probably, behind her, yelling, but her tiny legs somehow carried her faster. She ran, screaming her brother's name, praying that he would drag himself out of the water, but the only disturbance was a stick floating past.
She tripped on some unseen obstacle, probably a rock, and fell face-first in the mud, getting a mouthful of something slimy and soaking the front of her robes. She didn't care. She tried to pull herself back up, but her arms were shaking too hard, and she was screaming so hard she couldn't catch her breath, and her legs hurt so much—
Zia felt a warm pair of arms scoop her up, and she found her face buried in her aunt's neck. The woman stroked her damp, muddy hair, murmuring into her cheek, cradling Zia as she slowly walked back to the village. In the distance, she could see lights glimmering on the river as the older kids and adults who weren't in the fields swept the shallows for her brother. She hadn't realized how far she had run, but by the time her aunt walked into the village, it was dark and she was freezing. Somewhere her shoes had come off, and her feet were swollen, cut and bleeding and caked in river mud. Her robes were soaking wet and probably ruined. She started shivering as her aunt ducked into Zia's house, setting her on the bed and pulling her robes over her head, leaving her in her underclothes. She washed and bandaged her feet, whispering apologies as she whimpered. Zia started sneezing, frozen to her bones, and felt as though she might get sick. Her aunt rubbed her forehead and tucked her into bed before ducking out.
Zia's parents did not come home that night, or the night after. She did not care. She was in no shape for company, as she now had a fever and couldn't stop coughing. Her aunt or one of the older girls would come and sit with her, rubbing her temples as she drifted in and out of sleep.
Even when the fever was long gone and the coughing had subsided, she felt as though she was trapped in a nightmare.
*#*#*
"Mommy!" she screamed, her voice lost in the pandemonium of voices and explosions, people being crushed and killed by the beast that was rampaging through her village, shouts for water as houses caught fire.
"Mommy!" she yelled again, shrieking as a man nearly trampled her into the ground in his rush to get away. Where was her mother? Why wasn't she coming? Zia started sobbing.
Her mother appeared behind her, running through the haze of smoke and sand, picking Zia up and running to the very edge of the village. She tucked Zia into a fire pit and started pulling reeds from the mud, tossing them on top.
"Stay here!" her mother ordered as she vanished into the gloom.
She lay curled in the pit, with ashes from the last fire drifting into her nose and making her sneeze. Smoke drifted across the sand, bringing with it screams from the village. There was a roar and a tremendous explosion, flashes of purple and green light.
The smoke grew thicker as the fire spread, consuming the nearest house in a brilliant flash. It burned her lungs; she buried her face in the steaming reeds, coughing. The flames dances across the dead grass, coming ever closer, and she couldn't run, trapped between the fire and the water.
She started hyperventilating, the oxygen in her lungs being replaced by the rancid smoke, and coughed until it felt like her throat must be raw. She doubled over and tried to breathe, but there was no clean air and her head was spinning. The reeds over her started smoldering, burning her robes, sending white-hot pain all through her body.
Her vision went blurry, from tears or lack of air she didn't know, and a figure appeared in front of her—
"Sissy!"
Adrian cried out in joy, his chocolate-covered hand extended out toward her, beaming. She coughed again, trying to take his hand, but her limbs wouldn't obey her commands. She could only stir weakly.
"Iskandar!" she heard a man yell. "There is a child! She's alive!"
Zia reached out, but before her hand could meet Adrian's, someone rustled the reeds and he vanished. She cried out in frustration as he dissolved into smoke.
A man in white robes extended a hand down to reach her, pull her out of the fire pit, speaking in an accent that sounded foreign—French? She wasn't sure. "Come here, child," he said. "We'll help you."
But this man had taken Adrian away, and Mother had told her not to talk to strange people, and he was scary, so instead Zia grabbed his hand and bit down on it with all her might.
He yelled and reeled back, shouting in a language she didn't know, but she had a feeling he wasn't yelling things Mother would approve of her hearing. She slumped against the ground, exhausted and scared and completely out of air, as another man appeared from the smoke, with papery brown skin and kind eyes.
"She bit me!" the angry Frenchman shouted.
"Well, what am I supposed to do?" the older man chuckled.
