AN: Wow guys! Twenty chapters down! :D How about that? Woo! Sorry, I know it's been like four months, but it's summer now! I actually have free time! This summer is the first in like the last five years that I haven't got planned out :D It's great! lol
BTW, my birthday was on the 18th ;D just so y'all know! Anyway, here's another chapter! I'm planning on updating my other stories very soon as well. I was happy with the last chapter, for the sole reason that it seemed to summon some commentary ;D namely, a visit from TeamEthanMorgan, who I always love to hear from, as it seems so rare . lol jk TEM, in truth, everyone who reviews is great. :L even that one Sophie girl who likes my unpopular and pretty platonic story FNAJ but hates VB and calls slash disgusting :D but to each their own lol.
Now, if BethanForever would just come out of the shadows, right? I miss her!
See you at the bottom!
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Opening his eyes, he saw something that looked like smoke raise up behind Ethan in thick tendrils. His eyes widened.
"Are you-"
"Ethan!" Benny shouted, and spun around, realizing in a moment that whatever barriers of protection the house had, it didn't include the front porch...and Ethan was halfway out the front door.
"Huh?" Ethan's eyes widened comically, and he stepped further in. "What-"
"Step inside!" Benny yelled, and raised his hands to cast a spell just as a smoky appendage reached out and grabbed Ethan around the ankle. Ethan exclaimed in surprise and the solid smoke seemed to slam against him, sending him flying forward, hitting his head against the door frame. Just as suddenly, his feet were ripped from underneath him and he fell forward.
It all happened in a matter of about two seconds, and Benny wasn't fast enough to do anything more than stumble over his own feet and watch in horror as Ethan fell. Blood dripped alarmingly quick from a deep gash on his forehead, and Ethan's eyes rolled back as his body dropped to the floorboards. Violently, he was drug out of the doorway as Benny screamed and the door slammed shut.
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"No!" Benny slammed against the doorframe in his mad haste to get it open. He twisted the knob violently and pulled hard enough to hurt his hand and arm but the door wouldn't budge. He shoves himself away from the door and slammed a fist down on the wood. "No! Ethan! I'm coming!"
"What's going on here?" Evelyn entered the room with Cody and his still-steaming teacup close behind. They rounded the corner and saw Benny disappear out the window, followed by the swishing and crunching of bushes and a loud curse.
"Oh boy." Cody sighed. "What's happened this time?" Evelyn went to the window calling for Benny while Cody inspected the door, with a new glossy-looking dent in it. He pulled the heavy door open without a problem and stepped outside, seeing Benny running in the distance after some black figure. He placed his teacup on the deck and stated with narrow eyes and contemplated the situation. In any case, Benny was the one with the magic, and thus had the best chance of taking down the black figure.
But, as smart as Benny was, the boy didn't have a lot of common sense. He may need Cody's insight...also, it looked as though Benny was quickly losing whoever he was pursuing. Dammit.
"Dammit." Cody grimaced and eyed his bad leg, where he had fell down the stairs of he and Senna's hotel room the night before. Ah well, hobble along it was then.
"Might I ask a favor, my dear?" Evelyn came to stand beside him as he moved down the stairs.
"Yeah, Granny, what is it?" Cody stopped his hobbling and eyed her curiously, finding it odd that she actually asked. Usually, she just demanded slave labor. "Though I can't promise anything. I fell down the stairs on the way over, my leg got twisted and now it's all messed up."
"Well, technically you did ask for it, once." Evelyn smiled. "I can't leave the house, I have reinforcements to put in place. So, I need to borrow something of yours."
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"Oh for the love of- ah!" Benny fell down face-first into a pile of wet leaves.
Raising to his feet quickly, and bolting forward again, he eyed the black smokey creature that had taken the form of a tall and large man- with Ethan dragging through the underbrush behind it as it clutched him by the collar of his shirt. The sight enraged and frightened Benny, as he could see a small trickle of red leaking down from Ethan's hairline, and he was barefoot, with shorts on. The twigs and rocks must have been tearing his feet and legs apart!
"Ethan! I'm coming!" Benny hurled himself forward, as fast as he could over the uneven ground. He wanted to cast a stunning spell or a spell that would cause temporary paralysis but didn't want to hit Ethan.
Just as he was deciding to take the chance anyway and raising his hands, a beam of bright purple light shot past him and swerved it's way through the trees, brushing through branches above his head and scattering leaves around his head. Just as Benny let out a breath of alarm at it's break-neck speed, it split into five smaller orbs and surrounded the figure made of smoke.
"Benjamin! Get Ethan away from that smoke!" He heard a voice call from far behind him.
"You think I don't know that?!" He screamed back and only had time to question for a moment why Cody had just called him by his entire first name before he was grabbing Ethan under the arms and around the smoke had lost it's shape, and was now just a struggling cloud of black and dark grey within a spiraling cage of purple beams. For just a moment, Benny could see a pair of red, glaring eyes and gasped before he let out a cry of pain.
Where he grabbed Ethan, he had also overlapped the figure's now very strong and tendril-like grasp on the seer's shoulders. And where the smoke touched Benny, his skin began to burn painfully and turn a bright pink.
"...Benny?" Etha's eyes fluttered open just a little, and Benny felt more than saw his arms twitch. "What...?"
"You'll be fine, E!" Benny grunted and tried kicking out at the smoke, which only dissipated as his foot went through it. However, it had no problems keeping it's bruising grip on Ethan, and it was now attempting to wrap a third, thick rope of smoke around Ethan's neck. He cursed and closed his eyes as the pain became almost unbearable. It was like he was sticking his hand in an open fire!
What could he do?! Against his will, his grip was slipping, his hands couldn't take the stress! But he could also see Ethan's skin turn pink and blistered as his own hands and wrists were now a bright red. What if Ethan couldn't heal from this magic-inflicted burn, like he couldn't from the silver?!
What can I do? Benny gritted his teeth suddenly as a thought struck him, and he sucked in a deep breath, attempting to do something he'd never done before. With a loud yell of anguish, he tried channeling his magic, any magic he could into his hands. For a terrifying moment, nothing happened, except Ethan's eyes fluttering and mouth opening to gasp for air, and then he felt a cool relief running through his arms like chilled water running through thin pipes.
Before his eyes, and to his relief and triumph, he saw his hands and arms glisten with a shimmering liquid, before said liquid shot from his wrists and knuckles upward and branched out like a massive snowflake. Sharp, angled designs of thin water-ropes shot up, into, and around the dark smoke, before freezing in a split moment and spiking out in thousands of razor-thin shards.
For a moment, Benny was sure he'd just done a fancy ice show for nothing, and then the smoke seemed to roar. While no physical sound was made, Benny felt the tingling and unpleasant vibration on his skin and flinched back as his hair was blown back. The grip on Ethan was released and as Ethan sucked in a breath, Benny pulled as hard as he could and fell backwards with Ethan on top of him.
The roaring continued, and Benny looked back in time to see Cody approach slowly with his hands held forward, in a motion like he was going to catch a ball thrown towards him.
"Cody?" Ethan rasped, and narrowed his eyes as he rolled off of Benny, lying by his side in the grass and touching his throat gingerly. Benny sat up and shook his hands out, noting the "When did you learn to-"
"He didn't." Cody answered, and eyed them without turning his head. "Listen, boys, you need to leave this part of the woods. Things are going to get ugly, once-" Cody lurched forward suddenly, and gasped. One of the beams of light surrounding the smoke faltered and sparked away into nothing.
"Grandma?!" Benny's eyes widened. "How are you doing that?! That is so cool!"
"Benjamin, Ethan! Get yourselves away from here! I can protect one body from harm, but only one. This enemy is stubborn, and Cody's got a sprained leg, he can't run."
"Benny, let's move." Ethan sat up painfully as his shoulders throbbed from where he'd gotten burned by the smoke. It was a distant pain, though. Even so, he wondered how Benny's hands were feeling.
"What about Grandma? Or...Cody?" Benny looked from Ethan to Cody's body.
Ethan hesitated, still not seeming to have a clear head, until Grandma said, "I'm old boys, but Cody is young and my magic is strong. I'll be fine."
A large measure of dust and dirt swirled around Grandma and then rose, seeming to crawl up into Cody's clothing, for reasons unknown to them. Ethan then stood up, and helped Benny to his feet as well with a pained groan.