"We could let her burn," the other muttered.
"Now, Desjardins," the old man chided in a wispy voice. "She's terrified. I can hardly blame her for defending herself.
Then he crouched in front of her, smiling gently, and picked her up; she was too weak to fight this time. Besides, he was her elder, and she needed to treat him kindly, even if he was friends with the angry man—Desjardins.
Zia coughed harder, trembling, and the nice man pressed her hand to her forehead, sending her into a dreamless sleep.
*#*#*
She jerked awake, screaming.
Zia panted in the darkness of her room, slowly pulling herself out of the dream. Just a dream. There were thuds and shouts from the other rooms on her floor, people leaping out of bed, since her door was open and she must've woken them.
The other residents of Brooklyn House appeared in her doorway, some with their wands and staffs, others holding blankets, and for unknown reasons Cleo was clutching her pillow like she planned to use it as a weapon.
"Zia?" Carter said, bare-chested and breathing heavily. "What is it?"
"It's just…I…" she tried to explain, but words failed her and she dissolved into sobs.
Felix, in his penguin pajamas, stepped forward and crawled into her bed, sitting next to her. "Do you want to snuggle with Shivers?" he said, holding out a plush version of the animal. She took the proffered penguin and gave him a watery smile.
Carter sat down on her other side, rubbing her shoulder and wrapping an arm around her waist. Anisa jumped onto the foot of the bed, crossing her legs, and Walt joined her, fingering the amulets that always adorned his neck. Sadie sat next to Carter as the rest of the crowd dispersed.
"Was it Adrian?" Carter whispered in her ear. Anisa—Zia swore that girl must have the ears of a bat—looked at the curiously, but Carter just shook his head. Zia nodded and wiped her eyes.
Zia lay down again, and Carter stretched out next to her while Felix curled up and rested his head on her shoulder. Carter kept whispering, and after a few minutes his voice lulled her back to sleep.
*#*#*
She woke up feeling hot from the collective body heat of five extra people sprawled on her bed. It reminded her of the flames from her nightmare. She sat up carefully, so as not to disturb Felix or Carter, and corrected herself—there were three people. Anisa and Walt were napping on the floor, probably so they wouldn't end up lying on her feet, which was exactly what Sadie was doing.
Without warning, Felix sneezed in his sleep so hard that he woke not only himself but every other occupant of the room. Carter fell off the bed with a shout, and Sadie almost joined him, catching herself at the last second. Anisa sat straight up, her hair a tangled mess, while Walt just groaned and rolled over groggily.
Felix burst out laughing. Carter sat up, saying, "If I didn't know better I would think he did that on purpose."
Zia grinned, nightmares forgotten as he pulled himself back up and tucked her under his arm. She turned to untangle her feet from the sheets. Behind her, Carter gasped.
"Oh, god…Zia. What…"
She froze. How could she have forgotten? She was wearing a camisole. After all, it had been hot when she went to bed, and she didn't feel like wearing her linen shirt. Sadie leaned forward to get a good look at Zia's back, and paled. She knew what they were seeing: angry red scars, puckered and shiny, in patches all over her back and neck.
"It's nothing," she said. "Just…left from when my village…" She trailed off, hoping she wouldn't have to explain in front of the others.
"I thought you said Iskandar got you out."
"He did. The reeds I was hiding under started burning," she muttered, feeling four curious stares piercing her. Carter just shook his head at them, telling them that it was none of their business, she supposed.
Felix crawled into her lap, hugging her around the waist. Then he rolled off the bed and said, "Feel better, Zia!" as he ran out of the room, Shiver tucked under his arm. Zia thought Walt might say something, but he was unconscious again, Anisa curled up and snoring softly at his side. Sadie yawned and fell back, her feet hanging off the edge of the bed. Zia was surprised that they had managed to stay awake this long; after all, it was two in the morning.
Carter pushed her shoulder until she was laying down again, and wrapped his arms tight around her as her eyes slid shut.
O-o-O
Hi.
I went on a mission trip to the St. Louis Dream Center and had the most amazing. Experience. Ever. Unfortunately, the Arby's we ate on the way back is causing my youth group some MUCH less pleasant experiences right now.
Also, the review performance for my school's play is tomorrow. Wish me luck?