"Let's go." Ethan tugged Benny towards where he could see houses in the distance, assuming that to be the general direction of their homes.
"...okay." Benny nodded and caught Ethan when he stumbled.
Benny pulled Ethan upright from where he had fallen against a tree and kept one arm protectively around him. Ethan blinked and eyed Benny's arm around his waist, looking over to Benny's concentrated expression. Even after the seer's couple inches of growth, Benny was still an inch or so taller than him.
And although Ethan was still a little dizzy and although there was still a bit of an ache where he remembers his head being smashed against the door frame of Benny's house. How long ago was that? In any case, he felt perfectly fine now, but...
Benny looked so relieved and so determined to...what? He was hauling Ethan more than he needed to, werewolves recovered fast, but...
Ethan only sighed and smiled, leaning into Benny a little more. He looked back at the black smoke and felt a spike of anger, wishing he could just go back and kick it's ass. But, he was pretty sure if he did that he would only fail and embarrass himself, it didn't look like it had a complete physical form.
And Benny looked so happy to be helping him. Even if he could walk on his own, he gladly let himself be helped out of the woods, glancing back once more, the way that Cody's arms were being held up triggering a memory in Ethan.
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"I'm going to shatter both of my ankles and then the bones won't grow back in the right places. I'll be hobbled and I'll never get a girlfriend!" Ethan looked down from where he stood perched atop a thick branch of a large oak tree.
"Yeah, that's why you'll never get a girlfriend." The blonde vampire rolled his eyes. "Just jump! You can't be a coward in the midst of a fight, Ethan! Cowardice means someone's gonna get hurt. Probably someone you really care about."
"Oh don't pull the cowardice card on me." Ethan scowled fiercely. "I've already let Tasha singe my hair off with burning tree branches, and let you throw those needle-head daggers at me, I don't think there's anything more nerve-wracking than that."
"Except, jumping thirty feet to the ground, apparently." Jason had his hands on his hips, but as Ethan tensed, the blonde vampire held his arms out as though going to catch a big ball. "I can catch you once for moral support, but that would be-"
"Utterly humiliating." Ethan finished dully, looking down at the grass below. "I know...so do you really think my ankles won't shatter?"
"Well, not shatter, at the very least. Werewolf bones and ligaments are strong." Jason contemplated. "Think of it this way, wouldn't you rather find out now, when there's no danger and a friend here to help you out? Or when your running for your life and have no idea what's going to happen?"
"If I'm lucky, maybe I'll just die on impact." Ethan muttered without any truth to his words, and sighed. Then, he flinched as Jason was abruptly right in front of him, hovering in the air. Ethan grabbed a branch off to his side to steady himself. "You know I'm afraid of heights."
"Now, Ethan, that's not the attitude to have. You were afraid of everything up until a couple months ago." Jason crossed his arms. "Maybe you need a little push."
"No! I can do it myself!" Ethan gulped and looked down as Jason floated back to the ground.
"It's easy as one, two, three. Just bend at the knees and jump...or you could just take a step off, but I wouldn't recommend just shooting straight down, you're not strong or agile enough yet."
"Thanks." The retort was said with no small amount of sarcasm.
"You have to learn one way or another Ethan."
"I'm-" The ground spun. "I'm doing it, just.."
"Juussst a little..." Jason was muttering, suddenly with a wicked grin. Ethan had only a moment to be confused before Jason had gone from the ground and a hand was placed on his back.
"Push." The vampire whispered into his ear and the sound send chills down Ethan's spine.
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"Huh?" Ethan's eyes opened abruptly, and the seer stumbled to a halt. He hadn't even realized that he'd closed them.
"Dammit!" Benny's eyes were wide, and Ethan flinched as he felt a cool, slippery presence against his hot skin. He looked to where Benny's hands gripped his arms ina gentle but firm hold, and was fascinated to see that the spellmaster's hands were glossy and wet, all the way up to his forearms.
Oh, and yeah. Cody was screaming something at them.
"What's going on?" Ethan asked faintly. He looked over his and Benny's shoulders and saw the smoke, still caged within fading, dancing lights, and Cody's body, probably with Grandma Weir still in it, slowly backing away.
"Grandma just shouted back that she's losing her grip on the smoke." Benny blinked. "I don't understand, I mean it doesn't look that-"
"Guys, get down!" Cody's voice screamed at them, and both were startled to see the almost frightened look on Cody's face as the man forwent trying to stagger away and simply leapt the best he could behind a nearby tree. Just before Benny tugged him away, Ethan saw a ring of light surround Cody.
"Oof!" Ethan landed in a heap under Benny as he heard something like a giant beast roar.
Whoosh.
In an instant, everything Ethan could see, save for Benny's tense neck and part of his shoulder was orange.
"What..." Ethan's head was fuzzy again, and vaguely he noted the crown of his head throbbing in time with the burning of his shoulders, and the palm of his hand, where it lay exposed to the elements without a bandage.
"Oh hell!" Benny's voice was tense too. "Oh hell. Sorry, E, can you stand?"
"Yeah." Ethan squeezed one eye closed in pain but forced himself to sit up, and then to try to get to his feet. Instead, his head spun and he leaned against a tree nearby for support. Surprisingly, Benny wasn't anywhere nearby- instead, he had gone about twenty feet ahead, to where a wall of fire burned at least ten feet high, if not higher.
"Oh man." Ethan grunted as he stood up slowly. "That's not good. Ah!"
He'd stepped in a smoldering patch of grass, and looked around, noting the state of the forest. Whatever had been trapped in Benny's grandma's cage of magic had been released suddenly- and violently. He didn't know what happened, or what went wrong, but either way, he wobbled over to Cody.
"Cody." Ethan leaned down to where the man was kneeling, watching the spot where the being of smoke had exploded. "You okay?"
"Oh, me?" Cody asked distractedly. "I'm fine."
"Well then, I think...we should leave." Ethan held his head in one hand, using Cody's tree to support his weight. Behind him, a ways, he could hear Benny's low tones as the other teen probably talked to himself. "This looks bad."
"Yeah, the fire department should be here soon. Someone will call momentarily if they haven't already." Cody nodded with that same distracted voice, and then glanced over at him, before giving him a double-take, dark eyes going to the seer's shoulders and then his forehead. "Oh, Ethan, it's you- and you're hurt!"
"I've had...worse." Ethan tried to give him a smile, but coughed instead, as the smoke was getting to him.
"We have to...get out of here." Cody pulled himself to his feet, wincing as his knee shifted painfully. "Where's Benny?"
"Over there. Let's go and see what the plan is, huh?"
Indeed, there was a lot of planning going on, on Benny's end. Just not about the current problem.
"I'm going to strangle that stupid smoke thing!" Benny was hissing angrily, throwing his arms around wildly. "See how much he can burn things when he's a block of ice!"
"Benny, what's going on?" Cody asked as they got closer, both young men approaching the wall of fire carefully, doing their best to stay upright.
"What happened? I thought Grandma had it." Benny asked and thrust his arms out again, though nothing happened.
"She did...or, she thought she did." Cody winced. "You see all this? This is more than either of us could have known. It took a lot just for her to suppress it as long as she did."
"Guys..." Ethan mumbled, trying to shake the dizziness off, as he surveyed the tall wall of fire that was quickly spreading in all directions. Judging by the height and intensity, it wouldn't take long for the fire to spread and consume them altogether...even if the ground was wet, it was still burning, and it was obviously being fed by magic, no normal fire roared ten feet high just by burning grass.
"This isn't working. It worked before." Benny looked utterly confounded, palms facing the growing wall of flames. "It worked just a minute ago..."
"Maybe you're spent." Cody said and tugged Benny away. "Look, we need to find a way out soon, this fire is growing fast."
"Hey." Ethan blinked owlishly, and was cast only a glance as the two other males talked amongst themselves. Warm brown eyes reflecting the flames blinked again and then turned to find the tallest oak in the vicinity.
"The only way we're going to get through these flames is if we can put out a path, or...what, jump over it?" Cody slapped his head. "God, I don't even know. Let me just see if I can find a weak point, or...maybe it isn't real?"
"It's real all right..." Benny looked at his hands dejectedly. "I don't think we have time for you to psychic-us a way out. If my magic would only work...I might know a water spell, but I haven't tried it in such a big quantity, and I might mess up the words! I haven't used it since I had to fill up the old jacuzzi's in the abandoned water park in Saskatchewan last summer."
"Kids these days." Cody shook his head. "In any case, it wouldn't be a good idea to guess at a spell."
"If we do nothing, this fire will burn us!" Benny's eyes widened as he reached beside him, automatically expecting Ethan to be there. When he couldn't feel a body next to him, he turned. "Ethan?"
"Up here." Ethan sounded breathless and his voice came from high in a tree. Two pairs of surprised eyes looked up to where a young and still-learning werewolf had perched himself high up on a sturdy branch, nearly hugging the tree to keep his balance but trying to seem nonchalant about it.
"Listen, I estimate we only have five minutes before this fire spreads to completely surround the area. It's weird...like nothing I've seen before, the fire is so thick. It's burning in a weird pattern...like a circle with an arrow through it, and then two crescents...so weird."
"Ethan, are you okay?" Cody called up, noticing that the boy was babbling a lot more than he should have been.
"Never been better." Ethan looked down at them with glazed eyes. "Cody...you first. Sorry, Ben, I would say you, but Cody's really the weakest...the weakest link right now."
"I resent that." Cody grumbled but he was smiling and he began wobbling towards the tree where Ethan sat, suddenly coughing.
"You're in no state to climb..." Benny protested weakly, but hurried to help Cody over to the tree. It would be hard for him to get up to Ethan's height.
"I'm fine, just a little shaky." Ethan smiled and climbed down a few limbs so he could help Cody climb. "When you get to my branch, Cody, just climb onto me and hold on, alright? We need to do this quick...if the fire thickens anymore, I may not make it past."
"You want to jump across?" Benny cried. "I thought you were just trying to buy time."
"We don't have any time to waste. It's alright Benny, I'm a little beat up right now, but nothing I can't handle." Ethan shook his head slowly, hoping the pain would help him focus.
He'd only jumped from a similar height once, and even then, he'd been pushed by his asshat of a friend and personal trainer, Jason. Now, he needed to jump twice, with passengers each time...and he needed to do it without hurting them, or himself. Cody needed to go first, since he was less mobile than Benny, but...if he somehow got himself hurt while jumping with the older man...
Then Benny would...
Ethan gritted his teeth. No, it wouldn't happen. No matter what, all of them were getting out of this fire alive. No matter what.
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"Lovely day for a forest fire."
"Hm?" Evelyn Weir looked back at the stranger currently standing in her driveway. She's noticed him walk up from the street, but thought he'd just been passing by. "What's that, my dear?"
"Oh, just contemplating my next move." The man turned towards her and smiled pleasantly. Dressed casually in a white tee and a loose sweatshirt with jeans, the man had his hood pulled up against the sprinkling rain. "Don't mind me. I've been playing a lot of chess lately, and it's gotten rather depressing."
"Oh well, you know board games..." Evelyn mumbled, far too distracted with setting up the new seals on her home to pay the stranger much attention. "Youngsters these days...usually don't bother with them. Back in the days of board games, things were a lot simpler."
"Oh yes, I agree." The tall figure approached and picked up a thin and speckled wax stylus that had somehow rolled away from the lady's pile of tools. A slim finger scratched a tiny bit of light purplish-gray wax off with a fingernail. It shone under the opaque texture of the nail in a metallic sheen. "Board games are rather simple. If I had my way, I'd prefer my pawns to make much more complex moves than they're currently able to...then again, even pawns can take down a king with the right move."
"Excuse me, dear. Is there anything you wanted? I'm rather busy at the moment...oh, thank you." The stylus was handed to her and she grabbed it without much thought."
"Is that so?" The man asked, taking off his sunglasses as he leaned down to help her gather her supplies to move it to another corner of the house. "Anything I can help with? You look fatigued, madam."
The last word was pronounced in it's native accent and Evelyn blinked, looking up only to see herself reflected in mirrored sunglasses.
"Well, darling, there's a time for everything. Right now, I'm afraid, I just can't afford any visitors." She blinked and nodded as she stood from where he had previously knelt at a corner of her porch.
"Of course, forgive my intrusion. Have a nice day." The man straightened and backed down the steps as the woman hurriedly moved to the other end of the porch to start on that corner of the house. "Although, it looks as though there's a fire blooming in your back yard. I'd keep an eye on it if I were you."
Icy eyes flashed behind the cover of mirrored glass and he inhaled the smell of burning oak pleasantly before continuing on his way down the street. The last words he'd spoken had been uttered softly, but even if Evelyn could have heard, she'd have been too distracted to process it.
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"Ugh!" Ethan ground out as his legs gave out from under him. Cody gave a similar grunt from next to him as he rolled away a couple of feet.
It had hurt like hell for Cody to grab onto his injured shoulder, and then for Ethan to land on his bad hand once he'd collapsed from his initial landing on his feet. All the rough and jolting movement of his foggy head didn't feel too good either.
"Okay...okay, I need to get Benny next." Ethan breathe out roughly, fighting unconsciousness as black spots danced in his eyes.
"I don't...mean to rush you -cough- but yeah, Benny's gonna be burning up on the other side pretty soon." Cody's face became pained. "Bad wording! I just mean, in a minute it's gonna be hot over there-"
"I know." Ethan sat up, trying to be quick, but knowing if he went too quick, he would pass out. He winced as he heard Cody's body-wracking cough. "I'll get him, just get away from the smoke Cody. My lungs are stronger than yours, I'll be fine."
But with that thought...Benny's lungs were human too.
"I'm going, just...call if you need help." Cody got to his feet and slowly shuffled away, taking care not to get out of earshot too quickly.
Ethan huffed and then began to climb the tree again, but halfway up, he heard commotion from both sides of the fire. From behind him, he heard what he assumed was Cody fall to the ground with a thud, and from the other side he heard a choking sound.
"Benny!" Ethan began to climb faster, higher, and clumsier. He slipped on a branch and cut his ankle as he misplaced a step, and swore loudly. Looking through the fire, he seen the smokey figure holding a barely conscious Benny above the ground in midair by his neck. A long tendril-like limb had wrapped around him thickly and was turning him a dark shade of red.
Ethan gaped in a mix of anger, disbelief and fear, letting out a cry of indignation that also accurately described how he felt at the moment. Although his limbs were shaky, he felt himself fueled by a sudden burst of energy, and all but launched himself across the short distance to where Benny was hanging suspended in the air.
Ethan could see through the fire that Benny wasn't just completely submitting to the harsh treatment by the smoke-man. His fingers wrapped around the wrists of the being holding him, and by the steam rising off of the smoky limb (an odd contrast) and the waves of anger emanating from the being, Ethan could tell that it was being hurt as well. Especially when blue sparks began flashing from underneath Benny's palms.
In fact, the wretched thing had lost it's grip on Benny entirely by the time Ethan had reached him. Smoldering and wild-eyed, Ethan had crashed into Benny and stretched out a clawed hand to slash at the smoke man. What little air Benny had began to suck in rushed out of him in a violent huff, and Ethan cursed himself for not being a little more gentle.
"You're okay Benny. I'm so sorry." Ethan coughed and held his friend up as he gasped and choked for air. Where Benny grasped his arms, it tingled and prickled with little blue sparks that hadn't yet gone away. Ethan patted and held gentle pressure on Benny's heaving chest and back where he knew it would be aching. "You're okay."
"Oh, but not for long." A voice that wasn't really a voice said from just ahead of him. Ethan's head shot up painfully, and even as he coughed along with Benny, the smoke man's words rang clear in his head. "You're just lucky you've strong protectors boy. Because if it were you and I..."
A set of bright, orange teeth glowed in a smile suddenly, along with flickering ember eyes that appeared in the general area of it's face. The figure blurred in and out of existence as more and more of it lost shape and gave way to the wind.
"If I had my way, I'd rip you from your petty wizard lover and hang the both of you out to dry for this whole town to see. Filthy blood traitors! Thieves!" A wave of heat washed over the two violently and Ethan hissed, raising a hand to his already-smoldering head of hair. "You'll find out soon enough. Soon, the moment of truth will be at hand!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Ethan yelled hoarsely. "You're insane! Benny and I haven't done anything!"
"Oh, isn't that rich." The glowing eyes narrowed. "You're too stupid to realize your own mistakes. Funny, I've always found you two to be too intelligent for your own good...maybe I was wrong from the beginning. Maybe you two will prove to be as useless as your predecessors."
Ethan snarled as the man reached out as though to touch them both. His hand shot out and grasped the smoke-arm, pulling it back with force and forcing the smoke being to fly forward. However, as Ethan prepared to slam the figure down, he found that he had nothing left to slam- all that remained was a pair of glowing eyes.
"Who are you?" Ethan demanded.
"You sound...like you know us." Benny wheezed out, grasping at his chest. Realizing his mistake, Ethan immediately rushed the few feet over to where Benny lay and hauled him onto his back. The spellmaster allowed himself to be hauled without much resistance, save for a pitiful cough and grating groan.
"I know you better than you may think." The figure smiled once more before it gasped and faded completely, due to a shiny piece of debris sailing straight through it's smoky body and cutting it in half. It growled menacingly, and it's next words echoed hollowly in Ethan and Benny's minds. "And that is why you are doomed."
"Oh, just...shut up already." Benny rasped and coughed weakly. "E...Ethan. What's happening?"
"Breath into my shirt, Benny." Was all Ethan could think to say. Benny's body must have been under too much stress, as his had been just minutes before his sudden burst of energy. At that moment, through the smoke and pain and everything else, the seer's mind couldn't have been clearer. "Try to hold your breath if you can."
But Ethan didn't know what he'd do once Benny couldn't hold his breath anymore. His own lungs burned, and his own stamina was waning. When he'd jumped to try to save Benny from the smoke man, he'd set the edges of his clothes and hair on fire, and has singed the hair on his body as well as burned his skin a light pink, which (although it was already healing) only added to his injury count.
"Just give me a second, Benny." Ethan all but whispered, tugging Benny's flinching and heaving body closer to him as the other male buried his face in his neck. He ran along the narrow path of grass that was still unlit, and looked for a spot where the fire wasn't six feet across and ten feet high. He looked for some boulder or fallen tree trunk, some break in the flames. He looked for a pond or large puddle, though he knew there was none.
Desperately, as his legs became heavy and his throat became raw, Ethan surveyed the fire. He could maybe leap a few feet into the air with his present physical ability, but not nearly high enough to clear the wall of fire. Besides, Benny's human skin and lungs probably wouldn't be able to handle the heat...even if Benny came out not completely roasted, he would still be badly burned...and if he breathe that fire in, he was done for.
"Cody!" Ethan yelled brokenly, the sound grating on his hot and dry throat, making him want to collapse and gag on the smoky air. He knew Benny was unconscious now, and had no idea what kind of damage his lungs had already taken. "We...need...h-help! Any-one! P...Please!"
The seer staggered back from where they came, and spotted the debris that had split the smoke-man in half just before he disappeared. It wasn't forest debris after all...it was some sort of glass shard, like that of a mirror. Ethan paid the material no further mind, but instead picked it up and threw it at the wall of fire in a desperate and half-delirious attempt to split the wall. It didn't work, and the shard flew through the fire without event.
Ethan looked around for a tree to climb and do what he had with Cody, but, as he'd fought and argued with the smoke-man, all of the trees had been engulfed in the flames, which seemed to grow hotter with each minute. There were no trees to climb, and he knew that the further he ran away from this wall of unforgiving flames, the further he got from the Weir house.
There was no where to run.
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AN: So, what you guys think? Pretty intense? Do tell your take on the chapter, and the direction of things. I wanted to end this chapter at so many points, but unless I hit 5,000 words, I feel like I'm cheating you guys :D so, I get points for effort at least, right? I think this chappie was actually over 6,000!
Reviews are love! Big thanks to all my readers and for the feedback I receive, really. It helps my motivation. :) If you review regularly or semi-regularly, you know who you are and how much I value your words. xx Writing is my passion, if I've ever had one. :b
As always, feel free to correct my mistakes, and Happy Summer!
Updated: May 23rd, 2017, roughly 1:50am